Sadhguru: Namaskaram to everyone. Participants: Namaskaram Sadhguru (Applause)! Sadhguru: Well, I… when it was my time,
I did not spend enough time in the university (Laughter). So here I am making it up (Laughs) with all
of you and all of you are heavily privileged that you're in such a premier institution
in the country. What a fabulous campus you have (Applause). And why this Youth and Truth, how it came
about – well, in the last thirty-six years, it's been a constant refrain, thousands of
people coming to me and always saying – many, many people – "Sadhguru, when I was twenty
where were you (Laughter)? Now you have come when I'm sixty, what am
I supposed to do?" So, they're accusing me that I did not arrive
early enough in their lives. So I thought we will step out and meet the
young people in this country. So, this is why Youth and Truth. And essentially, what life means is… Well, everybody have may… they… have their
own opinions about what life is, but essentially our life is just a certain amount of time
and energy. Time is running out for all of us at the same
pace. As we sit here it's ticking away. What's ticking away is not the watch, what's
ticking away is our life. Life is just getting over as we sit here. So, this is something we cannot control, we
cannot stop, we cannot slow down, we cannot reverse – it's just going away. The only thing we can manage is our energies. That segment of life which we refer to as
youth is a time of life when your energies are most exuberant. Most youth do not understand this, they think
they are going to be like this forever. Believe me, it's not so. I want you to pay attention to older people
– how they walk, how they move, how they sit, how they stand; you will understand what
I am saying. This level of energy, this level of exuberance
is not going to be with you forever. It's only in this segment of life which we
refer to as youth, this is possible. So, when your energies are at their best,
if you bring some sense of clarity and balance into your life, this will lead to better use
of this energy. Otherwise, this exuberance may work against
you in your life. One thing I'm seeing is… See, if we want to produce a great society,
a great nation, or a great world – we cannot build a great nation, a great society, we
can only build great human beings (Applause). How do great human beings happen? Well, in some way, the individual genius has
to unfold itself. Every individual human being, irrespective
of who they are, everybody has a certain genius. But my percentage, if it's wrong, please tell
me – in JNU if the percentage is more or less please tell me – but my estimate in
the world is, the number of people who manage to unfold their genius on this planet are
less than one percent. Ninety-nine percent go without ever touching
that dimension – just being concerned about livelihood, about this struggle, about that
struggle; their own thoughts and emotions endlessly occupies them. Only less than one percent of the people unfold
their genius. If only if we can raise this to ten percent
on this planet, this will become a fantastic world. Never before, never before in the history
of humanity did any generation have the kind of comforts and convenience and technological
empowerment that we have today. Do you agree with me? Those of you who're looking at me through
the phone, I'm asking you (Laughter). Hello (Laughter/Applause)? That's your third eye right now, the Samsung
eye (Laughter). So, we are the most empowered gene… generation
ever but this empowerment, how is it going to be… how is it going to unfold our lives? If we do the right things, if we know how
to harness our own energies, our intelligence and our genius properly, with the kind of
empowerment we have right now, we have the possibility to become the best generation
ever on this planet. No other generation was this well-equipped
as we are. We are the first generation with this kind
of empowerment (Applause). So, it is in this effort that we are doing
this Youth and Truth, this movement will continue. This is not just about visiting universities
and colleges and speaking to them. We want to compile… We want to compile a whole lot of questions
and answers so that this generation and the next generation whatever kind of questions
they ask, there must be some kind of sensible answer for them. So, today I am telling the three of you to
unplug and ask whatever, okay? Moderator (Anima Soankar): Namaskaram, Sadhguru. Fr… On behalf of the entire JNU community, I welcome
you to JNU, our very precious campus. Sadhguru: Thank you very much (Applause). Moderator (Anima Soankar): It is a sheer privilege
and pleasure to have you here for the evening. Sadhguru: It's working. Only when you speak (Referring to the microphone)
(Laughter)… Moderator (Anima Soankar): We have been very
excited about the event and the huge turnout of the audience manifests both the excitement
and our gratitude. Specially, the three moderators on the stage
are overwhelmed to be here on the stage with you. We'd like to introduce ourselves to you and
to the audience. I am Anima Soankar, pursuing PhD in Russian
and Central Asian Studies, School of International Studies. I am not just joyous; it was a dream come
true to meet you and it is very important for me to be an integral part of the event
(Applause). Moderator (Sundaresh): Namaste, Sadhguru. My name is Sundaresh, I am pursuing PhD, in
Zakir Husain Cen… Center for… Zakir Husain Center for educational studies. I'm so happy. I have no words to express how ha… happy
I am (Sadhguru laughs). Moderator (Anjali Yogi): Hello, Sadhguru,
my name is Anjali Yogi. I'm pursuing PhD… Sadhguru: Oh, you're a yogi too (Laughter/Applause)? Moderator (Anjali Yogi): Yeah (Laughs). The another Yogi (Laughs). But I am pursuing my PhD in Center for South
Asian Studies at School of International Studies. And the journey from watching your YouTube
videos to having an interaction with you has been very overwhelming, so, yeah. Moderator (Anima Soankar): Sadhguru, if I
can structure how the event will unfold tonight – we have prepared around ten to twelve
questions that we will be discussing in the panel. Then we will take up some of the questions
that have come on social media because we understand everybody cannot be on the campus,
so we have chosen questions which resonates among the youth. After that we open this house for the wonderful
audience that we have for the evening (Cheers/Applause). Thank you. Sadhguru, so the first question is – when
we introduce this Youth and Truth campaign to our students and scholars in JNU, the initial
resistance was, the very premises of Youth and Truth campaign. What truth per se is and who qualifies you
to answer all kinds of questions (Sadhguru laughs)? Sadhguru: Well (Laughter), I'm glad that you
are asking what is truth. Well, whatever truly works on all dimensions
of life must be the truth, isn't it? From ancient times in this country they said,
"Satyameva Jayate." That means, "Only truth works." When Mahatma Gandhi came, he used it as a
political slogan for those times, but now you have come to a place where you will question
whether truth will work or not. So, I'm putting it the other way round for
you – what really works on all dimensions of life must be the truth, hello? Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: Something really works in every
aspect of life – that must be the truth, isn't it? So what qualifies me? Well, you must find out now (Laughter/Applause). Because I cannot say, "I'm qualified to answer
all the questions." You must find out. Moderator (Sunderesh): Sadhguru, next question
is – you know, JNU is a very politically vibrant campus and it is impossible or impractical
to be apolitical in this campus. One way or other way we are labeled to a particular
ideology, right-left-center. I give you an example, when I came to this
campus I did not get hostel immediately. So, a student activist came to me, he told
me to come his room, I went to his room and when I saw there, there were seven students
were already staying in a tiny room. So, I refused to stay there and I stayed outside
the campus, but a large section of MA and BA students who stay there, and since they
