Acharya Shunya
Acharya Shunya is an internationally renowned Vedic spiritual teacher. She has the special gift of awakening hope in suffering hearts and minds.
Her teachings are considered soul transmissions enabling the realization of our highest nature, the state of awakened spiritual awareness. Her presence and her words reveal the abiding state of pure consciousness, immortal existence and abiding joy. Shunya’s depth of understanding compassion as a feminine teacher, and inner light profoundly touch the hearts of those who meet her and study with her. Shunya’s unique gift to humanity is her deeply personal and authentic understanding of ancient Vedic disciplines of nondual Adwaita, Yoga and Ayurveda, and their classic scriptures which she expertly demystifies and adapts into contemporary language and meaningful practices for the Western student. Her ability to translate wisdom from sacred Sanskrit texts, into deep insights, leave students experiencing profound shifts from within. Acharya Shunya’s students describe her as a catalyst for awakening health and inner light, a beacon of hope that has illuminated their paths from powerlessness to powerful, hopeless to hopeful, ill health to healthy. Her students consistently remark at her gift of delivering profound wisdom eloquently, within the context of easy-to-remember, real-life application.
Acharya Shunya’s nondual ‘Advaita’ teachings are directed towards realizing our true nature, the state of awakened spiritual awareness, or enlightenment through inquiry into our deepest underlying reality, a truth so universal, all-pervading and limitless that it goes beyond all social, cultural, mental and self-created biases norms and limitations. This universal reality goes beyond even religion itself, to reveal to us our abiding state of pure consciousness, immortal existence and abiding inner joy - “SatChidAnanda.”
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Shunya is the conceiver and teacher of a one-of a kind powerful, experiential, alchemically alive, spiritually and psychologically rooted, ‘awakening health model’ of Ayurveda, enabling the healing of the whole person, including the mind, body, soul and relationships, in contrast to the more recent trend of de-spiritualizing Ayurveda. She has pioneered not only a clinically sound model of Ayurveda but at same time, one that is suffused with spiritual insights from the Vedas, integrated with Yogic and Advaita (nondual) philosophy and enriched with ancestral food and herbal wisdom, creating a perfect recipe for awakening health and lasting wellbeing.
CUSTODIAN OF AN ANCIENT VEDIC LINEAGE
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Acharya Shunya is the living custodian of her eminent Vedic lineage from Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India that has been imparting Vedic wisdom for generations. The first female lineage holder in a 2,000-year-old line of Vedic spiritual teachers and the first to teach in the West, Acharya Shunya is a catalyst for awakening of the human consciousness. Shunya was given the title ‘Acharya’ by her Guru and grandfather, Baba Ayodhya Nath, a well-known Vedic scholar, yoga and meditation master, Ayurveda expert and beloved householder saint (Grihasta Sadhu) of the former century in India. He was the son and disciple of his guru, Paramatman Shanti Prakash, considered a living ‘seer’ of the 19th century, a prolific scholar and renowned compiler of the classic Vedic text Adi Gita, the revealer of infinite spiritual treasures leading to inner awakening and Self-Realization.
Shunya’s title “Acharya” is a customary one earned from traditional spiritual education. It signifies “the master spiritual teacher.” as an Acharya, Shunya has dedicated her life to the dissemination of Vedic knowledge for the spiritual upliftment of all beings. She is a distinguished Vedic Scholar herself, her command in the Vedic tradition stems from 14 years of traditional education and direct mentoring under her teacher. Today, Shunya is considered an authority on nondual wisdom from the Vedas, Yoga and the living tradition of Ayurveda, and recognized for her groundbreaking work in building The Awakened Self Foundation - an institute that embodies this tradition with authenticity and insightful contemporary relevance, alongside her philanthropic activities through Vedika Global.
Acharya Shunya represents the ancient Vedic tradition of India in a way that is completely authentic, yet as relevant as possible to modern sensibilities and needs. While deliberately unfolding the purest wisdom, Acharya Shunya seeks to explore how the original knowledge can benefit many different areas of life in today’s world, including cultivating conscious relationships, optimizing our communication skills, and awakening to our birthright of abiding spiritual wellbeing and inner happiness, despite mundane and karmic sorrow, physical and mental challenges. Her authoritative verse-by-verse teachings illumine the otherwise hard to interpret ideas from abstruse texts, in pure clear light. Her discourses, displaying the depth of her knowledge, greatly benefits all students, regardless of their background, spiritual alignments and state of consciousness.
