Sadhguru: He was not of this planet. He came from another realm called Kailasa.

Why did he come?

Perhaps he saw a planet full of confused people who did not know how to use their intelligence. It is possible he decided to step in and open them up to the ultimate possibility they embodied.

Or, maybe, the earth was the first place he encountered on his travels.

Or, maybe, he was called. Maybe he heard the inner cry of human beings and decided to answer their longing.

With a being of such immensity and capability, all we are left with is conjecture. When one’s capability is of cosmic dimensions, every realm is inadequate. He may not have come with a mission. But he was a being with a vision. He had to share it.

He adopted a human form. Lore tells us that when he stood beside a horse, his face was on level with its ears. The southern Indian tradition says that he was twice as tall as an average woman. Based on these accounts, it would seem that he was nearly nine feet tall. The only animals he was seen to ride were an elephant and a bull; he was obviously too big to ride any other creature.

He mastered the human form, and assumed it in different ways. Most of the time, he took on an ideal form and was an extremely beautiful man – nine feet tall, perfectly formed. This image of Sundaresha, the exquisite one, endures in Indian calendar art even today.

Why nine feet? Maybe he got the proportions a little wrong. Or, maybe, knowing the human attachment and identity with form, he realized that his size would enhance his impact as a teacher.

This is why lore describes Adiyogi as swayambhu – self-created. He has no parentage, no pedigree, no caste, no community. He is not available to the forces of destiny. He is not available to the forces of karma. He is not available to the normal processes of life. His life is self-made.

Fundamentally, the basis of yoga is just this: to initiate a process of self-creation where the nature of your body, your emotion, your mind, your energy is consciously created by you. This is what Adiyogi did. He crafted his life in its entirety.

#Adiyogi Page 71

#SadhguruBooks

#Shiva #Sadhguru #isha #YogiShiva

Jaggi Vasudev also known as Sadhguru, is an Indian yogi and mystic. He founded the Isha Foundation, a non-profit organisation which offers yoga programs around the world, including India, United States, England, Lebanon, Singapore, Canada, Malaysia, Uganda and Australia. The Foundation is also involved in various social and community development activities, which have resulted in the Foundation being granted special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.[1]

Contents [hide]

1 Early life

2 Spiritual experience

3 Dhyanalinga

4 Isha Foundation

4.1 Social initiatives

5 Yoga programs

6 Participation in global and economic forums

7 Publications

7.1 English

7.2 Tamil

7.3 Hindi

7.4 Kannada

7.5 Telugu

8 References

9 Further reading

10 External links

Early life

Born into a Kannada family[2] in Mysore, Karnataka on 3 September 1957 to Susheela and Dr. Vasudev, Jagadish was the youngest of the Vasudev's four children – two boys and two girls. A travelling fortune-teller, who was asked to predict the child's future, predicted that the infant would have a fortunate life and named the infant Jagadish which means lord of the universe. Sadhguru's father was an ophthalmologist with the Indian Railways and as a result, the family moved frequently. At a young age, Jagadish, or Jaggi as he came to be known, developed an interest in nature and would frequently make trips into nearby forests which would sometimes last up to three days at a time. At the age of 11, Jaggi came in contact with Malladihalli Sri Raghavendra Swamiji who taught him a set of simple yoga asanas, the practice of which he regularly maintained.[3] Sadhguru states that "without a single day's break, this simple yoga that was taught to him kept happening and led to a much deeper experience later."[4]:39

After finishing his schooling, he graduated from the University of Mysore with a bachelor's degree in English Literature, standing second in his class.[5] During his college years, he developed an interest in travel and motorcycles. A frequent haunt of his and his friends was the Chamundi Hill near Mysore, where they often had get-togethers and nocturnal drives. He also travelled to various places in the country on his motorcycle. When he reached the Indo-Nepal border, he was stopped from entering Nepal because he did not possess a passport. This experience made him resolve "to earn some quick money," and just ride off somewhere where people couldn't stop him. This led him to open several successful businesses after graduation, including a poultry farm, a brickworks and a construction business.[5]

Spiritual experience

At the age of twenty-five on 23 September 1981, he rode up Chamundi Hill and sat on a rock, when he had a spiritual experience. Sadhguru describes his experience, "Till that moment in my life I always thought this is me and that's somebody else and something else. But for the first time I did not know which is me and which is not me. Suddenly, what was me was just all over the place. The very rock on which I was sitting, the air that I breathe, the very atmosphere around me, I had just exploded into everything. That sounds like utter insanity. This, I thought it lasted for ten to fifteen minutes but when I came back to my normal consciousness, I was about four-and-a-half-hours I was sitting there, fully conscious, eyes open, but time had just flipped."[6]:04:04 Six weeks after this experience, he left his business to his friend and travelled extensively in an effort to gain insight into his 'mystical' experience. After a year of meditation and travel, Sadhguru decided to teach yoga to share his inner experience.[7]

In 1983, he conducted his first yoga class with seven participants in Mysore. Over time, he began conducting yoga classes across Karnataka and Hyderabad travelling from class to class on his motorcycle. He lived of the proceeds of his poultry farm rental and refused payment for the classes. A usual practice of his was to donate the collections received from participants to a local charity on the last day of the class.[7] These initial programs were the basic format on which the Isha Yoga classes were later built on.

In 1989, he conducted his first class in Coimbatore, near which the Isha Yoga Center would later be established. The classes were known as Sahaja Sthiti Yoga and involved asanas, pranayama kriyas and meditation. In 1993, Sadhguru decided to set up an ashram to support the growing number of spiritual aspirants. After examining with various sites around Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Goa, he decided on a thirteen acre site situated at the foothills of the Velliangiri Mountains, thirty kilometres from Coimbatore. In 1994, the site was bought and the Isha Yoga Center was set up.[4]

Dhyanalinga

Main article: Dhyanalinga

The Dhyanalinga within the temple dome.

In 1994, Sadhguru conducted the first program in the ashram premises, during which he discussed the Dhyanalinga. The Dhyanalinga is a yogic temple and a space for meditation, the consecration of which, Sadhguru had stated was his life's mission entrusted to him by his Guru.[7] In 1996, the stone edifice of the linga was ordered and arrived at the ashram. After three years of work, the Dhyanalinga was completed on 23 June 1999[8] and opened to the public on 23 November.[9]

The Dhyanalinga yogic temple offers a meditative space that does not ascribe to any particular faith or belief system.[10] A 76-foot dome, constructed using only bricks and stabilised mud mortar without steel or concrete,[11] covers the sanctum sanctorum. The lingam is 13 feet, 9 inches in height and made of high density black granite. The Sarva Dharma Sthamba, located at the front entrance, functions as an icon of singularity, with the sculptural reliefs and symbols of Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Shinto inscribed as a universal welcome.[12]

Isha Foundation

Main article: Isha Foundation

Saplings being readied for transportation at a PGH nursery.

Sadhguru established Isha Foundation, a non-religious, non-profit organisation entirely run by volunteers. The Isha Yoga Center near Coimbatore was founded in 1992, and hosts a series of programs to heighten self-awareness through yoga. The foundation works in tandem with international bodies like the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.[1]

Social initiatives[edit]

He also founded Project GreenHands (PGH), a grassroots ecological initiative which was awarded the highest Indian environmental award, the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar, by the Government of India in June 2010.[13] PGH aims to increase the green cover in Tamil Nadu by 10% and has successfully overseen the planting of more than 17 million trees by over 2 million volunteers. In an interview to the National Geographic Green magazine, Sadhguru explained the impetus which led him to establish Project GreenHands: "In the year 1998, certain experts […] made a prediction, by 2025, 60% of Tamil Nadu will be a desert. […] I decided to drive across Tamil Nadu and see for myself if this is true. […] I realized they were completely wrong because it wouldn’t go to 2025, it would happen much faster according to me. […] So from ‘98 to 2003, 2004, I went about planting trees in people’s minds. And since 2004, we are transplanting those trees back to the ground."[14]

Action for Rural Rejuvenation (ARR), is an initiative under Isha Foundation, that is aimed towards improving the overall health and quality of life of the rural poor. ARR was established by Sadhguru in 2003 and seeks to benefit 70 million people in 54,000 villages across South India. As of 2010, ARR has reached over 4,200 villages and a population of over 7 million people.[15][16] He has also been involved with agricultural and farmers' associations to work towards resolving issues faced by Indian farmers.[17]

Isha Vidhya, is Isha Foundation's educational initiative, which aims to raise the level of education and literacy in rural India. There are seven schools in operation which educate around 3000 students.[18] The foundation has also "adopted" 26 government schools to reach out to students from financially constrained backgrounds, and aims to adopt up to 3000 schools.[19][20]

Yoga programs

Sadhguru conducting the Inner Engineering Program at the Bombay Stock Exchange, Mumbai.

After the establishment of the ashram, Sadhguru began conducting regular yoga programs at the Isha Yoga Center, including a course for the Indian Hockey team in 1996.[21][22] In 1997, he began conducting classes in the United States[23][24] and in 1998, he began conducting yoga classes for life-term prisoners in Tamil Nadu prisons.[25] From 2011, he began conducting programs with large-scale participation of up to 10,000 and 15,000 participants at once. These large-scale programs have been attended by over 75,000 people in total.[26][27]

The programs offered by Sadhguru are offered under the umbrella of Isha Yoga. The word Isha means the formless divine.[28] Isha Yoga's flagship program is 'Inner Engineering' where individuals are initiated into meditation and pranayam and the Shambhavi Mahamudra.[29] He is also conducting yoga classes for the corporate leadership to introduce them to what he calls "inclusive economics," which he says introduces a sense of compassion and inclusiveness into today's economic scenario.[30][31]

Sadhguru also regularly conducts Mahasathsangs in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka that include discourses, meditations and question and answer sessions with the audience. These Mahasathsangs are also used as platforms to encourage tree-planting activities.[32] He also takes spiritual aspirants on annual yatras to Mount Kailash and the Himalayas. The Kailash Yatra led by Sadhguru is among the largest groups to make the trip to Kailash, with 514 pilgrims attending the journey in 2010.[33][34]

Sadhguru also organises all-night Mahashivarathri celebrations every year at the Isha Yoga Center, which in 2013, were attended by an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people approximately.[35][36][37] The night includes music, dance and guided meditation sessions. In 2013, performers included Carnatic singer Aruna Sairam, dancer Anita Ratnam and the band, The Raghu Dixit Project.[37]

In March 2005, construction of the Isha Institute of Inner-sciences (III) in McMinnville, Tennessee, USA was begun and was completed 6 months later. Sadhguru had decided to established III as a center for spiritual growth in the Western Hemisphere. On 7 November 2008, Sadhguru consecrated the Mahima Hall, a 39,000 square foot, free-standing meditation hall at the III.[38] On 30 January 2010, Sadhguru consecrated the Linga Bhairavi, a representation of the feminine aspects of the divine at the Isha Yoga Center.[4]

Participation in global and economic forums

KV Kamath, who was present at the Isha Insight program.

