World Champion Asks Sadhguru On Life, Lifestyle & Sports | PV Sindhu In Conversation With Sadhguru

Badminton Champ PV Sindhu taps into Sadhguru’s wisdom for a few tips to help her improve her game. Find out what these are in this engaging conversation! 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.

Transcript

Well, You know, In the last forty years, I've stayed home for more than forty days for the first time because of this virus. Thanks to the virus, Unfortunately it's taking lives, Otherwise it's a beautiful opportunity for me. So about talking about less pollution, All this definitely has happened. So this is something we've. . . I've been addressing for over twenty-five years continuously. You must have heard of Rally for Rivers and Cauvery Calling projects and things like that. My engagement with nature has always been very profound. I am not an environmentalist or I am a scientist or something. I am. . . I am like a worm in the soil. You know, I know as much about the soil and river as a worm knows. But I think worm generally knows more than the PhDs know about it because external knowledge and intrinsic feeling and experience of what it is, Is very different. It's like, Suppose I've done a PhD on badminton, Will I know what you know? I will not know. Because you are the. . . You know, You are in it. That's very different. So that's been my experience and it's. . . It's a welcome thing that a whole lot of people are talking about how air is cleaner, Water is purer. See, If we say. . . If. . . If we have to go by the definition of what is life, Right now, If somebody asks you, How is your life, Maybe you think of your medals this year, Somebody thinks of the money they're making, Somebody thinks about their wealth, Their relationships or something like this. But essentially life means within ourselves, Because this body is made of five fundamental elements of water, Soil, Fire, Air and space, Life essentially means how wonderful is these five elements within you. Right now we are talking about five elements around us. But if five elements around us are not in a very good condition, They will not be in good condition here either, That we know that. So now people are experiencing. . . Even in Delhi you can. . . You know, You cannot see the air anymore. Delhi was one place where you could see the air that you breathe. So these things are happening, It's very good, But we need to also understand we shouldn't get too excited about these things, Because you cannot create an ecological or environmental difference without a long-term commitment and action towards that. So this short-term thing, Six weeks we've closed down everything, Everything seems to be okay. Once the economy gets back into thing in the next two months' time, Everything will be back to how it was. Because there is no fundamental policy change, There is no fundamental attitudinal change, Or there is no industrial revolution which is taking us from polluting industries to some other dimension, Nothing like that has happened. So it is just that we've been locked down. So the simple thing is the human footprint has been minimal. Because human footprint is minimal, Everything seems to be doing better. So this is something continuously I'm talking and because of this one thing, All major religions have been against me. You know, The Hindus are against me, Muslims are against me, Christians are against me, Because I've been saying without reducing human population, There is no way out of this situation. Because for. . . You know, Right now we are 7. 6 billion people, United Nations is estimating we will be 9. 7 billion people by 2050. If 9. 7 billion people are on this planet, It doesn't matter what wealth we have, What money we have, What education we have, We will not live well, No matter what. So in a way we are living as if we are the last generation on this planet. So now this virus has come, Reminded us of our mortality in a strong way. So this is definitely the time to think, Instead of making these kind of predictions that by 2050 we will be nearly 10 billion people, Why can't we have a plan by 2050 will be 3. 5 or 4 billion people? If you do not reduce the human footprint, No matter what technology comes, What decisions we make, Nothing is going to work because it's a human footprint, Essentially. So because we need to understand, In 1947 when we got our independence, We were only thirty-three crore people in this country. And average life. . . Life expectancy of an Indian was twenty-eight years of age. That means I must be dead by now, Only you can be alive. Fortunately, Now we have moved this to some seventy-three or seventy-four years of age, Which is a very wonderful achievement for the nation. But when we push the death. . . When we postpone the death, We must also postpone the birth, Isn't it? We have done it in a minimal way, But we have not done it significantly enough to make the difference. If we don't do that one thing, We can go on talking about it, But disaster will continue, Because the level of ecological disaster, Most people are not conscious of, They're only thinking pure air in the city. That's not what it is. From 1970 to now, In the last fifty years, Nearly seventy percent of the vertebrate population has come down, Animal population. So similarly, Insect population, Bird population, Everything is going down. We need to understand our life is not independent of all these lives. Only