Isha Foundation to erect 112 feet Shiva idols in India

By Venkatachari Jagannathan

Chennai, Feb 21 (IANS) The Isha Foundation plans to have 112-foot tall faces of Hindu God Shiva or `Adiyogi' in the other three regions of the country - east, north and west - while the first one has been set up in Coimbatore, said Foundation founder Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev.

"We want to place these tall faces of Adiyogi in four corners of the country. The first one is in the south, at the Isha Yoga Centre, Coimbatore. The eastern one will most likely be in Varanasi. For the north, it will be somewhere north of Delhi and the western one will be in Mumbai," Vasudev told IANS over email.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil the 112 feet tall Lord Shiva statue at Isha Foundation in Coimbatore on Friday, coinciding with Maha Shivratri. Coimbatore is around 500 km from here.

"We took about 2.5 years to design the face but our in-house team built it in eight months. It is an incredible feat of engineering and has been done in a very unique way. The face is not just for aesthetics, it has geometric significance. A unique way of crafting a metal statue," Vasudev said. The face of Lord Shiva is made of steel.

"Essentially, we have taken small pieces of metal and put it together. This is a very hard way to do it, but it is the most inexpensive. This is unique - it hasn't been used elsewhere," he said.

"It is an incredible feat in terms of time and engineering. We have done it on a small budget, but in quite an ingenious manner. Also, we have made Adiyogi in such way that it needs least amount of maintenance, which is important long-term."

According to an official, the whole structure is estimated to weigh around 500 tonnes.

Queried about the significance of 112 feet, Vasudev said: "Symbolically, 112 is a significant number because Adiyogi opened up 112 possibilities for human beings to reach their ultimate potential.

"For the first time in the history of humanity, Adiyogi introduced the idea that the simple laws of nature are not permanent restrictions. If one is willing to strive, one can go beyond all limitations and attain liberation."

According to him, there is also a scientific significance -- there are 112 chakras in the human system, with which you can work, to explore 112 dimensions of life.

"This face is not a deity or temple, this is an iconic inspiration. In pursuit of the divine, you don't have to look up because it not somewhere else. Each of the 112 possibilities is a method to experience the divine within you. You just have to pick one," Vasudev added.

This face of Adiyogi will be the largest face of its kind on the planet. The idea is not to build one more monument but to use it as a galvanizing force towards self-transformation.

According to Vasudev, in the yogic culture, Shiva is not known as God, but as Adiyogi or the first yogi - the originator of yoga.

He was the one who first put this seed into the human mind that one can evolve if one is willing to strive.

Yoga went everywhere not as a religion, belief system or philosophy but as methods.

Over time, there have been distortions, but still, unknowingly, millions of people across the planet are doing some yogic practice.

"This is the only thing in the history of humanity that has lived for so long without ever being forced upon people. It is essential that the next generations of people on this planet are seekers, not believers," Vasudev said.

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