With Sadhguru In Challenging Times (9th August)

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

Transcript

Namaskaram to all of you. All those are here and wherever else you are. First I thought I'll torture you with a few poems for you. This is called Leela. Leela means play. One and only reason why every human being in the world is not able to realize the full potential of one's being is because absence of Leela, In the sense they're too serious about themselves. They may take other beings, Other life lightly, You know. We can chop up a billion other animals and eat them up, No problem. But they're not able to take themselves lightly, That's the problem. Leela, To know the profound playfully, To know the profound playfully, If only you had a joyful mind, A heart with overflowing love, A burning intensity in your body, You would be playful with life and death, Matters of here and hereafter. To know the profound playfully, If only you had a joyful mind, A heart with overflowing love, A burning intensity in your body, You would be playful with life and death, Matters of here and hereafter. This is called bonding, Which is one of the impediments that people create for their playfulness, Because they do not understand a bond and the significance of a bond. In the process of life evolving, Life blossoming, Life reaching its ultimate dimension, The significance of bonding. As people make an attempt to possess their bonding, It becomes a bondage. Bonding means no possibility. The body bonds with all that it touches. The body bonds with all that it touches. Mind a fickle friend, But the body solid in every sense. Every bond a sacred connection to Mother Earth. The body bonds with all that it touches. The body bonds with all that touches it. Mind a fickle friend, But the body solid in every sense. Every bond a sacred connection to Mother Earth. Whether you will touch it in your awareness or you will touch it in your grave is a choice. So many choices. Life is full of choice. This is called of nations. National borders, Not to cut the world into useless scraps of geography and endless prejudice. National borders, Not to cut the world into useless scraps of geography and endless prejudice. Nation needed to keep the colorful tapestry of human history and ingenuity of culture and languages. Nation needed to keep the colorful tapestry of human history and ingenuity of culture and languages. Borders of nature, I'm sorry, Borders of nurture and bonding, Not of dominance and bombing. Borders of nurture and bonding, Not of dominance and bombing, Bonding, Not bombing, Please. So today is the seventy-fifth anniversary of Nagasaki bombing. Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings have stood out as two terrible blots in human history, Where our freshly acquired scientific knowledge we used in a most devastating and disastrous way. Well, Since then, We thought peace can only happen by deterrence. Well, Unfortunately, It is true. Especially because we understand borders as absolutes, We do not understand borders as a way of preserving the variety on this planet. We do not understand borders as nurturing the multifarious ways in which human evolution has happened. Human cultures have evolved, Languages, Literature, Many, Many things have happened within enclosed borders. Whether an actual line was drawn or not, There have been nations right from the beginning of humanity. So nurturing these borders is good, Because today, Unfortunately, Through. . . Because of the internet culture, People think everybody must be same. Well, If everybody becomes same, It look. . . You know, If you dress same, Talk same, Eat same, You will become like an army and that's a dangerous process. And the entire population becomes an army. It's a dangerous process because what is an army without the ability to fight? What is the use of an army without the ability to fight? And what is the use of ability to fight when you can't fight? You need opportunities to fight. Well, We've been very innovative about these opportunities, Because many people predicted that after World War II, As disastrous as it was, We don't think in another century another war will happen. But the reality is not a single day has passed since then, Where there has not been some battle, Some fight, Some part of the world without. . . For national reasons, Not for religious, Racial, Caste, Other reasons, People are shooting each other all the time. But for national reasons, Nation as the cause of shooting someone, Not a single day's break has happened since 1944. So this is something that we need to look at as human beings. When I say a human being, The word being is thrown around too loosely, Not understanding that to be a being is the highest privilege on this planet. No other creature is a being. It's a human who is a being. What this means is, We have the choice to be the way we want to be. How far away from that are the general human populace, Unfortunately. Because if we really exercise the choice of being the way we want to be, I'm sure everybody has enough intelligence, Everybody, Irrespective of who they are. Everybody has enough intelligence to see that it's better to be in a pleasant manner than in an unpleasant manner. But for some reason, I think that you deserve unpleasantness. So I choose to be unpleasant. This is the position of individual human beings, Which organizes itself into larger groups. Yet now, In this world, The largest groups are probably nations, And maybe religions. Nastiness we dispense freely, Pleasantness we hold back thinking it'll be useful in the grave. There are many, Many reasons for this, But fundamentally, We have not exercised this fundamental choice, Which is. . . Which is a consequence of evolution of life on this planet, That it has brought us to this level, That we can actually choose how to be, How to think, How to feel, How to be right now. This choice no other creature has, Because they're driven by the compulsions of their physiological needs. We also have physiological needs. It is not that you can live completely free of physiological needs, You have them, All right? But the important thing is that your physiological needs do not reflect in your psychological space. Your physiological compulsions do not reflect in your psychological space. If this much you do, That there is a little distance, We've been trying to do this to you for many, Many years now. If there is a little distance between you and your body, Between your body and your mind, There's a little distance. The compulsions of your physiology will not reflect in