Suraj Santosh Sarode (¿¿uto¿a) left home in Maharashtra as a teenager traveling to Alandi to pursue a life as a spiritual renunciate studying and living on alms. After a few years, he made his way to Varanasi, one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities, located on the banks of the Ganges in the heart of the Gangetic plain. For millennia, Varanasi has been a center for spiritual study, and it was here that Suraj began Sanskrit studies in earnest while training as a priest and temple cook. Suraj's interests later led him to Haridwar, another center of spirituality and gateway to the Himalayas. At Haridwar, Suraj continued in service again as a priest for a time before entering into formal study of Sanskrit, Logic, and Vedanta. Ultimately, his calling led him to Arsha Vidya Institute for Sanskrit and Vedanta (commonly known as Dayananda Ashram), where he lived and studied full-time as a resident student-initiate for several years. Suraj's 14-year initiatic process was rigorous and comprehensive, and he still refers to himself as a 'student of Ved¿nta'. He is an inner-renunciate (¿ntara säny¿sin; ¿¿¿¿¿ ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿) who lives a quiet life of study, nonviolence, detachment, and clarity amid a society and a world that is anything but.