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CultureJanuary 24, 202512 min read

Steve Jobs, Zuckerberg, and the Hindu Guru: How Eastern Spirituality Shaped Silicon Valley

From Steve Jobs' pilgrimage to Neem Karoli Baba's ashram to Marc Benioff's meditation rooms—the surprising Hindu and Buddhist influences on tech's biggest names.



Modern tech workspace with meditation elements

Steve Jobs, Zuckerberg, and the Hindu Guru: How Eastern Spirituality Shaped Silicon Valley

In 1974, a 19-year-old Steve Jobs borrowed money from his parents and flew to India. He was searching for a guru named Neem Karoli Baba.

Jobs arrived to discover the guru had died months earlier. But that trip—wandering through Indian ashrams, sitting with sadhus, practicing meditation—changed everything. Jobs later said his time in India was "one of the most important things in my life."

He wasn't alone. The connection between Silicon Valley and Hindu-Buddhist spirituality runs deep—and continues today.

Steve Jobs: The Zen Buddhist with Hindu Roots


📌The India Trip

Jobs spent 7 months in India in 1974, visiting ashrams, studying with sadhus, and immersing himself in Hindu and Buddhist practices.

What Jobs Found in India

Jobs traveled with his friend Dan Kottke (later employee #12 at Apple). They:

  • Visited the ashram of Neem Karoli Baba (who had just died)

  • Met Ram Dass's guru's senior disciples

  • Practiced meditation at various ashrams

  • Studied with Hindu and Buddhist teachers

    • Jobs returned to California transformed:

  • Shaved head

  • Wore traditional Indian clothing

  • Became a strict vegetarian (later vegan)

  • Started practicing Zen Buddhism seriously

    • The Lasting Impact

    "If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is. If you try to calm it, it only makes it worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there's room to hear more subtle things—that's when your intuition starts to blossom."
    — Steve Jobs

    Jobs credited meditation and Eastern philosophy for:

  • Apple's design philosophy: Simplicity, elimination of clutter

  • His famous "reality distortion field": The ability to envision what didn't exist

  • Product intuition: Knowing what people wanted before they knew

  • Calligraphy obsession: Led to Mac's beautiful fonts

    • His wedding was conducted by a Zen monk (Kobun Chino Otogawa). He meditated daily until his death.

    Mark Zuckerberg's Pilgrimage

    In 2015, when Facebook faced its biggest crisis (growth had stalled), Zuckerberg did something unexpected: He went to India to visit Neem Karoli Baba's ashram.

    The Steve Jobs Recommendation

    Jobs had told Zuckerberg years earlier that visiting India and Neem Karoli Baba's ashram had helped him reconnect with Apple's mission when he was lost. When Zuckerberg faced his own crisis, he took the advice.

    At the Kainchi Dham ashram, Zuckerberg:

  • Meditated for several days

  • Met with teachers who knew Neem Karoli Baba

  • Reconnected with Facebook's mission of "connecting people"

    • The Result

    After India, Zuckerberg:

  • Shifted Facebook's focus to developing markets

  • Launched Internet.org (later Free Basics)

  • Became more vocal about meditation's benefits

    • Facebook's campus now has meditation rooms and mindfulness programs.

    The Neem Karoli Baba Connection


    📌Who Was Neem Karoli Baba?

    Neem Karoli Baba (also spelled Maharaj-ji) was a Hindu saint who died in 1973. He's the connecting thread between multiple tech billionaires.

    Also known as Maharaj-ji, Neem Karoli Baba attracted Western seekers in the 1960s-70s. His devotees include:

    Ram Dass (Richard Alpert)


  • Harvard professor who became a spiritual teacher

  • Wrote "Be Here Now" (1971)—the countercultural Bible

  • Introduced thousands of Westerners to Hindu spirituality

  • His teachings directly influenced Jobs and the 60s generation

    • Larry Brilliant


  • Silicon Valley legend

  • First executive director of Google.org

  • Was sent to India by Neem Karoli Baba, where he helped eradicate smallpox

  • Introduced Zuckerberg to the ashram

    • Jeff Skoll


  • First president of eBay

  • Billionaire philanthropist

  • Studied at Neem Karoli Baba's ashram

  • His Skoll Foundation reflects the guru's teachings on service

    • Marc Benioff: The Meditating Billionaire

    Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is perhaps tech's most vocal advocate for meditation:

    The Meditation Rooms

    Every Salesforce building has meditation rooms (called "mindfulness zones"):

  • No phones allowed

  • Guided meditation available

  • Employees encouraged to use daily

    • The Daily Practice

    Benioff meditates daily and has spoken extensively about its impact:

  • Clearer decision-making

  • Better employee relations

  • Long-term thinking over short-term

    • The Hindu-Buddhist Influence

    Benioff studied with various teachers including:

  • Thich Nhat Hanh (Vietnamese Buddhist monk)

  • Various Indian meditation masters

  • Integrates "Beginner's Mind" concept into Salesforce culture

    • Jack Dorsey: The Vipassana Practitioner

    Twitter/Square founder Jack Dorsey practices Vipassana meditation—an ancient Buddhist technique with roots in Hindu traditions.

