Born as Jan Šťovíček in the city of Pilsen in Czech Republic on 24th of February 1987, since the age of five he stayed alone with his father and grandmother. 1998-2006 attended Catholic High School in Pilsen, passing the leaving-school examination from subjects of Czech Language, English, History, Philosophy and Psychology, and Religious Studies. When he attended Catholic High School he encountered Buddhism by reading about it in books and gradually converted to Theravāda and decided to become a Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka. After one year of business English course in Pilsen he left from Czech Republic to Sri Lanka on 14th of December 2007, where he became a novice (sāmaṇera) on 5th of May 2008, where the ven. Pemasiri gave him the Pāḷi name “Saraṇa” (i.e. “who takes refuge in Buddha, Dhamma, and Saṅgha”). 2009-2011 ven.