In Conversation On Religion, Politics & Human Society

BBC World News host Yalda Hakim interacts with Sadhguru. Their conversation covers a spectrum of issues relevant today including religious violence, political correctness and artificial intelligence.

Yogi, mystic and visionary, Sadhguru is a spiritual master with a difference. An arresting blend of profundity and pragmatism, his life and work serves as a reminder that yoga is a contemporary science, vita

Transcript

Ladies and gentlemen,

Welcome to this conversation with Sadhguru.

My work as a journalist,

I often find myself in some of the most troubled places on earth and I realized just how little I know about living and life and how much there is to learn from Sadhguru.

This talk tonight is done in partnership with Head Talks,

Which is basically the TED Talks of the mind and we will be talking a lot about mental health as well as in our society.

Sadhguru – Heart is also allowed.

Heart is also allowed.

Heart is also allowed,

Great.

We'll talk a little from the heart as well as the head.

Seldom do we see this number of people turn out to one of these events queuing for hours beforehand,

But that really comes down to the power of Sadhguru and the visionary that he is.

He obviously needs no introduction.

As you know,

He's a mystic,

A visionary,

A yogi,

A teacher,

A humanitarian and someone that we can all learn something about how we live life.

Just earlier,

We were speaking in the green room about some of the atrocities and some of the things that have happened over the last few weeks and the sorts of things that we witness on a daily basis and the kind of conversations that we were having in there,

I realized just how little I know about living and life and how much there is to learn from him.

So,

I hope that you find tonight in a way something that you can take away from his words of wisdom.

So,

I'll pass it on to Sadhguru.

Sadhguru chants the Sadhguru chant.

Good evening,

Good evening everyone.

Sadhguru,

Can you tell us a little bit about that chant and what it means?

Well,

I'm just not going by the word meaning but the overall meaning would be… Birth is a certain pleasure and joy but death is compassion.

When you have lived enough,

The relief of death is fantastic.

The worst thing that could happen to you is that suppose you have to live forever.

And what we are calling as birth and death is just a certain amount of time and a certain amount of energy in play.

Time wise,

No matter who you are,

What you are,

For all of us time is rolling away at the same pace.

There's nothing you can do about it.

You can't hold back a day.

You can't hold back a minute.

But our life energies are in our hands.

If we take charge of this,

Then in a certain way,

We have mastery over time.

If your experience of life,

By taking charge of your energies you make it very intense,

Then how you live… If you live here for a year,

It may feel like you've lived here for a hundred years because of the sheer intensity of your existence.

And also in terms of activity,

If you organize your energies well,

What somebody may do in ten years,

You may do it in one year.

So in terms of impact,

If you live hundred years,

You've lived a thousand years.

So essentially,

We're talking about organizing that we can organize and coming to terms with that which we cannot organize.

This is where the equilibrium of life is.

You just said,

You just said the worst thing that can happen is if you live forever.

But what if that death is then imposed on you?

So I go back to what happened on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka and the attacks on various churches across Colombo,

Where three-hundred-and-ten people were killed.

I mean,

What goes through your mind when you see this… I mean,

Some would say level of evil inflicted on man by man?

Oh,

We must understand,

Evil has always been inflicted only by one man upon another man,

Never by some other forces.

It never happened like that.

No hand jumped out of the sky and did any evil to anybody ever in the history of humanity.

It's always one person doing something horrible to another person.

This could be done for economic reasons,

This could be run… done because of egoistic reasons,

This could be done because of wealth,

Property,

So many things.

But if we have a fight for something,

Let's say we are fighting for this flower ways,

You and me.

At some point if we fight enough,

Either some wisdom will arise in you or me and say,

Okay you keep it but I don't want this nonsense going on forever.

It'll come somewhere.

But when people believe that they are fighting for their gods,

There is no compromise.

This is what we need to understand.

You cannot compromise when you are fighting for your god.

With property I'll give it away but I am fighting for something about which there is no question of compromise.

So we need to understand this.

It's not when events happen like this,

Terrible events like this happen,

Everybody for few days,

They will feel all this and then they'll go about their normal business.

We must understand the moment you believe something and I believe something else,

It's just a question of time when we are going to kill each other.

Maybe we will or maybe our children will or maybe their children will but it's bound to happen.

When you believe something,

When you believe means just this,

What you do not know you assume and you concretize this assumption in your minds and you gather numbers.

If these thousand people here all believe one thing and when we step out on the street,

If they all believe something else,

Inevitably there is going to be a clash.

It's just a question of time.

How do we deal with this though?

So you have set up the menu but you are surprised when it gets served on your table.

Why are you surprised?

It is bound to happen.

It's bound to happen.

All this talk about just adjusting and you know creating little bit of peace here and there is not a solution.

One fundamental thing that we should do in the next twenty-five years,

If we are really concerned about the future of the world because the day of the sword is over.

Now it is a… it is a day of a deadly button which can do things that you can't imagine ever,

Those kind of things it can do.

Well,

These deadly buttons are being spoken about on a regular basis these days in various places.

So when this kind of capability is there,

It's important in the next twenty-five years,

We have to establish in the world your religion is your personal pursuit,

Do whatever the hell you want.

But it cannot be a national or global agenda.

This must be set one hundred percent.

If we don't do this,

We are not looking at just a few churches exploding or somebody shooting in the mosque or something else.

You could have nations exploding into bits.

It's… it's… a large part of humanity can go into bits because that's the kind of empowerment we have in terms of technology.

It's not like you will take your sword and kill hundred people.

You're going to just take away millions at a time.

So when this kind of empowerment is there,

These kind of rudimentary beliefs… When I say rudimentary belief,

I'm just saying you believe something that you don't know.

