On May 27, 2025, President Droupadi Murmu presented the Padma Awards at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. 113 awardees were honoured with the fourth-highest civilian award of India, the Padma Shri. For the event, dignitaries such as the Vice President, Prime Minister and Home Minister of the country had marked their presence. Individuals who had served excellently in their respective fields were conferred the award.
Out of all these 113 Padma Shri awardees, one has managed to pique people’s curiosity. A foreign man, who was dressed in only a dhoti and had tilak on his forehead, walked up to the stage barefoot to receive the award from President Murmu. This moment has gained a lot of interest from people to know more about the foreigner who was conferred a prestigious civilian award of India. Read on to learn everything about this foreign guru.
Jonas Masetti, aka Acharya Vishwanath, was born and brought up in Brazil but was not fulfilled with life
Jonas Masetti was born in Brazil and has a mechanical engineering degree. Although he had ‘everything that a Western society needs to have’, he was still feeling unfulfilled, revealed the spiritual teacher in an interview with Dainik Jagran. The Acharya had friends, family and money. He would also go to parties, but despite all of this, he wasn’t happy. He also noticed that the people he knew were not happy either and had a lot of trouble with sleep and stress.
Jonas Masetti travelled to India and was guided by Swami Dayananda Saraswati
Jonas Masetti revealed that he was in a crisis and was trying to find ways to be happy. However, he observed that no one around him was completely fulfilled either, so he started searching for other places. This search led him to an ashram in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, in India. Here he studied under the well-known spiritual guru, Swami Dayananda Saraswati. Completely embracing Vedanta philosophy, he found such contentment that he was conferred with the title of Acharya, which is a term used for spiritual teachers. Hence, from a student searching for happiness, Jonas transformed into a self-fulfilled teacher. As per a Hindustan Times report, after earning the title, he also changed his name to Vishwanath. Talking to Jagran, about how he came across Vedanta, the guru said:
“People in the West take pills to sleep. They have a lot of stress. I thought this doesn’t make sense. I felt what the Western ideology was proposing to me wasn’t going to give me fulfilment. I started searching for answers and that’s how I came across yoga and Vedanta.”
Jonas Masetti went back to Brazil and started an institute to teach Vedanta
Jonas Masett, aka Acharya Vishwanath, went back to Brazil and started an institute in his home country. As per reports, his institute is called Vishva Vidya and is situated amidst the hills of Petropolis, near the city of Rio de Janeiro. He offers free online courses to people and has combined his Vedic knowledge with technology to spread his spiritual teachings. Within seven years of starting Vishva Vidya, the Acharya has gained nearly 1.5 lakh students globally, stated a Storypick report. After receiving the Padma Shri, he revealed his reason for starting a Vedic institute in Brazil and said to ANI:
“I understood that I had to go back to the place I came from and spread the knowledge and message of the Vedas… There are so many teachers in India that a Westerner doesn’t need to come here and teach their own culture. I see a lot of youngsters losing the opportunity to value their culture and being so enchanted by the Western way of thinking.”
Jonas Masetti was given a special mention by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Mann Ki Baat
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi had praised Jonas Masetti in his Mann Ki Baat programme and called him the cultural ambassador of India. The spiritual teacher shared his elation with Dainik Jagran and said that foreigners who choose to go on the path of spirituality lack a sense of belonging. However, after the mention and the praise, many of them (foreigners engaged in Indian philosophies) felt like they had been accepted.
Jonas Masetti is much happier than before and gave a message to people who are leading unhappy lives
In the same interview, Jonas Masetti opened up about whether he missed his old life. The Vedic teacher said that he was much happier than before and preferred praying and going to the temple rather than going to a beach. Since he has found contentment away from the materialism of the world, Acharya Vishwanath gave a message to the people who are facing dilemmas right now and said:
“We think that spirituality comes naturally but it’s not true. You have to put hard work in that direction. My message to youths is that they are very charmed by the Western culture. I must say there is no fulfilment there.”
Congratulations to Jonas Masetti, aka Acharya Vishwanath, for being awarded the Padma Shri Award!
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