With Sadhguru In Challenging Times - 08 April

Don't miss this rare opportunity to join Sadhguru Darshan, live from Isha Yoga Center held last 08 April 2020. Sadhguru offers daily practices and sadhana support to help us tide through these unusually challenging times.

Transcript

Namaskaram. Namaskaram to everyone. This. . . For many of you, This time, The war is time. The virus is becoming iconic, Hmm? For an invisible thing, It's quite an achievement. Becoming a star in the world. Terrible star, But star still. I don't think there's anybody in the world who is not taking their name at least once a day. So, These virus times, You are forced into inactivity. Forced inactivity can feel like a prison or worse. This is because the nature of physicality, The nature of the material in the world is essentially dynamic. Whether you take an atom or a solar system or the universe, Everything that's physical in nature is naturally dynamic, Always in movement. Without movement, Without dynamism, There is no physical. So the moment you're forced into inactivity, It feels like you're curbed, Restricted, Imprisoned or worse, It may feel death-like. Well, There is a way beyond this. There is dynamism of activity. The dynamism of activity as all activity has. . . Has to have a beginning and an end. It's a limited process. Doesn't matter what is the nature of activity, Either human or otherwise. Activity is always a limited process with a defined. . . Within a defined amount of time and space. Right now, The defined amount of space is probably your home and it's feeling like a big restriction. But even if it was a planet or a solar system or a galaxy, As your capabilities to move extended itself, Even a galaxy would feel like a restriction. This is the nature of activity. This is the nature of physical movement. For a. . . For a snail which is in the garden, This little garden is a cosmos maybe. Because it takes from here to there, Takes many, Many days or maybe he will never make the journey. So, How much space is big, How much space is small, What is a restriction, What is not a restriction, All based on one's competence of movement and dynamism. So right now, One must understand the dynamism of activity is a very limited process, No matter how capable you are. But dynamism or the inertia which comes with restriction is feeling like a restriction and feeling like a suffocating process only because it has become stagnation. You're experiencing inactivity as stagnation. Inactivity that is induced, That has induced inertia because of this one feels stagnant. Stagnation will naturally lead to death in a way. You may not die immediately, But in many ways you will die once you stagnate. So, There is a way to move inactivity into stillness and not stagnation. Stillness is super dynamic, But there is no activity. Stillness is the nature of the source. Activity is the nature of the surface. But the physical body, The nature of your mind, Which is also physical in nature essentially, Is designed for activity. Or that is how most people understand this. But what they're missing out is their activity on a daily basis is fueled by a few hours of stillness which they call as sleep. If that stillness was absent, This activity would fall apart in no time. The only problem with that stillness is it is an unconscious lumber where you don't exist, You have no role to play. People say, I enjoy my sleep. Nobody can enjoy their sleep. You may enjoy the restfulness that sleep offers you. You may enjoy the rejuvenation that sleep offers you. But you cannot enjoy sleep. If you're enjoying it, You're just pretending to sleep. You're not really sleeping. So, Stillness is of another dimension of dynamism. Now, This dimension of dynamism needs an intensity. An intensity of life which one can never achieve through activity. Because if you reach a certain level of intensity in your activity, It will exhaust you. That is the nature of activity. However good the activity is, However pleasant it is, However pleasurable it is, Every activity with a certain intensity will naturally exhaust you. It will force you to go into the slumber of stillness. But to become still consciously means you're building a bridge between the physical and the non-physical dimensions of your existence. Everything that's physical, The galaxies, The stars, The moon, The sun, The planets, Every atom is dynamic, Including this physical body. If it attains to absolute inertia, That's called death. Or in other words, Dynamism is the basis of physicality. Without that moment, There is no physical nature. It is just the whole process of what is the profoundness or how profound is one's experience of life. And how precise and purposeful is the nature of one's activity. Simply depends upon whether you have touched the core of your stillness or are you just on the surface of physical oscillations. Bringing this home to yourself is right now a good time because the virus, I couldn't do it. Now you're home, You can bring this dimension into your life that is a very intense way of existence, But still. Right now the issue with most people is if you ask them to be intense, They will become tense. So their idea of relaxation is usually to be lax. This is the essence of yoga, That is you're intense and relaxed at the same time. In tension, Your perception is seriously impaired. In laxity, You don't even have it. Because the essence of expanding one's life process, The basis of enhancing one's life process is only in enhancing one's perception. This can only happen when you're very intense and relaxed. Well, We can do a simple process to see how to go about this. Above all, Once you know how to be very intense and still and relaxed at the same time, This compulsive or forced nature of always wanting to find the release or relaxation, Will recede in one's life. Those of you who are planning 14th of April midnight, You're going to go out on the streets and celebrate. Sorry, It's been pushed. They're saying 30th, Some states. Certain states in India are saying 30th of May. United Kingdom with