The Pinto
family of St Cruz, Goa, followers of Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev for the last nine years, are
opening Goa’s first Isha Veera centre at their ancestral home in St Cruz. The
centre is part of Sadhguru’s Isha Foundation – a non-profit, spiritual
organisation founded by him in 1992, which offers yoga programs under the name
of Isha Yoga and is run entirely by volunteers.
What led Dr Joe Pinto
to be inspired by Isha Foundation? “Jesus, Mother Mary, Osho and Sadhguru form
the path that led me to Isha Foundation. With the strong backing of the master
and the ashram, I am now going forward with this project, ‘Isha Veera’.
Son of Alvaro Pinto,
a businessman and philanthropist, Dr Joe Pinto is the grandson of Lusofone Goan
Portuguese poet Floriano Pinto and the great-grandson of Cristovao Pinto, a
journalist, teacher, writer and Goa’s representative to the Parliament of
Lisbon, who all lived in the very same house that will now be opened as a yoga
centre. Spread over one acre, the Pinto Villa at St Cruz is a 400-year-old
Portuguese-style ancestral house. It is built in a solid block with gardens in
front and to the rear and a shaded porch or balcao at the entrance. “The Pintos
are a Goan noble family and have been remarkable in the field of literature and
poetry. Now we have judges, priests and doctors in the family,” says Dr Joe.
He explains, “This is
the first place for Isha Foundation in Goa. There are more than 2000 Isha
meditators all over Goa. They don’t have a place where they can come and direct
their activities. I will be making this an Isha office, to plan different
foundations and activities that can be held in other parts of the state. This
place can be used for the expansion of the Isha Foundation in Goa. There
already are two ashrams in the world, one in Coimbatore, India and the
Institute of Inner-sciences, McMinnville, USA and more than 150 centres around
the world.”
A day at Isha Veera
will begin with Guru puja at 5:30am followed by yoga sessions till 10am and
evening sessions. They will have everyday yoga and hatha yoga classes. “Every
year, the ashram produces 120 yoga meditators trained in classical hatha yoga.
We will have constant teachers coming here; my wife, Christabel, is also a
hatha yoga teacher,” he says.
The centre also will
have different products and merchandise from 27 companies under the umbrella of
Isha Foundation. Besides books and videos, health products like honey and
jaggery and a clothing line too will be available for sale. One product that Dr
Joe elaborates on is the Kailash Tirth. “It is the water collected from the
south face of the Kailash mountain, which is considered to be sacred in four
religions: Bon, Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. This becomes a part of rituals
for many Hindu families. You can refill the bottle and the divine qualities
continue. Isha Foundation has fixed a camera on the south face of Kailash and
over a smart phone, you can get live darshan. This is the depth of every item
that will be sold at Isha Veera.”
Dr Joe also has an
organic farm – an urban farm that he has been maintaining for more than five
years, the produce of which is being sold in local markets. “Right from high
end vegetables like five varieties of lettuce, zucchinis and cherry tomatoes,
to the more common brinjal, lady finger, cucumbers, etc, we have gained a small
clientele already. Our plan is to use the same vegetables to create five dishes
in the cafe that will be set up at the centre. Ideally, whatever you eat should
consist of 60 percent raw fruits and vegetables and the 40 percent that is cooked, should be consumed within four hours.
We will use only organic products in the cooking,” explains Dr Joe.
His
future project includes building a separate construction as a full-fledged yoga
institute. “The future project is to build a proper yoga institute that can
cater to 40 people at a time. We have the plans in place to build the same in
the next two years. A counselling centre, an auditorium for talks, a small Devi
room and also an alcohol rehab centre will be a part of it. We will combine
yoga with farming at that project,” concludes Dr Joe.
