Make Yourself a Solution, Not a Problem

During this conversation with students of IIT Delhi, Sadhguru defines engineering essentially as making things happen the way one wants. If life should happen the way you want, he says, your body and mind should work for you, not come in the way. He urges the youth of today to make themselves in such a way that they are always part of the solution, not the problem.

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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, vitally relevant to our times.

Transcript

We must understand this,

Engineering means essentially to make things happen the way we want it.

That's engineering,

Isn't it?

To engineer this building means what?

We want it the way we want it.

We could have sat under a tree,

But we choose to build this building because we want to sit under something engineered the way we want it.

As suitable for us.

We have conditioned the place because we want the temperature in a certain way.

All this we did,

But is it not important that you engineer this the way you want it?

Hello?

Outside is air conditioned,

Inside is boiling,

What's the point?

I'm saying power is being wasted on you.

In the last hundred,

Hundred-and-fifty years with the advent of science and technology,

We have more comforts and conveniences than any generation ever could imagine,

Isn't it?

Yes or no?

You have more comforts and conveniences than any generation could ever imagine.

We are the most comfortable generation ever,

Physically,

Materially.

But can you say,

Are you the most peaceful generation?

Joyful?

Loving?

No.

Or can you even say you're the most intelligent generation?

That'll be wrong thing to say.

Anybody who claims he's intelligent amounts to foolishness,

Isn't it?

Because the significance of intelligence is it shows you how many loopholes are there in your intelligence.

Only a fool thinks there are no loopholes.

A truly intelligent person always sees how many loopholes in my intelligence.

The significance of being in a technological institute is not about just getting qualified to get some job somewhere or a passport out of the country.

It should become a way of creating life.

Making life happen better than the way it's happening right now because this is a fundamental responsibility that we have as a generation of people because we occupy this space on the planet for a short brief time.

When the last generation gave this planet to us,

Whichever way they gave it,

It's our business that when we leave it,

We leave it little better than the way we had it.

Very important.

How better?

In what way better?

You can decide that.

I won't say only ecologically better,

But in every way better.

It must be better than the way we got it.

This means we have to engineer ourselves to fit in such a way… See,

A well-engineered machine means least amount of friction,

Isn't it so?

Yes?

A well-engineered machine means what?

Least amount of friction.

Heavy friction means badly engineered,

Isn't it?

Isn't that the understanding?

So the fundamentals of yoga is this.

The fundamentals of yoga is in the geometry of physical existence.

If you understand the geometry of what this human mechanism is,

The body is,

The psychological structure is,

The chemical processes are,

The energy structures are,

If you understand the geometry of this and become capable of observing the cosmic geometry,

If these two things are well aligned,

Suddenly your life hits off like a magic.

Your life is no more a miserable drag,

But it's magical simply because you have gotten the right geometry of things.

Anything that is geometrically perfect will function absolutely smoothly and for a very long time.

This is something that you must do to yourself when you're young.

It doesn't matter what you want to do in your life,

One thing must happen,

Your body and your brain should not come in your way,

They must work for you.

Yes or no?

Hello?

Never,

Your body and your mind should not come in the way of who you want to be.

Right now for most people,

They themselves are a big issue.

When you are a issue,

How will you address the issues in the world?

If you really want to address the issues in the world,

This one should never be a issue,

Isn't it?

I am not the issue here,

I am never the problem.

If there are problems,

I will deal with it,

But I am never the problem,

This must happen to you,

Isn't it?

Please make yourself like this,

That you are never the problem,

You're always a part of the solution,

Never a part of the problem.

Right now… Right now we have developed a certain attitude in the country,

A whole lot of people,

For every solution they invent a problem.

For every solution they have found a problem.

So there are people who are working for problems,

There are people who are working for solutions.

Young people should stand up and become a solution for future generations to come and for your own life to blossom,

Because the greatest fulfillment in one's life is that you function in such a way that you could do something which is much larger than yourself.

This must happen.

This is the highest fulfillment of activity,

That you are able to do something which is larger than yourself.

Only then you will see fulfillment in activity.

That is one thing,

But most important thing is how you are.

People come to me like… right now you're all saying your IIT is the problem,

So I'm inviting you to IYC,

Isha Yoga Center.

Lot of people come to me and say,

Sadhguru,

These are people who passed out,

Okay?

Sadhguru,

My mother-in-law,

She's… she's another… you know,

From somewhere else she's.

She just don't know how to live with this person.

And my husband,

After all her son.

My wife,

Impossible,

My boss,

He's not even human.

Like this it goes on.

Then I tell them,

See don't worry,

Your husband,

Wife,

Mother-in-law,

Boss,

Nobody will come here,

You're protected.