Sadhguru has spoken at the United Nations Millennium World Peace Summit in 2000,[39] the World Economic Forum in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.[40] On 24 June 2013, he conducted a multi-religious session titled, "Interfaith Deliberations on the Universality of Religions" at the Isha Yoga Center, which was attended by representatives of various religions, and coincided with the fourteenth anniversary celebrations of the Dhyanalinga.[41][42]

In 2012, he was voted among the hundred most powerful Indians for his contribution in the field of environmental protection and for encouraging public participation in ecological issues.[43] He was also a participant in the 2006 documentary film ONE: The Movie. He has also been involved in one-on-one interactions as part of the "In Conversations With the Mystic" program with Anupam Kher, Jasti Chelameswar, Dilip Cherian, Muzaffar Ali and Tarun Tahiliani.[44][45]

In 2012, he initiated the Isha Insight program, which focuses on helping small and medium businesses scale up their business activities. The program was conducted by Ram Charan, with KV Kamath Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao Shankar Annaswamy, Vellayan Subbiah and Pramod Chaudhari also active in the program.[46] In an interview with Forbes magazine, Sadhguru, speaking about the motivation behind setting up the program, said, "While speaking at economic summits and to leaders in India and outside, I have noticed that the most serious issue people have is a lack of insight into what they are doing, or what they could do. That’s how we ended up creating this programme called Insight."[47]

Publications

Jaggi Vasudev also known as Sadhguru, is an Indian yogi and mystic. He founded the Isha Foundation, a non-profit organisation which offers yoga programs around the world, including India, United States, England, Lebanon, Singapore, Canada, Malaysia, Uganda and Australia. The Foundation is also involved in various social and community development activities, which have resulted in the Foundation being granted special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.[1]

Contents [hide]

1 Early life

2 Spiritual experience

3 Dhyanalinga

4 Isha Foundation

4.1 Social initiatives

5 Yoga programs

6 Participation in global and economic forums

7 Publications

7.1 English

7.2 Tamil

7.3 Hindi

7.4 Kannada

7.5 Telugu

8 References

9 Further reading

10 External links

Early life

Born into a Kannada family[2] in Mysore, Karnataka on 3 September 1957 to Susheela and Dr. Vasudev, Jagadish was the youngest of the Vasudev's four children – two boys and two girls. A travelling fortune-teller, who was asked to predict the child's future, predicted that the infant would have a fortunate life and named the infant Jagadish which means lord of the universe. Sadhguru's father was an ophthalmologist with the Indian Railways and as a result, the family moved frequently. At a young age, Jagadish, or Jaggi as he came to be known, developed an interest in nature and would frequently make trips into nearby forests which would sometimes last up to three days at a time. At the age of 11, Jaggi came in contact with Malladihalli Sri Raghavendra Swamiji who taught him a set of simple yoga asanas, the practice of which he regularly maintained.[3] Sadhguru states that "without a single day's break, this simple yoga that was taught to him kept happening and led to a much deeper experience later."[4]:39

After finishing his schooling, he graduated from the University of Mysore with a bachelor's degree in English Literature, standing second in his class.[5] During his college years, he developed an interest in travel and motorcycles. A frequent haunt of his and his friends was the Chamundi Hill near Mysore, where they often had get-togethers and nocturnal drives. He also travelled to various places in the country on his motorcycle. When he reached the Indo-Nepal border, he was stopped from entering Nepal because he did not possess a passport. This experience made him resolve "to earn some quick money," and just ride off somewhere where people couldn't stop him. This led him to open several successful businesses after graduation, including a poultry farm, a brickworks and a construction business.[5]

Spiritual experience

At the age of twenty-five on 23 September 1981, he rode up Chamundi Hill and sat on a rock, when he had a spiritual experience. Sadhguru describes his experience, "Till that moment in my life I always thought this is me and that's somebody else and something else. But for the first time I did not know which is me and which is not me. Suddenly, what was me was just all over the place. The very rock on which I was sitting, the air that I breathe, the very atmosphere around me, I had just exploded into everything. That sounds like utter insanity. This, I thought it lasted for ten to fifteen minutes but when I came back to my normal consciousness, I was about four-and-a-half-hours I was sitting there, fully conscious, eyes open, but time had just flipped."[6]:04:04 Six weeks after this experience, he left his business to his friend and travelled extensively in an effort to gain insight into his 'mystical' experience. After a year of meditation and travel, Sadhguru decided to teach yoga to share his inner experience.[7]

In 1983, he conducted his first yoga class with seven participants in Mysore. Over time, he began conducting yoga classes across Karnataka and Hyderabad travelling from class to class on his motorcycle. He lived of the proceeds of his poultry farm rental and refused payment for the classes. A usual practice of his was to donate the collections received from participants to a local charity on the last day of the class.[7] These initial programs were the basic format on which the Isha Yoga classes were later built on.

In 1989, he conducted his first class in Coimbatore, near which the Isha Yoga Center would later be established. The classes were known as Sahaja Sthiti Yoga and involved asanas, pranayama kriyas and meditation. In 1993, Sadhguru decided to set up an ashram to support the growing number of spiritual aspirants. After examining with various sites around Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Goa, he decided on a thirteen acre site situated at the foothills of the Velliangiri Mountains, thirty kilometres from Coimbatore. In 1994, the site was bought and the Isha Yoga Center was set up.[4]

Dhyanalinga

Main article: Dhyanalinga

The Dhyanalinga within the temple dome.

In 1994, Sadhguru conducted the first program in the ashram premises, during which he discussed the Dhyanalinga. The Dhyanalinga is a yogic temple and a space for meditation, the consecration of which, Sadhguru had stated was his life's mission entrusted to him by his Guru.[7] In 1996, the stone edifice of the linga was ordered and arrived at the ashram. After three years of work, the Dhyanalinga was completed on 23 June 1999[8] and opened to the public on 23 November.[9]

The Dhyanalinga yogic temple offers a meditative space that does not ascribe to any particular faith or belief system.[10] A 76-foot dome, constructed using only bricks and stabilised mud mortar without steel or concrete,[11] covers the sanctum sanctorum. The lingam is 13 feet, 9 inches in height and made of high density black granite. The Sarva Dharma Sthamba, located at the front entrance, functions as an icon of singularity, with the sculptural reliefs and symbols of Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Shinto inscribed as a universal welcome.[12]

Isha Foundation

Main article: Isha Foundation

Saplings being readied for transportation at a PGH nursery.

Sadhguru established Isha Foundation, a non-religious, non-profit organisation entirely run by volunteers. The Isha Yoga Center near Coimbatore was founded in 1992, and hosts a series of programs to heighten self-awareness through yoga. The foundation works in tandem with international bodies like the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.[1]

Social initiatives[edit]

He also founded Project GreenHands (PGH), a grassroots ecological initiative which was awarded the highest Indian environmental award, the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar, by the Government of India in June 2010.[13] PGH aims to increase the green cover in Tamil Nadu by 10% and has successfully overseen the planting of more than 17 million trees by over 2 million volunteers. In an interview to the National Geographic Green magazine, Sadhguru explained the impetus which led him to establish Project GreenHands: "In the year 1998, certain experts […] made a prediction, by 2025, 60% of Tamil Nadu will be a desert. […] I decided to drive across Tamil Nadu and see for myself if this is true. […] I realized they were completely wrong because it wouldn’t go to 2025, it would happen much faster according to me. […] So from ‘98 to 2003, 2004, I went about planting trees in people’s minds. And since 2004, we are transplanting those trees back to the ground."[14]

Action for Rural Rejuvenation (ARR), is an initiative under Isha Foundation, that is aimed towards improving the overall health and quality of life of the rural poor. ARR was established by Sadhguru in 2003 and seeks to benefit 70 million people in 54,000 villages across South India. As of 2010, ARR has reached over 4,200 villages and a population of over 7 million people.[15][16] He has also been involved with agricultural and farmers' associations to work towards resolving issues faced by Indian farmers.[17]

Isha Vidhya, is Isha Foundation's educational initiative, which aims to raise the level of education and literacy in rural India. There are seven schools in operation which educate around 3000 students.[18] The foundation has also "adopted" 26 government schools to reach out to students from financially constrained backgrounds, and aims to adopt up to 3000 schools.[19][20]

Yoga programs

Sadhguru conducting the Inner Engineering Program at the Bombay Stock Exchange, Mumbai.

After the establishment of the ashram, Sadhguru began conducting regular yoga programs at the Isha Yoga Center, including a course for the Indian Hockey team in 1996.[21][22] In 1997, he began conducting classes in the United States[23][24] and in 1998, he began conducting yoga classes for life-term prisoners in Tamil Nadu prisons.[25] From 2011, he began conducting programs with large-scale participation of up to 10,000 and 15,000 participants at once. These large-scale programs have been attended by over 75,000 people in total.[26][27]

The programs offered by Sadhguru are offered under the umbrella of Isha Yoga. The word Isha means the formless divine.[28] Isha Yoga's flagship program is 'Inner Engineering' where individuals are initiated into meditation and pranayam and the Shambhavi Mahamudra.[29] He is also conducting yoga classes for the corporate leadership to introduce them to what he calls "inclusive economics," which he says introduces a sense of compassion and inclusiveness into today's economic scenario.[30][31]

Sadhguru also regularly conducts Mahasathsangs in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka that include discourses, meditations and question and answer sessions with the audience. These Mahasathsangs are also used as platforms to encourage tree-planting activities.[32] He also takes spiritual aspirants on annual yatras to Mount Kailash and the Himalayas. The Kailash Yatra led by Sadhguru is among the largest groups to make the trip to Kailash, with 514 pilgrims attending the journey in 2010.[33][34]

Sadhguru also organises all-night Mahashivarathri celebrations every year at the Isha Yoga Center, which in 2013, were attended by an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people approximately.[35][36][37] The night includes music, dance and guided meditation sessions. In 2013, performers included Carnatic singer Aruna Sairam, dancer Anita Ratnam and the band, The Raghu Dixit Project.[37]

In March 2005, construction of the Isha Institute of Inner-sciences (III) in McMinnville, Tennessee, USA was begun and was completed 6 months later. Sadhguru had decided to established III as a center for spiritual growth in the Western Hemisphere. On 7 November 2008, Sadhguru consecrated the Mahima Hall, a 39,000 square foot, free-standing meditation hall at the III.[38] On 30 January 2010, Sadhguru consecrated the Linga Bhairavi, a representation of the feminine aspects of the divine at the Isha Yoga Center.[4]

Participation in global and economic forums

KV Kamath, who was present at the Isha Insight program.

