Our last port of call on Semester
at Sea was India, and I was ‘persuaded’ by my wife to sign up for a Spiritual
Yoga course, a good six-hour dive from Fort Cochin where we were docked. I
wasn’t quite sure what to expect, although the pre-tour instructions made the
trip sound a little daunting – no alcohol, vegetarian food only, no speaking
during meal times, no Internet, 5 hours of yoga and 2 hours of meditation a
day, no photography, only two meals a day… and the list went on. However, I
have to say it was one of the highlights of the voyage so far, and I was
particularly impressed with how spirituality has been packaged and sold to the masses.
Located at the foot of the
Velliangiri Mountains in Tamil Nadu, the Isha Yoga Center is the brainchild of Jaggi
Vasudev, or Sadhguru as he is widely known. The modern-day yogi and mystic is a
charismatic man whose vision for harmony and well-being for all takes him
across the world to address prestigious global forums and conferences, speaking
about issues as diverse as human rights, business values and environmental
responsibility. He has been invited to the United Nations Millennium World
Peace Summit, the House of Lords in the UK, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT), and IMD Lausanne, Switzerland.
Surrounded
by thick forests, and situated right next to the Nilgiri Biosphere reserve, the
ashram was founded by the Sadhguru over two decades ago, and is administered by
the Isha Foundation. One major attraction of the center is the Dhyanalinga Yogic Temple, a meditative
space that is said to be the first of its kind to be completed in over 2000 years.
The temple does not ascribe to any particular faith and is available to all
irrespective of their religion or nationality. It is open everyday, including
national or cultural holidays, from 6am to 8pm, attracting thousands of
visitors from all over the world. Many of these visitors take part in Nada Aradhana, an offering of sound to
the Dhyanalinga that includes an ethereal blend of vocals, singing bowls, drums
and various other instruments. The offering takes place twice daily from 11:50
a.m. to 12:10 p.m. and from 5:50 p.m. to 6:10 p.m. These are the only times of
the day when the usual silence within the temple is broken.
The
ashram is also the location for major cultural events. For example, in an
endeavor to preserve and promote the uniqueness and diversity of India’s
performing arts, the center annually hosts Yaksha, a seven-day festival of music and dance. Various eminent
artistes perform at the festival, culminating in the night-long celebration of
the Mahashivarathri festival -
one of the biggest and most significant among the sacred festival nights of
India. This night is considered the darkest night of the year, and celebrates
the Grace of Shiva, who is known as Aadhi (first) Guru from whom the yogic
tradition originates.
The
Isha Center offers all four major paths of yoga – kriya (energy), gnana
(knowledge), karma (action), and bhakti (devotion), drawing people from all
over the world. Other programs include Inner
Engineering, designed by the guru to ‘establish a deep and lasting
transformation.’ Over two million people have completed the program to date,
all seeking advertised results such as improved mental clarity, increased
energy levels, relief from chronic ailments, deepening of interpersonal
relationships, and greater peace and joy in everyday life. Another program offered
by Isha Education is INSIGHT – The DNA of
Success, a practitioner-oriented leadership course that draws upon the
experience of several highly successful business leaders who have built and
grown world-class organizations. Along with Sadhguru’s guidance and
involvement, other resource leaders in past programs include Rajan Tata, Chairman
Emeritus of Tata Sons, and Dr. Prathap C Reddy, founder of Apollo
Hospitals.
Isha Sacred Walks is another branch to the guru’s
portfolio of product offerings, promoted not as tours, but ‘a possibility for
deep transformation’. The Himalayan Sacred Walks is one example, comprising two
weeks of meditation, treks and camping. The guru’s entrepreneurial talents have
not stopped there. Sounds of Isha
offers ten albums of music ‘transporting you to subtler states of being,
forming the basis for inner exploration’; Isha
Craft produces gift items, jute pieces, paintings, metal crafts, stone
art-de-facts and handicrafts, as well as designer clothing; Isha Life is the wellness sub-brand, a
center that provides a holistic approach to health and fitness, but also includes
a fine-dining restaurant Mahamudra, an outdoor café Namma and the Shambhavi
Craft Boutique; Isha Foods and Spices
are a collection of snacks, drinks, tiffin mixes and pickles; Isha Arogya offers healthcare products
and services and has established holistic health centers in several major
cities of Tamil Nadu; and finally Isha
Publications promotes Sadhguru’s works and discourses in the form of books,
CDs and DVDs.
The Isha
Center, and all of these sub-brands, are promoted via a glossy magazine, a
slick website, and various social media platforms including Youtube, Facebook
and Twitter. Much of the income from these commercial prongs is ploughed back
into the foundation, an entirely volunteer-run non-profit organization which is
‘dedicated to cultivating human potential through its vibrant spiritual
movement’. The social development branch of the foundation is Isha Outreach, with a vision to empower
the deprived sections of India to achieve improved health, education, and environmental
wellbeing. Another initiative established by the foundation is Project GreenHands, which aims to take
corrective measures to increase the green cover of Tamil Nadu by an additional
10 percent by planting trees through volunteer participation. Finally, a
long-time vision of Sadhguru is to raise the human spirit and rejuvenate the
marginalized rural population, and so he has created Action for Rural Rejuvenation (AAR), a program that has already
reached out to 4600 villages in over a decade of work.
Not
content with operating in India alone, Sadhguru is spreading his tentacles
overseas, recently establishing the Isha
Institute of Inner-sciences in Tennessee, U.S. The institute, spread over
1,300 acres, offers a variety of programs ‘that provide methods for anyone to
attain physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing’. Two powerful meditation
spaces are the main features of the Isha Institute. Mahima, which means grace,
is a 39,000 sq ft domed meditation hall and home to many of the programs
offered at the Institute; basic programs that do not require any prior
knowledge of yoga or meditation, as well as advanced programs for those who
wish to take a step further in their spiritual growth. The second
space
is the Adi Yogi: Abode of Yoga, a meditative space established as a tribute to
the Adi Yogi, the world’s first yogi, who offered the yogic sciences to the
world over 15,000 years ago.
