Sadhguru On 'Youth And Truth': Full Talk At JNU

On Sep 25, Sadhguru was at JNU, New Delhi, as part of the Youth and Truth movement. This podcast is the vibrant QnA session that followed, as Sadhguru answers students' questions on a wide range of topics. Sadhguru is a spiritual master with a difference, well worthy of listening to, to absorb his insightful wisdom, knowledge and life experience.

Transcript

Namaskaram to everyone.

Well,

I… when it was my time,

I did not spend enough time in the university.

So here I am making it up with all of you.

And all of you are heavily privileged that you're in such a premier institution in the country.

What a fabulous campus you have.

And why this Youth and Truth,

How it came about?

Well,

In the last thirty-six years,

It's been a constant refrain,

Thousands of people coming to me and always saying,

Many,

Many people,

Said,

Guru,

When I was twenty,

Where were you?

Now you have come when I'm sixty,

What am I supposed to do?

So,

They're accusing me that I did not arrive early enough in their lives.

So I thought we will step out and meet the young people in this country.

So this is why Youth and Truth.

And essentially,

What life means is,

Well,

Everybody have… may they have their own opinions about what life is,

But essentially,

Our life is just a certain amount of time and energy.

Time is running out for all of us at the same pace.

As we sit here,

It's ticking away.

What's ticking away is not the watch,

What's ticking away is our life.

Life is just getting over as we sit here.

So,

This is something we cannot control,

We cannot stop,

We cannot slow down,

We cannot reverse,

It's just going away.

The only thing we can manage is our energies.

That segment of life which we refer to as youth is a time of life when your energies are most exuberant.

Most youth do not understand this.

They think they are going to be like this forever.

Believe me,

It's not so.

I want you to pay attention to older people,

How they walk,

How they move,

How they sit,

How they stand.

You will understand what I'm saying.

This level of energy,

This level of exuberance is not going to be with you forever.

It's only in this segment of life,

Which we refer to as youth,

This is possible.

So,

When your energies are at their best,

If you bring some sense of clarity and balance into your life,

This will lead to better use of this energy,

Otherwise this exuberance may work against you in your life.

One thing I'm seeing is,

See,

If we want to produce a great society,

A great nation or a great world,

We cannot build a great nation,

A great society,

We can only build great human beings.

How do great human beings happen?

Well,

In some way,

The individual genius has to unfold itself.

Every individual human being,

Irrespective of who they are,

Everybody has a certain genius.

But my percentage,

If it's wrong,

Please tell me in J and U.

If the percentage is more or less,

Please tell me.

But my estimate in the world is,

The number of people who manage to unfold their genius on this planet are less than one percent.

Ninety-nine percent go without ever touching that dimension,

Just being concerned about livelihood,

About this struggle,

About that struggle,

Their own thoughts and emotions endlessly occupies them.

Only less than one percent of the people unfold their genius.

If only,

If we can raise this to ten percent on this planet,

This will become a fantastic world.

Never before,

Never before in the history of humanity,

Did any generation have the kind of comforts and convenience and technological empowerment that we have today.

Do you agree with me?

Those of you who are looking at me through the phone,

I'm asking you,

Hello.

That's your third eye right now,

The Samsung eye.

So,

We are the most empowered generation ever.

But this empowerment,

How is it going to be.

.

.

How is it going to unfold our lives?

If we do the right things,

If we know how to harness our own energies,

Our intelligence and our genius properly,

With the kind of empowerment we have right now,

We have the possibility to become the best generation ever on this planet.

No other generation was this well-equipped as we are.

We are the first generation with this kind of empowerment.

So,

It is in this effort that we are doing this Youth and Truth,

This movement will continue.

This is not just about visiting universities and colleges and speaking to them.

We want to compile.

.

.

We want to compile a whole lot of questions and answers,

So that this generation and the next generation,

Whatever kind of questions they ask,

There must be some kind of sensible answer for them.

So,

Today I'm telling the three of you to unplug and ask whatever,

Okay?

Questioner 1 – Namaskaram Sadhguru.

For.

.

.

On behalf of the entire JNU community,

I welcome you to JNU,

Our very precious campus.

Sadhguru – Thank you very much.

Questioner 1 – It is a sheer privilege and pleasure to have you here for the evening.

It's good,

Only when you speak.

We have been very excited about the event and the huge turnout of the audience manifests both the excitement and our gratitude.

Specially the three moderators on the stage are overwhelmed to be here on the stage with you.

We'd like to introduce ourselves to you and to the audience.

I am Anima Sunkar,

Pursuing PhD in Russian and Central Asian Studies,

School of International Studies.

I am not just joyous.

It was a dream come true to meet you.

And it is very important for me to be an integral part of the event.

Questioner 2 – Namaste Sadhguru.

My name is Sundaresh.

I'm pursuing PhD in Zakiristan Center for.

.

.

Zakiristan Center for Education Studies.

I'm so happy.

I have no words to express how happy I am.

Questioner 3 – Hello Sadhguru.

My name is Anjali Yogi.

I'm pursuing PhD.

.

.

Sadhguru – Oh,

You're a yogi too.

Questioner 3 – The another yogi.

But I'm pursuing my PhD in Center for South Asian Studies at School of International Studies.

And the journey from watching your YouTube videos to having an interaction with you has been very overwhelming.

So,

Yeah.

Questioner 3 – Sadhguru,

If I can structure how the event will unfold tonight.

We have prepared around ten to twelve questions that we will be discussing in the panel.

Then we will take up some of the questions that have come on social media.

Because we understand everybody cannot be on the campus.

So we have chosen questions which resonates among the youth.

After that,

We open this house for the wonderful audience that we have for the evening.

Thank you.

Sadhguru,

So the first question is,

When we introduced this Youth and Truth campaign to our students and scholars in JNU,

The initial resistance was the very premises of Youth and Truth campaign.

What truth per se is and who qualifies you to answer all kinds of questions?

Sadhguru – Well,

I'm glad that you're asking what is truth.

Well,

Whatever truly works on all dimensions of life must be the truth,

Isn't it?

From ancient times in this country,

They said,

Sathya mevajayate.

That means only truth works.

When Mahatma Gandhi came,

He used it as a political slogan for those times.

But now you have come to a place where you will question whether truth will work or not.

So I'm putting it the other way round for you,

What really works in all dimensions of life must be the truth.

Hello?

Something really works.

In every aspect of life,

That must be the truth,

Isn't it?

So what qualifies me?

Well,

You must find out now.

Because I cannot say I'm qualified to answer all the questions.

You must find out.

Questioner – Sadhguru,

Next question is,

You know,

Jain is a very politically vibrant campus and it is impossible or impractical to be apolitical in this campus.

One way or other way,

We are labeled to a particular ideology,

Right,

Left,

Center.

I give you an example.

When I came to this campus,

I did not get hostel immediately.

So a student activist came to me.

He told me to come his room.

I went to his room.

And when I saw there,

There were seven students who were already staying in a tiny room.

So I refused to stay there and I stayed outside the campus.

But a large section of MA and BA students who stay there,

And since they are staying there,

It is an obligation to participate in political activities and all.

So if they participate in political activities,

They are labeled as a particular idea.

They belong to a particular ideology.

One.

Second example,

Whenever we give a particular opinion,

Maybe on campus issues or national issues or international issues,

We are labeled to a particular ideology.

My question to you,

Sadhguru,

How can a student remain a neutral or free thinker?

Well,

This has become a phenomenon,

Not just in your university.

This has become a phenomenon across the country.

If you open your mouth to say something about the nation,

They will try to fix you to some ideology,

Even me.

Not just you.

All the time people are fixing me,

Sometimes to the left,

Sometimes to the right,

Sometimes they want to hang me in the center.

I've always made it clear,

My concern is people,

Not even nationality.

My concern is just people,

Because I work with all kinds of people.

In India,

Outside India,

With politicians,

With convicts,

With tribal women,

With all kinds of people,

Okay,

With students,

With everybody.

My concern is a human being,

Life.

But inevitably somebody is trying to pin you on some notice board,

Right board or left board or something.

This is an unfortunate situation because this is the mechanics of how you destroy a democracy.

That is right now,

Let us say,

You are committed to right,

I'm committed to left,

Because I'm looking more left,

Okay?

So now we are already committed.

Now what is the point of secret ballot,

I'm asking?

We know these three people will vote for right,

Left,

Right,

This will vote for left,

Everybody knows.

What is the point of secret ballot?

What is the point of offering a citizen the choice of choosing the leadership?

In Tamil language,

Democracy means jananayakam,

That means people are the leaders,

That's what it means.

People are the leaders,

But leaders are all fixed.

How do you make leaders out of them?

How do you make a democracy work?

If you want a living democracy,

The most important thing is,

Except for a few party workers,

Others… the rest of the population should not be committed to any party,

Any ideology.

We give somebody a five-year chance,

If they do well,

We give them one more chance.

If they don't do well,

We bring somebody else.

This is how it should be.

But unfortunately,

This has become a worldwide phenomena.

In United States,

It was worse.

I thought India… I was proudly speaking in United States,

We have a living democracy.

But now in the last five years,

I've just kept quiet about Indian living democracy,

Because we've also become the same thing.

To… It's like this.

A veteran Republican leader was dying,

He was on his deathbed.

Then on his deathbed,

He requested,

I want to join the Democratic Party.

People said,

Not you.

You've been a Republican all your life,

So was your father and your grandfather.

All were Republicans and now on your deathbed,

You want to become a Democrat?

He said,

Yes,

I want to become a Democrat.

They said,

Why?

He said,

I would rather have one of them dying.

So it's become this bad.

Please,

All of you young people,

I'm telling you,

This is for every citizen in the country,

But particularly in the university,

Please debate issues in the nation.

Don't take sides.

Every damn issue in the country you must debate,

But do not take sides at this stage in your life,

Because you are destroying democracy in this country.

Because if… This is just like a clan.

This is like a community or a religion.

I belong to this party,

You belong to that party,

No matter what,

I'm going to vote only to my party.

This is a feudalistic society.

This is not a democratic society.

So I request all the young people,

Either in this university,

Any university,

You should not take political sides right now.

You must debate issues and what matters,

Who is going to offer solutions,

They must get the vote.

Whoever offers a proper solution,

They must get the vote.

