Nishanth Selvalingam

Nishanth Selvalingam spent the first few years of his life learning yoga philosophy in his grandfather’s ashram in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where he grew up. A devoted Saivite Tantrika, Nishanth’s grandfather worked tirelessly to plant the seeds of reverence in his young heart. At first he found the all-night vigils for Lord Shiva tiresome and the rote memorization of long sing-song texts like the Puranas somewhat dull for his eight year old mind. Yet, Nish was very attracted to the big painting of Shiva, King of the Yogis that was placed on his living room wall. The half-smile spreading across the serene blue face in the painting, whispered mystery and mischief. The painting entranced him, watering the seed his grandfather had planted.

Years later, while visiting Sai Baba in India, Nish had an experience singing kirtan with the other devotees. He couldn’t really tell you what happened except that he felt the awakening of an appetite for religious philosophy. That day, he went to the ashram bookshop, purchased a commentary on the Gita and devoured it promptly. The seed that his grandfather had planted flowered into a deep love for philosophy that has stayed with him since. He returned to the Upanishads and Vedas with a renewed curiosity which only doubled when he took up the study of scriptures from other religions.

While this seed was sprouting, Nish developed an interest in competitive debating, a skill he honed debating for Team Malaysia at the World Debating Championship throughout high school. Eventually he found his way to Los Angeles, California to study Philosophy at UCLA where he continued to find parallels between Plato and Patanjali, Aquinas and Shankaracarya. He coached college debate at UCLA and developed a love for teaching.

Having graduated earlier this year, Nish now spends his time playing guitar in rock bands, coaching middle school debate and teaching yoga. His calling is to share the philosophical traditions that were handed to him by his teachers because he believes with all his heart that for the practice of yoga to blossom into the fruits of Liberation and Joy, there must be a strong grounding in the philosophical frameworks out of which those practice emerged.