are staying there, it is an obligation to participate in political activities and all. So, if they participate any political activities
they are labeled as particularly… particular idea… they belong to particular ideology,
one. Second example – whenever we give a particular
opinion, maybe on campus issues or national issues or international issues, we are labeled
to a particular ideology. My question to you Sadhguru – how can a
student remain a neutral or free-thinking (Sadhguru laughs)? Sadhguru: Well, this has become a phenomena
not just in your university, this has become a phenomena across the country. If you open your mouth to say something about
the nation, they will try to fix you to some ideology – even me (Laughs) not just you
(Laughs). All the time people are fixing me, sometimes
to the left, sometimes to the right, sometimes they want to hang me in the center (Laughter). I've always made it clear – my concern is
people, not even nationality. My concern is just people because I work with
all kinds of people. In India, outside India, with politicians,
with convicts, with tribal women, with all kinds of people, okay? With students, with everybody. My concern is the human being – life. But inevitably somebody is trying to pin you
on some notice board, right board or left board or something. This is an unfortunate situation because this
is the mechanics of how you destroy a democracy. That is, right now, let us say, you are committed
to right, I am committed to left because I'm looking more left, okay (Few laugh) (Applause)? So, now we are already committed. Now what is the point of secret ballot, I'm
asking? We know these three people will vote for right…
left, right, this will vote for left – everybody knows! What is the point of secret ballot? What is the point of offering a… a citizen
the choice of choosing the leadership? In Tamil language, democracy means jananayakam. That means people are the leaders; that's
what it means. People are the leaders, but leaders are all
fixed. How do you make leaders out of them? How do you make a democracy work? If you want a living democracy, the most important
thing is, except for a few party workers, others… the rest of the population should
not be committed to any party, any ideology. We give somebody a five-year chance. If they do well, we give them one more chance. If they don't do well, we bring somebody else. This is how it should be, but unfortunately
this has become a worldwide phenomena. In United States it was worse. I thought India... I was proudly speaking in United States, "We
have a living democracy," but now in the last five years I've just kept quiet about Indian
living democracy (Laughs/Few applaud) because we have also become the same thing. To... It's like this – a… a veteran Republican
leader was dying, he was on his deathbed. Then, on his deathbed, he requested, "I want
to join the Democratic Party." People said, "Not you! You've been a Republican all your life, so
was your father and your grandfather. All were Republicans and now on your deathbed
you want to become a Democrat?" He said, "Yes, I want to become a Democrat." They said, "Why?" He said, "I would rather have one of them
dying" (Laughter/Applause). So, it's become this bad. Please all of you, young people, I'm telling
you – this is for every citizen in the country but particularly in the university – please
debate issues in the nation, don't take sides. Every damn issue in the country you must debate,
but do not take sides at this stage in your life because you are destroying democracy
in this country. Because if... This is just like a clan. This is like a community or a religion (Applause). "I belong to this party, you belong to that
party, no matter what, I'm going to vote only to my party" – this is a feudalistic society,
this is not a democratic society. So, I request all the young people, either
in this university, any university – you should not take political sides right now. You must debate issues and what matters, who
is going to offer solutions, they must get the vote. Whoever offers a proper solution (Applause),
they must get the vote. Your vote is already committed – you're
destroying democracy. Please don't do this. The most valuable thing we have, for all the
troubles we go through and all the news channels shouting at us, we endure all that only (Laughs)
because we have democracy. Please do not destroy this by taking sides
(Applause). Moderator (Anjali Yogi): Sadhguru, now, I
am afraid to even ask my question because my question is – I am a student activist,
I get multiple opportunities to represent my organization on various platforms, especially
media. And in doing so, I garner immense recognition
but when I interact with the same students and youths among which I have that recognition,
they expect me to practice humility overtly. So why, for a woman in politics specially,
why am I made apologetic about my success for the good work that I'm doing? Sadhguru: See, what you are referring to success…
as success is just recognition. That means, a few people are applauding. The people who applaud (Few laugh) today,
tomorrow ev… morning they will turn around and throw stones at you – the same people. This is the way of the world, okay? So do not float away in the sky because somebody
is applauding. It's like this – you went outside, somebody
told you, you are the most wonderful human being on the planet. So, you came home floating on cloud number
(Laughter)… What? Cloud number…? Participants: Nine. Sadhguru: Only nine? In South India we do eleven, hmm (Laughter). You came home floating on whatever number
of cloud. At home, people told you who you really are
(Laughter), and it crashes. Don't get into this mode. Never do you float up nor do you go down because
somebody says something. That will happen only because you don't know
what the hell you're doing. If you are clear what you're doing, people
can say what they say. They're great things but you know the limitations. They say horrible things but you know what
you're doing. That's all that's important in life. If you are going to get bloated because somebody
said something nice or going to get depressed because somebody said something horrible – oh,
you got something coming up in your life (Laughs). You can't take up any great responsibility
because if you are going to be affected by what somebody is saying – either positive
or negative things about you – you will always limit your life because if you step
out obviously so many people will say so many things. There is nothing that people don't accuse
me of – just about everything in the universe, what a man can do and cannot do (Laughs),
everything. But as long as you know what you're doing,
it doesn't matter. Moderator (Anjali Yogi): Sadhguru, we would
like to little further this question here. Though it is a dangerous question to be asked
in this… Sadhguru: Question is never dangerous, it's
only the answer (Laughter). Moderator (Anjali Yogi): The campus is little
dangerous maybe (Both laugh). Sadhguru: No, it's only the answer. You're trying to put me in danger, that's
fine with me. Moderator (Anima Soankar): The VC said the
campus is wonderful. Moderator (Anjali Yogi): (Laughs) So, as a
student when… Sadhguru: Can you give her little volume,
please, hmm? Moderator (Anjali Yogi): So, when I entered
in the university as a student, I used to think, "Why to enter in politics?" Just my... make my career and leave the university. So I had this careerist orientation in life. What you think about… Is… Is studentship and politics – is it a good
mix? Do you think… Overall, is it a good mix? Sadhguru: See, let's understand the word politics. Unfortunately, today in this country if I
say, "They're doing politics," that means they're doing something nasty (Few laugh)
– unfortunate. Politics means… that means you're into policy-making. That's what politics is supposed to be. A politician means somebody who is engaged
in policy-making. Policy-making, is it vital for the making
of a nation or no? Is it vital or no? Moderator: Yes, Sadhguru. Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: So, first of all, take away the
negative connotation of the word politics. So if you are doing politics as a nasty way
of doing things with people, definitely you must stop it. But if you're looking how to understand, how
