Miracle Of Life

A series of candid discussions with internationally acclaimed film director Shekhar Kapur, Sadhguru discusses that which is the basis, not only of our individual lives, but of all existence. There is something within each of us that can transform a rice grain or a banana into a human being, which is ultimately the source of creation.

Transcript

Sadhguru,

That's very powerful inside.

I just walked inside into… into this place where all the brahmacharis are chanting.

There's something special about their chants.

It's kind of… it kind of hits you right here,

It's kind of energizing and wow!

So what is it?

What's a brahmachari?

I mean we understand in Hinduism,

Brahmachari means denial and you often said it's not about denial,

It's about gaining something without denying anything.

But tell me about it.

And I have to say,

There are both men and women in there.

It's not like… they're not like monks,

Where all the women have been put up in a nunnery and the monks are in… in some monastery.

It's… they're all there.

For example,

Somebody is climbing out to climb Mount Everest,

Okay?

He prepares for years,

Probably for a lifetime he prepares.

And then he is in the harshest of climate,

Denying himself every pleasure of life,

Of comfort,

Of family,

Of society,

Everything that normally people want to have,

He denies himself all that to climb the mountain.

But do you really believe he is denying himself or is he making another possibility which you can never imagine real in his life?

So that's brahmacharya.

The word brahmacharya literally means… Brahman means the ultimate,

Tharya means the path.

You are on the path of the ultimate.

Or in other words,

You are somebody who is not willing to settle for small things.

So anybody who has created anything worthwhile in their lives have naturally denied themselves lot of simple pleasures other people are having.

When you are making a film,

Maybe you are not eating well,

Maybe you are not sleeping well.

Are you taking your afternoon nap sitting with your wife,

Enjoying the seashore,

Having dinner with them,

With your family,

Are you doing all this?

Everything you deny yourself because you want to create something,

Isn't it?

Isn't that true with every man or woman who has created something worthwhile in their life?

The same with brahmacharya,

They are on the path of the ultimate.

Because of that,

Their attention is not diverted to other things that people think are valuable.

So,

What's the ultimate?

See here,

If you look around,

There's brick and stone or rather mud and stone and trees and plants.

This is creation.

But now if you look at this,

From the same soil this tree is coming,

Throwing out… right now there are no flowers but it throws out wonderful fragrant flowers.

From the same soil a mango tree will come and throw out mangoes.

From the same soil you have come and making movies.

From the same soil I have come and I'm a guru.

So there is something here which can make this mud into a tree,

Into a fruit,

Into your filmmaker,

Into your guru and into a billion other things.

Don't you want to know what it is?

Don't you want to experience what it is?

And if it was somewhere in heaven,

I'm not interested.

But if you eat a banana,

That banana becomes a human being within you.

There is something here which can transform a rice grain or a banana or a piece of bread into a human being.

This is the ultimate source of creation.

Don't you want to know what it is?

Don't you want to experience?

Don't you want to know the power of it,

The beauty of it,

The joy of it?

So these are people who have had a taste of that and now they want all of it.

They don't care whether they eat or not.

They don't care whether they drink,

Smoke and enjoy other simple physical pleasures that other people are addicted to.

They have had a taste of the ultimate.

Now they want it all.

They won't settle for anything less.

Okay,

Now I understand that till you've experienced it,

It's an experiential sensation or more than a sensation.

Talk about the ultimate.

What is the ultimate?

My work as a guru is just to give you a taste of that ultimate so that your life goes into a dizzy and you go crazy and you want to go for it.

You've had a taste,

Now you can't stop.

So your work is to drive people mad?

Yes.

Right,

Okay.

So people sleep through their life in the name of comfort,

In the name of security,

They're wasting their life.

They must go all the way.

This is not my desire,

It's their desire also because today you have a desire to fulfill this.

If that happens,

You want the next one and the next one and the next one.

If you carefully look at your desiring process itself,

You will see you are not willing to settle for anything limited,

Isn't it?

There is something within you which doesn't like boundaries.

There is something within you which is longing for the ultimate always.

