Mike Tyson Asks Sadhguru Some Hard-Hitting Questions

Boxing Legend Mike Tyson hosts Sadhguru at home and seeks insights on life, fear, and human possibility. Sadhguru also answers questions on his own life, family, and much more, in this unique and engaging conversation.

Trigger Warning: This practice includes references/mentions of some triggering topics. Please proceed with caution.

Transcript

This is pretty awesome.

So I believe Sadhguru would like to start with some chanting.

I need to cross my legs,

Otherwise my brain won't work.

Sadhguru chants Kala Vashadihar Good evening,

Everyone.

Good evening.

That was amazing.

Oh,

Man.

Thank you.

The only way out is in.

Yes,

Truly I believe that.

You've got a big voice and my microphone is not working.

This is the great voice,

This guy,

The great voice.

May we begin?

How is it?

As long as it's not about,

I'm okay.

There it is.

So tell me,

What do you think you're here for?

What would you think I would want to talk to you about?

I'm sure you did research on me,

My life and who I am and all that stuff.

But what would you think I want to talk to you about?

What would you think I would want to listen to you for?

Toughest guys in the world get beaten by life.

Yeah,

Yeah,

Yeah.

That was easy,

Huh?

That was so easy,

Huh?

Wow.

All my life I thought I was this tough guy.

Even recently I was talking about if they say something,

I'll blow their brains.

And I do all this stuff all my life because I'm afraid.

And if you tell me what I'm afraid of,

I can't even tell you what.

Why am I afraid?

I'm successful.

You know,

I had some hard times,

But I came back.

But why am I afraid?

We need to understand this.

This has been usually misinterpreted and misunderstood on various dimensions.

Whether it's fear or love or anger or joy,

We need to understand it's not about something.

It's by itself.

It is not that there must be something that you must be afraid of.

It is not that there must be somebody that you are in love with.

It is not that you are happy about something or miserable about something.

You can be simply miserable.

Hello?

Or you can be simply happy.

You can simply sit here just by yourself and be very loving.

You can sit here and be terrified about nothing.

Because human experience is not created from outside.

Human experience is happening from within.

So what happens from within may sometimes find outside stimulus.

But you can work it even without external stimulus.

Hello?

All of you are experts,

Aren't you?

Without any external stimulus you can create pain,

You can create joy,

You can create misery,

You can create anger,

Love,

Fear,

Whatever you want.

Because the seat of experience is within you.

Only thing is you are not sitting there.

You are crawling around it.

You are supposed to be sitting there on the seat.

If you are sitting on the seat of your experience,

You would decide what should be the nature of your experience.

Right now because you are crawling around,

Something happens accidentally.

We find an excuse,

It's because of this guy I am suffering.

Even if he is not there,

We would find somebody else.

Hello?

If that guy is not there,

We will find somebody else.

If that is not there,

We will find something else.

So this is not about something.

This is about that you have not taken charge of the seat of your experience,

That's all.

You just need an excuse.

And world will,

Of course.

The world is quite enthusiastic about providing you the excuses.

It will.

They will provide lots of excuses.

But believe me,

If you were alone in the desert,

You would still go through all these things without anybody around you,

Without any threat to your life.

Yes or no?

So,

This is the fundamental flaw with life.

Instead of fixing myself,

I want to fix the whole world.

Well,

Do what you want.

You can't even fix one more person absolutely in your life.

Hello?

Hundred percent?

Did you get anybody ever just the way you want,

One hundred percent?

Did you?

Even,

They are telling me,

Even robotic machines have their own characteristics,

They do their own thing.

Even if you have a dog,

These days they do their own thing.

Yes?

Because you couldn't fix anybody,

That's why you try to settle with a dog.

But even that guy does his own thing.

You can never fix anything outside of you hundred percent.

If at all,

If you are looking for that kind of success,

Hundred percent,

You can only try with this guy.

Try anybody else,

You will fail.

Yes or no?

Hello?

Try anybody,

You will definitely fail.

There is only one,

This one,

You could do him hundred percent the way you want.

If you manage this one the way you want,

Where is the question of fear,

Suffering,

Misery,

All this?

This is not because of situations.

This is because of the state we are in,

Because no investment has been made for the being.

First of all,

We must decide,

Are we human beings or are we human creatures?

The difference between a creature and a being is,

A creature is a consequence of compulsive reactions to everything around us.

That's a creature.

A being means you know how to be.

If you knew how to be,

Would you be blissed out or would you make yourself fearful or miserable or what?

What's your choice?

You must choose,

I am going to bless you just now.

Definitely highest level of pleasantness,

Isn't it?

For yourself,

What you want for your neighbor may be debatable but what you want for yourself is very clear,

Highest level of pleasantness.

Why such a simple thing is not happening?

It is not happening because you know,

We gave you a very complex machine.

Peak of evolution on this planet is you.

If you were an earthworm,

You won't have these problems.

Just eating,

Sleeping,

Reproducing,

Dying,

You are fine.

You are doing great as a creature but you became human.

Now it's a very complex machine but you don't even bother to read the user's manual.

Simply somehow you want to do it.

Such a complex machine,

If you try to do it somehow,

Accidentally,

Oh,

It will cause much pain.

Unable to bear pain,

Most people have given up on joy and moving towards pleasure.

You must understand this.

The need for entertainment and pleasure in the world has increased simply because there is no joy.

If really human beings were joyful,

They would not need so much entertainment and pleasure in their life.

Pleasure becomes a compulsion when there is no joyfulness and if you don't cause pleasure with something or the other,

Pain is just waiting in the background,

Just there.

So,

Fear is not about something.

Fear is just your inability to manage your thoughts.

They are running away ahead of you.

Fear is always about something that's yet to happen,

Isn't it?

Yes.

So that means you are suffering something that does not exist.

If you suffer something that does not exist,

There are medically very bad terms for that.

It's not about one human being.

It's just literally 99% of the human population is in this condition.

Different levels maybe,

But 99% of the human population is in this condition.

They are suffering things which do not exist.