Your vote is already committed,

You're destroying democracy.

Please don't do this.

The most valuable thing we have,

For all the troubles we go through and all the news channels shouting at us,

We endure all that only because we have democracy.

Please do not destroy this by taking sides.

Speaker,

Now I'm afraid to even ask my question because my question is,

I am a student activist.

I get multiple opportunities to represent my organization on various platforms,

Especially media.

In doing so,

I garner immense recognition.

But when I interact with the same students and youths among which I have that recognition,

They expect me to practice humility overtly.

So why for a woman in politics,

Especially,

Why am I made apologetic about my success for the good work that I'm doing?

See,

What you're referring to success as success is just recognition.

That means a few people are applauding.

The people who applaud today,

Tomorrow evening morning,

They will turn around and throw stones at you,

The same people.

This is the way of the world,

Okay?

So do not float away in the sky because somebody is applauding.

It's like this,

You went outside,

Somebody told you,

You are the most wonderful human being on the planet.

So you came home floating on cloud number.

What cloud number?

Only nine.

In South India,

We do eleven,

Huh?

You came home floating on whatever number of cloud.

At home,

People told you who you really are and it crashes.

Don't get into this mode.

Never do you float up,

Nor do you go down because somebody says something that will happen only because you don't know what the hell you're doing.

If you are clear what you're doing,

People can say what they say,

They're great things,

But you know the limitations.

They say horrible things,

But you know what you're doing.

That's all that's important in life.

If you are going to get bloated because somebody said something nice or going to get depressed because somebody said something horrible,

Oh,

You got something coming up in your life.

You can't take up any great responsibility because if you are going to be affected by what somebody is saying,

Either positive or negative things about you,

You will always limit your life because if you step out,

Obviously so many people will say so many things.

There is nothing that people don't accuse me of,

Just about everything in the universe.

What a man can do and cannot do,

Everything.

But as long as you know what you're doing,

It doesn't matter.

Questioner 1 – Sadhguru,

We would like to little further this question here.

Though it is a dangerous question to be asked in this… Sadhguru – Question is never dangerous,

It's only the answer.

Questioner 1 – The campus is little dangerous,

Maybe.

Sadhguru – No,

It's only the answer.

You're trying to put me in danger,

That's fine with me.

Questioner 1 – No,

VC said the campus is wonderful.

So,

As a student… Sadhguru – Can you give a little volume please?

Questioner 1 – So,

When I entered in the university as a student,

I used to think why to enter in politics,

Just my… make my career and leave the university.

So I had this careerist orientation in life,

What you think about is… is studentship and politics,

Is it a good mix,

Do you think overall is it a good mix?

Sadhguru – See,

Let's understand the word politics.

Unfortunately,

Today in this country,

If I say they're doing politics,

That means they're doing something nasty.

Unfortunate.

Politics means… that means you're into policymaking.

That's what politics is supposed to be.

A politician means somebody who is engaged in policymaking.

Policymaking is it vital for the making of a nation or no?

Is it vital or no?

So first of all,

Take away the negative connotation of the word politics.

So if you are doing politics as a nasty way of doing things with people,

Definitely you must stop it.

But if you're looking how to understand,

How to set a policy,

Maybe you will not become a politician in future,

We don't know.

But every young person should know how a policy should be made,

How solution should be found for a society or a nation.

Everybody should think about it.

Otherwise,

We have become an irresponsible citizenry where we don't even go and vote because we don't know what the hell it is.

We think politics means corruption,

We think politics means doing something nasty to each other.

No,

Politics means learning to set policies.

Setting policies means arriving at something that works for everybody or at least the maximum number of people,

If not for everybody.

In a nation or in the world,

Setting a policy means arriving at a certain framework so that it works for all of us.

Isn't this important?

Whether you're going to run a two-member family or four-member family or run a small business or an institution or a nation,

Is this not important you understand how to set a framework which works for all people concerned?

Is it not important?

Participants – Yes.

Sadhguru – Whatever you may do,

Future.

Participant – We want little clarification on this.

So,

Sadhguru,

In your… one of the earlier videos,

You have mentioned of having those leftist orientations.

You have been involved in putting posters and you have been in that league of attending meetings late in the night and putting posters and all that.

But when we were interacting with the students in the campus,

We found out that there is this dominant perception about Sadhguru being right-wing.

Though you have tried to explain it earlier as well,

But this… Sadhguru – No,

Right?

Only right arm.

Participant – But,

Sadhguru,

This perception is because you have supported government earlier on the issue of demonetization,

Then later on having no bomb blast occurred in the country.

So is Sadhguru… has Sadhguru turned right-wing now?

Is it?

Sadhguru – See,

Right now,

We are working with the Tamil Nadu government,

Which you know is AIDMK.

Everybody knows which wing it is.

We are doing a lot of work with Andhra Pradesh government.

Still,

I think even that you can't decide which wing it is.

And that wing was part of the big wing in the center,

But now it is not,

It is flapping against it.

Now we are working in Kerala,

Which is left wing.

And we are working with the central government.

If you want to call it right wing,

You can call it right wing.

I'm saying,

What is this problem with the government?

Government means in a democratic country,

It's people's choice,

Isn't it?

Now I don't respect people's choice,

I respect only my choice.

I think you're a nutcase.

You are… you are… you are fanatical.

You are fanatical about your own beliefs.

I don't belong to any wing,

But when people elect whether I agree with it or I don't agree with it,

Personally,

How… whether I agree or I do not agree with it,

I will bow down to people's will,

Because that's what democracy means.

Now the significance,

The significance of democracy is just this.

Why can't we have… Well,

You mentioned about my… See,

That… I was only fourteen,

Okay?

Please pardon me.

Even now young… That time when we had… But then you are putting… Even now young… Sadhguru,

You are putting it as it was your mistake.

You were just… No,

I did not say it's my mistake.

It is just that I am telling you,

This is seventies.

1967,

Che passed away.

You don't understand at that time Che was like… He was like our elder brother,

He died.

And how he was killed,

Those stories spread everywhere.

And there's a lot of emotion in all of us.

Even today I see people wearing Che's t-shirt and going.

Most probably a whole lot of them don't know who he is,

They think he's Bob Marley or something.

So,

At that time it's like our elder brother was killed in Bolivia.

And at that time the nation was in a state where it looked like there's not going to be any solution in this country,

At that time.

So we thought,

We and a whole lot of other people believed,

Unless there's an armed revolution there is no way out for this country.

And even in school there were teachers who were giving us talks.

And everywhere there was Russian literature and we read and read,

You know,

We devoured Russian literature and it all made sense.

But I'm always angry,

You can't believe this.

But I'm always angry because everywhere I see injustice,

In home,

On the street,

Everywhere,

Everywhere in politics and religion,

Any damn place I see only injustice and injustice and injustice.

So I am all the time twenty-four hours angry about something.

When you're angry,

You want a quick solution.

You're not willing to wait for solutions to happen,

You want a quick solution.

So the quick solution looked like armed struggle.

These were the heady days of Charu Majumdar and Somalu in the south.

Well,

We were fired up by that.

I'm not regretting those days.

But we have come to a time now where we are threshold… on a threshold of possibility,

Through democratic means.

Never before this has happened in the world,

I want you to know this.

The only nation which has moved a billion people from poverty to a certain level of economic well-being is the China… is China,

Okay?

But they did it the hard way,

Violent way,

All bullets and bullets and bullets.

But they've done a great job because keeping people for generations in poverty is worse than killing them,

In extreme poverty where nourishment is a issue.

So they did what they did in their own way.

You can condemn them or you can admire them.

For me,

It's a certain wisdom,

Painful wisdom,

Which they employed and they did.

And once they achieved what they have to achieve,

Now they're trying to move slowly towards a democratic process to some extent,

At least open market system they're going into.

But with India,

We have a unique possibility.

We can move five-hundred to six-hundred million people from abject poverty,

In which they are right now,

To a reasonable level of well-being in a matter of next ten to fifteen years' time.

We are just on the threshold of that.

Through a democratic process,

Without bullets,

Without killing,

Without massive repression,

Nothing.

No force.

Without force,

We are able to do it.

If we manage to do it,

If all of us get together,

It will happen.

Otherwise,

We'll sit on the threshold forever.

Right now,

There is a possibility we can cross the threshold.

I think we must make that possibility a reality because never before,

Any nation,

Anywhere has moved six-hundred million people from poverty to reasonable well-being in a matter of one generation.

It's not happened anywhere.

We can do this in this country for the first time.

So,

Well,

When you were young,

You were communist,

Now you're saying this.

I've not changed my position.

I'm still that.

Because for me,

Communism means an individual embracing the community as myself.

That I still am.

I may not be in the party,

Because the party didn't make sense to me,

But communism has not gone out of me.

We are a community where we live together,

A few thousand people,

Without any distinction of caste,

Creed,

Religion,

Anything.

Usually I've ever asked who come to Isha Yoga Center,

What is your religion,

What is your caste,

I don't even ask because it never occurs to my mind.

So how I became right-wing in JNU,

I do not know.

So I feel today,

When information is available everywhere,

I think young people,

Educated people should… All of you research scholars should do some research at least,

All right?

Just making wild conclusions about somebody whom you have not even met.

This I've seen everywhere,

Especially in this country.

This doesn't happen anywhere else in the world,

This is what I'm seeing.

In this country,

People who have never met you seem to know more about me than I know about myself.

Those who have never seen me,

Those who have never met me,

Those who have never spoken to me,

They know more about me than I know about my own life.

I think you must give them a PhD because they're such a imaginative research they're doing.

So I'm working with governments.

I will always work,

Let everybody know this.

Whichever government gets elected,

Because I bow down to the people's will.

My opinion is not bigger.

My opinion is not bigger than the people's will of this nation,

Always.

Questioner 1 – Sadhguru,

Even if we buy this argument,

There's a predominant conception that there is some leaning towards the right because like this is… did you… did you feel this is high time… this is high time to galvanize votes for 2019,

That the Youth and Truth campaign?

Okay,

See,

If I give a call,

I don't have to go university to university.

If I give a call,

Any party will get substantial vote,

Okay?

But I will tell you this,

But I will tell you this,

My daughter comes and asks me,

Which party should I vote?

I won't tell her.

I tell her,

You need to think.

