Sadhguru: Good evening. Good evening, everyone. Please. Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): How can I top
that (Laughter)? And no that's not Leo in make-up (Laughter). Someone very consequential. It's such a great honor to meet you and to
be here with you to talk about, I think anything. I love that concept of you unplugged, of just
opening ourselves and this great group here to any conversation, wherever it might take
us. But I have to tell you, one thing that I was
struck by that I would just like to get a quick reaction from you on, when I saw the
film and I noticed that the focus of Isha Foundation – conservation, education, and
health. And I find it so interesting that conservation
– nature – and health are on either side of education. Because I think that the biggest problem we
have today is with a lack of education on these key issues. Which if we understood them we would realize
that we are not trying to save the planet, we are trying to save our lives on this planet. As you know more than ninety-eight percent
of all the plant and animal life ever to exist on earth appeared and disappeared before the
advent of industrial humans. So the earth doesn't care if we are here (Sadhguru
laughs). But we do. And… so, it's fantastic to meet people who
are inspiring – especially a younger generation to, let's be honest, clean up the mess that
our generation created. So, with that let me ask you to maybe just
say a few words about the foundation, about how you chose those three core values to work
on, because they are absolutely what binds us all together. Sadhguru: Namaskaram to everyone. Well, right now just about anywhere you go
in the world, there was a time when they had nothing to do, they would discuss weather. These days from your grandmothers to your
grandchildren they are only talking about the economy. Wherever you go, everybody is talking about
the economy. Nobody discusses the weather anymore. Weather had something to do with ecology (Laughs). Economy has become the main theme in everybody's
conversations, in everybody's life. So when we say economy we are generally talking
about a more complicated version of our survival process. A complex arrangement of survival, or messing
up our survival process with too many complexities. Simple survival just to eat, sleep, reproduce
and die one day, this is survival (Laughs). This has been super complicated and there
are all kinds of experts on this now. I'm not against it. But this idea that economy is today's concern,
ecology is tomorrow's problem, this has to change. Ecology is today's problem, ecology is today's
concern. Our life can be wonderful or is wonderful,
not because of the fluctuations of the stock market or the percentage of growth points
that are happening in a particular society or a nation. Our life is wonderful because we are eating
nutritious food, drinking clean water, breathing pure air, this is why our life is wonderful. This is completely forgotten. People think life is wonderful because the
stock market is soaring (Laughs). So, my intention was to bring this into people's
lives not as a calamity, not as a doomsday-sayer, but to bring this into people's life as ecology
being today's concern. What we eat, what we breathe, what we drink,
what kind of soil we walk upon is our moment to moment daily concern. It is not something that we look forward to
when disaster is going to happen, how are we going to fix this disaster? That's not it. We are the disaster, we don't need any other
disaster (Laughter). Yes, there is no other disaster. People keep talking about natural disasters,
I keep reminding and I become hugely unpopular for this reason. When… You know, when certain calamities happened,
human calamities happened, a flood happened, a volcano happened somewhere, a tsunami happened,
I said, "See, this is not… don't… Stop describing it as a natural disaster. It's not a natural disaster. This is a natural process. Mother Earth has to make her adjustments,
some plates move, it's called a earthquake. She vents her… you know, she freaks once
in a way, that's called a volcano” (Laughter). So, whatever she does we are too many, we
are everywhere and we are a human calamity (Laughter). Thousand years ago the same thing happened,
they were just natural processes, today it's a natural disaster. It is not a natural disaster, there are no
disasters in nature. We are the only disasters on this planet. If you fix that one thing, everything is going
to be okay (Laughs) (Applause). Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): Very well said. Let me tell you a short story if I may that
I think exemplifies the challenge of one of the reasons I am so pleased we are at an educational
institution tonight to have this conversation. Some of you may have heard of Donald Trump
(Laughter), he was visiting a grade school – true story, you can look this up – and
he was bragging about the American space program. And he said "NASA is great (Laughter)! We are going to have a colony on Mars! And we are even going to land on the sun”
(Laughter)! And one of the kids said "Mr. President, you
can't land on the sun, you will die” (Laughter). And without missing a beat Trump said "No,
we'll land there at night” (Laughter/Applause). So, I tell you this because it exemplifies
this problem that we have that too many people don't understand the world we live in today
as you just described. They think of things in terms that perhaps
ultimately are not relevant, whether it's economic, whether it's someone else's fault,
whether it's my little bit won't matter if I drive a little less, if I turn off a light
switch, if I… if I eat less meat or no meat, if I make differences in my own life. And by the way I just have to acknowledge
Ed Begley who is sitting here. Just raise your hand or stand up (Applause). Because Ed has taught us – and I'm sure
when he was talking with you in one of these conversations, he probably discussed this,
so I am just going to steal his lines. "The incremental environmentalist" – I mean
he talks about the fact that starting from a very young age he did one thing, changed
a light bulb, discovered the changes that that made in his electric bill, then discovered
how he could plant a garden and then weeks later, months later discovered compost, one
thing after another. He didn't become the great sustainable environmentalist
that he is overnight, he did it by learning and then applying what he learned and to me
that's the biggest challenge. How do we just get more people to wake up,
learn how the world really works, get them to take those steps, see that every little
step matters – what everyone one of us does matters – and then to take each one of those
steps? What have you found in your teaching that
would help us move this country in that direction? Sadhguru: Well, in a nation like this everybody
taking one small step is very important, no question about that. But at the same time a nation which wields
so much power in the world, it's important certain fundamental policy changes happen. Otherwise we will be just driving on self-satisfaction
but no real solution. If you are seeking solution – across the
world this is necessary – policy changes are needed. When our economic engine is driving in one
direction, you and me make some small changes, this is personal satisfaction for me and for
you. But this will not be a solution. This will only postpone the disaster. If we postpone a disaster – if we have forgotten,
we are mortal human beings – if we postpone a disaster we are handing over a disaster
to the next generation. So, it's very important that nations come
up with policies which are ecologically sensitive and sensible to do. Individual people of course they must do because
we are democracies, if we don't express our concern in our… the way we live, the nation
or the government is not going to change, the administrations are not going to change
by themselves. It is the people's will which is expressed
in the form of administrations because after all most nations are democratic and it's the
people who elect the people who get there, all right? So, when somebody said they want to land on
the sun and maybe they were expecting the opposition to get there first (Laughter/Applause). Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): Probably thought
they would find oil. Sadhguru: The media to get there first (Laughter/Applause). So, I think right now individual action is
important for awareness because it's this individual action which will ultimately transform
or culminate in the form of a sensitive administration. Without individual concern, a sensitive administration
will not come. But we've reached a point on the planet where
strong policies are needed, ec… ecologically sensitive policies are needed. You and me switching off the light is great. I don't even turn on the light, so I don't
switch off either (Laughter). If I'm… Most of the time I'm alone at home, I never
turn on the light, I can walk through, you know, darkness very effortlessly – unless
I want to read. I just don't turn on a single light in the
house, I am just fine, the dogs are happy, I am happy (Laughs), that's about it. Every other creature is happy, lights are
not on. So, yes all of us can do that, it's very important
because if we are not ecologically sensitive, we will not bring an ecologically sensitive
administration or policy makers to the place. But a time has come, strong policies are needed,
without that there will be no solutions. Because the turnaround time – as I said
I am not a doomsayer but if we want to turn around this planet in terms of water, in terms
of soil condition – this is something most people ignore in terms of ecology. The soil, the damage we have caused to the
soil on the planet is the biggest. Other things may be visible, ice is melting
somewhere it's visible, but the damage to the soil we have caused across the planet
is incredible and most dangerous. Because this is where life evolves. You and me are just a little bit of soil. What was soil became food, what was food became
flesh and blood. If we don't get it right now, one day we will
