Jaggi Vasudev

Sadhguru (born Jagadish Vasudev, 3 September 1957) is the founder and head of the Isha Foundation, based in Coimbatore, India.

Jagadish Vasudev, commonly referred to as Jaggi, was born into a Telugu family on 3 September 1957, in Mysore, Mysore State (now in Karnataka, India).

He was the youngest of five children to Susheela Vasudev (mother) and B.V. Vasudev (father).

His father was an ophthalmologist at the Mysuru Railway Hospital and his mother a homemaker.

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.

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.

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 if there is no vegetarian food available, he will eat seafood.

He practices the Sun Salutation for 40 minutes a day.

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.

Although Vasudev was not brought up in a spiritual household, he recollects one of his first spiritual experiences occurring after he turned 25.

Vasudev married his wife, Vijikumari, in 1984.

In 1990, Vijikumari and Jaggi had their only child, Radhe.

The foundation, established in 1992, operates an ashram and yoga centre that carries out educational and spiritual activities.

Vijikumari died on 23 January 1997.

Radhe trained in Bharatanatyam at the Kalakshetra Foundation in Chennai.

She married Indian classical vocalist Sandeep Narayan in 2014.

After completing his formal education, Vasudev was uninterested in post-secondary schooling.

One year later, however, he enrolled at the University of Mysore, where he studied English literature.

While studying literature, Vasudev received second rank.

Although his parents wanted him to continue his education with postgraduate studies, Vasudev disagreed and began a career in business.

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 2017, he received the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian award, for his contributions to spirituality and humanitarian services.

Also in 2017, Sadhguru unveiled the Adiyogi Shiva statue, the world's largest bust, in Coimbatore, India.

Sadhguru has been criticized for promoting a number of pseudoscientific claims.