What happened ten years ago,

They still suffer.

What may happen day after tomorrow,

They already suffer.

What happened ten years ago does not exist right now.

What may happen day after tomorrow does not exist right now,

But things that don't exist,

They suffer simply because two major faculties,

Two major faculties that you have which sets you apart distinctly from other creatures is you have a very vivid sense of memory and a fantastic sense of imagination.

These two faculties which are the best things you have,

This is what most human beings are suffering.

They are suffering their memory and they are suffering their imagination.

These are the greatest tools you have.

So what should have been the most fantastic well-being?

When I say well-being,

You know Charles Darwin,

That guy,

The English guy?

Hello?

He said,

All of you were monkeys,

Not me.

That all of you were monkeys and you became human.

So essentially,

On this planet,

You are the peak of evolution.

You agree with me or no?

Hmm?

So if you are the peak of evolution,

That means you have come with the highest level of faculties because there are so many possibilities of being human because your life is not fixed like that of a creature.

When I say not fixed like a creature,

For every other creature,

Nature has drawn two lines within which they live and die.

The reason why an animal's life looks so much simpler and better is because there are no possibilities.

So what human beings are suffering is their possibilities.

If you destroy the possibilities,

You will also be fine.

If you want,

We can have a portion of your brain removed.

You will be so peaceful,

You will not know fear,

You will not know suffering,

You will not know anxiety,

You will not know nothing.

Yes.

All we have to do is take away the possibilities.

With the possibilities,

The problems are also gone.

So right now,

The problem is the fantastic possibilities that have been invested in us.

So to take away the possibility,

Either we can remove your brain or we can soak it in whiskey.

Both ways you can do it.

You take away the faculties,

Then you are okay.

So the problem is just this that when you are given something so complex,

You need to spend a certain amount of time knowing the nature of the machine that you are using.

See,

Some people are handling these cameras.

That's not a spacecraft.

It's a simple enough machine.

But I am sure these guys have spent years trying to know it the best.

Just any of you get there and do it,

What will happen out of it?

Just see a simple machine like a camera.

Yes or no?

Somebody invested their life.

The better they know it,

The better they use it.

Is it so?

Hello?

Yes.

Why is that not true with this?

The better you know this,

The better you use it,

Isn't it?

So if you know it really well,

People say you are realized.

But I think most of us,

Especially when we come to the level which we are acknowledging of you,

That we all have the urge to improve ourselves.

No,

They should not improve themselves.

Why?

Because fear also may improve.

Misery also may improve.

It's happening to lot of people.

See,

Why did we invent this idea of education?

Twenty,

Twenty-five years of investment of life,

Nearly one-third of human,

Effective human life is invested in school and college for most people.

So tell me,

Are educated people more joyful and fantastic compared to uneducated people?

No,

But that's not the only way to improve yourself.

I don't want to look at that in improving yourself.

That's just… No,

I am saying that was the idea behind it,

Isn't it?

I don't know.

I mean,

Let's talk about it from far of a human perspective to reach your highest potential until you manufacture… you don't even exist anymore.

No,

I am saying improvement as an idea is not a good idea.

What you need is realization that you realize what is the nature of your existence.

From that,

You do whatever.

If it's a physical activity,

You can improve.

You can improve how you are doing something in the world but you cannot improve this one.

It's a fake thing.

If you realize,

Everything is settled.

Otherwise,

Anyway it's a struggle.

When situations are good,

You pretend that you are improved.

When situations turn against you,

You will see who is who.

And everything is going well.

Everybody is fantastic,

You know.

When life turns against you,

Still are you fantastic?

That's the question.

I don't know.

I think most people take life as it comes.

From my experience,

You know,

I never thought any good would ever happen to me.

From being brought up in my environment,

In my neighborhood,

You always saw bad things.

People died.

It was just normal seeing people die,

Seeing prostitutes,

Seeing that kind of filth and stuff.

It was normal.

Matter of fact,

It was even honorable because it became so normal.

We normalized it.

So it's like this.

In the yogic culture,

We always use lotus flower as a symbolism for human growth and development.

Lotus flower grows best wherever filth is really thick.

So,

Why we are using lotus as a example or a symbolism is this grows well because there is filth.

It stays in the filth but untouched and fragrant.

So this is a choice that all of us have.

Either we can develop allergy to filth and run away and live in a mountain cave.

There also filth will follow you in your head.

It won't leave you.

Or we can become part of the filth or we can blossom into a fragrant flower.

This is a choice every human being has every moment of their life.

Will they exercise this choice?

That is a question mark.

Yeah,

I'm very flowerful.

Right?

Definitely.

You definitely are.

Sadhguru,

How does one begin to read the user manual?

So,

User's manual means that is a systematic way of observing simple things.

When I say simple things,

It is a fact that what you call as myself right now is largely the physical body.

This is an accumulated dimension of who you are.

You gathered it over a period of time,

Isn't it?

Hmm?

It's a food that you have eaten.

It's just slowly gathered.

So,

This is called as annamaya kosha,

That means this is a food body.

So,

What kind of food you're putting into your system has a consequence.

Well,

Everybody may have grew up like that but the question is,

Is it fulfilling the purpose of being a being,

Human being,

Not a human creature?

Is it supporting your nature of being a human being?

That's a question.

Well,

When it was a question of survival,

We ate whatever came our way.

That's a different matter.

But now survival is taken care of.

It's a time that we need to pay attention.

If we want to be human being,

What kind of body should I possess?

Will it support my being or will it make me into a reactive process?

All creatures,

Nothing wrong with them.

You take a tiger or an elephant or a snake,

Nothing wrong with them,

They're perfect creatures.

Only thing is limited possibilities,

Isn't it?

Hello?

What else is wrong with them?

Nothing is wrong with them,

They're just fine.

It's just that limited possibility.

You got promoted to be a human being,

This simply means enormous possibilities.

If possibilities are not harnessed and explored,

You have enormous problems.

What you're experiencing as problems are actually possibilities nudging you to explore.

When you don't,

They will freak you and they should because otherwise you may slip back in the evolutionary scale.