Let's understand the word belief first of all.

I'll ask you a simple question,

Is it okay?

Am I too abrasive for you?

You said it's head talk.

Suppose I ask you right now,

How many of you believe you have two hands?

Please raise one hand.

Do you believe you have two hands or do you know you have two hands?

If I start an argument with you that you don't have two hands and if my argument becomes too powerful,

One slap in the face and you know you got hands.

So with hands you know,

There are so many things you believe.

What does it mean?

It simply means things that you do not… you are not sincere enough to admit what I do not know as what I do not know.

Because you have not understood the immensity of I do not know.

Only when you see I do not know,

The longing to know,

The seeking to know and the possibility of knowing becomes a living reality.

Otherwise everything I do not know I just assume.

What is the point of that?

The moment you assume and you gather thousand people who assume the same things and I assume something and I gather ten thousand people who assume the same thing,

This is… clash is inevitable,

Believe me.

But it's easier said than done to say,

Well in the next twenty-five years we need to get out of this mindset.

Well,

Never before this was possible.

Today we are sitting here just talking to a thousand people but you know that today we have means,

What we speak here we can make it reach the entire humanity.

This was never ever possible.

Many fantastic human beings have come but what they could do was minimal.

Because when they spoke hardly ten people heard.

Today you can sit here and speak to the entire world.

When you have this capability,

How come you say you cannot transform the world?

We can.

It is just that are we committed to making it happen.

I was just talking to somebody who is some kind of an expert on the internet,

That's when I started going on YouTube and everything.

This is about twelve years ago.

I was talking to someone in United States who is some kind of an expert on the internet affairs.

So I've never gone browsing or anything,

I'm just busy with what I'm doing.

So I just asked,

What are people looking for,

For hours on end they're on this net.

So he very casually says,

Sadhguru,

About seventy percent is pornography.

I said,

What?

He says,

Yes.

I didn't want to believe him,

I said this is not possible,

It can't be seventy percent.

Maybe some people are looking up something.

But then I check with a few other people,

Everybody says seventy percent of data is pornography.

And they tell me,

Every year some 1.

2 million children below fifteen years of age are being sold on internet.

What's wrong with us?

I'm saying,

When such a tremendous tool of technology comes to us,

We want to sell our children,

Is this how we use it?

We want to change this.

That's why I'm loud in the last ten years,

Out on the internet.

Questioner 2 – Do you think though that technology is a good thing or a bad thing?

Sadhguru – Technology is neither.

The beautiful thing about technology is,

If you learn to use it,

It works for you.

But who you are will decide how you use it,

Isn't it?

So what we need to fix right now in the world is,

Who are we?

This is what we need to fix.

We've all become many things which we are not.

Essentially,

We are born as life on this planet.

Rest of the things are taught to us,

Isn't it?

Stop teaching all this stuff which makes us something other than human beings.

Questioner 2 – I mean you can say this as Sadhguru,

But how do you deal with a fifteen year old who spends six,

Seven hours of their day on a phone which then impacts their mental health,

Their state of mind?

Sadhguru – See,

Being on the phone need not necessarily impact the mental health.

But what is on the phone,

That's the question,

Isn't it?

Right now,

At least in India,

Whatever they may be looking for pornography,

But Sadhguru pops up.

I'm telling you,

I'm saying this with a certain glee because… You know,

I'm just walking in Bangalore city.

Some twelve,

Thirteen year old boys,

They… from bunch of them they say,

Hey Sadhguru,

Sadhguru,

One day come running,

I said,

Hey you idiots,

How do you know who I am?

They say,

No,

We watch your videos Sadhguru.

I said,

What?

Your mothers must be forcing you to watch my videos?

They say,

No,

In our class,

All of us are watching your videos.

I really inquired and I find in every school that I go to,

At least twenty to thirty percent of the children are watching our videos.

I'm telling you,

When I was fifteen,

Nobody could ever get me to watch a goddamn spiritual video.

All right?

No way.

But today,

Children are watching.

So,

This is a new and a fantastic development.

So,

Phone is not the problem.

What is the content you're putting on it and who is putting on it?

Children are putting?

No,

Adults are putting.

Everything has become commerce.

So,

Children are playing video games,

Whatever some… in India some fugbee,

What is that?

Because I came to know about it because the Prime Minister mentioned this.

See,

It seems whatever two,

Three hours a day,

You're practicing how to kill this one,

This one,

This one and this one,

Okay?

Chuk,

Chuk,

Chuk,

Chuk,

Chuk,

I'm shooting.

When I am twelve,

Thirteen,

It may be okay.

When I become eighteen,

Don't want… don't I want to get little real?

Am I happy just shooting them on my phone?

I would like to really shoot them,

Please understand this.

You think I will be satisfied just shooting people when I think it's a right thing to do?

Whoever appears,

I shoot them,

Shoot them,

Shoot them on the phone.

You think my instinct of wanting to shoot people that I see will be satisfied just on the phone?

You are living somewhere,

It's not reality.

So when we are putting our children through this and we think they are violent,

They are wrong,

No,

This is the kind of content you're giving them.

Can't we change the content to whatever extent we can?

I mean,

But there are a lot of studies that have been done that the internet is causing a lot of angst for young people.

See,

These studies goes on about everything.

What is not causing angst,

Tell me?

Everything is.

And these studies keep changing all the time.

Yes,

There is some kind of impact of a screen time because of the type of light it emits,

People lose their ability… because they are going on this late night,

They cannot sleep properly.

Because they cannot sleep properly,

Next day morning there are many troubles.

All these things are rolling up.