get it when we are buried. Yes? Most people get it a bit too late but everybody
gets the point (Laughter), at some point (Laughs). So, these things cannot be turned around with
individual action. This needs a worldwide policy. I think if we want to turn the soil around,
if we take concrete action in the next five to ten years, in the next twenty-five to thirty
years we could turn it around quite reasonably. But if… let us say we don't take any action
now and we take action after twenty-five or fifty years let's say. After fifty years we want to act, to turn
around the same soil it will take hundred to hundred-and-fifty years. And that means four to five generations will
go through tremendous… terrible states of life because soil is in a bad condition. If we fix the soil, water is fixed, air is
fixed, everything is fixed. Soil must be rich and on because this (Referring
to oneself) is the same sod. Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): Well, very well
said, and I can give a little context for that. Actually in the next couple of weeks the DiCaprio
Foundation is going to be releasing a study that we have been working on – a plan not
just a study with MIT, with Berkeley, with a number of other institutions around the
world – called "One Earth" which identifies a path to no more than 1.5 degrees centigrade
warming. Which as most of you probably know there was
an agreement reached in Paris three years ago, a climate agreement with a-hundred-and-seventy-four
nations and the goal was to stop warming at two degrees with a hopeful goal of no more
than 1.5 but the target was set, and the level of ambition was set for two degrees. We know that a lot of further disasters will
occur if we let it get to two degrees. So how would you get to 1.5 was the challenge
we gave these great academics and we took a look at what it would take to do it. And we came up with three things, that by
2050 we need to move most of the world's energy to clean renewable energy. And when we even started talking about this
even two or three years ago, it seemed like "Hmm, could you possibly do that, are the
economics and the technology there?" And since then look at how many companies
have committed to go to a-hundred percent renewables, how many cities, how many states. The state of California, seventh largest economy
on the planet passed a law, signed a law a couple of weeks ago to be one-hundred percent
renewable energy powered by 2045 and we have the pathway to do it (Applause/Cheers). So we know that first leg of that stool is…
is difficult, it's challenging but it's not impossible. The second leg is indeed to get by 2050 most
of our agriculture back to what we call regenerative agriculture, which is regenerating the soil. It's what our parents and grandparents did. And interestingly now that Cuba is opening
up again, they didn't have access to a lot of petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides
and herbicides, so they've continued to do this throughout the last fifty years, I mean…
and obviously longer – where basically you don't dig up and destroy the soil, and expose
it, and let all the microbes and the organisms and the organic material decompose into methane
– which is a very potent greenhouse gas – and then supplement it with petroleum-based
fertilizers, in essence you are sterilizing the soil, you are killing it as Sadhguru says
and then you are throwing something on it to try to make it work. And instead we just need to go back to the
basic concept of using organic material that's there, harvest our crop, put the organic waste
back into the soil, with light tilling, with light crop practices. And in fact you get better yields for far
less money and be able to restore water and various other ecosystems. And the third leg of the stool is we have
to save half the planet for nature. And we are obviously not going to say "Oh! Well, let's save the southern half and we'll
smutch the northern half." I mean too late for that. But what we can do is take a look at all the
marine protected areas we've already created, the national parks, the ecosystem reserves
that exist in every single country, the natural places, even parks in cities and stitch them
together in ways that actually becomes a safety net for the planet where effectively half
the planet is preserved for nature and the ecosystem services that nature provides us. So, for example many of you may have seen
that Sao Paulo a year ago was facing evacuation of a third of the city because they ran out
of water. And that was because they had denuded rainforests
many, many miles away from Sao Paulo. But that's what had sequestered the rains,
sequestered the moisture, nourished the soils which then allowed aquifers to fill and rivers
to flow and so forth that kept a city of twenty-two million people alive. When they destroyed those forests, all of
that disappeared with the first drought. So now they are learning that that has to
be restored, it's not just for the sake of creatures or plants and animals that we'll
never see, it's actually for the human ecosystem services as well. And that if you do that, if you actually preserve
roughly half the planet for nature there is creative ways you can do it. We… at the DiCaprio Foundation, we funded
a program to create wildlife corridors over two of our busiest freeways so that mountain
lions and other species can cross the freeways and stitch back together fractured habitat. And here in Los Angeles it's too late to go
by 10000 more acres and say "Okay, great that's going to be mountain lion habitats." So, therefore how do you stitch it back together
to get the genetic diversity to keep those species alive, to keep those resources alive? So, there is many creative ways to do it,
but it does take modern mapping and scientific research methods to figure out what do we
need to save, because not all ecosystems are created equal. So, I'll get off my soap box here but my point
being there is three things that will give us a livable planet and give us a sustainable
planet for ten billion people by 2050 and it is this hundred percent renewables, hundred
percent regenerative agriculture, and saving half for nature. And so your point about soils is really at
the center piece of all that (Applause). Sadhguru: Well, we have so much science and
technology but I think we don't have enough sense (Laughter), in the sense (Laughs) – well,
I know United Nations has made a prediction by 2050 we are going to be 9.6 billion people. At the beginning of twentieth century we were
just 1.6 billion people, now at the beginning of twenty-first century we are 7.6 billion
people. They are saying in another thirty-two years
we will be nearly ten billion people. Well, I think this is irresponsible reproduction. We just… We are nice but we are just too many (Laughter). If we don't get this one thing, whatever we
do will fail simply because the human footprint is too much. I was in a conference, you know, about ecology
and stuff. I said "Without reducing the human footprint
nothing is going to work." They ask me, "How do you reduce the human
footprint?" I said "You have to reduce the number of human
feet" (Laughter). The number of feet (Laughs), go down. See, the average life expectancy of a human
being in the last century has gone up tremendously. In India in 1947 when we got independence
from the English, the average life expec… expectancy of an Indian was twenty-eight years,
twenty-eight years. Today it's at sixty-six, sixty-seven, they
are saying it's around sixty-seven now which is fantastic. In seventy years' time. So what this essentially means is we have
postponed our death – wonderful. If we postpone our death, should we not postpone
our birth? I'm not talking any philosophy, simple arithmetic. Hello (Laughter)? Simple arithmetic, if we postpone our death
we should also postpone our birth. On an average if in any given… if at any
given time three generations of people are living here is great – your parents are
here, your children are here, you are here, wonderful. But right now we have come to a place where
five generations are living for a whole lot of people. Well, they are really happy, they think they
got a big family but five generations is not sustainable – no way, it's not going to
work. We can do as much technology as we want, as
much whatever we want, the planet is designed for a certain amount of life, particularly
a virulent life like us. We (Laughs)… We are not like other creatures who… who
don't take anything more than they contribute. They are… They are taking and as much they are contributing. Our intake and what we contribute is… what
we contribute is miniscule, what we take is big. From, let's say our grandparents generation,
let us say 1940's or 50's leaving the terrible war of the time, how much they were consuming
on this planet per pers… per capita, today how much we are consuming is at least seven
to eight times more. Seven hundred to eight hundred percent increase. So, with sophistication of technology we could
scale it down a little bit. You know, simple things like from a regular
light bulb to LED, we brought down the power consumption and like this many things we are
doing. All this is wonderful, but all this is not
a solution, it's just a postponement of disaster. Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): So let me ask
you this, as a spiritual leader, as somebody who knows how to get into people's heads (Laughter)… Sadhguru: Not just the heads (Laughter). Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): As you said,
I mean old guys like us are living longer but younger people like many in this audience
are the ones that might be thinking about having kids, so it's not an equal matter of
just saying "Hey, we as a species, as long as we are going to live longer there should
be a postponement of the births." That's one of the many inequities that exists
in this discussion. How do we convince people to have fewer kids
and balance that when it's not all the same? Sadhguru: Well, the very nature of how today's