the psychological space. Once compulsions of the body are not reflected anywhere, Then you are a being, This's all it takes. But when constantly. . . How did this happen? It's a tropical flower. So we are constantly eulogizing our limitations. We are constantly making it out like limitations are power. No, Being without any sense of limitations within you is ultimate power. Once again, Power does not mean over somebody else. Tropical way of existence does not mean you are ruling somebody or you can squash somebody. That's not the point. If you have enough energy, If this tree has enough energy and power within itself, It will not come and beat you. It will take a human being to break a branch and beat you. It just wants to grow to its fullest size and possibility. That would be its aspiration. If only if you had that much intelligence, This would be very simple. The power within you is about seeing that this being shines in a glorious manner. Sun is shining, Wonderful sunny morning out here. Well, It is not necessarily thinking that photosynthesis must happen. You must get vitamin D into your stupid system. Nothing like that, It just shines, Everything happens. This is all life has to do. This is the privilege that nature has offered to a human being that you are little more, Significantly more than a physiological process. This means you've reached a place where your existence is not about what you're doing physically. Your existence is about how you've been right now. It's in this context. Only when this dimension becomes an aspiration within you, Only when this dimension in some way has inspired you to seek to be beyond physical mechanizations of life, Which are needed of course, Without the physical platform, There is no life. But only when this happens, A guru becomes relevant. In America, This is a four letter word, Guru. I heard a very popular, A television anchor telling somebody, Some kind of a spiritual teacher, Local spiritual teacher. And when that person is being introduced, Interviewed, This television anchor says, You're not a guru, Aren't you? It's such a dirty, Filthy word. And sun is a filthy word, Because that's what guru means, One who dispels darkness. Just a few hours ago, It was dark here. Darkness is gone, Not because of something, Simply because the sun rose. So what we are referring to as a guru is not a person. Well because. . . Who's that other guy talking to me like this? In open space, Why is there an echo like that? The trees are throwing things back at me. Another guru, See. Well what dispels darkness? Well in the physical world, Only light dispels darkness. Within you, Light cannot enter. Sunlight I mean, Sunlight or electric light or lamp light cannot enter, Fortunately, Because people have, You know, In human languages, We've used these terms. I think it's Patanjali who made the first mistake. He said, If you sit still, Then a light will arise within you. Since then all kinds of idiots started seeing every kind of light within themselves. Wherever you go, If you say, Slowly I've beaten this down in the last thirty years, I think it's gone down quite a bit, But there was a time, Anywhere you go and you say, I meditate, Oh, Did you see light? Well why the hell would I try to see light with my eyes closed? If I open my eyes, There is enough light all over the place. Well he said this because he's talking about, Because he knows that your mind is a consequence of a humongous amount of accumulated stuff. It is like this pond. This pond looks murky all the time. But normally if you leave it, All the sediment will settle down and the water will become clear. But if you take a stick and stir it up, Once again the mud is up. So in that context he's saying, If all your life you had a murky mind, If you simply sit still, If you give it enough time, All the sediment will settle and there is clarity. Suddenly a new light has come. It's a metaphor. There is no other way for a human being to understand that you can see better. I can see better means there is light. That's what it means. So in that context he said, A new light arises within you. He also reminded that your problems are not gone. Just gives you a new light, That means a glimpse. The whole karmic muck is still there. It's a different level of work. But at the same time, If you learn not to put your hand and stir it up every other day, Then even if it is there, What is the problem? All the muck is just richness of experience. I. . . Somebody just sent me a video about one guy, Simple. . . You know, In a very simple terms he's sharing, Which is wonderful. He said, You know, He is running some organic kind of stuff. He said he is kind of putting it like in. . . In what is considered a science today in the world, Unfortunately. He is saying, See, Cow is the best machine that you have. So when it delivers a child, It will give you milk for seven, Eight months. Once milk is over, In India we retire the cows and feed them. We don't kill them, That's what he's trying to say. We retire the cows and feed them. And if I feed so much, He goes around the city and collects all the vegetable waste from everywhere. I feed it now at ten o'clock in the morning and by five thirty, Six in the evening, Dung will come out. So this dung is very rich in methane, The vegetable is not rich in methane, This is very rich in methane. I got a Gober gas plant, I put it there and it generates gas. I need light by six thirty in the evening, My lights are on. And I take this residue that comes out of the Gober gas plant and put it there into the earthworm pit. And within seventy-two hours, The richest possible manure that you can have, The vermi post, Vermi compost is ready and immediately I can put it back into the earth. And in case there is something that the cow cannot eat, Then I have chicken. Chicken like worms, The major part of their diet is worm. So if you just leave something there, It rots, Maggots will come, Chicken will eat that and it will transform worms into an egg within twenty-four hours. There's no machine in the world which can make worms into eggs. So when you have omelet, You're actually eating maggots within twenty-four hours. In a very simplistic way he's explaining, But it's true. That's what is happening, All right. So what is food becomes something else. What is mud becomes food and like this it's going on. In this whole process of life, The moment you take your individuality too seriously, You become an opaque self. Because you're opaque, Sunlight is not entering you. Why sunlight is going through this air, Though it is. . . Air is