I just learned about a 17,000-acre ‘spiritual community’ being built in Tennessee and somehow the same names keep showing up. Despite how it may be billed, this is not just a yoga retreat. On Isha Foundation’s property, residents can build and own homes on 99-year ground leases. They can mortgage them and they can sell them, but Isha keeps ownership of the land underneath them. Isha says this helps “safeguard its ethos.” But you can’t simply buy your way in; for Isha’s Kamala lots, the primary applicant must complete Inner Engineering Completion. For its studios and apartments, residents must be initiated into Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya. The primary applicant must also participate in Kshetragna, which Isha describes as a lifelong commitment to daily spiritual practice under Sadhguru’s guidance. Tennessee regulators now describe the property as a 17,000-acre site, with another 102 residential lots planned for lease to Isha members. How are they able to do this? Well, Sadhguru does not generally present this as conventional religion. He describes yoga as a “technology” and “science” of inner transformation. Despite his characterization, Isha’s world is built around concepts like: Shiva as Adiyogi. Consecrated lingas. Linga Bhairavi. Karma. Liberation. Gurus. Devotion. Prana pratishtha. In other words: ideas, rituals and sacred forms deeply rooted in Hindu and yogic traditions are often presented to Western audiences as wellness, technology and self-development instead of “religion.” If you tell Americans “this is a Hindu spiritual tradition” they hear religion; but if you call Shiva, consecration, gurus and lifelong spiritual discipline “yogic technology,” many people hear meditation class. Now follow the network behind this compound. Sadhguru → ITServe Alliance Sadhguru was a keynote speaker at ITServe’s flagship Synergy conference. Isha → Sewa International Sewa partnered with Isha’s Save Soil campaign and mobilized its U.S. chapters behind it. Sewa has also explicitly listed Isha Foundation and Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) as partner organizations at U.S. events. Then there’s RSS. Sadhguru participated in the Positivity Unlimited series coordinated by a group formed of the RSS and its affiliates. Even RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat participated in the same series. At what point does a “spiritual retreat” become a privately controlled town with its own rules about who gets to live there? Because 17,000 acres is a hell of a yoga studio.