Jaggi Vasudev (Sadhguru) Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Jaggi Vasudev (Sadhguru)

• He is the founder of the Isha Foundation that offers Yoga programmes all over the world.

• He has been actively involved in social outreach, environmental initiatives, and educational programmes.

• For his contribution towards spirituality, the Indian Government conferred him the Padma Vibhushan award on 13 April 2017.

• As a child, he got attracted towards nature and liked to spend time in a forest near his house. He also developed a love for reptiles like snakes during this time. 

• At the age of twelve, he met Malladihalli Sri Raghavendra Swamiji and learned the simple yoga asanas. According to him, he has been practicing these asanas regularly without a single day’s break. 

• He was interested in travelling and motorbikes during his college days. He also used to go to Chamundi Hill near Mysore with his friends for nocturnal drives. 

• He liked to travel alone on his motorcycle at different places of India.

• After completing his college studies, he tried several businesses like poultry farm, brick making, and construction, etc. In the mid-twenties, he was a successful businessman. 

• He claims to have had a spiritual experience on 23 September 1982,  while sitting on a rock at Chamundi Hill.

• In order to discover more about his mystical experience, he travelled various places, and after deep meditation of a year, he decided to share this inner experience with others.

• He conducted his first Yoga class in Mysore in 1983 and then he continued it across Karnataka and Hyderabad. Gradually, his Yoga classes became so popular that over 15,000 participants began to attend them.

• He decided not to accept anything for his Yoga classes and depended fully on the produce of his poultry farm for survival.

• He used to donate collections given by his Yoga students, to some local charity, at the end of his class. 

• In 1993, he established the Isha (“the formless divine”) Yoga Center that works with the International bodies of Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. 

• His yoga programme is named as ‘Inner Engineering’ that instructs people meditation, Isha Kriya, Chit Shakti, Shambhavi Mahamudra, and Pranayam.

• Besides conducting regular yoga classes at the Isha Yoga Center, he also started a course for the Indian Hockey team in 1996.

• In 1997, he started conducting Yoga classes in the United States, and after one year, he decided to conduct them for prisoners in Tamil Nadu.

• On 23 June 1999, he built a yogic temple ”The Dhyanalinga,” a place for meditation, 30 km from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.    

• He attended the World Economic Forum in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and also addressed the United Nations Millennium World Peace Summit in 2000.

• In order to improve the health and quality of life of poor people in backward areas, he started ”Action for Rural Rejuvenation” (ARR) programme in 2003 that has benefitted over 7 million people of 4,200 villages till now.

• In 2005, he constructed the Isha Institute of Inner-sciences at McMinnville, Tennessee, USA. The same year, he also founded a residential school named ”Isha Home School” at the Isha Yoga Center near Coimbatore.

• In 2006, Isha Vidhya Foundation planted 8,052,587 plants in 6,284 locations across Tamil Nadu in a single day and registered its name in the Guinness Book of World Records.

• In March 2006, he constructed a Theerthakund (subterranean water body, with a solidified mercury lingam immersed under water) named as the Suryakund and Chandrakund with the purpose of increasing a spiritual receptivity in an individual before entering the Dhyanalinga. 

• In Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, he conducts Mahasathsangs in which he talks about environment, spirituality, and meditation.
• He also organizes holy journey to Mount Kailash and the Himalayas for spiritual aspirants. In 2010, he led the group of 514 pilgrims to Kailash. 

• He consecrated the Linga Bhairavi (the feminine aspect of God) at the Isha Yoga Center on 30 January 2010.

• In the alignment of Dhyanalinga and Linga Bhairavi, he constructed a Spanda Hall (means primal or primordial) for conducting programmes like Bhava Spandana (meditation) and other celebrations.

• In June 2010, his Project GreenHands (PGH) was awarded the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar, by the Government of India. As an ecological initiative, PGH planted over 27 million trees by over 2 million volunteers in Tamil Nadu.

• In order to improve literacy in rural areas of India, he started Isha Vidhya Foundation with the aim of adopting more than 3,000 schools, it has now adopted over 512 government schools to help financially weak students in backward areas.