everywhere, You know this, Hello? It is going through air in such a way that you can't see it, Though it is vital for your existence. But why is it not going through you? Because you are opaque physically, That's good. Physical opacity is all right. But if you become opaque as a being, Then you need some knocking. So the guru as a person. . . Why? Let me not talk about others because they may have their own tricks. So I don't want to explore and open up those things because we don't know what strategies they have. Why I am the way I am, My persona is crafted carefully, So that hard to make any conclusions constantly keeps you confused. Because if you have concluded, Your door is closed. If you're little confused, Suppose you're confused whether it's day or night, You would like to open the window and see, Isn't it? If you're certain about everything, Nothing. So my personality is a knock on the door. But your goddamn door, Will it open? That's a big question. No, Sadhguru, Once in a way I open and shut, Open and shut. Fine. That is why you have to hang around the person all the time. But if you become open, Open means just this, Your muck settled, Not even gone. I'm not even expecting it should all be gone. It's settled, It doesn't come up every day. It's settled down at the bottom of the lake. No problem, Clear water is up there. We must understand the beautiful clear water of a lake that you might have seen, Crystal clear water, Or in a river. There's lot of muck at the bottom, But they kept it down. Because they kept it down, There is beautiful, Drinkable water. So similarly with you, It is not necessary, You must be washed through and through. That is only needed if we want to do things beyond your well-being. That your concern about spiritual process is not just your well-being, Your realization. You want to become an instrument. Well that is looking very difficult in 21st century to make anybody into an instrument because an instrument should do. . . Suppose you are a surgeon, You have a needle you want to stitch, But the needle decides suddenly it wants to be a scissor. Dangerous. This is the experience of a guru in 21st century, Especially a mystic who wants to do some things beyond just well-being. So that is a different problem. But just to bring clarity and well-being to yourself and to your own realization, All you need to do is settle the muck. Settling the muck, You don't have to do anything. If you don't mess with it, It will settle down. Every day, This has become a. . . Yesterday I was calling somebody, You are a progeny of Sigmund Freud. Every day picking up your muck and you think you're analyzing it, All you're doing is you're stirring it up all over the world. With this, If you ever think there will be clarity in your life, All the best. I'm doing this, Not this, You must notice that. I will tell you someday why. All the best because you will be an eternal mess. Just know this. Because you have not understood the fundamentals of human mechanism, Especially your psychological space. Now everybody is on the internet, Everybody knows kidney function, This, This, All kinds of chemical names everybody is throwing out. So Guru Maheb, Billurubin, I said, Where the hell did you see? Leave it to the doctors, You just say, This is hurting, This is hurting, This is hurting, You can say that. You don't say all these things because you don't know a damn thing about it. It's just like the same thing in the so-called spiritual world of the twentieth century. Everybody is talking about aura, Chakras, Energy and how they're cleaning the chakras, Aligning the chakras, Real alignment, You know. This is going to mess you up very badly because all you're doing is stirring up the bottom of the lake. You will always be a murky lake, You will never be clear water. The difference between clear water and murkiness is just that one has allowed it to settle down another. Only because there is murkiness, All these lotuses and lilies are blossoming, Isn't it? Here in this lake. If it. . . If you wash it clean, The bottom of the lake, What will come out of this? Nothing will come out of this. It will be a water tank, It will not be a lake. So it's all right. There is lot of murk. But there is no need to bring it up to the surface because it's most useful where it is. If it comes up, It blocks up everything. So a guru is a presence, Not a person, A certain energy, A certain possibility. To make use of this, All you have to do is open your door. All you have to do. . . Open your door means, Sadhguru, How do I open my door? You know Hanuman, Opened his chest, Should I do that? No, No, I don't want to see all that ugliness within you. You're pretty ugly inside, You know. It's a great mechanism but not a aesthetic one. Hello? Physiologically I'm saying. Nobody wants to open the stomach and look inside. There is nothing very pretty out there. Yes, Useful things but not pretty. So opening does not mean there is some mechanism that you have to open. The only block is you. The only block is you as a person. Why somebody is being referred to as a guru and somebody is not is simply because one has a personality which is opaque, Standing in the way. Another has either made himself transparent or learned to move aside. One of these things you must do. If you become absolutely transparent, Then there will be certain amount of functional loss in the world. So at this stage for most people it's better to learn to stand aside. You must try this next time in your home when a guest comes. You open the door, But you just stand in the way. They will clearly understand this is not a welcome home. The moment you open the door, You stand aside. This is a simple sense every human being has. So guru's persona is just a knock on your door. When you hear the knock, You must stand aside. As I've repeatedly said, I've initiated more people who I've not met than people that I've met. I think in the next few months I'm seeing how to take this to a next level using technology. Because if people can use their scientific knowledge and technology to burn out a city or two, I thought we can use the technology to really light up millions of human beings. I'm looking at. . . See the only. . . The only restriction that why is it we can't sit here in this darshan and just initiate the whole world into a meditative possibility or let's say Shambhavi Mahamudra, Why can't I initiate all of them straight away? The problem is they are. . . Evolutionary issues are there. They're distracted. They're not focused. If you can get the whole world focused for a small period of time, My