So this is not my idea,

This is not my philosophy that you should seek ultimate.

You're anyway seeking ultimate in unconscious ways.

I am saying if you seek in unconscious ways,

You'll always remain frustrated and the chances of finding it are remote.

It's better to seek what you want in a conscious way,

In a focused way.

So Brahmacharis are those people,

They're also seeking just what you're seeking,

But they're seeking it one hundred percent consciously.

So,

What is the ultimate?

Is there other words?

I mean,

I'm looking for words.

What is ultimate?

See,

Whatever we look at,

We can only look at the way you understand it right now,

Okay?

If I say something which is not in your understanding,

Now I'll be compelling you to believe me or disbelieve me.

I don't want to go into such obscenities.

I think it's obscene to demand that you must believe me.

So right now in your life,

Do you see that you… when you stand here,

What you call as myself,

Actually you gathered over a period of time?

In terms of your mind,

It's a huge heap of impressions,

In terms of your body,

It is a heap of food that you've eaten.

So you gathered this.

What you gather can be yours.

Can it ever be you?

No.

Then what is the you beyond yours?

What's… So,

You're existing here without even knowing what is me.

So this me,

Right now we will go this way.

This me is the ultimate.

This me is not a simple me.

This me can make a… you know,

A piece of bread into a human being,

A banana into a human being.

This is not a simple thing.

This same me,

Which can make a banana into a human being,

Also created the whole cosmic scape.

It's not a different me.

So the choice is just this,

Either you can exist here just as a piece of creation or you can exist here as a very creator himself.

That's the ultimate for now.

There's more to it,

But for now.

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan So why does everybody expect a guru to perform miracles?

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan Yeah,

I mean,

This is the whole thing.

At one point,

If I go and say I met Sadhguru and I had this amazing experience… Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan You must tell them,

He is a real miracle because he eats a banana and he makes it into a human being.

You must tell them,

What better miracle do you want?

See,

They have not understood the magic of eating a banana or anything for that matter.

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan So what you're saying is everything is a miracle in any case.

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan See,

Either… either,

There are two ways of looking at life.

If you have eyes,

If you look at it closely,

Everything is miraculous because there's not one single atom in the existence that you can fully explain.

So it's miraculous.

Another way is everything is happening,

The whole physical existence is happening between cause and effect.

Everything can be explained if your perception is deeper.

Either nothing is a miracle or everything is a miracle.

In your mind,

If one thing is a miracle and another thing is not,

You are in ignorance.

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan Yeah.

So even miracles are intellectual ideas that are boxed,

Separated from… Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan See,

Anything that you cannot understand is miraculous for you.

If you did not understand how electricity works and if I just touch that wall and light came on,

You would think either I am the messenger or the sun or himself.

Isn't it?

See,

Right now,

I can take you there and show one great miracle for you.

You will see mercury solidified.

Mercury used to be liquid.

According to modern science,

You can solidify mercury only at minus thirty-two degrees centigrade.

I'll show you mercury,

Which is solid.

You can measure it,

Weigh it to volume.

You will see it's pure mercury because there's no other substance on the planet which can weigh as much as mercury.

So you can't fake it.

You cannot fake it.

You will see just a twenty-three inch tall ellipsoid which weighs six-hundred-and-eighty-two kgs.

Nothing else on the planet can weigh that much,

Unless I imported something from somewhere else,

Which I have not.

This is just pure plain mercury.

But it's solid in room temperature.

Is that miracle enough?

But it's not a miracle.

I can explain the science of it.

Now I know this is not what it's about,

But for us mere mortals,

It's very fascinating sometimes when I hear that in the brahmachari way of life,

Just the physical abilities,

The energy levels that these people have,

All the brahmacharis have and what I've heard about,

There's that mountain right there and which would probably take me,

What,

Six,

Seven hours?

No,

No.

Eight hours?

Eight hours,

They'll do it in thirty-five,

Forty minutes.

Because I've seen them.

You know,

While I've been here,

I've seen some of them.

