Satyabrata Jena did his under graduation in Mechanical Engineering from NIT Allahabad and later his MBA from S P Jain Institute of Management, Mumbai, India. Satyabrata has accumulated 10 years of experience in the corporate world in various management positions. During his stint of four years as a Lead Consultant at Infosys, he took keen interest in the philosophy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (a fifteenth century saint who inaugurated the Bhakti Movement of India). He joined ISKCON Bangalore in 2011 and was trained in the philosophy and practice of Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads and Srimad Bhagavatam. He also received diksha (spiritual initiation) from Srila Prabhupada, the founder-acharya of ISKCON, under the Officiating Acharya system of initiation. While in ISKCON Bangalore, he actively counselled hundreds of students and young IT engineers in professional-personal life balance, peer pressure and stress management, life enrichment programs, meditation techniques, Yoga for Happiness – all on the principles of Bhagavad Gita. 

Since August 2016, he is located in Boston, MA and continues to counsel students, university faculty and young families and help them as a spiritual guide. He also conducts online courses on meditation and Vedic literatures for students and young people from around the world. He also spends considerable time of his day in spiritual practices, mantra meditation, self-study and distance-study of Vedic literatures with his seniors in ISKCON Bangalore. 

“Helping others to spiritually enrich their lives with wisdom, refined character, compassion and happiness is my life’s mission,” says Satyabrata. 

What motivated you to give up your corporate career and focus on a spiritual path? 

 I was always inquisitive to find answers to some of the life’s fundamental questions like who I am etc. which thoughtful men have pondered since eternity. For me when I was working outside, accidentally I came in touch with the Bhagavad Gita as it is by Swami Srila Prabhupada. That book had a profound impact on me. It not only answered all my questions but inspired me to know and practice more about the lifestyle which BG recommends and that’s how the shift started. Moreover once one starts practicing spiritual life under the direction of a bonafide spiritual master one gets a higher taste. Like you have been eating stale chapatis and if you start getting freshly cooked parathas and subji you’ll automatically stop taking chapatis

 ISKCON has succeeded spectacularly in bringing the message of Lord Krishna to deep corners of the world. What do you attribute this success to especially given that there is no central controlling organization? 

The success of ISKCON can solely be attributed to its founder acharya Swami Srila Prabhupada. The uniqueness about Srila Prabhupada’s presentation of the philosophy is it’s contemporary, relevant and simple which modern men can understand and relate to yet without compromising the central theme of the “will of Krishna”. Since the philosophy presented by Prabhupada talks about the mission of the lord in the most sublime and genuine way a sincere and serious seeker immediately connects and understands as if under the direct guidance of the Lord.

I’m the Hindu Chaplain at MIT. The word Hindu alongside chaplain was a conundrum for me as well. Hindus are ethnic and religious minorities in this country – very successful by most metrics but there are issues that can feel hard to explain to a non- Hindu or someone unfamiliar with Indian culture and family structures. The students on campus need support and help as they navigate through the university’s social structures and most importantly a mentor fluent enough in the tradition to be able to contextualize it and thereby help them thoughtfully consider how spirituality fits in their lives as humans with hearts and souls and minds.

Children of immigrants respond to the spiritual and cultural traditions of their homeland differently than their parents. Parents may prefer to remain more solidly in the comfort of the values and customs which they find familiar and comforting while children naturally gravitate to the activities and traditions of their peers in order to gain a sense of belonging. As they grow older children may feel pulled between parents who place higher value on traditional customs and practices and their own need to assimilate into the normative culture. Another source of confusion comes from the way academic textbooks have portrayed Hinduism as an ancient, outdated pantheistic creed.

 What motivated you to do Krishna Janmashtami at Media Lab? 

To bring the community together, to create the feeling of belongingness and to break the barriers of differences we are celebrating this festival. That’s what the festivals are meant to anyways. Media lab at MIT is used for broadcasting the world important announcements, discoveries etc. What better place than media lab to celebrate the appearance of the Supreme Lord

The festival filled with divine chants, devotional music, Indian classical dance & music, devotion induced worship and spiritual reflection. We hope this festival will enliven everyone's heart with renewed spiritual joy and energy. The festival will end with an unforgettable Indian vegetarian dinner. 

We are committed to keeping Janmashtami at the MIT media lab a free event, but we need your help and sponsorship to make that happen. The university equips the Hindu Life Program with a modest budget to host this event, but the celebration has grown well beyond that budget.

 What spiritual message do you have for our readers? 

Janmashtami is one of the world’s biggest spiritual festivals and is observed by followers of many faiths. For Krishna devotees, Janmashtami is a day of non-stop chanting, cooking, worship of Krishna in His Deity form, and fasting until midnight, when a grand feast is served. I urge all the readers of Lokavani on the auspicious occasion of Janmashtami to invoke the presence of the Lord by chanting his names and remembering his pastimes and thereby experience bliss and all auspiciousness.