You Know Isha Foundation's Sadhguru, But Do You Know His Guru?
Renowned Yogi and mystic Sadhguru is known for his profound wisdom, blending logic and wit while addressing themes ranging from science and environment to spirituality and well-being. Through the Isha Foundation, he has made classical Yogic sciences accessible in their most authentic form.
While Sadhguru traces his lineage to Adiyogi, he has on rare occasions shared the story of his own Guru, a singular yet life-transforming moment that laid the foundation for all he does today. Guru Purnima is a fitting time to revisit that moment.
In his recounting of past lives, Sadhguru describes one in which he was a Shivayogi immersed in intense sadhana and living through extreme austerity. A wandering sadhu, Shri Palani Swami, recognised the burning longing within him. Knowing Shivayogi would accept no human guru other than Shiva, Palani Swami, out of compassion, took the form of Shiva and touched his staff to the Yogi's forehead. No words were exchanged, but Shivayogi was instantly liberated. As Arundhati Subramanian writes in Sadhguru: More than a Life, the Guru's touch led to him 'falling upwards into the unbounded realm of freedom."
This profound moment is depicted on a stone panel outside the Dhyanalinga sanctum sanctorum and is the only moment Sadhguru refers to when speaking about his Guru: 'I did not see my Guru as a man who touched me, though his touch brought me to the highest level of experience, and a revelation of life and beyond. The old mental structure within me somewhere would not accept a human being as a Guru, because it was said that unless it comes from Adiyogi, unless it comes from Shiva himself, it is not real. So the compassion of my Master made him turn himself into the form of Shiva."
That single encounter not only led to Shivayogi's enlightenment but also sowed the seed for the consecration of the Dhyanalinga, an aspiration that took three lifetimes to fulfil.
Today, the Dhyanalinga, located near Coimbatore at the foothills of the Velliangiri Mountains, stands as a living expression of Bharat's Yogic heritage. Towering at 13 feet 9 inches, it is a unique energy form where all seven chakras are consecrated to their peak through prana pratishtha by Sadhguru. Beyond the physical and mental, the Dhyanalinga works at the etheric level — vignanamaya kosha — offering a profound stillness to all who sit in its presence.
The Dhyanalinga is not just a shrine, it is a living Guru, offering initiation and spiritual transformation. As Sadhguru says: 'Anything or anyone who dispels your darkness is your guru. It is not somebody you meet. A Guru is a certain space, a certain energy. So it is not necessarily a person but you can relate better to one who is embodied because you need to be talked into everything, isn't it? A genuine seeker, a person who develops an urge within himself, will find his Guru always…. When any being calls or really yearns, existence answers. That space, that energy which you refer to as Guru will happen to you. It will overwhelm you. It will destroy you the way you are so that you will become unbounded. You will become the way the creator intended you to be."
As we observe Guru Purnima, we are reminded that the role of a Guru is not merely to teach, but to ignite a profound transformation within. Sadhguru's encounter with his Guru may have lasted only a moment, yet it became the seed for a journey that continues to uplift millions.
Whether one experiences the Guru through a person, a form, or a sacred space like the Dhyanalinga, what truly matters is the intensity of one's seeking. In the end, it is not about the time spent in the Guru's physical presence or grasping him intellectually. It is about preparing oneself to receive the grace of the Master. For when the longing is true, the path and the Guru will inevitably reveal themselves.
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