Should We Be Receiving Mystical Truths on Our Phones?

At age 25, as the story goes, Jagadish Vasudev rode his motorcycle up into the Chamundi Hills near Mysore, India, sat on a stone and dropped into his first mystical experience. Tears of “indescribable ecstasy” streamed down his face, and when he emerged from meditation, many hours later, he had begun a new life as a spiritual leader. His mission was to teach all people how to achieve the blissful liberation he first came to know in those hills.

This is the origin story of Sadhguru, the chosen name of Vasudev, now 67. He has become one of the most prominent spiritual figures of the internet era. His Isha Foundation, started in 1992, is now an empire of yoga instruction and environmental activism, with tens of millions of followers across YouTube, social media, a podcast and a proprietary app. The foundation’s physical center in Coimbatore, India, is the size of a small town, with a school, ashram and temple. Isha has also expanded into the United States with the Institute of Inner Sciences in McMinnville, Tenn., a rural location chosen for its proximity to several major American cities. Sadhguru intends to develop the 17,000 acres of the institute into a community of 20,000 to 30,000 people.

In the spring of 2023, I visited the institute for one of Sadhguru’s talks specifically designed for celebrities, influencers and writers who could spread the word of Isha. About 150 people waited for hours for the doors to open and then sprinted to be close to the stage. On Sadhguru’s entrance, the room lifted in adoration. I remember a child beside me clutching her drawing of the guru. Nearby, a TV actress beamed at his presence.

In person, Sadhguru was impressive and funny, with the slick charisma of a politician, but when we shook