She is an artist.

So I tell her,

You need to think.

What's good for you and people around you?

Maybe not good for me,

It doesn't matter.

What's good for you and people around you,

For your community of artists,

Whatever,

You must vote for that party,

Not what I say.

In the… you know,

In the yoga center and everywhere I go,

People ask,

,

,

Sadhguru,

Whom should I vote for?

I said,

I will not take the step of destroying democracy.

Because if I give a call and let's say ten million people vote,

Have you not destroyed democracy?

You have turned a democracy into a feudalistic process,

That one leader gives a call,

So everybody blindly will vote for something.

This is what you're trying to change.

People are voting on the basis of religion,

Caste,

Creed and all kinds of rubbish.

This is what needs to change,

Only when individual people think for themselves and vote every time fresh,

Not committed to even a party,

Only then democracy will stay alive.

This is the most precious thing we have,

Because what is precious about a democracy is,

Power can shift without bloodletting.

Never in the history of humanity such things have happened.

Even if power has to change in a family,

Somebody will be… somebody will bleed.

Yes or no?

This is how it's been.

But for the first time in the last hundred years or hundred-and-fifty years,

We are able to change leadership without bloodletting.

Do not underestimate that.

Do not ever underestimate that.

Questioner 1 – Sadhguru,

Let us move from politics to research.

So,

JNN is well known for research and there are 8,

000 students on this campus.

More than fifty percent of students are in research.

Sadhguru – No,

5200 are in research,

I've done some research.

Okay,

Sadhguru,

A question is keep bothering me since many years,

That since you asked me… you said us to ask any question.

You know,

The question is,

What is research,

Especially in social science?

Finding out things that your grandmother already knew.

No,

No,

I'm not trying to belittle all research.

It is just that a whole lot of things we may know,

But still it is not articulated.

It is not put in a way that it is implementable.

Maybe your grandmother knew everything that you're researching,

But she could not articulate and put it in a framework so that it can be applied somewhere.

She knows it by her experience,

But still it's not an application.

So,

The idea of research is to find out things,

Maybe the same things people have known forever,

Especially in social sciences,

Not in physical sciences and other things,

The research may be different.

But in social sciences,

A whole lot of wise people always knew whatever you're researching,

All right?

But still it has not been put into a framework which is applicable,

Which can be used in a government or in an institution or somewhere else,

Wherever structures are there.

So giving a structure to the knowledge that you already may know.

And social sciences will keep changing because society keeps evolving and changing.

So what your grandmother knew maybe was true for her generation,

But everything might have changed.

Many fundamentals might have changed because society keeps changing,

People keep changing,

Their attitudes keep changing,

Everything keeps changing,

Our practices,

Daily how we behave,

How we drive,

How we walk on the street,

Everything is changing,

Isn't it?

These days we're walking like this only.

Hello?

Nobody is looking at the road,

They're looking at the Google map and walking.

So things have changed.

So accordingly research also becomes valuable because many things have changed and a whole lot of people may not realize it's changed unless it's well articulated that this change has happened,

This is the adapt… adaptation it needs.

A whole lot of people may not understand unless it's articulated,

So it's valuable.

Questioner 1 – Sadhguru,

I have one more question on research.

In research,

We are taught to emphasize on five senses and logic.

When it comes to spirituality,

In many videos you said five senses and logic would not help you to access that reality.

So how to reconcile between these two research and spirituality?

Sadhguru – See,

To perceive what's around you,

To operate in this world fundamentally,

You need to see,

Hear,

Smell,

Taste and touch.

This is the way you know the physical world.

So the instruments that you use for physical world may not be useful for seeing or perceiving another dimension of life.

But that does not mean your eyes are useless,

That does not mean your ears and sense of smell and taste and touch is useless.

It is restricted to one realm of life.

If you try to apply to another,

It will go waste.

It is like you're driving a car.

You saw the moon,

You know,

Yesterday was full moon,

Tch.

You saw the big moon and you felt like going there.

Sometimes the car advertisements get little esoteric and they've told you,

You really gas it up,

You'll go to the moon.

Well,

If you try very hard,

You may go beyond the moon,

But you will not go to the moon because to go to the moon,

You need a different kind of vehicle.

In your car,

You're not going to the moon.

So similarly with your five senses,

You are not going to cross the realm of the physical.

Five senses are designed only to perceive the physical nature.

Your social sciences are physical nature around you.

You better sharpen your five senses,

It's very important that everybody does not see.

.

.

They may have the same twenty-twenty vision,

But everybody does not see what one person sees,

Isn't it,

In the same given situation?

Is it so or no?

Everybody does not hear everything that another person hears.

Hearing may be normal,

But keenness of attention will make a huge difference.

What you see,

What you hear,

How you see,

How keenly you perceive things is not just because of your eyes,

Ears and nose and whatever.

It needs the keenness of perception.

For that,

You need a heightened level of attention.

That is what you must practice in research,

Not try to transcend five senses because then you won't see the society,

You will see something else.

Questioner 1 – Sadhguru,

Another very important concept which is very important in this campus is of feminism.

And in one of your earlier videos,

You have said that feminists are just desperately trying to be men.

So… Sadhguru – No,

No,

No,

You are going by other people's comments,

Not mine.

You are going by some Delhi lawyers making some stupid comments,

Okay?

Questioner 1 – But still,

Sadhguru,

What would you.

.

.

What is your idea of it?

How would you see it?

Sadhguru – What.

.

.

See,

First of all,

A man and a woman are not two different species.

We need to understand that till,

Let's say,

Fifty years ago or hundred years ago,

Till technologies came,

There were certain things in life that only a man could do because it.

.

.

Everything work on this planet were essentially done by man's muscle,

Yes?

Everything by human muscle,

Mainly man's muscle.

Women took to those kind of activities where muscle is not the main investment.

There are other aspects to life,

They took to that naturally.

So that's how the world was running.

Today,

Women are out and doing many things,

Not because of liberalism,

Not because of feminism,

Simply because of technology.

Technology has devalued.

Oh,

That's a bad word to use,

Huh?

Technology has devalued brawn.

Only brain power matters now.

Still it matters in India,

Even if you go.

.

.

Want to get onto your bus in India,

You need some muscle,

Okay?

But if technology as it gets very all-pervading in every aspect of our life,

You will come to a place where you don't have to think who is a man,

Who is a woman,

Why should you think?

Right now I'm talking to you,

What does it matter to me whether you're a man or a woman,

Only in certain relationships,

In certain spaces,

Being a male or a female is relevant,

Isn't it?

For you to do your research,

What does it matter whether you're a man or a woman?

If you have a few brain cells working,

You can do it,

Right?

So this thing about excessively trying to separate male and female as if they're two separate species is a wrong way to approach.

This is happening in reaction to exploitative situations which have existed in the past.

But even these exploitative situations are to.

.

.

It is true to some extent.

To a large extent it is true,

Let me say this,

But it is not absolutely true.

It is not true all women in this country or all women in the world were exploited,

It's not true.

Many women lived wonderfully well.

Yes?

Maybe they never came out of the home.

.

.

Of their homes and did some work outside,

But they lived wonderfully well doing.

.

.

Fulfilling their part of their work beautifully and doing it.

So this idea that man and woman always have to fight to achieve something is a wrong idea.

So instead of talking about feminism,

I'm saying what is feminine has to find equal value in the society means one thing that needs to happen is.

.

.

See if you create survival of the fittest kind of atmosphere,

Masculine will rule.

When I say masculine,

I'm not saying man.

A woman may become more masculine in given situations and she may succeed.

But the loss of feminine is a loss for the species.

Hello?

If we lose everything that's feminine,

Everything that's gentle,

Everything that's beautiful is lost simply because we have created a crude society where unless you are like this,

You can't win.

You're destroying the species.

The beauty of feminine is gone.

Then men will wonder why the hell are they alive after some time.

Yes,

It will come.

So for any wonderful society to happen,

It's very important we create an ecosystem where both masculine and feminine can function.

But from the caveman's time where human muscle ruled everything and women were kept in a certain way because muscle was the most important thing,

Once again we are creating the same system in the modern world,

Survival of the fittest,

Dog eat dog,

Rat race,

Whatever you want to call it.

If you do this,

You will kill the feminine,

Maybe not the women.

Women may succeed,

They may build themselves like men and they succeed.

But isn't it a great loss for the species that somewhere you understand feminine is weakness.

This must go.

Feminine is not weakness,

It's another form of strength.

It's another form of life expression.

As masculine is one form of expression,

Feminine is another form of expression.

In yoga,

The masculine is called right,

Pingala and feminine is left.

So I'm sorry I'm on the right side.

But we are on equal terms two and two,

So okay.

Participant – Totally,

Totally Sadhguru.

Participant – Sadhguru,

We as students stay away from our homes,

From the familial,

Emotional comforts.

In terms of our careers,

We move out seeking greener pastures.

In that we seek company in opposite sex.

Some people get into relationships which gradually progresses to physical intimacy.

Sadhguru,

The question is then why as generations we cannot discuss it openly or is pre-marital sex still a taboo?

See,

This is not some kind of a prescription.

This is an individual need.

Right now we must understand this,

In this society we handle human sexuality like this.

Before a girl attains puberty,

They are named.

This is the boy you're going to marry at the age of six or seven.

They don't marry but they say they keep telling him,

Your uncle's son,

This guy,

You're going to marry him,

You're going to marry him.

They're telling him,

You're going to marry her.

So they have not seen each other,

They have not met each other,

They have nothing going.

But emotionally they're being bound.

Before they touch each other physically,

They want them to be emotionally bound in a strong way.

So this is the technique of the culture,

How they dealt with it.

So when you become or attain to your puberty,

When your body blossoms into certain possibilities,

Now your emotions are already with somebody.

So you handle your body,

You don't go wild because your emotions are already attached to somebody.

So by the time they're fifteen,

Sixteen,

The girl gets married.

By the time they're seventeen,

Eighteen,

The boy gets married.

They get into agriculture or business or whatever,

Whatever,

Their activity.

So one important aspect of the life of the youth is settled.

One thing is emotion,

Another thing is a physical requirement.

Both are settled at an early age.

And of course,

Those days children came within a year or two years,

So they got engaged and they got busy and they… life went on,

All right?

