A Man Who Learnt A Magical Secret Mantra

Sadhguru tells us a story of a south Indian man who wanted magical powers, his travels to Tibet, and what happened when he met an old monk who gave him a secret mantra. Yogi, mystic and visionary, Sadhguru is a spiritual master with a difference. An arresting blend of profundity and pragmatism, his life and work serve as a reminder that yoga is a contemporary science, vitally relevant to our times.

Transcript

Many things in life seem to be romantic and magical.

Right now the flowers are blossoming in the jasmine plant out there.

Such nice fragrance,

Looks magical,

Romantic,

But there is a science and technology as to how to make it happen.

Yes or no?

Hmm?

One who knows what the plant needs and does the right thing,

Only he will have maximum flower and maximum fragrance,

Isn't it?

Yes?

So if you want flowers in your garden,

You want flowers in your garden,

What do you do?

Flower,

Flower,

Flower,

Flower meditation.

No.

No flower meditation needed.

You don't even have to think of a flower.

You have to think of soil,

You have to think of manure,

You have to think of water,

You have to think of sunlight,

No flowers.

If you handle these things right,

Flowers will happen.

Flower is a consequence,

Fragrance is a consequence,

It is not something that you do.

Similarly,

Meditation is not something that you do.

If you handle the body,

The mind,

The emotion and the energy properly,

You become meditative.

If you try to meditate,

You will go crazy.

I must tell you one story.

Once upon a time,

There was a man in South India who wanted to get supernatural powers.

What are supernatural powers,

You know?

Supernatural powers,

You know what they are?

Somebody wants to walk upon water,

Somebody wants to fly without an airplane,

Everybody walks on the floor,

So somebody wants to walk on the ceiling.

Essentially circus,

They want to do something that nobody can do.

So the man wants supernatural powers.

He went from guru to guru.

So many gurus he saw.

Everybody said no.

Then someone told him,

These South Indian gurus,

No good,

No good.

Because they're too conservative,

They won't give you all this.

I know a monk in Tibet where he has all the supernatural powers you want and he is willing to give it to you.

Eventually our man set forth on a journey to Tibet,

From South India to Tibet,

Walking across Himalayas.

Not an easy journey,

But our man is determined.

He wants supernatural powers.

So he went all the way.

He went to this monastery,

The Buddhist monastery.

The culture in the Buddhist monastery is very different from what we know here in South India.

First,

People have been taught that,

Atiti devo bhava,

That means a guest is God.

If somebody comes to your home as a guest,

You must treat that person like a God.

Even if he happens to be your enemy somewhere else,

When he comes to your home,

You must treat him like a God.

You must be saying in India,

People see you and they're doing this because they want to treat you like a God.

Because you come here.

When they come to your place,

They'll be different.

But now that you're here,

They want to treat you like a God.

But in the Buddhist monastery,

There is no such culture.

If you go there,

Nobody will ask you who you are.

Not because they don't care for you,

Because in their life,

The most… the biggest thing about their life is to find out who am I.

If a new person comes just now,

As soon as he comes,

You ask him,

Who are you?

It's a very big question.

Yes?

Very big question,

Isn't it?

So they don't want to embarrass you with such a big question.

So a new person has come,

If you do not ask him,

Who are you,

What is the next possibility?

Where do you come from?

Do you know where you come from?

Now you came from China,

That's not the point.

Where do you really come from?

Do you know?

From where you came into this life,

Do you know?

Do you know?

No.

Where is that?

Mother.

Okay,

To mother's belly,

Where did you come?

You really don't know where you came from,

Isn't it?

So they don't want to embarrass you with that question either.

A new person has arrived,

You don't ask him who you are or where you come from,

Tch,

Not much room for conversation.

So they don't talk to you.

Lunch means there is a bell.

If you want,

You can go and eat.

If you don't eat,

Nobody will force you because fasting is an important part of Buddhist life.

If you are not eating,

It is greatly respected,

Nobody will come and say,

Come and eat,

Because they think you're fasting.

This is a strange situation for this man from South India.

Because in South India,

You must know this,

If you go to somebody's home,

It doesn't matter at which time of the day you go,

You must eat.

You tell them,

No,

No,

No,

I just had my dinner and came.

Ah,

It doesn't matter,

You come to my home,

You must eat,

Because this is hospitality.

This is a sure way to the hospital.

Nobody asked him who you are,

Where you come from,

Come and eat,

Nothing.

He just hung around.

When hunger overtook him,

He went and ate and just hung around.

One day,

Two days,

Three days.

Three weeks passed away.

Nobody spoke to him.

After three weeks,

The old monk who was there called him.

He knows why this man has come.

He said,

What will you do with supernatural powers?

What will you do walking upon water?

After three days,

A boat will be better,

You know.

I will teach you the way of meditation.

With this,

You can live a fruitful life.

Our man said,

No,

No,

No,

No,

I don't want your meditation.

You think to learn meditation,

I have to come to Tibet?

In India,

We know every kind of meditation.