It can happen to any human being.

So,

One thing is the physical body.

Of course,

You have a thought process,

You have an emotional structure or let's say the psychological scape.

Mind is not just in one place.

Every cell in the body has its own intelligence and memory.

Actually,

In every cell in your body,

There is more memory and more intelligence than your entire brain put together.

Even million years ago,

How your forefathers were,

Even their skin tone,

Your body still remembers,

Isn't it?

So,

The amount of memory that is there in every cell in your body is far bigger than what you hold in your mind.

Even if it comes to the complexity of what every cell,

The activity that it's performing,

Your brain is nowhere capable of managing that.

So,

We don't see intelligence or mind as one place,

The entire body.

So,

This is a body of intelligence.

Because people have gotten trapped in their own thought process,

They think intelligence is only here.

This entire system is full of intelligence,

Isn't it?

Do you know how to manage your kidneys?

I'm asking you.

You know.

Drinking a lot of water.

No liquor.

That doesn't solve everything.

Many water drinkers have died too soon.

I'm asking,

The complexity of any one organ,

Are you able to manage consciously?

No.

It is so… Why do we believe we can though?

Why do we believe we can?

Because we are full of bullshit.

Yeah.

We're pretty delusional,

Pretty much.

Yes.

Everything that we do not know,

We want to believe.

We are still not straight enough to come to this place,

What I know,

I know.

What I do not know,

I do not know.

Whatever I do not know,

I believe.

Well,

You can bully yourself like this for some time.

Because… Can I tell you a joke?

Yeah,

Please.

It's getting too tense here.

So this happened.

A bull and a pheasant were grazing upon the field.

The bull was chomping on the grass and the pheasant was picking ticks off the bull.

Partnership.

There was a huge tree at the edge of the field and the pheasant looked up at the tree very nostalgically and said,

Oh,

Alas,

There was a time I could fly to the topmost branch of the tree.

Now I do not have enough strength in my wing even to get to the first branch.

The bull very nonchalantly said,

That's no issue.

Just eat a little bit of my dung every day.

You will get to the topmost branch of the tree within a fortnight.

The pheasant said,

Oh,

Come on,

What kind of rubbish is that?

The bull said,

Really,

Try it and see the whole humanity is on it.

So the pheasant started pecking at the dung and low on the first day itself he reached the first branch of the tree.

Within a fortnight he did hit the topmost branch of the tree.

He went and sat there on the topmost branch of the tree just beginning to enjoy the scenery.

The old farmer who was rocking on the rocking chair saw a fat old pheasant sitting on top of the tree.

He pulled out his shotgun and shot the bull out of the tree.

The moral of the story is many times even bullshit can get you to the top but it never lets you stay there.

So people are trying to bull themselves into well-being.

Somehow tell yourself funny fanciful things and feel good for some time but full of fear,

So full of fear,

The entire humanity is full of fear because they are flying on bullshit.

Unfortunately they create all kinds of authorities which will dish out this bullshit.

A time is coming,

A very good time is coming where human intellect has fired in such a way that anything that is not logically correct most people cannot digest anymore.

Slowly we are getting there.

So a time is coming when truth will be the only authority.

Authority can never be the truth in future.

So good times are coming.

It's just that we must hurry it up so that it happens in our times.

Hey,

Where are you from?

I don't know but when I come to United States every time I stand near the immigration lines they make me stand in a line which says resident alien.

Oh man.

No,

You told me you are from that town in India.

Where that far from Taj Mahal you were telling me earlier.

About?

Where you from?

Oh,

The town?

India,

Yeah.

Oh,

Mysore.

Mysore,

It's called today.

Yeah.

How did you get on your path?

I thought I am on a chair.

No,

No.

How did you get on a path to meeting people like this?

Like us,

How did we get engaged?

How did you start doing this?

What made you believe you can do this?

Again you are talking about belief.

Let me clear that first.

See,

Belief means just this.

I believe in this or that means I don't know but I am bullying you.

Why can't I say I don't know?

What's the problem?

I do not know is a tremendous possibility in human life.

If you see I do not know naturally the longing to know will come.

Seeking will come.

The possibility of knowing will come.

Whatever I do not know I believe.

That means you will never know.

You will just go on with your own stuff.

So this is why believers always need a flock.

But the moment you become a seeker,

You become alone because if you are the only person who believes something on this planet that nobody else believes,

You will feel like a bloody fool.

You need twenty-five people around you who believe the same thing.

Now you say,

All kinds of rubbish.

But when once twenty-five people gather around you and all of you believe the same thing,

Boo!

Confidence without clarity will come.

Confidence without clarity is a great disaster that has unfolded upon humanity.

It's mainly because of belief systems,

Mainly because people have become unwilling to see what I do not know I do not know.

What is the problem?

So in the yogic culture,

We evolved a method.

We always identify with our ignorance,

Never with our knowledge because in this cosmos,

Nobody knows where it begins,

Where it ends.

It's a… In our perception at least,

It's a limitless space.

In this space,

Even if you grind all the libraries on the planet and pour it into your head,

Still what you know is just a speck in the universe.

If you identify with that speck,

You will become that speck because whatever you identify,

You become that,

Isn't it?

But our ignorance is boundless.

If you identify with your ignorance,

You will become boundless.

So,

What I am doing is not because of my confidence,

Because of clarity.

I don't have any clarity.

I just know what I want and I see it and then I consume it.

But I don't look at it from a clarity perspective.

I don't look at it from a educational perspective.

I just know I have to have that in order to establish my life the way I would want it to be.

I just don't have no understanding of it.

I just know it has to be possessed by me in order to function the way I would like to function.

See,

Clarity is on various different levels.

Well,

You've been in a sport where if you did not see things clearly,

You were down,

Licking your own sweat and blood.

There was clarity,

Otherwise it wouldn't work.

The clarity of why I am existing,

Not the clarity of why I am fighting,

Fighting,

Charging.

No,

No,

I am just saying clarity is at different levels.

Yeah,

Exactly.