Well,

Yeah,

Other than the volunteers and the,

You know,

The meditators,

But I've seen the brahmacharis,

They never sleep.

You know,

When I go to bed,

Like when I'm forced into bed because I stay awake a lot at night,

They're still awake.

And then when I come in the morning,

They're like,

As fresh as anything,

Teaching us yoga,

Walking,

Walking,

Working,

Working everywhere.

And then I try to play football with them.

And they're the most energetic football players.

I mean,

Okay,

So they're younger than me,

But I've seen football players,

The kind of energy they exhibit without sleep,

Without rest in this brahmachari.

And then I had,

You know,

I saw one of them eat and I said,

What are you eating?

And he said,

Well,

You know,

Just,

It was just soup and a few grains and that's all they were eating.

So tell me,

What is it?

What… tell me about that energy that comes from this way of life,

This… the way of lifting your energies,

What does it do to you physically?

Sadhguru See,

The energy that you have right now is not all about the food that you eat.

Sunlight,

Air and water you drink is actually contributing for more than sixty percent of the energy that you have.

I think there is a whole misunderstanding.

I know if I say this,

It would be very,

Very controversial because human… humanity has invested so much in the other direction.

We are always thinking of energy as nourishment,

Food nourishment.

People are constantly calculating how much iron,

How much magnesium,

How much this,

How much that.

I'm not… I'm not saying that's not needed.

Definitely that's the chemical ingredient of the body,

It needs to be taken care of.

I'm not trying to belittle the nourishment.

Nourishment is definitely needed.

But that is not going to determine the energy levels that you have.

And your ability to transform what is food into what is a human being and what is energy and consciousness is what makes you who you are,

Your ability.

The efficiency.

Now,

Every machine that you create,

You are no more just trying to create big machines,

You're always thinking about being energy conscious,

Isn't it?

Now you are driving an ambassador which was giving you four kilometers per liter,

It was okay.

Now it is a crime because you understand this is not the way to live.

Now today you want forty kilometers out of a liter.

So it's a question of energy efficiency.

So Brahmachari is into various types of sadhana,

Certain internal maintenance of the system.

The way it is managed is nothing is wasted,

It is very eco-friendly,

Very,

You know,

Energy conserving methods through which you generate a huge amount of reserve energies within you.

You don't sleep,

You don't eat,

It doesn't matter.

If I don't sleep for three nights,

You will still not see any difference in me,

I'll be carrying on.

This is not some superhuman.

See first of all we need to understand this.

This is not about being superhuman.

This is about realizing that being human is super.

Being human is not a simple thing,

It's a tremendous thing.

So right now all this symbolism you see,

Shiva always has snake on top of his head.

This is to indicate,

See,

Snake is seen as the fundamental energy.

Kundalini is symbolized as a snake in India,

In the yogic systems.

So tell us why,

Because in the West,

Snake is something threatening and almost evil it's because it has this kind of sometimes sexual connotation,

Sometimes evil connotation.

The first aspect is the snake Shiva is not holding at his feet on top of his head.

This is to indicate that his energies have reached the peak,

Okay.

That is the essence of asceticism,

That his energies have hit the peak.

Energies have hit the peak means his perception has also hit the ultimate.

That is why the snake on top of the head and the third eye are symbolic,

You understand.

Third eye means your perception has hit the highest level of perception.

Everything that can be seen you have seen in the existence.

That is mainly because you are energized in the highest possible way.

If your perception has to evolve and enhance itself,

The most important thing is your energy has to evolve and enhance itself.

So the whole sadhana that the brahmacharis are doing and all the yoga practitioners are doing is to evolve,

Refine their energies in such a way that their perception is enhanced and the third eye opens.

Third eye opening does not mean you'll have a crack in your forehead.

It just means that your perception has gone beyond the dualities of life.

You are able to see life just the way it is,

Not the way it is necessary for your survival.

You are able to see it just the way it is.

So about the snake,

See,

Even according to the Christian whatever,

What do you call that theology,

Adam and Eve,

First man and first woman were there.

That is the story.

