Cauvery Calling And The Cries of Vested Interests

Today, happened to see an article from Vikatan regarding the recently launched Cauvery Calling campaign of Isha Foundation:

https://www.vikatan.com/government-and-politics/environment/will-the-cauvery-calling-result-in-second-green-revolution

Some of the questions appear natural but completely irrelevant and this blog post explains why.

The article starts with facts like 40% reduction in Cauvery water and 87% green cover removed, etc. which are directly taken from Cauvery Calling website and quoting as if it's their own! Is it not obvious from these facts that loss of the green cover has caused reduction in Cauvery water and the solution is making up for the lost green cover?

Anyway, this article from Vikatan seems to be focusing on creating imaginary problems for  a solution proposed and not give any solution. Let's look at their complaints one by one.

#1: The trees are non-native and are not really useful for the soil.

The list of trees that Vikatan team has got is the list of all trees from the nurseries. In their own article, at a later point of time, the writer silents adds a sidenote that the Isha team has clearly said that farmers will be given native species trees for timber, fodder & fruits.

In Tamilnadu, the Project Green Hands nurseries currently provide for the general public, flowering and shade-giving trees for planting in home and institutional gardens, roadside, parks and other public spaces. 

But Cauvery Calling is focused only on native tree species chosen according to the agro-ecological region, which farmers can plant on their fields and field bunds, which will enrich the soil, increase soil moisture, recharge groundwater and provide the farmer income over the years.

- The list contains all trees because those are all distributed by the nursery for public in general. 
- Not all of these are alien species as well. 
- Native species plants according to that soil is what are recommended by Cauvery Calling!

What Vikatan conveniently did not publish are the benefits of some of the native trees in that list like:

- Vengai (Pterocarpus marsupium) is especially known for cooling the soil with shade and increasing ground water levels

- Nattuvagai (Indian Siris) has the potential for increasing pastoral production in the wet-dry tropics where the major problem is low feed quality of the basal diet, mature tropical grasses

- Poovarasu (Indian Tulip) is a fast growing tree, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live to a ripe old age of 120 years or more! The bitter inner bark of the Indian Tulip tree is used as diuretic and stimulant along with several other medicinal benefits.

And anyone who has grown a guava tree and pomegranate tree in their own lands know that these are definitely lot more than commercial trees and their ability to enrich the soil is tremendous with leaf fall and organic richness.


#2: Going for commercial trees will not support farming 

The whole point of going towards AgroForestry is to get a sufficient density of green cover in several pockets in the Cauvery river basin. The organic content from leaves will definitely increase the richness of soil and also increase the hold of ground water in the area. If this does not enhance the quality of farming, what will?

And if the farmers do not go for commercial trees, how can they see economic viability in moving to AgroForestry or even sustaining themselves with the current archaic methods of Agriculture?

Having a proper density of trees in any region is scientifically proven to increase the water levels in the area. 

This is a validated eco-model across the world and is basic science. 

How did the Vikatan team not know even this while writing an article about the scientific aspects of Cauvery Calling?


#3: The action plan of Cauvery Calling is not clear

So far, the only actions regarding Cauvery water have been political and not much good has come out of it for both the states. For the first time, something really constructive is happening on the ground and all these people are doing is try to find faults with it!

Cauvery Calling is the action phase of 'Rally For Rivers' (RFR). The policy recommendation document of RFR has been validated by NITI Aayog with several scientific establishments across the country already. In 2017, the RFR policy document has already been shared to the state Governments as an official recommendation by NITI Aayog. So, the overall AgroForestry promotion is already validated.

Just because one does not see it does not mean a clear action plan does not exist. The detailed project reports are given to the state governments. Only after September 15th can we expect to see the detailed action plan. For simple understanding of general public, the idea is explained as AgroForestry.

One simple search on the internet about benefits of AgroForestry can make one understand that it is better for farmers in more ways than one, like:

- Increased revenue from timber and medicinal plants
- Enhances soil richness and groundwater levels
- Makes the crop productivity better by attracting more bird & insect species

There are several things involved in making this Cauvery Calling successful:

(a) Conducting awareness camps to farmers

(b) Training farmers to handle AgroForestry properly

(c) Setting up of nursery infrastructure and provide saplings to farmers as is required for the type of land they have

(d) Continuous support for farmers to manage the trees properly

All these are part of the Cauvery Calling campaign as explained in their website clearly. It may look daunting but if there is one organization that can pull this off, it is the Isha Foundation. The Foundation already has the experience of having 69600+ farmers move into AgroForestry. Their success stories are well documented.