I am saying any sport for that matter,

Without clarity you wouldn't be able to function.

So,

Without clarity there is no successful action in anything.

Now,

If we are talking about clarity about life itself,

Have we paid attention to life,

First of all?

First of all,

Where is life?

These days,

If somebody says,

My life,

You will have to sieve through many things.

They may be talking about their dog.

They may be talking about their husband and wife.

They may be talking about their children.

They may be talking about their carrier.

They may be talking about their wealth.

They may be talking about their car.

We don't know whether they may be talking about their property,

Their home.

We don't know what they are talking about when they say,

My life.

So,

Let me make this very clear.

You have a body.

You have a thought process and emotion.

But to have all this,

Fundamentally you are a life,

Isn't it?

You are a life with many accessories.

But right now,

The accessories have become larger than the life itself.

Once the accessories become more important or significant than life,

Then of course,

Everything is topsy-turvy.

If you have to walk on your head,

It's difficult of course because that's not the way life is designed.

If you were designed to walk on your head,

It would be okay.

But you are not designed to walk on your head.

You are trying to walk on your head.

It's hard.

If something happens,

People suffer.

If nothing happens,

They will suffer.

If they are poor,

They suffer their poverty.

You make them rich,

They will suffer the taxes.

They are not educated,

They suffer that.

Put them to school,

Endless suffering.

Not married,

They will suffer that.

Get them married.

I did not say anything.

Just tell me one aspect of life that human beings are not suffering.

They are suffering every aspect.

So offer them death,

That will also… they will suffer.

So suffering is not because of the nature of life.

Suffering is because of the complexity of the mind which you did not care to understand.

If you had the brain of an earthworm,

You would be fine.

Hello?

Peaceful,

Eco-friendly also because that's a great aspiration in California.

The only life which is struggling to be eco-friendly is brilliant.

Earthworm knows,

A grasshopper knows,

A lizard and a snake knows how to be eco-friendly.

This most evolved creature on the planet is struggling to be eco-friendly.

Yes or no?

So the problem is complexity of possibilities.

Possibilities are the greatest blessing we have but unfortunately that's what we are suffering because when something very possible and powerful is given to you,

If you don't handle it right,

It'll blow up in your face.

That's all that's happening.

How do you know how to handle it?

That's why I'm here.

All right.

It's… it's not that… It's not that.

If… Let me put it this way.

If… Because of the number of things that I do across the world,

More things are going wrong with my life right now than any of your lives,

Okay?

Really,

Too many things.

Just I want you to imagine running a foundation where there are over 9 to 11 million volunteers doing all kinds of things.

Volunteers means nobody knows what to do but they're enthusiastic.

Running major projects like this,

Running massive centers in various places,

Over 350 centers across the world.

If you want to go mad,

This is the recipe for life but you think I will die of stress or madness?

No.

I'll not.

Maybe I'll die of exhaustion.

I don't mind.

But of stress,

No.

I… There are many,

Many things.

Not everything in your life goes the way you think it should go.

Hmm?

I should not be saying this but because as I'm… I'm like this,

Because it came in my mind,

I'm telling you,

Please treat this with some sanctity.

Right now,

Probably in the next few hours,

My father will pass.

Okay?

I've been monitoring this minute to minute but he will pass.

I spent some time just before living with him and I came.

I sent my girl back to be with him.

So I'm sitting here talking to you.

I'm fine,

Amn't I?

But does it mean to say I don't care about him?

Hello?

That's not how it is.

A very intimate relationship but this is how I am.

This does not mean there's no love in your heart.

This does not mean that you're not involved.

It is just that you're involved with everything but you're never entangled.

That's the difference.

I believe that's our process of life or death or whatever we call it,

It's just the process of what we do,

Isn't it?

See,

The most compulsive thing in most human beings is they want to draw a conclusion about everything because without drawing conclusion they will not feel confident about anything in their life.

They must draw a conclusion.

Oh,

She's good.

Oh,

She's okay.

She's not okay.

He's all right.

That's not good.

I love this person.

I hate this person.

This is my friend.

This is my enemy.

Every kind of conclusion.

Conclusion means essentially what is the conclusion of your life?

Death,

Isn't it?

Every time you conclude in some way you die,

You must know this.

You know,

I can take you back.

Are there religious people?

Hello?

Are you?

Religious people?

Because people are fundamentally misunderstanding their memory to be intelligence.

This is the fundamental problem.

Our education systems are designed like this.

Religious processes are designed like this.

Largely society is designed like this.

Memory is misunderstood as intelligence.

If you went to school,

I didn't go much,

Nor did you.

Both of us are lucky that way.

You're right,

You're right.

But when I went to school,

What I saw was people memorize everything and on a specific day,

Which is called examination day,

They'll go and puke it there.

If they puke really well,

They are great.

I puke little.

I never puked at all.

I never puked at all.

You never puked?

Never,

Not even one minute.

I puke little.

But those who puked everything were number one out there.

So this is not just in a classroom.

Everywhere this is built,

We are misunderstanding memory as intelligence.

As I said earlier,

Great times are coming when your memory will mean nothing because there is a simple phone in my machine which has more memory than all of you put together.

Hello?

So your memory will mean nothing.

But if you lose that phone,

Your memory will be in trouble too.

No,

No.

We can have it implanted in the skin.

Okay.

Yeah.

So,

What we thought as great value,

I wanted to understand how this world has been built,

These civilizations and cultures have been built.

There was a time when nobody could read,

All right?

So one guy comes and he opens one book.

He's got only one book all the time.

Well,

If you read ten books,

You become a scholar.

If you remember ten books,

People say you are a PhD.

If you know one book,

You become a representative of God.

How's this?

Forever it's been happening.

This will not work in the future because my phone will recite all the scriptures put together at one time.

Yes,

It will.

Yes or no?

Just because the guy knew how to read,

He was acting like a representative of God.

Suppose I came to California thousand years ago on a bicycle.

When nobody had seen a bicycle,

You don't know what it is,

I came riding on these two thin wheels.

