Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday unveiled a 112-feet statue of Adiyogi Shiva on the foothills of Nandi Hills in Chikkaballapura near Bengaluru. The statue is an exact replica of the one at the Isha Yoga Center in Coimbatore.
Isha Foundation founder Sadhguru, State Health Minister K. Sudhakar and Primary and Secondary Education Minister B.C. Nagesh were present on the occasion.
“Adiyogi will inspire people for a very long time. I have been to Coimbatore, too. If we just see Adiyogi for a few seconds, we realise a lot of things and experience the deep states,” Bommai said.
Sadhguru in his address emphasised the need for consecrated spaces for those who intend to rise above the mundane. “Creating powerful spaces for transformation and transcendence is to cater to those who long to rise... not for those who look up to something, (but for) those who intend to rise above the mundane and touch the magical aspect of life and its source,” he said.
Adiyogi - the Source of Yoga, a book in Kannada by Sadhguru, was launched at the event by Health Minister Sudhakar.
“It is unbelievable that within a few months Adiyogi has been unveiled. It is stupendous, and my great appreciation and acknowledgments to volunteers of Isha Foundation," the minister said.
Celebrities including actors Anu Prabhakar, Raghu Mukherjee, and Ashika Rangnath; movie director Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar; Big Boss Kannada season six winner, Shashi Kumar; Indian cricketer Veda Krishnamurty and former player Venkatesh Prasad attended the event which was also marked by various cultural programmes and performances by Isha Samskriti and Sounds of Isha.
The unveiling of Adiyogi was followed by a 14-minute light and sound show mapped on the statue. The show titled 'Adiyogi Divya Darshanam' will be held every evening starting January 15, the Isha Foundation said in a statement.
Earlier on Sunday, Sadhguru consecrated Yogeshwara Linga, a manifestation of the five chakras in the human system, near the Adiyogi statue. “With the presence of the Yogeshwara Linga, Adiyogi has become a living entity. It is the second such consecration in the center after Naga Pratistha, the consecration of the Sacred Naga,” the foundation said in its statement.