idea of small period of time is three, Four hours if you can keep them absolutely focused, The entire population. Right now, This morning, We can initiate the entire world into a practice. Believe me, We can prove this to you. They don't know we're teaching them, They just stayed focused. But by the end of three, Four hours, They will know how to do Shambhavi Mahamudra. We can do this. But how to get them focused even when they're in your physical presence? You know, These days, It is not only your body that is itching. The screen, The phone screen is always itching. Hello? Ping, Ping, Ting, Ting, It's going and you have to do it and if it's not happening, You're worried, Why is it not happening? Why is nobody paying attention to you? Why is nobody sending you this and this and this and in America, This? Why somebody is not sending you some sign? So culturally, You've been trained to look for signs everywhere, You're getting it. Well, If you can stay focused, This can be done. We will be doing a large scale effort in this direction, Where we can initiate a large mass of people. The struggle is to make them focus so all our Isangas, Our teachers will work to get a substantial number of people, Stay focused and then we will initiate them without physical presence. This is going to be a significant step, Thanks to the virus that we are making this effort. It's always been on my mind but you know, We've been doing it with physical presence. So we didn't really make the needed effort. Now we are making this effort and if we successfully get them focused, Initiating them is not the problem wherever they are. Because this is not like a electric light, Can I focus it here? Can I focus it behind the wall? This is not that kind of thing. It is happening. All it needs is focus. If the focus is there, Transmission is effortless. Where there is no transmission, There will be no transformation. Teachings can change you, But cannot transform you. Transformation will happen only when there is a transmission of something that opens up different possibilities within yourself. So we are in the process of, You know, Working out a system where we can have at least ten, Twenty-five thousand people focused at a time and we initiate them. Well, We've done this in physical presence for much larger numbers, But now technology platforms are limited to the numbers that I mentioned. So this will be happening probably in the next few months and this is an unfortunate remembrance. We celebrate anniversaries of everything. Don't celebrate this day. This day we must remember always the day Nagasaki was bombed. That too by chance, Look at this. It's not like we wanted to kill the people of Nagasaki. We wanted to drop it on another city and that city had too much cloud that day. Those days, The bombers did not have the kind of technology they have today, They had to physically see it. So there was thick cloud over that city. So they flew to another city and dropped it there. The randomness of it is even more cruel. It was not even a focused effort to neutralize something. It is a random effort. It's okay, Somebody you bomb, All right? Either this guy or this guy, What does it matter? Shoot somebody. These days you're seeing this, Shooters are coming in public spaces. They're not planning to shoot somebody who is their enemy or somebody with whom they have a fight. Just shoot somebody. Well, The entire movement of what you're referring to or what we are referring to as terrorism is just this, Shoot somebody. Shoot this particular person is human enmity. I'm not saying it's good, But at least it is controlled by its own nature because it's focused on a specific person. Terror is a terrible thing because shoot somebody, It doesn't matter who. Man, Woman, Child, If you don't get anybody, Shoot the dogs on the street, Anything. Shoot something. So this nuclear bombing, Which in 1944 was a fresh exploration into science and technology. It was new. And just bomb somebody and it was nicknamed fat man, All of you. Today is a day to determine yourself that you will not be that fat man representing a bomb, Which is randomly hitting somebody. I'm talking about another cause. Because thirty percent of the world. . . World's population is starving, Malnourished, And more than thirty percent is obese. This is also random bombing. So please take care of that also. And that city which is called as Kokura, Which had clouds, We have a clear sky today, We don't know who has any intentions for us. That city Kokura, Which was cloudy, Today is being appreciated as the luckiest city in the world. Because the bomb was intended for them, But went some. . . To somebody else. So this has been the nature of human existence, That we have organized prejudice in the form of race, Religion, Caste, Creed, And the new racism is nationality. Which passport I hold will determine who I want to kill. Yes, If I hold this passport, I want to kill you. If I hold another passport, I want to kill that guy. So this organization of prejudice. . . Prejudice is there unfortunately in human mind, Individuals can work how to transcend that. But when it gets organized in these forms, Then this is not experienced as prejudice, This is experienced as patriotism. This is experienced as a very positive thing. Well unfortunately, The world's realities may be such that still nations are confronting each other. But we must understand all this is rooted in organizing our prejudice. Today the world's survival or nation's survival may be still dependent upon it. But is it not the aspiration of human beings to naturally see how we can live in the highest possible way, Whether it's going to happen tomorrow morning, Or after ten years or a thousand years, But is it not important that every human being aspires that in some way you're liberated, Both as individual, As societies, As nations, And as humanity on this planet. Because this aspiration is not my idea. This aspiration is the very basis of your being, Because being means it has evolved to a place where it doesn't want to be tangled up. Well, Because you tangle up in reflection of your physiological and physical survival instincts, This is why endless suffering, Simply sitting, Standing people are suffering, Nothing need to happen. Everything is fine, They will suffer. When everything is perfectly fine, They still suffer, Because what is longing to be free has been bound by your ignorance. Well, Today is an outdoor darshan, Here we are, Our Mahima Hall for those of you who have not seen. It's a dome, Pillarless, Columnless dome, Probably one of the largest