#4: Isha is just selling saplings to make their business

It is not only about selling saplings as is being claimed by some naysayers. That is a very naive way of looking at Cauvery Calling.

As an example, a teak sapling can come around 150 to 200 Rupees in a typical nursery. But all saplings are given at a much cheaper rate for the farmers through Cauvery Calling. How can this be a business if Isha is not even making profit out of it?

Today, perhaps 10% or lesser number of farmers only would want their children to continue Agriculture. If anything, this move towards AgroForestry can encourage more people to move towards Agriculture making it both economically and ecologically viable.

It is not as easy as giving commentary sitting somewhere and talking about Cauvery as just an environmental issue. The volunteers on ground are pouring their sweat and blood daily in reaching out to farmers. Farmers from both Tamilnadu and Karnataka are being consulted and detailed discussions & awareness sessions are happening daily. 

So far, over 9,000 farmers have already registered to move towards AgroForestry only because they see multiple benefits in it:

(a) Their soil gets enriched because of the native tree saplings that will be given to them

(b) They need not move away from their regular cropping because the trees will be only a small part of the total land

(c) The ground water levels will definitely increase because of the trees

(d) They can use the timber or fruits from the trees for making more money

(e) They will not need to keep buying more trees from the nurseries because they can reuse seeds from those trees itself

Anybody with basic understanding of farming will know clearly that all these are the major positives for farmers. 

#5: Isha is conducting a rally and asking to give missed call again

For the first time, only because someone like Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is conducting a bike rally all along the Cauvery basin, the whole area will get a coverage in media like never before. It is time for the whole of India and the world to understand what kind of problems our farmers are really facing. 

No media has so far covered the travails of farmers along the Cauvery basin or has conducted a proper study of the issues of these farmers. If anything, Vikatan have only themselves to blame for this :)

The number 8000980009 was used for 'Rally For Rivers' campaign in 2017. The RFR campaign lead to the national river policy being shared as official recommendation from central government to all the state governments. That happened only because of the massive public support and solidarity showcased through the missed calls. 

The same 8000980009 number is being used for 'Cauvery Calling' because this is just the action phase of RFR. So, anybody calling this number will be prompted for action towards saving river Cauvery now. 

Nobody is asking to give any missed call. This is plain misinformation.


#6: This Cauvery Calling will not help revive Cauvery river as such.

How the Cauvery Calling project will revive the river as such is a pertinent question and can be answered very scientifically.

It is well known that trees capture the rain water discharge in their roots and release water slowly letting it percolate into the soil. 

Living and decaying roots of trees create a network of well-connected channels in the soil called macro-pores. Water flow through these macro-pores can be up to several hundred times faster than the flow through the soil matrix. Also, organic matter from leaf fall and the  tree roots improves soil structure, which can increase infiltration rates of rainwater into the ground.

A River's baseflow results from groundwater seeping into riverbanks or the riverbed. The baseflow is the sole or primary source of streamflow during the annual dry season when rainfall is insufficient to generate substantive runoff.

The surface water is almost always connected to groundwater, which has a critical impact on river water flow. In general, the baseflow can be significant enough to allow the stream to flow around the year. Recharge from groundwater through baseflow is the major source of sustained flow in the river, except during storms. 

This is the science behind afforestation along river basin and that is the basis of Cauvery Calling as well.

The Late Nammalvar ayya, one of the most eminent environmental scientists of South India, has spoken about the good work Isha has been doing in this field and about AgroForestry basics.

Also, the Cauvery Calling board is made of eminent scientists, IAS officers, judiciary members and industrialists from across India. 

One has to think if and why would such eminent personalities stand up for a social cause if they do not agree with the fundamental scientific principles involved.

Am sure the people whom Vikatan team interviewed are not more qualified than these board members to talk about science or environmental policy. 


#7: There are lot of problems in the source itself like occupation by coffee plantations, etc.? What about industrial pollution?

It is not that the Cauvery Calling team is not aware of the other problems in the Cauvery basin area. 

One thing is, if we wait for all the problems to be solved before we take a single constructive step forward, we may have to wait for generations. That is impossible in the current situation where farmers are already in distress. 

Second thing is, the coffee plantation owners are also being approached for increasing trees in their plantations which will directly address the source problem.

Some people seem to think that the planting is only along the main river of Cauvery. No, the Cauvery basin is over 85000 Sq Km. There are over 120 tributaries to river Cauvery. 

