An MBA on the way to becoming a monk

He did not do the degree and then renounce it. He did the degree in order to renounce it faster.

By Sovandarapor (James) Kong · 2026-08-21 · Nondual

Chapter 02 of 18 in Ninety minutes with a swami

Swami Sarvapriyananda has an MBA, and most people assume, as I did, that he got it first and chose the monastery afterwards. It was the other way round.

He decided as a child. He grew up in a pious family in India, in what he calls the last generation before cable television, so the entertainment was books, and the books were Vivekananda. The logic he describes is a child's logic and I find it hard to fault. If enlightenment is possible, then it is obviously the most worthwhile thing a person could do. If he did what his parents and uncles and aunts had done, his life would look like theirs, a little better or a little worse. So why not try the other thing.

A senior monk visiting the monastery near his house did not talk him out of it. He told him to finish his studies, earn some money, and see how his mind behaved once he was independent and had cash in his hand. Would he still want to give it up. The boy thought that sounded wise, and then asked himself a very practical question: how do I get money quickly, so that I can give it up quickly. Somebody told him there was a new thing called an MBA. He had not heard of it. He did it. He earned a little during the summer internship, never took a proper job, and left.

A friend asked the question everyone asks. Why give up all this, don't you want anything. His answer was that he was not giving anything up. He wanted everything. The Vedantic question he was reaching for is the one the Upanishads keep returning to: what is that, by knowing which, everything is known. He wanted that, not a part of it.

I run six businesses and I have always thought of more qualifications and more money as a way of getting more. The idea of using them as an exit was not available to me at nineteen and I am not sure it is available to me now. What I notice is that I would have asked the friend's question. Don't you want anything. It seems like the sensible question. He treated it as a misunderstanding.

He also says the monk's test worked. He had the money in his hand and the mind did not change. I have no way of knowing whether mine would, because I have never run the experiment honestly.