Sadhguru has spoken at the United Nations Millennium World Peace Summit in 2000,[39] the World Economic Forum in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.[40] On 24 June 2013, he conducted a multi-religious session titled, "Interfaith Deliberations on the Universality of Religions" at the Isha Yoga Center, which was attended by representatives of various religions, and coincided with the fourteenth anniversary celebrations of the Dhyanalinga.[41][42]

In 2012, he was voted among the hundred most powerful Indians for his contribution in the field of environmental protection and for encouraging public participation in ecological issues.[43] He was also a participant in the 2006 documentary film ONE: The Movie. He has also been involved in one-on-one interactions as part of the "In Conversations With the Mystic" program with Anupam Kher, Jasti Chelameswar, Dilip Cherian, Muzaffar Ali and Tarun Tahiliani.[44][45]

In 2012, he initiated the Isha Insight program, which focuses on helping small and medium businesses scale up their business activities. The program was conducted by Ram Charan, with KV Kamath Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao Shankar Annaswamy, Vellayan Subbiah and Pramod Chaudhari also active in the program.[46] In an interview with Forbes magazine, Sadhguru, speaking about the motivation behind setting up the program, said, "While speaking at economic summits and to leaders in India and outside, I have noticed that the most serious issue people have is a lack of insight into what they are doing, or what they could do. That’s how we ended up creating this programme called Insight."[47]

Publications

Jaggi Vasudev also known as Sadhguru, is an Indian yogi and mystic. He founded the Isha Foundation, a non-profit organisation which offers yoga programs around the world, including India, United States, England, Lebanon, Singapore, Canada, Malaysia, Uganda and Australia. The Foundation is also involved in various social and community development activities, which have resulted in the Foundation being granted special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.[1]

Contents [hide]

1 Early life

2 Spiritual experience

3 Dhyanalinga

4 Isha Foundation

4.1 Social initiatives

5 Yoga programs

6 Participation in global and economic forums

7 Publications

7.1 English

7.2 Tamil

7.3 Hindi

7.4 Kannada

7.5 Telugu

8 References

9 Further reading

10 External links

Early life

Born into a Kannada family[2] in Mysore, Karnataka on 3 September 1957 to Susheela and Dr. Vasudev, Jagadish was the youngest of the Vasudev's four children – two boys and two girls. A travelling fortune-teller, who was asked to predict the child's future, predicted that the infant would have a fortunate life and named the infant Jagadish which means lord of the universe. Sadhguru's father was an ophthalmologist with the Indian Railways and as a result, the family moved frequently. At a young age, Jagadish, or Jaggi as he came to be known, developed an interest in nature and would frequently make trips into nearby forests which would sometimes last up to three days at a time. At the age of 11, Jaggi came in contact with Malladihalli Sri Raghavendra Swamiji who taught him a set of simple yoga asanas, the practice of which he regularly maintained.[3] Sadhguru states that "without a single day's break, this simple yoga that was taught to him kept happening and led to a much deeper experience later."[4]:39

After finishing his schooling, he graduated from the University of Mysore with a bachelor's degree in English Literature, standing second in his class.[5] During his college years, he developed an interest in travel and motorcycles. A frequent haunt of his and his friends was the Chamundi Hill near Mysore, where they often had get-togethers and nocturnal drives. He also travelled to various places in the country on his motorcycle. When he reached the Indo-Nepal border, he was stopped from entering Nepal because he did not possess a passport. This experience made him resolve "to earn some quick money," and just ride off somewhere where people couldn't stop him. This led him to open several successful businesses after graduation, including a poultry farm, a brickworks and a construction business.[5]

Spiritual experience

At the age of twenty-five on 23 September 1981, he rode up Chamundi Hill and sat on a rock, when he had a spiritual experience. Sadhguru describes his experience, "Till that moment in my life I always thought this is me and that's somebody else and something else. But for the first time I did not know which is me and which is not me. Suddenly, what was me was just all over the place. The very rock on which I was sitting, the air that I breathe, the very atmosphere around me, I had just exploded into everything. That sounds like utter insanity. This, I thought it lasted for ten to fifteen minutes but when I came back to my normal consciousness, I was about four-and-a-half-hours I was sitting there, fully conscious, eyes open, but time had just flipped."[6]:04:04 Six weeks after this experience, he left his business to his friend and travelled extensively in an effort to gain insight into his 'mystical' experience. After a year of meditation and travel, Sadhguru decided to teach yoga to share his inner experience.[7]

In 1983, he conducted his first yoga class with seven participants in Mysore. Over time, he began conducting yoga classes across Karnataka and Hyderabad travelling from class to class on his motorcycle. He lived of the proceeds of his poultry farm rental and refused payment for the classes. A usual practice of his was to donate the collections received from participants to a local charity on the last day of the class.[7] These initial programs were the basic format on which the Isha Yoga classes were later built on.

In 1989, he conducted his first class in Coimbatore, near which the Isha Yoga Center would later be established. The classes were known as Sahaja Sthiti Yoga and involved asanas, pranayama kriyas and meditation. In 1993, Sadhguru decided to set up an ashram to support the growing number of spiritual aspirants. After examining with various sites around Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Goa, he decided on a thirteen acre site situated at the foothills of the Velliangiri Mountains, thirty kilometres from Coimbatore. In 1994, the site was bought and the Isha Yoga Center was set up.[4]

Dhyanalinga

Main article: Dhyanalinga

The Dhyanalinga within the temple dome.

In 1994, Sadhguru conducted the first program in the ashram premises, during which he discussed the Dhyanalinga. The Dhyanalinga is a yogic temple and a space for meditation, the consecration of which, Sadhguru had stated was his life's mission entrusted to him by his Guru.[7] In 1996, the stone edifice of the linga was ordered and arrived at the ashram. After three years of work, the Dhyanalinga was completed on 23 June 1999[8] and opened to the public on 23 November.[9]

The Dhyanalinga yogic temple offers a meditative space that does not ascribe to any particular faith or belief system.[10] A 76-foot dome, constructed using only bricks and stabilised mud mortar without steel or concrete,[11] covers the sanctum sanctorum. The lingam is 13 feet, 9 inches in height and made of high density black granite. The Sarva Dharma Sthamba, located at the front entrance, functions as an icon of singularity, with the sculptural reliefs and symbols of Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Shinto inscribed as a universal welcome.[12]

Isha Foundation

Main article: Isha Foundation

Saplings being readied for transportation at a PGH nursery.

Sadhguru established Isha Foundation, a non-religious, non-profit organisation entirely run by volunteers. The Isha Yoga Center near Coimbatore was founded in 1992, and hosts a series of programs to heighten self-awareness through yoga. The foundation works in tandem with international bodies like the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.[1]

Social initiatives[edit]

He also founded Project GreenHands (PGH), a grassroots ecological initiative which was awarded the highest Indian environmental award, the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar, by the Government of India in June 2010.[13] PGH aims to increase the green cover in Tamil Nadu by 10% and has successfully overseen the planting of more than 17 million trees by over 2 million volunteers. In an interview to the National Geographic Green magazine, Sadhguru explained the impetus which led him to establish Project GreenHands: "In the year 1998, certain experts […] made a prediction, by 2025, 60% of Tamil Nadu will be a desert. […] I decided to drive across Tamil Nadu and see for myself if this is true. […] I realized they were completely wrong because it wouldn’t go to 2025, it would happen much faster according to me. […] So from ‘98 to 2003, 2004, I went about planting trees in people’s minds. And since 2004, we are transplanting those trees back to the ground."[14]

Action for Rural Rejuvenation (ARR), is an initiative under Isha Foundation, that is aimed towards improving the overall health and quality of life of the rural poor. ARR was established by Sadhguru in 2003 and seeks to benefit 70 million people in 54,000 villages across South India. As of 2010, ARR has reached over 4,200 villages and a population of over 7 million people.[15][16] He has also been involved with agricultural and farmers' associations to work towards resolving issues faced by Indian farmers.[17]

Isha Vidhya, is Isha Foundation's educational initiative, which aims to raise the level of education and literacy in rural India. There are seven schools in operation which educate around 3000 students.[18] The foundation has also "adopted" 26 government schools to reach out to students from financially constrained backgrounds, and aims to adopt up to 3000 schools.[19][20]

Yoga programs

Sadhguru conducting the Inner Engineering Program at the Bombay Stock Exchange, Mumbai.

After the establishment of the ashram, Sadhguru began conducting regular yoga programs at the Isha Yoga Center, including a course for the Indian Hockey team in 1996.[21][22] In 1997, he began conducting classes in the United States[23][24] and in 1998, he began conducting yoga classes for life-term prisoners in Tamil Nadu prisons.[25] From 2011, he began conducting programs with large-scale participation of up to 10,000 and 15,000 participants at once. These large-scale programs have been attended by over 75,000 people in total.[26][27]

The programs offered by Sadhguru are offered under the umbrella of Isha Yoga. The word Isha means the formless divine.[28] Isha Yoga's flagship program is 'Inner Engineering' where individuals are initiated into meditation and pranayam and the Shambhavi Mahamudra.[29] He is also conducting yoga classes for the corporate leadership to introduce them to what he calls "inclusive economics," which he says introduces a sense of compassion and inclusiveness into today's economic scenario.[30][31]

Sadhguru also regularly conducts Mahasathsangs in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka that include discourses, meditations and question and answer sessions with the audience. These Mahasathsangs are also used as platforms to encourage tree-planting activities.[32] He also takes spiritual aspirants on annual yatras to Mount Kailash and the Himalayas. The Kailash Yatra led by Sadhguru is among the largest groups to make the trip to Kailash, with 514 pilgrims attending the journey in 2010.[33][34]

Sadhguru also organises all-night Mahashivarathri celebrations every year at the Isha Yoga Center, which in 2013, were attended by an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people approximately.[35][36][37] The night includes music, dance and guided meditation sessions. In 2013, performers included Carnatic singer Aruna Sairam, dancer Anita Ratnam and the band, The Raghu Dixit Project.[37]

In March 2005, construction of the Isha Institute of Inner-sciences (III) in McMinnville, Tennessee, USA was begun and was completed 6 months later. Sadhguru had decided to established III as a center for spiritual growth in the Western Hemisphere. On 7 November 2008, Sadhguru consecrated the Mahima Hall, a 39,000 square foot, free-standing meditation hall at the III.[38] On 30 January 2010, Sadhguru consecrated the Linga Bhairavi, a representation of the feminine aspects of the divine at the Isha Yoga Center.[4]

Participation in global and economic forums

KV Kamath, who was present at the Isha Insight program.