when all these lives are functioning well, Our life also will happen well. So this little break, If people are enjoying pure air and pure water and things like that, If they value that, We must change our concept of, How are you doing means if you say, I'm well, It means all the elements in me are doing well, All the elements around me are doing well, I'm feeling wonderful. This is what it means, Not the money in my bank. Questioner 2 – True sir, I agree to that and definitely adding to that, Sir, Are you a river person or like a mountain person? I know you've been like traveling and doing these river things and definitely it's a great thing and I just wanted to ask if you are a… Sadhguru – Mountain person or river person? See, I can't live without mountains. But because now that you asked this question, There is a thing to it. Because once you have mountains, Rivers normally always come out of the mountain. So a river also is a add-on. But if you just. . . If you just choose the river, You may end up in the delta. Questioner 2 – The mountain together add-on with the river. Sadhguru – Both here in our background is, You know, We are at the foothills of Velliangiri Mountain, Which is part of Western Ghats. In United States, Our ashram is in the Appalachian Mountains. So without mountain I cannot live. Questioner 2 – Live. I agree to that, Sir. One more sir, I wanted to ask was, Yes, As you know, We've been at homes and you know, Education is one of the vital elements of this society and this long term has brought a serious break to learning. And teachers across the country have risen to their call of duty as corona, You know, By working nearly twice as hard to make sure the learning is continuous. They are teaching children online on Zoom calls or Google calls and are taking care of their homes. So what message would you give to the teachers of our country? Because I know, You know, Before there were schools and you know, There were teaching, But now it's become much more harder for the teachers. So what is the message that you give them? Well, This was bound to happen. I've, You know, I've been predicting this for the last six, Seven years, That these schools will become redundant. But this is by being my wish since my childhood that school should become redundant. I went to school only when it was absolutely necessary. Considering your sport, I think you are also my kind, You have not been to school much. Yeah, Yeah, Yes, Sir, Not regular, Yeah. So. . . So this. . . Our idea of schooling is coming from Manchester version of industry, You know, Mass production, Everything. So this is a English version which we took on. They are changing their education, But we are not changing ours in India. So it's important that this changes because there is something. . . This is a information age where information is available everywhere. It is not like you have to read a textbook, It's all over the place, Whatever you want to know. So when information is so widely available, Right now the whole schooling system is just delivering information to the students, Which is redundant. Once artificial intelligence comes, Schools will become completely, Absolutely redundant. I think virus is only hastening this process. It is not necessary that we have to come together to learn information. We must come together for inspiration, For focus, For interaction, For various other things. But unfortunately, Only for information. . . I would say, Right now we have school for five, Six days and then one day or one-and-a-half days or weekend is a holiday. We must just reverse that. That two-day school, Five days you just learn wherever you learn. That's how it should become in future. But we have built enormous amount of physical infrastructure, The amount of buildings around the world in the name of schools and colleges and universities, Phenomenal. This will become not so relevant in future and it would happen anyway in the next fifteen, Twenty years. But now with this virus, It may happen very quickly, Because going and sitting in one place is going to be a problem anyway. So this is a very welcome development. It is not even necessary, Teachers should be teaching on Zoom or whatever, This. . . That is part of their profession right now, But actually in future this won't be needed. Let us say you want to learn physics, The best physics teacher in the world, Whatever they have thought, It's available to all of us. Why is a local teacher who has not grasped physics fully is trying to teach me, I'm asking? You and me want to learn physics or chemistry, The best possible teacher whose thought in the world is available, We must learn from that. But we go to the teacher for inspiration for, You know, Certain experimentation, Integration of things that should happen. So this just throwing in information at the children and think we're. . . Thinking we're educating, That is gone because these days, A ten-year-old child is better informed than their parents actually, On many aspects of life. Yeah, As you said, Definitely yes, I agree to that because there's information everywhere nowadays and you know, Everybody is just one sitting like away from the information and there's this overwhelming information everywhere. So how to shape up our own individual personality and preserve our individuality, Like is there a balance between adapting to the change time or changing time and staying to yourself? Like how? See, When