When Existence Can't Help Liking You

Our own likes and dislikes lead to our bondage, says Sadhguru. But can we make ourselves in such a way that everything in the existence – plants, trees, stones and every atom – can’t help but like us?

Yogi, mystic and visionary, Sadhguru is a spiritual master with a difference. An arresting blend of profundity and pragmatism, his life and work serves as a reminder that yoga is a contemporary science, vitally relevant to our times.

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Transcript

The question is not about what you like.

The question is about does everything around you like you?

Have you made yourself in such a way that nobody can help liking you?

You like something,

You dislike something,

It doesn't mean anything.

Because both what you like and what you dislike are two different kinds of bondages.

Both what you like and what you dislike distorts your perception.

If you like somebody,

You will exaggerate them in your mind.

If you dislike somebody,

For sure you will exaggerate them in your mind.

Exaggeration means you are unable to see things as they are.

If you are unable to see things as they are,

You can never handle life the way it should be.

So liking and disliking exaggerates either in positive ways or in negative ways,

But it exaggerates or it distorts life.

So what you like is not important.

Have you made yourself in such a way,

Not just people,

Just everything likes you?

Every creature around you likes your presence.

Even the flowers,

The plants and the trees like you.

How can the plants and the trees like me?

They are very sensitive to who you are.

They are extremely sensitive to who you are.

They respond accordingly.

If you make yourself in such a way that the very earth that you walk upon likes you,

Then you will see everything in your life will become a blessing.

If everything around you dislikes you,

You will see everything that could be well-being could become a curse.

Right now,

There is no curse sitting upon human life.

It is things that people want,

It's things that people aspire for,

Things that they work for,

Strive to have in their life,

Which turns into curses in their life.

Their work,

Their property,

Their relationships,

Their own body,

Their own mind,

Which is the cancer of their life.

Misery is not raining.

Never is raining misery.

It's just that things that you like have become source of misery.

If you make yourself… if you strive to make yourself in such a way,

You cannot be helped.

Nobody can help liking you.

Life will blossom better.

Everything will yield their best to you,

Not their worst.

But if you go by what you like,

Not always life will yield its best.

You may have everything and still have nothing.

So spiritual process is not about pursuing what you like,

It's about striving to make yourself in such a way.

Even the birds like you,

The squirrels like you,

It's about making yourself in such a way that every atom in this existence likes you,

Wants to yield to you.

If existence does not yield to you,

You do what you want,

Nothing will work in real sense.

You may do something,

You may become something,

You may earn a living,

You may make a living,

But nothing will happen.

You'll just go through a cycle without nothing tremendous touching your life.

For those of you who are living in the ashram,

I want you to learn to stand,

Walk,

Sit,

Breathe in such a way that even the stones around you like you.

How do I know whether they like me or not?

You will know for sure.

If you're sensitive about being like that,

You will also know,

You will also be sensitive enough to know that.

You… If you are never sensitive about these aspects,

You will not have the sensitivity to know.

Otherwise distinctly,

You will know.

Do not become in such a way everything has to be shouted into your ears.

You must become in such a way,

If you look at somebody before they speak,

You know.

For this,

You need a certain sense of receptivity.

Receptivity will not happen to you if you're too full of yourself.

The less you are,

The more you receive.

The more you are,

The less you receive.

If you're too full of yourself,

Nothing bigger than your nonsense will happen to you.

If there is no such thing as myself,

You simply sit here,

The whole existence will dance within you.

You will become an instrument of the creator.

Otherwise,

You will be a bundle of thoughts,

Emotions,

Prejudices and rubbish.

This is the choice every human being has.

Either to exist here as a limb of the creator,

As a Yishanga,

We're calling them these days,

Or to exist here as a bundle of thoughts,

Emotions and nonsense that you have gathered.

This choice is available to us every moment of our life,

Continuously choosing,

Continuously choosing to be like that.

If this striving is there,

It will deliver you to a different place of gracefulness,

Where every stone,

Every pebble,

Every rock,

Every tree,

Every atom in the existence speaks to you in a language that you can know.

Otherwise,

You are alone in this vast existence,

Feeling constantly insecure,

Unstable,

Psychologically challenged.

This is a choice.

It is not a gift,

It is a choice.

One makes the right choice,

Right things will happen.

One makes the wrong choice,

Wrong things will happen.