Wow!

I came and parked here and said I've just come from heaven on this special God-given vehicle.

You would all bow down.

So after I finish my whatever bull with you,

When I want to go and rest,

I take away the front wheel and sleep on it because if any of you learn how to ride,

Then my heavenly status will go.

But a local brat who's good for nothing took this bicycle with single wheel and started riding it all over the place.

Now I'm in trouble.

This is happening.

The Google lady will recite every scripture that you want.

We don't know who the hell she is but she can tell you anything you want.

She will tell you the meaning also,

Interpretations also.

Yes or no?

So just in many ways,

In many ways because human beings by themselves did not do it,

Because people did not do it consciously,

I think in many ways,

The technological developments are going to end.

A whole level of nonsensical things that have been happening just because somebody remembers something,

Somebody can recite something,

They were elevated,

All this will go.

Very good times.

But in the meantime,

When one level of what we believed collapses and before we attain to clarity,

There is a danger.

One thing that's happening is,

In the world,

Heavens are collapsing.

Hundred years ago,

How many people believed they are going to heaven and today how many people believe they are going to heaven has come down dramatically.

Isn't it so?

So,

Is it okay?

Good,

Yeah.

Real good.

This happened.

This happened in Alabama.

Well,

A Sunday school teacher was going full fire.

This is Alabama.

Full fire.

Unfortunately,

The audience were not like you.

They were all tiny tots.

Catch them young policy.

In his rhetoric,

He stopped and asked,

What do you have to do to go to heaven?

Little Mary in the front row,

She is always in the front row,

Said,

If I scrub the church floor every Sunday morning,

I will go to heaven.

Absolutely.

Another little girl stood up and said,

If I share fifty percent of my pocket money with my less privileged friend,

I will go to heaven.

Correct.

Another little boy stood up and said,

If I help those who are in need,

I will go to heaven.

Correct.

Little Tommy in the back bench stood up and said,

You got to die first.

That's a qualification.

You got to die first.

So when we die,

Depending upon your culture,

We will either bury you or burn you or cut you and throw you to the birds.

Different cultures,

Depending upon which culture you are,

That they will do.

Or in other words,

This body is a piece of planet that we gathered slowly.

It's good you put it back.

I heard that Americans these days are not putting it back anymore.

They're building a concrete grave and an aluminum casket.

Even when you're dead,

You don't want to be eco-friendly.

What is this?

At least when we die,

We should put this goddamn body back into the soil.

Absolutely.

That's where it came,

That's where it should go.

But even that they're not doing.

And let the bugs eat it.

Some people are planning to take it to Mars.

Anyway,

You left your body here and went to heaven.

What is in heaven?

You know what's in heaven?

You don't know?

You should know these things.

In the Hindu heaven,

Food is very good.

Good food.

Indians,

You know.

Lives are invested in cooking and eating.

In the other place,

There are white-gown ladies floating around in the clouds.

If you like that kind of ambience,

You can go there.

In another place,

You will encounter virgin problems.

If that's what you're looking for,

That's fine too.

Only problem is,

You went to heaven without a body.

What do you do with good food and virgins,

I'm asking?

Hello?

These are all problems you have when you have a body.

Once you don't have a body,

What do you do?

Food,

If you put it here,

It'll fall down.

Hello?

Now,

If you ask these questions,

Heavens will collapse.

Heavens are collapsing.

I think nearly seventy percent of the heavens in human mind has collapsed in the last fifty years.

What do you think?

Hmm?

And anyway,

Let me ask you this.

Do you have any proof that you're not already in heaven and making a mess out of it?

Do you have any proof?

You're already in heaven,

But making a mess out of it.

Tell me,

If you just change the geography of your existence,

Will everything about you change,

I'm asking you?

Hello?

If you move from one place to another,

You think everything will change?

No.

If this one person changes,

Everything changes.

Doesn't matter where we are.

If we raise human consciousness,

That is,

If we teach people how to sit here and be just blissed out… Hello?

Look at my eyes,

I'm always stoned.

I'm not on any of your products,

But… No,

You're not.

I'm definitely not.

But look at me,

I'm always stoned.

Because the greatest chemical factory on the planet is here.

To what extent means,

Per second,

Your body is processing something like thirteen… I mean thirty-seven,

Three-seven followed by twenty-one zeros,

Whatever that number is.

To give you a perspective,

Eleven zeros make a trillion.

Thirty-seven followed by twenty-one zeros,

That many chemical reactions are happening in this body per second.

If you knew how to manage this,

You can create any kind of experience you want in this.

When you have this kind of a sophisticated machine,

You are doing things in a caveman-like way.

This is like we gave you a touchscreen phone,

But you are like this.

What will come out of that?

You are supposed to do like this,

But you are like this.

You know what will come out of it?

That's all that's happening right now.

So there is a way.

Today I can proudly say,

Across the world,

There are millions of people,

If they close their eyes in the morning,

Tears of ecstasy and love,

Every day in their life,

Every day,

Millions of people.

So it is not an accident that one person,

Obviously it can be done.

Just a little understanding of how human chemistry functions.

You don't have to go into chemical analysis of who you are.

There are simple processes with which one can do.

If one is willing to invest a little bit of time in a day,

Life will become wonderful because by curtailing human faculty,

You cannot believe you are enhancing life.

Right now,

Most human beings believe they enhance their life by curtailing human faculties.

Like,

You know,

I was,

I was in Mysore city.

I had to meet somebody,

So I went into a building.

A lady,

Over 70,

75 years of age and she is a very petite,

Small woman.

She just comes up to me with a big smile on her face.

How are you doing?

I don't forget faces.

I may forget names,

But I don't forget faces that I see.

I just look at her.

I don't know her.

But okay,

I respond,

I am doing wonderful.

How are you doing?

Da,

Da,

Da.

Then I go up.

After 20 minutes,

I get off the elevator and I am just coming.

She again comes up to me and with the same full enthusiasm,

How are you doing?

I said,

Wow,

This is just 20 minutes ago.

Then I respond somehow and then I am getting into the car.

