PROJECT SAMSKRITI

Project Samskriti: How Isha Samskriti Reaches Out to the World

Part 1: Behind the Scenes of the Nirvana Shatakam Module

In this five-part series, we bring to you behind-the-scenes stories of Project Samskriti through the eyes of Isha Samskriti students, alumni, and volunteers.

A Project 20 Years in the Making

If you are within a 200 to 300 meter radius of the Isha Samskriti premises in the Isha Yoga Center, you won’t miss the sounds of tapping feet, laughter, chants, Carnatic music, ragas, and songs. For the last six months, an added bit of excitement has been in the air at Isha Samskriti.

In satsangs, public talks, and private meetings, Sadhguru has spoken about raising awareness of Indian classical arts. Project Samskriti has been in the making for over 20 years but was officially launched only recently on the auspicious occasion of Guru Purnima 2021.

To put it simply, Project Samskriti is an effort to offer intricate Indian classical arts to people around the world, and perhaps bring a possibility that could slowly transform the lives of millions. In that sense, Project Samskriti is yet another strand of the Silent Movement of Self-Realization that started 39 years ago.

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A Rare Privilege

24-year-old Samskriti alumnus Adharsh Kiran considers himself fortunate in more ways than one. His first encounter with Sadhguru was at the age of 1 during a visit to the ashram in 1996. Soon, his mother moved to the ashram full time when he was just 7. She vividly recalls him as an infant measuring bricks for the Dhyanalinga in 1999. Now, as a young adult, he sits still, with the poise of an intense Yoga and Kalaripayattu practitioner, recollecting how Sadhguru would always call him “Aye!” “He talks to me with the same fondness even today,” says Adharsh.

Adharsh was among the first batch of Isha Home School students in 2005. When Isha Samskriti was announced by Sadhguru in 2008, his parents, like several others, were excited to move their children from Isha Home School to Isha Samskriti. After six hours of incessant convincing by his mother, Adharsh yielded and agreed to join Isha Samskriti, along with 13 others. “Since then, there has been no looking back,” says Adharsh. He was also among the first 14 Bala Brahmacharis of Isha Samskriti and is one of the youngest Isha Hatha Yoga teachers today. “We cannot think of a better platform than Project Samskriti to offer and express what we have imbibed in at Samskriti in the last twenty years,” shares Adharsh, while explaining the recently concluded Nirvana Shatakam module – Project Samskriti’s first offering to the world.

“I now have the privilege of being part of Project Samskriti from its very beginning,” he says with a smile. Adding one more to his many firsts, Adharsh was part of the 14-member team that recently completed imparting the Nirvana Shatakam chant to over 800 participants from 7 continents and over 50 countries.

The Challenges that Come with Delivering the Powerful Nirvana Shatakam

Composed by Adi Shankara in the 8th century CE, the six Sanskrit verses of the Nirvana Shatakam are perhaps the most potent expression of a spiritual seeker’s aspiration – to become a form of consciousness and bliss, or in other words, to become one with Shiva himself. The power of Nirvana Shatakam is not in its meaning (which is profound too) but in the reverberation that its utterance generates.

Teaching Sanskrit verses to participants from over 50 countries, with a variety of languages and backgrounds, was the biggest challenge before the Project Samskriti team, but they took it head-on. To ensure that a support system for chant corrections will be available to the participants, the team handpicked and trained groups of volunteers across different cities. One master corrector says that the meticulous training required them to spend an hour every day for a month correcting the other volunteers’ chants, and shares about the process, “It greatly enhanced my sense of attention and focus, not just to sounds, but also to my sadhana and all my activities, big and small.”

As phase one of Project Samskriti is entirely online, the other big challenge was to create interesting and engaging content. Searching the Isha Archives and the internet to “sniff out” stories and interesting facts for videos, volunteer Siddharth Chhawchharia shares about the excitement he felt working on this major project. “To make it accessible, we wanted it to be engaging, with illustrated videos and interactive segments. We delved into every aspect including technicalities, aesthetics, script, and, of course, choosing the appropriate content.”

Working relentlessly for weeks to curate seven compelling videos in a fascinating style, Siddharth has a new appreciation for the Samskriti students, saying, “To see them give themselves fully to the training and conduct the programs was so inspiring. I feel fortunate to work with a very creative, dynamic, and enthusiastic group of people.”

The third big challenge was to learn to shift from speaking to a live audience to the inanimate camera lens for hours. “In the beginning, I was very self-conscious, but by the time it was over, I felt I knew the participants for a long time. I don’t even see their faces, but it feels like I know them personally. The whole aspect of being a mother to the world kept running within me, and my entire perspective of the Nirvana Shatakam class completely changed. When I was sitting there, it didn’t feel like it was me. The words just came out and the experience was so touching,” recounts Adharsh.

The Rigors of Training at Samskriti

Adharsh, like several other teachers, finds it hard to believe that just a few years ago, they would march like ducklings behind Swami Adirupa to Bhiksha Hall, or sit in a rivulet near the ashram and incessantly chant Nirvana Shatakam – and today they are imparting the same to people from around the world.

“Since we are teaching a module which is structured for the general public, we have a certain way of doing it. Every word is calibrated, and we are working on how to speak and how to make it engaging,” he adds.

Most of the teachers who are offering the Nirvana Shatakam module are Bala Brahmacharis (a 3-year period of monkhood offered to Isha Samskriti students at the age of 15), less than 18 years old, and with almost no prior experience of public speaking. Yet, they have managed to impart the training to participants who are twice or thrice their age. “To see Bala Brahmacharis conducting themselves and seeing them excel, I have transformed from someone who would pull their legs into a person who bows down to them,” Adharsh expresses.

The most remarkable part of Project Samskriti is that its students and alumni are managing the entire project every step of the way. Guidance and support are always available, but the bar set by Sadhguru has instilled a new sense of responsibility, commitment, and ownership of the project among them.

Soaked in Devotion

“In everything that we do in Samskriti, there is a strong element of devotion,” Adharsh says. “I think that’s what Sadhguru inculcated in all of us. We are now doing something that is touching thousands of people whom we can’t even see. I don’t even know their names, but they experience the program in such a wonderful way. Now it’s no more about me. It’s all about the chant that we’re offering and the participants. It’s as if I don’t even exist,” he adds.

“We grew up learning these art forms, and to be able to put this forward and share with others what we have been going through is something that is very dear to us and a huge blessing. What is keeping me here is that for ten years, Sadhguru and so many people invested their lives in my growth. Now is the time when I can invest my life in something that is so dear to me. I am who I am because of Isha Samskriti, and I want to be able to give back to Isha Samskriti and to these profound arts. It’s only because of Sadhguru and all the people that have invested their lives in us,” Adharsh concludes with folded hands, before disappearing into the Samskriti premises.