domes in the world. I don't know for sure, But definitely of all the domes I've seen, This is a very large one, 44, 000 square feet. It can accommodate a few. . . A couple of thousand people sitting for meditation, But today because of the virus, Only three hundred people can sit. So infrastructure requirements have gone up because of social distancing, Or the best thing is to sit outdoors. So here we are. Please if you have questions. I'm waiting for question, Question. This question is from Misha from Johannesburg. Namaskaram Sadhguru, How do I deal with a family member who for very small things keeps threatening that his guru will punish me? He even recalls instances when people have met with accidents or contracted diseases because they were not on good terms with him. While these may be empty threats, They are quite disturbing and they have started making my children quite nervous. How can I convince my little children that their mother is safe and how can this situation be handled? Oh, Please first check out your family member, Whoever that is. Maybe he's got some goon connections, Not guru connections. Local goons, He has relationships with them. With that he can cause accidents, He can cause disasters. When this happened, Shankaran Pillai went to a bank for a business loan. He had a legitimate business running successfully, He just needed more money to advance and enhance a few things. What the bank manager in his arrogance, No, This happens usually, Businessmen who are worth millions go and sit with a manager who doesn't earn ten percent or not even educated that much many times, Acts like he's the ruler. It happens everywhere in government offices, In the governments, In the banks, Because whoever holds the key to the money, Acts big. This happens even within families, All right. So the bank manager said, No. Shankaran Pillai said, See, I have a legitimate business. I'm running a very profitable business, All I need is little more money to go. . . Get going. Bank manager says, No. This was his bank, But now this manager says simply no without consideration. So he walked to another bank in the same. . . On the same street. He went and spoke to the manager and said, This is my need. That manager immediately provided him the ne. . . Necessary loan. So Shankaran Pillai worked to the fish market, Bought a. . . Two kilograms of rotten fish, Wrapped it in paper and went to the old bank where he had a safety deposit box. He took out all the documents, Everything that he had there and put the fish there, Closed it and went on with his life. So your relative is just trying to do that, To put some rotten fish in your head. Okay. So you need to take care of that. Because people can put rotten fish in your house. How is it that you're allowing people to put rotten fish in your head? People can put rotten fish in your head because you've not taken charge of your head first of all. You left it in other people's hands. It's a very precious property. Doesn't matter if you lose your money, Don't lose your head. So why this relative of yours is in your house, If he is or if he is visiting, What is the purpose of this? Blood, Money, What is it? Get rid of that. Because someone who threatens you obviously has no interest in your life. Why do you call that a relative? Let the fish be wherever they have to be. As this man was saying, Waste vegetable becomes dung, Dung becomes mano, Mano becomes food or maggots become omelettes, Just like that. If the rotten fish is in a certain place, It'll be useful. That is not the place to keep it. Please. This question is from Aditya from Mumbai. Namaskaram Sadhguru. You have often mentioned that modern day education kills seventy percent of our intelligence. In India, It also kills around twenty-eight students every day who commit suicide out of academic pressure. In a much needed move, The government of India recently announced sweeping changes in the education policy for the first time in thirty-four years. I am keen to know your review of the new policy. Well, India's education for millennia was conducted in a certain way, Where education was designed to integrate you into life process, Without life process overwhelming you, That everybody had freedom to choose. Probably if you look back a thousand or fifteen hundred years ago, The only culture on the planet where nearly ninety to ninety-five percent of the women were literate is India, Nowhere else this happened that long ago. Education is very, Very recent for women in the rest of the world. I'm telling you all ladies, Recently educated. That education was part of both male and female populations in India for a very long time, Which changed in the last six-hundred to eight-hundred years because of aberrations that happened to that culture. And about hundred-and-fifty, Two-hundred years ago, A more organized aberration came, Where the English tried to educate Indians the way they want, Very clearly they defined it. They had no ambiguity about what they wanted. They said, They may be brown of skin, But they must think like us. Their values must be what ours are. Like this they went on, Schooling system was very, Very cruel. Similar things have happened in America for the Native Americans. The English education was a cruel system of trying to contain a child in a room and beaten for twelve years with some rubbish that doesn't mean anything to him. I escaped. So this happened in India in a much larger scale, An organization, Than the way it happened here. So when this happened, What was their intent of educating the Indian populace? The only thing is they wanted. . . They found Indians were very good with mathematics, Languages, Because they. . . Everybody spoke four, Five languages. They could pick up any language easily. And they're very good without using even their fingers, Without using paper. Even today it is true. I think the present generation is completely losing it because of the gadgets. Otherwise when we are growing up, Even today, We can count things, Multiply things, Divide things in our mind without using any other instrument. So they found this very valuable. They thought these guys will make good clerks and accountants for Her Majesty's service because the ambition was to take the entire world. And you needed very docile, Honest, Honest, Hardworking people who will never rebel, Who don't have bloodthirstiness in them, Who are very calm, Who will never organize revolutions or anything. They will just do their work. You put them in slavery, They will think this is their karma and they will just do that also well. When they