Somebody who was walking with me says,

Poor lady,

She has lost her memory.

She doesn't remember a thing.

I said,

She seems to be doing wonderful.

I don't think she was this happy with her memory on.

Right now she is exuberant because she has forgotten everything.

This is the case with most human beings.

Little drink and they forget something.

Now they are exuberant.

Lowering your faculties and thinking that I am well is a serious mistake.

This happened.

One day Shankaran Pillai,

So he was just outside in the market place and he met an old friend,

A college friend that he had not seen for more than 25-30 years.

So they really jammed up and he invited him home and he came home for dinner.

When they were sitting for dinner,

Shankaran Pillai,

Every time he wants to ask something of his wife,

He says,

My sweetie pie,

My honey,

My boo boo boo,

My bull bull,

My choo choo choo,

Like this.

After the dinner is over and the chat is over,

The friend is leaving,

Shankaran Pillai came to the door to see him off.

He said,

You are really having an amazing life.

Me and my wife can't even talk to each other properly.

Every time you refer to her,

All this sweetie,

Honey,

Choo choo choo,

Boo boo boo,

All this stuff,

You are really having an amazing life,

Aren't you?

Shankaran Pillai said,

Are you crazy man?

Seven years ago I forgot her name.

Oh no.

So many people are well only when they lose their faculties because their problem is of evolution.

Their problem is just that they got upgraded and they don't know how to handle it.

So tell us,

How many children do you have?

Hmm?

How many children do you have?

I know you spoke of a daughter.

Hmm?

Yeah,

We want to know about you.

How many children do you have?

All right,

I won't ask.

No,

No,

You can ask.

I have millions of them.

Only one is my mistake.

Oh no,

Man.

I like that one.

I like that one.

I have many,

Many,

Many,

But only one is my mistake.

Okay.

Hey,

This is really an awesome meeting.

I can't even believe you're here.

I'm just still in a daze.

I'm just really happy to have you here with me and my friend Eben.

This is really almost like a dream come true.

We saw you and we were just in the stage of just,

You know,

Just reading with enlightenment and we saw your story,

How you became,

One day you came and you fainted and you thought you were there for an hour and you were there for like 14 hours.

That's my story.

Didn't that happen to you?

Yeah,

So.

I thought that was amazing.

And so I stayed,

I'm a great fan,

And I stayed following you.

And then I was talking to Eben and I would say,

Eben,

You think we could ever get him down here?

You think he'll come down here and talk to us?

We never believed you would do it and now you're here.

That's just,

Man,

So mind-boggling.

Thank you.

Really.

So now that you asked this question,

How to do the real user's manual,

You know,

About on 27th of October was the Diwali festival.

It's a festival of lights in India.

Because people,

These millions of people have been supporting me,

Particularly for the river movements that I have been doing in India.

162 million people supported the movement.

It's the largest movement anywhere in the world at any time.

So with money,

With volunteering,

In many ways they've been supporting us.

So I thought on the festival day,

Let me offer them a gift.

And I said,

On the Diwali day,

If you register Ena Engineering Online,

Which normally costs $150 per person,

I said it's free on this day for you.

Whoa!

740,

000 people registered.

It's cost me a few million dollars now.

Now how do you feel about that?

How does that make you feel?

It's fantastic that so many people were waiting to do it.

So now I'm still in the same mode.

So for all of you who are here today,

We'll offer Ena Engineering Online free if you register before midnight today.

That's the user's manual.

I want you to understand,

Life is a certain exuberance of energy and a certain amount of time.

This all we have,

A certain amount of time and a certain amount of energy.

Do you have anything more?

Rest is all imagined,

Isn't it?

So this time is simply rolling away for everybody.

We may think of many things,

But actually time is just rolling away as you sit here.

Since you came and sat here,

You are two hours closer to your grave.

Yes or no?

Hello?

All of us.

So you can't hold it back.

You can't roll it back.

Time is just going.

So the only thing you can manage is your energies.

If you keep it phenomenally exuberant,

You will know life with a certain intensity.

If you keep it low,

You will know life in a minimal way.

So now this choice is yours.

Now let's say time is passing.

As the day passes into night,

You will feel little sleepy.

Why?

Your energies are like,

Now you fell asleep.

As far as your experience is concerned,

You are as good as dead,

Isn't it?

You don't exist,

The world doesn't exist for those few hours.

But you woke up in the morning,

Once again the energy has renewed itself and this is what you call as life.

This renewal of energy and exuberance of energy is what you are referring to as life.

So if you want to experience life,

If you want to know life,

If you want to really ride this wave of life,

Your energy should be at the highest exuberance level or should it be put down?

I am asking you.

Hi.

Hi.

So,

You mean a different thing by saying hi.

I am probably the only one that doesn't smoke marijuana or do any of these things.

No,

No,

I am not asking you any of those things.

So,

This… It is just that most people need all the time looking for rest,

Vacation,

Break from everything simply because they don't know how to manage their thought and emotion.

I see in United States people are saying,

Thank god it's Friday,

Because they suffer five days and they go and enjoy two days.

Life is not going to work like this.

Life cannot work like this.

If you do not know how to be joyful,

Then you are only looking for pleasure.

If you were joyful,

Pleasure wouldn't matter because you are just joyful.

Joy is not a consequence of some activity or something that you get or don't get.

Joy is an ambience that is necessary to live life.

If you do not know how to be peaceful and joyful,

Well,

You cannot even enjoy your dinner tonight,

Isn't it?

Hello?

Can't enjoy a walk on the street.

Can't enjoy the few people who are around you.

You cannot enjoy anything.

You need all kinds of stimulus to find a little bit of pleasantness within yourself.

When I say pleasantness,

Let's understand this.

If this body becomes pleasant,

We call this health.

You want this or no?

You must choose,

I am going to bless you.

You want this body to be pleasant or no?

Yes,

Yes.

If it becomes very pleasant,

If it becomes very pleasant,

We call it pleasure.

If this mind becomes pleasant,

We call it peace.