their Prime Minister, Unfortunately, In the ICU, They're saying six months. United States, Unfortunately, Has reached nearly 2000 deaths per day. At one time, They said, We don't need a lockdown in this country. Our country is not designed for lockdown, Our country is action. But now, They're talking about lockdown possibly, Some of the states are talking about lockdown till September. So, I'm talking about you putting this lockdown time into a tremendous possibility in your life. If you touch the still core within yourself, You will touch the original nature of your existence. When I say the original nature of your existence, Everything here in this existence is still. Only small bits of creation, There may be billions of stars, But still it occupies less than one percent of the larger space in the existence. So largely, This emptiness is still, But now slowly, Modern science is trying to figure out that there is something very powerful happening in the stillness. That is so with the larger space, That is so with this, Because they are not made differently. This small little life and the whole cosmos, Everything has been created with the same fundamental design. Construction and sophistication of building is different from a single atom to the cosmos, But fundamentally the design is same. Today, There is a branch of science which is developing, Still many of them think it's controversial. But in the yogic culture forever, We said anda pindanda, That means the way the atom means, That is the way the cosmos is. It is just the complexity and sophistication multiplies, But essentially it's the same thing. So this also has a surface which is subject to various physical realities. And this also has a core which is not subject to any of those laws. The laws that govern our physical self, You can clearly see, Do not govern your mental scape. If. . . If it was so that the laws that govern your physical self also governs your mental scape, Actually you would be very comfortable in your home. Right now the body is at home, The mind is all over the place, Or so you think. So, You know clearly, The laws that govern physical reality doesn't govern your mental space. The laws that govern your mental space does not govern the core of the life that you are. If you build a bridge between your physiology, Your psychological space, And the core of your existence, The still core of who you are, Then you will see activity and inactivity are not very different for you. You can bring yourself to absolute stillness and be phenomenally dynamic. Phenomenally dynamic because that is the most dynamic space in the existence is the non-physical dimension. So, How do I do this? We could set up a simple process right now, Because we have only forty minutes. I will just kind of guide you through this in a couple of minutes, Two to three minutes maybe. But when you do it by yourself, You must take either anywhere between twelve to twenty-one minutes to do it by yourself. But right now we will do it in three to four minutes time. You sit in such a way, If you can sit cross-legged it's fine. Otherwise sit whichever way and sit with your spine erect, Create a little bit of tension, Little bit of tension right across the body from the top of your head down to your toes. Open your eyes fully, At least create that kind of tension in your eyes like you're staring at something. And your breath also slightly exaggerated. Now slowly, Just only the breath, Relax it. Relax your eyes, Still looking, But bring staring to gazing kind of relaxation. Then starting from the top of your head, Moving very slowly, Relax very, Very slowly. Let's say from the topmost point in your head, The top of your head, Like in a radius of one centimeter at a time, Relax like that and continue to extend it to two centimeters, Three centimeters and let it spread slowly across the body. But don't change your posture. Your physical posture is still same. The posture that you are holding with a certain level of tension, Slowly transform it into a very relaxed, But still exactly same posture. Do not become like this. Still the same posture, But just relax everything. If one cycle of moving from top of your head down to your toes doesn't relax you, Start again and again from the top of your head and bring it down. You can clearly notice whether relaxation is happening or not, Depending upon how your breath functions. And also the level of stress in your eyes, Because you're sitting without blinking, If possible. If the lights are comfortable, You can sit without blinking. If the light is little sharp, You may blink once in a way, But that's okay. Don't worry about those things. The important thing is, You create a posture that needs a certain amount of tension to hold, Then slowly relax it, Start with the breath, Move to the eyes, Then move to the top of the head and down, And again and again and again, Hold the same posture, But in a very relaxed way. Please do this by yourself, Giving yourself anywhere between twelve to twenty-one minutes. The important aspect of this is, You must understand, When your activity and your life is related to the nature of activity you perform, Physically, Mentally, Emotionally, And it's limited to that, You naturally become unknowingly very prejudiced in terms of life. Prejudice means this, That unknowingly you have divided the world. First division happens, Me versus the cosmos. Then it feels very lonely, So me and my family versus the cosmos. Then that also feels terrible as you know right now in the lockdown, Me, My friends and rest of the universe. That also doesn't feel good, Then you say me and my community and rest of the universe, Me and my nation and rest of the universe. Like this we may expand boundaries, But the problem is just this, The moment you identify with the limited aspect of physical dynamism, You naturally become a prejudiced existence. If you build a bridge with the still core of who you are, You become an unprejudiced existence. And this is very important if you want to perceive life just the way it is. You will always find