Today in United States,

They have technology de-addiction centers where like… like AA or something,

They have technology de-addiction centers where people go there and it's a big thing that you can live without a phone.

It's a huge achievement that you kept your phone away for whatever number of days.

So technology is not the problem.

Compulsiveness is the problem,

Isn't it?

If you're compulsive,

Even the food that you eat,

If you eat compulsively,

Won't you get sick?

So for compulsiveness,

There's only one cure – consciousness.

There is simply no other cure.

You can make adjustments.

Can I say a joke,

Is it okay?

Please,

It's okay.

On a certain day,

An office colleague,

A young woman asked Shankaran Pillai that… aye… that if she could get a lift in his car.

So,

She took her in the car and he was driving.

When it got a little lonely part of the road,

He pulled the car aside and he suddenly became like an octopus.

That is,

His limbs were all over her.

She pushed him away and said,

"'You fool,

What are you trying to do?

I thought you're a decent fellow and I came with you.

' He said,

"'I'm sorry,

I quit smoking.

'" Then tell us,

How do we get to a point of consciousness then?

How do we not take our impulse from smoking to something else?

See,

We are misunderstanding consciousness as just mental alertness.

Mental alertness will help you to survive better.

Consciousness is not about that.

See,

You know exist… you know that you exist right now only because you're conscious,

Isn't it?

You are conscious right now.

That's why you know that you're here.

Suppose you fell asleep,

You don't know that you exist,

Isn't it?

You don't know the world exists,

Nor do you know that you exist simply because you're somewhat unconscious.

Does it mean to say you're completely unconscious?

No,

You're still conscious when you're sleeping but not conscious enough to notice the presence of many things.

So,

Consciousness is not whether it is present or absent,

It is always there.

The question is only the intensity and the volume of it.

If we have to use the analogy right now,

See,

The lights are focused on us.

So,

Both of us are clearly seen.

There are people hiding in darkness.

Suppose you dim the light further,

All these people will disappear,

Only two of us will be there.

If you increase the voltage,

Suddenly they will all appear.

They were always here.

They were here all the time.

Because the lights were dimmed,

I could only see you and nobody else.

If the lights were up,

Then you could see.

This is all consciousness sees.

Everybody is conscious,

Question is how conscious?

So,

To increase or to raise consciousness,

What have we done in the societies?

Our entire education system is just about survival,

One being better than the other.

How can you be conscious when you're competitive?

When you're… all you want to do is be better than somebody.

Your only joy is other people's failures.

How will you be conscious?

When you're enjoying other people's sufferings,

Other people's failures,

This is what being number one means.

I'm the number one means what?

You're number ten,

That's my joy.

So,

I think this is sickness.

From kindergarten,

You're spreading this sickness into children and you expect them to be fantastic.

It won't work like that.

Interviewer – So,

Do we need to change our systems?

Sadhguru – Oh,

Definitely.

See,

Right now,

It is anyway going to change in the next five to ten years,

Not because people are going to become conscious,

Simply because of artificial intelligence.

For a long time,

I always wondered even when I went to the school,

Some… an idiotic person who's read a book a few years ahead of me,

Suddenly is acting like they're something superior.

Just you read a book few years ahead of me and how come you're so superior?

I don't understand this.

If you're a scholar,

You read a few books.

If you're a religious person,

You read just one book and somehow you're superior.

How come just by reading one book ahead of me,

You become a superior life?

All this is going to be demolished in the next five,

Ten years' time.

My phone will be able to do ten PhDs a day.

It has enough memory to do that.

So all scholars,

Religious people,

People who just keep on vomiting their stuff that they've read elsewhere,

This will be nothing.

This will be nothing.

So,

If… see there was a time,

I remember this very well,

In Mumbai port,

When the first gantry was installed to load and unload the ships,

You know,

About thirty-five,

Forty years ago maybe,

All the labor protested,

They went on strikes.

Then I was in a… you know,

I'm interested in this thing,

So I was visiting some ports recently.

I was inquiring what was the size of the vessels then,

What is the size of the vessel now,

How much time does it take to load,

Unload?

At that time,

The biggest vessels were about thirty thousand tons or thirty-five thousand tons in that range.

Today most of the vessels are over hundred thousand tons,

Some of them are quarter million tons.

But at that time they were taking twenty-six to twenty days to unload one ship.

Today,

They unload a ship in less than twenty-four hours and they're unloading twelve,

Fifteen ships at the same time.

That is in one day,

Twelve,

Fifteen ships are unloaded.

Why?

Because of… from man's muscle,

We move to machine.

Right now,

All the professors,

Scholars,

All of them are crying what will happen to our jobs,

It's the same situation.

What you could do with your intellect,

A machine is coming which can do better.

My first brush with artificial intelligence as I saw it was when I was thirteen years of age.

Today's children,

Everybody is on the iPads and screens all the time.

When I was thirteen,

For the first time I saw a flatbed calculator.

So somebody brought it to school,

I'd never seen anything like that.

They said multiplication,

Tuk,

Tuk,

Tuk,

Tuk,

Tuk,

Tuk,

Tuk,

Tuk,

Tuk,

Tuk,

Just came.

Immediately I felt offended.

Because if it can be done like this,

Why the hell are they torturing me in the Arithmetic Law?

So I imagine if there was a calculator for physics,

Chemistry,

Biology,

Everything,

How wonderful,

It took fifty years.

Now it's coming.

All the best for the children of the future,

Because they don't have to go through this torture of simply trying to retain something in your memory and believe that your memory is intelligence.

Your memory is not intelligence.

Your memory is a certain capability,

All right?

But intelligence is a different dimension of life.

Consciousness means pure intelligence,

Unsullied by memory.

