Siripanyo gives up $5 bn empire, India has history of riches-to-monks

After adopting the ascetic life, such people relinquish all material possessions, even cut ties with family

Born to King Śuddhodana, leader of the Shakya clan in the state of Kosala, and queen Maya, Siddhartha Gautama had every luxury in his palace. According to some Buddhist texts, a prophecy at his birth foretold that he would either become a great king or a great spiritual leader. Fearing the latter, his father ensconced him within the palace walls, protected from anything unpleasant.

 

But as fate would have it, one night he slipped out and saw the plight of common people -- poverty, disease, suffering, and death. He realised that his life, too, would entail suffering at some point of time. Upon this realisation, he renounced his wealth and family, and went looking for the meaning of life and death.

 

 

Fast forward to 2024, Ven Ajahn Siripanyo, the only son of Malaysian billionaire Ananda Krishnan, whose net worth is over Rs 40,000 crore ($5 billion), chose to give up his multi-billion-dollar inheritance for a life of Buddhist monkhood.

 

Sense of realisation

 

India, too, has a rich history of the superrich giving everything up to embark upon a life of spiritual searching.

Leaving their luxurious lives behind, they have chosen to live the life of a monk.

 

When the children show the way  

 

Parents are typically seen as a guiding light for their children, but in matters of faith, the roles are often reversed, with the kids becoming the Lode Star.

 

In April this year, a Gujarati couple -- Bhavesh Bhai Bhandari and his wife Jinal -- donated their lives' savings of Rs 200 crore to become monks. Reason? Their children, 19-year-old daughter Vishwa and 16-year-old son Bhavya, who took the same path of renunciation two years earlier.

 

The entire family has now cut all their connections to their former world of riches.

 

Two other Jain couples, one in Maharashtra and another in Gujarat, also decided to follow in their children's footsteps straight into monkhood.

 

Deepika and Jaswant Shah from Surat, and Beena and Sanjay Sadadiya were among 35 people who renounced the material world and chose a life of asceticism in April 2024. The Shahs were inspired by their sons -- Arth and Ansh -- who took 'Diksha' seven and two years ago, respectively. The entire Sadadiya family was already in the Jain monk order when Beena and Sanjay decided to renounce everything.

 

Mother and son pick the road less taken

 

Days after this, news came of a mother and son adopting monkhood came to light. The 30-year-old Sweety, wife of a Bengaluru-based businessman, went in search of enlightenment with her 11-year-old son Hridhan. The decision, according to the mother, was taken way back when her son was still in her womb, as reported in the media.

 

The mother is said to have imparted the basics of monkhood to her son through his childhood, with the aim of some day inspiring him to embrace a life of monkhood.

 

Giving up glitz for inner peace

 

In June 2015, Bhanwarlal Raghunath Doshi, better known as Delhi's 'plastic king', walked away from his Rs 600 crore empire to embrace Jain monastic life. He took 'Diksha' at the Ahmedabad Education Ground. Apart from 1,000 'sadhus' and 'sadhvis', the event was attended by 150,000 spectators, including billionaire Gautam Adani.

 

Last year, Devanshi Sanghvi, an eight-year-old heiress to a diamond empire, who could have grown up to run a multi-million dollar business, renounced the world and became a Jain monk. During her 'diksha' ceremony, she was accompanied by her parents, who placed a diamond-studded crown on her head. A little later, she covered her shaven head with a part of the white robes that would, for the rest of her life, mark her as one who has given up the world of desires.