From Gadgets To Gyan: Digital Baba’s Mission To Connect Youth With Spirituality

At the Mahakumbh Mela, spiritual guru Swami Ram Shankar Das, popularly known as Digital Baba, is sharing his messages with the youth without much fanfare.

Prayagraj: The ongoing Mahakumbh Mela in Prayagraj, where tradition and devotion thrive, has found an unlikely champion of modernity in Swami Ram Shankar Das, popularly known as Digital Baba.

With his innovative approach, he is inspiring the younger generation to embrace spirituality in their lives. From live-streamed satsangs to engaging conversations about mindfulness on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X, Digital Baba is proving that age-old wisdom can find relevance in the digital age. His efforts to combine technology and spirituality are drawing attention far and wide.

A B.Com graduate from Gorakhpur University, Ram Prakash Bhatt was only 19 when he saw that life as a sadhu was his calling. "When I was 19 years old, I realised that all human relationships are borne out of self-interest," Swami Ram Shankar Das told ETV Bharat in an exclusive interaction. "Whether it may be your wife, brother, sister or even your parents, they love you out of some self-interest. That is when I decided that I want to feel happy. I wanted to fly like a bird and see the world."

It was then that a friend came into the picture of Baba’s life. The friend told the young Ram Shankar Bhatt that since he was not interested in leading a normal life like taking up a job after completing education and having a family, he should then become a sadhu. The friend then introduced Ram Shankar Bhatt to Swami Shivcharan Das Maharaj at Lomash Rishi Ashram in Ayodhya.

"I met my guru in 2008 when I was in the third (year) of B.Com," Swami Ram Shankar Das said. "In the ashram, I saw the sadhus do all kinds of menial work by themselves. And then I wanted to study the Upanishads, Ramayana and the Bhagwat Gita."

Digital Baba taking a selfie at the Mahakumbh Mela in Prayagraj (ETV Bharat)

After receiving his initiation from Swami Shivcharan Das Maharaj in Ayodhya, Ram Shankar Bhatt, after becoming Swami Ram Shankar Das, stayed in various gurukulsof India like Vanaprastha Sadhak Gram Ashram in Sabarkantha, Gujarat, Kalwa Gurukul in Jind, Haryana, Sandipani Himalaya Gurukul, Chinmaya Mission in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar School of Yoga at Rikhiapeeth, and Kaivalyadhama Yoga Sansthan in Lonavala, Maharashtra, among others.

He eventually found his way to the Nageshwar Maharaj Temple situated at a height of 6,000 feet at Baijnath in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh.

"I asked them (the temple authorities) to let me live for four months on a trial basis. After that, they can decide," Swami Ram Shankar Das said. Today, the Nahgeshwar Mahadev Temple is home to Swami Ram Shankar Das. He has embarked on a mission to imbibe the essence of spirituality among the youth.

"My target is the youth. But I realised that very few youth attend satsangs (religious meeting where people read holy texts, think deeply about or talk about religious matters)," he said. “But the youth are heavily present in social media. I then decided to send my messages through social media.”

Digital Baba today uses his social media handles on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube to send his messages. "I don’t have a cameraman, editor or support staff,” he said. “I respond to requests on call or through messages."

At the ongoing Mahakumbh, Digital Baba is seen interacting with the young generation on the banks of the Triveni Sangam holding a tripod, a Rode mic and a phone. He is sharing his interactions with saints and devotees alike on his social media handles.

Asked what his messages were, he said that there are two primarily.

"We live an extrovert life,” he said. “We study, take up a job and start a family. My lesson is that you should understand yourself spiritually. In the outside world, there are both good and bad things. Life is never balanced. The aim should not be about making money only. We should reach a stage where there should not be any attraction. Then we are out of the life and death cycle. If you plant a mango tree to earn profits, you will be hurt if losses occur. But is you plant a peepal tree, you don’t think about profits. The tree provides you a shelter. You do it for a larger good. This is the difference between businesses and NGOs."

Digital Baba’s second important lesson is that young children should lead life according to “dharam sanskar” (the rites that guide a human being’s life into the world of spirituality).

Swami Ram Shankar Das, popularly known as Digital Baba (ETV Bharat)

"We should lead our lives bearing in mind social liabilities like cleanliness and ecology," he explained. It is in line with this that he keeps his interactions with his devotees and sans pomp and grandeur.

"Whenever there are religious discussions, people end up having a one-way discourse from the baba," Swami Ram Shankar Das said. "But I am not like that. I am always available and have a one-to-one talk with anyone interested. I do not have any conditional amount."

He said that many babas or spiritual gurus have their own price catalogues. Common people cannot afford to organise religious interactions with such babas as prices range anywhere between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 20 lakh.

Making apparent his disapproval of babas taking favours from rich devotees, he wondered why such babas are moving around the Mahakumbh with security guards and cars.

"Why do you need this?” he asked. “This is just to show off that you have influential people among your followers. There are sadhus who are corporate class. They have their own marketing strategies."

He said that real sadhus will seek “diksha” for years and then serve the people. “If people make donations, such sadhus will use this for the greater good,” he said.

Today, Digital Baba has around 3.5 lakh followers on his Facebook social handle, 30,000 on Youtube, 14,000 on Instagram and 3,000 on X. Apart from this, he has millions in terms of viewership of his videos.

"Everyone should live life based on spirituality,” Digital Baba says. “When you are spiritual, others’ words won’t affect you. Inner beauty is most important. When spirituality prevails, society can be united and discriminations like the caste system will end."