Today our lives have changed because by the time you finish education,

Most people are minimum twenty-four,

Twenty-five years of age.

PhD means thirty… what,

Thirty-five?

I don't know what.

It depends how kind your professor is.

So let us say average education time is twenty-five years of age.

By the time they get employment and settle down somewhere to reasonable financial security,

Thirty years of time,

All right?

The peak of human hormonal function is between fifteen to thirty.

You're not teaching people some ascetic way to live.

You're not giving them some sadhana that they're transforming their energy into some other possibility and attaining to something else.

There is no such thing.

And there's close proximity with the opposite sex.

If you don't want to address it,

Then you will create an unhealthy society,

Very unhealthy society which unfortunately is finding expression in violent ways in our society because we've not addressed the fundamental needs of a human being.

First thing is nourishment.

If nourishment is taken care of,

You must understand,

Nourishment is survival.

Once survival is taken care of,

Naturally the species,

This is not even individual,

The species that you are is longing to reproduce.

This is how it's built.

It's longing to reproduce because this is survival of the species.

If people don't reproduce,

There is not going to be human race,

Isn't it?

So your body and your mind plays many tricks and how when you look at somebody you suddenly think they're the most beautiful,

Suddenly you think they're the most fantastic,

You will discover later.

Many things.

But initially everything is clouded.

See,

I'm telling you,

Let's say you are ten,

Twelve years of age,

You looked at people,

They're quite normal.

Suddenly you became fourteen,

Every little bump on somebody's body is a world by itself.

Simply because your hormones begin to influence everything.

In a way your hormone… your intelligence is hij… your intelligence is hijacked by your hormones.

Now this is not to be judged as bad or good,

This is a natural process.

There may be a few people who will go beyond that.

It's fantastic for them if they can go beyond that.

They're not compulsive about it,

They went beyond it,

Fantastic for that person.

But you expect the whole society to go beyond that,

You're just stupid.

Such a thing doesn't happen.

So definitely the debate of when and how sexuality should happen has to come in.

But now we're still having a certain cultural aspects to us that we are a emotional lot.

We are still an emotional lot.

People suffer immensely when things happen without the needed emotions.

A whole lot of people at least.

There may be a few people who are above that,

But a whole lot of people suffer.

So for our country,

For our society,

How to deal with this without causing a major disruption in the social structure is something that we must debate.

You must do research on it,

How to do it.

Questioner 1 – Sadhguru,

Though I get a little hint of the answer of my question from your elaboration,

But still I will ask it.

So I had this belief or in fact maybe I was made to believe this whole concept of one life,

One partner,

But now when I see or observe the whole monogamous relationships do not seem to be existing anymore.

The whole idea of it is gone.

What you think about it?

Sadhguru – Oh,

It's not gone,

Maybe in J&U it's gone.

In the rest of the world it's not really gone.

Even if you… even if you go to United States where there seems to be so much pro… promiscuity,

Even there when people marry they believe it's for life.

And of course two years later life gets over.

That's another matter,

But when they get married they believe it's for life.

That's why they invest in the diamonds.

They think it's a lifetime investment.

They're putting on that,

But unfortunately for all kinds of things relationships go wrong and one reason they go wrong so easily is because people are meeting much later in their life.

See,

When people met much younger,

When their personalities were not concretized,

They met early 17,

18,

Then two people became like one person very easily.

Now they're meeting at thirty.

Now both are concretized,

Two concrete blocks.

But I'm seeing young people if they marry they hang on.

If people marry over fifty years of age they hang on because they've again softened up.

That is again between twenty… between thirty and fifty it's a bit of a concrete block,

You know,

Strong persona.

Now friction happens.

Well if they're wise they will find something beyond.

Well monogamy and polygamy or whatever kind of gammy if you want to see.

The important thing we need to understand is,

You know,

We are all here.

You and me are here.

This means a man and woman came together some time ago.

Maybe you think they're… think,

Ah,

They're parents,

You know,

They don't love,

They don't do sex,

They don't do anything.

Just because a priest uttered a mantra you were born probably.

No,

It's not like that.

Everybody had a physical need,

So they handle it through marriage and we are here.

And now we can at… at a certain age,

At a stage in your life,

After… when you become eighteen you become always against marriage.

But when you were three years of age you were for marriage,

Your parents' marriage.

When you were three years of age were you not glad your parents had a stable marriage?

Hello?

When you're eighteen you think of resax and no marriage and everything.

But once again if you become fifty-fifty-five,

Then you will look for a relationship that lasts.

So,

It is for you to consider,

Because it's your life,

To consider whether you want to live a life where emotionally you're always looking out for somebody or you settle it in a certain way so that you can use your intelligence and time to create something else.

Your research,

Your work or whatever you're doing,

If emotions and body are settled,

Actually your ability to use your intelligence will be much better.

Otherwise every day you have to walk around to find somebody.

No,

I'm not making this any… this thing because I feel so bad in United States.

People I know,

I know… you know the thousands of people are involved with me now.

People over forty-forty-five years of age,

Women I'm saying,

Wonderful people.

But they are all on this… these days they've all gone online.

Otherwise they go sit in a bar and wait.

Somebody needs to pick them up today.

It's terrible.

Questioner 1 – Tinder generation.

Sadhguru – I'm sorry?

Questioner 1 – Tinder generation.

Sadhguru – Whatever you want to call it.

But I think it's so pathetic when a woman at forty-five should have been loved and respected in a proper atmosphere.

Now she's sitting there looking for some strange guy to come her way and she's going to make the judgment in the next ten minutes when he buys her a drink or a dinner or something.

This is tragic.

This is tragic that you will end up without any sense of dignity.

This doesn't mean everybody will go that way.

But you must think of the larger well-being before you break a social structure.

You must think whether we can replace it with a better structure.

At any point in our life,

Let everybody understand this,

Whether it's a social structure or a political structure or a psychological setup in the society,

Whatever,

Before we break it,

We must think through whether we have a better alternative system.

Without an alternative system,

If you break the existing damn thing that's working reasonably well,

Then it'll go crazy.

Questioner 1 – Sadhguru,

Thank you so much for the elaboration.

It was extremely valuable and precious for us.

The different reflections that you had on the various aspects of life that came up in our questions and also in your answers.

Before we open this house for the wonderful audience tonight,

We'd like to take up some social media questions.

And the first question is by Aniket Diwadkar.

He says,

Hi Guruji,

In recent days I came across several contents about Illuminati,

Secret society,

Who are ruling our whole world using media,

Finance network and pharma politics.

Even many leaders,

Gurujis and priests are under their control.

Your answer on this… Sadhguru laughs… not me,

Not me.

Questioner 1 – But you have to still answer the question.

Sadhguru – I will,

I will.

But I'm saying I'm not under that control.

Questioner 1 – We agree.

Sadhguru – Say,

I think you're reading Dan Brown.

Questioner 1 – You mean Aniket?

Sadhguru – Huh?

Questioner 1 – Aniket Diwadkar.

Sadhguru – Yes,

Yes.

Aniket,

Wherever you are.

See,

See it is… it is part of European culture to always… well,

We are also imbibing it these days quite a bit.

But in Europe,

Secret schools were romantic stuff.

Even people who are now famous like… like Socrates or Aristotle and these people,

They were also part of the secret schools.

Why would I make my school secret?

Because society is in a mode of persecution of anything that doesn't… it does not agree with persecution.

Only if there is persecution,

A school becomes a secret school,

Isn't it so?

So,

Secret school traditions are so much in Europe,

Because the dogmatic religious beliefs were really suppressing anything.

Anything that they think is gathering ten people,

They want to demolish it,

They will kill them.

So,

They ran secret schools.

In this,

Whatever you are referring to as Illuminati and later on it transformed itself into Freemasons,

Some history… I'm not… I cannot confirm this.

Some books have been written as to how Freemasonry was started by the Indian masons who went to Egypt.

Because they had to survive in a strange land,

They came up with all kinds of tricks how to survive.

Among themselves,

They developed code and contacted… you know,

Communicated with each other in code language so that they survive in that hostile culture.

And from there it spread,

That's what some books say,

But I'm… There is no historical certainty about that.

But it's possible… We know that masons went.

Stone masons from India went for building pyramids and the Baalbek temple.

There are clear records about the Baalbek temple in Lebanon,

Which is about 4200 or 300 years old,

Where they built a sun… a Phoenician temple which was built,

Where Indian masons and Indian elephants worked.

Every Lebanese child knows about it in their school,

But none of the Indians ever study this or anything like this is mentioned anywhere in any of the Indian history books,

Unfortunately.

Anyway.

So later on it became Freemasonry and Freemasonry took on a powerful form.

When it went to United States,

It took on a very powerful form because the Christian dogmatic thing was so suppressive.

Free-thinking people called themselves Freemasons,

Though they were not doing any Masonry anymore.

But you will see one thing,

Wherever Freemasons are there,

The building designs are fantastic.

This… I have gone to a whole lot of Freemason temples simply because I love the design part of what they have done,

Fantastic designs.

Because geometry is very much a part of their culture.

It is because of this probably somebody is writing books saying that they came from India.

Because in India the yogic culture invested itself absolutely in the geometric aspect of life.

Yoga means in one way aligning your geometry so that you've become aligned with the cosmic geometry so that your experience of life is enhanced in such a way that what is you and what is cosmos in some way becomes a reflection of yourself or you become a reflection of the cosmos,

Whichever way you want to see it.

So because wherever we see an extreme sense of geometry,

Then we think yogis must have been here because this level of geometry doesn't come unless you are into an internal process in ancient times.

Now of course people are studying geometry at a different level outside,

But otherwise at that time the only way you could understand geometry so complex was studying your own structure how this body is made and observing the planets and astronomical phenomena.

So at one time,

Yes they controlled a few things,

But I think all secret schools are overly exaggerated.

And don't worry,

Aniket,

What's his name?

Aniket Diwat.

Don't worry,

They are not controlling anything much these days.

Donald Trump is controlling a lot of things.

Questioner 1 – Sadhguru,

Second question from social media.

Aryan Sen asking this question,

How important is a man's semen for physical,

Mental and spiritual well-being?

Can wasting our semen damage us spiritually?

Well,

You know semen is the basis of your physical existence,

Whether you are man or a woman.

