The Simplest Way To Enlightenment

Yogi, mystic and visionary, Sadhguru is a spiritual master with a difference. In this talk, Sadhguru brings lofty ideas of enlightenment down to earth. Based on where you are right now, he points out a surprisingly simple method that, if relentlessly applied, can lead you straight to enlightenment.

Transcript

There is room and scope for improvement.

Relentlessly improve.

Let's see where it gets you.

Everybody is calling somebody enlightened compared to themselves.

You may be wonderful,

But you are not loyal to your wonderfulness.

I am not pursuing enlightenment with 100% sincerity because at some level I am not convinced that this is going to happen in this lifetime given my limitations.

How do I overcome this mental setup that I have?

Have you seen people coming close to this possibility and what are my chances?

Don't pursue enlightenment.

You cannot pursue enlightenment.

How can you pursue something that you do not know?

If you pursue something,

You will pursue only what you know.

What is the point pursuing something that you already know?

What is the point in running after something that you already know?

So if you have to step into something that you do not know,

The only thing is just to keep walking.

Keep a steady direction and keep walking.

Maybe it's a wrong direction,

It doesn't matter,

Just keep walking.

After all,

Planet is round.

Inevitably,

If you keep walking and keep straight walking,

Not round and round,

If you just keep straight walking,

You will inevitably get somewhere.

Nobody can take it away from you.

You know,

If you have a dog at home,

You would know this.

If you just tickle him in the tail,

He will go shhh,

Chasing his own tail.

Okay,

Lot of people are doing that.

Their own tail they're chasing,

Even enlightenment is their own tail.

Nobody told you there is such a thing.

But definitely you can see,

From one person to another person,

One person seems to be little better off simply the way they are,

Not because of their money,

Not because of their wealth,

Not because of their qualifications.

Simply the way they sit and stand,

Somebody seems to be better off than somebody else.

Yes or no?

So,

There is room and scope for improvement.

Relentlessly improve,

Let's see where it gets you.

But if you have fancy ideas of what is enlightenment,

Then you will chase that silly idea and that idea is never enlightenment,

Because it's your idea.

You cannot have an idea about something that you have no access to,

Isn't it?

All your ideas,

Concern,

Things that you already know,

May be permutations and combinations of the same damn thing.

It's like God,

Because you're human.

God is a big human being,

Isn't it?

We are little more liberal,

So we made animals,

Birds,

Snakes,

Everything,

Elephants,

Cows,

Everything gods,

Because we understand,

After all,

They can have their own gods.

But if you're very dogmatic and rigid,

You think no,

God is a human being,

Not to a man.

And that too he has blonde hair.

That's a very rigid dogmatic idea.

People who lived in other parts of the world never could imagine a blonde haired god.

They just cannot.

Can you?

I'm sure African gods have crinky hair,

Indian gods have jet black hair,

Something.

So,

It's our idea.

Our ideas,

No matter what we do,

Only comes from what we already know.

It cannot be anything else.

So do not think up enlightenment.

You will just make a fool of yourself going round and round.

If you become an absolutely,

Absolutely,

That means unconditionally wonderful human being,

You don't worry whether you're enlightened or not.

Other people will,

If they want,

They will say,

Oh,

He's enlightened compared to me.

Everybody is calling somebody enlightened compared to themselves.

Look at me how I am,

Look at him how he is,

He must be enlightened.

But there is no one benchmark out there,

This is enlightenment.

Everybody is wonderful when things around them are properly arranged for them,

The way they want,

The way you want.

When everybody behaves the way you want,

You are also wonderful.

When people don't behave the way you want,

When life doesn't work the way you want,

Then to be wonderful it takes something else.

So when everything is going dead wrong with your life,

With your family,

With your profession,

With your life,

Everything around you,

If you're still wonderful,

For now let us say you're enlightened.

All right?

If you must set a benchmark,

But something wonderful happened,

Something so wonderful that nothing could affect that wonderfulness.

Other people say it's enlightenment,

You never say.

I'm pursuing enlightenment means one day you're going to declare yourself I'm enlightened,

Then everybody will know you're a nutcase.

If others say,

Oh,

He's enlightened,

Good.

You declare I'm enlightened.

This will be a case,

Isn't it?

You may be wonderful,

But you're not loyal to your wonderfulness.

You are joyful,

You are sometimes blissful,

You're even loving,

But not loyal to these qualities.

A beautiful flower throws out fragrance.

The flower is very loyal.

No matter if you pluck it also it's still fragrant,

If the cow eats it also it's fragrant,

If the bee messes around also it's fragrant.

It never got angry and turned into a skunk ever.

But you're not like that,

You're wonderful like this,

If somebody pokes you,

You will become a skunk.

You're not loyal to your wonderfulness.

This happened.

Sivankaran Pillai was running a pet shop and there was a nice dog,

A golden retriever,

A wonderful dog.

Somebody came to buy this grown-up dog.

They asked,

How much?

He said,

Two thousand dollars.

I said,

What?

Two thousand dollars for a dog,

Isn't it too much?

Shankaran Pillai said,

Just look at him,

Isn't he wonderful?

The man looked at it and said,

Yes,

He's a wonderful dog.

He paid the money he was taking,

But he asked,

Is he loyal?

Of course,

He's loyal.

I sold him seven times and he's back in hours.

So are you loyal to your wonderfulness?

This is all you have to do.

Instead of pursuing enlightenment,

Just do this,

Choose any one thing,

I will leave it to you.