Sadhguru has spoken at the United Nations Millennium World Peace Summit in 2000,[39] the World Economic Forum in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.[40] On 24 June 2013, he conducted a multi-religious session titled, "Interfaith Deliberations on the Universality of Religions" at the Isha Yoga Center, which was attended by representatives of various religions, and coincided with the fourteenth anniversary celebrations of the Dhyanalinga.[41][42]

In 2012, he was voted among the hundred most powerful Indians for his contribution in the field of environmental protection and for encouraging public participation in ecological issues.[43] He was also a participant in the 2006 documentary film ONE: The Movie. He has also been involved in one-on-one interactions as part of the "In Conversations With the Mystic" program with Anupam Kher, Jasti Chelameswar, Dilip Cherian, Muzaffar Ali and Tarun Tahiliani.[44][45]

In 2012, he initiated the Isha Insight program, which focuses on helping small and medium businesses scale up their business activities. The program was conducted by Ram Charan, with KV Kamath Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao Shankar Annaswamy, Vellayan Subbiah and Pramod Chaudhari also active in the program.[46] In an interview with Forbes magazine, Sadhguru, speaking about the motivation behind setting up the program, said, "While speaking at economic summits and to leaders in India and outside, I have noticed that the most serious issue people have is a lack of insight into what they are doing, or what they could do. That’s how we ended up creating this programme called Insight."[47]

Publications

Jaggi Vasudev also known as Sadhguru, is an Indian yogi and mystic. He founded the Isha Foundation, a non-profit organisation which offers yoga programs around the world, including India, United States, England, Lebanon, Singapore, Canada, Malaysia, Uganda and Australia. The Foundation is also involved in various social and community development activities, which have resulted in the Foundation being granted special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.[1]

Contents [hide]

1 Early life

2 Spiritual experience

3 Dhyanalinga

4 Isha Foundation

4.1 Social initiatives

5 Yoga programs

6 Participation in global and economic forums

7 Publications

7.1 English

7.2 Tamil

7.3 Hindi

7.4 Kannada

7.5 Telugu

8 References

9 Further reading

10 External links

Early life

Born into a Kannada family[2] in Mysore, Karnataka on 3 September 1957 to Susheela and Dr. Vasudev, Jagadish was the youngest of the Vasudev's four children – two boys and two girls. A travelling fortune-teller, who was asked to predict the child's future, predicted that the infant would have a fortunate life and named the infant Jagadish which means lord of the universe. Sadhguru's father was an ophthalmologist with the Indian Railways and as a result, the family moved frequently. At a young age, Jagadish, or Jaggi as he came to be known, developed an interest in nature and would frequently make trips into nearby forests which would sometimes last up to three days at a time. At the age of 11, Jaggi came in contact with Malladihalli Sri Raghavendra Swamiji who taught him a set of simple yoga asanas, the practice of which he regularly maintained.[3] Sadhguru states that "without a single day's break, this simple yoga that was taught to him kept happening and led to a much deeper experience later."[4]:39

After finishing his schooling, he graduated from the University of Mysore with a bachelor's degree in English Literature, standing second in his class.[5] During his college years, he developed an interest in travel and motorcycles. A frequent haunt of his and his friends was the Chamundi Hill near Mysore, where they often had get-togethers and nocturnal drives. He also travelled to various places in the country on his motorcycle. When he reached the Indo-Nepal border, he was stopped from entering Nepal because he did not possess a passport. This experience made him resolve "to earn some quick money," and just ride off somewhere where people couldn't stop him. This led him to open several successful businesses after graduation, including a poultry farm, a brickworks and a construction business.[5]

Spiritual experience

At the age of twenty-five on 23 September 1981, he rode up Chamundi Hill and sat on a rock, when he had a spiritual experience. Sadhguru describes his experience, "Till that moment in my life I always thought this is me and that's somebody else and something else. But for the first time I did not know which is me and which is not me. Suddenly, what was me was just all over the place. The very rock on which I was sitting, the air that I breathe, the very atmosphere around me, I had just exploded into everything. That sounds like utter insanity. This, I thought it lasted for ten to fifteen minutes but when I came back to my normal consciousness, I was about four-and-a-half-hours I was sitting there, fully conscious, eyes open, but time had just flipped."[6]:04:04 Six weeks after this experience, he left his business to his friend and travelled extensively in an effort to gain insight into his 'mystical' experience. After a year of meditation and travel, Sadhguru decided to teach yoga to share his inner experience.[7]

In 1983, he conducted his first yoga class with seven participants in Mysore. Over time, he began conducting yoga classes across Karnataka and Hyderabad travelling from class to class on his motorcycle. He lived of the proceeds of his poultry farm rental and refused payment for the classes. A usual practice of his was to donate the collections received from participants to a local charity on the last day of the class.[7] These initial programs were the basic format on which the Isha Yoga classes were later built on.

In 1989, he conducted his first class in Coimbatore, near which the Isha Yoga Center would later be established. The classes were known as Sahaja Sthiti Yoga and involved asanas, pranayama kriyas and meditation. In 1993, Sadhguru decided to set up an ashram to support the growing number of spiritual aspirants. After examining with various sites around Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Goa, he decided on a thirteen acre site situated at the foothills of the Velliangiri Mountains, thirty kilometres from Coimbatore. In 1994, the site was bought and the Isha Yoga Center was set up.[4]

Dhyanalinga

Main article: Dhyanalinga

The Dhyanalinga within the temple dome.

In 1994, Sadhguru conducted the first program in the ashram premises, during which he discussed the Dhyanalinga. The Dhyanalinga is a yogic temple and a space for meditation, the consecration of which, Sadhguru had stated was his life's mission entrusted to him by his Guru.[7] In 1996, the stone edifice of the linga was ordered and arrived at the ashram. After three years of work, the Dhyanalinga was completed on 23 June 1999[8] and opened to the public on 23 November.[9]

The Dhyanalinga yogic temple offers a meditative space that does not ascribe to any particular faith or belief system.[10] A 76-foot dome, constructed using only bricks and stabilised mud mortar without steel or concrete,[11] covers the sanctum sanctorum. The lingam is 13 feet, 9 inches in height and made of high density black granite. The Sarva Dharma Sthamba, located at the front entrance, functions as an icon of singularity, with the sculptural reliefs and symbols of Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Shinto inscribed as a universal welcome.[12]

Isha Foundation

Main article: Isha Foundation

Saplings being readied for transportation at a PGH nursery.

Sadhguru established Isha Foundation, a non-religious, non-profit organisation entirely run by volunteers. The Isha Yoga Center near Coimbatore was founded in 1992, and hosts a series of programs to heighten self-awareness through yoga. The foundation works in tandem with international bodies like the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.[1]

Social initiatives[edit]

He also founded Project GreenHands (PGH), a grassroots ecological initiative which was awarded the highest Indian environmental award, the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar, by the Government of India in June 2010.[13] PGH aims to increase the green cover in Tamil Nadu by 10% and has successfully overseen the planting of more than 17 million trees by over 2 million volunteers. In an interview to the National Geographic Green magazine, Sadhguru explained the impetus which led him to establish Project GreenHands: "In the year 1998, certain experts […] made a prediction, by 2025, 60% of Tamil Nadu will be a desert. […] I decided to drive across Tamil Nadu and see for myself if this is true. […] I realized they were completely wrong because it wouldn’t go to 2025, it would happen much faster according to me. […] So from ‘98 to 2003, 2004, I went about planting trees in people’s minds. And since 2004, we are transplanting those trees back to the ground."[14]

Action for Rural Rejuvenation (ARR), is an initiative under Isha Foundation, that is aimed towards improving the overall health and quality of life of the rural poor. ARR was established by Sadhguru in 2003 and seeks to benefit 70 million people in 54,000 villages across South India. As of 2010, ARR has reached over 4,200 villages and a population of over 7 million people.[15][16] He has also been involved with agricultural and farmers' associations to work towards resolving issues faced by Indian farmers.[17]

Isha Vidhya, is Isha Foundation's educational initiative, which aims to raise the level of education and literacy in rural India. There are seven schools in operation which educate around 3000 students.[18] The foundation has also "adopted" 26 government schools to reach out to students from financially constrained backgrounds, and aims to adopt up to 3000 schools.[19][20]

Yoga programs

Sadhguru conducting the Inner Engineering Program at the Bombay Stock Exchange, Mumbai.

After the establishment of the ashram, Sadhguru began conducting regular yoga programs at the Isha Yoga Center, including a course for the Indian Hockey team in 1996.[21][22] In 1997, he began conducting classes in the United States[23][24] and in 1998, he began conducting yoga classes for life-term prisoners in Tamil Nadu prisons.[25] From 2011, he began conducting programs with large-scale participation of up to 10,000 and 15,000 participants at once. These large-scale programs have been attended by over 75,000 people in total.[26][27]

The programs offered by Sadhguru are offered under the umbrella of Isha Yoga. The word Isha means the formless divine.[28] Isha Yoga's flagship program is 'Inner Engineering' where individuals are initiated into meditation and pranayam and the Shambhavi Mahamudra.[29] He is also conducting yoga classes for the corporate leadership to introduce them to what he calls "inclusive economics," which he says introduces a sense of compassion and inclusiveness into today's economic scenario.[30][31]

Sadhguru also regularly conducts Mahasathsangs in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka that include discourses, meditations and question and answer sessions with the audience. These Mahasathsangs are also used as platforms to encourage tree-planting activities.[32] He also takes spiritual aspirants on annual yatras to Mount Kailash and the Himalayas. The Kailash Yatra led by Sadhguru is among the largest groups to make the trip to Kailash, with 514 pilgrims attending the journey in 2010.[33][34]

Sadhguru also organises all-night Mahashivarathri celebrations every year at the Isha Yoga Center, which in 2013, were attended by an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people approximately.[35][36][37] The night includes music, dance and guided meditation sessions. In 2013, performers included Carnatic singer Aruna Sairam, dancer Anita Ratnam and the band, The Raghu Dixit Project.[37]

In March 2005, construction of the Isha Institute of Inner-sciences (III) in McMinnville, Tennessee, USA was begun and was completed 6 months later. Sadhguru had decided to established III as a center for spiritual growth in the Western Hemisphere. On 7 November 2008, Sadhguru consecrated the Mahima Hall, a 39,000 square foot, free-standing meditation hall at the III.[38] On 30 January 2010, Sadhguru consecrated the Linga Bhairavi, a representation of the feminine aspects of the divine at the Isha Yoga Center.[4]

Participation in global and economic forums

KV Kamath, who was present at the Isha Insight program.