You have come into existence because that is fifty percent of the ingredient,

Yes?

Well,

We have skin,

We have epithelial cells,

We have hair,

We have many other aspects of body,

You know heart,

Liver,

Kidney,

So many things.

All these cells are of a certain potency in their own way,

But semen is of an extraordinary level of potency,

It can create a whole new life.

Well,

Today you can take an epithelial cell and do lot of things in a laboratory and maybe we can clone you,

All right?

So the potential is here also,

But it is not in the same dynamics as it is in the cell,

Which is… which you are referring to as semen.

So in the yogic culture,

This is called as virya.

Virya also refers to what you call as vajra,

Which means stability or diamond,

Which is the hardest thing.

So in the human body,

Virya is considered to be like vajra.

That means it is one of the most potent things if you know how to use it.

Well,

How to use it means you can use it to produce a child,

That's one thing.

Well,

If you are… this question is coming because you are using it to spill it on the JNU bedsheets,

Okay?

If that's how you are using it,

Well,

That's your compulsion,

You're doing whatever you're doing.

I'm… this is not something to be judged morally,

That's not the point,

It's a question of what is the level of compulsion that one has.

But anything in this body,

Can it be transformed into a different level of function?

Absolutely.

Not just semen,

Just everything in this body can be transformed.

See,

Suppose I gave you all soup making ingredients,

Same soup making ingredients to every one of you,

Do you believe all of you will produce the same soup?

No.

You will produce five hundred varieties of soups,

Those same ingredients.

That's all that's happened with us right now.

All of us are fundamentally same ingredients,

But see how different each one of us are.

Different soups.

Well,

If I give you soup making ingredients,

Either you can make a great soup or a lousy soup.

Depends what kind of skills you have,

Isn't it?

So this goes for everything,

Not just for semen.

Every dimension of your body and your mind,

You can transform into something tremendous,

Or you can make it mediocre,

Or you can make it a serious problem.

Every aspect of your life,

That goes for this aspect of life also.

This same energy… See,

People are making it literal translations,

But if you want to produce a certain,

Let's say epithelial cells,

How much energy the body spends on it.

And if you want to produce a cell which you call a semen,

How much energy body spends is very different.

This can be scientifically established.

So when you're investing so much energy in that,

Obviously it has a potency if you know how to explore.

But are you competent to explore?

Are you capable of exploring?

Do you have the necessary sadhana and guidance to do that?

That's a big question mark.

Questioner 1 – Thank you,

Sadhguru.

Now we'll open the house for our wonderful and patient audience to shoot their questions.

We have just a humble request that do not shout out your questions,

Look for the mic and please keep one question,

One person.

We have people with mics,

So you'll have to locate your mics.

Questioner 2 – Guruji,

Yes.

Namaskaram Guruji.

Guruji,

You said that… Sadhguru – Little closer,

If you can hold it this way.

Questioner 2 – Only less than one percent of the people tap into their genius.

You have always told us that turn inward.

So how do we turn inward and what do we look at?

Sadhguru – No,

No,

I didn't get that.

Can you hold the microphone?

Questioner 2 – I'm saying that only one percent of the genius… only one percent of the people tap into their genius and you say that you need to turn inward to tap into their genius.

How do we turn inward and what do we see?

Well,

These… there are two things mixed up in this – to unfold human genius,

You need both external ambience and internal ambience.

Internal ambience is just this – you must come to ease.

You must come to total ease with life.

Most people are going like this all the time.

You have to come to ease.

Coming to ease means… somebody was asking me in one of the colleges,

How do we know where ease is?

In the yoga center,

We have a cobra test.

You know about this already,

Hmm?

You already know about it?

Some of them know.

See,

Most of the venomous creatures are like this,

Particularly cobras are like this and the bees are like that and even the spiders are like that.

They don't see you,

They don't hear you much.

Cobras are stone deaf,

You know,

Snakes are mostly stone deaf,

They can't hear a thing.

But they feel your chemistry.

If you go into the forest and just pick up a cobra like this,

Not holding by the head and all that,

Simply like this,

He will simply come without any reaction.

I think you saw… they saw… showed a quick image there where I'm holding a king cobra in my hand,

Not by the head,

Just like this.

He's not a pet,

He's a wild snake,

Okay?

He was with us only for two days,

Then we left him in the mountains because he came there,

I caught him.

So if a king cobra bites you,

It will give you somewhere between twenty to forty minutes to live.

He has enough venom to kill an elephant,

Okay?

That king cobra that you saw is nearly thirteen feet long.

He has enough venom to kill an elephant.

But I'm holding him like this,

He's simply there because he only sensing your chemistry.

If you show a little bit of anxiety,

He'll go for you because he senses danger.

Your anxiety is danger for him.

So we can put you through a cobra test whether you have come to ease or not.

Even if you come to ease,

Whether the social situation will allow you to explore your genius or not,

That is also there.

When you have a very dogmatic social structure around you,

When you have very dogmatic religions around you,

Then they won't allow you to explore your genius.

They will make sure that you stick to the norms that they've established.

So creating a social ambiance and an internal ambiance is important.

I think today you can escape from any kind of dogmatic situations or compulsive situations around you.

You can leave that place.

It was not possible to leave that place hundred,

Two hundred years ago.

But today if you find a situation is completely not conducive for your way of existence,

You can leave that place and transport yourself to another place and live there,

Isn't it?

This was not possible in the past.

But now you have to come to ease.

But today whole lot of you are taking pride.

You're looking at your lack of attention,

Your stress,

Like qualifications.

I'm stressed,

I'm stressed.

It's supposed to be a qualification or what?

It's almost become like this,

Especially I'm seeing in the management sector,

If you're a CEO,

At least you must have an ulcer.

Otherwise you're not a good CEO,

You're not working hard enough.

This is because we are thinking stress is a natural phenomena.

No,

Stress is just your inability to handle your own system.

Yes?

You do not know how to handle your body,

How to handle your chemistry,

How to handle your thought,

Your emotion.

And you're calling this.

.

.

This is happening because of something else.

No.

Outside situations people will create the way they know life.

It's for you to create the inner situations the way you want it,

Isn't it?

The world will never happen hundred percent your way,

Never ever.

But at least this one person must happen your way,

Isn't it so?

Right now this person is not happening your way,

That's the big problem.

The reason why I'm here today is to see.

.

.

To provide tools or technologies for well-being so that at least within yourself you're the way you want to be.

If you had a choice as to how to be within yourself,

Would you choose to be joyful or miserable?

You must tell me right now,

I'm going to bless you.

Choice for yourself is very clear,

Isn't it?

If there is a choice between pleasantness and unpleasantness,

You want pleasantness for yourself.

What you want for your neighbor may be debatable.

But what you want for yourself is hundred percent clear.

Coming to ease,

There are many ways people.

.

.

This.

.

.

This question can be asked,

Ease means people will say,

Peace.

This happened.

Can I tell you a joke?

Are you okay?

Because many of you are looking so serious,

I'm wondering.

In JNU there are jokes or only serious.

.

.

Hello?

Participant – All the time jokes.

So,

Shankaran Pillai was a abusive husband.

He was always abusing his wife,

Sometimes physical abuse,

Sometimes sexual abuse,

Sometimes verbal abuse on a daily basis,

Everything.

But the wife was always just calm,

Undisturbed.

One day he freaked on her,

But she was undisturbed.

Then he asked,

How do you do this?

I'm abusing you.

Every day I say something nasty,

Some days I do something nasty to you,

But I've never seen you throwing up.

You're always peaceful.

How do you do it?

She said,

I clean the toilet.

What?

If I abuse you,

You clean the toilet?

She says,

Yes,

If you abuse me,

I clean the toilet.

When I physically abuse you,

She said,

I will clean two toilets.

If I sexually abuse you,

She said,

I'll clean all the toilets in the house.

But cleaning a toilet,

How does it keep you peaceful?

He said… She said,

I use your toothbrush.

There are many ways of handling it.

We'd now… There are hundred of students outside the auditorium.

So we'll now take up a question from outside.

Hello sir,

My name is Mohd.

Akmal and I'm a student of JNU.

My question to you is that,

Like I have some other's question in my mind,

But right now my question is that you said when you were in United States,

You always said there that India is the biggest living democracy.

But now after four years you have stopped saying this.

You too stopped like saying this thing now.

Like why you have stopped saying this that now we are not the biggest living democracy?

No,

No,

I think you're taking four years literally.

Not because of these four years.

I am seeing we are also getting organized like United States.

Either I'm a Republican or a Democrat.

My father was a Republican.

My grandfather was a Republican,

So I am also Republican.

This is what a Republican said.

Then another person asked,

A Democrat asked him,

Suppose your father was a jackass and your grandfather was a jackass,

What would you be?

He said,

I would be a Democrat.

So United States was unfortunately divided like this for last few decades.

But that was not so in India.

But now I would say in the last probably ten years or so,

It's becoming so vitiated.

Everybody belongs to some party.

This is destruction of democracy.

Everybody should look at it,

Not before.

Three months before election,

You should start evaluating what have these people done?

Have they done something for the nation?

Have they not done something for the nation?

Should you give them another chance or should you not give them another chance is something that you must evaluate just before election,

Not right through the five years.

There's no sense to that.

You must evaluate according to your intelligence.

Today there's information,

All right?

There is enough information.

Using that information according to your intelligence,

Not driven by your peers,

Not driven by your party,

Not driven by your father or grandfather who was a jackass.

By your intelligence,

According to your understanding,

You must vote.

Only then this franchise has some meaning.

This is why secret ballot.

Already we decided this is right,

This is left.

What is the point of voting?

We already know we can just count you straight away.

The entire exercise of election,

It is one of the largest phenomena on the planet,

Indian election process.

It's a phenomenal and fantastic process.

It reaches the remotest village in the country and it's reasonably organized,

Believe me.

In spite of all the chaos,

It is pretty well organized.

And what is the point if well beforehand,

Five years ago itself I am determined which party I am going to vote to,

What is the point of this exercise?

What is the point of a secret ballot?

The idea is nobody should know who you voted for,

Isn't it?

It's very important,

If you want to keep democracy.

Questioner 1 – Sadhguru looks in complete mood to continue this conversation.

However,

We are running very low on time,

So probably we'll take just one more question from the audience and we close the event.

