Madras High Court questions Sadhguru’s call for women to embrace hermit lifestyle

The Madras High Court yesterday asked Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, who, having got his own daughter married, why he is advising young women to shave their heads and abandon life to live as recluses. Justices SM Subramaniam and V Sivagnanam asked the Isha Foundation founder after a retired professor accused two of his well-educated daughters of being ‘brainwashed’ into living permanently at the Isha Yoga Centre.

The petitioner, S Kamaraj, who was a former teacher of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University at Coimbatore, had prayed for his daughters to appear before the court in person.

The two women, aged 42 and 39, who appeared in court on Monday, claimed they were at the Isha Foundation of their own free will and not held there as was being alleged. The women had provided similar statements in the past during the decade-old case when their parents allege that their lives turned into hell after they ‘abandoned’ them. The judges, however, felt that there was something sinister in the case and ordered the cops to come up with a list of all cases concerning the Isha Foundation.

Justice Sivagnanam stated, “We want to know why a person who had given his daughter in marriage and made her settle well in life is encouraging the daughters of others to tonsure their heads and live the life of a hermit.”

In response to such criticisms, the Isha Foundation said that women are free to attend the programs and even to live with them. The Isha Foundation stated, “We believe that adult individuals have the freedom and wisdom to choose their paths. We do not impose marriage or monkhood, as these are personal choices. The Isha Yoga Centre accommodates thousands who are not monks, alongside a few who have embraced Brahmacharya, or monkhood.” It also averred it has only one active police case while the other one is still stayed by the court.

You might also be interested in – Sadhguru criticises Yoga’s inclusion as sport in 2026 Asian Games