Daily Times

There are countless yogis and spiritual healers in India, about whom we find little mention in papers and magazines.

But one yogi by the name of Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev has taken India by storm. There are numerous columns and stories about him not only in the press but also in social media, particularly on YouTube (exclusively devoted to him and his mission) where his lectures, interviews and talks are flashed daily across the world; making him a great celebrity of our time.

Recently, an opinion poll also declared him the most sought-after man in India, whose fame has travelled across the globe; making him an object of adoration in all forums and premier universities.

Despite being a man of average education and poor bearing, he has addressed several places including Harvard Medical School, Oxford University, Stanford University, Yale University, Wharton School, London School of Economics, TED Talk, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, World Economic Forum, and the UN.

Being a very hirsute man with a free-flowing white beard and shaggy growth of hair all over his head and face, he looks much older than his years. Yet, the mischievous glint in his eyes makes him feel like a very alive, energetic and intelligent man behind the façade.

The audience is further struck with awe and wonderment as he speaks with his deep, sonorous voice and in an astounding clarity of his vision. He sits with amazing confidence before his interviewers and crisply answers their questions in short and pithy sentences. His deeply sonorous voice is invariably laced with wit, humour and light banter; often putting the interviewers to sit on their tenterhooks. His smiles and giggles are often sardonic and send signals the queries put to him have little logic.

This virtually simple man can talk off the cuff on fields as diverse as science, philosophy, religion, Indian psychology, social sciences, mysticism, and yoga.

He has also been a speaker at premier technology companies like Microsoft and Google. He is adept in all domains of knowledge concerning our existence. His fluency in English; meticulous pronunciation; clarity of voice and confidence makes everyone infatuated to the theme he discusses.

In such forums, he is seen engaged in conversation with topmost personalities, including actors, businessmen, educationists, sportsmen and other professionals. No one can cut his sharp logic and clarity without incurring his wrath or displeasure, which he shows by keeping silent.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is an Indian yogi who was born on September 3, 1957. He is married and has a daughter. He founded the Isha Foundation, a non-profit organisation, which offers Yoga programs around the world. He is also involved in social outreach education and environmental initiatives. He has written numerous books on various disciplines.

His books have appeared in The New York Times Best Seller list in multiple categories like health, religion, spirituality and faith. He was conferred the Padma Vibhushan civilian award by the Government of India in 2017 in recognition of his contribution to the field of spirituality.

Sadhguru’s discourses provide rational comfort for people who are afraid to accept the twisted logic of religion. He participated in public discourses, conversations, debates and celebrations with thousands of people from all backgrounds. Sadhguru has shared these talks through many platforms.

His Yoga programs help people to get as far away from the hospitals as possible. He has created specialised targeted programs for ascetics (monks), and the general public of all backgrounds and age groups.

He has redefined a holistic path that does not tie a human being with dogma or philosophies but frees them from all self-imposed constraints and limitations. He has successfully meshed all four paths of self-evolution to create a highway that can be used by millions to attain self-realization.

Sadhguru’s social outreach programs are helping people and planet earth who were not touched by government, religion or other non-profit organisations. He is revitalizing thousands of villages in South India and working on health, sports, education, disaster relief, green cover restoration programme and topsoil restoration project.

This virtually simple man can talk off the cuff on fields as diverse as science, philosophy, religion, Indian psychology, social sciences, mysticism, and yoga

Sadhguru has been creating targeted rejuvenation programs for prisoners, soldiers, police, army, civil officers, business leaders, civic leaders; young and adults.

He uses publicity gimmicks, including getting interviewed by film personalities like Karan Johar, Kangna Raut, Anupam Kher, Ranveer Singh and other.

These film personalities often interview him, but not necessarily endorse his views and comments or follow him.

But the general public gets influenced by such gimmicks. The same method is employed by politicians or large business houses to sell their products.

We live in the strangest of times. We rarely encounter our species.

Science, technology and individual freedom have taken standards of living to unprecedented levels. Yet, the basic skills of finding peace, contentment and happiness still elude society.

As a young agnostic and a wild motorcyclist, Sadhguru turned a yogi and a mystic. He is always pulsating with his razor-sharp intelligence and bracing wit and modern-day vocabulary. He offers you to explore your spiritual self, which could change your life. He combines rationality with mysticism, irreverence with compassion, ancient wisdom with a provocatively contemporary outlook, and deep knowledge of the self with a contagious love of life.

Described as “a profound mystic, visionary humanitarian and prominent spiritual leader of our times,” he is revered “equally at home in a satsangh in rural Tamil Nadu as at the World Economic Forum in Davos.”

For him, truth is a living experience instead of a destination, a conclusion or a matter of metaphysical speculation. He strongly believes that the possibility of self-realisation is available to all. In a single breath, he can talk about a motorcycle, a Salman Rushdie novel or a game of golf.

In Sadhguru’s view, faith and reason, spirituality and science, the sacred and the material, cannot be divided into easy binaries.

He sees people as “spiritual beings dabbling with the material rather than the reverse,” and liberation as the fundamental longing in every form of life.

For Sathguru, the youth doesn’t have to follow the religion of their parents. Youth is only youthful when they don’t believe anything.

They should be willing to explore. They just want to know for themselves.

If that longing vanishes, how can you call them young anymore, he asks?

Here, he distinguishes the religion and the spiritual process. When you belong to any form of organised religion, you’re a believer. When you are on a spiritual path, you’re a seeker.

According to him, the seeker is willing to admit he doesn’t know. The believer is unwilling to make this admission. He concludes what is not yet within his experience. A seeker remains alive, responsive, childlike and incapable of conflict.

In belief, you have a new kind of confidence, but certainty without clarity can be dangerous; both for yourself and the world.

According to Sadhguru, the conflict in the world is not between good and evil, as is so often projected. The conflict is always between one man’s belief and another man’s belief, whether it be within the family or between nations.

The moment you believe something that you conflict with the opposing belief.

You can postpone it with moderate talk. But conflict is inevitable.

You need some faith to walk the spiritual path, but not belief. Faith arises out of aj deep inner experience. There is no calculation involved here; no agendas; no indoctrination; no guarantees. So according to Sadhguru, belief is cultivated. Faith is happening. Or to put it another way, belief is brainwashing; faith is about washing the brains!

Once you have a questioning mind, learn to employ that to grow. Don’t try discarding the mind; it is impossible. Faith and reason do not have to be mutually exclusive. The immature reason is atheism. When reason matures, it turns to faith. Faith is not about being senseless. It recognises that there is an intelligence in the universe that is beyond our limited logic, and we are seeking ways to access that. But right now, unfortunately, faith has been misunderstood to mean rigid dogma.

The writer is a former member of the Provincial Civil Service, and an author of Moments in Silence