If it becomes very pleasant,

We call it joy.

If these emotions become pleasant,

We call this love.

If it becomes very pleasant,

We call it compassion.

If these life energies become pleasant,

We call this bliss.

If it becomes very pleasant,

We call this ecstasy.

If our surroundings become pleasant,

We call this success.

Only to create pleasantness in our surroundings,

We need the cooperation of various people and forces around us.

But pleasantness of body,

Pleasantness of mind,

Pleasantness of emotion and energy is one hundred percent your business.

Yes or no?

I agree.

So,

If you want to make this your business,

Before midnight you must register for Inner Engineering Online.

It's free.

Otherwise,

Tomorrow morning you can pay and register.

Oh,

Man!

That's awesome.

Well,

This has been such a treat.

And before we wrap this thing up,

We have time for a few questions.

All right.

Not you.

No,

I'm just taking a few questions.

Hi.

Thank you so much.

Sadhguru talked about the anamaya kosha,

Which is the body kosha.

There are five koshas in the Applied Yogic Sciences which work the entire system of the body from the mind to the heart,

To the breath to the energy and the heart.

There are thousands of years of manuals from classical yoga,

Which is just meditation,

To hatha yoga to the tantrica that provide ways of being that Sadhguru has expressed the top of tonight.

So,

It's not an abstraction at all.

It's just like what you guys do on hot boxing,

Which is break down how you get to the soul of yourself by moving through your ego,

By practicing goodness towards others.

That's real tough,

Too.

It's a difficult process.

For me,

It was.

No,

The thing is this.

Well,

Just to explain this,

A Sadhguru means an uneducated guru.

He is not a PhD in all these things.

He is unread.

I don't know any books.

I just know this piece of life from its origin to its ultimate nature.

If you want to know life,

The only life that you can know is this life.

You cannot know another life because you can only experience this one.

Can you experience something else?

You can only experience this life,

If at all,

If you experience.

So,

If we want to… if you want scholarship,

There are many things,

But if you want realization,

In is the only way out.

He's already been espousing that.

If you want scholarship,

If you want PhD in spiritual process,

That's a different matter.

It's an academic stuff.

But if you want realization,

In is the only way out.

Why do you think there are books about life?

You should read a book about life only if you are not a life.

Suppose you are not a life,

Then to know about life,

You must read a book.

When you are the life,

Hello?

The only thing that you need to do is turn inward.

Inward means what?

Right now,

The only way you are perceiving anything is through the five senses of seeing,

Hearing,

Smelling,

Tasting and touching.

This is the way you know the world.

None of these things are geared to turn inward.

You can't roll your eyeballs inward and scan yourself.

You can hear this,

But you can't hear so much activity that's happening here.

If an ant crawls upon your hand,

You can feel it.

So much blood flowing,

You cannot feel it because the sense organs are essentially outward bound.

So,

To turn inward,

You need a different faculty.

To activate that,

To engage in that is the most important thing because life is very brief.

Only miserable people have a long life.

If you are joyful and exuberant,

It's a very brief life.

Yes,

It's very,

Very brief.

Have you noticed on a particular day,

You're very happy,

24 hours,

Poof,

Went off like a moment?

You're little depressed.

24 hours feel like 10,

000 years?

Hello?

Because only miserable people can have a long life.

Otherwise,

It's a very brief life.

In this brief life,

The most important thing is you know the nature of your existence.

Don't add all kinds of philosophies to this.

This is very simple.

It's like you bought a phone,

A new phone.

Should you read the user's manual in the first three days or should you read it after three years when you're discarding it?

This is all.

The first three days if you read it,

You'll use the phone effectively,

Isn't it?

To use this effectively,

Quickly,

As quickly as possible,

We must get this.

Then we live life without you being an impediment in your own life.

Other impediments are always there.

Hmm?

Other things are always there.

We need to learn to ride it.

If you don't learn to ride it,

It'll crush you,

Of course.

You see,

California people are riding the waves.

Hmm?

What is the dream of a wave rider?

One day he would like to do the tsunami.

Yes or no?

One who is really good at it,

What is he dreaming of?

One day when the tsunami comes,

He would like to be riding on the wave.

Those who do not know how to ride the wave,

They're terrified of it.

This is all it is.

The instruments of life must be in your hands.

If they're in your hands,

Whatever life throws at you is not your choice.

What you make out of it is your choice.

This will not come out of scholarship.

This will come by turning inward.

This is why in engineering,

You engineer yourself the way you want yourself to be.

I agree.

This is Jim Gray right here,

By the way.

If you will make the word bother a little more clear.

You mean to say why?

Oh,

Nothing does.

Because I have not given that privilege to anything or anybody that they can decide what happens within me.

See,

It's just this.

As I said just now,

What life throws at you is not your choice.

It throws all kinds of things.

The more active you are,

More number of things are being thrown at you.

But what you make out of it within yourself is hundred percent yours,

Isn't it?

Now,

If you are a compulsive reaction to what life throws at you,

Then everything will bother you.

Good things and bad things,

Everything will bother you.

But if you are a conscious response to whatever is thrown at you,

You will see everything is a certain challenge.

Some we can handle,

Some we don't know how to handle.

Some situations we know how to handle,

Some situations we don't know how to handle.

So,

Are you a superman that you know how to handle everything?

No.

This is not about being superhuman.

This is about realizing being human is super.

So,

It's not that you know everything and you can handle everything.

No.

Some you can handle,

Some you cannot handle.

But are you a conscious response to life or are you a compulsive reaction to life?

This is all you can take care of.

Anybody else?

This is a cool… You have been reading Indian stuff.

You have been reading Indian stuff.

That's why this detachment and all that.

Tell me,

Can you experience anything in this world without involvement?

If you are not involved,

How will you know anything?

You cannot experience anything unless there is involvement.

The more profound your involvement is,

The more profound your experience of life is,

Isn't it?

So,

Where did this detachment come?

This is because you got entangled and it hurts.

Now,

Somebody told you,

Remain detached.

See,

If you want to really detach from life,

You must be dead.