that probably criminals are less prejudiced than priests, Pundits, Mullahs and scholars and people who think they are good. Unfortunately, This is true because a criminal's goal is very simple. He wants money, He wants wealth, He wants something. He has no problem whether you are a Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian, He is willing to pick your pocket. He really has no problem who you are. This happened. Once Shankaran Pillai was in New York before the virus I'm telling you. And he married a young American woman and she had just received a largest or over ten million dollars from her grand aunt. After a week of marriage, She found he was barely interested in her, But only in the things that came with her. Then she cornered him and asked, Did you marry me only for the ten million dollars that came from my grand aunt? He said, Sarah, Let me be frank with you, I really don't care from whom it came. So, You will find usually criminals are quite unprejudiced. They're like virus, Whoever you are, Whatever you think you are, They can. . . They'll get you. But others are super prejudiced and they think they're good, That's the worst thing. Because once there is prejudice, Negative action is just a question of situations pushing you into it. But you will do terrible things with great pride, That's the whole thing. You will do absolutely horrendous things with enormous pride that you're doing the right thing. You've always seen people who believe they're doing God's work do the most horrendous things on the planet. That's been the history of humanity. So, The source, The still source within you, If you build a bridge to that, This is a good time. This is a good time because dynamism has to be in your stillness, Because activity could break your home. I'm sorry if I'm rubbing it on you. I hear that there is lot of domestic violence rising in the world. In some countries it's multiplied. That means your dynamism is getting destructive. Your dynamism is breaking somebody's bones, But it may break your home. Your house may fall apart if you're locked there for too long. Suppose, Because they could do it. Right now, They've expressed their intention. They're saying, If citizens do not follow this, They will enforce it by locking your homes from outside. That's how serious it is. So the moment they lock you from outside, It's like, You know, What's that? Shashank Redemption, You know. You will start breaking the wall, Your own house. Yes, You will. So when the enforcement gets really tight because you don't do it consciously, Then you will start breaking your own home. But you must break the right wall, Otherwise you will end up in the next home. If you break one wall, You will end up on the pavement down below from your apartment. If you break the other wall, You will end up with your neighbor that you anyway could not stand. You have to break yourself into the corridor, But they would have locked the building also. So, This domestic violence growing is unfortunate. But it is also. . . It's also time for you to decide where you should live. Yes, You should. Because just being together for two weeks, If it is leading to broken bones, Or physical injuries, I think you really have to think what is worth doing in this life, Because not just me, I've been doing this for a long time, But not so effectively. But the virus is reminding you that you're mortal, Essentially telling you your time is limited. Whether you get the infection or not, Whichever way it is very limited. So, In such a limited amount of time, Don't carry on endless dramas of life. Which drama is worth playing, Which will enhance your life and the lives of people around you, Is something that you must take a call. No, No, What will they think, What will my neighbors think, What will my relatives think? Anyway, They're not thinking great things about you. Generally, They don't. Or whatever they think, Whatever anybody thinks is their problem, It's not your problem. Your business is just this. This is how. . . This is not some philosophy I'm teaching you. This is how this plant lives, This is how this tree lives, This is how every life lives. They're all trying to make their life as beautiful as possible, As full as possible. You think this plant is worrying, My flowers are so small and feeling shy, Here this Nagalingam tree, Such big fragrant flowers, Is it feeling shy? Do you think so? It is throwing out its best, That's all. This is the nature of life. If you don't get contaminated by the social process, If you look at the existential process of life, You will see this is all the life wants to do. The life wants to become full. Only problem with human beings is, See so many coconut trees, They are not trying to reach the sky, Believe me, They're tall. Among the trees they're very tall, But they have no aspiration to reach the sky. They want to be full-fledged coconut trees, Whatever that is, Whether it's seventy feet or eighty feet, They're not thinking of that. All they're doing is, They're not trying to grow either, They're just putting their roots deep into the soil, Getting all the nourishment they want to get, Whatever happens, Happens. That's the only way life can happen. You have to sink your roots into the source of who you are. What happens out of that happens, And the best will happen. But best means what? Sadhguru, Can I be better than the Nagalinga tree? You're not one. Just that this life should become a full-fledged process. That's all. This is never going to be better than anything or worse than anything. So, This time at home, You must make use of it. Do not break the walls, Do not break anybody else in your home. Make use of this time to mature yourself into a more profound being. This is your opportunity. Sadhguru chants Yoga Yoga Yogeshwaraya Sadhguru chants Yoga Yogeshwaraya

Reviews

Profound teaching. Such appropriate enlightenment for our time. Helpful and powerful guidance and support while sheltering in place l. Namaste 🙏🏾

Timely yet somehow eternal, too.

The best one so far ! Thank you 🙏

As always, wonderful.