Gayathri Narayanan on Suffering, Wisdom, and Inquiry: Who Becomes a Seeker?

Gayathri Narayanan is the founder and meditation teacher at Myndtree, where she integrates mindfulness, compassion, and wisdom teachings into modern life. Since 1995, she has explored contemplative traditions including Advaita Vedanta, Theravada, Zen, and Dzogchen Buddhism, grounding her work in both disciplined practice and everyday application. Formerly a leader in healthcare technology, she transitioned from corporate life to full-time teaching and service. Trained in mindfulness meditation with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach, and in nonviolent parenting through Echo Parenting & Education, Gayathri brings a secular, inclusive approach to mindfulness, parenting, and well-being for individuals, families, and organizations.

In this exchange, Scott Douglas Jacobsen asks Gayathri Narayanan, founder of Myndtree, who is most likely to become a spiritual seeker. Drawing on the Bhagavad Gita, Narayanan outlines four types of seekers: those driven by suffering, intellectual curiosity, material desire, and the pursuit of wisdom. She explains how disillusionment with pleasure, early life catalysts, or a hunger for understanding can initiate the search. By contrast, non-seekers are not deficient, but simply content within everyday aims. Narayanan likens seeking to scientific inquiry, noting parallels between figures like Einstein and the Buddha, and emphasizes that wisdom-seeking—liberation through understanding—is held as the highest motivation.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: This is semi-facetious and semi-serious: who is likely to be a seeker?

Gayathri Narayanan: Who is likely to be a seeker? There are different kinds of seekers. There is even a classification in the Bhagavad Gita. Some people come to this path because of suffering—because they experience loss and pain. That suffering brings up questions such as, "Why am I suffering?" "How can I be free of this?" "What is this world really about?"

When people become disillusioned with the constant pull toward pleasure-seeking—always chasing the next thing that promises happiness—they eventually notice that the pleasure fades quickly and dissatisfaction returns. At some point, that cycle loses its hold. People become disenchanted and make a kind of U-turn, asking more fundamental questions: "Who am I?" "What is all this?"

That is one group: people drawn to practice because of suffering (dukkha). Another group consists of seekers of knowledge—intellectually curious people. They may begin by reading about Advaita, attending talks, or encountering a teacher. Something resonates, and they feel drawn to go deeper through understanding and inquiry.

Another pathway, in my case, was accidental. I met my guru when I was eleven years old. There was some catalyst—something that set the process in motion.

As the Bhagavad Gita lays it out, some people are distressed or suffering and become seekers, and there are seekers of knowledge who are drawn through inquiry. Another group of people are seekers; some people seek comfort, success, wealth, and material security. They enter spiritual practice almost as a form of prayer to obtain something. Someone might think, "I do not have children and want a child so that I will do this ritual," or "I want material success so that I will engage in this practice." That is another motivation for seeking.

Then there are seekers of wisdom—people who want liberation through understanding. These are the four types of seekers described in the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna says that among them, the seeker of wisdom is his favourite. He explicitly praises the one who seeks through wisdom above the others. He does not specify a least favourite, but he clearly elevates the seeker of wisdom.

Jacobsen: Are there corresponding categories for those who are not seekers?

Narayanan: I think people who are not seekers are simply those who are caught up in the illusion of the world and are not particularly interested in questioning it. They want to live their lives, take care of daily responsibilities, and then live and die having done that. There is nothing wrong with that, and there is no judgment implied. Most of the world falls into that category.

People can live whole lives pursuing success, wealth, recognition, and stability. That is fine. But there is a subset of people who feel that this is not the whole story—that there is something more that requires investigation. They begin to ask more profound questions: "Who am I?" "Why am I here?" "What is this world?"

In that sense, it is not so different from the way a scientist approaches reality. If you read some of what Einstein said alongside the Buddha's, you sometimes cannot tell who said what. I have a book called Einstein and Buddha that quotes both of them, and they are often pointing toward the same fundamental questions: What is the nature of consciousness? Who are we?

Many people feel drawn to these questions and become seekers.

Jacobsen: Thank you very much for the opportunity and your time, Gayathri.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen is the publisher of In-Sight Publishing (ISBN: 978-1-0692343) and Editor-in-Chief of In-Sight: Interviews (ISSN: 2369-6885). He writes for The Good Men Project, International Policy Digest (ISSN: 2332–9416), The Humanist (Print: ISSN 0018-7399; Online: ISSN 2163-3576), Basic Income Earth Network (UK Registered Charity 1177066), A Further Inquiry, and other media. He is a member in good standing of numerous media organizations.