[vsrivatsa]

Quick Visit to Isha Foundation Chikkaballapura (Bengaluru)

We recently visited the Isha Foundation Chikkaballapura near Bengaluru during a weekend. The Isha Foundation in Chikkaballapura houses the 112 ft Adi Yogi Statue which was unveiled by Chief Minister of Karnataka on 15-Jan-2023. The Adi Yogi statue in Chikkaballapura is a replica of a popular statue at Isha Yoga Center in Coimbatore. There is also a Naga Mantapa on the premises as well. This place is still under construction but open to the public post the unveiling of the statue. Almost a year back in Feb 2022, the Bhoomi Pooja was performed and this location had been identified.

This was an unplanned, impromptu trip. BHPian Amyth pinged on Saturday morning and said he was planning to visit the Isha Foundation the next day. Post lunch, as I was lazing, I remembered this and asked him if we could go Saturday itself. He agreed and the plan was made to start in 30 minutes

Post some delays we finally started close to 4-00 PM towards Isha Foundation. Isha Foundation is located in a village known as Avalagurki which is part of Chikkaballapura District. Map showing details from Devanahalli is added below for convenience:


Isha Foundation Chikkaballapura

As can be seen from the map, this place is not something I would call "nearby" or "outskirts" as it is about an hour's drive from Kempegowda International Airport and from where we started which was Basavanagudi area, the ETA was about 1hr 45 mins on a Sunday evening. So given how the travel time between Bengaluru and Mysuru is shrinking - this almost qualifies as an equivalent to travelling from Bengaluru to Mysuru time travel wise. Distance wise this place is about 75 kms from Basavanagudi Area. In terms of other landmarks, Isha is about 32 kms from Nandi Hills (again a 1-hour drive) and the two can be combined together if one starts early.
This place can also be located on the Google Maps by searching for "Sadhguru Sannidhi".

In terms of Public Transport - what I understand is that there are KSRTC Buses from Majestic Bus Stand to Chikkaballapura and from there one needs to take a separate bus to Isha or take an Autorickshaw which I believe they charge around ₹300.

There was not too much traffic, it being a Sunday and hence we managed to coast along quickly till Devanahalli. Post that we started to refer Google Maps to ensure we stay on track and followed the map. The roads are excellent except for the last 3 to 4 kms where it is fully mud roads and we need to pass through multiple quarry type of areas. Mode of transport was BHPian Amyth's Fluidic Verna and no it did not bottom out anywhere during the entire trip - so that should inspire confidence among people planning to visit this place on Sedans.

One needs to take a left turn from NH44 which is now labelled as Isha Foundation Cross to head towards Isha. Until that moment we did not realize anything about the volume of visitors that may have come - the moment we turned we realized all the cars ahead of us were heading towards the same destination. Looks like this has become a popular visitor attraction as of now.


Towards Avalagurki after taking the Left at Isha Foundation Cross


Trail of Cars Ahead all Headed towards Isha


Water Body on the Right Side


Place seems surrounded by Hills


Terrain Changes to Mud Roads


Sunsetting almost

We had expected to reach earlier and now it looked like the sun was setting and we were hoping there would be sufficient sun light when we reach. The surroundings also look different once the mud roads start - one gets the feeling of having come far away from Bengaluru and into some place surrounded by hills. The location chosen seems to mimic the Isha Foundation in Coimbatore.

BHPian Amyth suggested that we should stay for the Laser Show which is conducted in the night at around 7-30 PM. As we were discussing on how soon we might reach and what we could do, we saw a huge valley to the right and in the valley was visible the statue of Adi Yogi. I got down from the car and took some pictures and we agreed to catch up at the parking lot. It is not far, and one can walk from this viewpoint to the Isha Foundation. I was amazed at the count of vehicles that were parked - had not expected this much of a crowd turn out given that the place is quite far from the heart of Bengaluru City. In the end, we were happy to have reached with some sunlight left to take some pictures with Adi Yogi in the backdrop...


Adi Yogi View Point


Adi Yogi View Point - Closer Shot


View of the Cars Parked!


Timings Board


Bus Services

Now that we were "in", we decided to walk inside the campus. There are mainly two attractions within the campus as on date and it appears that lot more construction is to come by. The Adi Yogi is the bigger attraction and most of the crowd were heading towards the statue, and we followed suit. BHPian Amyth had brought his Drone and flew the drone for some time and one of the volunteers advised that drones are not allowed and hence it had to be turned off.