life is arranging itself, a whole lot of people won't go for children. Not because anybody is advising them. Simply because… You know, there was a time before a girl is
twenty, she already had two, three children going. Today almost nobody has a child before twenty,
it's all over twenty-two, twenty-four, many of them are over thirty. So that postponement is happened not because
of any ideology, simply because of the way life is arranged. Just the education system, by the time they
finish their education they are twenty-five, twenty-six. By the time they find some employment and
find their footing in the world they are thirty, thirty-five, by then they have become wise
(Laughter/Applause). So, if you allow enough time, wisdom happens
(Laughter). Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): My son is twenty-seven,
when will it happen (Laughter)? Sadhguru: So, the very nature of how we're
organizing life, the way we have organized our education systems and our professions
and the careers – this is inevitably going to happen. It is just that if we do our arithmetic a
little more consciously it would be great. But there is an explosion of population happening
in Africa, there is an increase of birth rate in Africa because we have kept people poor
for a long time, people are starved out, they don't know whether children will survive or
not, you know all the conditions as to why the populations multiply. It is just that if you… This is why ecology and education are important,
if education happens, education itself postpones birth (Laughter), isn't it? And once education happens, aspirations explode,
aspirations keep children off for quite some time. Beyond that if they really want to be some
great parents, they want to produce some wonderful children for the future – fantastic. Fantastic, because we need children of course,
we can't do without children on this planet. But because we are… on an average, most
countries… almost the whole population on the planet in the next thirty years, average
age will be over… you know, people will be living over eighty, eighty-five years of
age. So when the whole population starts living
to be eighty-five, if they deliver a child at twenty, by the time they are gone they
have already four generations going, which is not practical. So, this ten-billion population is not necessarily
because an outburst of reproductive instinct, it is more because extension of life and which
is fantastic that people are living to their full life, which is wonderful. So that should not be… you know, we should
not start regretting that people are living so long. That should never happen, we should celebrate
that people are living full lives but that will happen if this rush of young brats coming
(Laughs) – we will start wondering why the old people are not going, that's not a good
thing at all for any civilization (Laughter). That's not a good… I mean it's (it'll?) inevitably happen, you
must understand this. You may think "I am not like that" but when
pressure builds up, it will happen, those thoughts will come. We should never give room for that in any
given society, we must always celebrate the age, the o… experience of human beings who
are here. Not because of I am speaking for myself (Laughter). I am saying our grandparents we celebrated. My great-grandmother lived to one-one-three. Okay (Laughs)? No, no, I am not threatening you (Laughter). She lived to one-one-three but people celebrated
her because she was such a presence and such a wisdom, she has seen three generations,
four generations pass. But that will only happen when there is no
too much pressure from the next generation, which is fighting for room to live on this
planet. It's very important that we must… instead
of projecting, making a prediction that we'll have ten billion by 2050, why don't we plan
by 2050 we'll have four billion or 4.5 billion. I'm telling you if you are four billion people
everybody can live whichever way they want and everything will be fine. And whoever is landing on Mars we should send
them quickly (Laughter). Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): So… so, good
points all, but it still comes back to education, lifting the veil off people's eyes about how
the world really works. To your point about getting governments to
change it means that among the many individual actions we all need to take – raise your
hand if you plan to vote in three weeks? And everyone's hand should have gone up (Laughter),
even people that don't necessarily ____(Unclear) (Overlapping conversation) Sadhguru: I have no vote in this country,
so I am… (Laughter). Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): Yeah, well. It doesn't matter anymore, please come and
vote (Cheers/Laughter/Applause). I've actually always felt that every citizen
of the world should have the right to vote for the American president because… (Laughter) he or she will have a disproportionate
impact over all their lives and so everyone should get a vote. But seriously you – as just in the short
time that I've gotten to know you tonight, when we were in the green room, when we came
here, lines of people would come up and want to say "Hello" to you and every one of them
had one thing in common, they said "You changed my life. You changed the way I see the world and the
way I want to be in the world." And that's what we have to do if we really
want to make this planet sustainable. So, give us some tips about how… I mean all of us can't necessarily do what
you've done but maybe we can, I mean you were telling me for example that your "Rally for
Rivers" was an idea that came to you fifty-nine days before you did it and I'll let you tell
the story because maybe that's helpful for people here who are activists and want to
start a movement and want to make something happen big, which then will get governments
to change policy, it's the only thing that ever did. Political leaders are actually political followers,
when they really feel the pressure from citizens, that's when they change. So give us some ideas about how you in your
amazing career have inspired people to think differently, to see things differently, and
then to take action. Sadhguru: See, this is in 1998, certain United
Nations agencies came to Southern India and the state where we are in which is called
as Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state. (Talks aside: I thought people were whistling
(Laughter)… That's a good thing (Laughs).) So, they made a prediction by 2025, sixty
percent of Tamil Nadu will become a desert. I personally don't like any kind of predictions,
whether they are for individual life or the nation or ecology because predictions are
only taking cold facts and making projections; what's beating in a human heart they don't
know. People who make predictions don't know what
is beating in individual hearts and what these people are going to do tomorrow, they have
no clue about that. So, it looked absurd to me that by 2025 sixty
percent of Tamil Nadu will become desert, because Tamil Nadu has a history of 12,000
years of agriculture, they've been plowing the same land for 12,000 years. This is the longest history of agricultural
history on the planet. And in thirty, forty years we are going to
become a desert? I didn't believe that. So I decided to drive myself across Tamil
Nadu, I drove to all the rivers and river beds and other things and just… just to
have a look. Then I knew they were wrong because I thought
it is going to happen much sooner (Laughter), I didn't think it will last till 2025. So, I called a bunch of volunteers and about
4 - 5000 of them and told them (Laughter)… What? Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): One at a time
or on Twitter, I mean… (Laughter)? Sadhguru: No, no (Laughs). Oh, that's not how it happens in India (Laughter),
I just have to say I am going to meet them, they'll all come (Applause). So, I just made a barefoot calculation, this
is the number of square kilometers that this state has and we have only 16.5 percent green
cover, nat… national aspiration is thirty-three percent green cover. I said we must get it to thirty-three percent
means what it takes. Just a barefoot calculation. I said "In the next eight to ten years if
you plant about hundred-and-fourteen million trees in this state, in about fifteen to twenty
years you will have thirty-three percent green cover." So I said "We need to plant hundred-and-fourteen-million
trees." They rolled their eyeballs (Laughter), they
said "Sadhguru, do you know what is hundred-and-fourteen-million? How many zeros?" I said "See, what's your population in this
state?" They said "Sixty-two million" I said "If all
of us plant one tree today, nurture it for two years and plant one more, you got the
number. That's all it takes" (Applause/Cheers). You don't need to be a man with great resources
to plant one tree and nurture it, even a beggar can do it. Hmm? Even if a beggar does it he will have a growing
office space (Laughter). "So how to do it, how to water it, what to
do?" I said "Just go pee there (Laughter). If you don't have water, every day you are
doing something right?" So, I'm saying this was just bare bones kind
of talk because everybody knows how to come up with variety of problems, how we cannot
do it. Everybody knows how we cannot do it. Nobody looks at how we can do it. So, this talk went on. Then I said "Okay, we'll meet after a month
or so." We decided to meet in another town, so here
a much larger crowd gathered. The meeting I arranged, this is a… the place
where we were meeting, is a place where there are about five to six very large rain trees,
those… I mean it's a kind of tree you don't see here. But these rain trees… an individual tree
will occupy almost three-fourths of an acre, it's like huge trees. So, about five, six rain trees, fabulous shade
and cool place but I arranged the meeting in hot sun at eleven o'clock in the morning
(Laughter). So, this is Tamil Nadu sun, you know, we are…
hot. So, I stood… I sat there along with them and everybody,
you know, when they come for these meetings, all the ladies get properly dressed up with
silk saris, and nice make-up and everybody is sitting like this (Gestures)(Laughter),
