Soul & Society: ISKCON Priest Arrest Sparks Sadhguru's Thunderbolt

Chennai (The Uttam Hindu): Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, the spiritual leader and founder of the Isha Foundation, has strongly criticised the Bangladesh government for the arrest of ISKCON priest and Hindu leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari in Dhaka. Sadhguru termed the arrest as “disgraceful”.In a post on social media platform X, Sadhguru expressed concern over the incident, stating, “It is disgraceful to see a democratic nation disintegrating into becoming theocratic and autocratic. It is the responsibility of every citizen to understand the value of having an open democracy. Persecution on the basis of religion or weakness of demographics is not the way of a democratic nation.”

Sadhguru also called on Bangladeshi citizens to “build back a democratic nation”, urging them to uphold the principles of democracy and pluralism. Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is an Indian spiritual guru and founder of the Isha Foundation, headquartered in Coimbatore, India. Established in 1992, the foundation operates an ashram and yoga centre, offering educational and spiritual programmes. Sadhguru, who has been teaching yoga since 1982, is the author of New York Times bestsellers 'Inner Engineering: A Yogi’s Guide to Joy' and 'Karma: A Yogi’s Guide to Crafting Your Destiny'. He is also a frequent speaker at international forums.

The spiritual leader’s remarks come in response to ISKCON’s statement on X earlier this week, which revealed that Sri Chinmoy Krishna Das, a prominent leader of ISKCON Bangladesh, had been detained by Dhaka police. The organisation strongly condemned the arrest, describing it as baseless and unjustified. “To allege that ISKCON has anything to do with terrorism anywhere in the world is outrageous,” the organisation stated. ISKCON further appealed to the Government of India to intervene and engage with the Bangladesh government, emphasizing that ISKCON is a peace-loving Bhakti movement.

India on Tuesday condemned the arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari in Bangladesh. In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) urged the Bangladeshi authorities to ensure the safety and security of Hindus and all other minorities. Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari was arrested at a Dhaka airport on Monday afternoon.