AWAKENING HEALTH AND CONSCIOUSNESS
As a teacher, Shunya exudes compassion for all beings, and demonstrates tireless dedication towards alleviating existential suffering, by dispelling spiritual ignorance and igniting knowledge of the true self. Acharya Shunya’s students report increased self-acceptance and self-esteem, improved relations with others, healthier boundaries, effective communication, increased emotional autonomy, more self-determined and independent decision making, greater self-mastery and effective use of opportunities, deeper sense of purpose in life, clarity of goals, path and next steps, expanding in spiritual consciousness, experiencing inner peace, and personal power more.
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As the first female lineage holder in a 2,000-year-old line of spiritual teachers, Shunya provides a rare opportunity to receive these authentic teachings from a genuine Vedic master—one with a distinctly down-to-earth, feminine flavor who never lets us forget that our humanity is to be embodied and enjoyed.
As a teacher who has herself walked this path from darkness to light, from emotional bondage to spiritual freedom, Acharya Shunya is committed to sharing authentic knowledge, illuminating the way forward. Due to her own journey, that she shares with candid honesty, she is uniquely able to communicate these ancient subtle truths to modern seekers. She encourages her students to embrace their humanity, and abide in their greater Self, simultaneously, creating an enlightened vulnerability, bringing forth an authentic and empowered whole person into the world, every day.
SPIRITUAL PIONEER AND FOUNDER
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Acharya Shunya is the driving force behind The Awakened Self Foundation with its international headquarters in Northern California. The Foundation supports an online Vedic Wisdom School, offering authentic learning opportunities to Shunya’s community of students, readers and disciples worldwide. Through her spiritual non-profit Vedika Global, Shunya supports her lineage’s mission, disciples, fundraising and philanthropic activities.
BESTSELLING AUTHOR
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Acharya Shunya is the author of best-selling book: Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom: A Complete Prescription to Optimize Your Health, Prevent Disease, Live with Vitality and Joy (Sounds True, 2017) and Sovereign Self: Claim your Inner Joy and Freedom with the Empowering Wisdom of the Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita (Sounds True, 2020). Her forthcoming book, Roar Like a Goddess: Every Woman's Guide to Becoming Unapologetically Powerful, Prosperous, and Peaceful is a feminist manifesto rooted in classic Vedic teachings and brought to life through India’s primary goddess archetypes. It is due for release on September, 6, 2022 and available for preorder, everywhere.
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A Yogini at Heart: learning meditation as a child
A young adult: Meditating
A Vedic Acharya: A Lineage Holder, A Master Spiritual Teacher
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Devin Cecil-Wishing
New York City, USA
​"The biggest lesson that I've taken away from my studies with Acharya Shunya is the idea that, no matter what happens, it’s going to be okay. That I am not what happens to me. I am not what I do or don’t do. I simply am. I am not at the mercy of my mind, emotions, or circumstances. It’s such a simple, yet powerful lesson that has made a world of a difference to me."
Melanie Birtchnell
Upwey, Victoria Australia
​"From Acharya Shunya's teachings, I am reminded to take time, cultivate peace and tranquillity, then take action without fear or attachment to the outcome. Through Acharya Shunya's teachings, I feel closer to God - within and without – which is meeting a deep yearning I have felt since I was very, very young. Since being blessed to learn from Acharya Shunya, everything in my life feels lighter, freer, more peaceful, more grounded in trust."
Ozlem Tokman
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
​"When I finally arrived in Acharya Shunya’s global online spiritual classroom, it felt like the final destination after navigating through the universe for many lifetimes. The lightness, pleasant feelings and illuminating light of wisdom lifted the heavy blocks on my heart. After long years of struggle, frustration and depression, the spiritual teachings came as the ultimate gift of my life."
Vaidehi Maheshwari
Bangalore, India
​"Acharya Shunya's emphasis on service, personal practice and communion with spiritual teachings is based on ancient wisdom. Her upbringing, family environment and tutelage under her grandfather Baba Ayodhyanath, her own contemplations and practice have enabled her to impart these ancient teachings to a world wide audience in a way that resonates with our times."
Janya Tuere Anderson
California, USA
My first encounter with Acharya Shunya was actually through her students at their end of the year graduation ceremony and celebration. I was awed by the lightness and joy that each student radiated- it was beyond the joy of gathering in celebration. When I began my Ayurveda Self-care studies, that same energy was present in the classroom - I knew that I was fortunate to be studying with a teacher who could help people radiate from the inside out. As I learned and applied the basics of Ayurveda, always through the spiritual lens of Vedanta and Yoga, I saw my health transform. I experienced better sleep, loss of weight that I hadn't been able to lose since pregnancy, more physical strength and a clearer mind. Through the wisdom teachings from Acharya Shunya and her lineage, I was able to experience the radiance I had witnessed from other students. Ten years later, Acharya Shunya's Ayurveda teachings are a part of my day-to-day life, care for my child and what I share with my community. I am forever grateful.
