Who is Sadhguru: A sage admired by Hollywood stars, including Will Smith

The other day, the media wrote that 53-year-old Will Smith flew to India. The actor seems to be having a hard time calming down after what happened at the Oscars.

Recall that the star of “King Richard” shot Chris Rock, the host of the ceremony, which he later received from the press and film scholars (the American Film Academy banned the artist from participating in its events for ten years).

Will left the US to rethink what had happened and traveled to India, ostensibly to meet his longtime guru Sadhguru there and seek guidance from his teacher.

Life in India

Jaggi Vasudev (aka Sadhguru) was born on September 3, 1957 in Mysore, India. From the age of 12 she began to practice yoga – she studied simple asanas, which over time began to succeed. The young man showed great interest in yoga, but not in education. He would often run away from school to the woods, where he would be alone for a few days. However, Jaggi still graduated from high school and even got a higher education, earning a bachelor’s degree in literature.

At age 25, Jaggi felt enlightened walking through the Chamundi Hills of Mysore. Later, this feeling did not leave the “wise man” – and he decided to devote the rest of his life to sharing his experiences with people and trying to give them the opportunity to get closer to the divine nature.

Across the country, Sadhguru opened schools and centers where he taught how to find enlightenment. And all seemed to be going well until the guru was at the center of a scandal: In the 1990s, during a mystical ritual, his wife, Vijaykumari, went into a trance for three days and then died.

“He left his body while you were taking off your clothes,” a prominent Indian said of the incident. No relatives or doctors were brought into the relatives of the deceased.

Vijaykumari was cremated – but according to Indian law, those who reach mahasamadhi are usually buried. After the incident, Sadhguru went to the United States, where he continued to talk about his teachings. And it seems that in India they forgot this incomprehensible story.

The usual charlatan

Today, the guru has thousands of fans around the world. He regularly comes to different countries, including Russia, with performances – Sadhguru, St. He spoke thus several times at the SPIEF in St. Petersburg.

Despite its popularity, there are questions for the sage: In his native India, he was regularly criticized for promoting the ideology of Hindu nationalism and criticizing local government. It is also condemned for supporting pseudo-scientific theses: Sadhguru does not tolerate the use of food during lunar eclipses, allegedly taking a person’s energy – although this has not been proven.

In the world community, gurus have other questions. Many are outraged by the cost of tickets to his performances (200-400 dollars) and the price of living in his ashram (16,000 rupees / about 15,000 rubles for 4 days).

Sadhguru leads a lifestyle that is far from the rules of yoga: he loves expensive motorcycles, cars and helicopters.

“Will is a great person”

Will Smith is one of the fans of the famous guru. He even invited her to visit his Los Angeles home in 2020. He became interested in Sadhguru’s teachings after becoming interested in yoga and reading “Internal Engineering” (authored by Sadhguru, of course).

“I wanted my family to start communicating with people far from the material world,” the actor later said about this meeting.

The guru himself said that successful people often turn to him because they are very unhappy by nature: “They reach the top of the world, but the top of the world does not appeal to them very much.”

Two days ago, the press reported that Will Smith flew to India to see his teacher, the sage denied this information: he is currently on a world tour and in Turkey.

Guru also commented on the latest news about the actor: “I know Will is a great person. Does he also have the right to go on stage and hit someone? No way! You cannot express yourself violently.”

Will it be seen for what purpose Smith went to Mumbai? Maybe he decided to take an unplanned vacation and start over a bit.