Questioner 2 – Hello Sadhguru,

My name is Tamanna.

My question to you is,

We see quite a generation gap between our generation and our parents' generation and it sometimes so happens that we want… Sadhguru – Hey,

No,

Not me,

No gap between you and me.

I am much younger than you.

Questioner 2 – It sometimes so happens that we want something out of our life and they don't necessarily agree with it and we end up in a conflict.

And we sometimes even curb our desires just to see them happy.

So how do we deal with that conflict?

Sadhguru – See,

Please sit down.

This is not a problem with your generation.

This is a problem,

Unfortunately,

With every generation.

I think it's very silly that every generation has the same problem.

If we are in a learning mode,

At least we must have a new problem,

Isn't it?

Every generation has the same problem.

Though they were also youth just twenty-five,

Thirty years ago,

Somehow they suddenly act like they landed,

Just like as they are today.

So because your parents are not here,

I can't talk to them,

So we'll talk to you.

If you want to craft your life the way you want and what you want,

If it's not in concurrence with your parents or the society in which you live in or the university in which you're studying,

It can happen.

What you choose may not be in line not only with your parents' choices,

May not be in line with your peers' choices,

May be… may not be in line with the institution's choices,

May not be in line with the society in which you live.

So if you want to do your own thing,

You must understand there will be a price to pay.

Only thing you're complaining about is,

How to have what I want without paying a price.

There is no such life.

If you want to do what you want and if what you want is not in line with the larger interests of what is around you,

Then they will make you pay a price.

If what you want means so much to you,

You must pay the price.

But if you find the price is too much for what little you want to do,

You will step back naturally.

It's like going to the market,

You know.

You went and want to buy a few flowers,

That guy says,

Two thousand bucks.

For flowers?

You say,

No,

I want flowers.

But no,

Because he's asking too big a price.

This is so with every step in our life.

When we want to do something,

There will be a price attached to it.

We must evaluate,

Do I want to pay this price?

What I want,

Does it mean so much to me that I'm willing to pay this price or I'm not willing to pay this price?

This is individual.

There is no standard treatment for everybody.

This is individual.

Some people want it so badly,

They're willing to pay any price.

For some people it's a passing interest,

So they will drop it and they'll go on.

There's nothing wrong with both.

Both are fine.

The questions are interesting and intriguing.

So we'll ask Sadhguru… You didn't say anything about the answers,

Hmm?

And we do not disagree about the answers.

She's only praising Jay and you,

Why she's leaving me out.

Isn't that my primary duty?

Sadhguru,

If we can take some more because we all are buzzing with questions in our heads.

I'm out of time.

All right.

Questioner 1 – Namaskaram,

Sadhguru.

Sadhguru – Not like this,

Like… You've seen Lady Gaga?

Questioner 1 – Sadhguru,

My question is regarding the education system which is followed everywhere,

Especially in India.

Your lordship… Oh,

Your lordship.

Sorry,

I'm a lawyer.

So,

Sadhguru,

My question is,

What is… what exactly is the ideal education system that we should have in a country so that we can explore every dimension of life,

Keeping intact the material needs of the country,

Everyone,

With… who are there around?

Time?

Sadhguru – See,

There is no such system that… that you can create in a limited amount of time that human life is,

And that too education is a certain part of our life,

To create that you can experience every dimension of life for everybody.

No,

It won't work like that.

Somebody is interested in academics,

They should go one way.

Somebody just wants to earn a living,

They must go another way.

Somebody else has some other kind of skills,

They must go another way.

I think early on,

I'm saying at the age of twelve,

By twelve everybody is reasonably literate.

They can read at least one or two languages in this country,

Two languages.

You can read English language and you can read your local language,

Whatever your mother tongue is.

These two languages you can read and grasp what is written in a paper.

To this level we must bring every child before they are twelve.

We should not cramp them with too many things,

Just language and perception.

What I read,

I understand,

That's all.

This capability if you bring by twelve,

Then you can do evaluation,

Who should go for skill-based thing,

Who should go for little higher level of expertise in the same skills,

Who should go for academic pursuits.

This needs to happen.

If this doesn't happen,

Everybody is being pushed through the extruder of academics.

People are just committing suicide,

Not one or two.

In 2016,

Some 17,

600 youth below eighteen years of age commit suicide.

Seven thousand and odd are below fifteen years of age.

If twelve,

Thirteen,

Fourteen year old boys and girls start killing themselves,

Are we not doing something fundamentally wrong in our society?

Hello?

Participants – Yes.

Not grown-up people,

Twelve,

Thirteen year old boys and girls who must be exuberant life,

At that time they want to take their life.

Obviously,

We are doing something very fundamentally wrong,

Isn't it?

And unfortunately,

Ninety percent of these suicides are education related.

Few other things are family,

Something else,

Some other issues,

But ninety percent of them are education related.

Obviously we need to revisit this education as to how to do education.

We are trying to put everybody through the same process.

Not everybody is equipped to go through the same process.

It's very important.

It's most,

What to say,

Cruel way of handling a child.

Questioner – Namaste,

I'm from outside.

Sadhguru – Where are you,

Where are you?

Oh,

Oh.

Questioner – Yeah.

I have two questions.

First is,

How do we choose a good career?

And secondly,

How does… what do you think basically,

How is technology or more specifically artificial intelligence helping in education?

Sadhguru – Okay.

We'll answer the second question first because in the last… in the last two years,

People are inviting me to speak in all kinds of international conferences about artificial intelligence.

When they first invited me,

I didn't understand why am I being invited?

I said,

I am not an artificial intelligence,

I'm a natural intelligence.

Why are you calling me for artificial intelligence?

Then they said their problem is everybody is worrying if artificial intelligence comes,

We will lose our jobs.

I said,

That means you're going to have a holiday,

Which you're always looking for.

What is the problem if the machine does all the work on this planet?

How fantastic it is for human beings,

Hmm?

I think if machines do… start doing all the menial jobs,

Already just see,

Suppose everything that you have built in this JNU,

Let's say you are building it,

You had to just build it with a pickaxe and a crowbar,

How much work it would have taken?

Because machines and other things have come,

How much work has been taken off?

Because of that,

Your intelligence has found more opportunity.

If you were just wielding a crowbar,

Only your muscles would have grown.

So now,

Right now,

Most of the work that you're doing and most of education that you're teaching in this world is essentially about gathering of data.

Accumulate data,

Analyze it,

Assimilate it in a certain way and throw it at people in different ways.

This you call as education.

But now,

This Google lady,

She knows more than anybody around you.

Yes?

She seems to know everything.

You ask her anything with… without batting an eyelid,

She is telling you any damn thing in the world.

Yes or no?

So a time is coming,

It's just a question of five,

Ten years,

Where what you will learn in five years of research,

A machine will process it.

If you feed the data,

It will process it and tell you in five minutes.

This happened to me when I was very young.

I was… for the first time,

I saw a calculator,

A Panasonic or a Sony calculator.

At that time,

It was just around hundred rupees,

A flatbed calculator.

Probably you've not seen such basic calculators today.

It was very simple.

Then first time they showed me,

Tuk,

Tuk,

Tuk.

Erdemediv,

Tuk.

And the first thing I thought was,

Then why the hell am I going to this stupid math class?

If this damn machine can add for me,

Multiply for me,

Divide for me,

Cos theta,

Sine theta,

Everything,

Why the hell am… why the hell are they torturing me with this?

I said,

Just give me this one thing,

I won't come to the math class.

I'll give you all the answers you want.

Give me any problem,

I'll give you the answer.

It took so many years,

Over forty-five,

Fifty years.

Now that calculator has become so complex,

It knows more than you can know in your entire lifetime.

Hmm?

It's great,

Isn't it?

It's great,

Absolutely great because as physical work was taken away from you by the machines,

Physical machines,

Mechanical machines,

Now your intellectual work is being taken away by another kind of machine.

I think it's fantastic time coming.

You don't have to bother about gathering information,

Processing it,

Struggling with,

Misinterpreting it,

Misunderstanding it.

Nothing,

Everything processed and it'll come out clean.

Now what will the human beings do?

That's a big question.

This is what the caveman also thought when you showed him an earthmower.

What will I do if this earthmower comes?

Well,

That caveman is probably in JNU now.

Yes.

If there was no machines,

You would be also moving a rock somewhere,

Isn't it?

Because mechanical machines came,

Today you are in the university.

Tomorrow,

If an intellectual machine comes,

Anything that you can do in terms of data processing in your intellect,

Machines will do better than you in the next five to ten years' time.

And it will not be one big supercomputer,

It'll be in your pocket.

It'll be that smaller machine,

A small machine which will do more than all these brains put together in terms of intellectual assimilation of things.

Information,

Assimilation and projection.

This the machine will do better than you,

It'll give you permutations and combinations.

All research done in three days.

You put the data,

Boom,

It will tell you what is the conclusion.

So people are worried they will lose their jobs.

I'm glad they will lose their jobs.

Because I think a great time is coming for humanity that we don't have to do physical work,

We don't have to do intellectual work.

Only now you will explore other dimensions of intelligence within the human being.

Intellect is only the surface of your intelligence.

I know this is may gather a lot of… will you give me two minutes to explain this?

Because what you call as intellect is called buddhi in the yogic culture.

Buddhi,

Your intellect,

It will ask you… I'll ask you a question,

Those of you who are awake and asleep,

You must answer this question.

If I ask you,

You want a sharp intellect or a dull intellect,

What's your choice?

Sharp.

So obviously,

Intellect is a cutting instrument,

Isn't it?

You want it sharp like a knife.

Now what is happening with our education system and the way we're building the society is,

We're using a knife to do everything.

Somehow,

This is coming to me quite a few times in the last few months,

Because I think once again… After many years,

I'm once again riding motorcycles much more than what I have done in the last thirty years.

So these memories coming back to me,

I was riding all over the country without any purpose,

Simply end to end till I hit the national border,

I went and then turned back and rode in other direction,

Another direction.

I just only calculated the money I had in my pocket and the kilometers to Kawa,

Okay?

So one of those… sometimes,

This is something… something for you to do research on,

Is there are times when I rode three nights and three days continuously without hitting anything,

Without falling drowsy or sleepy,

Anything.

I did certain things with my system because some… some… you asked the question,

Can semen be transformed into something?

