“Listen man…listen to me, every law that is there in the country has been followed. If there is any discrepancy, we fixed it. Long time ago, 20 years ago… some small discrepancy… we have fixed it. There was something some 20 years ago, and we have fixed it.” 

This was yoga and spiritual guru Jaggi Vasudev, also known as Sadhguru, speaking to a BBC Tamil journalist in June 2022. The journalist had asked about a controversy surrounding Isha foundation, a not-for-profit organisation Jaggi had founded in 1992. More specifically, the journalist’s question pertained to the foundation’s headquarters in Coimbatore, known as the Isha Yoga Center. 

The straggling campus is spread out across 4.87 lakh square metres and comprises several buildings, most of which were constructed between 1994 and 2012. Located in Ikkarai Boluvampatti, a village at the base of the Velliangiri Hills, this center lies adjacent to the Bolampatty Reserve Forest, an elephant habitat. Typically, any construction in the region is heavily regulated by both the state and central governments.  

Yet,........

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