The tree plantation has to happen in private lands as well as public lands all over the Cauvery basin. 

And not all of this area has industrial pollution problem and that problem has in fact been comprehensively addressed in the Rally For Rivers policy recommendation document itself. The TN state Government has to just act on it.


#8: Will our farmers go away from Agriculture? What will happen if timber industry comes up? 

All these are baseless fears and everyone should know the truth about it now. By definition, agroforestry is the growing of a combination of trees and field crops on farmers' fields. The campaign is not by any means promoting growing trees alone.  

Another thing many people do not get is we have close to 70% of India as farmers. That means, for every 10 people 7 are farmers but contribution from Agriculture to India's GDP is less than 20% and is only falling! 

That means, 30% of India's population is producing over 80% of India's GDP whereas the remaining 70% are just producing the food. This is completely unsustainable. 

We have to move towards a model where perhaps 10% to 20% of people are engaged in food production whereas the rest of the population is working towards enhancing the GDP through other sectors. That is a whole different structure altogether and moving towards it will take time like reskilling people, etc. In the mean time, moving towards a supporting model like AgroForestry for farmers is one positive step forward. 

What will happen if the timber industry comes up is not even a valid question as the Cauvery Calling campaign has not talked about the industry involvement nor is it promoting only one type of industry.

Will everyone go towards timber producing? This is a completely unfounded fear and has no basis at all. As part of AgroForestry, only a small percentage of the existing farmland is being converted to trees and existing crops production will continue in majority of the land. 

AgroForestry is promoted as an option of remuneration for farmers. Today, we are importing several hundred crores worth of timber from foreign countries. 

We can finally move away from that dependency and be able to produce our own timber products within the country. This might even cause agriculture to start contributing more to the country's GDP! Is this not a huge positive in itself?


There are some seriously wrong assumptions made by Team Vikatan that I am questioning here:

(1) How can you make a general statement like "economic solutions are only temporary"? What is the basis for such 'yellow journalism' statements?

(2) Why is there a comparison with Green revolution? Green revolution was a scheme brought about by the Government to move towards chemical fertilizers and all major leaders of the country accepted it at that time. That it did not yield positive results in the long term was something not many even foresaw and reported. 

Cauvery Calling is a campaign for the farmers by the public and supports Natural Farming more. What is the underlying basis for this comparison other than spreading fear among farmers and general public?

(3) Who are these 'unnamed sources' for Vikatan and 'Lawyer activists' who are providing it false information? Ideally Vikatan should consult field experts in environmental sciences and agriculture like how Isha has done before launching the Cauvery Calling campaign. 

It seems like Vikatan is more interested in keeping the problem of Cauvery going, rather than finding a constructive solution.

As indicated in my earlier posts as well, it is customary for magazines like Vikatan to raise something negative whenever Isha Foundation puts forth some positive action for public well-being. This article does not buck that trend.

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Isha Controversies - FAQs format

[Wow .. What a pleasant surprise! Reading through Quora yesterday found someone who has elaborated on something I had touched upon - controversies related to Isha. Not just that, it has some of my blog posts also referenced!! Am replicating the Quora article here.]

OK. I will try to list the allegations and corresponding answers that I see as logically fit, backing with facts and proofs that I found, unlike some other 'opinions' listed here.

The really impatient readers can go through the short answers and be happy with it (or unhappy as you please)! Long answers for some of the questions are given down below.

(1) Sadhguru killed his wife

Short answer: No, he did not. A case was registered 7 months after she died and it was later dismissed as baseless upon finding no proofs.

(2) Isha Yoga center established shiva linga but claim it is not religious

Short answer: A linga is an ellipsoid form. Ellipsoids cannot be claimed as a religious form. Such lingas / ellipsoids have been found almost all over the world.

(3) He has a helicopter for his own use.

Short answer: Nobody knows who owns such a chopper! He sometimes get to use a chopper. It is not out of the donations given by volunteers for Isha social projects though.

(4) Isha foundation has hacked into e-mail ID’s of bloggers, who blog against Sadhguru

Short answer: One of the most ridiculous and laughable allegations, especially since it is not backed with any facts or proofs whatsoever! Just as ridiculous as my claim that anti-Isha people hacked into my FB account because I supported Isha. There is no long answer for this. I cannot fight with perceptions people have.

(5) More than 1500 people are initiated into Brahmacharya whereas his daughter was married. How is this justified?

