Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is one of the most respected Indian spiritual leaders who has come to be admired by people across ethnic and religious affiliations all over the world. He is a mystic whose philosophical ideas, books, and yoga instructions have made an enigmatic figure. He has taught on everything from marriage to the health of body and mind; intelligence, God and the spirit world. For a lot of people, Sadhguru has always been there, and may always be. Nonetheless, there are a lot of things that remain unknown and quite mysterious about him.
What’s Mysterious About Sadhguru Jaggi’s Life?
There was hardly a thing special or out of place with the birth of Sadhguru on the 3rd of September 1957. Better known as Jaggi Vasudev, he started his life in the Indian city of Mysore, Karnataka. He was brought up in different parts of the country together with his three siblings.
By the time he was between 11 and 12, his life took a serious turn from its natural progression when he came in contact with a yogi who became his yoga instructor. He continued learning and developing himself until he was 25; his life changed even more following an event that happened on the Chamundi. He revealed that he had a spiritual experience on the hill which changed the way he viewed things.
For his education, the yogi went to the University of Mysore where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in English literature. After graduation, his parents had wanted him to continue to postgraduate level but he insisted and chose business instead. He would later leave the business world and start traveling and meditating.
The Official Beginning of His Spiritual Journey
In 1983, he kick-started his yoga activities in full gear and before long, he started getting serious attention and followers. This led to the formation of the Isha Yoga Foundation. Ten years later, he built a temple for meditation known as the Isha Yoga Center. He came up with the foundation as a non-religious, political and non-profit establishment to help improve the self-awareness of individuals through Yoga.
Having gained popularity in his home country, Sadhguru Jaggi decided to start his yoga classes in the United States in 1997. Since then, his classes have attracted more than a hundred thousand people from different parts of the world.
While yoga and spirituality are the main things for which the enigmatic Guru has come to be known, he has also been involved in some social activities through the Action for Rural Rejuvenation (ARR) initiative. The initiative was started by the Isha Foundation to improve the lives of rural dwellers. There is also Project GreenHands (PGH) initiative established to improve the ecosystem. The foundation has earned a place in the Guinness world record for planting 8,052,587 saplings in 6,284 places in 2006.
Popular and Controversial Beliefs of Sadhguru Jaggi
The fame of the guru stems mostly from his beliefs which although many people have come to accept and live by, are often controversial. Here are some of his most unpopular beliefs:
He believes that faith freezes your mind: Instead of having faith, the guru teaches that people should be seekers instead. This is not the most popular of his beliefs among his religious followers.
He does not believe in religion: Another thing that seems to be his unpopular standpoint is as regards religion, which he says makes people believe in things they don’t know anything about. The Guru said religion makes people confident about things instead of trying to know about such things.
Some of his most popular beliefs that work for a lot of people include the following:
Do not be afraid to say “I do not know”: The Mystic as he is famously called believes that one of the biggest problems people have, which also stops them from learning, is the pretense that they know things they know nothing about.
Change yourself and not others: He believes that revolution is not an attempt to change others but rather to change yourself.
Find out for yourself: Instead of drawing conclusions or even living based on what others tell one or what others believe, he believes that everyone should be a seeker so as to find out the truth.
Act consciously, not compulsively: Sadhguru indicated that instead of acting compulsively and reacting in the same manner to everything that happens, it is important for one to do things consciously.
Decide for yourself whether to be happy or not: One of his most popular teachings is happiness. In this regard, he points out that one must hold the power of happiness so that no one or thing decides when you are happy or sad.
How Rich Is He?
Obviously one of the most respected Gurus in India, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev has made so much from his beliefs which he has put into writing and the speeches he delivers. There is no doubt that he is also very hardworking as seen in the way he runs the Insha Foundation even as he is a bestselling author.
Jaggi has written many books bordering on a lot of things. His books include Inner Engineering: A Yogi’s Guide to Joy, Mind Is Your Business (Spirituality, Mind, Yoga), Mystic’s Musings, and Body and Mind. While it is known that he has earned a lot from his works and books, his net worth is not known. Nonetheless, it is believed that he is a very wealthy man.
For his foundation which happens to be a nonprofit one, various online sources are placing it to have a net worth that was over $15 million as of 2014.
What You Should Know About Sadhguru Jaggi’s Family
Jaggi was born and brought up in a mid-sized family by his parents, Susheela and Dr. Vasudev. His father worked with the Indian Railways as an ophthalmologist, a job that kept the family moving from place to place. As stated earlier, he has three siblings; a brother and two sisters.
On a personal level, he was once married to Vijaykumari, but the marriage and how it came to an end with the death of his wife would be subject to controversy decades after the tragedy. Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev tied the knot in 1984 to Viji, as his wife had come to be referred. When they got married, the Mystic was 27 while Viji was a 21-year-old bank worker.
The two were blessed with a daughter named Radhe Jaggi who was born in 1990. She grew up to become a dancer and tied the knot in 2014 with Sandeep Narayan, a musician in India. They have continued to maintain a very private life together.
The Controversial Death of His Wife
Above all, what has come to be the most controversial topic that Jaggi has to deal with revolves around the death of his wife which he has discussed in the context of some of his books including Mystic’s Musings.
The mystery surrounding the marriage between the two is not on how they lived as man and wife, but instead, on how Viji died in 1997. While the Mystic claimed that his wife died after experiencing what he termed “Mahasamadhi”, an instance where a Yogi leaves his or her body, there were others who believed there was more to her death.
The Guru added that his wife had announced that she was going to leave nine months before her death when she was in the peak of Yoga experience. He stated that she decided it was time for her to leave because, at that time, she was sure that everything – within and outside of her – was in a perfect state. Hence, she died in the presence of hundreds of people.
Interestingly, seven months after the death of Vijaykumari, a case was filed in a Bangalore Police Station against her husband with charges that he caused the death of his wife, although not so much information was released to that effect. The case would later be transferred to a Coimbatore police station where it would be shut down 8 months later. Although the report pointed out that there was no wrongdoing on the part of Sadhguru Jaggi, there were those who believed otherwise.
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