Don't you forget,

Gautama,

The Buddha is an export from India.

In many ways,

The monk tried to dissuade him,

But our man was determined,

I want supernatural powers.

Then the monk said,

Okay,

If you must have it,

Tomorrow morning,

Four o'clock,

Take a dip in the river and come here.

Let's see what we can do.

The secrets of supernatural,

I will give it to you.

Our man went four o'clock in the morning,

Had a dip in the river.

This is not South India,

This is Tibet.

Temperatures are all minus.

He took a dip,

Turned half blue.

He went and sat in front of the monk.

The monk looked at his condition and his determination.

He said,

See,

This is very simple.

There are three mantras,

You utter these three mantras,

Three times over,

All the supernatural will be yours.

Tch,

Shall I reveal the mantras to you?

Buddha Sharanam Gacchami,

Dhammam Sharanam Gacchami,

Sangham Sharanam Gacchami.

These three mantras,

Three times over,

You utter,

Every… all the supernatural is yours.

Only thing is,

When you're uttering the mantra,

You should not think about a monkey.

Is that all?

That is all.

Can I go,

Please?

Our man came out of the monastery really jumping with joy.

The fool of a monk revealed all the secrets of supernatural and he tells me,

Don't think about a monkey.

What is… what does he know about my culture?

Here we think of Vedas,

Upanishads,

Brahma Sutras,

These are all the great scriptures.

Why will I think about a monkey?

Am I a hunter?

I have not seen a monkey in the last ten years.

Like this,

Thinking about monkeys,

He came down to the Indian part of Himalayas.

There is a sacred river in India.

You heard of this?

He came down to the sacred river Ganga,

Had a dip in the river,

Sat down,

Buddha,

Monkey.

Monkey means another dip in the river.

Sat down,

Buddha,

Monkey,

Another dip in the river.

Buddha,

Monkey,

Another dip in the river.

In various yoga postures he tried.

Boo means monkey comes.

One week of intense practice,

He came to a place,

He does not have to do anything,

Only monkeys,

Inside monkeys,

Outside monkeys,

A universe full of monkeys.

Now he could not sit,

Stand or sleep,

Monkeys everywhere,

Inside,

Outside,

Everywhere monkeys.

Now he went back,

All the way back to Tibet once again.

He went to the monk and said,

I don't want your supernatural powers,

First relieve me from these monkeys.

Now this is the nature of your mind.

If you say,

I don't want something,

Only that will happen in your mind,

Isn't it?

Only monkeys.

No,

No,

No,

No,

Don't think of a monkey.

No,

You cannot think of a monkey,

Only monkey.

The more you do that,

More monkeys will happen.

Or what I'm saying is,

Without understanding the fundamental nature of the mind,

If you try to do something head on with it,

You will go crazy.

So many things that you think you want to forget,

You will never forget.

Things that you want to remember,

You always forget,

Isn't it?

Yes or no?

Hmm?

Because without understanding the fundamentals of mind,

We are trying to operate the mind.

This is the most sophisticated machine on the planet,

But you're going at it somehow.

If you go at it somehow,

Sometimes it works.

Most of the time,

Unfortunately,

Most people's minds are working against those people.

When you were five years of age,

Hmm?

When you were only that much,

How joyful you were and today how joyful you are,

Has it gone up or gone down?

That means your mind is working against you.

It is working against you simply because without understanding the fundamentals of what it is,

You're trying to operate it.

If you have a sharp knife,

You must have a steady hand,

Yes?

Yes or no?

Hmm?

If you have a very sharp knife,

You must have a very steady hand,

Unsteady hand,

You will either cut yourself or cut somebody.

Yes or no?

That's all that's happening right now.

Once you became a human being,

You have a sharp knife,

No steady hand.

That's why yoga,

To create a very steady hand,

So this sharp knife can be used the way we want that it will not cut us all the time.

Right now,

All the misery that you see on the planet,

All the human misery that is happening on this planet,

Where is the manufacturing unit,

Shanghai?

Where is the manufacturing unit?

In your mind.

Every kind of misery is manufactured only here.

This should be manufacturing bliss for you,

Ecstasy for you,

But it's manufacturing misery because there's no stable platform,

It's all over the place.

Once this mind begins to work for you,

Once you are blissful by your own nature,

There is no fear of suffering.

Once you become like this within yourself,

That your mind takes instructions from you,

Whatever happens,

I will keep this blissful.

This will become magic.

This will become a fantastic instrument of well-being.

Now you would like to explore the full depth and dimension of this life.

Reviews

🙏

An excellent parable. Very helpful for mediators everywhere. 🙏

Wonderful story telling 💜x

Wow! Perfectly articulated and ideally timed for me to find this!

So easy to hear what this man has to say 🙏🏻🌻

Thank you. Great listening

Great story! My first time listening to him speak. I will definitely listen to more. Thanks for the wisdom.

Beautiful and engaging stories with such strong connections to the truth! Love to listen many times over. Thank you, Namaste 🌅🙏

good lesson thanks you very muchh!! 😘 😘