Even if you go by that story,

They were a dumb couple.

They didn't know what to do with each other.

All right?

So the snake came and made them eat the fruit of knowledge.

Anybody who makes you eat the fruit of knowledge,

Is he evil or divine?

Tell me.

Yeah,

I would say that's divine.

And by eating this fruit of knowledge,

Life got initiated on this planet.

The whole life process became possible only because of the snake tempting Eve to eat the fruit of knowledge and share it with Adam.

Only one who is out and out against the fundamental processes of life can and will say snake is agent of the devil.

One who initiates life has to be agent of the divine,

Isn't it?

So here we always saw the snake as the agent of the divine.

There is no temple in India without a snake.

Somewhere,

There will be a snake to indicate this is the agent of the divine.

And above all,

Shiva keeps it on top of his head,

Not at his feet,

Not somewhere.

A crawly creature on top of his head because to indicate that this is what initiated the life process.

Sadhguru's voice- Religion and spirituality,

You keep saying it's two separate things.

Religion is a… See,

We do not know what's religion in this part of the world.

We have no religion here.

Because here,

In India for example,

There are thirty-six million gods and goddesses,

Okay?

But what if that's not enough?

See,

Now I'm creating a new one.

Everybody's excited.

Sadhguru is going to create a new goddess.

He's going to give birth to a new goddess.

Everybody's excited.

Any other part of the world,

They would have killed me.

Isn't it?

New goddess.

That's the whole thing because here we clearly understood God is our making.

Everywhere else they propagate it,

You are God's making.

No.

The way you think about God,

The way you project God is essentially our making,

Isn't it?

Yes,

There is a fundamental force,

But all other aspects are our making,

Isn't it?

So we made it in every possible way we like it.

Thirty-six million,

I feel is not enough.

I feel every human being should make his own God the way he can relate to.

The problem is people want to organize this and run a huge setup of power.

So talking about one and rallying the whole world behind that one god has become an important thing.

If all of us had our own gods made by us as we can relate to,

You could never organize it.

Yeah.

So,

God becomes your fingerprint,

Each one different.

Yes.

And above all,

See in this culture,

We never held God as the highest.

God is only a stepping stone.

He's only a tool for you to reach your mukti or your ultimate liberation.

Freedom is the highest goal,

Not God.

Yes.

Sadhguru,

Can we sit here for a while?

Because you have more energy than I do.

Okay.

Okay.

So,

Sadhguru,

You said this many times that the highest goal is freedom.

People understand freedom in different ways,

The two words,

The three words that you used,

Liberation.

So liberation from what?

Freedom.

So everybody has used yourself,

Said it's contextualization.

Freedom from what?

And when you say ultimate freedom,

So does that mean that you get into freedom that has no context,

So therefore it becomes ultimate?

And from that question,

You use the word duality.

I know these are… I'm struggling.

I kind of sense them,

But I cannot see them clearly,

So I want you to talk about that,

These words.

See,

Generally the word freedom,

Before 1947 in this country,

If you said freedom,

People only thought if the British go away,

We are free.

That was our idea of freedom at that time.

I'm sure those last couple of decades,

The word freedom,

Azadi,

Just meant English should go away.

So English went away.

Now,

Are we free?

Not really.

Politically free,

Yes,

But in no other way we are really free.

So freedom may mean different things to different people depending upon the context of their individual life at a certain moment.

But essentially,

Do we understand that we are living within certain limitations of life?

Especially the political,

Economic and other aspects of freedom.

Just as a human being,

Just as a piece of existence,

Do you see you're a limited entity?

You're a limited boundary,

Isn't it?

But do you also see there is something constantly longing within you to be little more than what you are?

So you're seeking freedom,

But you're seeking it in installments.

So if I bind you,

If I put you,

If I imprison you in a small cell,

Five by five,

Let's say,

You'll fight for your freedom.

If I release you into ten by ten cell,

You'll feel wonderful.

But within twenty-four hours you realize,

This is not it,

This is not freedom.

If I release you into larger compound and say you are free,

Do what you want here,

But you can't go out.

