Adiyogi - an Iconic Inspiration

W e are setting up a 112-feet tall Adiyogi right in front of the ashram. One hundred and twelve because Adiyogi offered 112 ways. Oh, is 112 better than 196? No, the significance of this is, these are not 112 aspects that you need to know. You just have to take one. What Patanjali gave is eight limbs of yoga, which has over 196 sutras, but you can't take just one limb and do it. You need all eight limbs to go. With just two limbs, you know how many problems you have. And if I ask you to walk on all fours right now, you will have even more problems than walking on two! So, there is a certain difficulty of balance, but Adiyogi is not offering in that way. He is offering 112 varieties, not limbs, and you can pick one. One is enough. There is no need to do 112 yogas; just one.

The 112-feet tall Adiyogi will be the largest face on the planet. Of course, Mount Rushmore is there, but that is an abstract face in the mountain; it is not a full face like this. And we want this face to become an iconic inspiration. This is not a deity, this is not a temple of some kind, this is an iconic inspiration for people. Along with that will come simple sadhanas and tools that people can take home. A temple which is not about prayer but about a strong presence that means you do not have to look up to the divine. You will have to look up at the face, it is tall, but in pursuit of the divine, you don’t have to look up, you just have to close your eyes and feel it. That is a shift from heaven to your heart. I don’t think I want to have any business with a divine entity that lives in heaven. I am not interested in a god that lives in heaven. If he is willing to live here, I am interested. And for me, he lives here. I want to make sure everybody on the planet has the necessary sense in them where, at some point in their lives, the divine is a living entity, not an afterlife aspiration. Here and now, not up there!

The intention was to start by setting up four 112-feet Adiyogis in four corners of the country. But now, Mumbai is already fired up. If the land settles in the next couple of months, we will start making two instead of one. And definitely, the Mumbai Adiyogi will get more exposure than ours, but ours has a mountain background. We’ve got Velliangiri behind him, and there is no competition for that!