'Youngsters in India look up to the West as if it is the biggest accomplishment they need in life. It breaks my heart.'
Acharya Jonas Masetti is one of two foreigners awarded the Padma Shri in 2025. The Vedanta teacher was recognised for spreading Indian spiritualism and philosophy in Brazil.
Trained as a mechanical engineer, he left a successful career to spend four years in Swami Dayanand Saraswati's gurukulam in Tamil Nadu.
He studied Vedanta, Sanskrit and the Bhagavad Gita. The spiritual journey transformed his life and earned him the title of 'Acharya.'
Masetti started the Vishwa Vidya gurukulam in Petropolis, Brazil to spread Vedic philosophy. He has adopted the Indian way of life, wears the dhoti, enjoys simple vegetarian food and teaches Vedanta to foreigners.
Last week, he was in India to receive the Padma Shri with his Brazilian wife who is known as Meenakshi.
On his return to Brazil, he spoke to Rediff's Archana Masih in a phone interview and explained how India changed his life.
- Part 1 of the Interview: The Brazilian Guru Awarded A Padma Shri
How different was your life before you discovered yoga and Vedanta?
I was a mechanical engineer who had worked for five years in the Brazilian army. I then opened my own company and worked for the stock market for seven years.
I had a car, apartment, material comforts, but life was meaningless.
It was empty.
How did you encounter Vedanta philosophy in Brazil?
My yoga teacher introduced me to Vedanta.
I learnt from him for three years and then spent five years with Sanskrit scholar Professor Gloria Arierie who received the Padma Shri last year.
After that, I went for the residential course in Coimbatore under Swami Dayananda Saraswati and Swami Sakshatrtananda who teaches in Rishikesh.
What was your day in the ashram in Coimbatore like?
We started at 4 am with a cold shower. I used to do my Sandhyavandanam, recite all the mantras and do the fire ritual. After that I would go to the temple to chant the Sri Rudram which was followed by a collective meditation.
After a small breakfast we would have the first Vedanta class, then a Sanskrit class and a yoga class.
We broke for lunch and had two hours to study and take care of clothes, personal chores etc, post-lunch.
Then we had a second Vedanta class, followed by satsang where we heard stories from the Vedic tradition. We sang bhajans depending on the day, asked questions etc.
We went to sleep around 10-10:30 pm.
We slept on the floor and had simple vegetarian meals. I loved the Idlis for breakfast.
What was the experience like being a student of Swami Dayananda Saraswati? How did he influence you?
Swamiji was beacon of knowledge and clarity.
- He explained the profound Upanishads text with such simplicity which made it easy to understand.
- He was a very strong sadhaka himself. He knew the Gita by heart. He had studied the Krishna Yajurveda and made many japams and tantras. He had thorough knowledge in many aspects of the traditions of astrology. He was truly a master in many fields of the Vedic tradition.
- He was a very sensitive human being. You could trust him and open yourself to him which is the true quality of a guru.
How had life changed after you went back to Brazil after four years?
The person that arrives in the ashram does not come back. It's a new life. I cannot even say that I have transformed myself because I was born again.
India took me to a higher place.
Do you cook and eat a lot of Indian food?
My wife Meenakshi is an expert in Indian food. Whenever we have guests or special occasions, we have Indian food. Otherwise I eat a simple vegetarian Brazilian food.
I love Idli, Dosa and the vegetables are prepared with the gravy. We don't have that in the West.
How did your wife come to be known by an Indian name?
I did the four-and-a-half year residential course at Swami Dayanand Saraswati's ashram in Coimbatore twelve years ago.
As I was preparing to return to Brazil I was contacted by an Indian friend who used to conduct tours for Brazilians in India.
He asked me if I would like to give a lecture in Vedanta. I gave the lecture at the Meenakshi temple and she was among the tourists in the group.
We were from the same city in Brazil and had never met, but we met at the temple. It was her first time in India. After the lecture, she asked me directions inside the temple and we did a darshan of Sundareswarar.
Their group then continued its onward journey. By mistake, I had left my japa mala behind and my friend gave it to her to return it to me in Brazil.
It was a profound karmic connection because my japa mala is very valuable to me.
We met three months later in Brazil when she gave me the jap mala and that day we understood that we're supposed to be together.
We got married four years later.
My friend [the tour operator] who also happens to be a very good astrologer gave her the name Meenakshi. It's such a beautiful name.
In the material world success is measured in the number houses, cars, holidays and money one acquires. Does all that have no consequence for you now?
Before coming to India, I had everything. Of course, we can always have more, but I had enough.
So when I came back, I wanted to keep this tradition alive and was not looking for material comfort.
I wanted to contribute to people and live as a teacher. I thought maybe I would need a second job to sustain myself, but the grace of Swami Dayananda and this parampara blessed me so that I could live a life dedicated only to this knowledge.
I do my camps, and my tapas in the forest. If you ask what do you on your vacations? I will say tapas.
I love it.
I have a wife and two kids and some friends. I don't need anything more.
You said that you had thought that maybe you'll need a second job to sustain yourself. How did you earn a living?
In the beginning, I used the resources that I had gathered when I was in the stock market. But after two years, I had enough students. That was enough for me to live.
Many gave donations like a fridge and other small things that were necessary. Gradually the number of students increased that I had to open an NGO so that the money did not come to me because it was not necessary.
How did the gurukulam come into being?
The idea came from a natural process. Once we reached around 5,000 students we needed a place to meet.
We decided to buy a piece of land in Petropolis outside Rio and that's where I live. We have a small set of students doing the same residential course as I did in India.
There are 10 people doing the course and another 10 that support all the work we do. We have 2,000 to 3,000 regular students and more than 200,000 people in short term courses round the year.
We also have online classes. I combine the regular online classes with retreats.
The gurukulam follows the same routine as the ashram in Coimbatore.
Do all members cook, clean and do everything themselves?
Exactly. We cook, we clean, we do everything.
Do you still have your old friendships?
In the beginning my friends thought I was becoming crazy. Some friends even tried to get my psychological investigation done.
They could not understand why I was selling a company that was worth millions.
But they later understood and started to question the value of life. Now they admire my work and actually support it. Some of them became students, but in the beginning it was very different.
What message would you have for young people about Vedanta?
Youngsters in India look up to the West as if it is the biggest accomplishment they need in life. It breaks my heart.
It's true that there are jobs, technology and many possibilities in the West, but their way of living is weak and empty.
Vedanta is a tool towards becoming a peaceful person. It's going to make you a better employee, a better manager, a better software engineer because the concepts of the Vedas are very profound.
The Vedas contain knowledge for all subjects of humanity.
One does not have to be 60 to understand self-knowledge. It's about understanding the value of Vedic life in our everyday life.
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff
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