Now if I look at you,

Oh I know Yalda,

Oh she is good,

She is bad,

She is my friend,

She is my enemy,

This,

That,

That,

So much nonsense in my head.

What happens now is,

I don't see you the way you are right now.

Yes?

If my intelligence is sullied by my memory,

I cannot see you and experience you the way you are right now.

If I don't see you right now the way you are,

I cannot see this flower the way it is right now,

I cannot see the sunrise,

I cannot see the sunset,

For everything I have a stupid meaning in my head.

There is no meaning in the phenomena of life.

There is no meaning to sunrise,

There is no meaning to a flower,

There is no meaning to a cloud,

There is no meaning to anything.

It's just that it's fantastic,

That's all.

Meaning exists only in the psychological framework of the human being.

And these meanings are simply because we are constantly dipping into our memory.

In traditional terms in India when we see people living out of their memory we say,

I owe karma.

That means past memory is ruling them,

They will never experience life,

They will just recycle the same stuff.

Is it possible to shed or leave behind memory?

I'm sorry?

Is it possible to shed or leave behind your memory?

See you don't have to shed your memory.

Because it's part of your identity.

If you shed your memory,

You will again walk into the same pits that you walked in in the past.

Memory is not to be shed,

It needs to be carried little loose,

That it is not sticking to you all the time.

See,

Your entire body right now is just memory.

There is evolutionary memory,

There is genetic memory,

There is karmic memory,

There is conscious,

Unconscious levels of memory,

Articulate and inarticulate levels of memory.

In yoga we identify your existence as eight dimensions of memory.

This whole thing is memory,

Isn't it?

See,

You may not remember how ten generations ago your great grandmother looked like,

But her nose is sitting on your face.

Body remembers,

Isn't it?

One hundred percent.

It doesn't matter where you go,

What you do in your life,

This body retains every bit of that memory,

Isn't it?

So,

This existence is memory.

But do you want to use this body and this bank of memory that you have in your mind as a platform upon which you sit or do you want to carry this on your head?

This is the difference.

Being conscious means you sit on this platform.

Being unconscious means you carry it on your head,

The burden of it.

You mentioned artificial intelligence.

Are you worried about the future?

No,

This is the best time for me.

See,

If… let us say right now,

You have read ten thousand things and you remember all that.

I have not read anything.

So,

The value that you have is only the memory you have.

But now I have a little gadget which knows a million times more than you know.

So now,

What is the value for you and me?

What kind of a human being I am is the only value,

Isn't it?

What nonsense you carry in your head is of no value.

This is a great time for me.

This is great time for humanity because now you being a human being will become more important than what nonsense you carry in your head.

I'm sorry this is head talk.

So,

Are you saying then that we are living in the best time in history?

Definitely,

Is there any question?

Never before human survival was as well organized as it is today.

If you had to start your morning,

You had to take a bucket and go to river Thames,

Which is a mile away,

And carry this bucket full of water.

Tell me in this room how many people are even fit enough to carry a bucket full of water for a mile.

Now we're complaining because the warm water is not coming.

There are two knobs you have to turn for warm and cold water.

You want a single knob so people are freaking in the morning,

Two knobs have to handle it.

So,

Survival is better organized than ever before.

When our concern was survival,

We couldn't pay attention to other dimensions of life.

See,

Once you come as a human being,

If you had come as any other creature,

Stomach full,

Life settled.

Once you come as a human being,

Stomach empty,

Only one problem,

Stomach full,

One hundred problems.

Why this is so is,

Our life is not fulfilled with survival.

When our survival is in question,

We are just like any other creature.

Only when survival is fulfilled,

The dimensions of being human kicks in,

Into our experience.

When you're thinking of where is my next meal,

We don't expect you to be very human.

You lose it in many ways.

Now survival is settled for large part of humanity.

Unfortunately,

There's still populations for whom it's still a struggle.

But I would say at least for sixty percent of the population on the planet for the first time,

Survival is better organized than ever before.

The world is safer than ever before,

Though people are constantly complaining.

Well,

You're talking about Sri Lanka,

Yes,

It's an unfortunate incident.

But thousand years ago,

If thousand people died just hundred miles away,

You would be sitting here thinking world is super peaceful.

Yes or no?

Today it's because of BBC that somebody dies somewhere,

The blood flows into your sitting room.

It's a good thing at least your humanity is being evoked,

Otherwise it'll sleep.

So I'm saying in terms of violence,

We are more peaceful than ever before.

Our survival is organized better than ever before and above all our ability to communicate is better than ever before.

These are not small things.

Now the question is what are we going to communicate?

Are we going to abuse each other?

Are we going to throw dirty things at each other?

Or are we going to do something that will transform us as a generation?

Because this is our time on the planet.

Are we going to make this the greatest time in the world ever?

Or are we going to let this pass?

That's all we have on our hands.

What else do we have?

That's all we have.

All we have is a little bit of time,

Isn't it?

Hello?

All we have is a little bit of time.

But most people think they're immortal.

That's why they don't do anything.

Because they think only other people die.

They don't understand you and me will die.

When we are born,

We are geared to die.

So it's only a question of time.

Time is ticking away right now.

As you sit here,

From the time we came and sat here,

We're twenty minutes closer to our graves,

All of us.

Yes,

If you're conscious,

If you think about death once in a way,

It'll become a morbid thought.

But if you're conscious that you're mortal,

You would organize your time in the most productive possible way,

Isn't it?

Are you worried about global leadership though?

I mean,

You say we're living in the best time that we… it's the best time for us in terms of survival and technology.

But if we look at the global phenomenons at the moment,

I mean,

Even if we look at what's happening in this country with Brexit and identity politics,

And people feeling like they need to belong to a certain type of thinking or group,

On either side of the spectrum,

Is that not dividing us more and more?