saw this attitude, They thought of all the nations they had colonized at that time. India looked like an ideal place to educate and make sure this whole enterprise of. . . What do you call this? This whole enterprise of imperialism will be staffed by Indians and it was. Even a large part of British Army, Both in World War One and World War Two, Was Indian soldiers who fought for fifty paisa a day. Do you understand? They did not even give them shoes. They were just wearing sandals, Indian jodh puris and they were in the trenches in France and nearly some hundred-and-fifty thousand men lost their toes and their feet because they were in ice-cold temperatures with no shoes. So they found. . . In spite of that they fought with minimal food because they were told to fight because this thing is there in India if you take something from somebody. The present-day Indians may be losing it but generally, Traditionally, It is called as a. . . I have eaten something from you, That means I'll always do the best for you. Suppose you give me one day's food, That's it. Only one day you fed me in my life, I'll always remember that and always serve you in the best possible way for that one thing. So this. . . This is called namak that I've eaten the salt from your hands because this comes from the understanding of runanubandha, If I've taken salt from your hands, That means we are one. So they use this in a big way and educated Indians the way it is necessary to fulfill all the clerical and accounting posts across the world, Which they fulfill pretty well. But in this education process, The most important thing is obedience, Not intelligence, Not ingenuity, Not unfolding of individual genius. It is obedience. You must obey, Otherwise you'll be punished. This brought. . . Was brought in. Maybe in the current generation, According to the Indian laws, You can't beat a child in the school, But when we were growing up. . . Why should I tell you all this? I don't think. . . You know, Almost. . . Almost every day, I never came home without being beaten for something. Like this, Like this, Sometimes they get cruel like this on the knuckles, Tamal, Tamal. So I went there only when it was absolutely necessary because what are. . . What are they trying to do? So this education system, Mildly, Was transformed in fifties and sixties, A little bit of change, But didn't have the courage to shift it totally because changing a whole system can lead to collapse. Did not have the wherewithal and the money and the finances to do it. I'm glad, Though it took so much time, At least now it's happening, I feel it should have happened much earlier. We could have done this in nineties, But it came to 2020 and now we are making changes. If you ask me personally, I'm very appreciative of the changes that have happened, But I'm not satisfied because I would like more drastic changes. First thing is liberate the children from this tyranny. Everybody is talking about. . . Even day before yesterday I was in conversation with a minister, I. . . Well, If a child goes to farm with his father and learns how to farm, This is called as child labour and the father can be arrested because he took his son and made him work there. But school is a horrible labour, In my experience it was. Now we are trying to create schools which doesn't feel like labour otherwise, And it's a tyrannical labour because this moment you tell me you learn this language, I'm just beginning to read and understand, Tong you ring a bell and you say, Suddenly I learn mathematics and tong I learn chemistry, Tong I learn physics and tong a stupid guy comes and tells me moral education. Well this is tyranny of the worst kind. At your whim, You try to change and shift the china. . . Child's focus from this to that, That to this, You think this is bloody schooling, This is a bloody factory, Which doesn't produce anything significant. This is a factory designed to feed other factories. The whole education system is designed unfortunately to cater to the economic engine that is running, Which is your personal interest, It's not child's interest. Education should be about blossoming a human being to their fullest. Well this may sound too idealistic, Are we capable of doing this in the nation? Should we not produce accountants, Should we not produce engineers, Should we not produce many. . . Medical sciences? Yes we should. I'm not questioning it. Tell me, At the age of six or seven, You are trying to understand how, Let us say, How hydrogen and oxygen comes together and becomes water. Tell me, Did you really understand or did you just start believing it? So you are propagating a new religion. Nobody understood how two parts of hydrogen and one part of oxygen became water at the age of seven or eight, Even now you have not understood, As far as I'm concerned. I have not. So you just start believing it. So if all you want to do is propagating a new religion, Which doesn't get you anywhere, Well all the best. At least now there is an effort to make this more relaxed, That what is said in the school is not absolute. School provides an ambience for the child to interact with his own age group and also develop a thirst for knowing. This is all a school should do, To inject a new level of thirst to know something every day new. And of course, Information and other things are available. Especially today, In today's world, Where information is everywhere, Propagating information is no more a school. A school should become largely an inspirational place. Information is available everywhere. What human wisdom could not do, It looks like the virus is doing. Now suddenly everybody's under. . . I've been talking about this incessantly for the last ten, Twelve years. It is time that there is nothing being taught in the school. The only purpose. . . You know, Our schools are like this. We don't have trained teachers. Only people who are well educated, Who are well behaved, Who are well cultured, Creating an atmosphere of inspiration and nurture, So that they don't take to wrong things. They don't take to anything which is damaging to their life. That's all the concern is. Rest of it, Let them grow up. First of all, These words which have gotten implanted into human psyche and in the languages, It is very. . . It's only in America I hear this. When I ask people something about their background, They say, I was raised Jewish, I was raised Catholic. Why are you being raised? Only cattle are raised. Human beings should not be raised. Human beings should grow up. If human beings have to grow up, There is a certain ambience and