• In 2012, he also started the Isha Insight program to uplift the small and medium scaled businesses.

• He organizes Mahashivarathri celebrations annually at the Isha Yoga Center. In 2013, the famous Camatic singer Aruna Sairam, the prominent dancer Anita Ratnam, and the outstanding band of The Raghu Dixit Project performed brilliantly during this programme. 

• On 24 June 2013, on the occasion of the 14th-anniversary celebrations of the Dhyanalinga, he organized a multi-religious session at the Isha Yoga Center. 

• To revive the drying rivers of India, the Isha Foundation launched a campaign named ”Rally for Rivers”in 2017. In consultation with scientists and lawmakers, a policy with the aims of rejuvenating the rivers,  basins, ecology, agriculture, and economy, was drafted by the foundation, which was submitted to the Prime Minister of India; after a rally culminated in New Delhi on 2 October 2017. 

• Jaggi Vasudev designed and built the Adiyogi statue (112-foot high) with the help of 20,000 individual iron plates (weighs around 500 tonnes) and was placed in front of  “Yogeshwar Linga.” It was inaugurated by Prime Minister of India, Narender Modi on 24 February 2017 and was registered in Guinness World Records as the “Largest Bust Sculpture.” 

• He is a talented poet and author who wrote several books in more than eight different languages like in English – ”Inner Engineering: A Yogi’s Guide to Joy”,”Adiyogi: The Source of Yoga”,”Three Truths of Well Being”,”Encounter the Enlightened”,”Mystic’s Musings”,”Pebbles of Wisdom”, in Tamil- ”Athanaikum Asaipadu”,”Anandha Alai”,‘‘Aayiram Jannal”,”Moondravathu Konam”,”Gnanathin Bramandam”,”Unakkve Oru Ragasiyam”,”Guru Thantha Guru”,”Konjam Amudham Konjam Visham”, in Hindi- ”Yogi: Sadhguru Ki Mahayatra”,”Srishti Se Srishta Tak ”,”Ek Adhyatmik Guru Ka Alaukik Gyan”,”Atmagyan: Akhir Hai Kya”,”Mrityu Ek Kalpana Hai”,’‘Rah Ke Phool”, in Kannada-”Gnyanodaya”,”Karunege Bhedavilla”, in Telugu-”Gnani Sannidhilo”,”Ashinchu sadhinchu”,”Sadhguru Subhaashitaalu”,”Maunamto Rahasyam”, etc. 

• His anthology of poems are collected in the book ”Eternal Echoes” that expresses devotion, struggle, love, seeking, longing and bliss. 

• He has also launched an English magazine named- ”Forest Flower.” In this magazine, his poems are published with photographs. His monthly magazines are also available in other languages like Isha Kattu Poo and Isha Lahar, etc. 

• According to Jaggi Vasudev, he loves cooking and used to cook daily for her daughter. 

• He is a good architect who designed all the buildings of his Ashrama with the perfectness of geometry using lime, brick, and mud. His brilliant creation Mahima (Grace) is a 39,000 sq ft free spanning meditation hall is one of the unique and the largest creations in the west. 

• Sadhguru also participated in a famous documentary – ONE: The Movie directed by Scott Carter, Ward M. Powers, and Diane Powers.

• He sometimes likes to drive a four-wheeler and flies a helicopter too.  In April 2017, he was seen getting instructions from Christian Rado a professional racing driver and drove a Toyota Scion (1000 hp, 340 kmph),
  around a racetrack. In order to get the experience of flying a helicopter, Sadhguru took off the helicopter three-four times and landed it twice.

• He revealed the facts of his personality elaborately in the interviews with Bollywood film star Anupam Kher and Famous Hindi Film Director Karan Johar.

• On 17 March 2024, he underwent a brain surgery at the Apollo Hospital in Delhi. The surgery was performed after a massive bleed was detected in his brain through an MRI test; he had been suffering from a severe headache for the previous four weeks. ^[2]NDTV