Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev undergoes emergency brain surgery, recovering well: Hospital

PTI, Mar 21, 2024, 8:24 AM IST

Spiritual leader Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev underwent an emergency brain surgery at a private hospital here after suffering ”life-threatening” bleeding in the skull and is now recovering well, a senior doctor said on Wednesday.

”The surgery was carried out on March 17 to remove bleeding in the skull. Sadhguru was weaned off the ventilator post surgery,” a statement from Indraprastha Apollo Hospital said, adding he has shown ”steady progress” and his ”vital parameters have improved”.

Sadhguru also posted a video on his Instagram account from his hospital bed. ”The Apollo hospital neurosurgeons cut through my skull to try and find something but found nothing — totally empty. So they gave up and patched it up. Here I am in Delhi with the patched-up skull but no damaged brain,” he said in a lighter vein.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to the spiritual leader and wished him a speedy recovery.

”Spoke to @SadhguruJV Ji and wished him good health and a speedy recovery,” Modi said in a post on X.

Sadhguru was quick to respond to Modi’s message, saying he was ”overwhelmed” by the prime minister’s concern.

”Beloved Pradhan Mantri ji, I should not be a concern to you. You have a nation to conduct. Overwhelmed by your concern, on my way to recovery. Dhanyavad,” the spiritual guru said in a post responding to Modi.

Several celebrities also posted messages on social media, wishing Sadhguru a speedy recovery.

The 66-year-old spiritual guru is the founder of the Isha Foundation and has launched campaigns such as ‘Save Soil’ and ‘Rally for Rivers’ for environment conservation.

Vinit Suri, the hospital’s senior consultant neurologist who led the team of doctors that attended to Sadhguru, said he had faced a ”life-threatening situation”.

”He has actually done extremely well, much beyond our expectation … He is now extremely well, he is back to his normal self … all his brain, body vital parameters are normal,” Suri said.

Sadhguru had been suffering from severe headaches for the last four weeks. Despite the severity of the pain, he continued with his normal daily schedule and social activities and even conducted a Maha Shivaratri function on March 8, the hospital statement said.

The headache worsened by March 15, when he consulted Dr Suri over the phone, it said.

Suri immediately suspected a subdural haematoma and advised an urgent MRI, it added.

The spiritual leader underwent a brain MRI on the same day, and it revealed massive bleeding in the skull.

”There was evidence of a chronic bleed of three to four weeks duration as well as fresh bleeding that had occurred within a duration of 24 to 48 hours,” the statement said.

Sadhguru was advised immediate hospitalisation and appropriate medication schedule adjustment but he had important meetings and events scheduled for March 15 and 16, it said, adding he completed the meetings with the support of pain medication.

On March 17, he developed a decline in his level of consciousness, and weakness in the left leg, and was admitted to the medical facility under the care of Suri.

The CT scan revealed a marked increase in brain swelling and a decision was taken to operate, it said.

Sadhguru underwent an emergency brain surgery on March 17 to remove the bleeding in the skull, the statement said.