I whizzed through Sadhguru’s biography by poet Arundhati Subramaniam on Monday. I had attended her session at the Jaipur Lit Fest and was lucky enough to have a few words with her after! While her poetry sent shivers, this book was so phenomenal. Her skill at weaving words made for such a magnificant tale.

Even though I had known many of the details of his life story, the prose was so captivating that I could not put the book down.  Plus, I had only heard bits and pieces before and here was an account that flowed seamlessly from beginning to end with the grace that is Sadhguru…

He was extremely candid about all aspects of his life, even the troubling events surrounding the Dhyanalinga consecration. I hope this puts all the skeptics to rest for a short time.

I would have liked to have read more about Anaadhi in the US, but I guess it was too recent to be included–maybe in part two! Who knows where the story will take us next…?

Catch a clip from their live event here.

I felt so inspired throughout the day. I have been feeling particularly charged up since starting Inner Engineering Online, and today was my fifth class. It definitely struck a deep chord.

Lastly, I’ve been curating content for an event we are planning (more details to come). I have basically spent all day reading & watching Sadhguru. If that’s not inspiring, I don’t know what is.

I will share a couple aha moments below. Please check out the rest of the live tweets from @ishafoundation.

The host, Terry Patten, said that Sadhguru sounded so optimistic, to which he replied that he was simply a realist, with this caveat:

So quit your kvetching already!

Chennai is already facing chronic water problems with fast depleting surface and ground water sources. This event is organized to ignite awareness among all citizens to make everyone save, recycle and reuse water. A 6km Walk/Run from Besant Nagar beach (Elliot’s Beach) through adjoining roads, highlights the fact that 6km is the average distance many women and children in the world walk every day to secure the minimum requirement of water for their families.

After the walk, live beats from ‘Sounds of Isha’ and other renowned artists will entertain participants on the Beach–Webstream available, check for details!

Isha has been highlighted in Huffington Post Impact section (what a great surprise!):

For today’s Volunteer Spotlight (and since Earth Day is just a week away), we want to recognize the incredible achievement of the Isha Foundation, who organized over 400,000 volunteers to plant two million trees on a mountain in India in just 25 days. This group of volunteers also set the record for most tree seeds (850,000) planted in a single day (a record they plan to continually break in the years ahead).

Sadhguru seemed surprised when I asked him about how to encourage people to volunteer their time. He replied that people should be even more selfish than they already are; after all, taking care of our environment and others helps improve our own lives.

“We’re not saving the planet,” he told me. “We’re saving ourselves.”

Sadhguru does not believe that this volunteer effort should be the work of a select group of activists.

“It’s everybody’s work. All of us breathe, all of us eat, all of us walk on this planet. This is not somebody’s work, it’s everybody’s work. Unless we get it into people’s minds that this is everybody’s work, you will not accomplish much on this planet.”

In addition to the wildly successful environmental initiative, known as Project GreenHands, Isha’s Action for Rural Rejuvenation works to address economic, agricultural and social mobility problems in rural India.

Sadhguru has long had a special relationship with Lebanon. He has visited the country almost 10 times since his first visit in 2000, and more than 1,500 people here have taken the Isha Yoga programs designed by Sadhguru.

A number of Lebanese have also become yoga teachers, giving yoga programs in the US, Europe, Asia and Africa. Sadhguru’s Isha Yoga group has brought together volunteers from all of Lebanon’s religions and social classes. In addition, volunteers here have planted more than 1,000 trees in the last two years as part of Isha Yoga’s reforestation project called Project Greenhands.

From the Mystic Eye, Lebanon site–a two day program with Sadhguru is happening there May 1-2.

[youtube VEop5yQS71c]

Some live tweets:

In June, we will be awarded India’s highest environmental award, the the prestigious Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar. Can you help us to win Youtube’s competition also?

One idea could be to edit the below video down to three minutes; or create your own with the videos already available on Youtube.

The planet will thank you for your help!

Click To Play

“I really must have lost it,” says Gordon as he heads to meet Sadhguru, a spiritual leader at the Isha Centre in Tamil Nadu. “I’m going meat free for the first time ever.”

“He’s a lot racier than your average yogi,” says Gordon as the guru turns up riding a motorbike. The pair take a turn around the ashram kitchen.”7,000 in for dinner tonight and look how calm it is,” says Gordon impressed. “This is heaven’s kitchen,” laughs the guru.

“Eating in silence isn’t easy for someone like me,” says Gordon as he settles down to his veggie supper but he’s soon eating his words about vegetarian cuisine. “The food is actually delicious,” he whispers surprised.

The next morning Sadhguru takes Gordon to a spiritual pool to bathe and meditate before trying once more to explain the calming affect of abstaining from meat. “But I am calm,” argues Gordon, “I am calm!” The guru answers with a serene smile.