Sadhguru has spoken at the United Nations Millennium World Peace Summit in 2000,[39] the World Economic Forum in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.[40] On 24 June 2013, he conducted a multi-religious session titled, "Interfaith Deliberations on the Universality of Religions" at the Isha Yoga Center, which was attended by representatives of various religions, and coincided with the fourteenth anniversary celebrations of the Dhyanalinga.[41][42]

In 2012, he was voted among the hundred most powerful Indians for his contribution in the field of environmental protection and for encouraging public participation in ecological issues.[43] He was also a participant in the 2006 documentary film ONE: The Movie. He has also been involved in one-on-one interactions as part of the "In Conversations With the Mystic" program with Anupam Kher, Jasti Chelameswar, Dilip Cherian, Muzaffar Ali and Tarun Tahiliani.[44][45]

In 2012, he initiated the Isha Insight program, which focuses on helping small and medium businesses scale up their business activities. The program was conducted by Ram Charan, with KV Kamath Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao Shankar Annaswamy, Vellayan Subbiah and Pramod Chaudhari also active in the program.[46] In an interview with Forbes magazine, Sadhguru, speaking about the motivation behind setting up the program, said, "While speaking at economic summits and to leaders in India and outside, I have noticed that the most serious issue people have is a lack of insight into what they are doing, or what they could do. That’s how we ended up creating this programme called Insight."[47]

Publications

Jaggi Vasudev also known as Sadhguru, is an Indian yogi and mystic. He founded the Isha Foundation, a non-profit organisation which offers yoga programs around the world, including India, United States, England, Lebanon, Singapore, Canada, Malaysia, Uganda and Australia. The Foundation is also involved in various social and community development activities, which have resulted in the Foundation being granted special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.[1]

Contents [hide]

1 Early life

2 Spiritual experience

3 Dhyanalinga

4 Isha Foundation

4.1 Social initiatives

5 Yoga programs

6 Participation in global and economic forums

7 Publications

7.1 English

7.2 Tamil

7.3 Hindi

7.4 Kannada

7.5 Telugu

8 References

9 Further reading

10 External links

Early life

Born into a Kannada family[2] in Mysore, Karnataka on 3 September 1957 to Susheela and Dr. Vasudev, Jagadish was the youngest of the Vasudev's four children – two boys and two girls. A travelling fortune-teller, who was asked to predict the child's future, predicted that the infant would have a fortunate life and named the infant Jagadish which means lord of the universe. Sadhguru's father was an ophthalmologist with the Indian Railways and as a result, the family moved frequently. At a young age, Jagadish, or Jaggi as he came to be known, developed an interest in nature and would frequently make trips into nearby forests which would sometimes last up to three days at a time. At the age of 11, Jaggi came in contact with Malladihalli Sri Raghavendra Swamiji who taught him a set of simple yoga asanas, the practice of which he regularly maintained.[3] Sadhguru states that "without a single day's break, this simple yoga that was taught to him kept happening and led to a much deeper experience later."[4]:39

After finishing his schooling, he graduated from the University of Mysore with a bachelor's degree in English Literature, standing second in his class.[5] During his college years, he developed an interest in travel and motorcycles. A frequent haunt of his and his friends was the Chamundi Hill near Mysore, where they often had get-togethers and nocturnal drives. He also travelled to various places in the country on his motorcycle. When he reached the Indo-Nepal border, he was stopped from entering Nepal because he did not possess a passport. This experience made him resolve "to earn some quick money," and just ride off somewhere where people couldn't stop him. This led him to open several successful businesses after graduation, including a poultry farm, a brickworks and a construction business.[5]

Spiritual experience

At the age of twenty-five on 23 September 1981, he rode up Chamundi Hill and sat on a rock, when he had a spiritual experience. Sadhguru describes his experience, "Till that moment in my life I always thought this is me and that's somebody else and something else. But for the first time I did not know which is me and which is not me. Suddenly, what was me was just all over the place. The very rock on which I was sitting, the air that I breathe, the very atmosphere around me, I had just exploded into everything. That sounds like utter insanity. This, I thought it lasted for ten to fifteen minutes but when I came back to my normal consciousness, I was about four-and-a-half-hours I was sitting there, fully conscious, eyes open, but time had just flipped."[6]:04:04 Six weeks after this experience, he left his business to his friend and travelled extensively in an effort to gain insight into his 'mystical' experience. After a year of meditation and travel, Sadhguru decided to teach yoga to share his inner experience.[7]

In 1983, he conducted his first yoga class with seven participants in Mysore. Over time, he began conducting yoga classes across Karnataka and Hyderabad travelling from class to class on his motorcycle. He lived of the proceeds of his poultry farm rental and refused payment for the classes. A usual practice of his was to donate the collections received from participants to a local charity on the last day of the class.[7] These initial programs were the basic format on which the Isha Yoga classes were later built on.

In 1989, he conducted his first class in Coimbatore, near which the Isha Yoga Center would later be established. The classes were known as Sahaja Sthiti Yoga and involved asanas, pranayama kriyas and meditation. In 1993, Sadhguru decided to set up an ashram to support the growing number of spiritual aspirants. After examining with various sites around Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Goa, he decided on a thirteen acre site situated at the foothills of the Velliangiri Mountains, thirty kilometres from Coimbatore. In 1994, the site was bought and the Isha Yoga Center was set up.[4]

Dhyanalinga

Main article: Dhyanalinga

The Dhyanalinga within the temple dome.

In 1994, Sadhguru conducted the first program in the ashram premises, during which he discussed the Dhyanalinga. The Dhyanalinga is a yogic temple and a space for meditation, the consecration of which, Sadhguru had stated was his life's mission entrusted to him by his Guru.[7] In 1996, the stone edifice of the linga was ordered and arrived at the ashram. After three years of work, the Dhyanalinga was completed on 23 June 1999[8] and opened to the public on 23 November.[9]

The Dhyanalinga yogic temple offers a meditative space that does not ascribe to any particular faith or belief system.[10] A 76-foot dome, constructed using only bricks and stabilised mud mortar without steel or concrete,[11] covers the sanctum sanctorum. The lingam is 13 feet, 9 inches in height and made of high density black granite. The Sarva Dharma Sthamba, located at the front entrance, functions as an icon of singularity, with the sculptural reliefs and symbols of Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Shinto inscribed as a universal welcome.[12]

Isha Foundation

Main article: Isha Foundation

Saplings being readied for transportation at a PGH nursery.

Sadhguru established Isha Foundation, a non-religious, non-profit organisation entirely run by volunteers. The Isha Yoga Center near Coimbatore was founded in 1992, and hosts a series of programs to heighten self-awareness through yoga. The foundation works in tandem with international bodies like the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.[1]

Social initiatives[edit]

He also founded Project GreenHands (PGH), a grassroots ecological initiative which was awarded the highest Indian environmental award, the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar, by the Government of India in June 2010.[13] PGH aims to increase the green cover in Tamil Nadu by 10% and has successfully overseen the planting of more than 17 million trees by over 2 million volunteers. In an interview to the National Geographic Green magazine, Sadhguru explained the impetus which led him to establish Project GreenHands: "In the year 1998, certain experts […] made a prediction, by 2025, 60% of Tamil Nadu will be a desert. […] I decided to drive across Tamil Nadu and see for myself if this is true. […] I realized they were completely wrong because it wouldn’t go to 2025, it would happen much faster according to me. […] So from ‘98 to 2003, 2004, I went about planting trees in people’s minds. And since 2004, we are transplanting those trees back to the ground."[14]

Action for Rural Rejuvenation (ARR), is an initiative under Isha Foundation, that is aimed towards improving the overall health and quality of life of the rural poor. ARR was established by Sadhguru in 2003 and seeks to benefit 70 million people in 54,000 villages across South India. As of 2010, ARR has reached over 4,200 villages and a population of over 7 million people.[15][16] He has also been involved with agricultural and farmers' associations to work towards resolving issues faced by Indian farmers.[17]

Isha Vidhya, is Isha Foundation's educational initiative, which aims to raise the level of education and literacy in rural India. There are seven schools in operation which educate around 3000 students.[18] The foundation has also "adopted" 26 government schools to reach out to students from financially constrained backgrounds, and aims to adopt up to 3000 schools.[19][20]

Yoga programs

Sadhguru conducting the Inner Engineering Program at the Bombay Stock Exchange, Mumbai.

After the establishment of the ashram, Sadhguru began conducting regular yoga programs at the Isha Yoga Center, including a course for the Indian Hockey team in 1996.[21][22] In 1997, he began conducting classes in the United States[23][24] and in 1998, he began conducting yoga classes for life-term prisoners in Tamil Nadu prisons.[25] From 2011, he began conducting programs with large-scale participation of up to 10,000 and 15,000 participants at once. These large-scale programs have been attended by over 75,000 people in total.[26][27]

The programs offered by Sadhguru are offered under the umbrella of Isha Yoga. The word Isha means the formless divine.[28] Isha Yoga's flagship program is 'Inner Engineering' where individuals are initiated into meditation and pranayam and the Shambhavi Mahamudra.[29] He is also conducting yoga classes for the corporate leadership to introduce them to what he calls "inclusive economics," which he says introduces a sense of compassion and inclusiveness into today's economic scenario.[30][31]

Sadhguru also regularly conducts Mahasathsangs in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka that include discourses, meditations and question and answer sessions with the audience. These Mahasathsangs are also used as platforms to encourage tree-planting activities.[32] He also takes spiritual aspirants on annual yatras to Mount Kailash and the Himalayas. The Kailash Yatra led by Sadhguru is among the largest groups to make the trip to Kailash, with 514 pilgrims attending the journey in 2010.[33][34]

Sadhguru also organises all-night Mahashivarathri celebrations every year at the Isha Yoga Center, which in 2013, were attended by an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people approximately.[35][36][37] The night includes music, dance and guided meditation sessions. In 2013, performers included Carnatic singer Aruna Sairam, dancer Anita Ratnam and the band, The Raghu Dixit Project.[37]

In March 2005, construction of the Isha Institute of Inner-sciences (III) in McMinnville, Tennessee, USA was begun and was completed 6 months later. Sadhguru had decided to established III as a center for spiritual growth in the Western Hemisphere. On 7 November 2008, Sadhguru consecrated the Mahima Hall, a 39,000 square foot, free-standing meditation hall at the III.[38] On 30 January 2010, Sadhguru consecrated the Linga Bhairavi, a representation of the feminine aspects of the divine at the Isha Yoga Center.[4]

Participation in global and economic forums

KV Kamath, who was present at the Isha Insight program.