to set a policy, maybe you will not become a politician in future, we don't know but
every young person should know how a policy should be made, how solution should be found
for a society or a nation. Everybody should think about it. Otherwise, we have become an irresponsible
citizenry where we don't even go and vote because we don't know what the hell it is. We think politics means corruption; we think
politics means doing something nasty to each other – no. Politics means learning to set policies, setting
policies means arriving at something that works for everybody or at least the maximum
number of people, if not for everybody. In a nation or in the world, setting a policy
means arriving at a… a certain framework so that it works for all of us. Isn't this important? Whether you're going to run a two-member family
or four-member family or run a small business or an institution or a nation, is this not
important you understand how to set a framework which works for all people concerned? Is it not important, whatever you may do future? Moderator (Anjali Yogi): We want little clarification
on this. So Sadhguru, in your… one of the earlier
videos you have mentioned of having those leftist orientations. You have been involved in putting posters
and you have been in that league of attending... attending meetings late in the night and putting
posters and all that, but when we were interacting with the students in the campus we found out
that there is this dominant perception about Sadhguru being right wing (Sadhguru laughs). Though you have tried to explain it earlier
as well but this... but this… Sadhguru: No Right. Only right arm, hmm (Laughter)? Moderator (Anjali Yogi): But Sadhguru, this
perception is because you have supported government earlier on the issue of demonetization… Sadhguru: Mhmm (Indicating agreement). Moderator (Anjali Yogi): Then later on having
no bomb blast occurred in the country. So is Sadhguru… Sadhguru: Let's clear this. Moderator (Anjali Yogi): …ha ... Has Sadhguru
turned right wing now (Sadhguru laughs)? Is it (Few laugh) ...? Sadhguru: See, right now we are working with
the Tamil Nadu government, which you know is AIADMK. Nobody knows which wing it is (Laughter/Applause). We are doing a lot of work with Andhra Pradesh
government. Still, I think even that you can't decide
which wing it is (Laughter). And that wing was part of the big wing in
the center but now it is not – it is flapping against it. Now we are working in Kerala, which is left
wing and we are working with the central government. If you want to call it right wing, you can
call it right wing. I'm saying, what is this problem with the
government? Government means – in a democratic country
– it's people's choice, isn't it? Now I don't respect people's choice, I respect
only my choice. I think you're a nutcase (Laughter/Applause). You're… You're fanatical. You're fanatical about your own beliefs. I don't belong to any wing, but when people
elect, whether I agree with it or I don't agree with it, personally, how... whether
I agree or I do not agree with it, I will bow down to people's will because that's what
democracy means (Applause). Now, the significance... the significance
of democracy is just this – why can't we have... Well, you mentioned about my… See, the... I was only fourteen, okay? Please pardon me. Moderator (Anjali Yogi): Young… Young blood that time (Laughs). Sadhguru: Even now. Moderator (Anima Soankar): …but then you
are putting… Sadhguru: Even now young (Cheers/Applause)
(Laughs). Moderator (Anima Soankar): Sadhguru, you are
putting it as it was your mistake, you were just fourteen… Sadhguru: No, I did not say it's my mistake. It is just that I'm telling you – this is
70’s. 1967 Che (Referring to Che Guevara) passed away. You don't understand – at that time, Che
was like… he was like our elder brother, he died, and how he was killed, those stories
spread everywhere. And there is a lot of emotion in all of us. Even today I see people wearing Che's t-shirt
and going. Most probably, a whole lot of them don't know
who he is. They think he's Bob Marley or something (Laughter). So (Laughs) at that time it's like our elder
brother was killed in Bolivia and at that time the nation was in a state, where it looked
like there's not going to be any solution in this country, at that time. So we thought, we and a whole lot of other
people believed, unless there's an armed revolution, there is no way out for this country. And even in school there were teachers who
were giving us talks. And everywhere there was lu… Russian literature and we read and read…
you know, we devoured Russian literature and it all made sense. And I'm always angry (Laughs). You can't believe this, but I'm always angry
because everywhere I see injustice – in home, on the street, everywhere, everywhere
in politics and religion, any damn place I see only injustice and injustice and injustice
– so I am all the time twenty-four hours angry about something. When you're angry, you want a quick solution. You're not willing to wait for solutions to
happen, you want a quick solution. So the quick solution looked like armed struggle. These were the heady days of Charu Majumdar
and Somulu in the South. Well, we were fired up by that. I'm not regretting those days. But we have come to a time now where we are
threshold... on a threshold of possibility through democratic means. Never before this has happened in the world,
I want you to know this. The only nation which has moved a billion
people from poverty to a certain level of economic well-being is the Chi... is China,
okay? But they did it the hard way, violent way,
all bullets and bullets and bullets. But they've done a great job because keeping
people for generations in poverty is worse than killing them, in extreme poverty where
nourishment is the issue. So they did what they did in their own way. You can condemn them or you can admire them. For me, it's a certain wisdom, painful wisdom,
which they employed and they did. And once they achieved what they have to achieve,
now they're trying to move slowly towards a democratic process to some extent, at least
open market system they're going into. But with India we have a unique possibility;
we can move five hundred to six hun… six hundred million people from abject poverty
in which they are right now to a reasonable level of well-being in a matter of next ten
to fifteen years' time. We are just on the threshold of that, through
a democratic process – without bullets, without killing, without massive repression,
nothing! No force. Without force we are able to do it, if we
manage to do it. If all of us get together, it will happen. Otherwise, we'll sit on the threshold forever. Right now there is a possibility we can cross
the threshold. I think we must make that possibility a reality
because never before any nation anywhere has moved six hundred million people from poverty
to reasonable well-being in a matter of one generation. It's not happened anywhere. We can do this in this country for the first
time (Applause). So… "Well, when you were young you were communist,
now you're saying this." I've not changed my position. I'm still that because for me communism means
an individual embracing the community as myself. That I still am. I may not be in the party because the party
didn't make sense to me, but communism has not gone out of me. We are a community where we live together
– a few thousand people – without any distinction of caste, creed, religion anything. Nobody I have ever asked who come to Isha
Yoga Center, "What is your religion? What is your caste?" I don't even ask because it never occurs to
my mind. So how I became right wing in JNU, I do not
know (Few laugh). So, I feel today, when information is available
everywhere, I think young people, educated people, should… All of you research scholars should do some
research at least, all right (Laughter/Applause)? Just making wild conclusions about somebody
whom you have not even met, this I have seen everywhere, especially in this country. This doesn't happen anywhere else in the world,
this is what I'm seeing. In this country, people who have never met
you seem to know more about me than I know about myself (Laughter/Applause). Those who have never seen me, those who have
