Yoga: A Universal Solution

Saghuru's work serves as a reminder that yoga is a contemporary science, vitally relevant to our times. On 3 Oct 2018, UNESCO’s Chief of Media Services, George Papagiannis, and Sadhguru, explored the possibilities of yoga as the ultimate solution, both at an individual and global level. This insightful and highly engaging discussion touches on how we can shift the collective conscience, and the evidence of how this would improve societal wellbeing.

Transcript

Well,

I have to say that this is one of those special moments at UNESCO because it's not always that we go into a space that is particularly illustrative of perhaps giving us ideas,

Thoughts,

Reflections on how we deal with our everyday lives,

On how we potentially find solutions to some of the most troubling problems,

And how potentially we also come together to look at the bigger problems that confront us,

Those challenges,

And how we do them smartly,

How we do them together.

It is my pleasure today,

As we go live from UNESCO on our Facebook Live,

To introduce to you someone who you probably already know,

Someone who you've probably already seen on Facebook,

And that is Saad Guru.

Saad Guru.

Good morning,

Judge.

Good morning.

Thank you very much.

Good morning to you as we sit in front of the beautiful artwork of Joan Miro here at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

And we're going to have a conversation,

I hope.

We've already been talking amongst ourselves in ways that give me a really positive sense of the path that we're going to take over the course of the next few minutes.

I happen to have the great,

I would say,

Opportunity and chance to take advantage of watching you yesterday here at UNESCO for the conversation and discussion that you had,

Which was indeed a way of being both,

I guess,

Unpacking life in a way,

And then at times very specifically providing a bit of a guide path.

And you were doing this,

Of course,

On Facebook Live.

You're obviously,

You and your team see the wonders as we do.

And so as we bring messages to people,

And we do this every day sometimes from UNESCO,

Or at least frequently through Facebook Live,

I wanted to ask you,

You know,

I'm talking to someone who has been ranked among the fifty most influential people in India by India today.

You're a yogi,

A mystic,

Visionary,

A best-selling author.

You know,

I did things people say.

I didn't say that.

And from what I can gather,

They're not off on their descriptions.

And so… And of course,

You also founded the Isha Foundation.

And your work,

Your life is dedicated in a way that is something that… That's a good change because I have no distinction between work and life.

There are days when I don't either.

It seems to be it.

But I'm interested because… And you even discussed this yesterday at different points during the conversation,

Even when you were reflecting in your thoughts and in what you were saying about being here at UNESCO,

An organization that was founded essentially from the ashes of World War II with a commitment to never again shall we see the world at war.

And we struggle to fulfill this ideal and this mandate.

And I'm curious in terms of the work that you do,

What you represent.

Can we… Can we look to the traditions of yoga to find a way for us to address the challenges that face us?

I would say absolutely because the way yoga has come to United States,

You're in New… from New York,

Well,

It's… To a large number of people,

It's just come as a fad.

It's about the Lululemon pants and I do yoga is kind of a… whatever,

It's a cool thing to do.

But that's not what yoga is.

The word yoga means union.

Union means… See,

Right now in individual experience,

It's like this – there is you and there is the world.

When life gets little acidic,

For whatever reasons,

Then it's you versus the universe.

You versus the universe is a silly competition to get into,

But almost every human being is in that state.

Every human being is in that state,

It is you versus the universe.

So yoga means consciously you obliterate the boundaries of your individuality,

Not just intellectually,

Not in thought and emotion,

But actually in our experience.

See,

Right now your individual experience is a little concocted experience because of our strong identification with our own bodies and our thought structures,

Our physiological and psychological structures.

Because of this,

You are an individual.

But actually,

Right now as we sit here and breathe,

What these plants are exhaling,

We are inhaling.

But it's not in human experience.

If you bring this into human experience,

Let's say when you sit here,

You're very conscious that you're actually… there's an exchange happening between you and the plant life or the trees around you and you clearly see one-half of your breathing apparatus is hanging out there,

Then nobody needs to tell you,

Do not destroy that,

Protect this,

Protect that.

None of those thou shall nots will be needed for you.

So essentially yoga means this,

That you consciously obliterate the boundaries of your individuality,

So your experience of life is just as large as the universe or as large as life is.

So when this experience touches a human being,

Even for one moment,

Even for one moment,

If you experience all these people,

As you're experiencing the ten fingers of your hand,

After that nobody needs to tell you to be peaceful,

To be loving,

To take care of them,

Not to harm them.

This is simply not necessary for you because you have experienced what is around you as a part of yourself.

Unfortunately,

That experience seems to come to most people only when you bury them in the end that they are part of everything.