you say individual personality, See what the word. . . The word personality comes from a root word called persona. Persona means a mask that you wear. To perform a certain kind of function, You have to wear a certain mask. Now you are a sports person. When you are on the court, You have one kind of mask that is needed. That mask must be aggressive, Bringing fear in your opponent if necessary, Whatever, You need to wear that kind of a mask. You don't wear that mask at home. You don't wear that mask with your friend. Because this mask means you must be able to wear by choice and take it off. In this virus time, Everybody is masked, No choice. No kind of mask. But that is what personality means. To perform different types of activities, We need to structure ourselves in a certain way. But what happens over a period of time, By the time people are thirty, Thirty-five, They've gotten stuck with one mask. They're not able to take it off. Everywhere they are the same way. Now it will become a painful experience. If you see between a child, Anybody, Whatever their age today, When they were five, Six years of age, If you see their faces were all like this, One big smile, Grinning, You can't stop them from grinning. But slowly it becomes so grave and long, Simply because they're stuck with their own personality. One mask they wore and they can't remove it, All the time it's stuck. So we don't have to crystallize our personality. It's very important we keep our personality so flexible. To perform different types of activities, We should be able to put on different kind of masks. Without a mask, You cannot work. Without a personality, You cannot function in the world. That's for sure. But you don't have to be stuck with one persona. You can be a different person. As the situation demands, You can be that kind of a person. That is when you will find full expression to yourself, Otherwise you will get stuck when. . . Within a structure that you created. It's a prison that you build and get stuck to it. If somebody imprisons you, That is unfortunate, But understandable. But if you imprison yourself, It cannot be anything more stupid than that. But that's what is happening to ninety percent of the humanity most of the time. Speaker 2 – But well, To this. . . And sir, I would just ask that, Talking about masks, But I feel that it's not just to yourself. I know you want to be happy, You just want to remove your mask, Be happy, Stay happy. But it also depends on the other person that you talk to or you react to. So I'm sure, You know, That time your mask is again on. So what do you do for that? Like, For example, You're talking to a person and you don't like that person and you have to act accordingly to what he say. And you might say like, Okay, You know what, That is what he said. And I have to act in a way that okay, I need to be nice to him. So how do you react to that? Sadhguru – See, Mask, Mask. . . Speaker 2 – Because a lot of times it happens like for everyone, I'm sure. Sadhguru – Tell me, Tell me, Who is that guy first of all? Speaker 2 – No, No, No. No, No, No, No. Sadhguru – This is going to be news in the country, Huh? Speaker 2 – No, No, No, No. I meant to say like, You know, With a lot of people, Like, You know, When you're talking to a friend, You know, Sometimes, You know, You might be angry at them, Sometimes you might not like what they do. Like for example, Your best friend is doing something and you know, You might not like it, But then you're like, It's okay, You know, Never mind. You can't say it on their face saying that, You know, I didn't like it, Don't do that. They might get offended, Is what I'm saying. Sadhguru – I'm usually saying it on that face most of the time. Speaker 2 – Because sir, I have faced a few times like, You know, You know, When you take. . . Talking to your friends or other people, You might feel that they're wrong, But you hesitate to tell them, You know, You. . . I sometimes can't tell or you know, There are a lot of people who can't tell on their faces. So sorry. Sadhguru – See, Sindhu, The thing is, It is not about people being right and wrong. It is just that every human being is acting and living and understanding life according to their understanding and their intelligence. Not everybody can perceive life and understand life to the same extent. If you see people are the way they are because of the limitations that are there, You would strive to see how to help them to break their limitations, Rather than making a judgment, They're right, Wrong, Good, Bad, All these things. There are different types of people. Everything that everybody does, It is not necessary that you must like it or I must like it, It's not so. But there is no need for us. We. . . We. . . If you wear a mask to perform a certain function, You are still who you are within the mask. But right now the problem is the mask sits so tight on your face, You cannot distinguish which is the mask and which is me. So when I say a mask or a persona, What it means is you consciously wear. When you consciously wear it, It is there. It is there for the function, But you don't become that. See, When I say you don't become that, Right now, You're a tall girl, As. . . So on any podium you stand, You're like taller than anybody. So you were not born like this, You were born just this much, And now you became this much. This is just accumulation. Body is just an accumulation. Similarly, What