See,

I think this reaction is happening not just here in many places across the world.

I've been talking to media and others saying,

Don't push the pendulum too much on one side,

It'll inevitably swing the other way round.

So people have been pushing it too much on one side about politically being correct,

Saying the right word,

Not the right thing.

The right word you must choose.

If I say mankind,

Women will react.

I'm saying,

Is everybody so screwed up in their head,

All the time they're discriminatory?

I don't think so.

Some people are of course.

But today it's become like this.

You know,

It was very natural for me if you see a child,

You want to pick up the child,

You want to do something,

You want to talk to them,

You want to hug them,

Whatever,

Because it's like a fresh flower.

But today,

You don't know whether to touch the child or not.

Because people are making such a big deal about it.

I'm not saying there are no issues,

There are serious issues,

Which needs to be addressed.

But at the same time,

When we push it to a paranoia level,

Instead of taking necessary steps,

We make it a paranoia among people,

Then the other swing is inevitably going to come.

Now somebody is saying,

Don't worry about all this ecological nonsense,

Nothing is going to happen.

Everything is fine.

Let us,

You know,

Let's do everything as it is,

Because this is all rubbish,

Because you pushed it too much.

This is very important to understand people who are concerned in this world.

If you're a concerned human being,

It's very important,

Whatever you think is right,

You must not push it too much.

If you push it too much,

The reverse pendulum will anyway happen,

You're seeing that right now.

Talking about Brexit,

Is it okay?

Because I think you already made up your mind so.

See,

Could you… could you sell this idea to anybody in 1945?

1945,

Could you sell this idea that Germans,

French,

Italians,

Spanish,

English,

All come together as a union?

Could you even think,

I'm asking,

After World War II?

So in fifty years' time,

When such a thing happens,

It's not just an economic arrangement.

It's a huge step in human consciousness,

That with people that you fought so bitterly.

Bitterly means it can't be any worse.

Human beings can't find any worse than that.

After that,

Within fifty years,

When the generation is still alive,

Many members of that generation are still alive,

You thought of coming together,

It's not a small thing.

It's not just economic arrangement,

It's just euro versus your pound or whatever.

It is a tremendous step for humanity.

But now you want to go back on it?

It's done.

On that note,

I just want to open up to the audience and give you a chance to ask some questions from Sadhguru.

Just stand up,

Introduce yourself,

And we'll start here on the front row.

I'm Meenakshi and I work in technology for Guru.

So thrilled and privileged to be here,

Feeling blessed,

Thank you.

My question is that,

In Kali Yuga,

Is it possible to take the Advaitic meditative route to try and get in touch with your consciousness without a guru and the Guru Mantra?

Or should one pursue namasmaran and bhakti marg as the way one tries everything but is flapping in the wind?

See,

You're a technology person and I'm asking all of you.

Well,

Each one of you may have your own religious beliefs or whatever,

But please look at it sincerely.

Your belief is only to a point of convenience,

Isn't it so?

Are you willing to believe to such an extent?

You have children?

Children?

So,

Are you willing to leave the future of your children in God's hands and leave it… just do namasmaran and leave them on the street?

Because… are you?

Street is also in God's hands,

Right?

Are you capable?

No.

Are you willing to leave your home doors open,

Your wealth,

Everything open?

Because God is there anyway.

No,

You do everything that matters to you.

You're keeping God as insurance,

All right?

So,

When you're in this state of mind,

Don't talk about devotion,

It won't work.

Devotion is a fantastic thing.

Devotion is another dimension of intelligence.

But with the kind of education that you've gone through and your intelligence has become very skewed just by exercising one aspect,

That is the intellect.

Right now,

Our education systems are exercising only one dimension of your intelligence,

That is just the intellect.

If I ask you a simple question,

Would you want your intellect to be sharp or blunt,

All of you?

Make a choice,

I'm going to bless you.

So,

You want it sharp.

So essentially,

It's a cutting instrument.

So,

Let us say you have one knife in your hand and you want to do all the activity of your life with the knife.

Well,

You can cut things well with a knife.

But if you want to stitch your clothes,

You use a knife.

You will inevitably be in tatters,

Isn't it?

That's all that's happening today.

Because you're exercising just one dimension of your intelligence,

Which is the intellect,

Which is a discriminatory sharp instrument,

Which slices open,

Dissects things.

Now,

I want to know something physical,

I want to dissect it.

Now I want to know you,

Shall we dissect you?

Is that the way to know you?

I'm asking.

If I dissect you,

Will I know anything about you?

Is it possible?

I'm asking.

By embracing you,

By including you,

I may know something.

By dissecting you,

What will I know?

What is… what will work for a physical substance you're trying to apply to your own life?

It's not going to work like this.

See,

The more educated people are becoming,

The more disturbed they're becoming.

Education should have settled them,

Isn't it?

Education should have enhanced life.

But tell me,

Who is causing maximum damage on this planet,

Educated people or uneducated people?

Hello?

Educated people,

Isn't it?

Educated people should have been the solution.

Educated people are the problem,

Simply because we are using a knife for everything.

If you want… this thing,

You know,

I… there was a time when I was crisscrossing India on my motorcycle.

So one whole night I've been riding,

I'm somewhere between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

I don't know which state,

Somewhere around there in the border.

So early morning around 6.

30,

I end up at a tea shop.

Full night I've been riding.

Then,

You know,

People who ride motorcycles,

They will know one problem is always that every five-hundred kilometers those days,

The chain will become slack.

So you have to take off a link and put it back,

Tighten the chain.

