A spiritual RESURGENCE

Charged with the mission of reviving and propagating the great spiritual values of India, Adinarayan and his wife Smriti set up the Anaadi Foundation and ashram, near Palani, Tamil Nadu. Pradeep Krishnan interviews this dynamic duo.

- Pradeep Krishnan

When a story begins with a young professional couple renouncing their lucrative careers in 2015 to spread awareness of our country's spiritual wealth, you know that you are dealing with an unusual duo. That would be an understatement in the case of Adinarayanan and Smrithi Adinarayanan, founders of the Anaadi Foundation Ashram, located about 18 km away from the famous temple town of Palani, Tamil Nadu.

In the eight years of its existence, the Anaadi Foundation and ashram has produced a network of activities for children, youth, and families, which are both online and in-person. There are programmes on yoga, Itihasa-Purana, and Vedanta, blended with unique insights from modern science. Since its inception, the foundation has been actively involved in conducting classes for school children, as well as pursuing research on Indian sciences, astronomy, ayurveda, yoga, and ecology.

Situated in the picturesque foothills between two holy rocks, Periya and Chinna Iyvar Malai (respectively, the big and small hills), the nineacre ashram is intended as a place for seekers to practise sadhana, yoga, and ayurveda.

After their marriage in 2004, Adinarayanan and Smrithi worked in the software industry for a couple of years, before functioning for a decade as teachers in the Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetam (part of Mata Amritanandamayi's initiatives) in Coimbatore. Adinarayanan is a native of Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, a graduate in electrical engineering, with an MS in computer science from the USA. It was during this latter phase that he underwent a deep spiritual experience (which he later recognised as samadhi) and it ignited a strong desire to return to India to dedicate himself to spirituality and service to society.