never met me, those who have never spoken to me, they know more about me than I know
about my own life. I think you must give them a PhD because they're
such a (an?)… imaginative ph... research they are doing (Applause). So, I am working with governments. I will always work, let everybody know this. Whichever government gets elected because
I bow down to the people's will. My opinion is not bigger (Applause)… My opinion is not bigger than the people's
will of this nation, always. Moderator (Anima Soankar): Sadhguru, even
if we buy this argument, there's a predominant conception that there is some leaning towards
the right because like… This is… Did you… Did you feel this is high time, this is high
time to galvanize votes for 2019, that the Youth and Truth campaign? Sadhguru: See… Okay. See, if I give a call – I don't have to
go university to university – if I give a call, any party will get substantial vote,
okay (Applause)? But I will tell you this… But I will tell you this, my daughter comes
and asks me, "Which party should I vote?" I won't tell her. I tell her, "You need to think." She is an artist, so I tell her, "You need
to think. What's good for you and people around you? Maybe not good for me, it doesn't matter. What's good for you and people around you,
for your community of artists, whatever, you must vote for that party, not what I say." In the… You know, in the Yoga Center and everywhere
I go, people ask, "Sadhguru, whom should I vote for?" I said, "I will not take the step of destroying
democracy because if I give a call and let's say ten million people vote, have you not
destroyed democracy? You have turned a democracy into a feudalistic
process that one leader gives a call, so everybody blindly will vote for something. This is what you're trying to change. People are voting on the basis of religion,
caste, creed and all kinds of rubbish. This is what needs to change. Only when individual people think for themselves
and vote, every time fresh, not committed to even a party, only then democracy will
stay alive. This is the most precious thing we have because
what is precious about a democracy is, power can shift without bloodletting. Never in the history of humanity such things
have happened. Even if power has to change in a family, somebody
will be… somebody will bleed. Yes or no? This is how it's been. But for the first time in the last hundred
years or hundred-and-fifty years, we are able to change leadership without bloodletting. Do not underestimate that, do not ever underestimate
that (Applause). Moderator (Sunderesh): Sadhguru, let us move
from politics to research. Sadhguru: Oh. Moderator (Sunderesh): So, JNU is known…
well known for research and there are 8000 students on this campus. More than fifty percent of students are in
research. Sadhguru: No, 5200 are in research. I've done some research (Cheers/Applause). Moderator (Sunderesh): So (Laughter)… Okay (Laughter). Sadhguru, a question is keep bothering me
since many years that since you asked me to... you said us to ask any question, you know,
the question is what is research especially in social science? Sadhguru: Finding out things that your grandmother
already knew (Laughter/Applause). No, no, I'm not trying to belittle all research. It is just that, a whole lot of things we
may know but still it is not articulated, it is not put in a way that it is implementable. Maybe your grandmother knew everything that
you're researching, but she could not articulate and put it in a framework so that it can be
applied somewhere. She knows it by her experience but still it's
not an application. So the idea of research is to find out things,
maybe the same things people have ev… known forever, especially in Social Sciences. Not in Physical Sciences and other things
– the research may be different. But in Social Sciences, a whole lot of wise
people always knew whatever you're researching, all right? But still it has not been put into a framework
which is applicable, which can be used in a government or in an institution or somewhere
else, wherever structures are there. So giving a structure to the knowledge that
you already may know, and Social Sciences will keep changing because society keeps evolving
and changing. So what your grandmother knew maybe was true
for her generation but everything might have changed, many fundamentals might have changed
because society keeps changing, people keep changing, their attitudes keep changing, everything
keeps changing, our practices. Daily – how we behave, how we drive, how
we walk on the street – everything is changing, isn't it? These days we're walking like this only (Gestures)
(Few laugh). Hello (Laughs)? Nobody is looking at the road. They're looking at the Google Map and walking. So, things have changed. So accordingly, research also becomes valuable
because many things have changed and a whole lot of people may not realize it's changed
unless it's well articulated that, "This change has happened. This is the adaption… adaptation it needs." A whole lot of people may not understand unless
it's articulated, so it's valuable. Moderator (Sunderesh): Sadhguru, I have one
more question on research. In research, we are taught to emphasize on
five senses and logic. When it comes to spirituality, in many vi…
many videos you said five senses and logic would not help you to access that reality. To… How to reconcile between these two – research
and spirituality? Sadhguru: See, to perceive what's around you,
to operate in this world, fundamentally, you need to see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. This is the way you know the physical world. So the instruments that you use for physical
world may not be useful for seeing or perceiving another dimension of life. But that does not mean your eyes are useless,
that does not mean your ears and sense of smell and taste and touch is useless. It is restricted to one realm of life. If you try to apply it to another, it will
go waste. It is like you're driving a car, you saw the
moon – you know, yesterday was full moon, tch – you saw the big moon and you felt
like going there. Sometimes the car advertisements get little
esoteric (Laughter) and they told you, "You really gas it up, you'll go to the moon." Well, if you try very hard, you may go beyond
the moon, but you will not go to the moon because to go to the moon you need a different
kind of vehicle. In your car, you're not going to the moon. So similarly, with your five senses, you're
not going to cross the realm of the physical. Five senses are designed only to perceive
the physical nature. Your Social Sciences are physical nature around
you, you better sharpen your five senses. It's very important that everybody does not
see – they may have the same twenty-twenty vision – but everybody does not see what
one person sees, isn't it, in the same given situation? Is it so or no? Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: Everybody does not hear everything
that another person hears. Hearing may be normal but keenness of attention
will make a huge difference. What you see, what you hear, how you see,
how keenly you perceive things, is not just because of your eyes, ears and nose and whatever
– it needs a keenness of perception. For that you need a heightened level of attention. That is what you must practice in research,
not try to transcend five senses because then you won't see the society, you will see something
else. Moderator (Anjali Yogi): Sadhguru, another
very important concept which is very important in this campus is of feminism. And in one of your earlier videos you have
said that feminists are just desperately trying to be men, so… Sadhguru: No, no, no, you're going by other
people's comments not my… You're going by some Delhi lawyers making
some stupid comments, okay? Moderator (Anjali Yogi): ...but still, Sadhguru,
what would you... what is your idea of it? How would you see it? Sadhguru: What… See, first of all, a man and a woman are not
two different species. We need to understand, that till – let's
say fifty years ago or hundred years ago – till technologies came, there were certain things
in life that only a man could do because it... everything... work on this planet were (was?)