David Schaffer Ashes to ashes,

Dust to dust.

What… when you were just describing this relationship that we have essentially with the universe,

The universe begins in a way… Sadhguru It's not a relationship.

David Schaffer It is a oneness.

Sadhguru Relationship means you need two.

David Schaffer It is a oneness.

Sadhguru It is one life,

You're just a pop-up on the planet.

It's like a computer pop-up.

You pop up for two seconds and you pop out.

David Schaffer So then yoga is… is in many ways a reflection of also basic science because when you were talking about what the plants give off and what we inhale… Sadhguru I would say what you call as modern science is a small piece of what we call as yoga.

That may sound… because now modern science is big in the world and yoga is a small side it's fashion that you do,

People may think that is a little arrogant.

But I'm telling you,

What yoga means is it doesn't exclude anything.

In that,

What you call as modern science is study of physical material,

Out of which we are learning how to reap many benefits in terms of technology.

But even that knowledge,

Which is so fantastic,

Has turned against us simply because of the individuality that we have,

Because our experience is not yoga yet,

Our experience is not in union,

Because of that even the knowledge that we have,

Scientific knowledge we have,

Has turned against us.

In a way,

Science is causing more damage to the planet than anything else unfortunately,

Isn't it?

David Schaffer Driven by our individualism.

Sadhguru Because it is… see we must understand when you give an instrument,

However wonderful that instrument is,

It is the hand that handles it which decides which it is going to be destructive or constructive.

David Schaffer Driven And that hand is individualism.

Sadhguru We have not fixed that hand yet.

David Schaffer Driven Yes,

Yes.

Sadhguru We have not fixed that hand to be inclusive.

It's a very exclusive hand.

David Schaffer Driven We struggle here every day.

As I mentioned,

As we opened up our conversation and for those of our community that is just joining us in this Facebook Live and those who are part of the Facebook family of Sadhguru,

We're coming to you live from UNESCO headquarters in Paris as part of a reflection,

Part of also an adventure perhaps that we will take in this conversation and an end and exploration.

Be part of the conversation.

To whatever extent,

I'll try to keep an eye on any questions.

Sadhguru Why George,

I'm becoming so difficult,

You're calling me an adventure.

David Schaffer Driven No,

An adventure,

An adventure.

And adventures are worth exploring and so that is why we are… we are together.

But again,

At UNESCO is our Twitter and you can of course post your comments as we continue this conversation.

Is it both a… is it more of a threat than an asset?

Sadhguru Individualism means it's become like a religion of its own.

That is very dangerous.

It's a privilege that nature has given you an individual sense of experience,

Though you're just a small pop-up for two seconds on this planet.

Countless number of people have come and gone before you and me.

Oh,

Where are they?

Not a sign,

They're all topsoil here.

So this will also become topsoil.

But in the meantime,

I'm an individual,

Which is a great privilege that I can experience life as an individual.

I have my own experience of life,

It's such a fantastic privilege.

But this privilege we've turned against ourselves.

We are using our individuality like a prison,

A shell that we cannot break.

We are in a shell,

We are in an egg shell that we never hatch.

If you hatch,

We call yoga.

The bird flies,

Then it's yoga.

Otherwise it's just a shell.

So where do we begin to focus through yoga on addressing these issues,

Addressing these challenges?

We live,

It seems,

In a world that is moving in a cycle,

That the human race goes through a cycle.

And some people have even posited that some of the extreme views that we see today,

The lack of an appreciation for diversity,

A lack of tolerance,

A failure to see ourselves in the other,

Is not unlike what we may have seen in the run up to World War II.

And so we have not only history teaching us lessons,

But potentially other resources and other ways of perceiving our place here in this world through yoga,

For example.

How do we change a course?

How do we prevent ourselves from repeating our mistakes?

You may not repeat those kind of mistakes like World War I and II,

Because the soldiers on both sides may be Facebook friends.

You know,

You never know.

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan It depends on the depth of the universe.

Sadhguru So,

See,

Essentially we are always trying to do repair jobs.

We are not willing to attend to the fundamentals.

When you say,

How do we attend to this?

Someone asked me,

A very prominent person in Europe once asked me,

Sadhguru,

If there's one thing we can do for you which will transform this world,

What is it?

I just named… I said,

I want twenty-five people for five days.

You will see significant change will happen in the next two to three years' time.

He asked,

Who are these twenty-five people?

I named the twenty-five heads of state of major nations on the planet.

You give them to me for five days.

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan I named… I named the twenty-five… Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan Oops,

There's… there's… there's the love of us coming back.

Please continue.