full of joy, "Sadhguru is talking to us!" And I went on talking, just simply kept it…
just gossip. They initially like this (Gestures), then
slowly (Gestures) (Laughter). They are just looking at me, I am also sitting
in hot sun, and "Maybe he is enlightened but what's wrong with him" (Laughter)? I waited for that moment after one-and-a-quarter
hours when they were really wilting away. See, if you are walking around, moving, you
won't feel it; when you just sit in the sun, it gets you (Laughs). So, when I saw that they are really going
down, I said "Okay" and "Let's go here" And we all went and sat under a tree. And "Ahh, ahh!" Sounds of ecstasy, you know (Laughs)? Everybody "Ahh!" For the first time in their life they are
noticing the trees, "Ahh, so fantastic!" I sat down and I started a simple process. This is a certain spiritual aspect to it,
experientially I made them feel with their eyes closed – what you exhale, the trees
are inhaling; what the trees exhale, you are inhaling – one-half of your breathing apparatus
is hanging out there. They sat like this (Gestures), some… many
of them tears in their eyes. Simply sat like this and now you can't stop
them from planting trees (Laughter). They are just on and on and on. Thirty-three million trees they planted. So I keep telling them "You are a big failure,
we said one-hundred-and-fourteen million (Laughter). We said one-hundred-and-fourteen million,
you planted only thirty-three million." They are going on and on planting more and
more. So with children, you know, children like
to have pets because there are no more so many brothers and sisters, we can't afford
that. So pets are easy because they die sooner than
human beings (Laughter). Yes (Laughs)? So every time your dog or cat dies, every
twelve years you have a heart break. So, I came up with this idea, you have a tree
as a pet. It grows bigger than you, lives longer than
you, always there, you can always go back to your village to visit this. As a part of this we started what is called
as a "Green School Movement." That if a school plants 10,000 trees we will
give it a certificate, it's a "Green school." Today over 6000 schools are ‘green schools’
in Tamil Nadu (Applause). And the best thing is this spawned over four-hundred…
over four-hundred activist groups which all came up because of – we call this Project
Green Hands – because of Green Hands over four hundred groups came up. They are all in competition, planting more
and more (Laughter). I thought that's great, that's the best thing
to happen (Laughs) because… and simple things in Indian weddings… Indian wedding means you generally have to
eat three times your normal diet (Laughter). That's an Indian wedding, okay (Laughs)? And as if that's not enough, they will give
you a bag of sweets and fruits and coconuts and everything to take home just in case,
you didn't spill out (Laughter). So we changed this and today hundreds of weddings,
not enough for my satisfaction, but hundreds of weddings they are giving saplings and saying
instead of taking all that extra food and eating more and more, you plant this sapling. If you don't have a space – right there
they will ask you – if they don't have a space we will plant it for you and we will
plant it for you in this place. We are also these days geo-coding them, where
your tree is. As a part of the "Rally for Rivers" today
we are planting… in the next three to four years' time or let's say three to five years'
time we have signed MoUs to plant seven billion trees (Cheers/Applause). Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): And if… in
that period of time if you only plant six-billion will that be a failure? Sadhguru: Yeah (Laughter). Because… I… I keep telling people that, you know, I'm… I've kind of given up on my life, anyway I
will die a failure. Because (Laughs) when I was twenty-five years
of age I suddenly realized one day if I simply sit here, all I have to do is that I don't
mess with myself. If I simply sit here I… every cell in my
body bursts out in ecstasy. When I realized this I made a plan at that
time (Laughs). On that day the world's population was 5.6
billion people. I made a plan, in the next two-and-a-half
years I can make the whole world blissful. Tch, thirty-six years (Laughter)! Well, we have touched over five-hundred million
people today but that's not my idea of success, so I will die as a failure, but as a blissful
failure, so it's okay. I… This is my wish for all of you. Your vision for what you wish to do should
be such, any way it cannot be completed in this life. I want you to lie… die as a joyful failure. Success means… I'm… I… I finished everything I wanted, means you
are a constipated mind (Laughter). Yes. You have set up one constipated goal for yourself,
finish it and think you are a big success. No, it's good to die as a failure, as long
as you are joyful. Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): The great Italian
artist Michelangelo famously asked god to grant that he may always strive to achieve
more than he does achieve and that's obviously inherent in what you are saying. I don't know how we are doing on time, do
we want to take some questions or comments from the audience? And I'm not sure how you guys want to facilitate
that but let's make this more of a conversation with four-hundred people. Moderator (Question 1): We actually do have
a question here, this is for Sadhguru or perhaps Terry, we'll see. Is enlightenment an event or a way of life
(Laughter)? Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): The first question
that comes about clean air regulation in the state of California, I will take that one. Sadhguru: Well, it is a process. But people around me recognize it only when
the process reaches a certain level of visibility but it's a process. Right now maybe there is a process building
up for rain let's say, most people don't see it. Donkeys know it, snakes know it, insects and
worms know it, human beings won't see it – till it pours down on them they don't see it (Laughs). So, it is a process – if you are sensitive
you can see the process before it bears flowers and fruits. So most of the world sees only when a bright
flower comes out, but it's an ongoing process, you can recognize it at a very early stage
if you look for certain basic parameters. So, enlightenment is a process. Well, when it becomes mature it may bear a
certain type of flower that the world recognizes but that's not the most important thing. The process is the most important thing. Moderator (Question 2): This question asks,
"They say when people die, they are in a better place, are they" (Laughter)? Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): No. Sadhguru: No (Talks aside)? Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): He's looking
at you dude. Sadhguru: It depends who you are talking about
(Laughter/Applause). If it's a better place you should go there
first (Laughter). No, if you are very sure that you are definitely
in a better place after you die, you should not postpone such a great opportunity, isn't
it (Laughter)? No, you are wishing other people to go, that's
not right. See, largely the nature of human mind is such,
just about everything it corrupts because we have a cerebral activity which is like
an unguided missile. It just goes all over the place. Just about every aspect of life, whatever
people held sacrosanct in the previous generation, this generation rubbishes and walks all over
it. Like this everything that you can think of,
human beings have corrupted, in their minds at least. Even if they don't do it in behavior, even
if their behavior is controlled, in their minds they have corrupted everything. One thing this is… that is pristine and
cannot be corrupted is death, because you can claim whatever the hell you want but you
don't know a damn thing about it (Laughter). People who are dead sure that they are going
to heaven after this, I don't think they should postpone it by a day (Laughter). If they are so sure they are going to such
a fantastic place why should they postpone it, I don't understand this at all? Especially if they have an appointment with
god, not to be postponed, isn't it (Laughter)? It's just that you don't know a damn thing
about it, it's… it's an empty space out there. So, it's best it's kept that way for variety
of reasons. Unless your life lights up from within its
best death remains as it is. Because if you manage to corrupt that, then
you will have nothing to live for. This may sound very negative but I am telling
you if you are not mortal, just see what would happen to you. If at all if we want to give you the worst
kind of punishment, death penalty is not the worst thing. Suppose we gave you eternal life penalt…
punishment – you cannot die. Just… Just… Just think about it (Laughter). Because it's mortal, we are trying to extend
it a little bit more, little bit more. Suppose you just cannot die, that will be
the worst thing to happen. So don't corrupt that one thing, you know
nothing about it, it's best that way because if you do not light up the innermost core
of your life there is no way you will know anything about it. You can believe whatever stories you want. Whatever somebody says even if it is true,
as far as you are concerned it's just a story, isn't it? Hello? Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: It's just a story. If you strongly believe in a story you will
do idiotic things. Yes. Those people who believe hundred percent they
are going to heaven and what are the pleasures there, they are the ones who are blowing themselves
up. Yes. Because you believe all those things are there. From last generation to this generation the
aspiration of going to heaven has come down dramatically (Laughter), they are all trying
to do it right here (Laughs). They are trying to do everything right here. Because first of all, the idea of a heaven
is a very perverted idea, full of pleasures. Unfulfilled minds will come out with such
things. So, death is that dimension of your life which
has brought profoundness to who you are, because you are mortal. You are here today, everything is fine, tomorrow
