OM SWAMI

That morning, like every other day, he woke up, had his breakfast, got dressed up for work and left. But that evening, instead of returning home, he boarded a train to take him away from all his daily certainties—the people he loved and from the wealth he owned.

Leaving behind a million-dollar business, his favourite Porsche, this chess champion, and sought-after motivational speaker, with no warning and no intimation to his family, simply walked away from it all at the age of 21. Did he know that he was probably walking through the door of no-return, leaving behind a loving and supportive family? Perhaps. It's not that he didn't care about their feelings. Rather it was because he no longer could turn a deaf ear to his inner calling.

'The millions of dollars in my bank account, my cars, my properties are all material wealth and at the end of the day, lifeless. I wasn't born with these possessions and won't take it away with me when I die. So, is it worth the struggle? What is life all about then?'

With one stroke he cast away the labels—son, brother, CEO, MBA-holder—that he felt defined him. He called this new life nakedness, not in physical terms but in being nothing, having nothing, not even an identity or a name, a life of a monk, Om Swami.