Once again,

The moment you feel the boundaries,

You want to break that.

So however big the boundary I set for you,

The moment you are able to feel the boundary… when you don't feel the boundaries,

You think you're free.

But the moment you feel the boundaries,

You want to break it.

So there is something within you which cannot stand boundaries.

Or in other words,

There is something within you which wants to become boundless.

What can be boundless,

If you look at it,

All physical forms must have a boundary,

Isn't it?

The boundary… a defined boundary is the basis of a physical form.

A physical form can be small or big,

But can never be boundless.

So there is something within you which is longing to touch a dimension which is beyond the physical.

So there is something within you which is longing to be spiritual.

So spiritual does not mean looking up or looking down or praying or going to the temple.

Spiritual essentially means you are in an experience which is beyond the limitations of the physical.

That means you are in a boundless space.

This longing is always there in every human being.

Either you are approaching it in installments or you are going consciously for the ultimate.

So why in my mind is the ultimate so blurred?

Why can't… I mean,

I can imagine you talk about cage and you talk… The moment you talk about measurement,

I can see it.

You say you're imprisoned by this galaxy.

I can somehow say,

Okay,

It's a galaxy.

Now you talk about being imprisoned by nothing.

This concept of being boundlessly free… No.

…sounds brilliant.

So just talk to me about it.

How do I aspire to something that I'm unable to imagine?

That's why you never aspire to something that you're unable to imagine,

That you do not know.

If you want to become free,

You never think of freedom,

Because freedom is just an idea.

It doesn't exist.

It is just an idea which has no substance in it.

So when you want to become free,

You don't think of freedom.

You only look at the ropes which are binding you.

You cut these ropes which are binding you,

There is some sense of freedom.

Then you realize there's another set of ropes binding you.

You cut that,

There is freedom.

But then you notice there's another set.

It doesn't matter how many sets of ropes are binding you,

There must be a place where if you cut enough of them,

Nothing binds you,

Right?

There may be… the number may be big,

But still it cannot be innumerable,

Isn't it?

It cannot be infinite.

Only freedom can be infinite.

Bondage has to be limited.

The very nature of bondage is limited,

Isn't it?

Limiting is bondage.

So bondage cannot be limitless.

Only freedom can be limitless.

This is not all semantics and ideas.

In terms of life's experience,

You don't waste your time talking about or thinking about freedom or the ultimate.

You look at what's binding you now and see how to transcend this.

This is growth.

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan And what… what actually is… so I'm looking at myself,

What's my most limiting factor?

I mean that you could probably say most people,

That's what they're bound by there.

Let's say,

I mean,

I'm a filmmaker,

I can go anywhere in the world,

I can travel,

I can do anything.

I have,

You know… I… Yes,

But if I… if I make you walk around for one hour,

You'll have to rest.

Two hours,

You have to go to sleep.

That's a limitation.

How would you… what kind of a filmmaker would you be if you could be like me,

Stay awake for five days as they stretch,

Don't bother about eating,

Sleeping,

Nothing,

You can just focus on what you have to do,

What kind of a filmmaker would you be?

Maybe you would have all the actors dead.

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan Yeah,

Well,

I've been accused of that,

But then my film becomes my limitation.

So boundless,

Because I get very passionate about filmmaking and then I forget to sleep and eat,

But then it… at one point it becomes a film and the film is over.

This idea of complete… Sadhguru No,

I want you to just imagine yourself.

We're just talking about tangible things so that it's easier to,

You know,

See it.

Suppose you had no physical limitations.

If you have to go to the bathroom,

You have to eat,

You have to sleep,

Suppose you could just be on,

Hundred percent focused for three days at a stretch.

What would be the quality of your film,

I want you to imagine?

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan Yeah,

It would be absolutely brilliant.

Sadhguru It would be something else than what you're doing right now,

Isn't it?

So why is that possibility not being explored for now?

So if you explore that,

Then you will see that's fabulous,

But there's still other limitations.

But those limitations are not relevant now because we are still in these limitations.