morning poof, gone, just like that, no trace. If you pay little attention to this aspect
that today I am here, tomorrow I could just vanish and not leave a trace anywhere, if
you just pay enough attention to it, if your attention is keen enough then your light…
life will light up because that's where the key is. Everybody thinks death is the antithesis of
life – no, it's in your mortality all the secrets of your life are hidden (Applause). Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): Very well said. Moderator (Question 3): We have a question
from a mother, a mother from the land of Rumi, from the land of Persia, from Iran. And she is concerned that more and more youth
are becoming atheists. They do not believe… not only do they not
believe in god, they don't believe in religion, they don't even believe in spirituality. And she asks how can I as a mother bring awareness
of the spiritual to my child? Sadhguru: See, it's a very positive thing
that belief systems are collapsing. And it's an inevitable process because human
intellect is firing like never before in the history of humanity. For a long time for an entire village or a
community only one person used to think for all of them, today everybody is thinking for
themselves. They are thinking right or wrong, that's a
debatable thing but they are thinking for themselves. The fundamental of thought is, when you start
thinking for yourself even if you sound absurd to somebody else, within yourself you are
logically correct, am I right? Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: When two people argue – have you
seen (Laughter)? Always the other guy looks ab… absurd, "What
rubbish, he has no logic!" But within himself he is logically correct,
he's thinking this one is absurd. So, the very nature of thought is such you
might have found your own logic which may not be congruent with everybody else's but
within you you're logically correct. This is the fundamental of thought. Once you are logically correct, belief becomes
very difficult because belief does not agree with the system of thought that you may have. You could be indoctrinated but indoctrination
works only when you are kept in a flock. If we allow to go out, if you look here and
there and think, it will collapse. It's a very good thing. In the last twenty-five years, the number
of heavens and hells that have collapsed on the planet is fantastic, because this aspiration
that “I will live well somewhere else,” is a disastrous aspiration. That is why we are making a hell of ourselves
and making it a hell for everybody else around us, because we think somewhere else we are
going to live better. This idea must go! If you want to live well, it's here. If you don't get this… (Applause) If you want to live the highest
possible life, it is here that you can do it, if this does not sink into human minds
and hearts, well, all these people who are going to live well somewhere else they are
going to cause hell to you here. They are making sure you suffer here because
there everything is going to be great. So this idea must go. So, essentially when people say “I'm religious,”
naturally they refer to themselves as believers. When we say belief, essentially we are talking
about "I am not yet straight in my life" – that is, "I am not willing to admit what I do not
know as I do not know." Is there any problem that… is it okay for
you as a human being, “What I know I know, what I do not know I do not know, is it okay? Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: No, whatever I do not know, I believe. And this belief we have introduced into human
mind because it gives you confidence. This confidence without clarity is a disaster. As human beings get more and more empowered
with technology and science, this disaster will become larger and larger. When we are not clear at least, we must be
hesitant, isn't it? Hello? Participants: Yup (Applause). Sadhguru: When we can't see clearly at least
we must walk with some hesitation. No, we can't see a damn thing but we are confident,
this is a disaster. So, we think that confidence is a substitute
for clarity. No, there is no substitute for clarity. Either you see things clearly – only if
you see things clearly you will navigate your life well. If you can't see things clearly, you will
walk with confidence. Suppose my vision is not clear but I walk
with great confidence, obviously I am going to step on all of you and walk around, isn't
it? That's what we are doing. Hello, as human beings that is what we are
doing. Stepping on everything that's precious to
us, which is the basis of our life in many ways. And we are stepping on everything because
we have no clarity be… and we have enormous confidence. These disastrous ideas that… First of all, we thinking this universe or
this cosmos is human-centric is a disastrous idea. As he was mentioning, Terry was mentioning
in the beginning, before we came, life happened on this planet in glorious ways, before we
came. We've been here for just a little bit of time,
all right? Well, in many ways we are the peak of evolution. That means in terms of capabilities, no other
creature has been the way we are, it's fantastic but the existence is not human-centric. If you talk to an ant, an ant will think god
is a big ant. Yes, I'm sure (Laughter). If you talk to an elephant of course, he knows
god is a big elephant, and even we think so in India (Laughter/Applause). So, this idea that human being is made in
god's own image, and every other creature is here to serve you, this one disastrous
idea if it was not planted in human mind, today we need not sit here and talk about
ecological concerns. This idea, every other life is here to serve
us – no! You just see, an ant is going, just ask him
if he's here to serve you, he says "Hell with you man" (Laughter)! Step anywhere near his community and see what
he does to you (Laughter). You know the ants-in-pants business right
(Laughter)? Oh, he'll give you works, because he thinks
the most important life on the planet is him. It's all right for him to think like that. With so much intelligence we are supposed
to think beyond this. An ant thinks he is the biggest life on this
planet. Most significant life on the planet is him,
that's why he responds so violently if you go anywhere near his community. But we are supposed to think beyond that. We are endowed with an intelligence which
is able to think but we are refusing to think because we believe. So, belief essentially means whatever we don't
know we make it up and concretize it. So, when we want to believe, we always need
people around us. If you are the only person who believes something
that nobody here believes, you'll look ridiculous (Laughter). You always need a thousand people who believe
the same thing. So, when… I mean she… whoever the lady, she used both
spiritual, religious and atheist, everything together. You must understand – theists and atheists
are same people acting to be different. One person believes what he does not know
in a positive way, another person believes what he does not know in a negative way, both
of them neither have the courage nor the commitment to seek what is the nature of this existence,
what is the nature of my existence, what is the nature of the larger existence, what could
be the source of all this? This wonder and seeking is missing in both
of them. Both of them believe. One believes god is, another believes he is
not. How do you arrive at these things? Can I tell you a small story (Laughter)? This happened in New York City, an eight-year-old
boy came back from home… came back from school, home. He had a very progressive mother at home,
obviously she was single (Laughter). He came home and asked his mother, "Momma,
is god man or a woman?" She being a progressive woman, she thought
through all the gender politics that are happening and how we tried to settle it in the previous
election and you know the result. And then she said, "Both!" So the boy went into deep thought. After some time he came back and asked, "Momma,
is god… god white or black?" So she thought through all the racial politics
in the country, how in the last election we tried to settle this issue (Laughter) and
all those things. After much thought she said, "Both!" Then the boy went into very profound thought. Then after quite some time he came back and
asked "Momma, is god straight or gay" (Laughter)? She thought through all the politics involved
with that aspect of life. After much thought she said "Both!" The boy jumped in joy, "I got it! I got it! It's Michael Jackson" (Laughter/Applause)! I don't know how you arrived at yours. But… The thing is why can't human beings be sincere
enough, “What I know I know, what I do not know I do not know.” Hmm? What is the problem? "I do not know" is a tremendous possibility. Only if you see "I do not know" the longing
to know, the seeking to know and the possibility of knowing becomes a living reality. Otherwise you believe something, I believe
something. Initially we are all okay but when really
it comes to things, we are going to kill each other. The fight on the planet is not between good
and evil as they are projecting it to be, it's just one man's belief versus another
man's belief – religious or otherwise, isn't it so (Applause)? One major aspect of conflict on the planet
is you believe one thing, I believe something else. Why can't we say what we know we know, what
we do not know we do not know, what's the problem? Moderator (Question 4): So, I have a question
for Terry… Sadhguru: Once you say that spiritual process
has begun. Because you… it's in the very nature, intrinsic
to human intelligence, once you see "I do not know" the longing to know will get ignited. You cannot stop. You will have to look everywhere. So that's a spiritual process. Once you say "I am spiritual" you say "I am
a seeker," once you say "I'm religious" you say "I'm a believer," isn't it? Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): Well, and I
might add for that lady, for her child she was worried about him or her becoming an atheist
