Jagdish “Jaggi” Vasudev, also known as ‘Sadhguru’ is a prominent Yoga guru in India. Sadhguru is also an author of several best-selling books and a regular speaker at many International meetings/conferences. He was born on 3 September 1957 in Mysore, Karnataka. Sadhguru also received the Second Highest civilian award for social welfare, the Padma Vibhushan.
From where it all started
Sadhguru at a young age wanted to travel and explore. This encouraged him to start his first business of Poultry farm by borrowing money from his friend, in a remote area of Mysore. Later, he started a construction business along with a company called Buildaids.
By the money he earned from work he had done, at the age of 25, he gave his business to his friend and then traveled for about a year.
Sadhguru taught his first yoga class in Mysore in 1983. He then started giving yoga classes in many parts of Karnataka and Hyderabad. During this time, he used to travel on his motorcycle.
He started teaching yoga in Southern India, in 1982.
Beginning of Isha Foundation
Isha Foundation was established by Sadhguru in 1992 near Coimbatore. This foundation runs an ashram and a yoga center, which carries out many spiritual-educational activities. ‘Isha’ is a spiritual and non-profit organization.
Isha means “the formless divine”, Isha foundation hosts Isha Yoga Centre and is run majorly by volunteers. The yoga center provides yoga programs under the name of Isha yoga.
Environmental and Social Projects
‘Project GreenHands’ is a well-known project launched by Isha Foundation. It was started in 2004 and is mainly active in Tamil Nadu. Various practices that it includes are planting nurseries in schools, tree-planting in urban centers, and agroforestry. Another program is Action for Rural Rejuvenation, which focuses on rural Tamil Nadu. It organizes the annual Gramotsavam sports festival in Tamil Nadu, which promotes sports as an important part of daily life.
Isha Vidhya is an education initiative that concerns education and literacy in rural India. It provides English-language-based, computer-aided, and quality education for children.
Many other projects include “Rally for rivers”, “Cauvery Calling” and ” Save soil”.
Family and Honors
As Sadhguru recollects, Sadhguru says that he met Vijaya Kumari in Mysore in 1984. They got married and their daughter was born in the year 1990. Unfortunately, Kumari died at the Isha Yoga Center on January 22, 1997. Radhe Jaggi, his daughter, is a Bharatnatyam dancer and got married to a classical vocalist Sandeep Narayan in the year 2014.
Sadhguru received the Padma Vibhushan(second-highest civilian award) from the Government of India in 2017 for his contribution to the field of spirituality.
Famous and Ongoing initiatives
Sadhguru launched the initiative of ” Rally for Rivers ” on 3 September from Isha Yoga Centre, Coimbatore. A river revitalization draft proposal was presented by Sadhguru to the Prime Minister of India. Many states signed MoU (Memorandums of Understanding) with Isha Foundation to plant trees along their river banks.
It was a month-long campaign by the Isha Foundation concerning the shortage of water across rivers in India and spreading awareness about protecting them.
He also initiated the “Save soil” campaign which is currently active. Its objective is to invoke a conscious approach to soil health. Thousands of celebrities, influencers, public figures, etc. have joined this campaign. Sadhguru kickstarted his ‘Save Soil’ campaign from Isha ashram, in this campaign he’ll be traveling to 27 countries in 100 days covering a humungous 30,000 km solo on his motorcycle. He’ll hold talks with leaders around the world to initiate urgent policy actions to save the soil.
Sadhguru has impacted millions of lives in a great manner and has done so many incredible things for social and environmental causes. Mad4India wishes for more and more people to take part in such initiatives and do good for society.
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