It's a very fair and just existence,

I want you to know.

It doesn't spare anybody.

It doesn't spare anybody.

It's not like a social structure that some people can get away with wrong things.

In this existence,

It doesn't spare anybody.

It doesn't matter who you are,

If you jump off the roof,

The earth will break your leg.

Yes?

Raja,

Ranka,

Fakir,

Everybody,

Nobody is spared.

Doesn't matter who you are,

No exemptions.

And nobody is barred.

Anybody who is willing,

For everybody the possibility is open.

For everybody,

The stick is also there.

You make the right choices,

Everything is open.

Make the wrong choices,

Everything will need you in a different way.

So if pain comes,

Suffering comes,

Misery happens,

It's not time to look around.

This is always the problem.

If you are miserable,

You think somebody else need to be fixed.

No,

No,

No,

No.

If you are miserable,

This needs to be fixed,

Not somebody else.

No,

I am miserable,

Fix the situation for me.

No,

No,

No,

If you are miserable,

Who should be fixed?

If you are sick,

Who should be given the medicine?

Shall we give it to somebody else when you are sick?

If you are hungry,

Shall we give the food to somebody else?

No.

It only works if you give it to this,

Isn't it?

If food is like that,

Medicine is like that,

Is that not true with every other aspect?

That if you are miserable,

Something else or somebody else need not be fixed,

Only this one needs to be fixed.

Just to understand the simple fact,

People take lifetimes.

They think something else has to be fixed.

On a certain day,

Shankaran Pillai went drinking with his friends.

Yogis and drunkards both are timeless,

You know.

They don't know the passage of time.

He went drinking,

He intended to go back home at eight o'clock but drink after drink and time,

He became unconscious of time.

When he looked at the watch,

It was 2.

30 a.

M.

So he thought it's really late and he wants to get back home quickly,

So he took a shortcut.

And he was walking through this shortcut on his unsteady legs and he fell into a thorny bush.

His whole face was scratched up.

So in this condition,

He went home and tried to find the keyhole that took another half an hour,

Opened,

Went inside,

Went into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror.

He was bleeding all over the face.

So he opened the medicine chest,

Fixed himself whichever way he could and quietly crawled into the bed and slept.

Morning eight o'clock,

His wife took a bucket of cold water and threw it in his face.

He got up,

Said,

You idiot,

Once again drinking?

He said,

No honey,

I haven't touched a drop.

Six months ago when I promised,

Since then I haven't touched a drop.

She held him by the shirt,

Dragged him into the bathroom and showed him.

The bandaid was all over the mirror.

Doesn't work like that.

Only somebody who is completely unconscious will do such things.

If it's hurting here,

You will fix it there because you're completely unconscious or inebriated.

So whenever you're miserable,

You want to fix that one and that one and that one.

No,

No,

No,

This one needs to be fixed.

If you put bandaid on the mirror,

It doesn't heal your wounds.

You have to attend to the wound and both your miseries and joys are caused from inside.

So it needs to be attended here,

Not somewhere else.

The sooner you learn this,

The more graceful and wonderful your life will become.

Reviews

Wise words as always. Many thanks Sahdguru 🙏❤️💫

Very insightful. Thank you!

Ahhhhh this is so good, but it cuts off abruptly at the end. Definitely still a great listen but I’d love to hear the end! 🙏🏽

Extremely profound & correct....
I really am grateful to you for offering such a wonderful talk... your insight... thoughts & wisdom

Many blessings to you

Namaste 🕉

Just what I needed to hear this morning.

Always find sadhgura accessible plus profound💐

Excellent speaker

I thoroughly enjoyed this talk!!!

Thank you! Wonderful perspective.

Divine wisdom and good humor! Excellent!

Exactly what I needed, will listen a million times. I suspect I’m not the only one who needs to hear. 🌈💙

Very valuable wisdom 🌺 many thanks

Bookmarked this one...such a good one! Thank you 😊 🙏🏻❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

Clear, concise, wonderful message🙏🏻.
It seems to cut off in mid-sentence at the end.

Sadhguru is a gift! Thank you for your wisdoms🙏🏻

Laughed out loud “the bandaid was all over the mirror”. Such a great metaphor for how we like to fix others when we feel miserable. Thank you.

Wonderfully told ☺

I am grateful for this lesson. I am grateful to be able to hear your words of wisdom. Namaste