This is a very easy job,

But it's messy because of the grease and stuff,

Your hands will become messy.

So I'm just about preparing for breakfast,

I'm not willing to mess.

Then I see on the opposite side a shack,

Which says Mubarak Mechanical Works.

Then I see a young boy there and I say,

Hey,

Can you tighten my chain?

He said,

Yes,

Yes,

Full enthusiasm.

Then he goes inside and brings his tools.

What he brings,

He brings a chisel and a hammer.

Then I see,

What you're going to do with that?

He said,

Yeah,

I can do it.

I said,

Wait.

Then I walk into his garage and look,

Only what he has is chisel and hammer.

He can fix it,

But after that,

That's the end of it.

So right now,

This is what you're trying to do.

You're trying to fix everything with the sharpness of your intellect.

You will become a mess.

The more you do it,

More mess you will become.

You… Only satisfaction you have is,

You know words and things that other people do not know,

But you are a total mess.

Yes,

Because the other dimensions of intelligence have not been opened up in this society,

Largely.

Not everybody,

But largely.

The systems… There are no systems to open up other dimensions of intelligence.

So when we say devotion,

We're talking about a completely different dimension of intelligence.

Devotion is not about belief.

Devotion is not about going to a temple,

Church or mosque.

Tell me,

Is there anybody in this world,

Either in sport,

Art,

Music,

Business,

Spirituality,

Whatever,

Has anybody done anything significant without being absolutely devoted to what they're doing?

Has it happened?

So devotion is another dimension of intelligence.

If you exercise that,

Life will be very beautiful.

But it does not mean that you can simply believe that its devotion has become deception,

Because it's a deal.

Right now the deal is like this,

Dear God,

I will give you ten pounds,

Will you give me million?

I'm saying,

When there's not a single idiot on the streets of London who is willing to make such a deal,

How come the source of creation is willing to make such a deal with you?

So what do you think of organized religion then?

I generally don't think about it.

It is not that it has no use.

See,

If there was no religion,

A lot more people would have lost their mental balance.

It is a very inexpensive way of psychiatry.

No,

I'm saying… See,

I want you to understand the line between sanity and insanity is so thin.

Don't think there are insane people and sane people.

Every one of you are crossing the line here and there.

Some people are not able to come back.

That's all the difference is.

Yes or no?

Well,

Aren't you saying with somebody,

I'm mad at you?

So you are not mad at anybody,

You're just mad,

That's all.

You are able to go mad for some time and come back,

So you think you're normal.

Somebody went there and could not come back,

It became a terrible problem,

All right?

So do not assume sanity is some kind of a established… Sanity is some kind of an established status for you.

No.

Today you may be perfect.

Tomorrow morning you may be gone,

Do you understand?

It's very much possible.

Like today you're healthy,

Tomorrow morning you may be talking about terminal illness,

It's possible for any of us.

So the same thing is possible with mental illnesses also.

It is not to be taken lightly,

But I'm talking about not exercising different dimensions of intelligence in a human being.

Making an education system which is all like a factory extruder,

Everybody has to come of the same shape and form.

This is causing enormous distress in human societies.

Yes.

It's very nice to be with you Sadhguru.

I wanted to know about Adiyogi because I've learned and I studied some yoga for years and I never heard about Adiyogi except from you.

Oh,

You thought Madonna invented yoga,

Is it?

The word Adiyogi means the first yogi.

We don't know the exact time,

But it's somewhere over 15,

000 years ago.

That much we know because of certain… certain relics we have found and certain things that have been said,

Certain astronomical phases that they've talked about.

Based on this we estimate it's over 15,

000 years ago,

We don't know the exact time.

So the significance of Adiyogi is this,

For the first time for the human beings he said,

If you're willing to strive,

You can cross all the limitations that nature has set up for you.

Only thing is if you're willing to strive.

And above all,

The most important thing of this is,

He's the first one,

I don't want to take the credit away from the English people.

Charles Darwin spoke about evolution about hundred-and-fifty years ago.

You had a two-hundred birth anniversary recently.

So Adiyogi spoke of evolutionary process over 15,

000 years ago.

He spoke in a different language.

When they asked how life happened,

What is its beginning,

What is its end,

When his disciples asked him,

He said the first form of life was fish.

Second form of life he said is a turtle,

Amphibious life,

That means life is moving out of water finding its way on the land.

You Indian people know about the nine avatars.

The next one is an animal,

Usually it's called a wild boar because wild boar is supposed to be the most physical creature among the mammals.

So he says it's a wild boar.

Next one is half man,

Half animal.

Next one is a dwarf man.

Next one is a full-fledged man but emotionally volatile man.

Next one is a peaceful man.

Next one is a loving man.

Next one is a meditative man.

The next one which is yet to come is supposed to be a mystical man.

That could be you.

Because if you pull out a small thing in your hand and start speaking to somebody in India or America,

You're quite mystical.

If only… Yes.

I'm saying if only you had a phone hundred years ago,

You could claim your god and people would have believed it.

Yes or no?

So he is not talking about individual people,

He is talking about different stages of evolution.

If you look at what Adiyogi spoke,

In many ways it runs absolutely parallel to what Charles Darwin spoke hundred-and-fifty years ago.

So he spoke about evolution and he said,

Till now evolution happened without your consent.

Now you have the privilege to decide how far you want to evolve.

This is the… he said,

This is the most significant aspect of being human is this,

That you decide your evolution.

When you were a monkey,

It's not my statement,

It's Charles Darwin's.

When you were a monkey,

You did not decide,

I want to become a human being.

Nature just pushed you on for whatever reasons.

But now that you're a human being,

Now you can decide what kind of a human being you want to be.