but it's – as you say – it's a process it's not an end, especially if it's a child. I mean when our son was very little, I mean
as a baby they think we are god. And then he gets to be five, six, seven years
old, he's talking to his friends, he's talking back… Sadhguru: How did you do that, hmm (Laughter)? Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): And all of a
sudden we know nothing and we are the devil (Sadhguru laughs). Sadhguru: That's a fully religious process
(Laughter). Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): Exactly! And then we gave him… then we gave him a
puppy and we're god again. So, you know, it's a… it's a constantly
evolving process. Be patient. Moderator (Question 5): The part of the problem
that we are aware of in terms of the earth has to do with compulsive human behavior. And I am going to ask two versions of this
question, first is for Terry to identify what… as an environmentalist and as a scientist
and as a policy person, what you consider to be most harmful to the planet and ask what
you would recommend in terms of redress? What can we do to change? Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): Well, the first
thing might seem trivial but it's something that certainly most Americans can do, in the
last ten years the average American has gained ten pounds because of our diet – salt, sugar,
fat, meat. And giving up some of that, especially the
meat would probably be one of the best things we can do to save the planet (Applause). And one of the consequences and one of the
ways to measure this is that the airlines that crisscross this country every year burn
three-hundred-and-fifty-million more gallons of jet fuel every year carrying all that excess
weight. So if we were to lose the ten pounds – myself
included – if we were to lose that ten pounds think how much better off the planet would
be in every sense, how much greenhouse gas we could reduce (Sadhguru laughs), how much
other deforestation and other things that we could reduce. You know, I think – as I said before – to
me it's really eco-illiteracy is the biggest problem, because all of these other problems
do have solutions – as you said, if we become seekers, if we start to pay attention to what's
real, if we push back on the climate denial industry, it's not just a matter of seeking
what's real, it's avoiding the temptation to find the easy answer that's convenient
for us. You know, "Oh, it's okay if I do this or that,
it won't hurt, it won't harm the planet." Or "Gee, my economic interest is more important
than the planet, so not only will I do certain things that actually are not good for me and
my community, but I'm going to lie about it to everybody else." I mean that's definitely part of the problem. But if we educate more people, you can't lie
to people that know better. You know, as you said before if only people…
one person expresses a belief, everybody else goes "You're crazy," and they certainly don't
follow that person. So, unfortunately in this country, when it
comes to climate change, when it comes to a whole host of environmental issues some
of it is pure ignorance, it's a lack of education, it's a lack of… it's a failure of our formal
and informal education system, but it's also unfortunately a great deal of money that is
being used to intentionally mislead us, and we have to learn to look past that, to trust
what we know, what we've learned, and what we can always go back to and confirm. That should then guide us. But if there is one single thing… well,
let's say two, number one is voting as I mentioned before. People, you've got to get them to vote and
then you've got to get… educate them, but that will in turn lead to more enlightened
votes. And that doesn't necessarily always mean the
way I would vote or the way somebody else would vote. I'm a Democrat who work for a Republican. I can see both sides of a lot of different
arguments. But I do think that the more educated people
become about these issues, not only will they then vote in a more enlightened and thoughtful
way but they'll educate others, they'll share what they know when they are confident of
them. Moderator (Question 6): Now for Sadhguru (Applause). Often in your videos you talk about compulsive
behaviors and habits, mostly related to the body. Other than relying simply on will power, is
there a beginner's technique to start the process of breaking these compulsive habits? Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): How do I say
no to ice cream – that's another way to put it (Sadhguru laughs). Sadhguru: Well, compulsiveness is… The only reason why human life has become
what it's become is not because of the content of our life. Simply because we are able to change the context
of our life because we can do the same things that every other creature does consciously. They are born, we are born, we… they grow
up, we grow up, they… they eat, we eat, we sleep, they sleep, they reproduce, we reproduce,
they die, we die. That's all that's happening. We may think many things about ourselves but
if you look at generations of people have come and gone, this is all they did. Yes? They ate, they slept, they reproduced and
they died, and here we are because of their reproduction. This is how it's happening to every creature. Only thing is, the same simple things that
another creature can do, we can conduct it consciously, that's why we are so different. See, we attach the word being only to the
human. We did not call an ant being, a tiger being,
an elephant being, only human being. That means you are supposed to know how to
be. All others live out of their instinctive compulsiveness. That is their nature but you are a human being
means you know how to be, that means you are beyond your instincts. You also have survival instincts but you are
able to be beyond your instincts and where your intelligence has flowered to a place
where instincts need not rule you, you can be beyond your instincts. So, this is the essential quality for which
we are distinct, for which we stand out. If we do not show that ability to be conscious,
then we become compulsive. So compulsiveness is not a quality, compulsiveness
is just absence of consciousness. It's like darkness. Darkness is not a quality by itself, it's
absence of light. So, similarly compulsiveness is just a consequence
of lack of consciousness. So, instead of seeing how to make people conscious,
if we try to… with willpower try to get rid of our compulsiveness, we will become
weird in so many ways which is happening. So many weird things are happening in human
behaviors simply because they are trying hard to change themselves. If you become conscious, you will perform
according to your intelligence and your competence, isn't it? And that's how it should happen. With willpower if you di… try to do it then
you will go somewhere else, it looks like you've fixed everything around you except
the human being. Yes (Laughs)? The most important ingredient is missed. Everything is fixed in the world except the
human being, isn't it? So, becoming conscious – what it means is,
you can't try to become conscious. To be conscious you need a certain level of
intensity of energy and intelligence to function. For this to happen all it needs is to crank
up human energy to a higher level of intensity. It's like voltage. See, if the voltage is low, let's say there
is only one light which is lighting up this entire hall. If the voltage is low you saw only three people
here, so you thought only there are three people in this hall. You crank up the voltage a little bit you
saw ten people, suddenly you see ten people exist. You really cranked it up, then you see hundred
people out here, they were always there but in your experience only what you are conscious
of, exists, isn't it? Hello? Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: Only what you are conscious of exists
in your experience. Rest of it doesn't even exist. So, consciousness means this that your life
energies you kept it at the highest level of intensity so that you are naturally conscious
of everything. When you are conscious of every aspect of
life, you will function according to your intelligence. Right now when you are not conscious, your
intelligence will not perform, your instinct will perform. That means you will be compulsive in nature. If you perform or function according to your
instinctual nature, it is a backwards step in evolution. All this cerebral development which took millions
of years has gone waste, most people are only suffering it. They call it stress, they call it anxiety,
they call it madness, they call it depression. Well, you can give it any number of exotic
names you want but essentially your intelligence has turned against you, that's all it is. If we remove half your brain, I'm sure you
would sit here very peacefully (Laughter). Yes! This happened a few months ago, a television
anchor in south India, a thirty-four-year-old woman, she jumped off fifth floor and committed
suicide. She left a note, "Nobody is responsible for
my death, my brain is my enemy." Well, she articulated it very clearly. This note went all over on the Indian television,
"My brain is my enemy." Well, it took millions of years to develop
this brain to this level of capability and now it's become your enemy? Well, she articulated it but almost ninety
percent of the humanity is experiencing it, isn't it? You can call it stress, what is it? You don't know how to conduct your thought
and emotion, isn't it? Hello? Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: When are you going to learn, I want
to know? You meet a fifty-year old, sixty-year-old,
they still don't know how to conduct their thought and emotion. When the hell are you going to learn? No wonder you're planning to go to heaven
(Laughter), because you… you… you've not even completed your kindergarten here in your
lifetime. See, if you do not know how to conduct your
body, how to conduct your thought and emotion, this means you have not figured how to use
the basic faculties of your life, isn't it? Hello? Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: Most basic faculties of your life. Let's say you are fifty and you still don't
