Sadhguru (born Jagadish "Jaggi" Vasudev, 3 September 1957) is an Indian guru and founder of the Isha Foundation, based in Coimbatore, India. The foundation, established in 1992, operates an ashram and yoga centre that carries out educational and spiritual activities. Sadhguru has been teaching yoga since 1982. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Inner Engineering: A Yogi's Guide to Joy and Karma: A Yogi's Guide to Crafting Your Destiny, and a frequent speaker at international forums.
Sadhguru also advocates for protecting the environment against climate change, leading many initiatives like Project GreenHands (PGH), Rally for Rivers, Cauvery Calling, and the Journey to Save Soil. In 2017, he received the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian award, for his contributions to spirituality and humanitarian services.
Sadhguru has been criticized for promoting a number of pseudoscientific claims.
After graduating from the University of Mysore, Vasudev went on to build his first business, a poultry farm, in Mysore. Vasudev explained that his motivation to start a poultry farm was driven by the serenity it yielded in the hours he was not working. The business required minimal attention throughout the day, so Vasudev was able to pursue other interests during his time off, like writing poetry. The business grew profitable, but his family repeatedly criticized and opposed his decision to work with poultry.This led Vasudev to enter the construction industry with a company named Buildaids.He started the company in partnership with a friend, who was a civil engineer. Though Vasudev had no formal engineering training, he used the experience gained from building his poultry farm in his new endeavour.
At the age of 25, after a series of spiritual experiences, he shut down his businesses and began to travel and teach yoga.
In 1983, he taught his first yoga class, in Mysore. He began travelling across Karnataka and Hyderabad on his motorcycle, conducting his style of yoga classes, known as Sahaja Sthiti Yoga, subsisting on the income from his poultry farm rental and donating the funds received from his students.
Also in 2017, Sadhguru consecrated the Adiyogi Shiva statue, the world's largest bust, in Coimbatore, India.
Although Vasudev was not brought up in a spiritual household, he recollects one of his first spiritual experiences occurring after he turned 25. On 23 September 1982, he drove up Chamundi Hill, and as he sat on a stone, Vasudev had his first spiritual experience. He explained that, "All my life I had thought, this is me...But now the air I was breathing, the rock on which I was sitting, the atmosphere around me — everything had become me."After about six days, Vasudev had another similar experience at home. Six weeks later, he left his businesses and travelled extensively, in an effort to seek insight into his spiritual experiences.[12] After about a year of meditation and travel, he decided to teach yoga to share his inner experience.
In his earlier years, Vasudev had a love for driving motorcycles. One of his favourite places to drive was the Chamundi Hills in Mysore, though he sometimes drove much further, including to Nepal. Vasudev advocates vegetarianism, but whilst traveling with no vegetarian food sources available, he eats seafood. He practices the Sun Salutation for 40 minutes a day.
