Jaggi Vasudev: the self-styled Godman with a hoard of controversies

 Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is a Godman. But just like the other godmans of that land, his life story is also embroiled in controversies and legal tangles. It is also suspected that he murdered his wife Viji.

Sadhguru's birth and life before fame

His real name is Jagdish Vasudev and he was born on 3 September 1957 in Mysore in Karnataka. But his family is Telegu-speaking. He is youngest of five children of his parents. His father was a doctor at the local railway hospital and his mother was a housewife. 

He did his schooling from Demonstration School, Mysore and from Mahajana Pre-University College. 

He has a Bachelor's degree in English that he supposedly obtained from the University of Mysore. But he has been teaching on yoga since 1982. He founded Isha Foundation in 1992 in a place near Coimbatore, Tamil Naidu. He married Vijaya Kumari in 1984. She had an earlier unhappy marriage and divorce. They have a daughter, Radhe born in 1990. 

What people consider him to be?

Sadhguru gained fame with his talks on life desires that were put up in the series in the popular weekly Ananda Vikatan titled ‘Athanaikum Aasaipadu’ which means ‘desire for everything’. He became close to Tamil Bi-Weekly Nakkiran’s associate editor Kamaraj. Through this contact, he was introduced to the then Chief Minister Karunanidhi. This helped him gain fame the wrong way and become powerful. This was in 2006. He became people's Godman but used his influence for his own benefits. He managed to procure land illegally and get an uninterrupted supply of electricity in his illegal den. He also destroyed a lot of greenery around the place. So much was his power that he managed to remove the toll plaza of the forest department that fell on his way to his illegal ashram. He is in favor of Hindutva and not Hinduism. 

Controversies

It is strongly felt that Jaggi killed his wife. He had stated that she took mahasamaddhi (voluntary leaving the physical body). It supposedly happened on 23 January 1997. But Jaggi immediately cremated his wife without waiting for her father to arrive. It is said that he had illicit relationship with another woman called Bharti. There was a lot left for Viji to do in this world including care of her daughter. Hence the story that she decided to leave the sound sounds totally fake. He bribed the police to shut the case made by Viji's father, T. S. Ganganna. And people, society, government, and courts of the land turned a blind eye as usual. Viji did not get justice on that land. 

His life story is one of greed for money and power. He used his power and influence to buy people, police, and law. He used it for wrong things to mold the blind religious faith on that land for his benefits. His headquarters is at Ikkarai Boluvampatti, in the foothills of the Velliangiri hills in Coimbatore,TN. It is called Isha Foundation and stretches over 150 acres. It houses 77 structures of various sizes that came up between 1994 to 2011. The area comes under Forest department and there has been a blatant violation of rules in that area. No approvals for construction were sought anytime there. Officers who questioned his illegal constructions were transferred out. And some matters are in court. His wrong activities have the support of TN government and BJP government. Court judges are also his loyal disciples. All this makes it easy for him to flout rules and do wrongs and get away with it. 

His foundation Isha Foundation is accused of tax evasion. Cases are in Madras High Court against this self-styled Godman. Many PILs are in but the court is sleeping over them as usual. His net worth is over 1 million dollars. It is said that politicians and country PM support such notoriety in the name of religion. Until this is stopped, cruelty against innocent people and Nature would continue.