151. THE ISHA FOUNDATION - MY 16th FORAY

When Sadhguru, Jaggi Vasudev, came to the world's attention after quietly doing his work for 30 years or so, I thought he looked so much like Osho, one of my Teachers...but a softer version more suited to this age and today's people. The Universe is truly wonderful...sending great charismatic Teachers one at a time, never overshadowing each other until one has left the scene...only then do they step forward and within a short period of time, do so much work to spread the message of Life and Living and its Meaning

 

There are 2 Theerthakunds - energised bodies of water - this one is for women, the Chandrakund, 30 feet underground with 32 steps leading down to it. Chandra is Moon - the female energy. 

Water's cold...I dipped in here twice a day for 5-7mins or longer, dressed in a gown, to prepare the body to enter the Dhyanalinga - the meditation prayer room (below). What you see in the water in the pic above, is a yoni with a linga made out of solidified mercury. I've always thought mercury comes only in liquid form but India still knows this ancient science of alchemy in which mercury can be solidified. It's a powerful healing metal...combined with the energised water, it works on the subtle bodies. 
A wet cool body, its temperature lowered, is more receptive to the energies inside the Dhyanalinga. Strangely enough, when I changed out of the wet gown into my clothes, the body seemed to dry right away, I had no towel...I tried it at home the body didn't dry as quickly...

The pool below is the Suryakund, for men. This one has 3 yonis each topped by a solid mercury linga - why 3 for the men and just 1 for the ladies? Hmmm...
On the ceiling is a glorious sculpture of a golden flaming sun - Surya is Sanskrit for Sun...the male energy...
The construction and consecration of the 2 Theerthakunds is in YouTube...

This is the Isha Foundation in Tennessee USA...iii (Isha Institute of Inner-sciences). Like other yogis before him, Sadhguru's mission is to bring yogic science to Westerners, particularly Americans. He's fluent in English - all Indian yogis are, and more and more people can now grasp the breadth and depth of spiritual science for there's now a shift in consciousness in people all over the world. That Tennessee was chosen is significant - it's in the US Bible belt...

Change is the only constant - when I started writing in 2004, the early posts were about Change...

Another prayer room with the same sealed-up brick walls with beautiful sound effects - songs and music echo through the room. Every evening there's a half hour gathering in this room known as 'Presence'.....musical instruments are simple ones, flute, guitar, singing bowl, some days the harmonium is played, other times the tabla....every day it's beautiful with the echo bouncing off the walls...

We start the day at 5.30am with Guru Pooja, asking the Guru to bless the day and us...I use the mornings to 'talk' to my other Teachers for surely they have given me their blessings to be here at the Isha Foundation for this trip happened so quickly when I had no plans to be in India this year...

After the early morning Guru Pooja, we gathered in this room for nearly 2 hours of practice. It was hard sitting on the floor cross-legged - torturous - I couldn't focus..
From a young age, their kindy kids sit on the floor in schools, at mealtimes, at prayers - cityfolks had a hard time...I persevered even when I couldn't concentrate ....

The Dhyanalinga is the main prayer/meditation room. It's huge. The entire dome is bricks held together without cement, testament to the skill of Indian builders even today. The place is like a concert hall, without the curtains - musical instruments played, chants, reverberate off the walls, it's echo create vibrations that work on the subtle bodies. For quiet contemplation, its beautifully silent, a sneeze would echo throughout the room...
Looking up at the swirls on the ceiling, it's like looking at the Milky Way...I was moved...

This is the most gorgeous lingam I've ever set eyes on. It sits on a yoni which is totally different from any I've seen. Sculptured from stone into a snake, its coils forming its base....the cobra being a symbol associated with Shiva and so too it symbolises the Kundalini Serpent Fire of the base chakra...the Muladhara

The entire sculpture was carved on site from a solid large boulder and the dome built around it. It was majestic. As with most things here thats constructed for prayers and rituals, the Dhyanalinga was consecrated to energise it as this dome is the main meditation hall...