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan Yeah.

Okay,

So my body is my own limitation,

That's what you're saying.

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan Mind is a limitation,

Mind is a limitation,

Emotions are limitations.

There are also possibilities.

See,

Your body is your possibility.

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan Sadhguru,

What I'm asking,

I know you're not saying it because you think it sounds like madness,

But let's go into madness.

The promised land,

You know,

Let's talk about it because we've talked about this.

We've talked about in the context of Shiva,

We've talked about in the context of absolute freedom,

We've talked just in terms of absolute,

We've talked about you have to overcome duality.

What's there?

I know it's difficult,

But if I was going to convince my friends to follow this path… Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan It's not difficult,

It could be… In your present context,

It could be scary.

See,

Right now,

For example,

When we say Shiva,

Most people,

Everybody can look at Shiva the way they want it.

That's why all these many forms,

Shiva is a Bolinath,

An innocent child,

You can play with him whichever way you want.

He's a fiery god,

He's a Neelakanta,

He's a,

You know,

Sadashiva,

He's a million other things.

Why all these things is?

So that everybody can relate to it as they want.

But essentially what the word Shiva means is,

That which is not.

That which is creation,

That which is not is Shiva.

So what is it that which is not?

Why are we looking at that which is not?

Well,

That which is not is the basis of creation.

It is the empty space of the existence,

Which is the womb of creation,

Isn't it?

So we say Shiva is the basis of everything.

This is just the ultimate physical sciences.

Let me not use the word ultimate.

The highest level of physical sciences expressed in a beautiful dialectical format.

So Shiva is that which is not,

That which is still and that is not.

Part of that pops out.

Creation because he came in touch with a certain energy,

Which we are referring to as Shakti.

Whenever Shakti just passes by,

Boom,

He roars.

You call it a big bang.

We call it,

He rises as Rudra,

He roars.

And he creates his first form,

Which is an ellipsoid,

From that springs all creation.

Well,

The physical sciences are one hundred percent in agreement with this today.

You're saying it's a dark energy.

Shiva has always been referred to as the dark one.

So what you're referring to as Shiva is just that which is not.

We are not talking about a god who is sitting up there.

But why the form?

The form is because the first yogi is also called Shiva,

Because he realized Shiva.

What is perceived and the one who perceives it,

We don't see any difference between the two.

So when we say Shiva,

One moment we'll be talking about the first yogi,

The Adiyogi,

Whom we worship,

For all the knowledge he's given us.

And that aspect of Shiva,

Which is limitless,

Boundless,

Nothingness,

We are seamlessly moving from this to that,

Because that is what a dialectical culture is.

That's how life is.

Life is constantly flowing from logic to illogic,

Illogic to logic,

Masculine to feminine,

Feminine to masculine.

People who think their lives out,

They're always in conflict.

They're not able to figure what's the nature of life.

They're not able to experience life,

Because they're trying to stick on to one thing.

This is like you stand on the right bank of the river and you think the left bank is wrong.

If you try to eliminate it,

You'll eliminate the river and the right bank.

Life is happening not separately.

It is all happening in,

You know,

It's all entangled in each other.

Entangled is not the word,

It's intermingled with everything and everything.

So the whole culture evolved like that.

We will be uttering Shiva,

This… in this sentence if I say Shiva,

I'm talking about the boundless nothingness.

Next sentence I say Shiva,

I'm saying yogi.

It's for you to figure what I'm talking,

Because if I go on explaining this and that,

Then I'll be separating the two,

Because in my consciousness,

In my perception,

The one who perceives and what is perceived as not different.

He becomes a yogi.

The word yoga means union.

He becomes a yogi because he has experienced the union of the existence.

He has become one with the existence.

So we don't refer to the existence,

The basis of the existence and the one who has known the union of being with existence as two separate identities,

Though they are two.

So,

One possibility and as you say,

It's just one possibility,

Is that the ultimate is nothingness.

It is.

What Buddha describes as shunitta,

Is that the same thing?

See,

Gautama goes about using negative terminology,

Because the moment you use positive terminology,

People will fly off into imagination.