essentially done by man's muscle, yes? Everything by human muscle, mainly man's muscle. Women took to those kind of activities where
muscle is not the main investment, there are other aspects to life, they took to that naturally. So that's how the world was running. Today women are out doing many things not
because of liberalism, not because of feminism, simply because of technology. Technology has devalued… Oh, it's a bad word to use, hmm (Laughter)? Technology has devalued brawn, only brain
power matters now. Still it matters in India. Even if you ge… want to get onto a bus in
India, you need some muscle (Laughs). Okay? But if technology, as it gets very… all
pervading, in every aspect of our life, you will come to a place where you don't have
to think who is a man, who is a woman. Why should you think? Right now I'm talking to you, what does it
matter to me whether you're a man or a woman, I am asking? Only in certain relationships, in certain
spaces, being a male or a female is relevant, isn't it? For you to do your research, what does it
matter whether you're a man or a woman? If you have a few brain cells working, you
can do it, right? So, this thing about excessively trying to
separate male and female as if they're two separate species, is a wrong way to approach. This is happening in reaction to exploitative
situations which have existed in the past. But even these exploitative situations are
to s… it is true to some extent. To a large extent it is true, let me say this,
but it is not absolutely true. It is not true all women in this country or
all women in the world were exploited – it's not true. Many women lived wonderfully well. Yes? Maybe they never came out of the home… of
their homes and did some work outside but they lived wonderfully well – doing, fulfilling
their part of their work beautifully and doing it. So, this idea that man and woman always have
to fight to achieve something is a wrong idea. So, instead of talking about feminism, I am
saying, what is feminine has to find equal value in the society means, one thing that
needs to happen is... See, if you create survival of the fittest
kind of atmosphere, masculine will rule. When I say masculine, I'm not saying man. A woman may become more masculine in given
situations and she may succeed. But, the loss of feminine is a loss for the
species. Hello? If we lose everything that's feminine, everything
that's gentle, everything that's beautiful is lost simply because we have created a crude
society where unless you are like this (Gestures), you can't win (One participant laughs). You're destroying the species. The beauty of feminine is gone, then men will
wonder why the hell are they alive after some time (Laugher) (Few applaud). Yes, it will come. So, for any wonderful society to happen, it's
very important we create an eco-system where both masculine and feminine can function. But from the caveman's time, where human muscle
ruled everything and women were kept in a certain way because muscle was the most important
thing, once again we are creating the same system in the modern world – survival of
the fittest, dog-eat-dog, rat race, whatever you want to call it. If you do this, you will kill the feminine,
maybe not the women – women may succeed. They may build themselves like men and they
succeed. But isn't it a great loss for the species? That somewhere you understand feminine is
weakness – this must go. Feminine is not weakness, it's another form
of strength. It's another form of life expression. As masculine is one form of expression, feminine
is another form of expression. In yoga, the masculine is called right – pingala
and feminine is left. So, I'm sorry, I'm on the right s… on this
(Laughter/Applause). But we're on equal terms – two and two,
hmm? It's okay (Laughs). Moderator (Anjali Yogi): Surely, surely Sadhguru
(Both laugh). Moderator (Anima Soankar): Sadhguru, we as
students stay away from our homes, from the familial, emotional comforts. In terms of our careers, we move out seeking
greener pastures. In that, we seek company in opposite sex. Some people get into relationships which gradually
progresses to physical intimacy. Sadhguru, the question is then why as generations
we cannot discuss it openly or is premarital sex still a taboo? Sadhguru: See, this is not some kind of a
prescription. This is an individual need. Right now, we must understand this. In this society, we handled human sexuality
like this. Before a girl attains puberty, they're named,
"This is the boy you're going to marry" at the age of six or seven. They don't marry but they say... they keep
telling him (her?), "Your uncle's son, this guy, you're going to marry him, you're going
to marry him." They're telling him, "You're going to marry
her." So, they have not seen each other, they have
not met each other, they have nothing going, but emotionally they're being bound. Before they touch each other physically, they
want them to be emotionally bound in a strong way. So this is the technique of the culture, how
they dealt with it. So when you become or attain to your puberty,
when your body blossoms into certain possibilities, now your emotions are already with somebody. So, you handle your body, you don't go wild
because your emotions are already attached to somebody. So by the time they're fifteen, sixteen, the
girl gets married. By the time they're seventeen, eighteen, the
boy gets married. They get into agriculture or business or whatever,
whatever, their activity. So one important aspect of the life of the
youth is settled – one thing is emotion, another thing is a physical requirement. Both are settled at an early age and of course
those days, children came within a year or two years, so they got engaged and they got
busy and they… life went on, all right? Today our lives have changed because by the
time you finish education, most people are minimum twenty-four, twenty-five years of
age. PhD means thirty – what – thirty-five
(Laughter)? I don't know what (Laughs). It depends how kind your professor is (Laughter/Applause). So, let us say average education time is twenty-five
years of age. By the time they get employment and settle
down somewhere to reasonable financial security, thirty years of time, all right? The peak of human hormonal function is between
fifteen to thirty. You're not teaching people some ascetic way
to live. You're not giving them some sadhana that they're
transforming their energy into some other possibility and attaining to something else
– there is no such thing – and there is close proximity with the opposite sex. If you don't want to address it, then you
will create an unhealthy society, very unhealthy society which unfortunately is finding expression
in violent ways in our society because we've not addressed the fundamental needs of a human
being. First thing is nourishment. If nourishment is taken care of… You must understand, nourishment is survival. Once survival is saken… taken care of, naturally
the species – this is not even individual – the species that you are is longing to
reproduce. This is how it's built. It's longing to reproduce because this is