That's efficiency.

Hello?

You know,

I was doing a program and this lady stands up to introduce herself and she says her name and says,

I am from Singapore.

In the last two years,

I committed suicide five times.

I said,

Stop.

I said,

At this level of inefficiency,

You are not getting anywhere in your life.

Five times you committed suicide and you are standing here.

I don't like that.

I like efficiency.

Hello?

Whatever the hell you want to do,

At least you must do it well.

So,

Because you got entangled and it hurt you,

Now you are thinking detachment.

No,

Without involvement,

You will not know a damn thing in this life.

If you want to detach,

The best thing is death.

You are detached.

Why are you here and trying to be detached?

It is just that,

As I said earlier,

Your problem is,

You are trying to experience something which is not yet.

That is,

You are having a mental diarrhea.

You are suffering a mental diarrhea and you think you are engaged with future.

You are never engaged with future,

I want you to understand.

You are never engaged with past or future.

You are just having a mental diarrhea,

Isn't it?

Hello?

Right now,

Can you live what happened yesterday?

No,

No,

In your mind you can have mental diarrhea and think it is actually happening again.

Or can you live what may happen tomorrow?

But you can have mental diarrhea and believe that actually you are experiencing it.

Because you don't have a distinction between what is psychological reality and what is existential.

This is the problem.

You are mistaking your psychological drama to be life.

Your psychological drama is not life.

Right now,

Unfortunately,

A whole lot of human beings have gone into this.

They misunderstand their thought and emotion as life.

No,

It's just your thought and emotion.

They are supposed to play the way you want.

But you are playing the way they want.

Hmm?

Just little out of control,

That's all.

Don't weave a philosophy out of an ailment.

I was thinking when you were saying,

Like on myself,

Like we almost,

Let's just go to another perspective.

Myself,

What's the image of myself?

What's my illusion of myself?

No,

What should be my illusion of myself just as a human being,

Functioning in the world,

With life?

What should be my illusion of myself?

Should I be a nothing or should I be glamorous,

Magnanimous,

Powerful?

What should I be?

See,

What social qualities we need to exist here,

Well,

Let us not misunderstand that as life.

This is just little sense.

We are among people,

We must be in a certain way so that it works for you and me.

If I do something that works only for me,

Not for you,

You will make sure my life is miserable somehow.

Yes or no?

Hello?

I can trust you on that,

Come on.

If every day we are transacting about something and I make my transactions in such a way it's only beneficial for me,

Not for you,

Will you make my life miserable or no?

You will.

This is the nature of coexistence.

So when we are here together,

It's important we function in such a way that whatever we do,

It benefits both of us so that this transaction can go on.

Whether it's marketplace or marriage,

Both the parties should benefit,

Otherwise it will die,

Isn't it?

So this,

Do not misunderstand this understanding or this simple sense as human nature.

No.

This is just simple sense.

If you were living in the jungle alone,

You would live one way.

You live with certain number of people,

You will live another way.

You will live with a large number of people,

You will live completely different way.

This is just simple sense of adapting to the existence we are.

So,

Do not understand this as the nature of your life.

No.

This is just sense.

Some people figure it out early,

Some people figure it out later,

But this is just sense.

Well… Thank you.

Thank you so much,

Sadhguru.

We're out of time.

Out of time?

Out of time.

But I want to thank you guys again so much for coming.

Thank you,

Sadhguru and your incredible team.

I would like to say,

Say it's wonderful to be here.

I watched Mike fight way back and this may sound little off,

But at that time there were no televisions in India.

We used to get 8mm films to play on the wall,

Project on the wall.

So,

This would go cut,

Cut,

Cut,

Cut,

Cut,

Cut,

Cut like that,

You know.

He was fighting like this,

This,

This,

This,

This,

This.

So,

In somebody's house we were sitting and watching.

We had watched lots of boxing matches at that time because I was a… this I just want to tell you.

I was in my school boxing team.

Really?

Wow!

You struck the one before?

So,

So on that day when I watched probably the first… first time when you won the heavyweight,

When we saw that and much debate was going on,

I said,

Well,

This guy could rule the boxing ring if he only maintains his balance because I saw a talent which I'm… I was just watching your interview today which I think you're that wonderful man who took you up and transformed a street brat into a champion.

Yes,

He did.

Yes,

He did.

He did.

So,

He saw the talent too,

I'm sure and that's why he invested himself.

It's fantastic.

It's just this,

Every human being,

Many things are hidden within every human being.

Not everybody unfortunately gets the situational opportunities to shine.

It's happened wonderfully in your life.

Well,

Other things have happened.

Though you came up with utmost disadvantage,

You turned that into a phenomenal advantage in some way but I hope the next part of your life will be more enlightening and more contributing to everybody's life because whatever talents we have,

Whatever intelligence we have,

Whatever capabilities we have,

They will find maximum benefit to ourselves and to everybody above all balance.

If that one thing is there,

Everything else will find expression.

If you lose that one thing,

Our talents and our capabilities unfortunately will turn against us.

Right now,

Human beings are only suffering their own intelligence.

If they had no brains,

They would be fine.

They are suffering their own intelligence simply because there is no balance.

It is time that all of us in some way bring balance to ourselves and to the world around us so that human genius really flows without too much struggle.

Right now,

To find expression to human genius,

People are going through enormous struggle and slowly people are believing that unless you struggle,

It won't come out.

No,

It can be done very joyfully,

Wonderfully,

Blissfully if only balance is created.

So let's invest in this,

That this generation and the coming generations are far more balanced within themselves.

If this one thing happens,

You will see an incredible generation coming up.

Let's all be a part of making that happen.

Considering being born in an extreme disadvantage and how you turned it into what you did at the age of twenty,

Being a world champion happened in spite of all the disadvantages.

So all of us together should invest in making this happen for many,

Many more of the next generation.

Thank you very much.

Reviews

BALANCE has conjured up a new meaning after listening to this offering. I learned much and will listen again. Much to ponder as I integrate what was shared. JOYfully yours, ahimsa