Rally for rivers: Sadhguru’s bet to save depleting rivers, fight drought

BY : News Gateway / Rally for rivers / New Delhi /

Rally for rivers is a campaign organised by Isha foundation headed by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev to create awareness about the depleting rivers.

Jaggi Vasudev often known as Sadhguru is an Indian saint, yogi, mystic, poet, writer and also the best selling author of The New York Times. He has taken the initiative of making the people aware of the depleting rivers in India and has organised a nation wide rally for rivers for this cause.

Vasudev a graduate in English Literature from the University of Mysore established himself in the spiritual and to many the mysterious world of knowledge and self-realization. A travel lover Vasudev from the early years of his life always wandered about on his motorbike in search of enlightenment and to enrich other with the gift of yoga that he possessed. At the age of 12, he came in contact with  Malladihalli Sri Raghavendra Swamiji who taught him a set of simple yoga asanas, which eventually were the very basis of the eternal change in his life.

His favorite place of escape with his friends on the bike was the  Chamundi Hill near Mysore and it was at this place that Sadhguru experienced for the very first, the awakening of his soul and found his inner self. He described his first spiritual experience at the age of 25 on 23 September 1982 as “Till that moment in my life I always thought this is me and that’s somebody else and something else. But for the first time, I did not know which is me and which is not me. Suddenly, what was me was just all over the place. The very rock on which I was sitting, the air that I breathe, the very atmosphere around me, I had just exploded into everything. That sounds like utter insanity. This, I thought it lasted for ten to fifteen minutes but when I came back to my normal consciousness, it was about four-and-a-half-hours I was sitting there, fully conscious, eyes open, but time had just flipped.”

After meeting his inner self he abandoned everything and went out to teach the world the gift he had. In 1983, he conducted his first yoga class with seven participants in Mysore. Over time, he began conducting yoga classes across Karnataka and Hyderabad traveling from class to class on his motorcycle. After 10 years of wandering and gaining and giving experiences, Sadguru laid the foundation of the Isha Yoga Center near Coimbatore in 19193.

Isha Foundation is a non-profit and non-religious organisation, the word isha means “the formless divine”. The foundation imparts values on meditation, yoga inner peace, and self-realization. The foundation has established two ashrams: the Isha Yoga Center at the Velliangiri Mountains near Coimbatore and at the Isha Institute of Inner Sciences at McMinnville, Tennessee. The foundation is entirely run by volunteers and Sadhguru has established social outreach projects which go beyond charity, and work to rejuvenate the spirit of India’s rural people. He says, “Charity cannot be sustained and it is against human dignity. The person who receives it in some way falls.”

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev has initiated a revolution to save the depleting rivers across the nation. The main motive to initiate this campaign is to bring to the notice of the masses the deteriorating conditions of the river. Even the rivers that were perennial have become seasonal rivers and the Isha Foundation under the guidance of Sadhguru has launched this Rally for River campaign across 60 cities across India. The campaign is no march or protest or demonstrations, it is just a peaceful way of making the people aware of the conditions of the depleting rivers in the nation.

As quoted by the Sadhguru “This is not a protest. This is not an agitation. This is a campaign to raise awareness that our rivers are depleting. Everyone who consumes water must Rally For Rivers.”

On 1 Sept, lakhs of people around the country in all the major cities and towns will be on the roads holding a small blue placard reading ‘Rally for Rivers’ and will stand at different places in the city where they can be noticed by the people. The volunteers holding the placards will not be rallying in large groups because according to the Sadhguru people gathering in large groups will amount to a protest and the rally for rivers is not any protest but an initiative to make the people aware about the depleting rivers. Sadhguru prior to the rally said that each individual should stand as a citizen, not with 10 people but just single person keeping a minimum of 50 meters of space between the two volunteers.

The rally is mainly organised to awaken the people and fill them with a sense of responsibility towards saving the rivers. Sadhguru also said that anyone is welcome to participate in the rally and can register through the app and website made for the rally.

Rivers have been a lifeline of this nation and of every nation in a way. India’s culture and civilisation have grown out of river bank. All rivers in India are at a dangerous level of depletion. If the situation is not controlled now, in another 15 to 20 years of time almost all the rivers will be seasonal rather than being perennial rivers. If India is seen from the aerial view the entire nation looks like a brown desert all the rivers are drying up. Krishna is not touching the ocean for almost 4 months while Kaveri does not reach the ocean for 2 to three 3 months. When the rain comes the rivers overflow, or else they are dried, this is the condition of most of the rivers in India today.

25% of the country is turning into desert, the Godavari has shrunk by 20% while Kaveri by 40%, Krishna, and Narmada by 60%. In the prevailing condition, the time has come where exploitation of water is no more possible, in fact, the need of the hour is to find out ways how to regenerate water.

Most of the rivers in India are forest fed rivers. Forest fed rivers mean precipitation happens because of vegetation. Which leads to the formation of small streams and further streams become rivers. To save the rivers from vanishing and to continue the process of accumulating water through precipitation, Sadguru has suggested that at least a minimum of plantation should be done on for 1 km on either side of the river banks. If it is a government land formation of forests must be initiated and of the river is near a farm land than the process of plantation 1 km on either side can be done by farming or horticulture.

This can also enhance the income of the farmers three to eight times in a matter of 4-5 years. But for this, only the farmer’s interest will not be enough. During the reaping tenure of 4-5 years, the farmer may need economic and material support. For the government need to come up and help them by forming policies and providing subsidies to them, it needs resolute political action for the execution of this initiative.

On Sept 1 a River Rally is being organised across 16 states in India personally headed by the Sadhguru to create a very string aware ness in the country, that the rivers of this nation are dying. The first state to respond for this rally was Madhya Pradesh, where Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan held discussions with Sadhguru and to save the Narmada decided to plant trees on either side of the river banks covering a minimum of 1 km of area. Sadhuguru has said that “for thousands of years, these rivers have embraced us and nourished us, now the time has come we need to embrace and nourish the rivers, back.”

In a message conveyed by the Sadhguru to the entire nation in an effort to save the nation’s rivers, he said that “We have a population of around 1.3 billion people, I want you to just look at this possibility, no water  1.3 billion people without water the civil strife that will happen. What will happen to human beings, you will have no water to drink, you can forget about humanity.” Every single human being consumes water but when it comes to taking actions to save water, very few come forward o contribute and this is the disaster of India. If the right things are not initiated in the next 10-15 years time, it could be too late.

If everyone pledge to make the initiative of planting trees in an area of 1 km on both sides of the river banks a success then it will be landmark established in the history of independent India. Prior to the rally, Sadhguru gave a message for everyone across the nation saying that “This is once in a lifetime, not in our lives, Once in a lifetime in Nation’s life. I beseech all of you to participate in this in whatever way you can. When I say all of you, I mean everyone who consumes water to have our rivers flowing to leave this land rich and well is the best gift we can offer to the future generation of this nation. This is not a protest. This is not an agitation. This is a campaign to raise awareness that our rivers are depleting. Everyone who consumes water must Rally For Rivers.

It the responsibility and the moral duty of today’s generation to take every possible step to save the natural reservoirs for the coming generation. For this noble purpose, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev has initiated this campaign of Rally for River.