Satya Narayan Goenka, or S.N. Goenka as he is fondly called, was born on 29th January 1924. He was born in Burma to an Indian business family. He moved to India in the year 1969 and started teaching meditation. Through his teachings, he emphasized that Buddha’s path to liberation was non-sectarian. He later became an influential teacher. He played a vital role in the set up of non-commercial Vipassana meditation centers across the globe. He won the Padma Bhushan in the year 2012.