you call as my mind, My thought, My emotion are accumulations. What we gather belongs to us, Cannot be us, Isn't it? It is not us. Right now this clothing, It may belong to me, But it can't be me. Similarly, The body, Similarly the structures of the mind. If we become conscious of this, What is me and what is not me, If this one thing everybody settles within themselves, If they are conscious of this, All these are not a issue. We will use this body, We will use this mind to the best of its capabilities, And that's all. Especially for you as a sports person, Using your body and mind to the best of its capabilities, All that matters in the end. So right now, You yourself would have noticed, As every human being would have noticed in their day-to-day activity, Because you're a sports person, I'm saying for you, Because the consequence of you not functioning at your best is immediately right there. For others, If they don't do something well today, It may take two years before the results come to them. For you, It is immediate. This is a bad shot right there, If you don't function well at that moment. So because of that, It is far more easier for you to notice this, That how many times in your life, Your own thought, Your own emotion, Your own ideas and opinions become a barrier to your function. So in the world, There are many, Many challenges. Right now, We're in a very challenging time, All right? But you yourself, Your own faculties, Your own thought, Your own emotion, Your own functioning of your body should not become an impediment in your life. That is the most important thing every human being should do. What the world will allow us to do or not, We don't know. It depends on the times we are in. See today, Because you're in twenty-fith. . . Twenty-first century, You're welding a racket. But probably if you were here a thousand years ago, You would be welding a sword or something else, You know. I'm saying it is the times which is allowing us to do what we are doing. So at this time, As there are possibilities, There are challenges. In this, If a individual human being, You know, Is here, Without making our body, Our thought, Our emotion, Our energies be a challenge by itself. If you just remove this one challenge, In your life you will perform to your best. Your best will be the best in the world, We don't know. That's. . . That is subject to various realities. But the important thing is whether I am the best in the world or not is not important. To your best, You're always on. You are never a barrier to yourself. Other barriers in the world we will have to cross. Well, Yes sir, I agree to that, But at the same time, Like, You know, When we play, Like, You know, I'm a badminton player and a lot of people say that when we lose sometimes or when we are disappointed, When we lose a match, People say that it's okay, You've done really well, You know, You are a great player, You're a good player. So people say that, You know, When I'm playing a match, People say that you shouldn't be too much thinking that, Okay, I'm a great player, I can win whatever match, Any match I play and you shouldn't be overconfident, But you should be confident. What is the difference? People say that you shouldn't be overconfident. When you go into the court, You know, Being overconfident, That's not really good for you, But at the same time, You have to be confident that you can win a match. So I just wanted to know the difference because a lot of people told me this. I hope. . . I hope those people who give you this advice have played some game in their life. You know, One day I was. . . I was walking in the Chennai airport, Then the Indian Hockey Federation secretary was saying, You know, Swami and said, Sadhguru, Sadhguru, Our boys are going to Germany for the champions trophy, Please can you talk to them. A few years ago, The entire team was with us for eight days. And we made a big difference for them at that time, Way back, I'm talking about almost twenty-seven years ago. So this is a few years later, It's a completely new team. He said, Especially that hockey team at that time, Largely came from the tribal areas in, You know, Assam, Orissa, These kind of places. So many of these boys have never even traveled outside the country. For the first time, They're going all between the ages of eighteen to twenty-two, Most of them, Only two, Three senior players, Everybody else is very young, First time they're going into a international trophy, But they're good players. They've. . . They all come up in that Tata Academy of Hockey, Whatever that is. Yeah. They're good players, But they have no exposure, They're fearful. So I went there to speak to these boys. And there was one. . . They had one psychologist, Somebody they had invited to speak to him in the airport, They're just about to board, Let's say in another hour they're leaving. So this guy is telling, They. . . Mabap ka ijat ap ka. . . I can't repeat this word, He's saying, Your parents. . . This thing, Their, You know, Honor is upon your shoulders. Des ka ijat ap ka. . . This mein. . . Sir mein. . . Something, Something he's saying, Okay? So these. . . These boys are just looking open-mouthed. You know, One billion people's expectations is killing, Hmm? Nobody can carry it on their head. So I looked at this torture they're doing to these boys. And then they said. . . Asked me to speak. I asked these boys, Do you like to play hockey? They say