India is a multi-religious, multi-lingual, multi-racial, multi-cultural country. Its secular status is, however, a heated topic for debate today.  India has a long and mostly honorable tradition of using soft power in its diplomacy. Religion plays a very central and definitive role in Indian society and culture. It can often be seen to influence businesses and the economy. We have with us Sadhguru interviewed by Erik Solheim. Sadhguru is a yogi and a mystic. 🧘🏽 A man whose passion spills into everything he encounters.  🧘🏽 Named one of India’s 50 most influential people. 🧘🏽 Sadhguru’s work has touched the lives of millions worldwide through his transformational programs. 🧘🏽 He has initiated large-scale global initiatives, including the UNCCD accredited Isha Foundation, with 11 million volunteers in 300 centers worldwide. 🧘🏽 In 2017, Sadhguru also launched Rally for Rivers, a campaign to raise awareness about the dire state of India’s rivers, which was supported by 162 million people, making it the largest ever ecological initiative of its kind.  Erik Solheim was Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme between May 2016 and November 2018. ♻️ Prior to joining UN Environment, Solheim was the chair of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.  ♻️ From 2007 to 2012, Solheim held the combined portfolio of Norway’s Minister of the Environment and International Development, and from 2005 to 2007 served as Minister of International Development. This unique portfolio mixture allowed him to bring a coherent approach to development and the environment. ♻️ During his time as Minister, Norwegian aid reached 1 per cent, the highest in the world.  ♻️ Erik also put into place the Nature Diversity Act, which many consider to be Norway’s most important piece of environmental legislation in the last 100 years. The Norwegian Climate and Forest Initiative, in which Norway cooperates closely with Brazil, Indonesia, Guyana and other countries to conserve rainforests, was also established under Solheim.  ♻️ In addition to his role in government and international development, Solheim served has UN Environment’s Special Envoy for Environment, Conflict and Disaster and a Patron of Nature for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. ♻️ He has also received a number of awards for his work on climate and the environment, including UN Environment’s Champions of the Earth award, TIME Magazine’s Hero of the Environment, and an honorary doctorate from TERI University in Delhi, India. He has also written three books: Den store samtalen, Naermere, and Politikk er a ville. ♻️ Prime minister Narendra Modi recoqnizes Erik as a friend of India and wrote a letter to him last week. On the Republic Day of 🇮🇳