Sadhguru has spoken at the United Nations Millennium World Peace Summit in 2000,[39] the World Economic Forum in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.[40] On 24 June 2013, he conducted a multi-religious session titled, "Interfaith Deliberations on the Universality of Religions" at the Isha Yoga Center, which was attended by representatives of various religions, and coincided with the fourteenth anniversary celebrations of the Dhyanalinga.[41][42]

In 2012, he was voted among the hundred most powerful Indians for his contribution in the field of environmental protection and for encouraging public participation in ecological issues.[43] He was also a participant in the 2006 documentary film ONE: The Movie. He has also been involved in one-on-one interactions as part of the "In Conversations With the Mystic" program with Anupam Kher, Jasti Chelameswar, Dilip Cherian, Muzaffar Ali and Tarun Tahiliani.[44][45]

In 2012, he initiated the Isha Insight program, which focuses on helping small and medium businesses scale up their business activities. The program was conducted by Ram Charan, with KV Kamath Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao Shankar Annaswamy, Vellayan Subbiah and Pramod Chaudhari also active in the program.[46] In an interview with Forbes magazine, Sadhguru, speaking about the motivation behind setting up the program, said, "While speaking at economic summits and to leaders in India and outside, I have noticed that the most serious issue people have is a lack of insight into what they are doing, or what they could do. That’s how we ended up creating this programme called Insight."[47]

Publications

Jaggi Vasudev also known as Sadhguru, is an Indian yogi and mystic. He founded the Isha Foundation, a non-profit organisation which offers yoga programs around the world, including India, United States, England, Lebanon, Singapore, Canada, Malaysia, Uganda and Australia. The Foundation is also involved in various social and community development activities, which have resulted in the Foundation being granted special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.[1]

Contents [hide]

1 Early life

2 Spiritual experience

3 Dhyanalinga

4 Isha Foundation

4.1 Social initiatives

5 Yoga programs

6 Participation in global and economic forums

7 Publications

7.1 English

7.2 Tamil

7.3 Hindi

7.4 Kannada

7.5 Telugu

8 References

9 Further reading

10 External links

Early life

Born into a Kannada family[2] in Mysore, Karnataka on 3 September 1957 to Susheela and Dr. Vasudev, Jagadish was the youngest of the Vasudev's four children – two boys and two girls. A travelling fortune-teller, who was asked to predict the child's future, predicted that the infant would have a fortunate life and named the infant Jagadish which means lord of the universe. Sadhguru's father was an ophthalmologist with the Indian Railways and as a result, the family moved frequently. At a young age, Jagadish, or Jaggi as he came to be known, developed an interest in nature and would frequently make trips into nearby forests which would sometimes last up to three days at a time. At the age of 11, Jaggi came in contact with Malladihalli Sri Raghavendra Swamiji who taught him a set of simple yoga asanas, the practice of which he regularly maintained.[3] Sadhguru states that "without a single day's break, this simple yoga that was taught to him kept happening and led to a much deeper experience later."[4]:39

After finishing his schooling, he graduated from the University of Mysore with a bachelor's degree in English Literature, standing second in his class.[5] During his college years, he developed an interest in travel and motorcycles. A frequent haunt of his and his friends was the Chamundi Hill near Mysore, where they often had get-togethers and nocturnal drives. He also travelled to various places in the country on his motorcycle. When he reached the Indo-Nepal border, he was stopped from entering Nepal because he did not possess a passport. This experience made him resolve "to earn some quick money," and just ride off somewhere where people couldn't stop him. This led him to open several successful businesses after graduation, including a poultry farm, a brickworks and a construction business.[5]

Spiritual experience

At the age of twenty-five on 23 September 1981, he rode up Chamundi Hill and sat on a rock, when he had a spiritual experience. Sadhguru describes his experience, "Till that moment in my life I always thought this is me and that's somebody else and something else. But for the first time I did not know which is me and which is not me. Suddenly, what was me was just all over the place. The very rock on which I was sitting, the air that I breathe, the very atmosphere around me, I had just exploded into everything. That sounds like utter insanity. This, I thought it lasted for ten to fifteen minutes but when I came back to my normal consciousness, I was about four-and-a-half-hours I was sitting there, fully conscious, eyes open, but time had just flipped."[6]:04:04 Six weeks after this experience, he left his business to his friend and travelled extensively in an effort to gain insight into his 'mystical' experience. After a year of meditation and travel, Sadhguru decided to teach yoga to share his inner experience.[7]

In 1983, he conducted his first yoga class with seven participants in Mysore. Over time, he began conducting yoga classes across Karnataka and Hyderabad travelling from class to class on his motorcycle. He lived of the proceeds of his poultry farm rental and refused payment for the classes. A usual practice of his was to donate the collections received from participants to a local charity on the last day of the class.[7] These initial programs were the basic format on which the Isha Yoga classes were later built on.

In 1989, he conducted his first class in Coimbatore, near which the Isha Yoga Center would later be established. The classes were known as Sahaja Sthiti Yoga and involved asanas, pranayama kriyas and meditation. In 1993, Sadhguru decided to set up an ashram to support the growing number of spiritual aspirants. After examining with various sites around Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Goa, he decided on a thirteen acre site situated at the foothills of the Velliangiri Mountains, thirty kilometres from Coimbatore. In 1994, the site was bought and the Isha Yoga Center was set up.[4]

Dhyanalinga

Main article: Dhyanalinga

The Dhyanalinga within the temple dome.

In 1994, Sadhguru conducted the first program in the ashram premises, during which he discussed the Dhyanalinga. The Dhyanalinga is a yogic temple and a space for meditation, the consecration of which, Sadhguru had stated was his life's mission entrusted to him by his Guru.[7] In 1996, the stone edifice of the linga was ordered and arrived at the ashram. After three years of work, the Dhyanalinga was completed on 23 June 1999[8] and opened to the public on 23 November.[9]

The Dhyanalinga yogic temple offers a meditative space that does not ascribe to any particular faith or belief system.[10] A 76-foot dome, constructed using only bricks and stabilised mud mortar without steel or concrete,[11] covers the sanctum sanctorum. The lingam is 13 feet, 9 inches in height and made of high density black granite. The Sarva Dharma Sthamba, located at the front entrance, functions as an icon of singularity, with the sculptural reliefs and symbols of Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Shinto inscribed as a universal welcome.[12]

Isha Foundation

Main article: Isha Foundation

Saplings being readied for transportation at a PGH nursery.

Sadhguru established Isha Foundation, a non-religious, non-profit organisation entirely run by volunteers. The Isha Yoga Center near Coimbatore was founded in 1992, and hosts a series of programs to heighten self-awareness through yoga. The foundation works in tandem with international bodies like the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.[1]

Social initiatives[edit]

He also founded Project GreenHands (PGH), a grassroots ecological initiative which was awarded the highest Indian environmental award, the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar, by the Government of India in June 2010.[13] PGH aims to increase the green cover in Tamil Nadu by 10% and has successfully overseen the planting of more than 17 million trees by over 2 million volunteers. In an interview to the National Geographic Green magazine, Sadhguru explained the impetus which led him to establish Project GreenHands: "In the year 1998, certain experts […] made a prediction, by 2025, 60% of Tamil Nadu will be a desert. […] I decided to drive across Tamil Nadu and see for myself if this is true. […] I realized they were completely wrong because it wouldn’t go to 2025, it would happen much faster according to me. […] So from ‘98 to 2003, 2004, I went about planting trees in people’s minds. And since 2004, we are transplanting those trees back to the ground."[14]

Action for Rural Rejuvenation (ARR), is an initiative under Isha Foundation, that is aimed towards improving the overall health and quality of life of the rural poor. ARR was established by Sadhguru in 2003 and seeks to benefit 70 million people in 54,000 villages across South India. As of 2010, ARR has reached over 4,200 villages and a population of over 7 million people.[15][16] He has also been involved with agricultural and farmers' associations to work towards resolving issues faced by Indian farmers.[17]

Isha Vidhya, is Isha Foundation's educational initiative, which aims to raise the level of education and literacy in rural India. There are seven schools in operation which educate around 3000 students.[18] The foundation has also "adopted" 26 government schools to reach out to students from financially constrained backgrounds, and aims to adopt up to 3000 schools.[19][20]

Yoga programs

Sadhguru conducting the Inner Engineering Program at the Bombay Stock Exchange, Mumbai.

After the establishment of the ashram, Sadhguru began conducting regular yoga programs at the Isha Yoga Center, including a course for the Indian Hockey team in 1996.[21][22] In 1997, he began conducting classes in the United States[23][24] and in 1998, he began conducting yoga classes for life-term prisoners in Tamil Nadu prisons.[25] From 2011, he began conducting programs with large-scale participation of up to 10,000 and 15,000 participants at once. These large-scale programs have been attended by over 75,000 people in total.[26][27]

The programs offered by Sadhguru are offered under the umbrella of Isha Yoga. The word Isha means the formless divine.[28] Isha Yoga's flagship program is 'Inner Engineering' where individuals are initiated into meditation and pranayam and the Shambhavi Mahamudra.[29] He is also conducting yoga classes for the corporate leadership to introduce them to what he calls "inclusive economics," which he says introduces a sense of compassion and inclusiveness into today's economic scenario.[30][31]

Sadhguru also regularly conducts Mahasathsangs in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka that include discourses, meditations and question and answer sessions with the audience. These Mahasathsangs are also used as platforms to encourage tree-planting activities.[32] He also takes spiritual aspirants on annual yatras to Mount Kailash and the Himalayas. The Kailash Yatra led by Sadhguru is among the largest groups to make the trip to Kailash, with 514 pilgrims attending the journey in 2010.[33][34]

Sadhguru also organises all-night Mahashivarathri celebrations every year at the Isha Yoga Center, which in 2013, were attended by an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people approximately.[35][36][37] The night includes music, dance and guided meditation sessions. In 2013, performers included Carnatic singer Aruna Sairam, dancer Anita Ratnam and the band, The Raghu Dixit Project.[37]

In March 2005, construction of the Isha Institute of Inner-sciences (III) in McMinnville, Tennessee, USA was begun and was completed 6 months later. Sadhguru had decided to established III as a center for spiritual growth in the Western Hemisphere. On 7 November 2008, Sadhguru consecrated the Mahima Hall, a 39,000 square foot, free-standing meditation hall at the III.[38] On 30 January 2010, Sadhguru consecrated the Linga Bhairavi, a representation of the feminine aspects of the divine at the Isha Yoga Center.[4]

Participation in global and economic forums

KV Kamath, who was present at the Isha Insight program.