atmosphere that is nurturing for their growth. That is all a school should create. Right now, If you want these plants to flower, You don't go there and pull flowers out of the plant. All you do is maintain the atmosphere in the soil, Water, Sunlight, Whatever else it needs, You just maintain the ambience, The plant will flower. You cannot make it flower. Right now, School looks like you want to pull flowers out of people's heads or whatever else. People are very interested in pulling money out of their heads, Because the entire damn world has become economy, Economy, Economy, All right? Economic system is here to serve humanity. Humanity is not here to serve the economic system. I think that's. . . In that sense, Without disrespecting unfortunate loss of life and suffering that people are going through, Our hearts are with you for that. But in terms of relegating the economic system to secondary level, From being a primary thing, Has been in some way achieved by this virus. Right now, Staying alive and staying healthy is more important than how much bank money you got. It's a very good happening for the human beings. This should have happened of our own wisdom, Which is what these centers are, Where nobody's thinking money. We are living in a way that there are many people who are living with me who not thought money for the last ten, Twenty years, Because money doesn't mean anything to them. I've developed people around me that if you put a. . . You know, You open up the federal bank to them, They'll walk in thinking, What is there to read? It's not even a library. Because it doesn't mean anything to them, Because what money can buy doesn't matter to them. Of course, We all eat, All this is there. But for that, You don't have to run such a horribly destructive economic engine, Which is just ripping the life out of this planet. So in this, If you want to correct this, This can't be corrected by crippling the economy. This can only be done by transforming our education system. So this effort is very appreciative. In many ways, It is positive. But still, For me, It is still coming from too much fear. In a controlled way, Little shift is happening. But maybe there are practical problems, I understand that, Because in India, Millions of children probably around. . . If. . . In Tamil Nadu alone, There are about fifteen million children in school, I think. No, I'm sorry. No, No, That's wrong. In Tamil Nadu, In the government schools in Tamil Nadu, There are a million children in the government schools. A similar number is there in the private schools. So approximately, Maybe around two, 2. 2 million children in Tamil Nadu. All over the country, In twenty-eight states, There must be at least seventy to hundred million children in schools. If you take them up to high school, Probably up to hundred, Hundred-and-twenty million children are in school. So the changes that you make for such a large structure, You will have to make it carefully. But I only hope I have also given my insights into education, What needs to happen. And hope in a. . . In a calibrated manner, More changes will come in the coming years, Because to absorb these changes, For many schools to absorb these changes, To create the necessary staff, To create the necessary infrastructure, It may take two, Three years before they're able to implement what changes they have made, Which are significant. One important change that has happened which. . . Which is good is, Children can pursue education, They can break it, And again they can come back, Which already is there in this country I think, But otherwise in India if you break your education, You're finished. That's the end of your education. You never come back. So now there are options that you can take a break and again, You can come back. You went through little madness for one year, So you dropped. But now again you got to your senses, You want to get back to school, That possibility has opened up, Which is a great thing. That is a very significant change. This will relieve these twenty-eight people that you're saying, I don't know where the statistics came from. Anyway, A certain number of children are committing suicide, Unable to bear the pressure. Because in India, If you get ninety-nine percent in your examination, Your parents will ask, Where is the other one percent, What happened, What did you do with that one percent? So the pressure of performance where in the Delhi University, Children who got hundred percent don't get seats for graduation courses, Because there are so many people who got hundred percent. So essentially the most significant aspect of this change that has happened in education policy is from route learning to a more creative way of thinking and applying themselves, Which is very significant. I think it's a good change. When we make all these changes effective in all. . . For all these hundred million children plus, Instantly, I don't think so, But it'll take time, It's a good move. I would have expected little more. One thing I wanted from the government which I've been pitching for, Especially for higher education is, Release them. Let the private people do whatever they want. Do not control the private schools. Government schools, You decide what to teach, That's up to you. But private schools release them in such a way, I actually told this to the leaders of the nation. I said, See, I will teach nonsense and I will charge a million. But the parents love it, Children love it. What is your problem? Where did this come that administration starts thinking you love the children more than the parents? Where did this come from? That you're concerned about the well-being of the child more than the parents. Well, There are ignorant parents, They may induce them into all kinds of things. Yes, That much protection you must give, But you must not assume that. There are many parents who will take children in the wrong way. If they're drinking, They'll take them into drinking, If they're drugging, They'll take them into drugging, Whatever compulsions they have, They will initiate their children into same compulsions. And there are any number of parents who will enslave their children for their own. . . This thing, Parents are not above board completely. Any number of parents have horribly enslaved their own children. So in that sense, The state has to be active and vigilant about it, That is understood. But still, What I'm saying is easier than done. I'm not trying to say they're wrong. All I'm saying is, We must continue to change. This is not like an absolute change has been done and we've