Vegan Forest Festival 2025 at Sadhana Forest
For the past three years, Sadhana Forest, one of Auroville’s forest communities, has hosted an international Vegan Forest Festival attended by participants from all over the world. In 2025, the festival was attended by 1200 from all corners of the globe.
Aviram, the co-founder of Sadhana Forest, told us more about the beginnings and new developments at the festival.
Scenes from the Vegan Forest Festival 2025
AVI USA: How did the Vegan Forest Festival begin? Whose idea, and was there any inspiration behind this.
The Vegan Forest Festival, organized by Sadhana Forest, began in 2023, It was inspired by other vegan events around the world that were bringing the community together. Luke suggested it and we all loved the idea and went for it. We felt called to create something similar, but with a focus on sustainability, kindness to people, substance-free living, and gift culture, shared as a gift to everyone!
AVI USA: What happens exactly during the Festival ? What are the activities, meals, workshops ?
So much happens at the Vegan Forest Festival! Spread over three days and welcoming more than 1,000 people, we wanted to create a space for everyone. That’s why we curated a diverse lineup packed with many options so that each person could choose the most exciting one for them. At any moment during the day, there were two talks happening, two workshops, a cooking class, activities for kids, and plenty more. People played in the mud pool, visited the snack stall, met the cows in our animal sanctuary, connected with others from their cities, helped out in the kitchen, or simply relaxed and enjoyed the peace of the forest.
3. How do you draw this amazing international community to Auroville? What kind of people join in? Do any end up staying or retuning to Sadhana Forest as longterm volunteers?
Most people find their way to Sadhana Forest through word of mouth. As people return home or keep on travelling, they share their life-changing experiences with friends, family, and fellow travelers—and naturally, others become curious to see what it’s all about! Our online presence also helps people discover us. We have over 150K followers on Instagram, we’re rated #1 out of the top 12 things to do in Auroville onTripAdvisor, and we’ve received over 2,500 reviews on Google, with an average rating of 4.8 stars.
Most of our Long-Term team came here as Short-Term volunteers, and then decided to stay. For example, Luke came here for 2 weeks, and it’s been nearly 8 years!
AVI USA: What is it that you are trying to impart to the participants, and how do they carry the spirit of the Festival with them when they leave?
We wanted to share with everyone that there’s another way we can interact with each other—a way rooted in care, connection, and kindness. We believe that we can create a vegan event with a deep focus on sustainability, because animal rights and environmental protection are inseparable. After all, it’s their environment too.
We chose to offer the festival as a gift, to show that veganism at its core is kindness, and this kindness can be expressed towards humans too. Veganism does not have to be associated with being expensive or exclusive. It should be accessible to everyone.
We also wanted to show that joy can come from the inside, it doesn’t need to come from anything external. We created a substance-free festival, so that we can have fun and truly enjoy ourselves—just from the natural chemicals our own brains produce—without needing anything else.
Finally, we wanted to show the power of people coming together. Over 150 volunteers poured their energy into creating this event, not for profit, not for recognition, but simply to offer something beautiful to people they had never even met. And that, in itself, is a feeling that everyone will remember.
AVI USA: Anything out of the ordinary that has happened this year?
This year was our biggest event! In 2022 we had a total of 400 people, and then in 2023 we had 700 people, this year we had over 1200 people!
AVI USA: How long has the Festival been happening, and do you notice any changes through the years?
Over these three years of hosting the festival, we’ve seen such an inspiring increase—not only in the number of people attending but also in the number of people wanting to help. Whether it was volunteers who stayed for the full week leading up to the festival to prepare everything, those who worked tirelessly throughout the event, or guests who simply jumped in to help in the kitchen whenever there was a need—the spirit of seva has been incredible. It’s been beautiful to witness how the festival has grown, not just in size, but in the collective energy of people coming together to create a meaningful experience.
AVI USA: Do you maintain activities related to the festival throughout the year? Have you learned anything new during these festivals that was then applied to Sadhana Forest activities?
We also host weddings at Sadhana Forest that are shared as a gift, we decorate the space, prepare all the food, and create an unforgettable experience. Our lessons from the festival have been valuable to see how we can host a larger amount of people in a very organized and enjoyable way.
AVI USA: Goals for the Future: Any wishes or visions for the future of the festival?
We would like to explore more ways to bring more people here to have a unique and life-changing experience.