How visiting a baba in Indian temple changed Mark Zuckerberg's life

What factors led to the 31-year-old Mark Zuckerberg being sucessful? A of people would only say perseverance, a razor-sharp mind, amazing technological vision, fantastic business acumen, favourable circumstances, and possibly just a little bit of luck. All of that is true, but yesterday, when Zuckerberg met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he added an additional component to the recipe that had already made him prosperous: an Indian temple. Yes, there is an Indian temple tucked away in one of Uttarakhand's hills.

While most of us are familiar with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rags to riches tale, which began with him selling tea in train stations and ended with him becoming Mr. Prime Minister, on Sunday night, it was Mark Zuckerberg who actually revealed some information that few (aside from his close aides) would be aware of. That information, which dates back to a time before Facebook became the social media "phenomenon" we know it to be today, appears to be historical truth and a life-changing one at that.

The first few years after Facebook's start in 2004 were not without its challenges; co-founder Mark Zuckerberg even received buyout bids at one point when the company "wasn't doing so well." One knows Zuckerberg.

Jobs suggested to Zuckerberg that he travel to India for a spiritual retreat and visit a specific temple there. Although Zuckerberg withheld additional information about this specific temple, he did mention how his recent trip to India gave him the mental space to transform into a visionary (or, as some might put it, a businessman) on a mission to connect billions of people worldwide through Facebook.

"Early on in our history when things weren't really going well - we had hit a tough patch and a lot of people wanted to buy Facebook - I went and I met with Steve Jobs and he said that to reconnect with what I believed was the mission of the company, I should go visit this temple in India that he had gone to early in the evolution of Apple," Zuckerberg revealed on stage during the townhall.

It's interesting to note that the temple in question also inspired Jobs, a former college dropout who walked seven miles every Sunday in order to receive free meals every week at the nearby Hare Krishna temple, to create Apple.

Jobs did carry a lasting memory of India and a certain temple. He is said to have advised rival Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to broaden his perspective and travel to India for a spiritual retreat back in 1997. "I just think he (Gates) and Microsoft are a bit narrow. He'd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger," Jobs once told the New York Times.

The temple serves as the linking piece and has one item in common. It continued to transform two comparatively unknown individuals into visionaries and eventually billionaires. We don't have a lot of information regarding the temple in question, but it appears that it might be the one in Nainital.

There are reports of Jobs visiting a particular Kainchi Ashram in Nainital, Uttarakhand, where he is said to have received the inspiration to found Apple. According to rumours, Baba Neem Karoli of the Kainchi Ashram had passed away before Steve Jobs arrived, hence he was unable to see him in person.

The story of Mark Zuckerberg travelling to India and going to the same temple to gain perspective on his life and business and launch the Facebook that we know and use today says eloquently about what spirituality can achieve for some people.