Either joy or blissfulness or love or anger or hatred,

You choose whatever you want.

Just be loyal to one thing every moment of your life.

How's that?

You will become enlightened.

The problem right now is of loyalty.

You keep chasing your own tail.

You keep running of course,

But you think you're going somewhere,

You're not going anywhere.

Especially if you're pursuing enlightenment,

You definitely not going anywhere.

Just stay loyal to one quality that you choose.

I won't even tell you be loving,

Be joyful,

Be blissful,

No.

If you like anger,

If you like hatred,

If you like jealousy,

But every moment you must be like that.

That's all.

Your job is done.

Really?

That's all it takes.

No matter what is happening,

Whatever may be happening,

You just be loyal to one quality.

Nishchala tattvam jeevan mukti.

If you're unwavering,

That is all.

Right now the problem is it's going all over the place.

Every moment your loyalty is changing,

Isn't it?

When you sit here,

Yes Sadhguru.

Just one damn thing,

Choose any damn thing.

Just be loyal to that one thing every moment of your life.

It's a done thing.

Reviews

Love this! So relevant and pertinent, compared to the “drivel” I have heard and read from other folks! Thank you for sharing and caring enough to grace the WORLD we share with this life-serving perspective, ahimsa

Simple brilliance especially the part about the skunk

A great talk on why enlightment can never/should never be persued (it is the result, but we cannot understand it until it is experienced and should not declare we have found 'it'. There is no benchmark other than not grasping to the concept of enlightment/achieving unconditional single-mindedness)

Loyalty to one thing ... whether it be compassion …love …gratefulness... So my aim is to be saturated in this one thing. Such easygoing, simple, accessible wisdom.

Unwavering loyalty to simply BEing an absolutely, unconditionally wonderful human BEing as we relentlessly improve our loyalty to the wonderfulness of SIMPLY being human, a life serving, JOYful human BEing rather than human “doing”! Each breath is an opportunity recognize our un wavering loyalty to the divinity that flows through each of us, unique to NO one of us, the divinity whose center is EVERYwhere, whose circumference is NOwhere. Sadhguru graciously shakes up, in this talk, how enLIGHTenment abounds in this life I AM blessed to live, www.gratefulness.org.

Surrender, acceptance of LIFE (Living Integrated, FULLy Embodied, www.living-compassion.org), on life’s termS is described eloquently in the 4th edition of the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book (AABB Pg 417, www.aa.org) in the acceptance paragraph and by Sadhguru in this audio as Sadhguru graciously discusses enLIGHTenment, JOYfully, playfully, in an enLIGHTened manner.

Surrendering to LOVE, surrendering to compassion, recognizing all else is imagined confusion, recognizing that FEAR is simply self will regarding the future, resentment is simply self will regarding the past, self pity and depression are simply self will in the present moment, creates room to experience the pulse of enLIGHTenment, breath by breath, JOYfully.

Loyalty, for me, is willingness to surrender this life (actions) and this will (thinking), addressing my living problems
(self centeredness,
selfishness and
self seeking)
relieving me of symptoms (alcoholism, CO-Dependency, clutter, debting and other compulsivities including eating issues).

“Inner Engineering (Author: Sadhguru)”, www.stevenpressfield.com ‘s “the War of Art”, “Going Pro”, AABB offer me support, a new way of living. So exciting to experience alignment with and loyalty to gifts of spirit (Compassion, Empathy, Faith, Hope, Humility, Joy, Love, Peace, Perserverance, Self-Responsibility) verses finite life alienating substanceS and behaviorS!

Each moment of surrendering self will, asking only “what can I do in this moment that is of maximum service?” is the gift of enlightenment that graces pages 1-103, 417 and 567-8 of AABB and the gift of this JOYfully enLIGHTened talk by Sadhguru which reminds me of the Dalai Lama XIV’ s wisdom, “we cannot escape the necessity of love and compassion....

This, then, is 
my true religion, 
my simple faith. 
In this sense, no need exists 
for temple or church, 
for mosque or synagogue,
no need for complicated philosophy, doctrine or dogma. 
Our own heart, 
our own mind, is the temple.
The doctrine is compassion. 
Love for others and respect for their rights and dignity, no matter who or what they are: ultimately these are all we need.

So long as we practice these in our daily lives, then no matter if we are
learned or UNLEARNED, whether we believe in Buddha or God, or follow some other religion or none at all, as long as we have compassion for others and conduct ourselves with restraint out of a sense of responsibility, there is no doubt we will be happy.”!

EnLIGHTenment is the gift of continuous improvement, the quality of BEing unwaveringly loyal to ONE quality, compassion, for example, in ALL we do, BE and exist in, no matter what happens, reGUARDless (“Compassionate Presence”, Stephen R. Schwartz). In gratitude, ahimsa

An eye opener as usual. Great to have Sahdguru in this world.

So good as always

Brilliant- as always

Loved it!! And so true 🙏❤Namaste

The talk itself is uplifting. But the person laughing in the background made my day! I felt that laugh and it made me laugh. Thank you.

Healing Qualities || Pearls of Wisdom
🧘‍♂️🍀🇮🇪☘️📿

Wise & Wonderful 🙏

Love the way he does communicate the message. Humours and profound. Sat Nam! Enjoyed it! 🙏🙏🙏😃😃✨✨✨✨✨

Enlightened and funny 😁

Humorous education with wonderful different view about enlightenment

Always entertaining but oh so wise!! Thank you🕉