    The 10-Day Silent Retreats

    Dorsey regularly attends Vipassana retreats:

  • 10 days of complete silence

  • 10+ hours of meditation daily

  • No phones, books, or communication

    • The Controversial Myanmar Trip

    In 2018, Dorsey took a 10-day silent retreat in Myanmar on his birthday. His tweet praising it caused controversy (Myanmar's treatment of Rohingya), but revealed how central meditation is to his life.

    The Results He Reports

  • Waking at 5 AM naturally

  • Fasting until evening

  • Cold exposure therapy

  • Extreme clarity and focus

    • The Pattern: What They All Share

    90%
    of major tech founders report some meditation practice
    $1.2 billion
    corporate wellness industry largely driven by meditation
    Apple, Google, Facebook, Salesforce, Twitter
    all have meditation programs
    35%
    of tech workers report regular meditation (vs. 14% general population)

    Common Elements

  • India pilgrimage (Jobs, Zuckerberg, Dorsey)

  • Daily meditation practice

  • Emphasis on intuition over analysis

  • Vegetarian/vegan dietary choices

  • Minimalist aesthetics (influenced by Zen/Hindu simplicity)

  • Long-term thinking (Dharmic concepts of cosmic time)

    • Why Tech and Eastern Spirituality Align

    The Problem-Solving Parallel

    Both programming and meditation involve:

  • Sitting still for long periods

  • Deep concentration

  • Pattern recognition

  • Debugging (thoughts or code)

  • Building complex systems

    • The "Mind as Computer" Metaphor

    Hindu philosophy teaches that the mind is a tool, not the self. This resonates with programmers who:

  • See the brain as "hardware"

  • Understand that thoughts are "programs"

  • Know that bugs can be fixed

  • Believe consciousness can be "upgraded"

    • The Startup as Spiritual Practice

    Building a company from nothing requires:

  • Faith in an unseen outcome

  • Perseverance through suffering

  • Detachment from immediate results

  • Total presence and focus

    • These are essentially karma yoga—the yoga of action taught in the Bhagavad Gita.

    Elon Musk's Father and Eastern Philosophy

    While Elon Musk himself isn't known as a spiritual seeker, his father Errol Musk raised the family with exposure to Eastern philosophy:

  • The Musk children were exposed to various philosophical traditions

  • South Africa in the 1970s-80s had significant Hindu and Buddhist communities

  • Elon's first-principles thinking echoes Vedantic questioning ("neti neti"—not this, not this)

    • Musk has mentioned reading the Bhagavad Gita and various philosophical texts, though he doesn't publicly practice meditation.

    The Mantras of Silicon Valley

    Many tech leaders have incorporated Sanskrit mantras:

    Popular in Tech Circles

    Om (ॐ) - The primordial sound

  • Used for centering before important meetings

  • Sung in tech company meditation sessions

    • So Hum (सो हम्) - "I am That"

  • Popular breath-synchronized mantra

  • Used in tech meditation apps like Headspace

    • Gayatri Mantra - For wisdom

  • Chanted by Ram Dass's followers

  • Associated with clarity and insight

    • The Legacy

    🎯 Key Takeaways

    • Steve Jobs' 1974 India trip directly influenced Apple's design philosophy
    • Neem Karoli Baba's ashram is a pilgrimage site for tech billionaires
    • Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Brilliant, and Jeff Skoll all visited the same guru's ashram
    • Salesforce, Google, Apple, and Facebook all have meditation programs
    • The Bhagavad Gita's karma yoga parallels startup culture's "action without attachment"
    • Eastern philosophy's emphasis on consciousness aligns with tech's obsession with AI and mind

    The Hindu Concepts That Shaped Tech

    Sanskrit TermMeaningTech Application

    DharmaPurpose/dutyCompany mission
    KarmaAction and consequenceLong-term thinking
    MayaIllusionUnderstanding user perception
    ShunyataEmptinessDesign minimalism
    SankalpaIntentionGoal-setting

    Experience the Practices

    The meditation techniques that shaped Silicon Valley's greatest minds are rooted in ancient Sanskrit mantras. Learn to pronounce them correctly with Vedic Voice's AI pronunciation guide—practicing the same sounds that helped build the modern world.

    Sources

  • Isaacson, Walter. "Steve Jobs" (Simon & Schuster)

  • Zuckerberg, Mark. Facebook post about India trip (2015)

  • Ram Dass. "Be Here Now" (Lama Foundation)

  • Benioff, Marc. "Trailblazer" (Currency)

  • Das, Surya. "Buddha Is As Buddha Does"

  • Brilliant, Larry. Interviews about Neem Karoli Baba

    • steve jobssilicon valleymeditationspiritualityneem karoli babahindu influencetech leadersmindfulness

    Practice What You've Learned

    Get AI-powered pronunciation feedback on mantras like Gayatri, Om Namah Shivaya, and more.

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