This moment you can be like a brute,

Next moment you can be god-like.

Both are possible for you right here.

So he said the most significant dimension of being human is,

You determine your evolution.

This is the only creature on the planet who has that freedom to do that.

He said this is the most important thing and he gave one-hundred-and-twelve methods through which a human being can evolve to their ultimate nature.

So that's why Adiyogi.

Sadhguru,

I would like to know about science of consecration and if I'm worthy of knowing it,

How do I go about it?

Sadhguru – Oh!

Well,

We must congratulate Yalda because in the next three weeks,

She will be a mother.

This is terrible gender discrimination because only women are ever allowed this privilege.

So she was talking to me about how she is conscious when there is a situation in any place,

Given place without any logic to it,

Conscious of certain energies and how different people and different forms and different spaces impact you.

So the science of consecration is just this.

The best material to consecrate is a human being.

It… because of all the physical forms on this planet,

This is the most evolved physical form.

The easiest thing to consecrate is a human being.

But the problem with the human being is,

Every few minutes they'll make a U-turn.

You can consecrate them right now,

By tomorrow morning we don't know.

So first of all to get them committed to stay with whatever is given to them is a big issue,

Especially in today's world.

Because of that,

We consecrate other forms.

We always want to choose a form or a substance first of all,

Which is of the highest density possible because physical form,

Its strength and its integrity depends upon its density.

So we normally solidify mercury to do this.

This is called as rasa vaidya,

Which means it is the technology of solidifying mercury.

People think it's a miracle.

No,

It's not a miracle.

We use mercury as a process of consecration.

The idea is it will change the very energy in which you are.

Well,

Today,

Our modern science is still busy studying physical things.

Everything physical about you has been gathered from outside,

Isn't it so?

Hello?

What you call as my body is just a piece of this planet.

You slowly get it by the food that you eat.

So if everything physical about you is just something else,

Not you,

What you gathered cannot be you.

What is you?

Definitely there is a dimension beyond physicality.

If you ignore that,

There's simply no life.

But right now,

Still the logic,

The human logic which thinks it is scientific is still at this level of logic that except what I can measure on the instrument does not exist.

So actually all of you do not exist because you cannot be measured.

This happened to me.

I don't subject myself to these indignities anymore.

Way back because of some obligation I had to… I was in some institute,

They said,

We want to measure your gamma waves.

I didn't know I had gamma waves.

They said,

No,

There are gamma waves in your brain,

We will measure it.

So they put fourteen electrodes into my body and they said,

Meditate.

I said,

I don't know how to meditate.

They said,

You teach everybody meditation.

Yes I do because they don't know how to sit still.

If you want,

I will sit still.

But this is the whole problem.

Their problem is they want what kind of meditation.

They want a name and the process and they want to measure the result.

So I'm not going to give them that pleasure.

I said,

If you want,

I'll sit still.

So I simply sat.

After about twenty minutes with some metallic object,

They're hitting that funny place in your elbow,

You know,

Where it hurts most.

Then I thought it's part of their experiment and I sat there.

Then they're hitting my ankle,

My knee.

It became quite consistent and painful.

Then I opened my eyes and said,

Am I doing something wrong?

Why am I being beaten?

They said,

No,

According to our instruments,

You are dead.

I said,

This is a great diagnosis you have.

But then they thought through and they said,

No,

It looks like your brain is dead.

I said,

I will stay with the first opinion.

I am dead like this is okay with me,

Brain dead if you give me a certificate.

That's not going to be good.

Why I'm saying this is the essential life that you are,

You think you are going to measure it in some instrument?

Only physical processes will measure,

Isn't it?

And you know,

Everything physical about you is from outside.

It's not yours.

It's not yours.

It's just a piece of the planet.

So you can't be measured,

So you don't exist.

What a great conclusion are you making?

So what is consecration is a dimension of energy which is not physical in nature,

But it's life,

Concentrated life,

Let's say.

Consecration is a way of creating a very concentrated life process.

If you walk in,

It's like that.

So in certain cultures,

Particularly in India,

Every street we consecrated at one time,

But people slowly misunderstood thinking these are temples for worship,

Whatever,

It all went into all kinds of things.

But still there are fantastic spaces of consecration in that culture,

You must come and experience this.

These days they're measuring some bio stuff and all they're saying some fantastic things happening,

I don't know what their meters are.

But I know this,

Yalda is saying she knows this,

If you walk into a space,

You know how alive or dead that space is.

So is it measurable by something?

No.

Life knows life.

In life meets life,

It knows.

When life meets death,

It knows.

Is there some instrument to measure this?

No,

Because all your instruments can only measure physical processes.

So consecration is the concentrated life process.

No human being should live in unconsecrated spaces.

If you care for humanity,

Especially children,

Especially children below fourteen years of age,

Believe me,

If you make sure they spend a certain amount of time in consecrated spaces,

You will not have any of this nonsense about adolescence.

See,

Right now,

If you're an infant,

Diaper problems,

Toddler means he's running away problems,

Adolescent means some other problem,

Middle age means crisis,

Old age means horrible.

When are you going to live,

I'm asking?

You're looking at life process as a problem.

It's not a problem.

You are making it a problem because you're trying to fit life into your intellect.

No,

Your intellect fits into this life perfectly well.

If you try to fit this life into this intellect,

It's not going to work.

So consecration is a dimension and a science and a technology with which you concentrate life in such a way,

If you walk in,

You… whole energy system bursts forth.

You will see we have created spaces like this.

If people just walk in,

Sheer intensity,

Simply tears start flowing.

They don't know why.

Simply the intensity of the place,

Simply tears start coming.

You must every day,

Your cheeks should be washed with tears of love,

Joy and ecstasy.

