Enlightenment: What It Is
by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
2008

Jaggi Vasudev is an Indian yogi and mystic. He is the founder of Isha Foundation which administers yoga centres around the world, including India and the United States.

Jagadish Vasudev was born in Mysore, Karnataka. At the age of twenty-five on September 23rd 1982, he had a deep spiritual experience, and subsequently established Isha Foundation, a non-religious, not-for-profit, public service organization, which addresses all aspects of human wellbeing. The Isha Yoga Centre and Ashram near Coimbatore was founded in 1992, and hosts a series of programs intended to heighten self-awareness through the ancient practice of yoga.

These programs are offered to people ranging from the highly educated to the illiterate, from corporate leaders to prisoners. Sadhguru spoke in four panels at the 2007 World Economic Forum, addressing issues ranging from diplomacy to economic development, education and the environment. In 2006, he addressed the World Economic Forum, the Tällberg Forum in Sweden, and the Australian Leadership Retreat. He has also served as a delegate to the United Nations Millennium Peace Summit and the World Peace Congress. He is the only speaker to have been invited to the World Economic Forum three years in a row. Sadhguru has had interviews with the BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, CNNfn, and Newsweek International. He was a delegate to the United Nations Millennium World Peace Summit and a participant at the World Economic Forum in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Sadhguru is a practitioner of yogic temple building and consecration, creating the Dhyanalinga yogic temple in 1999. The consecration process employed Prana prathista which is different from the Mantra prathista process prevalent in Kumbabishekam rituals in practiced through the modern times.

Ancient Indian alchemical processes were allegedly used extensively in the temple building and consecration. Contrary to science, it is claimed that the presence of solid mercury at room temperature can be observed in the building. Project Green Hands and initiative to increase the green cover of Tamil Nadu State by 33% in the next 15-25 years is spearheaded by Jaggi Vasudev. The project entered the Guinness Book of world records for planting maximum number of tree saplings on a single day. Vasudev was a key participant in the 2006 documentary film ONE: The Movie.