If you do certain things with your system,

It gets energized to such a level of alertness that three nights and three days,

Those days when roads were what they were and motorcycle was just two-hundred-and-fifty cc SD,

Okay,

Java motorcycle,

It's not like today,

Some big stuff and it's not like highways,

Four-lane highways,

Nothing.

All single roads full of potholes,

Back-breaking.

But I would ride continuously up to seventy-two hours to seventy-five hours non-stop,

Only gas station to gas station,

Gas station to gas station.

So one night I'm riding full night and I'm somewhere in… I'm not very sure where,

Somewhere between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

I… early morning I came and parked near a dhaba,

Thought I'll have a tea and rest for some time and move on.

My chain had become slack.

I don't know if you are still motorcycle or you're all metro people.

So I never allow anybody to touch my motorcycle because I'm always on it.

So I don't trust anybody.

I do everything myself from engine work to everything.

But chain had become slack,

I was sitting there full night of riding.

Then I saw Mubarak Mechanical Works,

Handwritten sign.

I saw this and I saw a strapling young youth.

I said,

Hey,

Can you tighten my chain?

Because tightening a chain is not some great technology but hands become messy.

So I thought let him do it for me.

So then he said yes and he came full enthusiasm.

Then I saw in his hands,

He just had a chisel and a hammer.

I said,

Wait,

What are you doing?

He said,

No,

I can do it.

I said,

Wait,

You don't have any tools?

Then I walked into his little shack,

Which is his garage.

I went inside,

There are only a few chisels and bigger and smaller hammers.

This guy does everything with a chisel and hammer.

Maybe he can do it,

But after he does it,

That's the last time you're going to fix that machine again.

After that it's done,

Okay?

I said,

You don't touch my motorcycle.

Why I'm saying this is,

Right now our education system is like this.

We are doing everything with one dimension of our intelligence,

Which is the intellect.

Intellect is good only if it's sharp,

Otherwise it's no good.

If you use a sharp instrument to do everything,

Then obviously you will be in tatters.

This is why people are thirty,

Forty,

Fifty,

Sixty years of age,

They still don't know how to handle their thought and emotion.

When are you going to learn?

Are you going to live for ten thousand years or so?

When is it that you're going to learn how to handle your thought and emotion?

You may call this stress,

You may call this anxiety,

You may call this misery,

You may call this madness.

Essentially you do not know how to handle your own thought and emotion,

That's all,

Isn't it so?

This is because you are going on one wheel of intelligence.

There are many wheels of intelligence,

Only one wheel is spinning,

Others are all stuck or you never explored.

So it's very important that if artificial intelligence comes,

Everything that you can do intellectually,

A little machine will do.

Now I think human beings will explore other dimensions.

I think I will become very significant.

The sooner the artificial intelligence comes,

The more significant I will become because then they will come,

What else can I do?

There are many more things you can do.

I am Kimsey Sonkar and I am a… Where are you,

Where are you,

Where are you?

Oh,

On the screen,

Okay.

I am sitting outside,

I am a PhD scholar in JNU and I always have an ethical dilemma that when I eat the mess food,

It is always not in the standard of like we get the mood of eating,

We don't want to eat and I end up wasting a lot of food.

So I want a solution,

How do I make up my mind to eat the food which I feel I don't like at all?

Because I see that there are people dying for a single grain of food and I am here wasting food,

Getting all the facilities but still I can't eat that food.

However hard I try to sell the mess worker,

That please put little bit.

So,

Yeah.

If you want a demo how you should eat this mess food.

If you can.

Yeah,

If you want a demo,

You must take me out for dinner today at your mess.

Questioner – Sadhguru,

The mess timings are already over,

Unfortunately.

I am too late for that.

This is like this,

You know,

In any institution this is always a problem.

Even children in our school though we do a lot of variety of food for them,

Children complaining about the food.

I remember when my daughter was studying in a school,

I go there as a parent,

As a guest to stay in the school for three days,

Twice a year.

I just love the food in the school.

I eat much more in the school than I would eat anywhere else.

She just can't eat it.

She just curses us every day it smells the same,

I can't eat this.

I think this is a problem in every institution.

It doesn't matter what kind of food you give,

This issue is there.

But I think a whole lot of people are complaining in their homes also,

All right?

So I think one thing you can do is,

I don't know if it's possible,

I'm taking the liberty of saying this.

The vice chancellor is here.

It's a suggestion,

Not a thing.

One thing you should do is maybe some of you should form teams that you will go and participate in the kitchen,

Maybe one week in a year,

Different people,

At least you will know whom to curse.

Right wing parties,

Left wing parties if they cook,

At least who is cooking better?

Maybe things will happen,

Chemistry will happen if they cook well.

So what is the right approach for such ambitions in life?

See this role model business is a very western idea that we've taken on to.

Every human being is made in a unique way.

It's very important every human being explores what is so unique about us and how to find expression to the intelligence that we are.

If we try to do what somebody else is doing,

Then one thing is maybe it's easy because it's like a set path already they have done it,

So I want to do the same thing,

It's easy to do it,

But you're saying that is also formidable.

But the beauty of life is that you explore the full potential of who you are,

Not do better than somebody or do what somebody else has done.

You being better than somebody is not of any consequence or you being like somebody else is also of no consequence.

No two human beings can ever be equated in body and mind,

Isn't it so?

Hello?

You can never ever equate two people in mind and body,

This is one kind,

That's another kind,

Absolutely unique.

Never ever these two things are going to be same,

Do what you want.

So this is the beauty of being a human being,

Don't destroy that by trying to imitate somebody.

Imitation we should have left in the previous stage of our evolution,

You know?

We should have left it there,

But this thing about creating role models has been built up because you know,

There is a whole school of American thought where they're always telling you how to manage your life,

How to eat,

How to manage your industry,

How to manage your business,

How to do this,

How to keep your hair,

Everything,

Everything standardized.

No one person's hair and another person's hair are different.

It can't be kept the same way,

Isn't it?

Hello?

It cannot be kept the same way.

Forget about the head,

Even the hair.

Hair is also unique,

Isn't it?

So people keep asking me,

Sadhguru,

You became like this,

Who is your role model?

I tell them,

See I never rolled with models,

So don't ask me such things.

This role model business you leave,

I… all of you young people,

You must do this.

In some way,

You find a place which is supportive but not influencing you.

No influence from the peers,

No influence from your professors,

No influence from your parents,

No influence from society.

Such a place you choose,

Where you're well supported in terms of food and whatever,

Spend at least three to ten days depending on what you need and look at it,

What is it that you genuinely want to do in your life.

Is your life precious,

I'm asking you?

Is your life precious?

If this is a precious life,

In what do you want to invest this life?

Please consider this.

Don't do something that somebody else is doing.

If this is a precious life,

Where do I want to invest this life?

It is not a question of profession,

It's not a question of becoming like somebody,

It's not a question of earning or living like somebody,

It is a question of what do I want to make out of this life,

Where do I want to invest this life and what?

So look at this in a prof… as profoundly as you can.

Today if you're taking a call on something,

You look at it in twenty-five years,

Will it still mean something to you,

Whatever you're planning to do today?

In fifty years,

Will it still mean something to you?

At the end of your life,

You… if you look back,

Will you die a fulfilled human being?

This is something you must consider,

Because this is your life and you said it's precious.

If it's a precious life,

It needs a certain amount of consideration and attention.

Don't do what somebody else is doing.

That's not the way to conduct your life.

Dear audience,

We understand your urge to ask questions,

But we'll take just one last question.

Hello Sadhguru,

First of all,

Namaskaram.

I'm a Hindu by birth,

Not by choice.

So basically I'm an agnostic kind of person.

So my question is like we all have been encountering a statement everywhere,

Like on social media and in our day-to-day life,

That our religion is in danger.

First of all,

This question comes in my mind since my childhood,

What is religion?

And the other thing,

How is it in danger and is it necessary to have a religion at all?

See,

Take a few minutes,

She's asked a question.

See,

I want you to look back on this nation and see what is the context of this nation.

If you look back on the history of this country,

There was a time when there were over two hundred political entities,

Kings I mean,

Many small kingdoms,

Big empires.

Certain kings came and conquered and made it into larger empire,

Sometimes it broke into small.

Largely it was been somewhere between hundred to two-hundred-and-fifty nations within one geography of what we call as Indian subcontinent today.

But though there were so many political nations,

People from outside always called this land as Hindustan.

Yes?

Even now,

If you go to Arabia,

Let's say Lebanon and Jordan and these kind of places,

You will find thousands of women in Lebanon are still taking the name Hind.

It's their name.

Because in… in their language,

Hind means India.

I asked them,

First time when I went,

I was surprised,

Why are you taking name India?

I mean in Lebanon,

Why are you Indian?

They say,

No,

This is our culture.

We always connected with India.

Probably these people are somebody who went long time ago.

They become part of that culture and they look like that,

They… everything is like that,

Must have been thousands of years ago,

They must have been homesick.

When you are homesick,

You call your daughter India.

So at least I can call India,

India every day,

Because I'm missing my country.

So that tradition is still there.

But even then they called Hind or Hindustan,

Though we were many nations within this subcontinent.

Oh,

Okay.

So why did they call this nation Hindustan is,

One thing is it's a geographical identity.

The land that lies between Himalayas and the Hindu Sagara,

Which is today called as Indian Ocean,

They call this Hindustan.

Himalaya and Hindu Sagara,

Between that is Hindustan.

So geographical identity were… identity was given,

But not political identity,

Not language identity,

Not religious identity.

This is very significant because they could not figure out who the hell we were even then.

Because even today you can't figure out who the hell you are,

That's why you're asking this question.

Even then,

The same question as your vice chancellor asked,

Sadhguru,

Would you answer the question,

Who am I?

So we still can't figure out who the hell we are.

Because this has been a land of seeking,

Never a land of belief.

If you want a religion,

Essentially when somebody says,

I'm religious,

They always say,

I'm a believer,

Isn't it?

Let's explore this word belief.

How many of you believe you have two hands?

All of such people just at least raise one hand please.

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

You know.

If somebody starts an argument with you and tries to prove to you,

You have no two hands,

If their argument becomes too overwhelming,

One slap in the face,

He knows you got hands,

Isn't it?

