Riding 30,000 kilometers (18640 miles) on a Ducati Multistrada 1260 across 26 countries in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, Indian spiritual leader Jaggi Vasudev is on a mission.
Vasudev, also known as ‘Sadhguru,’ rides on this special edition bike as part of his Save Soil movement to raise awareness about soil degradation.
New age ecological influencer
Vasudev’s efforts over the past 20 years have attracted global attention and earned him the title of an ecological pioneer.
Vasudev’s flagship platform Isha Foundation receives support from the Dalai Lama, Leonardo Di Caprio, Deepak Chopra, and Will Smith, all helping to spread the word about his campaigns.
According to Isha Foundation Vasudev is an “ecology married together with economy” approach to awareness raising. It is still a mystery how traveling across continents, as a method, marries ecology with economy.
Vasudev’s model for activism focuses primarily on spreading the word, which, according Isha will “urge governments into setting up policies.”
Similar to previous campaigns The Save Soil campaign plans to do the same and aims to make at least 3.5 billion people or 60% of the global electorate aware of the cause.This approach seems to shift attention away from institutions such as state and market. Instead, it places the onus on the citizens to pressure governments to take action.
‘Campaigns only work if they hold institutions accountable’
Professor Prakash Kashwan, an expert in environmental governance, is a professor. He believes that celebrities and Sadhguru can only make a positive contribution if they are linked to institutional arrangements that hold public or private institutions accountable. Kashwan is in agreement. Leo Saldanha an environmentalist says that a review on the financial records of Isha Outreach shows that the foundation has not spent any money on planting trees.
There were at most two instances in India where Vasudev was recognized by the state and policies announced. However, these measures seldom get materialized and thus end up weakening India’s environmental regulatory framework, says Kashwan.
What are the environmental effects?
Statistics and numbers are a good way to show the success of Isha Foundation. While many may recognize Fridays for Future as the world’s largest ecological movement today, it is Vasudev’s Rally for Rivers campaign, which claims to this title.
Some people are skeptical about the environmental impact of these awareness campaigns. Saldanha says that to improve soil health, we must build biomass. This can only happen if we are able to return to agroecological methods that are suitable for particular agroecological regions. This cannot happen as the Indian soil is “acutely carbon deficit,” says Saldanha.
Doubts persist over whether motorbiking thousands of kilometers is the most climate-friendly way to raise awareness about soil degradation.
Vasudev’s followers remain loyal
Sumaiya Shaikh, neuroscientist, was intrigued by Vasudev’s videos of him solidifying Mercury. She wondered, “If he can do that with his hands and has that power why not use it for mercury?” It can be used for greater things!
Shaikh then fact checked this claim and published an Article on Alt News (an Indian non-profit fact checking website). Her arguments on mercury poisoning are in direct opposition to Vasudev’s claims about mercury’s benefits. This highlights the conflict between modern medicine and traditional South Asian medicinal practices like Siddha and Ayurveda.
But criticism of Vasudev, no matter how densely packed with scientific explanation, doesn’t seem to diminish the faith among his followers. Durba, a Vasudev follower, said that “it really doesn’t affect”. [me]. Absolutely nothing.
Isha Volunteer Kaninika is “overwhelmed and humbled to hear the success stories, achievements and fulfillment of the ecological projects undertaken by Isha Foundation” and doesn’t have time for the critical stances of others.
Spirituality and ecological restoration
For followers like Durba, Kaninika, it’s the personal path that matters and not the layers that Vasudev’s public image adds.
Vasudev’s connection with his passionate fans ensures that his followers join the environmental activities he supports, regardless of any criticism.
Radhika Chopra, sociologist, studies South Asian masculinities. Vasudev is “inherited a tradition of someone who can restore spirituality and connect with the spiritual, inner Self.” This lineage can be traced back to Osho and Mahesh Yogi. [But] he has also moved significantly away from this lineage and intertwined the discourse of recovered spiritual selves with the restoration of ecology.”
Why Save the Soil?
According to Chopra, Vasudev’s emphasis on soil could represent the anxieties of those who consider themselves the rightful tenders against those who simply suck the land of all its meaning.
This movement is a “dangerous distraction” away from the actual climate-saving work being done by grassroots activists, says Kashwan. But Isha Foundation remains steadfast, particularly as several Caribbean nations Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, Guyana and Barbados have already pledged their commitment to protect their soil, in close partnership with Isha.
“There are some who use media with the genuine intent of promoting ecological wisdom and the precisely necessary environmental responses,” says Saldanha. Vasudev’s followers have a strong faith in him and could make him one of the most influential people today. Arundhathi Subramanian thinks that it is the “mix of the irreverent and the sacred” that Sadhguru’ offers to his followers in a non-hierarchical manner that sets him apart from others.
“He must have a genuine will to be active on the environmental front. And that could be a way of legitimizing all the other stuff that he is doing in India,” says Australian neuroscientist Sumaiya Shaikh. By “other stuff” Shaikh refers to the various allegations of illegal land-grabbing, kidnapping and murder that surround the public image of Jaggi Vasudev in India.
But it is his eco-influencer aura that Vasudev seems to be his most popular image. Vasudev’s outreach model seems to work in Vasudev’s favor, thereby reducing the state and market’s responsibility.
Edited by John Silk