Sadhguru So,

If these people who are holding positions of responsibility and power in this world,

If their way of thinking and feeling and experiencing life changes even by ten to twenty-five percent within themselves,

Not hundred percent,

If ten percent change happens,

World will be full of solutions,

Not problems.

For example,

I'm… I'm talking about a very basic thing,

Which is driving millions of people,

They're estimating in the next ten years,

Some billion and odd people will be migrating.

Some kind of estimate like that is there.

Nourishment – nearly twenty-seven to twenty-eight percent of the world's population is undernourished.

But in 2014,

It seems we produced over 18.

6 billion tons of food.

I'm sorry,

We produced enough food for 18.

6 billion people,

But our population is only a third of that.

But still,

Nearly thirty percent of the people don't get to eat.

This could be sorted out in a few months' time,

If all the world leaders felt a deep sense of empathy and compassion within themselves.

Empathy and compassion not as values that you practice,

Simply because you experienced another life as yourself.

This is yoga.

So,

If we can bring the experience of yoga,

Not the practice of yoga,

The experience of yoga to responsible people,

People who hold humongous amount of power and possibility.

See,

For the first time,

We have the necessary resource,

Capability and technology to address every human problem on the planet.

This was never possible.

You're talking about World War II,

At that time it was not possible.

Even twenty-five years ago,

We were not really equipped to address everything.

This is the first generation of people that we have the ability to address every issue.

Only thing is,

There is no inclusive sense of consciousness among us.

Still,

We are thinking in individuality or community or nationhood,

We're not thinking fe… experiencing life beyond that is not happening.

Thought cannot change without experience.

Where… wherever your experience is,

What is the level of your experience,

That's what thought is.

With little bit of education,

With interaction,

You may extend it one step,

But it doesn't go really beyond.

When you're experience changes of the world,

If… if really as I was saying earlier,

If you experience that your breath is connected to this tree right now,

You will not need any ecological movements on the planet.

Every human being will do what they have to do.

At least if this happens to the leadership in the world,

They will do what they have to do,

Because the type of resources they have today is such that one nation can solve the entire world's problem.

Of all kinds of problems that we have actually,

Of nourishment,

Health,

Education,

You can solve this.

Just one or two nations can solve the world's problems,

But we have still not experienced other life as my life.

Why,

Then,

Are we at a time when we see ocean temperatures rising,

Which will have a significant impact on the environment we see and climate.

We are witnessing climate change in what I would call humongous storms that have never been seen before.

The planet is speaking to us.

We don't seem to be listening.

And we are… and I completely agree with you.

I think we are one,

One unit,

And yet the message isn't… isn't resonating.

The dead got the point that we are one unit.

The living are yet to get the point.

And so,

You mentioned the twenty-five,

But what about the six billion?

The twenty-five,

Are they really the lynchpin to change or is it the empowerment of the indi… of the individual,

In a sense,

To understand and then to put that forward as a means of change?

See,

Today largely the world being a democratic process,

These twenty-five represent those billions.

These twenty-five are empowered by those billions.

So they are not somebody who dropped from somewhere.

They are people who have been pushed up by the other people.

So these twenty-five are good enough because they can change a whole lot of things.

The policy on the planet can change in a more humane way.

When we talk about ocean temperatures rising and many other ecological,

You know,

Ingredients are working,

In a certain direction,

This can be seen this way.

See right now,

Everything that human beings have done on this planet is in pursuit of human well-being.

It's also written into the American constitution,

Pursuit of happiness.

Pursuit of happiness is a wrong direction to take because human happiness or misery,

Both happens only from within you.

If you think by getting this or that or ultimately conquering the planet or the universe,

You're going to be happy,

You're essentially destructive in your approach to life itself.

Now only when a small number of people were having such aspirations,

It looked like normal.

Now six,

Seven billion people have those aspirations and it's just destructive.

What destruction you see is just pursuit of human happiness,

Isn't it?

Empowered by technology and science,

Of course.

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan Per-suit of the individual's happiness,

Not necessarily human happiness.

Sadhguru Oh,

They're human beings,

Right?

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan Yes,

Indeed.

But I think when we speak about… about pursuit of human happiness,

I would take that more as a collective,

If we're talking about everybody's… Sadhguru See,

It is collective,

It is all our actions put together that this destruction is happening,

Not just one individual.

All of us,

We want to build a certain kind of city.

This is all of us,

Isn't it?

This is… we can't blame this on one person.

All of us are enjoying the airplanes,

All of us are enjoying the automobiles,

All of us are enjoying various technologies.

We cannot put this on just one person who is running a coal mine somewhere.

No.

He is only running the coal mine because we're using it.

So all of us are equally involved in this.

Some may be benefiting more,

Some may be benefiting less,

That's a different matter.

