Isha Foundation

 Hello Friend My Name is Vivek Chaturvedi. I am write a blog about Isha Foundation.

Located on the foothills of the Velliangiri Mountains, forty kilometres from the city of Coimbatore in the state of Tamil Nadu, South India, Isha Foundation was established as a non-profit organisation by Jaggi Vasudev in 1992. Its social initiatives have been awarded with the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar.

Yoga programmes

After the establishment of the ashram, Vasudev began conducting yoga programmes on the premises of the newly established Isha Yoga Centre in 1994, including a course for the Indian Hockey team in 1996. In 1997, he began conducting classes in the United States and from 1998 onwards, for life-term prisoners in Tamil Nadu prisons.

The flagship program is titled 'Inner Engineering', which introduces people to simple Yoga practices and the Shambhavi Mahamudra; corporate leadership forms a core audience of these programs. It views depression as the result of a false widespread belief about an ability to change the world according to one's desires, and offers to teach the technology of mental well-being, to help one acclimatise with unavoidable work rigors. Vasudev has frequently cited a study by the University of California which supposedly found mahamudra to lead to highly elevated levels (221%) of neuronal regeneration in the brain; it has since been noted that the study appeared in a fringe journal published by a discredited alternative medicine advocate and his allies, and that it merely reports lower levels of subjective stress from a medium-sized uncontrolled group practising yoga daily for six weeks.

The Dhyanalinga

The Dhyanalinga (composed of the terms dhyāna and linga) is a consecrated sculptural stone structure standing 4.3 metres (13 feet 9 inches) tall. Its creation and consecration, according to Vasudev, was his life's mission entrusted to him by his guru, Palani Swami. In 1998, the structure of the Dhyanalinga was ordered and arrived at the ashram, where the Dhyanalinga Yogic Temple was being built to hold it. After three years of work, the temple was completed on 23 June 1999 and opened to the public on 23 November.

The Dhyanalinga Yogic Temple is a meditative space which is not dedicated to any particular faith or belief system, and is open to all visitors irrespective of their religion or nationality. A stone pillar named the Sarva Dharma stambha, located at the temple's front entrance, features symbols of several religions to indicate the venue's universality.

 Adiyogi Shiva statue  

  Designed by Vasudev, the foundation built a 34-metre-tall (112 ft) and 500-tonne (490-long-ton; 550-short-ton) Shiva statue for inspiring and promoting yoga. It was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi  and has been since recognised as the "Largest Bust Sculpture" by Guinness World Records. It is a part of the Incredible India campaign.    

 The Tamil Nadu government has since claimed the entire construction as illegal, for which no approval was granted;  Comptroller and Auditor General's report further states the construction to have flagrantly violated the rules of biodiversity zones.  

Events

Vasudev regularly conducts gatherings (mahasathsangs) in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. He also takes spiritual aspirants on annual pilgrimages (yatras) to Mount Kailash and the Himalayas.

Every year at the Isha Yoga Centre, Vasudev celebrates an all-night Mahashivarathri, the annual Hindu festival in honour of Shiva. It is estimated that these celebrations were attended by as many as 800,000 people in 2013. He has also established a Linga Bhairavi temple in Coimbatore where women conduct the rituals.

Educational and social initiatives

 Isha Vidhya, an education initiative, aims to raise the level of education and literacy in rural India by providing quality English-language-based, computer-aided education. There are seven Isha Vidhya Schools in operation which educate around 3,000 students.

The foundation also runs an Action for Rural Rejuvenation program, in over 4200 villages, raising the welfare of the underprivileged.

Environmental initiatives

Isha Foundation has consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council, and is an accredited observer of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, praised the efforts by foundation for carrying forward Swachh Bharat Mission in Tamil Nadu.

Project GreenHands

Project GreenHands (PGH) was established in 2004 as an environmental organisation. Its activity is largely focused on Tamil Nadu. The organisation received the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar, the Government of India's environmental award in 2010. The organisation's activities include agroforestry, plant nurseries in schools, and tree-planting in urban centres such as Tiruchirappalli and Tiruppur.

Rally for Rivers

The Rally for Rivers campaign, which ran from September to October 2017, intended to rejuvenate India's depleting rivers by growing large forests along their banks. Promoted by Vasudev all over the country, the campaign received support from a broad range of celebrities and the urban populace. MOUs were signed with state governments.

However, the campaign has been widely criticised by environmentalists for lacking in scientific basis and shifting the spotlight away from real concerns. Acclaimed water conservationist Rajendra Singh alleges that the campaign is motivated by the goal of money and fame.

Cauvery Calling

The Cauvery Calling project aims to support farmers in planting an estimated 2.4 billion trees through agroforestry, thereby covering one third of Cauvery basin with trees, as a means of conserving it. The project has received acclaim from politicians and members of the movie industry.

However, environmentalists and public intellectuals allege that the program presents a simplistic view of river conservation, sidesteps social issues, and has the potential to harm tributaries and wildlife habitats. A Public Interest litigation has also been filed in the Karnataka High Court questioning the legality of the fundraising practices for the initiative, and the usage of government owned land for a private purpose without supporting study. In January 2020, the High Court ruled that the Foundation needed to disclose details of its fundraising practices relating to the initiative.

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