User:Ramana vinjamuri/sandbox

Bio Pandit Dasa (born May 30, 1972) is a motivational speaker, mindful leadership expert and author. He spent 15 years (1999-2014) living as a monk in New York City.

Early life and education Pandit Dasa was born in Kanpur, India and migrated, with his parents, to the United States at the age of seven. He grew up in Los Angeles, California. Eventually, after a short stay in Bulgaria (1993-1995), he and his parents relocated to New Jersey. In 1999, he spent six months in India traveling and studying at different monasteries and then spent the next 14 ½ years in a monastery on the Lower East Side of New York City.

Career His speaking career began in 2001 while living in the monastery in New York City where he began giving motivational talks to students at Columbia University, New York University and at college campuses around the country.

In 2013, he published his autobiography Urban Monk: Exploring Karma, Consciousness and the Divine in which he chronicles the events in his life that led him to the monastic path.

In 2014, he left the monastic life and began speaking at corporate events and conferences around the country on the topics of Mindful Leadership, Team Building, Stress Management, Work-life Balance and Resilience.

Personal Life Pandit Dasa lives in Jersey City, New Jersey with his wife.