But essentially,

We have taken the direction that you can extract happiness from the world.

No,

Human experience happens from within you.

So this is a fundamental… if this one thing is established,

Suppose you… if you sit here,

You are absolutely blissed out by yourself,

Like me.

Look at my eyes.

I look stoned all the time,

Never touched a substance,

But blissed out all the time.

So if you are blissed out by your own nature,

You would not be in pursuit of happiness.

You would do simply what's needed,

Nothing more,

Nothing less.

Right now,

All of us are doing excess because we are super… we have become superhuman beings with technology.

What ten thousand men could do,

One man can do in a day today,

All right?

In a given day,

What ten thousand men could do in the past,

Today one man can do because we are empowered by technology.

Once we are empowered like this,

If we are still in pursuit of happiness,

We're going to dig this planet through and through,

All right?

So temperatures going up is just a small reaction of the planet.

Bigger reactions will come inevitably.

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan Where do people find courage?

You… we'll talk about the twenty-five because if we're talking about the twenty-five,

They have been empowered by their communities to lead them.

They have been in a democratic… as we said,

The democratic principled approaches to governing,

Their leaders have resulted out of a plebiscite.

And yet the question is then,

You're going to… we talked about the gold mine.

Well,

The guy who has the gold mine is going to contribute to the campaign of the person who's going to protect his right to or protect his gold mine so that he can continue to dig… Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan Gold mine,

Coal mine.

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan Oh,

A coal mine.

Gold… whatever it is,

Gold mine,

Coal mine,

Petroleum… Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan Essentially digging the planet up.

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan Essentially whatever it is to dig the planet up.

There is a… there must be a place or there is a role for courage because there… one has to say no to one's self-interest and one's individuality in order for us to protect what we have.

Dr.

Jayaprakash Narayanan No,

No.

That is a failed idea already.

In the sense… See,

You're trying to control human aspiration.

You will never do that.

It's never going to work,

All right?

People are driving Tesla to their office but they got a beast parked at home.

I see this all over the place.

So trying to control human aspiration is not going to work because it is within the human being too long to find his fulfillment.

Unless we show him a method,

A scientific method in a way.

I'm saying scientific because it's repeatable and it… people can study it.

To find that within yourself,

This may look like an old thing.

Oh,

So many people said that that's not the point.

The point is not a philosophy of turning inward.

The point is of methodology of knowing.

Suppose… see,

This is a fact that every human experience has a chemical basis to it,

Isn't it?

So therefore,

Suppose I teach you a simple process with which you can concoct your chemistry in such a way that it's a chemistry of blissfulness.

Now there is no need for you to run in life unless you find a purpose that's worthy of you.

You will not run.

You will not run for the sake of winning a race because you are fine,

You already won with life in many ways because you are living a very peaceful,

Joyful,

Wonderful life within yourself.

Now you will do what is needed.

This is a fact that any human being,

When they're feeling wonderful,

They're naturally wonderful to everything around them.

When they're feeling nasty,

They'll of course share it with others.

Right now when you say we're in pursuit of happiness,

You have a whole humanity who's largely nasty within themselves.

They don't even know ease of life.

Forget about the blissfulness of life or ecstasy of life.

They do not even know how to be at ease.

They're always fidgety,

Either they're doing this or they're doing this,

Something compulsive.

Rick Herson Well,

You raise another… another point.

And again,

For our communities that are joining us through Facebook,

Speaking here with Sad Guru… Sadhguru I don't tell them not to use their phone,

They'll drop out.

Rick Herson No,

I want them… I want to see if we can have a conversation about… about these… this part of technology,

Which is changing the way I think that we live and potentially in ways that are counterproductive to our capacity to truly… to truly have meaningful change.

That is what we're striving for.

Sad Guru was here with us live from UNESCO headquarters as a part of our Facebook Live.

This community also on the way… the… the Facebook page that Sad Guru has cross posting with us.

And we are talking about where we are in this world and what our responsibilities are to this world as we try to address the challenges that are facing us.

And a few minutes ago,

This made noise.

I was trying to do something to enhance our conversation and instead… Sadhguru When you're talking to me,

You're doing something else on the phone.

Rick Herson And… and absolutely,

Indeed.

Sadhguru This is called adultery.

Rick Herson Oh,

We've… we've redefined the term.

It may indeed be the case.

But this… this has been… you know,

I'm… I'm old enough to know the world before the mobile phone.

And this is no longer a mobile phone.

This is mobile technology that has given me incredible access to information at… at my fingertips in most places where I go in this world.

It has allowed us in many ways to have this conversation transmitted effortlessly… effortlessly transmitted in a way that is affordable for us to do as an organization.