If this doesn't happen,

You're not living yet.

Sadhguru,

We've just got a few more minutes left but I wondered,

I mean it was such a beautiful thought that you've just left us with.

But I wondered if there was some final thought or a mantra or something that you can leave our audience with before they go home.

See,

This is what I would like to change,

To learn ABC,

Just twenty-six alphabets in English language.

If you come to Tamil language,

Two-hundred-and-twelve alphabets,

At least it's complicated.

Only twenty-six alphabets.

Tell me,

How many years did you spend just learning the alphabet and learning to use it?

Your basic education till high school,

This is all you're doing,

Learning to use the language and using the language so that you can understand whatever comes your way,

This is all.

At least twelve years.

Twelve years you spent,

One solar cycle that's called in yoga,

One solar cycle you spent just to learn a language to communicate with people.

But to transform your life,

You want a two-minute mantra.

That is what she was trying to say because certain people told you that if you just utter this so many syllables,

Everything will be transformed.

I'm not saying it is not possible.

It is possible because sound has that power to transform if you use the sound right.

But what level of preparation are you,

Is the question.

If you throw such a small seed somewhere,

It will become a huge tree.

But only if the soil is fertile,

Isn't it?

If you have put it here on this platform,

Will it grow?

So what have we done to ourselves,

What is the level of preparedness we have,

This is the issue.

All of you,

I could just initiate you into a powerful meditation process just like that in two minutes.

If only certain level of preparedness was there.

But to do this,

A few minutes of initiation,

Normally in our basic program we spend thirty to thirty-two hours of preparation because everybody has invested in all kinds of identities.

People keep asking me,

Sadhguru,

What is the secret,

How did you become like this?

Told them this is all I did.

Never identified myself with anything.

The moment your intelligence gets identified with something,

You must understand this,

The nature of the intellect is such,

Suppose you identify that you are a woman,

Now your intellect keeps on doing rounds around that,

Protecting this gender all the time.

Now you say I am English,

Now it will go only around that protecting that,

Now you say I am a particular religion,

Now it will go only around that.

Whatever is your identity,

Your intellect will serve only that.

The moment you identify yourself with something,

You have subjugated your intelligence to just self-defense and protection and survival.

The intellect could have been a penetrating force to reveal life to you.

Instead you are using it to fight life,

Other life because it's a defense mechanism.

The moment I have an identity,

I have to defend it,

Isn't it?

Just to be here without any sense of who the hell I am,

You actually don't know who the hell you are.

Hello?

Assume stuff,

Isn't it?

Only because you dip into your memory.

So if suppose Mr.

Alzheimer visits you,

Suddenly you don't know who the hell you are.

Even now you don't know.

This is an assumption based on the accumulated memory.

So if you just learn this one thing before you go to bed tonight,

Everything that you are not,

Keep it aside and go to bed,

Okay?

See right now this clothing,

Is this you?

No.

So you understand this is not me.

It's not that physically you have to keep it aside.

I am saying you know this is not me.

Is this me?

This is not me.

Is this body me?

This is accumulated.

This can't be me,

Isn't it?

It is said if you live here for about seventy-five years,

You approximately eat,

Depending upon your diet of course,

You approximately eat between twelve to fourteen hundred tons of food.

Are you carrying it right now?

Hello?

Those of you who are middle age,

Are you carrying at least six hundred tons?

Where is it?

What you thought was my body is coming and going all the time,

Isn't it?

It's not even the same body.

It's coming and going all the time.

So this is not me,

If you keep it aside.

All the impressions that you have gathered,

You also gathered from outside.

Keep that aside.

Everything that's not you,

Just keep it aside and go to bed and see if you can just be little conscious till that last moment till you fall asleep.

Most people don't know when they fall asleep.

Most people,

When I say most,

I'm being generous with percentages,

Ninety-nine.

If you make a little effort,

Just a little effort,

A few days,

If you make an effort to stay conscious till you fall asleep,

You will see you will wake up like a newborn baby,

Every day.

And it's important,

Why I'm saying a newborn baby,

Where Yalda will have this experience in a wonderful way,

You will see the baby… What do you think he's trying to do?

He's drinking life.

You wake up,

Why?

Because you're just living in the capsule of your memory,

You think you already got it.

If you got it,

You must be dead,

Isn't it?

So people are practicing death in installments.

See if you're really super alive,

It's fantastic.

If you're dead,

It's good.

But if I want to torture you,

What will I do?

I will not kill you.

I will make you half alive.

That's torture,

Isn't it?

This is what is self-inflicted for most human beings right now.

They're keeping themselves half alive and they're wondering why life is such a torture.

I just asked a simple question about a year,

A year and a half ago when I was in London.

I was speaking to a very prominent group of people.

I asked,

How many people in London city can sit in the evening peacefully,

Even without a glass of wine?

They clearly said less than one percent.

So to be healthful,

You need a chemical.

Today seventy percent of the people are on prescription medication of some sort.

To be peaceful,

You need chemicals.

To be joyful,

You need chemicals.

To be ecstatic,

Of course you have ecstasy.

I'm saying for everything if you need chemicals from outside,

This is not a moral issue for me.

The concern is this,

If ninety percent of the population is doing chemicals to be healthful,

Joyful,

Peaceful,

Everything,

The next generation that you produce will be less than you.

This is a crime against humanity.

Next generation should be at least one step ahead of us.

But if you produce a generation which behind you,

You're seeing this,

You're beginning to see this everywhere.

If you produce a generation which is less than you,

You have committed a serious crime against humanity.

This will happen in a big way if we don't go off chemicals,

Both prescribed and otherwise.

Thank you.