survival of the species. If people don't reproduce, there is not going
to be human race, isn't it? So, your body and your mind plays many tricks
and how, when you look at somebody, you suddenly think they are the most beautiful, suddenly
you think they are the most fantastic. We will discover later (Laughter) many things,
but initially, everything is clouded. See, I'm telling you… Let's say you're ten, twelve years of age,
you looked at people, they're quite normal. Suddenly you became fourteen, every little
bump on somebody's body is a world by itself (Few laugh), simply because your hormones
begin to influence everything. In a way your hormone… your intelligence
is hijac... your intelligence is hijacked by your hormones. Now, this is not to be judged as bad or good. This is a natural process. There may be a few people who will go beyond
that. It's fantastic for them if they can go beyond
that. They're not compulsive about it, they went
beyond it, fantastic for that person. But you expect the whole society to go beyond
that – you're just stupid. Such a thing doesn't happen. So, definitely the debate of when and how
sexuality should happen has to come in. But now we are still having a certain cultural
aspects to us that we are a (an?) emotional lot. We are still an emotional lot, people suffer
immensely when things happen without the needed emotions, a whole lot of people at least. There may be a few people who are above that,
but a whole lot of people suffer. So for our country, for our society, how to
deal with this without causing a major disruption in the social structure is something that
we must debate. You must do re… research on it – how to
do it. Moderator (Anjali Yogi): Sadhguru, though
I get a little hint of the answer of my question from your elaboration, but still I will ask
it. So, I had this belief or in fact, maybe I
was made to believe this whole concept of one life, one partner. But now when I see or observe, the whole monogamous
relations do not seem to be existing anymore. The whole idea of it is gone (Sadhguru laughs). What you think about it? Sadhguru: It's not gone. Maybe in JNU it's gone (Laughter/Applause). In the… In the rest of the world, it's not really
gone. Even if you... Even if you go to United States where there
seems to be so much proc… pro… promiscuity, even there, when people marry, they believe
it's for life. Tch, but of course two years later, life gets
over (Laughter/Applause). That's another matter but when they get married
they believe it's for life. That's why they invest in the diamonds (Few
laugh). They think it's a lifetime investment. They're putting on that, but unfortunately
for all kinds of things, relationships go wrong. And one reason they go wrong so easily is
because people are meeting much later in their life. See, when people met much younger, when their
personalities were not concretized, they met early – seventeen, eighteen – then two
people became like one person, very easily. Now they're meeting at thirty, now both are
concretized. Two concrete blocks (Gestures/Laughs). But I'm seeing, young people if they marry,
they hang on. If people marry over fifty years of age, they
hang on because they have again softened up, concrete has again (Gestures/Laughter)… Between twenty fi... between thirty and fifty,
it's a bit of a concrete block, you know? Strong persona. Now, friction happens. Well, if they are wise, they will find something
beyond. Well, monogamy and polygamy or whatever kind
of gamy, if you want to see (Few laugh), the important thing we need to understand is,
you know, we are all here, you and me are here – this means a man and woman came together
some time ago. Maybe, you think their thing… "Ah, they're parents, you know? They don't love, they don't do sex, they don't
do anything, they're… Just because a priest uttered a mantra, you
were born, probably" (Laughter/Applause). No, it's not like that. Somebody had a physical need, so they handled
it through marriage and we are here. And now we can... At... At a certain age… At a stage in your life, aft… When you become eighteen, you become always
against marriage. But when you were three years of age, you
were for marriage, your parents' marriage. When you were three years of age, were you
not glad your parents had a stable marriage? Hello? Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: When you're eighteen, you think
of free sex and no marriage and everything. But once again if you become fifty, fifty-five,
then you will look for a relationship that lasts. So it is for you to consider – because it's
your life – to consider whether you want to live a life where emotionally you're always
looking out for somebody or you settle it in a certain way so that you can use your
intelligence and time to create something else. Your research, your work or whatever you're
doing, if emotions and body are settled, actually, your ability to use your intelligence will
be much better. Otherwise every day you have to walk around
to find somebody (Laughter). No, I'm not making this any this thing because
I feel so bad... In United States, people I know… I… You know, there're thousands of people are
involved with me now. People over forty, forty-five years of age,
women, I'm saying – wonderful people, but they are all on this... these days they've
all gone online, otherwise, they go sit in a bar and wait. Somebody needs to pick them up today. It's terrible. Moderator (Anjali Yogi): Tinder Generation. Sadhguru: I'm sorry? Moderator (Anjali Yogi): Tinder Generation. Sadhguru: Whatever you want to call it (Few
laugh). But I think it's so pathetic when a woman
at forty-five should have been loved and respected in a proper atmosphere, now she's sitting
there looking for some strange guy to come her way and she's going to make the judgment
in the next ten minutes when he buys her a drink or a dinner or something. This is tragic. This is tragic, that you will end up without
any sense of dignity. This doesn't mean everybody will go that way,
but you must think of the larger well-being. Before you break a social structure, you must
think whether we can replace it with a better structure. At any point in our life – let everybody
understand this – whether it's a social structure or a political structure or a psychological
setup in the society, whatever, before we break it, we must think through whether we
have a better alternative system. Without an alternative system, if you break
the existing damn thing that's working reasonably well, then it'll go crazy. Moderator (Anima Soankar): Sadhguru, thank
you so much for the elaboration. It was extremely valuable and precious for
us. The different reflections that you had on
the various aspects of life that came up in our questions and also in your answers. Before we open this house for the wonderful
audience tonight, we'd like to take up some social media questions. And the first question is by Aniket Diwadkar. He says "Hi Guruji. In recent days, I came across several contents
about Illuminati secret society who are ruling our whole world using media, finance network,
and pharma politics. Even many leaders, gurujis and priests are