The Adiyogi statue is a 34-metre tall (112 ft), 45-metre long (147 ft) and 25-metre wide (82 ft) steel statue of Shiva. The Coimbatore one which was inaugurated earlier is recognized by the Guinness World Records as the "Largest Bust Sculpture” in the world and hence I am guessing the Chikkaballapura one being a clone of the other would share the same record. The statue weighs around 500 tonnes. Its height, 112 ft, symbolizes the 112 possibilities to attain to moksha (liberation) that are mentioned in yogic culture, and also the 112 chakras in the human system.

Here are more pictures of the Adi Yogi Statue:















Adi Yogi Divya Darshanam

By this time, it started to get dark, and we decided to watch the Laser Light Show as well. This is called as "Adi Yogi Divya Darshanam".
It is a 14-minute projection show mapped on the Adi Yogi Statue itself. The Projection is associated with a narration in the voice of Sadhguru and he tells the story of Adi Yogi and the Saptha Rishis.
This 3d Laser show is available in Coimbatore as well and I believe has won an International Award as well - "The Mondo*dr EMEA & APAC Award for Technology in Entertainment in the category of House of Worship".
I have not had the chance to visit the Isha Yoga Center at Coimbatore in recent times and this was the first time I got to watch the Laser Show.
Felt the whole effort of travelling all the way was worth it for this Laser Show. It is truly a spectacle! Seeing the whole story and narration unfold on the statue itself was a sight to behold and the crowd seemed excited as well.

[vsrivatsa]

Naga Mantapa, Dinner and Heading Back







The Naga Mantapa is actually located at the entrance itself but as we were all excited about exploring the Adi Yogi Statue first we had gone ahead skipping this.
On the way back we visited the Naga Mantapa also. Post that we realized that getting the car out of the parking in the rush of vehicles would take lot of time and
hence we decided to have dinner at Isha itself and then head back. There is small place setup where they serve food.

This definitely looks like a temporary quick fix setup as of now but they do serve a variety of dishes and the food seems tasty and hygienic.
On the menu was Dosa, Bisibelebath, Vegetable Pulav, Lemon Rice, Bajjis, Jamoon and you also get bottled water. Tea/Coffee is also available.
The queue for the food was quite big as well and there is not much seating arrangement as of now.
Few chairs and stools were kept but most of them were already occupied.


Crowd Near Food Counter



Post that we started back - some of the crowd had reduced but still there were quite some people around.


Crowds Heading Back


View of Adi Yogi as we started back


Journey Back...
And finally, we started back - it was quite a difficult walk back to the parking lot. First, there are no lights and second with the vehicles that had started back - there was a lot of dust/mud in the air.
Would advise people to carry masks at this stage. And the scene in front looked straight out of the KGF Movie series with a trail of cars one behind the other when viewed from where we were standing!
At last, we made it back to the parking and started back. That was a long journey again - the last stretch of 3-4 kms is mud road and narrow and hence the movement of vehicles is slow in this patch.
I would still recommend not waiting too long and getting left out as there might not be much support nearby if the car broke down or something of that sort happened.
Hopefully the lighting issue and the mud roads will get fixed soon. Other than this the rest of the experience was good.
Till then for the early goers - some patience and mask would certainly help.

Also, for those coming in with the intention of meditation - at the moment the crowds are too large, and this is more like a sight-seeing place and tourist attraction.
Maybe the early morning hours or weekdays may provide an ambience for that - definitely not a weekend given the huge crowds.


Walking Back to the Parking Lot


Looked like a Scene from KGF Series


Drive back following a trail of cars

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[vsrivatsa]

Thanks to BHPian Amyth Prabhakar for sharing the videos from the drone footage that he captured while at Isha Foundation. Adding those to the thread as well:

Isha Yoga Center, Chikkaballapura

For people keen on the drone used can catch up on Amyth's recent thread on the DJI Mini 3 Pro > (Dji Mini 3 Pro Review | The Best Nano Drone)

The second video was shot hand held by Amyth on his Vivo Mobile:

Adi Yogi Divya Darshanam

[Sedate_Drive]

Thanks for a wonderful write-up.

