When AI Meets Bhagavad Gita

With the aim of spreading the precious teachings of our sages to the world, Aditya Kapse, a BCA student at Sri Balaji University, Pune (SBUP), has created Madhav.AI—a spiritual companion designed to support users through life’s unexpected twists and turns

There is a saying in the Bhagavad Gita “In eternity, life is rooted with eternal leaves of the Vedic texts in which this life breathes”. With Madhav.AI, a spiritual companion, Aditya Kapse is working tirelessly to develop a chatbot that not only represents the timeless wisdom of India’s spiritual heritage, but also helps people to fight with their problems and overcome loneliness. “People, especially the youth, are stressed about almost everything in their lives. Often, they do not even know why they feel this way. That’s where this spiritual companion helps them understand their emotions, and provide support to deal with their problems,” says Aditya.

While Aditya and his classmate, Nachiket Waghmare have cofounded this spiritual companion portal recently, it is still under upgradation, based on user feedback. “Merging AI and the Bhagavad Gita was nothing short of a herculean task. It took us a year to decode all 18 chapters and 700 verses, based on various human emotions and life situations. Madhav.AI has answers to all your questions,” Aditya adds.

Birth of Madhav.AI

The idea came into being when Aditya was going through one of the toughest phases of his life. “I was in my second year of BCA when I lost a close relative. The grief was overwhelming. Soon after, I suffered huge losses in stock market. These two incidents left a great impact on me. That’s when Bhagavad Gita entered into my life,” recalls Aditya. After finding the answers to his sufferings, Aditya decided to share this wisdom with the everyone. As a young tech-savvy student, he chose artificial intelligence as his medium.

Aditya pitched his idea to his professors, who encouraged him to participate in the Techno Tuners contest organised by SBUP’s School of Computer Studies. The newly formed team of two won the contest and joined SRUJANEntrepreneurship Development and Incubation Centre. Joining SRUJAN was a turning point. It opened doors to larger platforms, including the Festival of Startups by Pimpri Chinchwad Startup Incubation Centre, where the team secured third place and a prize of Rs.10,000.

Built to guide

Step-by-step they registered their company Nextunitech.Pvt Ltd. and started building the portal. “We have designed this portal in a thread format. It remembers every detail you share, and guides you based on the solution provided in Bhagavad Gita. We're now working on making it more personalised by adding meditation methods and guided exercises,” says Aditya. To ensure users' data privacy and security, the platform is protected by robust security layers.

Madhav.AI is available to users of all age groups for a minimal subscription fee of Rs.49, and the team is currently focusing on students and the corporate sector. They are also exploring a B2B approach, looking to partner with companies, fitness and yoga centres, and universities. They have already tied-up with a fintech company to use the portal for employee well-being.

Launching a startup, as Nachiket says, was very challenging. “In the middle of developing this portal we lost hope, circumstances tested us and even thoughts of quitting this project came into our minds. But, our mentors became our guiding light,” he says.

The team is now working towards developing this portal into an AI chatbot with global reach. “Today, there are a couple of AI chatbots dominating the global market. In India, we have roots in the Vedas, Puranas, and Gitas—we want to integrate the wisdom of these scriptures and present this precious knowledge to the world,” they say as they sign off.