yes. Then I said, I'm sure. . . You know, I played a lot of hockey when I was young. I said, I'm sure you can't play hockey. You don't know how to play hockey. Then suddenly they're proud, He said, No, We can play hockey. So we took a stick and a ball and dribbled around a little bit in the airport. And then I said, I don't think you guys, You all gammas, You come from tribal land, Can you play hockey? You don't know how to play hockey. Then they got. . . Said, No, No, We can play hockey better than anybody. Then what is. . . What is your problem? If you can play hockey, Put the damn ball in the goal, That's all. Don't worry about your country, About your mother, About your father, All this nonsense. Your only thing is you must have lust in your heart to put the ball in the goal. That's all. You. . . You don't try to carry India with you. After you win the thing, Then India will come into picture. At that time, Only thing that matters is the ball and where it goes, Whether it's with you or it's going to somebody else. And you know, Like we are having a. . . Actually this conversation was in Hyderabad. I was having a conversation in Hyderabad and one of these persons asked. . . After all the conversation, The last question is this, Sadhguru, How to beat Pakistan in the cricket game? I said, Beating Pakistan, India. . . Indian army should do. Indian. . . Indian cricket team should not beat Pakistan, They must just hit the ball. They must just hit the ball. What are you trying to beat Pakistan? So with all this emotion, You will do stupid things. Right now, This is a thing that I'm seeing that, You know, All the sports people have become like this. It is not at all necessary to do that. There is substantial medical and scientific evidence to show that when a person is of a pleasant experience, Joyful and well, Your chemistry is very pleasant. This means your body, Your brain, Your instincts, Everything will function at its best. There is enough evidence for this. But now everybody is going like this, They think only with aggression they can win. It's not that. You don't have to have any aggression. You just have to hit the ball or shuttle or whatever you're hitting well, That's about it. So people believe unless you create a certain level of anger and this thing against somebody you can't play, That is not so. If you're enjoying the game, You will play at your best. Unfortunately, This trend has caught up like this. That's why I said, You must watch Ronaldinho, How deceptive it is and how joyful he is. Have you seen Ronaldinho? Speaker 2 – No, I didn't see. Sadhguru – You must see. On the YouTube, You just go and watch Ronaldinho, You must see. Because I thought in your game, Everything is fantastic. No deception, You're too direct. Speaker 2 – Yes, Yes. I agree, I agree to that. Because I think yes, I am practicing on that. And as you said, You know, How much ever you just play a stroke, You know, The opponent is going to… if the opponent knows, He's going to take it easy. And I'm sure like when you play against someone and it's just a difference of like two, Three percent. But I think if I improve my deception as you said, Definitely I'm going to raise, You know, Some more percent higher. And I think, You know, Talking about tall people and you know, Me having that good reach, As you said, Yes, Definitely I have to utilize that and you know, I'm definitely going to improve a lot more if I really focus on that. Yeah, Today morning I watched. . . I watched you playing. Did you find any mistakes sir, Like… No. Do you have any? See, What I'm seeing is, You're playing with a Japanese girl, Whatever her name. She is. . . Dokudara, Yeah. Both of you are international classes of players, There's no. . . It's not for me to teach badminton to you. But what she's covering with one-and-a-half steps, You're covering with a single step, The space. Yes, Yes. This. . . I mean, Don't take me wrongly, I'm not saying anything that way. No, No, No, No, No, No. You're. . . You're actually. . . You're actually built for tennis, But you're playing shuttle. I'm saying it's a much smaller court compared to your tennis court. So you covering it so efficiently and you know, It's. . . It's much easier for you to do that. But a shorter person. . . A shorter person is always much easier, Smaller person always is much easier to bend, Fold their body and get it back quickly. A taller person always has little more difficulty in folding the body and unfolding the body. So always it is important that you. . . You don't waste those, You know, Those. . . Those folding the body kind of shorts for your opponent when the person is short, Because they will easily take it. In your mind, Because you're a tall person, It's so difficult for you to go down and take it. You give them those shorts, They will take it because they're so small and they're effortlessly going there. Apart from this, See, There is. . . There are five elements in our body – water, Air, Fire, Earth and space. This is called akash. There is. . . There is a certain dimension of energy in the human body, The way it functions, The dynamics of yoga is related to these five elements, It's called bhuta shuddhi. That is, If you cleanse these five elements in a certain way, Your body will function at its best. That includes. . . When I say body, In yoga there is no mind and body separately. Mind is also a mental body. Everything is body, That's how it is seen. There