A native of Chennai, South India, Russill Paul (Arinud Jaidev) took to playing stringed instruments from the early age of four and began professional music in his teens. Although he was born and brought up in a Christian family, he developed a keen interest in Indian spirituality in childhood that has guided him into the present day. In 1984, he underwent a powerful spiritual transition that motivated him to begin living the unusual combination of a Benedictine monk and yogi under the direction of Dom Bede Griffiths