Wild imagination will happen.

If you say,

God,

People will imagine a man sitting there and you can go and sit in his lap and all wonderful things happening to you,

All the nonsense.

So Gautama very consciously is constantly using negative terminology.

He says shunya,

He says nirvana,

He says anatma.

These are all his words,

Anitya,

Anatma.

These are all complete negative terminology.

The western cultures use positive terminology because they are so terrified of the negative.

The positive means nothing without the negative,

Isn't it?

So the yogic culture uses both of them together.

Seamlessly,

We move from this to that,

That to this.

Shiva is the most wonderful man.

At the same time,

He is the most horrible man.

He is an ascetic,

But he is a great householder.

He is a drunkard.

He is the peak of alertness.

He is intoxicated… he is always intoxicated,

But he is the peak of alertness,

Because this is the way existence is.

It is neither this nor that.

Both of them are in play all the time.

So in the yogic culture,

We use both positive terminology and negative terminology.

Buddha used only negative terminology because he is afraid that if you use positive terminology,

People will fly into wild imagination,

Which is… which is a wise thing in a way.

This is a question I'm asking on behalf of the people who are unable to speak to you directly,

Okay?

The economic collapse has taken place.

The world has gone into a tizzy.

I've just lost my job.

I have a mortgage that I can't pay.

I have three children that I can't educate.

I have a wife who is saying,

What's going to happen to our life?

And my pension has all disappeared as I thought that in future I'm going to get this pension.

My beautiful life,

My… if this is United States,

My American way of life has just collapsed.

And now we can talk… you're talking about contradictions,

You're talking about nothingness and… Oh,

You asked for it.

I asked for it.

I agree.

So now I'm asking behind… what would this mean to me when I am so confused and so every day… my everyday existence is how am I going to feed and own… still have my house and feed my children,

What would this do for me?

Why would I go this way?

See,

One thing you have to acknowledge is,

Today we as a generation of people,

Never before the survival process of a human being was as well organized as it is today.

If you have the money,

If you go to the superstore,

You can buy everything that you need for next one year and not step out of your house.

It's that organized.

Never before was this possible.

Every day you had to go out,

Get your food for that day,

Not knowing where the food is.

It is too organized to a point that we are becoming lethargic,

We are becoming unrealistic with the life processes.

So the economic collapse,

I don't… I think it's improper to call it a collapse,

The economic reality.

From the lie of a bubble,

We have come down to reality.

This is a… this is Chinese wisdom,

Okay?

I'll tell you.

So some Americans were complaining about the economic collapse and what's happening.

So a Chinese man took him and took a chair,

Put it in front of a mirror.

He said,

Do you see there are two chairs?

He said,

Yes.

Then he removed the mirror.

What is left?

Only one chair.

So this is what you're complaining about.

Always there was only one chair.

If I put up two mirrors,

These two… one chair will become ten chairs.

If I become five mirrors,

They'll become a hundred chairs.

But that's not the point.

The real thing is there's only one chair.

There's only one planet,

There's only that much resource,

There's only this much.

Rest is all exaggerated nonsense,

Okay?

I don't think we should wait for it to collapse.

If we are wise,

We must pull it down ourselves.

I was being interviewed by one of the national channels just before the economic collapse.

When India's share market was touching 21,

000 something on that day,

I was in Mumbai,

They wanted to interview me.

They said,

What do you think about this?

I said,

It's unwise to have share market running at 21,

000.

I also keep general,

You know,

Attention towards what's happening in the economic spheres.

If you ask me,

India's share market should be at 14,

000.

But we would like to make ourselves little bigger than who we are to attract foreign investment,

This,

That.

So if it's running at 16,

000,

16,

500,

Sufficient exaggeration to impress the outsider.

But if you run to 2021,

It is not good.

And this is like you want to go to an interview today,

You are only five feet eight,

You want to wear two inches heels and go.

It's all right.

You want to look little taller than who you are.

Suppose you wear three feet heels and go,

You run stills,

Very soon you're going to fall on your face.

