Sundar Pichai met his IIT batchmate-turned monk who looked 'younger'. His reply: 'You deal with Google, I with God'

Economic Times

6 hours ago

Monk Gauranga Das, an IIT Bombay graduate was in the same batch as Google's Sundar Pichai. (Pic courtesy: Agencies)
In an age where CEOs are chasing productivity hacks to stay youthful and stress-free, one IIT graduate says he's already cracked the code—and it has nothing to do with tech. At the India Global Forum 2025 in London, ISKCON monk Gauranga Das shared a fascinating personal story involving none other than Google CEO Sundar Pichai, sparking conversations about stress, spirituality, and the digital crisis.
Speaking on the final day of the event, Gauranga Das—an IIT Bombay graduate who left behind a promising engineering career to pursue a spiritual path—recalled his meeting with Pichai, who was part of the same IIT batch, albeit in a different branch. The two never crossed paths in college, but when they met years later, Pichai was quick to compliment the monk's youthful appearance.
The spiritual leader attributed the difference in their looks to the contrasting lives they lead. Pichai, 53, who navigates the fast-paced, high-pressure world of global tech, apparently told Das, that the monk looks younger than him. To which Gauranga Das responded that Sundar Pichai deals with Google, 'which creates stress,' whereas he deals with God, 'who releases stress.'
The anecdote quickly resonated with the audience, serving as a segue into the monk's broader message about digital addiction and its impact on mental health. Das warned about the growing psychological crisis being amplified by excessive screen time and social media use. Quoting alarming statistics, he said that 230 million people around the world are addicted to social media. He further claimed that in India alone, 70% of teenagers spend seven hours daily online and that one in seven people around the world is suffering from mental health issues. Gauranga Das, an alumnus of IIT Bombay, is a spiritual leader, environmentalist, and educator. Currently a member of ISKCON's Governing Body Commission, he serves as the director of Govardhan Ecovillage (GEV), a model of sustainable living founded by Radhanath Swami. Under his leadership, GEV received the UN World Tourism Organization Award in 2017 and gained accreditation with major UN bodies, including UNEP, ECOSOC, UNCCD, and CBD. Beyond environmental efforts, Gauranga Das plays a significant role in education and leadership development. He is on the board of the Govardhan School of Public Leadership, which prepares aspirants for the civil services, and he heads the Bhaktivedanta Research Centre, which preserves ancient Vedic manuscripts and offers postgraduate programs in philosophy.He is also the author of Art of Resilience and Art of Focus.Sundar Pichai was born on June 10, 1972, in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. He became the CEO of Google in 2015 and later took charge of Alphabet Inc., Google's parent company, in 2019 from co-founder Larry Page. Pichai spent his early years in Chennai and pursued a degree in metallurgical engineering at IIT Kharagpur, where he received a silver medal for academic excellence. He then earned a master's degree from Stanford University and completed his MBA at the Wharton School. Before joining Google in 2004, Pichai worked with Applied Materials and the consulting firm McKinsey & Company. At Google, he played a key role in the development of major products such as Google Chrome, ChromeOS, Gmail, Google Drive, and Android. As CEO, he has led the company's focus on artificial intelligence, cloud technologies, and infrastructure. His influence has been widely recognized—he was named among Time magazine's 100 most influential people in both 2016 and 2020 and received the Padma Bhushan, one of India's top civilian honors, in 2022.
( Originally published on Jun 24, 2025 )