I would go for… for you… for yourself as well and to reach many people.

And yet it also has a component to it that is… to say that it's a distraction is perhaps using the most kindest terms.

Maybe adultery is the way… So,

How do we… how do we manage… how do we manage this?

I think in the very first part of the conversation we touched this,

Most beautiful things that are given to us,

We will turn it against ourselves.

Not because there's something wrong with technology.

Technology is an enable… you know,

It enables you,

It empowers you in so many ways.

Right now it's called a smartphone because that's the smartest thing about a whole lot of people.

So,

This phone,

Is it a problem?

No.

What is a problem is compulsiveness.

Do you know a whole lot of people have given up smoking because they're texting?

Is that right?

Are we going… are we going to call that a benefit?

The problem is compulsiveness.

If people start eating,

They don't know when to stop eating.

If they start drinking,

They don't know when to stop drinking.

If they smoke,

They don't know when to stop.

If they start using the phone,

They don't know when to stop.

We have to address the compulsiveness within the human being.

This compulsiveness is coming because every action that you do is in pursuit of your happiness and well-being.

So,

There's satisfaction in the two-hundred-and-ten times that an individual checks his phone,

According to recent data.

Two-hundred-and-ten times a day we pick up the phone.

Not to answer it.

Yes,

If nothing to do… To do this and maybe not smoke.

Yes,

Because both hands are busy now,

You can't smoke.

But the mind is in thinking either.

No,

The important thing is this,

We are in pursuit of happiness,

All right?

Now phone has given you a virtual means to pursue your happiness.

Otherwise,

You had to go somewhere to meet somebody,

You had to walk a distance.

People were doing it then also.

It's just that it was not so visible because now they're reaching out hundred people in a minute.

Happiness,

Self-gratification,

Are these interchangeable?

See,

If you're really joyful,

You will never see gratification of any kind.

So you can put the phone down?

That's not the point.

Whether you… whether you use the phone or not depends on what kind of work and what kind of stuff you're doing.

But the important thing is there is no compulsiveness about either the phone or the smoke or the food or anything for that matter.

That means you're a conscious being.

See,

It's only to a human being,

This being is attached,

All right?

We don't say a tiger being or an elephant being or a crocodile being,

Nothing like that,

Only human being.

Why this is so is we supposed to know how to be.

Supposed to know how to be means I can make my thoughts,

Emotions,

My chemistry,

My body,

The way I want,

I know how to be.

That's one thing,

One description that most human beings are very far away from,

They don't know how to be.

So their only way is action,

All the time action,

Compulsive action because only through action they're trying to establish their being.

But that's not how life happens.

You are a being.

You are a human being.

If you know how to be,

Then you could have determined how your thoughts should be,

Emotion should be,

Action should be.

This is what yoga means.

First thing is you know how to be.

Once you know how to be,

How you conduct your life in a given time,

In a given situation,

The look… taking… I mean considering the nature of your activity and life that you've chosen,

Accordingly you act to the best of your intelligence and capability.

Sadhguru,

I think on that note we will bring this wonderful conversation to a close.

Absolutely not.

You brought it,

Instead of saying anything wrong,

You actually brought everything together.

And I think it's always important,

I think,

To provide people with at least,

And myself included,

To provide us with at least an opportunity to have a package that we can reflect on,

In which all the components are blinking.

You should stop looking at peace,

Love,

Joy,

This,

That separately.

If we just know how to be,

This means your body,

Your physiological structure and your psychological structure takes instructions from you.

If this one thing happens,

You don't have to pursue any of those things.

You'll be just fine.

And on that note,

Sadhguru,

Thank you very much,

And to all of our Facebook communities,

Thank you for being part of this conversation and we wish you a blessed day.

We wish you an opportunity to reflect on these words and hopefully that you also take them with you and make them part of your daily life.

For now,

With Sadhguru,

I'm George Papayannis,

Live from UNESCO headquarters,

Wishing you a great day and perhaps a day for positive change.

Reviews

Fabulous, as always! What exceptional thoughts to reflect on and be inspired by.

Brilliant narration of yoga

Telling the same things all over gives such a clear and focused feeling that it has to be true....or he is convinced of it. Thank you for sharing this with us. Human BE-ing
🙏Namaste🙏

Thank you so much, always enjoy your candid, humorous, loving nature, many blessings to you all XOXO

Tank you for your wisdom and humor! ✨🙏🏻✨

Well worth listening to this. A consistent theme of his, actually what yoga means, of unity. Simplicity introduced into our complex world. A world driven more by individualism than unity. His description and approach are simple and sensible. 🌺