is Ajahn Siripanno ~ the modern age Buddha !!

Prince Siddhattha , son of King Suddhodana –was nurtured  luxuriously and indulged in all sensual pleasures.  At a young age he married  Princess Yasodhara.  In outside World, he was  astonished to see :  the sights of an old man, a sick man, a dead man and an ascetic – to which he was never exposed before.  Deeply  disturbed by the first three sights. Bodhisatta reflected on them and asked, “Must everyone I love and I myself too, simply endure helplessly this tyranny of old age, disease and death? ” The forth sight provide him a glimpse to the solution of his question and it occurred to him to renounce worldly life to become recluse and go in search of what is not subject to old age, disease and death ~that is the story of Siddhartha becoming Bodisatva – Gautama Buddha and the story of ‘Buddhism’- which propounds to curb desire; choose the  life of recluse, renounce from worldly material possessions  and search ‘truth’.  To Siddhartha, the great renunciation occurred at the age of 29 !

Ajahn Siripanno is a humble Theravada Buddhist monk from Thailand. He was educated in the UK and can speak 8 different languages.  Ajahn Siripanno's mother is a Thai and he has two other sisters. It was during a retreat in Thailand where he wanted to pay homage to his mother's family and took up temporary ordination as a Thai forest monk. 

He was eighteen then (1989) and growing up in UK has made him quite open to different culture and to him the temporary ordination could be something 'fun'. That was the first time he encountered Buddhism, something that was very new to him.

Can you imagine a young man giving up the luxuries of life, crores of money and lead a simple life as a forest monk?  a Theravada tradition monk only eats once a day and after 12 noon, they are prohibited to consume any solid food.  Ajahn Siripanno is one of the least examples of the Modern Age Siddharta Gautama.

To tell that he was a rich man would be an understatement – he is the one and only son of the second richest man in Malaysia, T. Ananda Krishnan, a successful businessman with interest  in media, oil and gas, telecommunications, gaming, entertainment and property. Ananda Krishnan is estimated to have a net worth of US$9.6 billions according to Forbes's 2012 world wealthiest people. He ranks the second richest man in Malaysia while at the number of 89 in the world.  Tatparanandam Ananda Krishnan (born 1938) is a Malaysian businessman and philanthropist. Nicknamed A K,  he  shuns public exposure and is known to maintain a low profile for a person of his stature.  Ananda Krishnan was born in 1938 in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur's to Tamil parents, who were Sri Lankan origin. He studied at Vivekananda Tamil School in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur and furthered his studies at Victoria Institution, Kuala Lumpur.

Ajahn Siripanno is his son ~who has renounced earthly pleasures, leads ascetic life, delivering lectures on religion, spirituality and motivation. 

Incidentally, Ananda Krishnan is the name linked in Aircel-Maxis case,  in which former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanithi Maran  have been summoned before a special 2G court.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

28^th Apr 2015.

PS : read this interesting story in Tamil magazine ‘Ananda Vikadan’- a web search reveals the same contents in -  kenwu.hubpages.com too