Like IIT,

Your IYC also well protected.

Nobody will come here,

You just come and stay.

I'll give you a nice place to stay,

Food is good,

You don't have to do anything.

Just be joyful,

That's all.

None of these tormentors are there.

Just be joyful.

Twenty-four hours you leave them in the one room,

You must see in how many ways they twist themselves out.

When you're alone,

If you're miserable,

You're obviously in bad company,

Isn't it?

So all the young people should do this to yourself.

At least for three days,

One week,

I will provide you the atmosphere,

Otherwise you can walk into the Himalayas.

But there,

There is no food and supply,

You know,

You will have to go searching,

I will provide you food,

Everything.

Just come,

Spend some time,

Not with any purpose,

Simply.

If you sit alone for three days,

No television,

No book,

No texting,

Simply by yourself.

Let's see what happens.

You must know the nature of who you are.

You should not go on dodging yourself and one day you will explode into something.

You must know what is the level of madness you're suffering.

When I say madness,

If your mind is out of your control,

Is that called madness in definition?

Hello?

If your mind does not take instructions from you,

It's out of control,

Is that called madness?

Just try.

Just today after this evening,

Just go sit quietly in your room.

Just see what all your mind does.

You decide,

Don't tell anybody.

You decide what is the level of madness you're going through.

With this if you enter the world,

What will you create?

You will only create who you are,

Isn't it?

You cannot do anything other than what you are.

What you are is what will happen to the world around you.

Before you step out into the world,

Is it not important at least you are this much equipped that you are not the problem.

If you meet a problem and get married,

We'll see,

But you are not the problem.

Can you make this happen for yourself as young people that you are never the problem?

You are not the issue in your life.

Other issues if they come,

We will deal with it to the best of our ability,

But this should not be an issue,

Isn't it?

This can be easily done,

Very simple processes.

If you invest on twenty,

Thirty minutes a day,

You can bring this possibility into your life.

It is just that it needs a certain orientation because life is continuously outward.

To turn inward,

It needs a certain help and situation has to be created to make that happen.

We are very much willing to do that with you.

It's my wish and my blessing this must happen to every youth of this country because India,

The people of India has suffered immensely.

I don't know to what extent all of you are exposed,

Many of you are from good families.

I have walked through rural societies right from my,

You know,

Early youth.

It's not good,

Believe me.

It's just not good,

It's not some idyllic situation out there.

It is bad.

It's very bad.

Most parts of the world,

Where we are,

They say they are the better off states.

The better off states are like that.

I know the Bhimaroos,

How they are.

We can't just live like this.

We can't just continue to live like this,

Insulating our humanity and thinking everything is okay.

It's time we… we have a living humanity that our heart beats for everything,

Our heart bleeds for everything and we will do the best we can do.

In our lives,

If we do not do what we cannot do,

There is no problem.

But if we do not do what we can do,

We are a disastrous life,

Isn't it?

It's my wish and my blessing,

You should not be that disaster.

Reviews

Absolutely brilliant & so endearing. Thank you!

Your messages always are so welcomed. Thank you namaste ❤️🌏🙏

I welcome 🙏 the challenge to sit for 3 days and observe my own level of madness. Simple message and very profound at the sane times
Thank you 😊

Kind invitation to lives of significance beyond self. Thank you.

Genius with kindness.

Thank you🙏 always insightful

Thank you so much ☺️ This really inspired me 🙏

Excellent coaching!

My daughter is 20 years old. I gave her this to listen to. She keeps talking about being part of the solution, and I am overjoyed! Thank you for the inspiring message,
By the way, at 48, I feel I'm young enough to be part of the solution too! Never too old to make a difference! Blessings to you!

A most inspiring talk. You should not be your own problem, if your body and mind are open you can do good in the world. Such a light touch with this strong message. Thank you.

"If we do not do what we can't do, that's ok. But if we do not do what we *can* do, that's a disaster" [paraphrased b/c I couldn't remember it quite exactly as he said it]. Either way, simply said yet profound. Basically: imagine what we could accomplish if we all did even just the little bit we are able to do of our "can do"s in this life....

We should all try to be part of the solution!! Thank you!!

Thank you for opening my mind.

If you sit by yourself for a few days and you still can't be joyful then you've got a problem!

Really grateful for this. Thank you.

I always look forward to his talks, Such inspiration, they always make total and complete sense 🕉

Beautiful & Healing message ❤

Always so meaningful his thoughts

This is so helpful. I am grateful. Thank You. ❤️

What an inspirational talk! Humorous, joyful, positive and right to the point. Thank you Sadhguru. Nàmaste. 🙏