Indian Culture from a Mystic's View: Why we do What we do

Sadhguru is a realized yogi, visionary and a profound mystic of our times who has dedicated himself to the physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing of all people through Yoga and meditation. He is a sought after opinion maker who is regularly invited to speak at leading international forums and many prestigious global conferences such as The World Peace Summit at the United Nations and the World Economic Forum as well as countless Educational Institutions including Oxford, Yale and Harvard.

A multi-faceted personality, he is also a bestselling author and poet, an adventurer by heart, a consultant, an architect and a philanthropist along with being a mystic of unfathomable proportions and a spiritual master with a difference. In a manner that is candid, audacious and unpretentious, he shatters conventional definitions of morality, religion and spirituality.

Whether in loincloth or in blue jeans, barefoot through the mighty Himalayas, or straddling a BMW motorcycle on the expressway, Sadhguru is the most unusual mystic that one can encounter. Marking a clear departure from mere customs and rituals, Sadhguru's scientific methods for self-transformation are both direct and powerful. He is often described as a 'Contemporary Guru', since he belongs to no particular tradition and incorporates aspects of yogic sciences that are most relevant for modern-day life into his teachings and practices. His scientific methods for self-transformation have universal appeal.

Sadhguru’s insights into the mechanisms of life are an outcome of his profound experience of the Self, and serve as a guide to exploring the deeper dimensions of life. His life and work serve as reminders that the inner science of yoga is not esoteric philosophy from an outdated past, but is absolutely relevant and applicable to our lives today.

His fundamental vision is to offer the Science of Inner Wellbeing to every human being – a science that helps a person realize the ultimate potential within. From this vision stem a multitude of projects, programs and methods, all towards the same aim: to raise every human being to the peak of their potential, so that they are exuberant, all-inclusive, and in harmony within themselves and the world. Sadhguru has often said that, “(Today) Society is overripe for a Spiritual Process.”

Achievements at a Glance

Absolute clarity of perception places Sadhguru in a unique space, not only in matters spiritual but in business, environmental and international affairs, and opens a new door on all that he touches. Probing and passionate, insightful, logical and unfailingly witty, Sadhguru's talks have earned him the reputation of a speaker and opinion-maker of international renown. He has been a lead speaker at the United Nations General Assembly, a regular at the World Economic Forum, and a special invitee at the Australian Leadership Retreat, Indian Economic Summit and TED. His astute and incisive grasp of world affairs, as well as his unerringly scientific approach to human well-being have had a transformative influence at establishments such as the World Bank, House of Lords (UK), the World Presidents’ Organization, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the London Business School, Google, and Microsoft, to name a few. With a celebratory engagement with life on all levels, Sadhguru's areas of active involvement encompass fields as diverse as architecture and visual design, poetry and painting, ecology and horticulture, sports and music. He is the designer of several unique buildings and consecrated spaces at the Isha Yoga Center, which have received wide attention for their combination of intense sacred power with strikingly innovative Eco-friendly aesthetics. He is also among the top 50 most influential people in India. Sadhguru's vision and understanding of modern social and economic issues have led to countless interviews with BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, CNNfn,Newsweek International and so on. His insights are regularly featured in India's leading national newspapers. A well-known public figure, he regularly draws crowds of more than 300,000 people for his public talks and "sathsangs" (group meditation).

Sadhguru established the Isha Foundation, a volunteer-run, international, nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating human potential for the past three decades. It does not promote any particular ideology, religion, or race, but transmits inner sciences of universal appeal. The Foundation is headquartered at Isha Yoga Center in southern India and at Isha Institute of Inner-sciences in the United States. Under the guidance of Sadhguru and driven by a sense of oneness, love, and a deep longing to reach out and share, the Isha Foundation has also implemented several large-scale human service projects for rural upliftment , education reform, environmental stewardship, as well as holistic and healthy living. Isha Foundation has been recently invited by Clinton foundation to join its Clinton Global Initiative CGI. Thanks to the scientific approach, Isha's flagship program, called "Inner Engineering" has received international recognition and approval from leading corporations, universities and global forums such as Google, General Electric, the World Bank and others. To date, "Inner Engineering" has entered the lives of more than 100 million people.

Above all, Sadhguru is a living master whose voice is a distinct one: frank, bold, hard-hitting, funny and provocative. Above all it is a voice that refuses to perpetuate the cliches of archetypal Holy Man Discourse. Here is a voice that speaks with an authority that could strike you as arrogant but never sanctimonious, unfaltering but never unconsidered.