LUCKNOW: Among the thousands of foreigners at the Maha Kumbh that began on Monday at Prayagraj, one stood out. She was Laurene Powel Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. She is an honoured guest at the camp of the Niranjani Akhara at the Sangam. Swami Kailashnand Giri, the Acharya Mahamandleshwar of the akhara, is her spiritual mentor. He named her Kamala to make her spiritually connected to the Hindu traditions at the Kumbh. She is to take a holy dip in the Sangam and embrace the Kalpvas tradition – the concept of austere living – during her stay. Clad in long white apparel and an orange shawl, she sported a ‘rudraksh mala’ around her neck. She had presented a similar orange shawl to her spiritual guru. The billionaire businesswoman and philanthropist, 61, will spend 17 days at the religious congregation, which is expected to witness a footfall of 400 million people.Before arriving in Prayagraj, on Saturday, she, along with spiritual leader Kailashanand Giri Maharaj, visited the famous Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi.“As per our Indian tradition, in Kashi Vishwanath, no other Hindu can touch the Shivling. That’s why she was made to see the Shivling from outside… She will also stay in Kumbh and take a dip in Ganga,” Kailashanand Giri said while interacting with media persons.He called her his “daughter” but said as a devout Hindu he must follow traditions which was why she was not allowed to touch the shivling.Jobs is the founder of investment and advocacy firm Emerson Collective and owns a majority stake in The Atlantic magazine. She has a net worth of over $15 billion, according to Forbes.Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Inc, died at 56 in October 2011. He had travelled to India in mid-1974 to visit Neem Karoli Baba at his Kainchi ashram in Uttarakhand with his college friend and eventual Apple employee Daniel Kottke in search of spiritual peace.The Maha Kumbh will be a 46-day affair till February 26. Calling it a “divine occasion”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that it brought together “countless people in a sacred confluence of faith, devotion and culture”.
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