under their control. Your answer on this." Sadhguru: No… Not me, hmm (Laughter)? Not me, not me (Laugh). Moderator (Anima Soankar): But you have to
still answer the question. Sadhguru: I will, I will, but I'm saying I'm
not under that control (Laughs). Moderator (Anima Soankar): I agree. Sadhguru: See, I think you're reading Dan
Brown (Laughter). Moderator (Anima Soankar): You mean Aniket? Sadhguru: Hmm? Moderator (Anima Soankar): Aniket Diwadkar. Sadhguru: Yes, yes. Aniket, wherever you are. See… See, it is… it is part of European culture
to always... Well, we are also imbibing it these days quite
a bit. But, in Europe, secret schools were romantic
stuff. Even people who are now famous like… like
a Socrates, or a Aristotle and these people – they were also part of the secret schools. Why would I make my school secret? Because society is in a mode of persecution
of anything that doesn't... it does not agree with. Persecution. Only if there is persecution, a school becomes
a secret school. Isn't it so? So, secret school traditions are so much in
Europe because the dogmatic religious beliefs were really suppressing anything. Anything that they think is gathering ten
people, they want to demolish it, they will kill them. So, they ran secret schools. In this, whatever you are... you are res…
referring to as Illuminati and later on it transformed itself into Freemasons, some history... I'm not... I cannot confirm this. Some books have been written as to how Freemasonry
were started by the Indian masons who went to Egypt. Because they had to survive in a strange land,
they came up with all kinds of tricks – how to survive. Among themselves, they developed code and
contacted... ya… you know, co... communicated with each other in code language so that they
survived in that hostile culture. And from there it spread. That's what some books say but I am... there
is no historical certainty about that. But it's possible – we know that masons
went, stone masons from India went for building pyramids and the Baalbek Temple. There're creal… clear records about the
Baalbek Temple in Lebanon which is about 4200 or 300 (4300?) years old where they built
a sun… a… a Phoenician Temple which was built where Indian masons and Indian elephants
worked. Every Lebanese child knows about it in their
school, but none of the Indians ever study this or anything like this is mentioned anywhere
in any of the Indian history books unfortunately. Anyway… So, rae… later on it became fear… Freemasonry, and Freemasonry took on a powerful
form. When it went to United States, it took on
a very powerful form because the Christian dogmatic thing was so suppressive. Free-thinking people called themselves Freemasons
though they were not doing any masonry anymore. But you will see one thing, wherever Freemasons
are there, the building designs are fantastic. This… I've gone to a whole lot of Freemason temples
simply because I love the design part of what they have done – fantastic designs because
geometry is very much a part of their culture. It is because of this probably somebody is
writing books saying that they came from India because in India the yogic culture invested
itself absolutely in the geometric aspect of life. Yoga means, in one way, aligning your geometry
so that you've become aligned with the cosmic geometry, so that your experience of life
is enhanced in such a way that what is you and what is cosmos, in some way becomes a
reflection of yourself or you become a reflection of the cosmos – whichever way you want to
see it. So, because wherever we see an extreme sense
of geometry, then we think yogis must have been here because this level of geometry doesn't
come unless you are into an internal process in ancient times. Now of course people are studying geometry
at a different level outside, but otherwise, at that time, the only way you could understand
geometry so complex was studying your own structure – how this body is made and observing
the planets and astronomical phenomena. So, at one time, yes, they controlled a few
things, but I think all secret schools are overly exaggerated, and don't worry, Aniket,
hmm… what's his name? Moderator (Anima Soankar): Aniket Diwadkar. Sadhguru: Aniket, don't worry they're not
controlling anything much these days – Donald Trump is controlling a lot of things (Laughter). Moderator (Sunderesh): Sadhguru, second question
from social media – Aryan Sain asking this question. How important is a man's se… se… semen
for physical, mental, and spiritual well-being? Can wasting our semen damage us spiritually? Sadhguru: Well, you know, semen is the basis
of your physical existence, whether you're a man or a woman. You have come into existence because that…
that is fifty percent of the ingredient. Yes? Well, we have skin, we have epithelial cells,
we have hair, we have many other aspects of body – you know, heart, liver, kidney, so
many things. All these cells are of a certain potency in
their own way, but semen is of an extraordinary level of potency, b… it can create a whole
new life. Well, today you can take an epithelial cell
and do lot of things in a laboratory and maybe we can clone you, all right? So, the potential is here also, but it is
not in the same dynamics as it is in the… a cell, which is… which you're referring
to as semen. So, in the yogic culture this is called as
veerya. Veerya also refers to what you call as vajra,
which means stability or diamond, which is the hardest thing. So, in the human body, veerya is considered
to be like vajra. That means, it is one of the most potent things
if you know how to use it. Well, how to use it means you can use it to
produce a child – that's one thing. Well, if you are… This question is coming because you are using
it to spill it on the JNU bedsheets – okay (Laughs)? If that's how you're using it, well that's
your compulsion; you're doing whatever you're doing. I'm… This is not something to be judged morally,
that's not the point, it's a question of what is the level of compulsion that one has. But anything in this body, can it be transformed
into a different level of function? Absolutely. Not just semen, just everything in this body
can be transformed. See, suppose I gave you all soup-making ingredients,
same soup-making ingredients to every one of you – do you believe all of you will
produce the same soup? Participants: No. Sadhguru: No. You will produce five-hundred varieties of
soups. Though same ingredients. That's all that's happened with us right now. All of us are fundamentally same ingredients
but see how different each one of us are – different soups. Well, if I give you soup-making ingredients,
either you can make a great soup or a lousy soup. Depends what kind of skills you have, isn't
it? So, this goes for everything, not just for
semen. Every dimension of your body and your mind
you can transform into… into something tremendous or you can make it mediocre or you can make
it a serious problem – every aspect of your life. That goes for this aspect of life also. This same energy… See, people are making it literal translations,
but if you want to produce a certain, let's say epithelial cells, how much energy the