know how to walk, you are yet to learn, what is it? But we are taking this as normal. This is the disaster! This… The real disaster for humanity is, we thinking
it is normal. People don't know how to handle their thought
and emotion at the age of fifty or sixty, it's quite normal. Well, this is normal if you are in a madhouse. Yes? Only one who is abnormal is the doctor out
there, everybody else is perfectly normal. Right now we are turning this world into a
madhouse – compulsiveness means a madhouse. When people function compulsively, they will
do insane things. Nothing that compliments human intelligence
will be done. Yes? For this you need consciousness. Are you capable of being conscious? Obviously, isn't it so? Have you not seen the same thing that you
do? One day you are in a certain way, food appeared
in front of you, you ate very consciously, another day you ate (Gestures) khhh khhh khhh
– possible or no? Both are possible or no? So the difference is just that you have toned
up your energies so that consciousness is not an effort, that's the way you are made,
that's the way a human being is manufactured, all right? It's a… It's a conscious being, that's why we're calling
you a human being, you know how to be. If you really knew how to be would you choose
to be blissful or miserable? Participants: Blissful. Sadhguru: Obviously blissful. So this is all the litmus test is in your
life, if you wake up in the morning and if you are not blissful, this means you have
become compulsive. If your… Food appeared in front of you and you cannot
(Laughs) burst into a little bit of laughter before eating it – not because you are practicing
laughter (Laughter), simply because you are conscious, you are conscious that this is
your body but appears on your plate. Hello? Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: If you are conscious, this… (Laughs) you know, this me appears in green,
red, blue, all kinds of stuff. I look at it I can't help laughing (Laughs). It's not that you have to laugh before you
eat, you will go mad if you try to do that (Laughter). But if you are conscious, everything in the
universe is absolutely fantastic, too fantastic, there is nothing more brilliant than a blade
of grass on this planet. Hello? Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): Yes indeed. Well said (Applause). Moderator (Question 7): I want to close with
a two-part question, so the first is you've seen a lot of different farming techniques
and there is an organic farmer from southern California that would like your advice – practical
advice – on… a gardening tip. And then the other question says how can we
arrive at conscious connection with mother earth every step we take on her? Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): So, I'm not
a farmer. My wife has a vegetable garden which is very
prodigious and we eat from it, I ate kale this afternoon from our garden, very gratefully. And I learned a lot from Ed and Rochelle. But I would say instead I would look at a
trend, if the gentlemen who asked the question is an organic farmer… Moderator: Or it could be a woman. Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): Oh, I thought
you said "him." Whoever it is, he or she, is an organic farmer
that… that… think about ten years ago what the word organic meant. It was sort of hippy-dippy and it was in little
small shops and co-ops and things like that and then Whole Foods started to embrace it
and now every major super market chain has to have an organic section and Amazon bought
Whole Foods because the world is going in this direction, people are realizing they
want organic food, they want clean healthy food where they know where it came from. So, I would just say bless you, keep doing
what you are doing because the world is going to need a lot more of what you produce and
ultimately we can end this concept of killing the soil and covering it with chemicals, petrochemicals
and creating something that some people call food. Sadhguru: Whe… I see that we have started using these words
which have become part of our daily life. Like for example, this always bothers me,
the word "Waste." See, everything that we have, everything that
we have from the food that we eat, the clothes that we wear, the furniture we swit… sit
on and just everything is essentially a piece of this planet. Hello? Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: Everything is a… Including this body and everything is just
a piece of this planet. There is never anything here that you can
call "Waste." You are allowed to use it and when you put
it back it must become soil once again. Well, Cornelius is here. He is the shit king (Laughter). Well, I am… Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): Nothing is wasted… Sadhguru: How much percentage of United States'
shit do you have in your control? Speaker (Cornelius): _____ (Unclear) you got
more and more… _____ (Unclear) you got more and more (Sadhguru laughs). Sadhguru: Well, some big percentage of the
shit from all the cities in United States, Cornelius owns it (Laughter). He is not responsible for it but he owns it
(Laughter). Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): It's a long
story (Sadhguru laughs)… Sadhguru: It's a long story. So I am saying there's really nothing that
is waste here. It's just earth. Now we make many things out of it. Some things like us, the moment we are buried
within a few days becomes earth very easily but we are putting ourselves in a box, I don't
know why. I just cannot understand why are you in a
box? You must be in a rush to become part of the
Earth. Putting you in a box, you are preventing this
body from becoming earth unfortunately. We evolved a system in our center, anywhere
around us if people die, we just bury them and plant a tree on them. So for their relatives and friends are "this
tree" (Laughs), tch. You make very good manure if you did not know
this. Anything that you put out of your body makes
fantastic manure… Cornelius (Laughter). And the body itself is fantastic manure, you
know? So this aspect of what is organic what is
inorganic, there's really nothing like that. Everything is planet. Whatever you made out of it. We made some things which unfortunately cannot
quickly go back into earth. It takes… Some things take a thousand years or more
these days we are talking about but most of the other things if you put it down to earth,
within a matter of a dec… decade or two it will be earth again. So that's what is fantastic. Even you, you may be thinking many things
about yourself. As far as mother Earth is concerned, she looks
at you and she thinks you as a recycling process. She throws you out and pluck… sucks you
back, she throws you out and sucks you back. You think, “I am a great guy, I am a great
generation,” but she thinks nothing (Laughs). She just throws you out and sucks you back. Hello? Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: You're just a pop-up (Laughter). So, this idea that we got from somewhere that
we can grow food in some other way, other than organic way is kind of unbelievable – I
am… I am trying to wrap my head around it. I don't know how anybody came up with this
idea but when this idea started taking root in India, I was into farming. I was living on a farm. About thirty, thirty-five years ago, forty
years ago, the fertilizer companies were coming and giving talks in villages about the virtues
of fertilizer – how it can do things. I was just sitting there and looking at them
and I couldn't wrap my head around this, how the hell and the… they were telling all
the farmers – this ac…unfortunately worked – they were telling the farmers… See, an Indian farmer is like this… because
largely it is rain-fed cultivation, okay? Irrigated lands are a certain percentage,
rest is all rain fed. We had a system of rainfall that we could
almost… farmer would know on this day it will rain, you know? They would be ready. They know on this particular day of the calendar,
it's going to rain and it always rains. So he's got his plough ready, everything ready
for that day. That's how it was. But these guys came and advised, you must
remove all the trees because trees suck away the fertilizer, it's expensive. If you have trees, they will take up all the
fertilizer, it won't go to your crops, so you must take away the trees and trees just
vanished in the last forty years on such a scale. For example, the Ganga basin, Ganga is the…
the largest or one of the biggest rivers in India. It is the… It is metaphorically it is the river for the
Indian people. Ganga covers twenty-five percent of India's
geography, and thirty-three percent of India's agriculture is in the Ganga basin. In the Ganga basin in the last forty years'
time, we removed ninety-two percent of the trees in the Ganga basin, okay? Today, every year we are putting back about
hundred million trees, that's just started, yet to grow. Tree doesn't happen overnight, we can plant
but it'll take twenty years to see, make it look like a tree. So this policy, the commercial companies went
about propagating that if you have trees you will not succeed in your farming and this
led to suicides. Farmers started committing suicide because
if his crop fails, he has nothing to fall back on. Otherwise every farmer used to have a line
of trees at least on one side of the… Because looking at the winds and the monsoon
winds so that the seeds don't spread all over the land, they always planted their trees
on the eastern side because the south-west monsoon was the strongest wind, so they always
planted on the eastern side of their land. And they want… they want to conduct their
daughter's wedding, one tree they cut. It's already named. It was like this in the southern villages
– this tree is named after their daughter. For her wedding this tree is growing. When she was born it was planted, it is growing,
when for her wedding comes, they are going to chop down this tree and that's how it gets
financed. Now the son has to go to the university, there's
another tree. Like this they had insurance. When things went bad, they went… fell back
