Vinaire's Blog

I started looking into Sadhguru only recently, since the end of August 2020. I have been researching on the interface between physics and metaphysics and I find Sadhguru’s responses in this area most insightful. Mostly I am impressed by the clarity of his responses to topics that range from common to  esoteric.  I am, therefore, studying him in depth.

At first I looked him up on Wikipedia. Then I read the book Sadhguru More than a Life (2010, 242 pages) by Arundhathi Subramaniam. This is a very well-written and informative book. Here is quick time-line that may be corrected and expanded upon as I get feedback.

1957 – (September) Sadhguru is born as Jaggi Vasudev in Mysore in a Telugu speaking family
1970 – Took Yoga Lessons
1978 – Bachelor’s degree in English, Irreverent attitude to school education, took to business
1982 – ’Spiritual experience’ (23 Sept), Age 25, then travelled extensively for a year
1983 – Yoga Teacher, taught his first yoga class
1984 – SSY teacher training under Guruji Rishi Prabhakar in Gommatagiiri near Mysore
1984 – Married to Vijji
1985 – Started a center under the direction of Guruji Rishi Prabhakar in Hyderabad
1987 – Planned to start his own center in Coimbatore.
1989 – He conducted his first class in Coimbatore.
1990 – (March) Birth of daughter, Radhe
1991 – (May) Conducted a silence programme called Samyama for the first time
1992 – Incorporated Isha Foundation
1994 – Set up Isha Yoga Center and started Yoga programs
1994 – (August) Transformed from Jaggi into Sadhguru
1996 – Vijji resigned from her job in Bangalore and moved to Coimbatore.
1996 – (June) Sadhguru initiated Vijji and Bharathi into a process of intense practice
1996 – (June) Sadhguru and Vijji, along with their daughter, visited Swami Nirmalananda.
1996 – Course for the Indian Hockey Team
1996 – (Nov) the edifice of the lingam arrived in the ashram
1996 – (Dec) Sadhguru took Vijji to visit Swami Nirmalananda.
1996 – (Dec) Sadhguru took Vijji and Bharathi on a tour to places of past life.
1996 – Dhyanalinga Yogic Temple construction started
1997 – (Jan 23) Wife Vijji passed away in Mahasamadhi
1997 – Started conducting classes in USA
1998 – Dhyanalinga constructed
1998 – Conducting classes in Tamil Nadu prisons
1999 – (June 23) Dhyanalinga consecration completed
2000 – Addressed United Nation’s Millennium World Peace Summit
2007 – Spoke at World Economic Forum for the first time
2010 – Addressed British parliament’s House of Lords
2012 – Addressed MIT-India Conference
2012 – Addressed International Institute for Management Development, Switzerland
2015 – 21 ft statue of Adiyogi unveiled at Isha Foundation in Tennessee, USA
2017 – 112 ft bust of Adiyogi inaugurated at Isha Foundation in Coimbatore, India
2017 – Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian award

So far my understanding of Sadhguru is as follows:

(1) From his childhood Sadhguru has never been religious. He was not even spiritual prior to having, at age 25, the mind-blowing experience where he could not tell the difference between his self and his surroundings.

(2) Prior to that point his modus operandi had simply been to give his full laser-sharp attention to things that interested him. He was quick in understanding the broad aspects of things and then he focused on details that didn’t make sense to him until he understood them.

(3) He was not interested in schooling. He just made sure that he had passing grades to move to the next class. He was interested in Yoga from age 12 but not from any spiritual perspective. Yoga simply helped him exercise his body and attention.

(4) He was fortunate to grow up in an environment where the food was nutritious and wholesome, the family was stable and caring, and he was allowed to be himself.

(5) His later spiritual approach is holistic in the sense that it focuses on practice of attention and not on thinking. This attention is to be put on both physical and mental health. It focuses on the step by step understanding of what brings about physical and mental health, and its practice.

(6) The major difference between Sadhguru’s ‘spiritual’ approach and Scientology is that Sadhguru’s entire emphasis is on attentive observation and not on messing around with one’s past memories and thoughts.

(7) In my opinion, Sadhguru’s approach may be summarized as follows: Start as broad as possible in your observation of life and situations. Grasp the details without missing anything. Practice on being “your” best in whatever you do.

I find that my practice of SUBJECT CLEARING is in tune with Sadhguru’s approach.

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