Short answer: First off, only 200 odd monks are there in Isha Yoga Center initiated into Brahmacharya. Just as those who question that, Sadhguru himself has no right to initiate his daughter into Brahmacharya if she wants to marry. Sadhguru himself has conducted hundreds of marriages for other people in the Isha Yoga Center also. So, it is basically people’s choice!

(6) Sadhguru betrayed Rishi Prabhakar

Short answer: It is one person's opinion versus another person's opinion. There are no facts to prove it this way or that way. I will still provide a long answer for this.

(7) Promotes Multi-level marketing

Short answer: I would love to see Isha foundation actually be able to do that! Somebody should suggest to them about it. By the way, whoever said this gave no proofs for it. Again a perception, not worth fighting against.

(8) Deforestation done by Isha Yoga Center / Isha Yoga center occupying forest land / Isha Yoga center being cause of elephant deaths

Short answer: TN Forest department has cleared that there was no deforestation done by Isha Center and that it is not in elephant corridor. I would rather go with their statement than somebody else who claims otherwise.

(9) Isha Yoga center has illegal constructions of more than 40,000 square feet

Short answer: This is probably the only legitimate concern if there is any. There was a case file in the Chennai high court on this matter. The government has confirmed the approvals for all pending buildings in the Isha Yoga Center. So, this is no longer a legitimate case (This update is recent, as of July 2017).

(10) Local tribal authorities at Velliangiri hill has filed a petition at Madras HC

Short answer: There was a private group created in February 2017 called "Velliangiri tribal protection society" with the exclusive aim of defaming Isha Yoga Center by hook or crook. They filed a case in the Chennai High Court that the AdiYogi statue was built without approvals. The case is under hearing and will be concluded in due course. If there is strength in the case, the verdict will come out accordingly. A dummy organization created in Feb 2017 cannot claim to be a tribal authority within a month :) Also, Isha Foundation has clearly published records showing Government approvals obtained for making the AdiYogi Shiva Statue.

(11) ‘Poovulagin Nanbargal’ has requested for interim ban for Mahashivarathri celebrations at Isha Yoga centre

Short answer: This organization has always been against Indian cultural festivals and troubling Isha Foundation from long. The court has pushed off the hearing and the Mahashivarathri celebrations did happen well in 2017. For the last 3 to 4 years, they have tried to interrupt such celebrations and have been dismissed by the courts every time for lack of any basis. (Sometimes makes me wonder why this Poovulagin Nanbargal group targets only Indian cultural festivals! Am not sure what else they have really done as an organization for the society.)

(12) Modi came for Isha's Mahashivarathri celebrations!!

Short answer: This is not even an allegation. It is a complaint and that has to be taken to the PM Office of India, if anything. Also, there is no right for anyone to question Mr.Modi for visiting a Shiva statue! Now, he has not visited Tamilnadu earlier for political reasons probably! He in fact had visited Ms.Jayalalitha when she was down, visited Chennai during 2015 floods before the state CM did and even had visited Chennai for Ms.Jayalalitha’s death. Still, people may have grudge against Modi not supporting JalliKattu issue openly. That doesn't mean anything though to be taken against Isha Foundation. Most of the people who allege this should get a life and take their grievances with the State Government.

(13) Sadhguru does black magic

Short answer: This is not even a good, laughable joke. The persons claiming so give no proofs, just some opinions and random statements. Whether black magic exists and if somebody can do black magic or not is a very subjective matter. So, am not going to deal with such illogical stuff here.

(14) Sadhguru was arrested for selling narcotics in 1970

Short answer: Second most ridiculous allegation because he would have been 13 years of age in 1970 and has been proven to be in high school as per the school records! There are no proofs shown (as usual) by those allege this. These are just fiction created by people who want to grab the lands that Isha Foundation is on now.

Now that, I have dismissed most of them, let's look at the long answers for the real questions.

(1) Sadhguru killed his wife

No, he did not! Sadhguru’s wife, Vijaykumari, attained Mahasamadhi in the year 1997. In the yogic culture, "Mahasamadhi" is an act of intentionally and consciously leaving your body. The Oriental culture has seen many Tibetan, Hindu and Zen Masters such a this graceful exit from this world. This is seen as the ultimate and a feat that requires utmost dedication and determination in one's yoga Sadhana. It is saddening that such a person is not looked upon with reverence for this feat.

About 7 months after the death, the New Indian Express newspaper reported in August that a case had been filed in the Bangalore police station against Sadhguru, accusing him of causing the death of his wife. The case was transferred to the Coimbatore Police. However, 8 months later, a news report notes that the case was closed after investigation by police, who found no wrongdoing and concluded that there was no case for further investigation.

