Sadhguru at the Rollins Chapel, Dartmouth

Rollins Chapel, a beautiful Romanesque-style building from the late nineteenth century, was the setting for Sadhguru’s public, lunchtime address"

Sadhguru remarked that although yoga has become popular and prolific in the United States, offering yoga for physical benefits, when it can be a "ladder to the Divine," is a tragedy

Sponsored by SHANTI - Dartmouth's Hindu Students Organization, Sadhguru's lunchtime address at the Rollins Chapel on the Dartmouth University Campus on April 29, 2011 was a rare opportunity for students to sit with Sadhguru in an intimate setting. The students' efforts at spreading word of the event and encouraging faculty to attend were not in vain as over 200 people filled the Chapel by noon.

Sadhguru began with an introduction to yoga and about Shiva - the Aadhi Yogi or First Yogi and the Aadhi Guru or First Guru.

A being of enormous proportions and phenomenal capabilities arrived in the upper region of the Himalayas over 40,000 years ago. This being who came to be known as the Aadhi Yogi transmitted the science of evolving human consciousness willfully, to the Saptarishis or the celebrated seven sages of seemingly celestial origin.

These seven sages traveled to every corner of the globe, taking with them the sacred knowing of Eastern Mysticism, which to this day continues to live and flourish in its various manifestations and distortions. This transmission of technologies for inner transformation continues to touch and transform millions of lives even today, spouting in its purest form from the foothills of the Sacred Velliangiri (or White Mountains) also known as Kailash of the South, in Southern India.

Sadhguru spoke of the Divine possibility that comes with being human and urged those in attendance to take control of their energies to eliminate stress and depression, and to bring blissfulness to their lives. He spoke about the powerful and ancient kriya, Shambavi Mahamudra as a means to create life the way we want it.

After the talk, Sadhguru interacted with the excited and energetic students who had worked with Isha volunteers to make this event happen in the most beautiful way.

Following the talk, Sadhguru blessed those gathered by staying among them for sometime. Everyone lingered, first in the chapel, then in the foyer, and finally on the grounds outside the chapel - no one wanted this special occasion to end.