As one enters the passageway I noticed its similarity to the female passage that leads to the womb. Right above is the night shot. This is symbolic of the yoni and when one enters the inner chamber, the shiva lingham awaits (above). A good many old cathedrals are constructed this way...there's that long aisle leading into the large atrium where the tabernacle sits, but with the newer churches, they would have done away with that model. Dan Brown's best selling novel The Da Vinci Code, describes in detail the construction design of old cathedrals that were so similar to Indian temples with it's familiar passageway...

Facing Nandi, the cow below, is this grand entrance that leads into the Dhyanalinga - the day pictures I snapped when no one was looking....the night pics I googled....photo taking wasn't allowed within the compound...

Like all good yogis, the programmes are non-religious...for earnest seekers only...Sadhguru exhorts interested parties to be seekers not to settle for being merely believers...this is why he resonates with me.

This is Nandi, Shiva's vehicle - sculpted from metal, filled with ash (vibhuti), sesame seeds, herbs, turmeric, several different kinds of earth, oils, all in there's 20 tons of material to fill it, consecrated in a ceremony so it radiates a certain field of energy, it's a symbol of eternal waiting - the essential quality for receptivity - for mere mortals, it means Patience...sitting in meditation in an alert way.
Nandi sits outside the main entrance into the Dhyanalinga - the most important building in the Isha Yoga Center...

There's more building going on - it's a huge estate...

Another thing that's different - bright colourful buildings, unusual in India - but Sadhguru is not your run-of-the-mill yogi - these buildings house the ashram workers and long stay volunteers. All buildings are unplastered - they are hollow bricks painted over or exposed red bricks, led lights are used throughout, all food waste composted, its own farm supply the fruits but due to the large number of visitors, food is brought in from farms around the place...chiefly organic

This is the 1st time in India I see bamboo groves...but in Isha Yoga Center, there's a good many things I'm seeing for the 1st time...

More artwork around the ashram... even old tree trunks and rocks can be so beautiful...every year there's a tree planting day in Tamil Nadu where many thousands of people go around planting saplings...the ashram's lush greenery is testament to this greening of India starting with this State...it's called Project GreenHands - an Isha initiative...

Our very own Lee Kuan Yew started tree planting day nearly 5 decades ago - only when we can live in close communion with Mother can we realise the importance of trees to our survival...

The Isha Vidya School provides free schooling and meals for students from less well-to-do families from in and around Tamil Nadu and employees' children. The Foundation has teamed up with State Government schools to provide a Isha curriculum with emphasis on Science, Maths, IT, English Language, Sports and spiritual practices ...
The better schools provide all these...this particular program is meant for village schools and their government schools are not the best...

These girls are 13 years of age. They were tasked by their principal to act as our guide as they took us around for a tour of the classes and facilities. They were confident and articulate.

Hand-written timetable for teachers and general info chart - there's even a class on how to use Whatsapp

A sign made out of recycled materials announcing the Isha Home School which is what they call the boarding school - Gnana Shala.
The same philosophy applies here - lots of recycled items are used in and around the school and its sprawling compound...

The school takes in students from anywhere in the world but chiefly Indian parents from their diaspora leave their older children here...many are of course from other Indian cities...Tamil Nadu is a prosperous state with many successful people.

I could see that the Isha Foundation provides jobs for a very large number of citizens and companies. Every structure in the ashram and its 2 schools are built by locals - the talent and abilities are there for all to see. Huge structures that can house a 1000 or more are erected very quickly using traditional building methods and manual labour. I saw no pre-fab or plastic...

Cows and calves are donated to the ashram to commemorate birthdays, weddings, any special occasions...

Drumsticks - a big favourite in South Indian cooking...in the background are cottages for ashram visitors who want to stay in more stylish accommodations. The rooms are large with water boiler, ensuite, large comfy beds...once anyone gets into the practices, there's much discipline involved...they may want to do so in some comfort otherwise they can opt to stay in the dorms...