on the trees. But they just removed everything because fertilizer
companies insisted you have to remove trees, otherwise fertilizer will not be effectively
used. And in the last ten years, over 300,000 farmers
committed suicide in India simply because there is no fallback. When crop fails there is simply no fallback
for him. He's just lost. The money that he's borrowed from the banks
or moneylenders, he can't pay back. Unable to bear that he just commi... takes
this extreme step. So why I am saying this is, is there some
other way to grow food other than organic? There isn't it! There simply isn't. There is no such thing as organic farming
and some other synthetic farming. There is no such thing. You are just pumping up the organic plants
with something just to make it look like food. It is only looking like food. In the last twenty-five years, the nutrient
drop in Indian vegetables is forty percent. You can eat the same amount of vegetables,
you are getting forty percent less nutrients and everybody is sick. Now in America, you are talking about how
to give up meat. In India, every doctor is advising if you
don't eat meat you will not get nourishment (Few laugh). The same fertilizer story. At that time the fertilizer companies did
that. Now the doctors are telling everybody if you
do not eat meat you will not get nourishment. In a way they are not totally off because
vegetarian diet has no nourishment, simply because of the way it's grown. It's only looking like food, it's not food. It's trash that they are selling to you. So is there some kind of farming other than
organic farming? There is… simply isn't (Applause)! Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): Can you leave
us with some inspiration? Sadhguru: Oh (Laughter)! Did I depress you (Laughter)? Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): I thought that's
what he was doing all day (Sadhguru laughs). My heart is full but… Sadhguru: Well, as already Terry pointed this
out at one point – see, people are going about saying planet is in peril. Planet is not in peril. The idiotic humanity is in peril. Planet is not in peril, it will adjust itself. Planet knows how to come back. It's just that, it's not that we are also
not going to be extinguished. But we will bring huge suffering upon ourselves. Talking about 1.5 degrees centigrade of rise
which is kind of a compromised decision (Laughs)… We will heat it 1.5 degrees on. Well, when this happens, the worst hit part
of the planet will be Asia. Because it is believed out of two-hundred-and-odd
islands in Indonesia, it is believed over sixty percent of them will sink, if the water
rises anywhere to two meters. About six to seven feet if it raises, over
sixty percent of the islands will go down. Where will these populations go? If an island sinks, what's our problem? The problem is there are so many… too many
people on the island, isn't it? If we do not do this consciously, nature will
do it to us in a very cruel way – correction. If we do not do the corrections consciously,
nature will enforce it in a cruel way. Not because it wants to make you suffer. That's our choice. It is just that it's a correction. And when corrections happen, some things will
be cut out. When some things have cut out, it could be
you and me who are cut out. That is the painful process. So we have to do this consciously. This is the time. This is the time I'm saying because, this
is for the first time in the history of humanity that we can sit here and communicate to the
whole world. At this point of time if we cannot do the
right things, what the hell are we doing? Hmm? It's all right, a thousand years ago, even
if we thought right, if… even if we figured out the right things, we could not tell everybody. We could not communicate to the world. Everybody did their own thing. But for the first time we are able to communicate
to the entire population on this planet. Every human being on the pla… planet can
be reached in the next half-an-hour or one hour, if you wish. When this kind of possibility is there, this
is the time to do right things and we have to do the right things, both in terms of human
consciousness which is the most important thing. Because without human beings becoming a conscious
entity, when they are in compulsive modes, you cannot stop them. See, people are trying to curtail human aspiration. It's not going to work. People drive Tesla to their office but they
got a beast parked in their garage (Laughter). All right? Yes (Laughs)? So you cannot curtail human aspiration but
you can definitely control human population. Now this looks like a single pitch from my
side and everybody is saying "Oh!" But we must understand this. Without lowering the human footprint, believe
me, on this planet you thinking in the next fifty years, you will make everybody sensible
and control their aspirations, what they seek? No! Not practical. Because, the world has not developed in a…
in an equal way. What is California, what is India, what is
Bangladesh, what is African countries – these are different worlds by themselves. Only now these people are coming to their
fulfilling their aspirations. You go and talk to them about these things
(Laughs), they will look through you and they will do what they have to do because they
are just now fulfilling their small aspirations. You are not going to control their aspirations. It's not going to be controlled like that
but population can be brought down. And for this you need the cooperation of the
existing populations, the religious leaders particularly because you know, we… I think we need to come up with something. Maybe the heaven is overpopulated. If you say this (Laughter)… Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): There won't
be room… Sadhguru: No s… (Laughs). No space out there. So slow down here (Laughter) is a (Laughs)… So… But we want something inspirational. Interviewer (Terry Tamminen): Just a little
nudge (Laughter)… Sadhguru: Yes. The thing is just this, humanity has the intelligence
and for the first time the competence to fix things on this planet like never before. We are the first generation who have the necessary
competence, intelligence, technology and communication capabilities, the first ever generation who
has this competence. We have to exercise this competence, and there
is no one mantra. One mantra if you want, we must raise human
consciousness. Consciousness means just this, physicality
means this is my body, that's your body. No way do things… these things can be same
till you bury them, all right? This is you, this is me. This is my body, that's your body, this is
my mind, that's your mind, this is how it's always going to be and it's wonderful. But there is no such thing as my life and
your life. This is just a living cosmos. You captured a little, that's all. If you want this to become a life of some
consequence, the important thing is how big or how much life do you capture within this
body, within this mind, simply depends on how open everything is left in you. This is what consciousness means. Consciousness means a limitless existence. Physicality means a limited existence. Mentality means a little bigger existence
but bigger than physicality but still limited. Because our mind and the structure of our
mind is determined by what memories we carry and whatever memories we carry of knowledge
and experience are still a miniscule compared to the nature of the cosmos. But consciousness means that if you touch
that dimension which we are referring to as consciousness, you have touched an intelligence
which is beyond memory. That means you have touched an intelligence
which is not bound by anything. Every human being has to come in contact with
this dimension of intelligence within us. Only then we will function in a way that our
well-being is not detrimental to something else, not just another human being, to everything
else. This is not a… an ecology class. This is the nature of existence. If your experience is limited to something,
everything else unknowingly you will damage. If your experience includes everything, then
everything that you do, every action that you do, every breath that you take will be
in contribution to everything else. So bringing this consciousness, not ecological
consciousness, just human consciousness because you are touching a dimension of intelligence
which is not bound by memory, not bound by limited experience of life. Whatever we think we know, all of us have
limited experiences of life, isn't it? Hmm? Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: Whatever, however you… even if
you have read the libraries of this planet, still our experience and knowledge is very
limited. The only way we can go beyond this is our
identities rise beyond race, religion, nationality, physicality, mentality. Beyond this if we touch something within ourselves,
only then our identities are beyond that. Once our identity is not limited to something
narrow, then the way we function is very, very different. This human being is a tremendous possibility. In my perception I think we are just geared,
we have everything in place to become the greatest generation of humanity ever on this
planet because no generation was ever empowered like we are. Are we going to just sit on the threshold
and watch or are we going to make it happen is in our hands. Let's make it happen (Applause). Speaker (Mr. Chapel): Remember we are the
only university in the hemisphere that offers Master of Arts in yoga studies and it's all
about consciousness (Cheers/Applause). Sadhguru: I would like to take this opportunity
to congratulate and express gratitude to the Doshi family and the university, as Mr. Chapel
said it's the only university offering yoga studies. We must understand yoga does not mean twisting
and turning. Yoga means consciously obliterating the boundaries
of one's individuality, it means union. That's what yoga means. When you obliterate the boundaries of your
individuality, that's where the solution for everything is and we are extremely privileged
to have Ed here among us (Applause). Speaker (Ed Begley): Thank you (Applause).
