In Uttar Pradesh, the Guru of Cool Receives a Rockstar Reception from a Modern-Day Gurukul

June 3rd - Day 74

We’re awestruck by the history of Uttar Pradesh that is said to date back to at least 10,000 BCE. India’s two great epics – the Ramayan and the Mahabharat – played out on the soils of Uttar Pradesh. It was the seat of Mughal rule and the seat of Hindu culture. Gautama, the Buddha, is said to have delivered his first sermon from this land. It is India’s most populous state, so populous that if it were a country, it would be the fifth largest country in the world! And Uttar Pradesh has given India eight of its 14 Prime Ministers. Most of the state lies in the fertile Gangetic plain.

In many ways, Uttar Pradesh, or UP as it’s more popularly known, will be a gamechanger for India’s soil health because a major part of the state is located in the Ganga river basin, the largest river basin in India whose soil health is critical to the country’s food and water security.

The capital city, Lucknow, receives Sadhguru with India’s signature welcome – songs, dances, lamps (or diyas as they’re called locally), rangolis, flower carpets and of course, unbridled joy and a deep sense of devotion.

At Sharda University in Greater Noida, the largest educational institution in UP, Sadhguru receives a rockstar reception from the boisterous students. “I haven’t met him before but I was interested when I saw him on the Daily Show of Trevor Noah… he was talking about saving soil,” says one of the male students. “We are eagerly waiting for Sadhguru,” one of the girls declares. She wants “to advise everybody to save soil because soil is life.” 

The soil anthem is playing at full blast in the background and the jig is on. It’s a live wire atmosphere, the air thick with anticipation. “People here are following Sadhguru for a very long time,” says a female student who terms the Save Soil Movement “a very good movement to create awareness for soil.”

Take the heady mix of singing and dancing youth and add a jauntily dressed, motorcycle riding Guru of Cool to it…well, we can tell you that’s one EXPLOSIVE Gurukul!

On to Madhya Pradesh…