But there are so many things you believe,

You believe in heaven,

You believe in God,

You believe in many,

Many things.

Why do you believe?

Simply because you have not become straight enough in your life even to admit what I do not know as I do not know.

This is a serious problem.

Whatever you do not know,

You say,

I believe.

It is so human of you,

So wonderful of you to see what you do not know as I do not know,

Isn't it?

I do not know is a tremendous possibility.

When you say I do not know,

Genuinely within you,

The longing to know,

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

Otherwise everything that you do not know,

You believe.

When you believe,

It gives you instant confidence.

Confidence without clarity is the most disastrous thing that has happened to humanity.

Confidence.

All kinds of idiots have confidence,

When you don't know,

At least you must have hesitation,

Isn't it?

Hmm?

When you can't see clearly,

You must have hesitation.

When you can't see clearly,

If you are confident,

Are you not a disaster?

You are either a disaster for yourself or for everybody around you.

So this land was never ever identified with belief systems.

This has always been a land of seekers.

Seekers of what?

Seekers of truth and liberation.

Just now yesterday I was at,

You know,

The BHU in Kashi.

You just see there,

People are coming from all over the country and now all over the world in search of what?

Mukti.

Tch.

Freedom is the highest value.

God has never been the highest value in this culture.

All the people whom you worship are people who walked this land at some time,

Isn't it?

And they were not superheroes.

They did not drop from the sky or fly in the air or walk upon the water,

Nothing.

Just same grind as you are going through,

Much more grind than you are going through.

If you want to take the example of anybody,

Either Shiva,

Rama,

Krishna,

Whatever the main deity is in the country,

Let's take Rama because he is always in political dispute.

He is still in a real estate problem.

At the age of seventeen or eighteen,

He's been coronated as a king,

Rightfully because whatever those days,

His father and son.

He marries a young princess.

In a short while,

Some political situation,

Something goes wrong and they are banished to a forest.

Well,

In your television,

Whatever you saw or in some movie you saw Rama Sita doing honeymoon in the forest.

No,

It was an exile.

Going to the jungle is not a picnic.

Most of you may not know.

I've lived in jungles by myself alone without any outside support.

After three weeks when I came back home,

My mother would look at me,

She couldn't recognize me because from head to toe insect bites,

This,

That,

You know,

You cannot be recognized.

Especially if you take girls,

When they come out after two,

Three weeks,

You cannot recognize them because everything will be swollen,

All kinds of things will happen to you if you live in the jungle.

So taking a young wife and going,

She's not a tribal woman,

She's a princess,

Going to the forest was not picnic or honeymoon.

It was an exile.

As if that was not bad enough,

The Sri Lankan people came and kidnapped the wife.

Yes?

It happened,

Right?

Now he's a king after all.

If one wife goes,

He could have found a local solution.

A king is entitled to have many wives,

But one is gone,

He could have found somebody next to him.

But the man loves the woman so much.

In those days,

No GPS,

You don't know.

You don't know where exactly Sri Lanka is located.

Just him and his brother walk.

I want you to imagine the walk from Ayodhya to southern India,

Not a simple search.

How many people will search for a lost wife six,

Seven thousand years ago,

Walking two thousand plus kilometers,

How many men would have done that?

So he walked and formed a Tamil army,

Then went to Sri Lanka,

Burned down a beautiful city,

Fought a war,

Killed hundreds of people,

Got back his wife.

Tch,

If a man has to do this,

That woman should mean so much to him to do such an act,

Isn't it?

Then he brought her back.

Again he became a king,

Again something goes wrong,

By then she's pregnant.

See a king's wife or a queen being pregnant means it's not just a pregnancy,

It's the future of the nation.

It is a big thing,

It's not a small thing.

And he's a big emperor by then,

But something goes wrong and he sends his wife to the jungle again.

No sonogram.

So doesn't know whether it's a boy or girl,

Boys or girls or what.

It's not a small thing for a king.

If it's going to be a son,

It's important for the future of his everything.

But he doesn't know,

Sends his wife away to the jungle.

Then she tell us,

Two boys,

He doesn't know.

If something really,

Really horrible has to happen in anybody's life,

Knowingly or unknowingly you kill your own children,

This is the worst thing that can happen to you,

Isn't it?

He almost killed his own children.

He fought a battle with them,

Nearly killed.

He had intent to kill,

Not knowing there is children.

Fortunately it did not happen.

But anyway,

He never again saw his wife,

She died in the jungle.

You don't call this a success story,

Isn't it?

Hello?

You don't call this a success story.

Then why are we worshipping this man?

Why is this man celebrated as a great whatever?

Simply because no matter what life threw at him,

Most people would break if one of those situations happened in their life.

He's a serial disaster.

But in spite of all this,

He did not become angry,

He did not become resentful,

Hateful,

He managed his balance all the time,

Did not withdraw active,

Doing the best he can and that's about it.

And after he came back from Sri Lanka,

He did something fantastic.

After having killed Ravana,

He wanted to take a year of penance in the Himalayas.

Laxmana,

His brother said,

Are you crazy?

You killed the man and we had to kill him,

He took his wife.

So why are you… why do you… why do you have to do penance for that man?

He said,

See,

He had ten qualities.

The nine qualities I killed,

I have no regret.

But he was also a great devotee and I killed that also along with everything else.

For that I have to do penance.

Because the man is free from whatever is happening around him,

You throw the most horrible things at him,

He is just who he is.

This freedom is called Jeevan Mukti.

It is for that freedom that we bowed down to him,

Not because he's a great hero,

Not because he's a great success.

So in this culture… in this culture,

The only valuable thing is that you attain to freedom from the process of life.

Life… what life throws at you is never your choice.

It will throw all kinds of things at you.

What will you make out of it?

This is your choice,

Isn't it?

So we always told you in this culture,

Never… in this… now people are beginning to say this uparwala business.

Otherwise in this culture we always told you,

Your life is your karma.

Yes or no?

What does it mean to you?

It simply means your life is your making.

Nobody up there sitting and managing your life.

Well,

You're on a round planet and the damn thing is spinning,

You don't even know which side is up.

Hello?

Do you know which side is up in this cosmos?

I'm asking you.

Is it marked somewhere,

This side up?

So you do not even know which side is up,

But you know who is up.

This is a serious problem.

No,

It's not a laughing matter because it's taking lives.

It's not taking… it's taking lives does not mean people are being killed.

It's… that's also is happening,

That's a different matter.

But it's taking lives because instead of creating your life,

You're looking up and walking.

When forever we told you,

Your life is your karma,

What you make out of it is all there is.

What is thrown at you is not in your hands.

What you make out of it is one-hundred percent yours.

So the idea is just this,

The fundamental ethos of this culture is not religion.

This is a godless country,

I want you to know this.

There never been the god up there.

We worship a few people.

In… you know,

It's very appropriate,

Today people are saying Tendulkar is cricketing god.

Whoever excelled in any aspect of life,

Beyond a certain point,

Which we considered is normal human… human being.

If somebody excelled,

Then we say,

Oh,

He's godlike,

He's a deva.

This word god as a supreme entity never has been here.

Here we are always talking about those who have excelled beyond what we normally consider as human,

As devas.

That's why we have thirty-six million gods and goddesses.

You must create more,

There's no problem.

Because after all,

This is the only and only culture in the… on the planet which understands god is our making.

Everybody thinks they are god's making.

Right now,

Vinayak Chaturthi celebrations are going on around the country.

See,

This is a classic example.

Where we create the god,

We will put him there.

Next ten days or one month,

Whatever,

Our entire life is around him.

Full emotion,

Bhajan,

Dance,

Music,

Whole thing.

But when the time comes,

We go and dissolve him in water.

We made the god,

We worshipped him,

We enjoyed it,

We enthused ourselves in a big way using him.

When we are done,

We dissolved him.

This clearly shows you we have an innate understanding god is our making,

Isn't it?

So here,

We have only had a spiritual process,

Variety of spiritual processes,

But never religion.

We became religious in competition.

When outside forces came and too much competition,

We are also trying to organize.

But you can never organize this culture,

Because if there are three people,

There are five opinions.

Within the same house,

There are ten gods.

How do you make a religion out of that?

No,

This is just a process.

You use everything for your emancipation,

For your liberation.

If you listen to the conversations of your mothers or maybe your young people,

Your grandmothers,

Not some spiritual conversation,

Daily conversation if you listen to it,

Without uttering the words karma,

Prarabdha,

Mukti,

Moksha,

There's no conversation in this country.

Constant reminder,

No matter what you're doing,

Your education,

Your family,

Your business,

Your spirituality,

Everything is only towards your liberation,

Always.

Freedom is the highest goal,

Not heaven,

Not god.

Sadguru,

You leave us with a lot of thoughts to ponder upon.

We take this opportunity to thank you for taking out your precious time to be with the youth of JNU for this wonderful conversation that we have with you today evening.

We also extend our thankfulness to Mohit Chauhan for his scintillating performance.

I'm sure we all loved it.

And Disha Sanskriti for their Kalyani performance.

Can I… can I just say a few words to him?

I'm okay.

I would like to take this opportunity to just remind all of you,

You're just as you said,

Five thousand people,

Five thousand two hundred in research and others in other kinds of studies.

But I want you to understand,

You are just a few privileged ones among millions of youth in this country.

You have this privilege of being in a premier institution like this.

The kind of facility and what you have here,

Most people in this country don't even dream about it,

Okay?

So for yourself,

See you must understand this,

The most important thing when you're young to do is,

Don't be in a hurry to live.

This is a time to build yourself,

To build your body,

To build your mind,

To build your perspective,

To enlarge and enhance the horizons of who you are.

This time of your life should be invested in that because as I said earlier,

It is only by producing great human beings that we can create a great society,

A nation and a world.

So it's my wish and my blessing that all of you should make use of this time at the university to enhance yourself as truly wonderful human beings who can contribute to the well-being of humanity in future.

Reviews

Always great insight and wisdom.
Thank you.

Excellent insight as usual into our society in our Humanity! You can never make too many podcast I would listen to each and every one of them because I admire you so much

Provocative, insightful & deLIGHTful = a fabulous combo! In gratitude, ahimsa

Some brave questions and sound answers,
Thank-you for sharing with the world .

Words of wisdom! Thank you! Namaste🌅🙏