A case of murder or similar accusations being closed as having no evidence either means the case was closed because of “pressure”, or the case was opened because of “pressure.” Which is the case here? It is hard to find any “hard” evidence because of the very nature of such “pressure”. However, the New Indian Express and the Tamil magazine Nakeeran noted that the local DMK MLA – DMK is one of the political parties in Tamil Nadu – had assured that “Jaggi would be put in jail.” (this is translated from Tamil).

That gives a possible clue. Probably the case was opened upon pressure. For the police to close a case in a few months citing no evidence, despite pressure from the local MLA, probably means there wasn’t even a shred to pick up and make a case out of. This is conjecture of course, but I think this makes it reasonably clear that there was some pressure for them to forcibly file and make a case out of it.

For more details in this case, am referring to someone who has obviously done a lot of research on this topic:

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev's Wife's Death: Controversy & Truth

Some other intellectuals claim that Sadhguru fled to the USA to escape prosecution. I am surprised to hear such arguments because he is very much in India for last several years now and no action has been taken yet!

There are those who claim that the case was dismissed because he was a godman. People should remember that he was just a yoga teacher who had taught hardly 1000 meditators probably in 1997. He was not even popular outside Coimbatore area. So, just this knowledge rubbishes that claim.

(2) Isha Yoga center established shiva linga while claiming to be non-religious

A linga is an ellipsoid form. Ellipsoids cannot be claimed a religious form. The science and logic of creating a linga is given in detail here:

The Science and History of Creating Lingas - The Isha Blog

Linga – A Doorway to No-thing

Shiva Lingam – Some Scientific Truths

The incredible thing is that Linga form is found not just in India but all over the world. In Africa, there are terracotta lingas used for occult purposes. In Greece there is a temple with a linga known as the “Navel of the Earth.”

One more link for those interested in knowing more:

The mysterious stories of Shiva Linga found across the world!

If you are really scientifically inclined, go through these links for understanding how energy is linked to the phenomenon of ellipsoid form:

What is the significance of 'energy ellipsoid'?

Poinsot's ellipsoid - Wikipedia

So, this was a science well understood by the ancients which we are just waking up to.

Just because the form of linga was extensively used in Hindu culture, it does not belong to a religion alone. A form is a form afterall! It’s like claiming iPhone belongs to Christianity because Steve Jobs was a baptised Christian.

(3) He has a helicopter for his own use

Nobody knows who owns it! Neither those who raise it as an issue nor I. He sometimes get to use a helicopter. Even I have seen it in photos and videos. But one has to note that as a Non-Government Organization, they are subject to as strict as a Income Tax regulation audit as any other. So, one thing that can be ruled out is that it is illegal to own one and has been bought illegally.

If the problem people have is with him using a luxury vehicle, here is an answer to such people.

• Why do you use a smartphone when you can use a basic fixed line telephone with manual keypad?
• Why do you use a toothbrush when you can use a neem twig which is more effective and eco friendly?
• Why do you use a more faster laptop or computer when anyways the five year old laptop or computer does the job for you?
• Why do you want a faster motorbike when the old one is perfectly in good shape?

Most of your answers will align towards changing needs, being more efficient, being more effective, being faster, being available 24x7, being able to have more free time to attend to more aspects of life, being able to have time for your own self, being more comfortable and all.

Don't you think travelling through a faster car or chopper is not sensible then? You probably think spiritual gurus can close their eyes and manifest where ever they want to be. Or for the sake of austerity they should travel in a local train or bus. But then do you think it aligns to any of the stuff in above paragraph? No.

By the way, Sadhguru drives a bullock cart with the same aplomb as he drives his bike or his car or a chopper for that matter. All this said and done if you look at his contribution to the world, you won't be asking this question. He is 60 right now (born in 1957) and very young people like you and me will find it extremely difficult to work for 18-20hrs a day. But he does that day after day after day, sleeping hardly 3 to 4 hours per day. He meets 1000s of people everyday. There are no off days for gurus like him. When he is travelling, it gets even more hectic. There are people who assist him on these visits and feel exhausted after one such trip. He just goes on to make another trip!

