Priya Sharma
“I debug code during the day and sing Carnatic music at night. Both require the same thing — listening carefully to find where the pattern breaks.”
Meet Priya. She's 27, a software engineer at a startup building AI tools for small farmers. She grew up moving between three languages — Tamil at home, Kannada at school, English at work — and switches among them without thinking. She's a devout Hindu who goes to the ISKCON temple on weekends and also does yoga simply as exercise, not ritual; she finds the Bhagavad Gita's idea of 'dharma', of duty, genuinely useful when she designs AI to be ethical. Her mother, a Carnatic vocalist, began training her at 5, and she still performs each year at Chennai's Margazhi season. To Priya, technology and ancient philosophy were never opposites — just tools for the same work of reducing suffering.
- Work
- AI for small farmers
- Languages
- Tamil, Kannada, English
- Art
- Carnatic vocalist
- Philosophy
- Dharma in ethical AI
“Hinduism is polytheistic and its followers worship idols.”
Hindu philosophy is far more nuanced. Many Hindu traditions — especially Vedantic ones — teach that the many deities are forms of one ultimate reality (Brahman), while dualist schools and folk practice are genuinely theistic or polytheistic; scholars often describe Hinduism as internally diverse and henotheistic. Murtis (temple images) are understood as focal points for devotion, not gods themselves — similar to how a photograph of a loved one is not the person but helps you feel connected. Hindu texts like the Upanishads explore monism, consciousness, and the nature of reality in ways that parallel modern physics.
SourceBhagavad Gita 7.19 — 'vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti' ('Vāsudeva/Krishna is everything').
When you see someone praying in a Hindu temple, do you think they're worshipping statues?
That's a common misunderstanding. But Priya's story shows us that Hindu practice is about connection, not idol worship. The murti is a focal point, not the divine itself.
Good. Now ask yourself: what other practices do you misunderstand because you're seeing them from the outside? What meaning are you missing?
Priya uses ancient philosophy to guide modern technology. What is an old idea, proverb, or piece of wisdom from your upbringing that you still find useful in your modern, daily life?
You do not need to answer. Notice what feels familiar, what remains unfamiliar, and where your own experience differs.
Understanding does not require agreement. Sometimes paying closer attention is enough for today.
Teach someone something you know
Share a skill, piece of knowledge, or piece of wisdom with someone today. Teaching is how humanity survives. What you know could change someone's day — or direction.
Note an act of kindness — today’s or your own. This stays on your device only; nothing is uploaded or counted publicly.
Priya is one life here, not the whole of India. Meet the others.
“You have the right to work, but never to the fruit of work.”
Bhagavad Gita 2:47