Sadhguru Jagadish Vasudev has pledged Rs 1 crore towards Nepal’s Prime Minister Disaster Relief Fund to support rescue and relief efforts following devastating flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border. He also called for greater cooperation among Himalayan nations, proposing a five-nation Himalayan Board to coordinate responses to disasters affecting the fragile mountain region.Sadhguru made the remarks on Sunday while addressing an event titled “In Solidarity With Nepal” in Kathmandu, his first public appearance since the disaster. According to an official statement by the Isha Foundation, the event brought together people in Kathmandu to express solidarity with those affected.The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) said the death toll from the flash floods has risen to 903, while thousands remain missing.Among those still unaccounted for are 77 participants of the Isha Sacred Walks Kailash Sojourn. The group was at the Gyirong immigration centre on the China side of the border when the disaster struck. Three Isha volunteers stationed on the Nepal side are also missing, according to the foundation.The Isha Foundation, founded by Sadhguru, organises Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimages each season. Pilgrims travel from Kathmandu through Nepal to Tibet, with trekking on foot forming part of the journey. Sadhguru calls for Himalayan BoardAlongside his financial support for Nepal’s relief efforts, Sadhguru called for a collective approach to managing disasters and protecting the Himalayan ecosystem. He proposed a five-nation Himalayan Board comprising India, China, Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan.Arguing that the Himalayan mountain system cuts across political boundaries, Sadhguru said countries sharing the range needed to coordinate their actions.“The mountains don’t know your political affiliation. The mountains don’t know what nonsense or language you speak. Even if you cannot administer it as one body, at least consultation must happen as one body. There must be some congruence of action in what we do because the Himalayas are the most fantastic and majestic feature on the planet. At the same time, they are very fragile,” Sadhguru asserted.He called for the proposed body to be established urgently, saying the Himalayas needed to be treated as a shared natural system rather than as separate national concerns.“A body comprising all these nations where the Himalayan ranges run has to happen now. Even if political administrations are separate, the mountain ranges have to be looked at as a feature that needs to be protected for future generations on the planet.
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If we don’t do this and go on thinking, okay, it’s Nepal’s problem, let them deal with their problem, there will never be a solution.”Sadhguru also said the scale of the disaster was beyond what could reasonably have been anticipated and argued that Nepal could not be expected to deal with its aftermath alone.“Nobody expected something like this to happen, that three-fourths of a glacial ice cube will just fall down four thousand feet down the peak. Not something anybody calculates it for. But now that it’s happened, we must look at this because this is not something a small nation like Nepal can solve by themselves,” Sadhguru said.
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