Gaur Gopal Das is a storyteller, life coach, author and friend to millions that are drawn to his wisdom on social media. He studied electrical engineering at the College of Engineering, Pune, and after a brief stint with Hewlett Packard, he decided to renounce conventional life and train as a monk to help others with the challenges they face in day-to-day life. He has remained a monk for twenty-five years, learning ancient philosophy along with contemporary psychology, to become a life coach to thousands.
He has been travelling the world since 2005, sharing his wisdom with corporate executives, universities, and charities. He has been invited to speak at various prestigious institutions for over two decades including the United Nations. In 2016, his global popularity exploded when he took his message online. With millions of views on his videos on social media, he has now begun to lead a movement to help others achieve happiness and purpose in their lives. Now one of the most renowned monks in the world, Gaur Gopal Das holds the title of ‘The Ideal Young Spiritual Guru’, conferred upon him by the Indian Student Parliament, MIT Pune.
His motivational videos have reached around 1 billion views internationally. With over 15 million followers across all social media platforms, he is known as the urban, online monk. YouTube has recognised his popularity by awarding him the Gold Play Button, for having one of the most popular channels on their platform. In addition, Indian Wikimedia awarded him with IWM Award for “The Best Spiritual/Motivational Show on Web”. Furthermore, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters (D.Litt.) by KIIT university in recognition of his contribution to society.
In India, he has been recognised by a myriad of accolades including the Mahatma Gandhi Leadership Award for extraordinary achievement in spreading awareness of value-based leadership around the world; the Bharat Shiromani Award; the IMAI Award; Gandhi Peace Award from the Bharat Nirman Foundation.
Internationally he has been celebrated as the Most Influential Global Speaker by The Arts for Peace Awards in California. And for spreading transformational wisdom and bringing global change, he was awarded the title “Global Changemaker of the Year 2020” by the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival (DPIFF). Amongst various other honours, he has also won an American Eagle Award for being an Iconic Global Peace Leader.
His Journey
Gaur Gopal Das was born in Pune, Maharashtra, India. He gained a diploma in electrical engineering from Cusrow Wadia Institute of Technology, Pune and a degree from the College of Engineering, Pune. He worked as an electrical engineer for a brief period, before leaving to become a monk in 1996. His decision to become a monk was multifaceted, but one aspect of his decision was that he always believed that every individual should find tremendous fulfilment in the work they adopt. When he became an engineer, though extremely competent, he did not find it fulfilling. Considering that the average person spends around 90,000 hours of their life at their workplace, he decided he should be doing something that resonated with his soul. He realised that technology was not his passion and that he needed to look for something more.
Some introspection led him to the conclusion that his calling had something to do with helping people. He had a natural inclination toward behavioural sciences, psychology and helping others. However, he could see that the modern approach of social sciences was doing little to curb the rise of mental health issues around the world and that universities were still struggling to provide answers to universal questions, so he turned to the ancient wisdom of the East for answers. Having grown up in the land of self-satisfied sages and enlightening epics he sought solutions to the problems of life in the timeless wisdom of ancient India. Coupled with his own inner spiritual calling, he left his job and began to study under spiritual leaders, to experience a spiritual reality for himself and make a positive difference in the life of others.
In this transition, Gaur Gopal Das went from a pampered life to an austere monastic one. This experience taught him not only discipline and humility but transformed his heart. He learned to access the reservoir of joy within and to take charge of the mind. His desire to share his experience and teach others the same led to him becoming an international life coach and online sensation, one of his posts even became the most viewed in the USA in the Spring of 2021. He has partnered with institutions like Google, Salesforce, Bombay stock exchange, CII and YPO, TEDx, to name a few.
His debut book Life’s Amazing Secrets, which is an Indian national bestseller, sold a record 250,000 copies in only 6 months and received the CROSSWORD book award for the most popular book in the non-fiction category for the year 2019. Based on the timeless wisdom coming down from ages, Gaur Gopal Das makes his audience think deeper and find simple solutions to difficult problems. In this book, he teaches the audience to master the monk mindset as he reveals how to tackle our modern anxieties with characteristic serenity, profound wisdom, and irresistible humour. Through his writing and videos, Gaur Gopal Das guides his audience to find purpose, strengthen relationships, and discover inner joy.
