Prashant Tripathi also known as Acharya Prashant is an author and Advaita teacher. He intends to bring a positive change in the world through his veganism, environmental activism, and women empowerment. He was awarded as the most influential vegan of 2022 by Peta India. He is the founder of Prashant Advait Foundation (formed in 2016), and Advait Life Foundation (formed in 2006) both of which are Non-Profit organizations.
Early Life and Education
Acharya Prashant was born in 1978 at Agra, India to Late Shri Awadhesh Narain Tripathi and Late Smt. Sita Tripathi. He is the eldest of his three siblings. His dad worked as a bureaucrat and the mother was a housewife. After completing his graduation from IIT Delhi in 1999, he obtained his MBA from IIM Ahmedabad in 2001. He is unmarried at the time of writing this article.
Career
He worked in Civil services for some time as an Indian Railways Personnel Officer but resigned quickly. After completing his MBA, he handled the role of Assistant Manager for GE Capital in 2003. In 2004, he joined ECS Private Limited as a Senior Consultant. His last job as an employee was for Time Group from 2005 – 2006.
Social Media Handles
Acharya Prashant is active on many social media platforms.
Interesting facts about Acharya Prashant
He has expressed his firm belief in Brahmacharya life (abstinence from sex and other distractions) on many occasions.
During his IIT college days, he used to earn Rs 10 for checking answer sheets of the coaching institute.
He strongly advocates for vegan eating and opines that non-vegetarian eating is for 30 – 35% (at 11:00 minute) responsible for climate change and majorly responsible for lack of food.
He is a devotee of Lord Ram and Lord Shri Krishna.
He believes in minimalistic living.
Controversial Statements/Claims of Acharya Prashant
In one of the video, Acharya Prashant can be heard promoting singlehood lives for both men and women as he believes that the culture of family creates hyper consumption of materialistic things. According to him (at 0:50 minute ), the only people who should get married are the ones who do not have a bigger pupose or goal in life because if such people don’t get married, then they cause chaos in the society.
In one of the videos, Acharya Prashant opined about teenagers who tend to listen and withstand their parent’s constant questioning because of their dependencies on them. He further adds (18:00 minute) that if a person does not have any dependency on anyone (including on their parents) then they will bear their parent’s questioning and criticism only because of kind-heartedness and love and not because of obligation or pressure.
“I dont say Aasaan Aasaan hai but sambhav hai “dig At Sandeep Maheshwari
In one of the videos (0:51 minute), Acharya Prashant took a dig at Sandeep Maheshwari by opiniating that he doesn’t opinies “Aasaan hai Aasaan hai” but “Sambhav hai”. While Acharya Prashant didn’t took Maheshwari’s name, it appeared a dig to the motivational speaker who has nearly 29 million subscribers. It was Sandeep Maheshwari who popularized the phrase “Aasaan hai Aasaan hai” for the youth meaning “Its easy Its easy”.
Criticism From Sandeep Maheshwari
In one of the videos, Sandeep Maheshwari can be seen taking a dig at the industry of Spiritual Gurus. He opined that some gurus are trying to deviate youngsters into abstinence and singlehood on the pretext of spirituality. He further adds that these spiritual gurus will give gyan upon taking donations and then will champion singlehood. When the man reaches the age of 40, is single, and has nothing good to do, they will then encourage such people to work for their organization. You can watch the video below.
The dig seemed directed to Acharya Prashant as he is a spiritual guru and is unmarried in his forties. And that he relies on donations to run his Non-Profit organizations.
Amit Sangwan’s Dig on Acharya Prashant
In one of his videos (28:21 minute), Amit Sangwan, claimed that the increasing followership of the likes of Acharya Prashant and Sandeep Maheshwari indicates that Indian youth going in the wrong direction.