are certain simple ways that you can enhance the dimension of akash in you, Where if you do this, Your ability to perceive will be such, If you can read the opponent one second ahead of their own intent, Suddenly. . . Suddenly you will have a huge advantage over them. You must do that. There is a simple things, I can either send someone to you, So you can learn, But if you can come here for three to four days, We can do a good job on the whole thing because I feel just that one thing. See, You are able to play better than them on many. . . When I watched a particular match which you won, The. . . That is the. . . The world championships or whatever, In a very dominant way, What I saw was that girl has to take nearly two steps to match your one step. So you're clearly using that advantage. But there is no deception and your. . . Your ability to read that girl is simply logical, It is not intuitive. If an intuitive reading comes into the thing that you know what she's going to do before she does it, You will be definitely a few percentage points ahead. These things are not just natural and accidental, We can also cultivate them. See, Every human being has this. I'm sure as a sports person at that level, You have some intuitive way of looking at things, But it can be cultivated. As you have cultivated your body and your skill of playing the game, You can also cultivate your intuitive nature, So that you are able to see what's going to come now. Just one second advantage if you have, Nobody will be a match. I'm particularly concerned because the shelf life of a professional athlete is so small, You must exploit it fully when you are there. Speaker 2 – Yes, Yes. I agree to that, Sir, Completely because I think as you said, Deception and knowing, You know, One. . . One second ahead of your opponent, I think that will definitely make a huge difference in my game. And as you said, I will definitely come visit. And I will only come with my family and stay there for a couple of days and I'm definitely going to enjoy it because I was thinking for a very long time that I would come to Coimbatore, But you know, After this lockdown or whatever, I'm definitely going to come there. So I'm sure I will enjoy it because as you said, You know, Rivers, Mountains and a lot of nature. I think it's going to be great. As you know, Like, You know, I've been traveling all around the world and I've gained a lot of knowledge from a lot of people and I've been seeing everywhere around the country, You know, A lot of things happening. But I think, You know, Mostly I see there's been a lot of difference in the people on how they greet each other. You know, Like a lot of importance has been given like to the physical appearance these days, Like for example, You know, On their appearance, On their wealth, Or like for example, You know, Once my cousin written back from abroad and then people, Instead of his friend, Instead of asking how you were, He's just like, Oh, You became so fat. I mean, The physical appearance, Like how do you deal with these things? Like nowadays it's become a lot more. But you know, What is your weight is just as good a question as how are you. About what is your wealth, What are you worth financially while you're in Hyderabad, That doesn't happen everywhere but Hyderabad. Which car are you using, Like a lot of things, Lot of things, Not one or two. Yes, See the thing is, We. . . We went towards market economy. Market economy is fine because other financial arrangements that we tried to do in the world didn't really succeed for whatever reasons. So this has been a reasonably successful model, Though it leads to a lot of exploitation of environment and also people in many ways. But this has been the only financial. . . Successful financial model on the planet. But we did not understand markets should be in the marketplace. Right now our minds have become a marketplace, Everything is a transaction. So you're in Hyderabad, I mean, I'm sure you're well above that, But for most people if a girl or a boy has to get married, First thing is how much wealth do they have? That is what they're checking up. How much are they worth? And they'll get their properties evaluated before they get married. So it's very, Very unfortunate that's come because market has entered our mind. It should be a successful market. Market should be successful if all of us have to live well. But our minds and hearts need not become a transaction. Transactions are. . . For our external well-being, We have to do transactions and we must do it well, Of course. But everything in our life need not be a transaction. Unfortunately right now, Every human relationship has become a transaction. Whatever you do, It is all about what will I get, What will you get. So the entire spiritual movement and the process here is, Or anywhere is, What a spiritual movement or what a spiritual process means is, You first get rid of one question in your head. Whatever you're doing, One question, What about me? You eliminate this one question, Ninety percent of your spiritual work is done. The remaining part is very easy. You never think in terms of what about me. When you're playing a game, You don't think of the medal or the cup or the fame and. . . All you want to do is you want to do this well, That's all. There is no what about you, You just want to play well. If everybody gets that, Everybody gets that in every aspect of their life, That