Steve Jobs' letter, sold for Rs. 4.32 crore, reveals his unfulfilled wish to visit Kumbh Mela

Jobs made it to India in 1973, but missed the Kumbh Mela.

A 51-year-old letter by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, which was sold for Rs 4.32 crore in 2021 and recently resurfaced again, has brought his spiritual side and an unfulfilled desire to attend a Kumbh Mela to the forefront.

According to Bonhams, the letter, dated February 23, 1974 and written to Jobs' friend Tim Brown.

In the letter, Jobs wrote:

" tim

i have read your letter many times /i do not know what to say. many mornings have come and gone/people have came and went/i have loved and i have cried many times./somehow, though, beneath it all it doesn't change - do you understand?

i am now living on a farm in the mountains between Los Gatos and Santa Cruz. i wish to go to India for the Kumba Mela, which starts in April. i will be leaving sometime in March, not really certain yet. if you desire, and i am still here when you arive (sic), we can come up here in the mountains together and you can tell me your thoughts and feelings, which I did not fully understand from your letter. There is a fire in the other room and i am getting cold here. i will end by saying i do not even know where to begin.

shanti

Steve Jobs."

The letter was written just a day before Jobs' 19th birthday, and Bonham notes that it was in reply to Brown's thoughts on Zen Buddhism. Around this time, Jobs had dropped out of college was living in a cabin in the foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains after having returned from a stint working on an apple (foresight?) farm, and was known to be in a search for meaning, which the letter reflects.

Jobs made it to India that year, but missed the Kumbh Mela. He spent seven months here, which inspired him to take up Zen Buddhism himself and follow Kobun Chino Otogawa, who later went on to officiate the wedding between Steve and Laurene Powell.

With the Maha Kumbh Mela underway, Laurene Powell Jobs has fulfilled her husband's wish on his behalf 14 years after the innovator passed away due to cancer. She is attending the mega event under guidance of her guru, Swami Kailashananda.