I heard that the villagers are illegally collecting "entry fee" from the vehicles that has to pass thru the village. Did you experience it?

[VaahanYogi]

vsrivatsa, appreciate the clear details in the travelogue. This place makes a good option for a 1-day trip. When complete, the footfall will be huge.

[vsrivatsa]

Originally Posted by Sedate_Drive

Thanks for a wonderful write-up.

I heard that the villagers are illegally collecting "entry fee" from the vehicles that has to pass thru the village. Did you experience it?

No - there was no such entry fee. Also there was no Parking Fee collected either.

[Sedate_Drive]

Originally Posted by vsrivatsa

No - there was no such entry fee. Also there was no Parking Fee collected either.

Thanks for clarifying. Guess, I was misinformed.

[HTC]

No matter how much you plan and take inputs from people who would have already visited this place, Bengaluru traffic had other plans for me.

Since we cancelled 'Male Mahadeshwara betta' trip due to hot weather, which was to be on Saturday, we decided to compensate it with a quick sojourn to Adiyogi statue near chikballapur.

Location decided, it was a straight forward plan somewhat like this-

THE PLAN

• Start at 3.30pm from south BLR
• Reach statue by 5.30pm ( maps gave 1.5 hr estimate, we threw in a tea break of 30 mins to the mix)
• It would be cool evening and spend 1 hr soaking in the glory of mighty statue.
• Watch laser show at 7pm.
• Leave by 7.30pm
• Have dinner on way and reach home by 10pm.

THE REALITY

• Started at 4pm( indian standard time delay)
• Went through umpteen traffic signals, weaving between crazy autos and buses
• Stopped for tea after toll. Itwas around 5pm( some krishna hotel- please dont go there. Pathetic food).interestingly tea was not ready by 5.30pm also. Dosae was anti-dosae(hope you get the drift). Idly was not absorbing sambar. No tea available. We left the place at 5.45 as they mixed up our order and gave one of our dosae to other customer making us wait another 15 mins. What ever.
• Maps shows 5 mins traffic congestion before chikballapur city. We thought it should be manageable. But it turned out to be more than 30 mins of bumper to bumper jam. Reason for this? They have put series of barricades for election checkpost. And best part is no checking happening. All hail our democracy. This was just the trailer.
  
• After crossing the checkpost jam, took the village road towards statue. Narrow road and lot of vehicles meant slow moving traffic. It was manageable till the isha arch. Post that it was mayhem. Literally crawling traffic. Many cars took U turn and went back.
• On a 2 lane gravel road, impatient car drivers had made 4 lanes. Now, where will the cars returning from isha go? Result -bottlenecks. I was like, 'we have come this far, let's atleast see the statue and go back'. I guess 90% of people's thoughts were on the same lines. Finally we got glimpse of statue( actually glimpse of crescent moon on statue head). I saw train of cars for another 2kms. I told to myself "enough is enough ". Requested car tailing me to halt so that I can take a U-Turn. He understood and obliged. Luckily return journey was smooth.
• By the time we reached home, it was 11pm
  
• For the benefit of non-bangalrians, the distance we are taking about is 70kms one way.

Will I dare to visit that place again? Certainly not in the near future. Or may be do quick bike ride in the early mornings some day.

Cheers,
htc

[Mystic]

A quick update on my experience to this place today.
Today being Wednesday and a working day, we thought it is a good idea to visit Isha foundation at Chikkaballapur in our Crysta and avoid crowd. We started at 9.30 am from whitefield and reached around 11.00 am. Not much crowd and also not many cars. The temperature today is 30 C and felt it to be very hot as per Bangalore standards and hence had an issue walking with bare foot on the walkway to the statue.The road beyond the archway for about last few kms is manageable but not good. I saw some Taxis going at good speed on this bad road as it looks like they had already traveled on this road multiple times . I went very slow as mine is a new car with only 10K Kms.We had lunch at Isha and it was delicious. We had no plans on driving in the village roads late in night as we have senior citizens in the car and hence missed the laser show.

Coming to the statue itself, it was fantastic. Felt very proud to be Indian. It is declared as the world's largest bust by the Guinness Book. The full credit goes to the vision of Sadhguru. I wished that some details of the technology or the details of the structural design and the materials used etc is displayed at site. This reminded me on how humble we Indians are at our marketing skills. I visited Statue of Liberty and Eiffel tower multiple times and also seen the movie “Eiffel” on how Gustave Eiffel has designed the structure etc. Only westerners know on how to market effectively.