achieved something. We must continue to change every few years more and more relaxation should happen. Education should become a joyful choice, Not a compulsive extruder out of which you have to come out in a certain shape. This needs to happen everywhere in the world. In India, It's necessary because it's a massive population. We need to bring a possibility where education builds beautiful human beings, Not soldiers. Well, Soldiers have become necessary in the world only because we have created a world full of confrontation. At least within the given society, We can avoid the soldiers. At the national borders, Unfortunately, We still need soldiers. This also would go if economic disparity in the world largely gets equalized either by everybody going up or everybody coming down one way or the other. If there is. . . Economic disparity goes away, You will see national borders will not mean much. That needs to happen. But we're doing everything possible to see that doesn't happen quickly, Because imperialism is being practiced in so many ways, In so many subtler ways than before. And new forms of imperial. . . Imperialism is. . . Is being developed in various parts of the world. So evolution of individual human being is most important. This is where education is vital, That it is evolution of individual human beings on this planet. But right now, Educated people on this. . . In this world, In the last two hundred years if you look at it, Educated people have been the most cruel people on the planet. Educated people have been the most destructive people on the planet. Even ecologically, It's only educated people who are destroying this world. Illiterate people are not doing such things. Even now, It is only in the cities across India, Reasonably educated people who are a big virus threat, The rural population anyway maintaining social distance. In Tamil Nadu, If you see, This is a culture in South India, When somebody speaks to somebody, They will speak like this. They were always conscious that your breath should not touch somebody else. Now look at all of you. But once in a way you would like to raise this and cough at somebody because your freedom to cough in somebody's face. You know, This is being. . . Protests are being taken out. Why can't I infect somebody? That is the way the world happens, Virus must, You know, Transact. We all know biologically that is how it is happening, Microbial life needs to transact. But you don't have to be an active participant in it, Anyway it happens and you don't have to give a virus which is destructive to somebody's life. Well, This is what it means. Associated people on the planet should become the most responsible and conscious population on the planet. Right now unfortunately, Our education systems have not built this. The future generations, This is what we should aim towards. As long as the Indian policymakers are seeing this as a calibrated change which will. . . Which they will continue to change over a period of time, The present change is fine with me because I understand the largeness. It's not ideal, The changes, The small changes, Some are significant changes. But I understand the size of the education machinery, Sudden change may make it collapse totally, Because first you have to educate the teachers how to be. When they don't know how to be, Suddenly changing the education system could be a disastrous process. So they're changing installments, That's what I'm thinking, That they're changing in installments. Every few years there will be changes and changes, This needs to happen. Nobody should believe this. . . These changes that have been done is absolute and perfect, They are not. I think our time is up. I must. . . It reminds me, I never understood why but I. . . It was fine with me. See, By the time I finished my graduation, Which is twelve plus three, Fifteen years of education, I have been in thirteen different institutions. One, I can blame it on my father, Because he was working for Indian railways and he was being transferred a little bit, That is one cause. But even when we stayed in one city, Still I changed every year. This happened, One day, Shankaran Pillai applied for a job. Then the interviewer looked at this and said, May. . . Asked many questions, Which all he answered properly. Then he said, You have left over fifteen jobs in your career. You're only forty years of age, You left fifteen jobs. Why is that? Shankaran Pillai said, I never left any of them of my own intent. That was so for me also, I never wanted to leave the school for some reason. They put me in another school and another school and another school. Well, I think we have also announced this Sadhguru exclusive. I think Creative has already gone, Is it? So this project is coming up soon, Most probably in the month of September. Hopefully we will time it for September 23rd. But because of technology platform limitations, If you want to be on it, You must go quickly. I think pre-registration is already open. You need to download Sadhguru's app and be prepared to experience Sadhguru exclusive very soon. So what does Sadhguru exclusive mean? Well, Life has many, Many, Many aspects. Out of these many aspects, Some are needed for everybody. Some are essential for everybody, Now everybody has to breathe, Everybody has to eat. But whether everybody needs a particular kind of food or not, Whether they can digest it or not is a questionable thing. So in that sense, There is a whole lot of existing material and we are. . . I'm looking at because I've reached a point in my life, I'm seeing how. . . How as much as possible that whatever can be articulated, Whatever can be in some way demonstrated, We want to put it out, Record it for posterity. This is an advantage only we have in twenty-first century. For many disadvantages the guru has in twenty-first century, This is a serious advantage over all the other generations of gurus because now if it doesn't work now, It may work tomorrow. So as a part of this, We are doing that, We thought we will release this to only those people who are aspiring for such things, Who will not get confused. Because various aspects of life are explored without maybe social nuances, Various aspects of mysticism, Spiritual process and of the guru himself in many different ways. So we are opening up this exclusive thing. Please look up whether you wish to be there or not is your choice, But we are setting up an exclusive. It will be available on the Sadhguru app, But there will be a kind of a entry restriction to ensure that only those who desire to be there are there.