Sharing by a volunteer who joined him on one such recent trip: Journey with the Divine – A Volunteer Shares - The Isha Blog

From farmers to CEOs, saints to scientists, youngsters to senior citizens, he meets all these people to inspire them to do something for the society, to spread happiness and of course for collecting donations to the innumerable social projects started by Isha Foundation. Some of the social project achievements are:

- 7200 kids studying in 9 Isha Vidhya schools across TN and Andhra Pradesh. 5000+ kids are studying in Scholarship. Rest on subsidized academic fees.

- Over 30,000 children in Government schools provided additional learning support every year for last 5 years. Additional teachers employed to coach the children. Now more schools are getting added to that list: Isha Vidhya to extend support to 3,000 govt. schools in Chittoor

- Over 3 crore tree saplings planted through Project Green Hands (PGH). PGH claims over 60% tree survival rate. But even considering the standard 25% survival rate that many other claim, it still comes to a staggering 75 Lakh trees surviving.

- Over 1000 farmers grouped in & around Coimbatore as a farming society and helped in training for organic farming and also given saplings for their farms.

- Conducting rural olympics called Isha Gramotsavam with over 10,000 participants and 880 teams competing in a league manner initially and culminating in a final event on a specific day. Thousands of villagers have come out of drug and alcohol addiction in Tamilnadu alone due to these game events. Can one even imagine the effort required for conducting such an event, year after year?

- There are at least 9 mobile clinics that operate through the year that has done medical treatment to over 50,000 people every year. Regular health check camps, Eye check camps, Dental check camps are conducted free for the villages

All this is apart from the millions of people who have done Isha Yoga programs and have experienced physical & mental benefits out of it!

He recently met with the students of IIT Delhi. Here is a video of that:

Here is a video of him talking to journalist Arnab Goswami couple of days before that:

So, instead of asking why Sadhguru is travelling in a particular bike or car or plane, I suggest we can ask what we can do to make our society a better place to live and assist with that.

(4) More than 1500 people are initiated into Brahmacharya whereas his daughter was married. How is this justified?

First off, only 200 odd monks are initiated into Brahmacharya by Isha Foundation. There are over 1500 people who are either part-time volunteers or full-time volunteers at the Isha Yoga Center.

Over 2 million people have done Isha Yoga programs since its inception till 2017. Don't trust me - search for "isha total volunteers" in Google and you will be redirected to the relevant link automatically.

Objectively, we are talking about 0.0001% of those who have done the Isha yoga programs!

Though, this looks very insignificant, it is not so for anybody who has a family member that became a monk! Trust me, I know it first-hand.

There was a case filed against Isha Yoga Center initiating two ladies into Brahmacharya and holding them by force against their will. The Chennai High Court has dismissed the case. Noting that as of now no material is on record to believe that they are under illegal detention in the Isha Yoga Centre, the Bench said, “ Prima facie, we are satisfied that they are staying on their own wish, and hence no relief can be granted as prayed in the petition.”

Refer: Madras HC dismisses plea against Isha Yoga Centre

A very close friend of mine too is a monk now with Isha Foundation. There was lot of resistance in his family at that time when he decided to take monkhood in 2007–2008. My wife and I used to counter his family members saying they would like to appreciate Vivekananda's wisdom, would love a Vivekananda to come from the neighbouring house, just not from their home! However, to their credit, his family has made peace after seeing him truly happy with the path he has chosen. They keep visiting him at the Isha yoga center and vice-versa.

Just as those who question how can somebody be initiated into Brahmacharya, Sadhguru himself has no right to initiate his daughter into Brahmacharya if she wants to marry!

Sadhguru has conducted hundreds of marriages at the Isha Yoga Center. If interested, anybody can apply with them for the same too! If anybody is interested in taking up monkhood, they can for sure apply for that too with Isha Foundation. I am sure Sadhguru would have no issue initiating them also if they satisfy the conditions. I have written a couple of Quora answers already in this regards here:

How does it feel to be a monk of Isha Foundation?

Is it possible for me to join the Isha Foundation as a Brahmachari?

(5) Sadhguru betrayed Rishi Prabhakar

There is no allegation or fraud here. It is one person's opinion versus another person's opinion. There are no facts to prove it this way or that way. As I said earlier, let's talk about facts and no point in quibbing about opinions.

