The spiritual leader Sadhguru recently visited Vantara as another massive Wildlife rescue & conservation site in Gujarat with elephants, wild animals, rare species and thousands of birds. As well as a very beautiful place in one’s heart, Sadhguru’s life experience in Vantara was a remarkable example of humane compassion and vision. His comments have made clear how wildlife care helps and why to look at such a project in a way helps us understand we humans are part of nature not separate from it?
Sadhguru made his observation in Vantara on that day. Even after visiting more than 100 countries and seeing forests and zoos (and zoos in general) he had never experienced something like it. Vantara has 200 elephants, 500 large animals, 20,000 birds and 18,000 rare species and varieties in them. The passionate staff and visionary nature behind the project is what inspires him the most, and while people could easily grasp the scale of all that work going on here for a few hours he was there.
Sadhguru talked about childhood affection for our Mysore Zoo though Vantara's a different story. As he says it is “a picture which provides an extreme example of human compassion and care” and a genuine understanding that we are part of life here. We are not separate from nature, he said and project Vantara shows how coexistence can happen to be the way it might, if we treat each other and are a responsible neighbor for our planet. He admitted that as an ordinary person, to him this surprised nobody but Vantara.
Vantara is more than just a sanctuary. It is a wildlife rescue, rehabilitation and conservation center integrated with medical attention and rehabilitation which is in partnership with research, the scientific and environmental consciousness of management that’s responsible for wildlife protection. The work is that of keeping humans and animals well fed and safe and keeping rare species alive. Sadhguru’s satisfaction is evidence of worldwide importance for such programmes and will make Indian wildlife protection a strong model to live up to in the world with that kind of conservation process that is also considered sustainable.
And Sadhguru’s visit to Vantara has galvanized this beautiful project. As he demonstrates, compassion, vision, and responsibility in caring for animals is only possible and in fact essential. Vantara is a reminder for humans that we live in another social and economic world, and to protect animals is also to protect ourselves.
