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Origins

Jonas was born in Rio de Janeiro. He has described his family as having Italian heritage and Brazilian indigenous ancestry, primarily from the Minas Gerais region.

Education and early career

Graduated in mechanical engineering from the Instituto Militar de Engenharia (IME), in Rio de Janeiro, where he was also commissioned as an Army lieutenant. At age 21, he co-founded Morning Star Consulting, a financial market consultancy.

Study of Vedānta

Began Vedānta studies in 2004 with Santosh Vallury, an Indian teacher living in Brazil. After two years, continued under Glória Arieira — pioneer of Vedānta and Sanskrit teaching in Brazil, awarded the Padma Shri herself in 2020.

In 2006 he met Swami Dayananda Saraswati during a study trip to the United States, at the ashram in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. He subsequently travelled to India for six-month intensive courses. In 2009, he entered a multi-year residential course with Swami Dayananda at the Arsha Vidya Gurukulam in Coimbatore.

Throughout these years he also studied under Swami Sākṣātkṛtānanda Saraswati, Swami Paramārthānanda, Swami Tattvavidānanda, and Swami Viditātmānanda, completed his formation, and received the title of Ācārya in Vedānta.

Instituto Vishva Vidya

Founded in 2014 in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Instituto Vishva Vidya has the mission of preserving the Vedic tradition and disseminating its message in Brazil and worldwide. It runs retreats and online classes on Vedānta, meditation, Sanskrit, mantras, and Vedic tradition.

The name Vishva Vidya — Sanskrit for “Universal Knowledge” — was chosen by Swami Dayananda himself when Jonas conceived with him, at the end of the residential course, the project of online teaching and intensive retreats.

In 2020, the institute began the construction of a Gurukulam in Petrópolis — not a school, but a residence where new teachers live as a family. Adjacent, on a separate plot, a cultural centre is being built to introduce visitors to Vedic culture.