Sadhguru has spoken at the United Nations Millennium World Peace Summit in 2000,[39] the World Economic Forum in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.[40] On 24 June 2013, he conducted a multi-religious session titled, "Interfaith Deliberations on the Universality of Religions" at the Isha Yoga Center, which was attended by representatives of various religions, and coincided with the fourteenth anniversary celebrations of the Dhyanalinga.[41][42]

In 2012, he was voted among the hundred most powerful Indians for his contribution in the field of environmental protection and for encouraging public participation in ecological issues.[43] He was also a participant in the 2006 documentary film ONE: The Movie. He has also been involved in one-on-one interactions as part of the "In Conversations With the Mystic" program with Anupam Kher, Jasti Chelameswar, Dilip Cherian, Muzaffar Ali and Tarun Tahiliani.[44][45]

In 2012, he initiated the Isha Insight program, which focuses on helping small and medium businesses scale up their business activities. The program was conducted by Ram Charan, with KV Kamath Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao Shankar Annaswamy, Vellayan Subbiah and Pramod Chaudhari also active in the program.[46] In an interview with Forbes magazine, Sadhguru, speaking about the motivation behind setting up the program, said, "While speaking at economic summits and to leaders in India and outside, I have noticed that the most serious issue people have is a lack of insight into what they are doing, or what they could do. That’s how we ended up creating this programme called Insight."[47]

Publications

Jaggi Vasudev also known as Sadhguru, is an Indian yogi and mystic. He founded the Isha Foundation, a non-profit organisation which offers yoga programs around the world, including India, United States, England, Lebanon, Singapore, Canada, Malaysia, Uganda and Australia. The Foundation is also involved in various social and community development activities, which have resulted in the Foundation being granted special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.[1]

Contents [hide]

1 Early life

2 Spiritual experience

3 Dhyanalinga

4 Isha Foundation

4.1 Social initiatives

5 Yoga programs

6 Participation in global and economic forums

7 Publications

7.1 English

7.2 Tamil

7.3 Hindi

7.4 Kannada

7.5 Telugu

8 References

9 Further reading

10 External links

Early life

Born into a Kannada family[2] in Mysore, Karnataka on 3 September 1957 to Susheela and Dr. Vasudev, Jagadish was the youngest of the Vasudev's four children – two boys and two girls. A travelling fortune-teller, who was asked to predict the child's future, predicted that the infant would have a fortunate life and named the infant Jagadish which means lord of the universe. Sadhguru's father was an ophthalmologist with the Indian Railways and as a result, the family moved frequently. At a young age, Jagadish, or Jaggi as he came to be known, developed an interest in nature and would frequently make trips into nearby forests which would sometimes last up to three days at a time. At the age of 11, Jaggi came in contact with Malladihalli Sri Raghavendra Swamiji who taught him a set of simple yoga asanas, the practice of which he regularly maintained.[3] Sadhguru states that "without a single day's break, this simple yoga that was taught to him kept happening and led to a much deeper experience later."[4]:39

After finishing his schooling, he graduated from the University of Mysore with a bachelor's degree in English Literature, standing second in his class.[5] During his college years, he developed an interest in travel and motorcycles. A frequent haunt of his and his friends was the Chamundi Hill near Mysore, where they often had get-togethers and nocturnal drives. He also travelled to various places in the country on his motorcycle. When he reached the Indo-Nepal border, he was stopped from entering Nepal because he did not possess a passport. This experience made him resolve "to earn some quick money," and just ride off somewhere where people couldn't stop him. This led him to open several successful businesses after graduation, including a poultry farm, a brickworks and a construction business.[5]

Spiritual experience

At the age of twenty-five on 23 September 1981, he rode up Chamundi Hill and sat on a rock, when he had a spiritual experience. Sadhguru describes his experience, "Till that moment in my life I always thought this is me and that's somebody else and something else. But for the first time I did not know which is me and which is not me. Suddenly, what was me was just all over the place. The very rock on which I was sitting, the air that I breathe, the very atmosphere around me, I had just exploded into everything. That sounds like utter insanity. This, I thought it lasted for ten to fifteen minutes but when I came back to my normal consciousness, I was about four-and-a-half-hours I was sitting there, fully conscious, eyes open, but time had just flipped."[6]:04:04 Six weeks after this experience, he left his business to his friend and travelled extensively in an effort to gain insight into his 'mystical' experience. After a year of meditation and travel, Sadhguru decided to teach yoga to share his inner experience.[7]

In 1983, he conducted his first yoga class with seven participants in Mysore. Over time, he began conducting yoga classes across Karnataka and Hyderabad travelling from class to class on his motorcycle. He lived of the proceeds of his poultry farm rental and refused payment for the classes. A usual practice of his was to donate the collections received from participants to a local charity on the last day of the class.[7] These initial programs were the basic format on which the Isha Yoga classes were later built on.

In 1989, he conducted his first class in Coimbatore, near which the Isha Yoga Center would later be established. The classes were known as Sahaja Sthiti Yoga and involved asanas, pranayama kriyas and meditation. In 1993, Sadhguru decided to set up an ashram to support the growing number of spiritual aspirants. After examining with various sites around Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Goa, he decided on a thirteen acre site situated at the foothills of the Velliangiri Mountains, thirty kilometres from Coimbatore. In 1994, the site was bought and the Isha Yoga Center was set up.[4]

Dhyanalinga

Main article: Dhyanalinga

The Dhyanalinga within the temple dome.

In 1994, Sadhguru conducted the first program in the ashram premises, during which he discussed the Dhyanalinga. The Dhyanalinga is a yogic temple and a space for meditation, the consecration of which, Sadhguru had stated was his life's mission entrusted to him by his Guru.[7] In 1996, the stone edifice of the linga was ordered and arrived at the ashram. After three years of work, the Dhyanalinga was completed on 23 June 1999[8] and opened to the public on 23 November.[9]

The Dhyanalinga yogic temple offers a meditative space that does not ascribe to any particular faith or belief system.[10] A 76-foot dome, constructed using only bricks and stabilised mud mortar without steel or concrete,[11] covers the sanctum sanctorum. The lingam is 13 feet, 9 inches in height and made of high density black granite. The Sarva Dharma Sthamba, located at the front entrance, functions as an icon of singularity, with the sculptural reliefs and symbols of Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Shinto inscribed as a universal welcome.[12]

Isha Foundation

Main article: Isha Foundation

Saplings being readied for transportation at a PGH nursery.

Sadhguru established Isha Foundation, a non-religious, non-profit organisation entirely run by volunteers. The Isha Yoga Center near Coimbatore was founded in 1992, and hosts a series of programs to heighten self-awareness through yoga. The foundation works in tandem with international bodies like the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.[1]

Social initiatives[edit]

He also founded Project GreenHands (PGH), a grassroots ecological initiative which was awarded the highest Indian environmental award, the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar, by the Government of India in June 2010.[13] PGH aims to increase the green cover in Tamil Nadu by 10% and has successfully overseen the planting of more than 17 million trees by over 2 million volunteers. In an interview to the National Geographic Green magazine, Sadhguru explained the impetus which led him to establish Project GreenHands: "In the year 1998, certain experts […] made a prediction, by 2025, 60% of Tamil Nadu will be a desert. […] I decided to drive across Tamil Nadu and see for myself if this is true. […] I realized they were completely wrong because it wouldn’t go to 2025, it would happen much faster according to me. […] So from ‘98 to 2003, 2004, I went about planting trees in people’s minds. And since 2004, we are transplanting those trees back to the ground."[14]

Action for Rural Rejuvenation (ARR), is an initiative under Isha Foundation, that is aimed towards improving the overall health and quality of life of the rural poor. ARR was established by Sadhguru in 2003 and seeks to benefit 70 million people in 54,000 villages across South India. As of 2010, ARR has reached over 4,200 villages and a population of over 7 million people.[15][16] He has also been involved with agricultural and farmers' associations to work towards resolving issues faced by Indian farmers.[17]

Isha Vidhya, is Isha Foundation's educational initiative, which aims to raise the level of education and literacy in rural India. There are seven schools in operation which educate around 3000 students.[18] The foundation has also "adopted" 26 government schools to reach out to students from financially constrained backgrounds, and aims to adopt up to 3000 schools.[19][20]

Yoga programs

Sadhguru conducting the Inner Engineering Program at the Bombay Stock Exchange, Mumbai.

After the establishment of the ashram, Sadhguru began conducting regular yoga programs at the Isha Yoga Center, including a course for the Indian Hockey team in 1996.[21][22] In 1997, he began conducting classes in the United States[23][24] and in 1998, he began conducting yoga classes for life-term prisoners in Tamil Nadu prisons.[25] From 2011, he began conducting programs with large-scale participation of up to 10,000 and 15,000 participants at once. These large-scale programs have been attended by over 75,000 people in total.[26][27]

The programs offered by Sadhguru are offered under the umbrella of Isha Yoga. The word Isha means the formless divine.[28] Isha Yoga's flagship program is 'Inner Engineering' where individuals are initiated into meditation and pranayam and the Shambhavi Mahamudra.[29] He is also conducting yoga classes for the corporate leadership to introduce them to what he calls "inclusive economics," which he says introduces a sense of compassion and inclusiveness into today's economic scenario.[30][31]

Sadhguru also regularly conducts Mahasathsangs in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka that include discourses, meditations and question and answer sessions with the audience. These Mahasathsangs are also used as platforms to encourage tree-planting activities.[32] He also takes spiritual aspirants on annual yatras to Mount Kailash and the Himalayas. The Kailash Yatra led by Sadhguru is among the largest groups to make the trip to Kailash, with 514 pilgrims attending the journey in 2010.[33][34]

Sadhguru also organises all-night Mahashivarathri celebrations every year at the Isha Yoga Center, which in 2013, were attended by an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people approximately.[35][36][37] The night includes music, dance and guided meditation sessions. In 2013, performers included Carnatic singer Aruna Sairam, dancer Anita Ratnam and the band, The Raghu Dixit Project.[37]

In March 2005, construction of the Isha Institute of Inner-sciences (III) in McMinnville, Tennessee, USA was begun and was completed 6 months later. Sadhguru had decided to established III as a center for spiritual growth in the Western Hemisphere. On 7 November 2008, Sadhguru consecrated the Mahima Hall, a 39,000 square foot, free-standing meditation hall at the III.[38] On 30 January 2010, Sadhguru consecrated the Linga Bhairavi, a representation of the feminine aspects of the divine at the Isha Yoga Center.[4]

Participation in global and economic forums

KV Kamath, who was present at the Isha Insight program.

Sadhguru has spoken at the United Nations Millennium World Peace Summit in 2000,[39] the World Economic Forum in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.[40] On 24 June 2013, he conducted a multi-religious session titled, "Interfaith Deliberations on the Universality of Religions" at the Isha Yoga Center, which was attended by representatives of various religions, and coincided with the fourteenth anniversary celebrations of the Dhyanalinga.[41][42]

In 2012, he was voted among the hundred most powerful Indians for his contribution in the field of environmental protection and for encouraging public participation in ecological issues.[43] He was also a participant in the 2006 documentary film ONE: The Movie. He has also been involved in one-on-one interactions as part of the "In Conversations With the Mystic" program with Anupam Kher, Jasti Chelameswar, Dilip Cherian, Muzaffar Ali and Tarun Tahiliani.[44][45]

In 2012, he initiated the Isha Insight program, which focuses on helping small and medium businesses scale up their business activities. The program was conducted by Ram Charan, with KV Kamath Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao Shankar Annaswamy, Vellayan Subbiah and Pramod Chaudhari also active in the program.[46] In an interview with Forbes magazine, Sadhguru, speaking about the motivation behind setting up the program, said, "While speaking at economic summits and to leaders in India and outside, I have noticed that the most serious issue people have is a lack of insight into what they are doing, or what they could do. That’s how we ended up creating this programme called Insight."[47]

Publications

Sadhguru: Once it happened…Shankaran Pillai went to a Vedanta class. Vedanta is the school of Indian metaphysics that speaks of the non-duality of the self and the divine. The teacher, a learned philosopher, was in full swing: “You are not just this or that; you are everywhere. There is nothing like ‘yours’ and ‘mine’; everything is you, everything is yours. In essence, everything is one. What you see, hear, smell, taste, touch is not reality; it is all maya, all illusion.”