I personally wish that that we should not look at this place as a tourist attraction for spending few hours. We need to give respect and give the sanctity that we usually give when we visit any other important Hindu temples.

The landscaping is work in progress. I pray that this place becomes a beautiful place aesthetically in next few years and also becomes a sacred place to visit for next posterity.

[Dead_Pedal]

Nice thread. I'm planning to visit this place in the next few days. If anyone has been there recently, how's the road(the rural stretch) and the parking facilities now. Are they still makeshift type or are there any infrastructural changes for the better? Any inputs would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[PreludeSH]

Looks nice. Hope they turn the landscape around into green and build anything intertwined with the landscape.

But I cant stop from wondering when common people cant get a few feet of land, some can get such huge tract of land that too in picturesque locale. Lot of streams flow off from Nandi hills and you cant put something in between in the drainage area. I believe there are still cases against the Coimbatore center regarding environment.

There was a court order not to pour concrete/cement for permanent structures.

[mreccentric]

Thanks for the thread. Yes, this is one of the most happening weekend destination for Bangalore/Bengaluru residents. I had been on one weekend and was not able to get a photo of standing lonely anywhere in the surrounding. The facilities and infrastructure needs an improvement though.

I must thank all the previous posters who are vocal on speaking against deforestation and destruction of green coverage, fauna in the area. Yes, this was not required at this place if you speak in the sense of environment and humane practice. The location needs several more years to be peaceful weekend destination since the influx of people is way too high now.

[ShreyG]

Isha Foundation (Adiyogi) - Quick midweek Dash

Finding some free time in the afternoon and a subsequent free evening, we decided to have some midweek fun and visited Adiyogi at Chikballapur.

THE DRIVE
Started at around 3.00pm from Hosur Road (Kudlu Gate).
Was a lovely, peaceful drive right through the heart of the city. People were tucked away in their AC offices still, attending post lunch meetings and whatnot.
Had a quick tea break just before the turning off NH44 at Vandanam Restaurant.
Reached Adiyogi by 6pm.
The roads now are excellent all the way till the parking. However, once you turn off the main highway, you pass through a very narrow village road which seems to cause all the chaos during weekends / holidays. Hopefully something gets done about this soon since this road is barely able to handle TTs, let alone huge buses.
Post the village road, there is a lovely winding road through the quarries till the entry to the statue. One must exercise caution because even though the roads are wide, turns are sharp with steep rises and dips.

First glimpse of the majestic statue from the approach -


There are a couple of entries to the statue -
1. Through the main front entrance right where the 2 wheelers are parked. You must deposit your footwear here and can collect it on the right side of the base of the statue. Markings are clear.

2. Through the car parking, behind the restaurant. Here you enter right at the base of the statue. Shoes need not be removed unless you wish to visit the temple below the statue, for which there are ample shoe stands. This is recommended since it is super convenient to arrive and depart from the statue if you are going by a 4 wheeler.

Photography is not allowed within the 2 temples of the premises, but otherwise click away.


This is the view from the restaurant. One of the best spots to view the subsequent laser show (which started 7:20pm on the dot). Given we went on a weekday, rush was less and we got great seats to view from. There is a huge viewing are right in front of the statue itself, but you need to sit on cement steps. Not recommended for senior citizens / toddlers.

The laser show was a sight to behold and engrossing. My daughter, who isn't even 2 years old, was completely mesmerized and didn't move an inch during the entirety of the show (lasted about 12-15mins). A glimpse of the same -

Overall am amazing experience and definitly a must visit. Try visiting during the weekday to avoid traffic hassles. We left immediately after the laser show and had a dinner stop before reaching home by 10:30pm.

Few points to note -
1. There is no entry fees to enter the premises. However, parking is Rs 50 for 4 wheelers and Rs 20 for 2 wheelers.
2. The 4 wheeler parking is huge. Try and parking as close as possible to the 2nd entry and further away from the main entry to avoid the dustbowl that gets generated once the vehicles start leaving.
3. The food available at the restaurant is limited and somewhat expensive.
4. Card machines / UPI scanners are available at all the possible payment spots be it the restaurant, prasad, thali for darshan but not parking.