The source comes from one Mr.Ravi. Rishi Prabhakar (who expired in 2014) never himself said anything about Sadhguru. However, Rishi Prabhakar’s disciple Ravi (who is a Guru himself) did go on record about this and wrote the following in a blog comment in 2007:

“The arguments and counter arguments about Jaggi and his life are interesting. One fact I wish to share is we both got trained by Guruji Rishi Prabhakar in the years 1984-86. We both took SSY teachers training together in Gommatagiiri near Mysore. We did SSY classes together and we started the Hyderabad center of Rishi Samskruti Vidya Kendra under Guruji. Then he was sent by Guruji Rishi Prabhakar to Coimbatore to start center there. There he slowly left the organization and started his own. He renamed himself as Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev and became popular. His Guru Rishi Prabhakar will not claim him to be his student as Jaggi has not lived up to his word. There is no secrecy in these matters. Jaggi himself will accept it (I still believe he is truthful). I have not contacted him so far after he left Guruji Rishi Prabhakar."

Apart from Raviji’s statement, there is no other factual proof one can find online. If you want to know more details, there is someone who has done some direct research with the involved people and has documented it here: Sadhguru and Rishi Prabhakar: a curious connection!

The author of the article has concluded it well:

"After enlightenment, Sadhguru taught yoga on his own for a while. Then he decided to join with other organizations. In this phase, I am reasonably certain that Sadhguru was involved with SSY, possibly as a teacher. We need more factual details to establish the story entirely here. But it is possible that Sadhguru went to Coimbatore on SSY related work and recognized his connection with that place. This is when Sadhguru started cutting off from SSY to be on his own again with his Sahaja Stithi Yoga. So this is the possible story and there is nothing fraudulent here as some critics allege. I conclude that blaming Sadhguru for his Rishi Prabhakar connection is entirely baseless."

I am not going to go into more details because it is a futile exercise, trying to prove anything against opinions. His email communication with Ravi ji is more enlightening:

"Just continue your sadhana. Be thankful to whoever had offered it. Keep offering your best wherever you are and enjoy life as it comes. There is no one who is a Guru or Sadguru, it is his/her disciples who make it. If it is authentic or he is genuine or your belief is true, matters not from his/her context. You give value to such things and so it matters to you."

(6) Deforestation done by Isha Yoga Center / Isha Yoga center occupying forest land / Isha Yoga center being cause of elephant deaths

Who is the authority on forests? Isn't it the TN Govt administration departments? If they, including the forest and the land registration departments both say Isha's lands are legally acquired patta lands, why should we continue to believe contrary claims? Just because a patta land is near forest, it does not become forest area automatically!

But if someone wants to know the truth, Isha Foundation has published the rebuttal already on their blog with clear proofs that they are not in a forest area or in an elephant corridor!

Isha Foundation causing deaths of elephants is another big lie. Take the statistics of Elephant-Human conflict with the TN Govt administration departments and see how many have been in the area Isha is. Even take a wider circle of a few KM radius. You will still find nothing.

Similarly there were claims recently that for the AdiYogi Shiva statue that Isha Yoga Center established recently, they had cut down lot of trees. All big BS, considering that Google Earth images of that land show no trees for over 10 years of private possession till Isha Foundation acquired the land for Shiva statue. The video proof is here:

For more details refer:

Allegations about Isha - Part 2 - Is Isha destroying forest really?

Allegations about Isha - Part 3 - Is Isha land in an Elephant Corridor?

Mahashivratri 2017 and Isha Controversies

Edit 1:

As recently as July 2017, it has been categorically proven in the Chennai High Court that there is no encroachment of forest land by Isha Foundation. But I doubt if the lies spread by vested interests are to stop here - I see too much ignorance from common public and too much money being spent in spreading this lie online!

(7) Isha Yoga center has illegal constructions of more than 40,000 square feet

This is probably the only legitimate concern if there is any.

Obviously Isha Foundation started as a small group of meditators in a small area. Today they have expanded into a much larger organization. Now, people have to think why such group would expand unless many people started seeing the value of Isha Yoga in their lives. Millions of Isha meditators around the world can vouch for the health and mental benefits they have got through Isha yoga.

When hundreds of people have to live in an area, they would obviously need houses and buildings! So, they have purchased nearby patta land legally and constructed buildings. I have given the proofs earlier that this is legally acquired land and not forest area occupied.

There is an open court case about one or two buildings for which some NOC has to be produced from 1 department. This is to be done by the Isha Foundation in the court of law. If the court does not find merit in waiting longer or find their justification insufficient, they would obviously take the necessary course of action!

Phew .. that was a very long answer, but something long pending for me too since I did not have either the time or energy to do collate all information before!

Edit 1:

In a landmark move in July 2017, the State Government of Tamilnadu has confirmed that the buildings in Isha Yoga Center have been with proper approvals.