Most visitors are housed in these cottages (below) rooms are twin share with ensuite, cleaners clean the rooms every day, there's an office where keys are deposited...it's inexpensive. There are 2 veg meals a day prepared by volunteers, we sit on the floor, say a prayer before we eat, wash our plates when we finish...fruit waste is recycled into plant food...

Why Sadhguru appeals so much to today's people and especially the young, is that he's message is current - it's about the problems of today - pollution, wastage, recycling, protecting the environment, living in close communion with Mother Nature, giving back by sharing...he's not a conservative...he's all over YouTube so am not going into his messages, just my impressions of his work during my stay...

He wants people to be seekers not just settle for being believers. Once again as with Osho, I found from his messages, that there were a good many things I've written or talked about with friends over 2 decades...that we think alike! Chiefly...on energy and the elements in relation to our bodies...but of course, he has the insight of personal experience. 

I'm a tree hugger. I'm also very much into cystals. I'm in love with rocks/boulders as well which I can't collect and store at home but the ashram has a few that I can gawk at. Ancient and majestic just like old trees...they emanate energy. India's ancient rocks have high raw energy...they've been unmolested for an extremely long time because their people treated them with respect, as they do their old trees.

Their temples are carved out of solid rock/granite/marble and consecrated to become sacred spaces, their energy charged daily with prayer rituals, music and dance, singing, chanting....these take place in Isha as well. 

Most times it's all very quiet, talking is not encouraged...meal times are silent affairs, kitchen work is carried out with little or low whispers. Some folks are on a discipline of no talking during their stay in which they wear a sticker that says Silent... 

This looks like a durian, if it is it's the first time ever I've come across this fruit in India...

There are 2 of these electric cars and one auto rickshaw used for internal transfers. All the drivers are women, a rarity in India where no women operate public transport vehicles.

Most of the ashram workers are women from the neighbouring villages, all others are volunteers - local and foreign...

Unusual flora spotted around the ashram...

Sadhguru is truly a Teacher of our times - modern, forward thinking, contemporary ideas - every where I look, recycling is practiced. There's wood, bamboo, rubber, metal, stone, recycled into everything that can be used throughout the ashram and in the 2 schools the Foundation operates...being a teacher of this age, he's all over the web making full use of social media to reach a wider audience...the interested folks grow every day and they are chiefly young and English educated - that's important.

My extremely healthy satvic diet - clean, light and pure - no egg, no onion nor garlic, no tea nor coffee...served twice a day...some days there's rice or millet or dosai or chappati....washed down with rasam - a spiced tamarind drink and finished off with juicy sweet fruits...it was expelled from my body so easily...I never felt hungry nor had any desire to snack. A cafe in the compound sells coffee and tea and briyani to mere mortals who require more solid food, but I don't see the 'pilgrims' indulging, it was more for day trippers from Coimbatore town who came up to visit...

Sadhguru is about Shiva, Mother Nature all around us and the 5 elements... Shiva represented by the cobra....so throughout the ashram, his 'pet' is a common decorative feature....the snake been a symbol of the Kundalini Serpent Fire...to talk further about Shiva and his snake is an extremely looong drawn out story...earnest seekers will need to do their own research...

So, do I fear snakes? Not when it's a harmless python in such a beautiful colour

The Adi Yogi - the 1st Yogi - so called because he never gave his name when he came down from the Himalayas. The Adi Yogi later became named Shiva...the name has stuck till today. This image is one of the handsomest I've seen!
The images and symbols in the ashram are consecrated by Sadhguru to become powerful energy centers. Carved from stone, selected by him as they give off energy which Sadhguru seems able to see or sense...India's rocks are extremely ancient, most have sat there unmolested by humans until Sadhguru carried them off to the Isha Yoga Center where they are carved onsite.

This is in a nature reserve...

I heard the sounds made by peacocks every morning but never saw them...

These carved stone vases - if you can call them that - are found all over the ashram - nice touch to add aesthetics to the place...

I consider myself a student of many religions...The more I learn the more questions I have. 
The spiritual quest will be a life-long work in progress - Dan Brown - Author, The Da Vinci Code