They didn't like it.

Okay.

Okay.

And it collapsed within about twenty days after I spoke,

It just dropped to 11,

000 or 10,

000 or whatever,

9,

000 I think.

So you're walking on stills,

You're bound to fall.

Little bit of exaggeration human beings want to do to impress each other,

It's all right.

Two inches,

Three inches heels,

All right.

If you go for too much,

It's not fair to yourself or to the people around you,

Isn't it?

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan But the high goals that you're talking about,

Let's just talk about that in the context of… Sadhguru The individual experience,

That human being who has lost something,

The human being who is caught in all the mechanics of economy,

Economy,

International economy.

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan You say,

Well,

Solve that,

We can say to him or her that you can solve that before you even think of higher goals of spirituality.

Or we're saying,

Spirituality and higher goals will actually help you.

And he'll say,

How?

Sadhguru Yeah,

Let's look at that.

See,

Right now what you're talking about is certain upheavals in your physical situation.

One thing you need to understand is,

Do what you want.

Even if you're a superhuman being,

Outside situations will never happen one hundred percent the way you want them,

Never ever.

Even if there are just two people in the family,

Still it doesn't happen one hundred percent the way you want it,

Isn't it?

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan Correct.

Sadhguru And not a single person in this whole planet has ever happened one hundred percent the way you want them.

Not your spouse,

Not your children,

Not your boss,

Nobody.

So outside is always going to be like this.

Some things happen your way,

Some things don't happen your way.

But the inner reality of your experience is hundred percent you.

There's only one ingredient,

That's yourself.

At least this must happen the way you want it,

Isn't it?

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan Yeah.

Sadhguru So if this was happening in a peaceful and blissful way within you,

Economic high or economic collapse,

Wouldn't mean anything to you.

You just have to adjust a few things around you,

That's all.

It doesn't change the quality of your life as such,

Because you are anyway blissed out.

Always you're blissful by your own nature.

If there is money,

You will drive,

If there's no money,

You will cycle,

Which is more healthy.

I mean you will do whatever the situation demands without any great struggle about it.

Right now because you've not fixed the interior,

You are trying to fix your interiority by fixing the world around you,

Which is juggling.

Even when things were going fine,

I'm sure you were still stressed.

When you have a job,

You complain of stress.

So shall I get you fired?

Will you be happy?

Will you walk on the beach joyfully?

No.

Now you'll… you'll be depressed because you're fired.

So whichever way you suffer,

This is not because of the situation,

Because you have not learned how to conduct this human mechanism.

How to keep this being that you have not paid attention to.

Everything happens your way in the world,

That's not the problem.

The problem is you yourself are not happening the way you want yourself to be.

If you did happen the way you want yourself to be,

For sure you would keep yourself blissful and wonderful,

Isn't it?

Outside would be just a play.

You conduct it to the extent you can conduct it.

Never before another generation of people have known these kind of comforts and conveniences.

You are living better than your father,

Your grandfather,

Anybody,

Unless your grandfather was a Maharaja or something.

Definitely you're living better than your father and grandfather,

But you're still complaining because it's not happening the way you think it should happen.

So if it happens any better than the way it is happening right now,

Your economy,

You will have no planet left.

I'm glad economy has collapsed because ecology will improve when economy collapses.

Right.

Reviews

Fabulous perspective regarding energy. So helpful!

Before anything, nothing. From nothing, everything. Nothing is eternal, nothing is infinite. God is nothing, creation is everything. From the void came everything. God is the void, God is nothing and God is in everything. God is in me because I am not nothing, I am not God, I am man and God made me. From nothing, me... and if nothing else, I Love you!

Really great - thanks!

Just discovered this teacher- deepening my understanding definitely thanks!!

I feel lucky happy and blessed to have access to teacher of this calibre. Thanks you very, very much Sadhguru.

Immersion in his talks always bring about some level of deeper understanding and letting go at the same time. Focusing on what is limiting us at this moment and gaining freedom from that. Then next limitation and next limitation. Resonates with me.