Thank you for reading till this point. Hope you have also visited the links and references I have provided. You really deserve an applause for patience! :)

Source: 

https://www.quora.com/Are-the-allegations-on-Sadguru-Jaggi-Vasudev-true/answer/Raj-Vuppaladhadiam

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Isha foundation - helping farmers or harming farmers? An Insight ...

Here are some of known (yet not widely publicised) facts published on the web and on Facebook regarding the social work Isha Foundation has been doing with Farming community.

Support to farming process 

- Isha foundation is helping the farmers of Thondamuthur block regarding their produce.

- Isha Foundation has created various support mechanisms for close to 1000 farmers. For those who do not appreciate the effort involved in creating such a mechanism, even Government agencies find it very hard to integrate the farming community as one group.

- From training farmers, to providing fertilizers, to creating market for their produce, Isha foundation is working to ensure continual support for the farming community. I personally think Isha helping farmers to get their produce directly to markets eliminating some intermediary roadblocks is a huge step in increasing profits for farmers. We all crib when the onion or tomato prices go up in the market. We rarely see how little a farmer really gains and how much of these raises actually go to the 'Mundi's and Intermediary brokers who purchase produce from farmers at peanuts price and sell it a much higher price.

Educating farmers

- Isha also educates farmers about Rainwater harvesting and its importance. This has particularly come handy for a lot of farmers during the severe rainfall shortage in the last two years.

- Zero budget organic farming workshops are being conducted regularly for farmers. Nammaazhvar, one of the most eminent agricultarists of our time, is no more with us. But he has been a significant force behind promoting organic farming in Tamilnadu. He has extensively worked with the Isha Green Hands team to promote organic farming. Zero budget farming especially is in a way, returning to our agricultural roots, by making the best utilization of animals & even farm produce to recycle the wastes in an organic manner. Several such ZBF sessions have been held by Isha for the farmers. Some photos are attached herewith - these are available also on their Facebook & public domain pages.

- Isha Foundation & its volunteers are promoting chemical free agricultural practices to farmers in Thondamuttur. This is a significant step in order to produce poison free food and also save the soil from chemical pollution & thereby  enhancing the population of insects in the soil and thus strengthening the web of life.

Recently, a 9-day workshop was held in the city of Trichy for about 3000 farmers on Natural Farming.

https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/9-day-programme-to-be-held-in-tiruchy-for-farmers-119010400804_1.html

Dealing with Farmer Suicides

Farmers are also provided with various value addition platforms. Isha Foundation has established the “Karunai Karuvarai” or “Wombs of Compassion” project to prevent farmer suicides. Many a social activist nowadays is crying about farmer suicides, but rarely some know how to prevent it. 

Most farmers do not kill themselves just because their crops failed. It is a social humiliation coupled with debt of burdens at unreasonable interests and when the land itself seems to die due to increased pesticides, it breaks their hearts. Unable to bear it any further, they take the path of death unfortunately. 

This Karunai Karuvarai project is a kind of self-help counseling program. It aims to provide counseling for farmers periodically. It is a challenge to appoint a person who will do this full-time. The project has been brilliant in that it is looking at training at least one person per village as a counselor so farmers have someone to turn to, in their own village.

Farmers Producers Organization - FPO

A recent news in media: https://m.dailyhunt.in/news/bangladesh/english/the+covai+post-epaper-covaipos/best+fpo+in+tamil+nadu+achieves+record+turnover+of+rs+7+91+crore-newsid-97887862

"Farmers Producers Organisation (FPO) registered as Vellingiri Uzhavan producer Company Ltd (VUPCL) has achieved a record turnover of Rs 7.91 crore during the last financial year, increase of almost 100 per cent compared to previous year.

The FPO was formed in 2013, guided by Isha Foundation, following the loss being incurred by coconut farmers in the village surrounding Thondamuthur area, as the buyers were giving prices based on the size of the coconuts, which were very low comared to market, VUPCL Head, Kumar told reporters at Isha Yoga Centre today. The company was started with 400 members and now has 1,603 members."


This in itself seems to be a phenomenal achievement to bring struggling farmers of Tamilnadu out of their troubles.

Tying up loose ends

This post has been factual so far. Here is my take on it - I have not seen any proofs so far to show that these are farce. In fact, there are testimonials to show how people have benefited out of these schemes. Also, there have been no real complaints with proofs produced that Isha has harmed any farmers. So, taking everything into perspective, this is a phenomenal work done by the foundation for farming community. Hope to see it spread to more farmers and villages also.

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