what you are doing, You do to your best. There is nothing more, There is no greater joy than the world allowing you to do what you love to do. What should you get out of it? You don't have to get. . . Get anything out of it. You're doing what you care to do and the world is allowing you to do it. That's the best thing that can happen in human life. Speaker 2 – True, True sir. I agree to that. I think definitely I. . . If I have. . . I mean I'm sure sir, I just wanted to ask you that, You know, Like for one question you have like ten answers and very different and I don't know how spontaneous you are, I mean just like very quick and you know a lot of people are very shy, You know, They hesitate to say sometimes and they are very shy, They just keep it to themselves. So how. . . How do you overcome shyness? Sadhguru – Shy? I'm not a young girl like you. Speaker 2 – No, I mean, I mean a lot of people. No, I'm not asking you sir, I'm just saying that you're very spontaneous and people out there hesitate to, You know, Say a few times or they're shy. I mean initially before when I was really young, I was really very shy. So how do you overcome? Not do you, But how do people overcome is what I meant. So see people. . . This is what I said, People making their own thought and emotion a big impediment. See, Human beings are the only creatures on this planet who are referred to as beings, Isn't it? We don't say an elephant being, Ant being, Tiger being, No, Only human is a being. This means we're supposed to know how to be. How to be means right now you're here, You're supposed to know how to be, It doesn't matter what I say. It doesn't matter what you say, I should know how to be. If you knew how to be, Would you be blissful or miserable? Of course, Of course the choice is that. So whatever the external situation is, Whether you're winning, Losing, You're a champion, You're not a champion, You're rich, You're poor, If you knew how to be, You would be blissful, Isn't it? Because human experience is generated from within. So if you're blissful, Your body will function at its best, Your brains will function at its best, And this is all you can do in your life, That your body, Your brain, Everything within you is functioning at its best. From this, Depending upon the times in which we exist, As I said earlier, If you were here a thousand years ago, Maybe you will be a Kakatiya warrior, I don't know. Did the Kakatiya women fight, Hmm? I think they did. So now, Twenty-first century, No sword, So you're welding a racket. So this racket sword is a consequence of times that we exist in. But the important thing is, Are you doing your best? When can you do your best? How can you do your best when you're miserable? Is it possible? So you can call it being shy, You can say, I am tense, Or I am agitated, Or I'm anxious, I'm this, I'm that, These are all different words. Essentially what this means is, Your intelligence turns against you for some reason. When your intelligence turns against you, No gods in the world are going to help you, That's for sure. It is very important, Everything that you got, If it functions for you, In spite of that, There are challenges in the world, Isn't it? You are a sports person, There are crucial moments when you know even if you play to your best, Something doesn't work. Hello? Any number of times, Isn't it? Even if you think you're doing your best, Well, Either the other person is better than you or something is not working, Something doesn't happen the way you want. Because the more you take yourself to a peak, The more you notice it that the difference between success and failure is such a thin line. People think successful people come from one set of stars, And failures come from another set of stars. No, Between success and failure, The line is so thin, It's a silk thread. One moment you fall this way, One moment you fall that way. For this, When there is. . . This is the nature of life, You must know how to be. You know how to be means just this, What is it that makes a person shy or confident or whatever. Confident means you're stupid, Shy means you're lost, You know, Because confidence means what – where there is no clarity, You're trying to build confidence. You don't need confidence, Nor do you have to be shy, Because what is needed is clarity. If you see everything the way it is, Absolutely, Then you don't need confidence. You will do it to the best of your capabilities, That's all. Will I do something as good as you? Maybe not, But I will do it to the best of my capability, And that's the most important thing. So, This whole problem is just this – two very significant faculties that human beings have is, We have a very vivid sense of memory. It is because of this, In our lives, Learning is more important than just going up big in the body. If we were just elephants or bulls or buffalos or whatever, Growing full in the body was the only important thing. We also have to grow. But in our life, Learning has become more important, Why? Because we have such a significant sense of memory. Our lives are rich compared to any other creature, Because of this vivid sense of memory. Now this vivid sense of memory translates into a very fantastic sense of imagination, Naturally. If you didn't have memory, You wouldn't have imagination either. Right now, These are the two things. . . These two fantastic faculties are the two things that human beings are suffering. What are