This unbeatable Vedanta rhetoric was buzzing in Shankaran Pillai’s head. He went home and slept on it. He woke in the morning, totally fired up. Usually he loved to sleep, but because of this Vedanta, he sprang out of bed. The first thoughts in his mind were, “There is nothing which is not mine. Everything is mine; everything is me. All that is in this world is me, and everything is maya.”

You know, whatever the philosophy may be, hunger happens at regular intervals. So Shankaran Pillai went to his favorite restaurant, ordered a big breakfast, and devoured it, saying to himself, “The food is me; the one who serves is also me; the one who eats is also me.” Vedanta!

He finished his breakfast. When he was in such a high state of Vedanta, mundane issues like paying the bill did not occur to him. He rose and started walking out. When everything is yours, how can there be a bill?

As he passed the cash counter, the owner happened to turn away to attend to some other chore. Shankaran Pillai saw a huge heap of currency in the till. Immediately, Vedanta told him, “Everything is yours; you cannot differentiate between this and that.” So because his pocketsere quite empty, he put his hand into the box, took some cash, stuffed it in his pocket, and sauntered out of the restaurant. He was not out to rob anybody; he was just practicing Vedanta.

Suddenly a few people from the restaurant ran up and caught him. Shankaran Pillai said, “Who are you trying to catch? You are the catcher and the caught; what you catch is you; the one that catches is also you. When there is no such thing as you and me, who can I pay?”

The owner was bewildered! Only one thing was clear to him: “My cash is in your pocket.” But here was Shankaran Pillai saying, “The one who catches is also me, the one who is caught is also me.” The owner didn’t know how to deal with this kind of customer. At his wits’ end, he took Shankaran Pillai to court.

There, Shankaran Pillai continued his Vedanta. The judge tried in many ways to make him understand that he had committed a theft, but to no avail. Then the judge gave up and said, “Okay, ten lashes on the backside.”

First lash…Shankaran Pillai screamed.

The judge said, “Don’t worry. It’s all maya anyway. There is no such thing as pain and pleasure. Everything is maya.”

Second lash…Shankaran Pillai shouted, “Enough!”

The judge said, “The one who lashes is you, the one who is lashed is also you.”

Third lash…Shankaran Pillai hollered, “Stop stop!”

“There is no such thing as starting and stopping. It is all maya.”

It was like this all the way to ten lashes. But before the ten were done, Vedanta had been cleaned right out of Shankaran Pillai.

An intellectual understanding that is not backed by experiential knowledge can lead to mind games and deceptive states. But if oneness becomes an experiential reality, it will not produce an immature action. It will produce a tremendous experience of life that will leave you transformed forever.

Universality is not an idea; it is an existential truth. It is individuality that is an idea. Yoga is simply chitta vritti nirodha. That means, if the activity of your mind ceases and you are still alert, you are in yoga.

But don’t try to forcibly stop the mental activity because you will go insane. With your mind, all the three pedals are throttles; there are no brakes and no clutch. Have you noticed this? Whatever pedal you hit, the mind only accelerates its speed. But if you don’t pay any attention to it, thoughts will slowly subside, leaving you in a rich and vibrant silence.

#InnerEngineeringBook Page 160

#Sadhguru #isha #SadhguruBooks #intellect #experience #Vedanta

Arundhathi Subramaniam: Born in Mysore in southern India, to a physician father (an ophthalmologist with the Indian railways) and devout mother, he grew up a wild and incorrigible prankster. A chronic truant at school, he recalls that much of his boyhood was spent roaming the forests, catching snakes, fishing, trekking, cycling, or simply sitting on trees and vacantly staring into space for hours on end. There was nothing remotely ‘other-worldly’ about him. On family visits to the temple, he preferred to remain outside. He often observed that those who came out of restaurants wore more contented expressions than those emerging from temples. ‘In the Divine versus Dosa contest, the dosa is clearly the winner!’ he often quips.

#AdiyogiBook Page 9

#SadhguruBooks

#Sadhguru #isha

When a Being beyond Time and Space touches you, you also become beyond Time and Space - the privilege of knowing "The Only Solution Is Dissolution". -Sadhguru

#Adiyogi - Back Cover

#SadhguruQuotes

#SadhguruBooks

#Shiva #YogiShiva

@Sadhguru: Logically, somebody who never put effort into anything should be the master of effortlessness. But it is not so. If you want to know effortlessness, you need to know effort. When you reach the peak of effort, you become effortless. Only a person who knows what it is to work understands rest. Paradoxically, those who are always resting know no rest; they only sink into dullness and lethargy. This is the way of life.

For the Russian ballet dancer Nijinsky, his entire life was dance. There were moments when he would leap to heights that seemed humanly impossible. Even if one’s muscles are at peak performance, there is still a limit to how high one can jump. But in some moments he would seem to transcend even that limit.

People often asked him, “How do you manage this?”

He said, “There is no way I can ever do it. When Nijinsky is not there, only then it happens.”

When someone is constantly giving a hundred percent, a point comes when one surpasses all limits and reaches total effortlessness. Effortlessness does not mean becoming a couch potato. It means transcending the need for physical action. Only when you are able to stretch to your utmost and sustain the peak of effort do you reach this. There are some people nowadays, who declare that they would like to opt for Zen as a spiritual path because they think it means doing nothing! In fact, Zen involves tremendous activity because it is not divorced from life in any way. For example, a Zen monk may take weeks to simply arrange pebbles in a Zen garden. In performing such activity, you reach a state of non-doing, where you transcend the experience of being a doer. It is in such states that you have a taste of the beyond.

If you achieve such states through intense activity, as Nijinsky and many others have, those moments will always be cherished as magical. But if you arrive at the same state through the intensity of inactivity, then it is a yogic posture, and it is a state that can be sustained longer.

The very essence of dhyana, or meditativeness, is that you push yourself to the highest possible intensity where, after some time, there is no effort. Now meditation will not be an act, but a natural consequence of the intensity that has been achieved. You can simply be. It is in these absolutely non-compulsive states of existence that the necessary atmosphere is set for the blossoming of an individual into a cosmic possibility.

If we, as societies and individuals, continue to allow every moment to pass by without setting the atmosphere for such a flowering, we have squandered a tremendous possibility. There is so much infantile talk about heaven and its pleasures only because the immensity of being human has not been explored. If your humanity overflows, divinity will follow and serve you. It has no other choice.

#InnerEngineeringBook Page 105

#SadhguruQuotes

#SadhguruBooks

Sadhguru: In the past, waking me up every morning was a family project. My family would try to make me sit up in bed; I would keel over and fall asleep again. My mother would hand me my toothbrush; I would stick it into my mouth and fall asleep. In desperation, she would push me into the bathroom; I would promptly fall asleep again. But threemonths after starting yoga, my body started coming awake at three forty every morning, without any external prompting, as it does even today. After I woke, my practices would simply happen, no matter where I was and in what situation, without a single day’s break. This simple yoga—called angamardana (a system of physical yoga that strengthens sinews and limbs)—definitely set me apart in any group of people, physically and mentally. But that’s about all. Or so I believed.

#InnerEngineeringBook Page 14

#SadhguruBooks

#Sadhguru #Isha

@Sadhguru: When Vivekananda was a highly energetic and intense young boy, he was very skeptical and full of questions. He wanted to investigate everything. He had won many awards in debates and was always looking for more debates with whomever he met. When he met Ramakrishna he asked him, “You’re always talking about God. What is the proof that there is God?” He was expecting some great explanation, which he obviously had the logic to break down, and he would defeat him. Ramakrishna said, “I am the proof.” Vivekananda didn’t expect this answer. He was expecting some explanation as to how there’s a creation and a creator. So when Ramakrishna said, “I am the proof,” he didn’t know what to say. He sat there, bewildered. Ramakrishna thought this fellow’s snooty logic was making him stupid. Vivekananda had enormous intensity, but he was missing the whole point. So Ramakrishna just took his foot and placed it on Vivekananda’s chest. He lost all of his logic, and tears started flowing. Tears and Vivekananda were impossible. Logical people cannot shed a tear unless they’re touched in their innermost depth. Tears just started flowing and then he said, “I’m very sorry I even asked you such a question.”

#MysticsMusings Page 462

#SadhguruQuotes

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Sadhguru: What makes you think that you’re not mad right now? The limitations that you have set upon yourselves, are they not madness? Madness does not necessarily mean that you have to take off your clothes, go on the street and run. Mad people are of different varieties. They need not necessarily be laughing and rolling or ranting and raving. Some mad people are very serious. Others are in some other way. Madness is just the ego. It needs some expression. Now a tremendous amount of time and energy is spent to cover your madness. One way of handling it is to cover it up. Another way is to transcend it. If you cover it up, you will only fool other people who will think that you’re a perfectly balanced person; but you suffer for the madness that you cover up and keep within yourself. It will grow and you will pay the price for keeping it within. If you transcend this madness, there is something else which opens up, a new fragrance, a new light.

#MysticsMusings Page 218

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@Sadhguru: Every spiritual practice in the world is related in some way with organizing these five elements. The most fundamental practice in the yogic system is bhuta shuddhi—the cleansing of the elements in the physical system so that they work in harmony. All yogic practices are essentially derived from the cleansing of these elements. The basis of individual existence is actually memory, which penetrates deep into these five elements. Cleansing the elements of the compulsive tendencies that percolate into the individual as a result of mental, genetic, evolutionary, and karmic memory, helps bring a sense of absolute harmony between the individual and the cosmos. (We will look at the role of memory at greater length in a later chapter.)

#InnerEngineeringBook Page 119

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@Sadhguru: There is another way to create without asking for anything, without ever thinking about anything – where things just happen. Before we arrive at that, a little bit of fired-up movement is needed. People who have never been on fire will not know the coolness of water. People who have just lived their life in a halfhearted manner, sedately, can never know the other way. Becoming a fanatic at least for a while can be useful for your energies to reach a boiling point and get moving. Then, to transform them into something else is very easy. That’s the whole purpose of karma or action. Why a sadhaka chooses action is just for this reason. We are going to perform action anyway. Now we have the choice whether we want to perform Hitler’s or Mahatma Gandhi’s type of action. Whichever way we feel is best right now, we’ll do that. That’s all there is to it. Anyway we have to perform action, so let us do it whole-heartedly, and let us choose the form of action that we want to do.

#MysticsMusings Page 126

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Sadhguru: When Adolf Hitler decided to start his own party, he had only a handful of friends with him. He sat in a basement with these people and spoke to them in such forceful ways that fired their imagination to great heights; he made them believe that he was going to take over the world shortly. He was just an unemployed youth, a nobody, but he was such a forceful speaker. To them, he was God who was going to rule. He was the future of this planet. This is how he built his self-image. Hitler’s self-image was so powerful, he believed that he would rule the world. His self-image was so powerful that it almost came true. If you create any image without a break in it, if there is a continuous mental focus towards it, it will happen, no matter what.

#MysticsMusings Page 126

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