Usuária:Larissa von Hartenthal/Testes

Jonas Masetti “Vishvanatha” is a vedanta acharya and a disciple of [Swami Dayananda Saraswati]. He teaches [vedanta], sanskrit, mantras and vedic culture mainly in Brazil, where he is based. His work takes place at Vishva Vidya Institute in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, and he has reached a great audience of students by teaching online classes, organizing retreats and publishing books about yoga and vedanta in Portuguese and English.

His accomplishments with his vedanta teachings in Brazil were acknowledged by the Indian Government through their Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi recognizing professor Jonas as an ambassador of the vedic culture who made the study of vedanta and of the Gita popular in Brazil, reaching the mark of 150.000 students in 7 years of work.

Jonas Masetti "Vishvanatha"

 

Origins

Jonas was born in Rio de Janeiro, but his family came from a poor community in São Paulo that were descendants from Italy and from brazilian native indian tribes that used to live in the area of Minas Gerais, one of those known as Goitacazes.

Early Life

Regarding his studies and career, Masetti has a Mechanical Engineering degree from the Military Institute of Engineering (IME) in Brazil, where he graduated as a lieutenant of the brazilian army and at his early age of 21 he opened a consulting company that worked mainly with the the stock market, named Morning Star Consulting.

Vedanta Path

Jonas was introduced to the vedanta knowledge with an Indian teacher that was living in Brazil in the year of 2004, after two years he continued his studies with [Arieira], which was acknowledged with the Padma Shri Award in 2020 and is known as the pioneer in vedic and sanskrit teachings in Brazil.

In 2006, Masetti had his first contact with Swami Dayananda Saraswati, on a study trip to the United States, at an ashram located in Saylosburg, Pennsylvania.

Still studying with Arieira, Jonas went for the first time to study in India for 6 months to deepen his studies, a few years later, in 2009, he went back for an immersive and residential study for three years with Sri Swami Dayananda Saraswati at Arsha Vidya Gurukulam in Coimbatore. This graduation course usually takes around three years and a half, but for the group that Jonas was part of, it was even longer, with a duration of four years and a half.

For all these years he studied vedanta under the guidance of Sri Swami Dayananda Saraswati and Swami Sakshatkrtananda Saraswati, where he completed his graduation and earned the title of a vedanta acharya (ācārya), which means he is an expert and distinguished in the field.

After the end of the residential course, he went back to Brazil to start his teachings, but always going back to India once a year to continue his studies.

Jonas was also influenced by the masters Swami Paramartananda Saraswati, Swami Tattvavedananda Saraswati and Swami Viditatmananda Saraswati.

After Sri Swami Dayananda’s death in 2015, Jonas remained under Swami Sakshatkrtananda guidance, as well as of his former teacher, Glória Arieira.

Indian Government Recognition

In November 2020, Jonas was recognized as an ambassador of the vedic culture by the Indian government through its prime minister, Narendra Modi, for his excellence in teaching Vedanta in Brazil and abroad. The prime minister highlighted that Masetti’s teachings with the use of technology are helping to popularize the vedic culture, reaching more than 150.000 students with different subjects as vedanta, sanskrit and mantras.

Vedic Teachings in Brazil

Vishva Vidya Institute

The Vishva Vidya Institute in Rio de Janeiro exists since 2014 to preserve the vedic culture and to spread the message of the Vedas in Brazil and around the world. The Institute provides retreats as well as online classes about vedanta, meditation, sanskrit, mantras and vedic culture.

Located at the mountain range of Petrópolis, in Rio de Janeiro state, the institute is the base where all the classes take place. It carries the name Visvha Vidya that was given by Swami Dayananda himself, when the project of the online classes and intensive study retreats were conceived by him and Jonas in the end of his residential course.

Vishva Vidya is in Sanskrit and it means “Universal Knowledge”, meaning that this knowledge speaks to everyone with any religion, age, culture or nationality.

Gurukulam

In 2020, the Vishva Vidya Institute started building a new place, also in Petrópolis for the studies in a Gurukulam format, where the students can live for a period near the teacher to deepen their studies and personal development.

Publications

Books

1. Cânticos e Versos (Chants and Verses)
2. Fundamentos do Yoga (Yoga Fundamentals)
3. Yoga e Vedanta (Yoga and Vedanta)
4. Sabedoria dos Mestres - vol 1 - Pés de Lótus (The wisdom of the masters - volume 1 - Lotus feet)
5. Sabedoria dos Mestres - vol 2 - A Máscara e a Flauta (The wisdom of the masters - volume 2 - The mask and the flute)
6. Saddarsana & Upadessaram (translations in partnership with Luciano Giorgio)

Audios

More than 1.000 audio classes streamed via a podcast, named Vedanta Cast.

Movies

1. UMA - Light of Himalaya - Producer - partnership with Ananda Jyothi
2. Kilasumak the tribal warrior - Director