they suffering? What happened ten years ago, They're still suffering. What may happen day after tomorrow, They're already suffering. They're not suffering life. They're suffering memory and imagination, Isn't it? So this is why it is very, Very important that you take. . . Take charge of your faculties. Why we, You know, Like when everybody is talking about God and this and that, I'm talking about religion to responsibility, Talking about engineering yourself into the highest possibility, Because this is the whole thing that most human beings are an impediment by themselves. Forget about external challenges, They themselves are a challenge. I am shy, I am confident, I am angry, I am miserable, I am resentful means you are a challenge by yourself, You don't need any outside help. To be miserable, Most people are in self-help, They don't need any outside help. You just leave them in one. . . In one. . . See right now this lockdown time, Just being at home they're suffering. All kinds of things. I was. . . I was in conversation with some police officers, You know, Some IPS officers, And they are saying the domestic violence has gone up in a big way. In Chennai, Domestic violence has gone up in a big way, What is this nonsense? All these days you were crying that, You know, You don't get enough time with your family, Too much work, This, That. Now when you have time with your family, You're beating each other. Speaker 2 – Yes sir, I think you're right. Let me see it. Well, There comes the. . . To the session, Obviously when you said that, You know, You might. . . Between winning and losing there is just this thin line, Sometimes you might play brilliantly, You just lose and the opponent might play extraordinary. I think. . . Do you believe in superstition sir, Like do you believe in luck? I believe in. . . I always make sure I'm lucky. Okay, Okay. You should also make sure for your sake, For the country's sake and for all our sake, We are all your fans, So you must make sure you are lucky. Don't wait to be lucky. I will tell. . . I will. . . I will teach you how to move the stars a little bit. Speaker 2 – Yeah, Yeah, Please sir, Please. I'll ask them to send you a link of Inner Engineering online, Please do that, It's seven powerful sessions. You do that, You will understand how to move the stars. Thank you, Cindy. Sir, One last question, One last question. You know, A lot of people when they start this, You know, New project or when they want to start their new work, They think that, Okay, This is a good day or you shouldn't start your work on Tuesdays or Saturdays are not good, You start Wednesday or Thursday. It's like, How do we know that, You know, People say that, Okay, This day is good, This day is not good, We have to start this particular thing on particular day. What do you have to say about it? Sadhguru – See, These are all people who do good things once in a way. If you're doing it every day, Then every day is a good day. See, Most. . . Speaker 2 – So it's taken as every day is a good day. Sadhguru – No, No, Whole lot of people are successful by chance, Not by their own competence. Just by chance, Because their father was influential, They're successful, Because they had a bag of money, They're successful, Because of something else, They're successful. If you are successful because of your competence, You wouldn't look at all this. Because you're successful by chance, There is so much fear about failure all the time. So if you. . . You're a good player, Okay, You lost a match, So what the hell, Next match you will win, All right? But if you're. . . You're. . . We're winning only because of the influence of stars, Of course it will create a big paranoia within you. I'm saying within any human being. This is what they're doing, Instead of enhancing themselves, They're looking at the stars. I want to inform them, All those who are looking at the stars, Many of the stars that we actually see in the night, Actually does not exist. You know that, Sindhu? Speaker 2 – Yeah. No sir, I don't know. Sadhguru – They died. . . They died long time ago, Because it takes many, Many, Many light years for the light to come. The light is still coming, But the star doesn't exist. So a star that does not exist is deciding your future. All the best for such people. You just see the shuttle, Don't look at the stars. Speaker 2 – No, Sir, Stars, Only the shuttle, Yes. I am lucky, I am lucky, I have to say I am lucky. Sadhguru – I was just thinking when you said shuttle, I. . . Just three days ago I did a painting for a feather, Of a feather, Just a single feather. I'll send a picture to you. Speaker 2 – Oh wow, Definitely, Yes, Please sir, Please do send. Sadhguru – Thank you, Sindhu, Wonderful talking. We look forward to having you here. Please come with your family. If you. . . If you come for like five mornings, If you're here for about three to four hours every day, If you're willing to spend, We will put something into your system which will be hugely beneficial for you. Some simple practices which can make a lot of difference in how you function. Speaker 2 – Definitely, Lisa, I will. . . I will come with my family and say that. And once again, Thank you so much for giving me an opportunity to talk with you. Thank you so much. We will see you in the next video. Thank you. Speaker 2 – Thank you, Thank you. We will see you in the next video. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.