body spends on it and if you want to s… produce a cell which you call as semen, how
much energy body spends is very different. This can be scientifically established. So, when you're investing so much energy in
that, obviously it has a potency, if you know how to explore. But are you competent to explore, are you
capable of exploring, do you have the necessary sadhana and guidance to do that – that's
a big question mark? Moderator (Anima Soankar): Thank you, Sadhguru,
now we'll open the house for our wonderful and patient audience to shoot their questions. Just a humble request that – do not shout
out your questions, look for the mic and please keep one question, one person. We have people with mics so you'll have to
locate your mics. Questioner: Guruji, you have s… Namaskaram Guruji. Guruji you said that only… Sadhguru: Little closer. If you can hold it this way (Referring to
the microphone). Questioner: Yeah. Only less than one percent of the people tap
into their genius. You have always told us that turn inwards,
so how do we turn inward and what do we look at? Sadhguru: No, no. I didn't get that – can you hold the microphone
like this (Gestures). Questioner: I'm saying that only one percent
of the genius… only one percent of the people tap into their genius, and you say that you
need to turn inward to tap into their genius. How do we turn inward and what do we see? Sadhguru: (Laughs) Well, these… There are two things mixed up in this. To unfold human genius, you need both external
ambience and internal ambience. Internal ambience is just this – you must
come to ease, you must come to total ease with life. Most people are uhh uhh uhh uhh going like
this all the time (Gestures). You have to come to ease. Coming to ease means… Somebody was asking me in one of the colleges
"How do we know we are at ease?" In the Yoga Center we have a cobra test (Few
laugh). You know about this already, hmm? You already know about it? Participants: No. Moderator: Some of them. Sadhguru: Some of them, tch (Laughs). See, most of the ve… venomous creatures
are like this, particularly cobras are like this and the bees are like that and even the
spiders are like that – they don't see you, they don't hear you much – cobras are stone
deaf. You know, sto… snakes are mostly stone deaf,
they can't hear a thing, but they feel your chemistry. If you go into the forest and just pick up
a cobra like this (Gestures) – not holding by the head and all that, simply like this
(Gestures), he will simply come without any reaction. I think you saw… they saw… showed a quick
image there where I'm holding a king cobra in my hand – not by the head, just like
this (Gestures). He's not a pet, he's a wild snake, okay? He was with us only for two days, then we
left him in the mountains. Because he came there, I caught him. So, if a king cobra bites you, it'll give
you somewhere between twenty to forty minutes to live. He has enough venom to kill an elephant, okay? That king cobra that you saw is nearly thirteen
feet long, he has enough venom to kill a (an?) elephant. But I'm holding him like this (Gestures),
he's simply there because he (he's?) only sensing your chemistry. If you show a little bit of anxiety, he'll
go for you because he senses danger. Your anxiety is danger for him. So, we can put you through a cobra test, whether
you have come to ease or not (Few laugh). Even if you come to ease, whether the social
situation will allow you to explore your genius or not, that is also there. When you have a very dogmatic social structure
around you, when you have very dogmatic religions around you, then they won't allow you to explore
your genius. They will make sure that you stick to the
norms that they've established. So, creating a social ambience and an internal
ambience is important. I think today you can escape from any kind
of dogmatic situations or compulsive situations around you. You can leave that place. It was not possible to leave that place hundred
– two-hundred years ago. But today, if you find a situation is completely
not conducive for your way of existence, you can leave that place and transport yourself
to another place and live there, isn't it? This was not possible in the past. But now you have to come to ease. But today whole lot of you are taking pride
– you're looking at your lack of attention, your stress, like qualifications. "I'm stressed, I'm stressed!" It's supposed to be a qualification or what
(Few laugh)? It's almost become like this… Especially, I'm seeing in the management sector
– if you're a CEO, at least you must have an ulcer (Laughter), otherwise you're not
a good CEO, you're not working hard enough (Laughs). This is because we are thinking stress is
a natural phenomena – no, stress is just your inability to handle your own system,
yes? You do not know how to handle your body, how
to handle your chemistry, how to handle your thought, your emotion, and you are calling
this… b… This is happening because of something else
– no. Outside situations people will create the
way they know life, it's for you to create the inner situations the way you want it,
isn't it? The world will never happen hundred percent
your way – never ever! But at least this one person must happen your
way. Isn't it so? Right now this person is not e… happening
your way, that's the big problem. The reason why I'm here today is to see…
to provide tools, or technologies for well-being so that at least within yourself you're the
way you want to be. If you had a choice as to how to be within
yourself, would you choose to be joyful or miserable? You must tell me right now; I'm going to bless
you! Participants: Joyful. Sadhguru: (Laughs) Choice for yourself is
very clear, isn't it? If there is a choice between pleasantness
or unpleasantness, you want pleasantness for yourself. What you want for your neighbor may be debatable
(Laughter), but what you want for yourself is hundred percent clear. Coming to ease, there are many ways. People… This… This question can be asked – ease means
people will say peace. This happened. Can I tell you a joke? Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: Are you okay? Because many if you're looking so serious,
I'm wondering. In joi… In JNU there are jokes or only serious…? Hello? Moderator (Anima Soankar): All the time jokes. Sadhguru: Okay (Laughs). So, Shankaran Pillai was a (an?) abusive husband. He was always abusing his wife – sometimes
physical abuse, sometimes sexual abuse, sometimes verbal abuse on a daily basis – everything. But the wife was always just calm, undisturbed. One day he freaked on her but she was undisturbed. Then he asked "How do you do this? I'm abusing you. Every day I say something nasty. Some days I do something nasty to you, but
I've never seen you throwing up, you're always peaceful. How do you do it?" She said, "I clean the toilet." "What? If I abuse you, you clean the toilet?" She says, "Yes, if you abuse me I clean the
toilet." "When I physically abuse you?" She said, "I will clean two toilets." "If I sexually abuse you?" She said "I'll clean all the toilets in the
house." "But cleaning a toilet, how does it keep you
peaceful?" He said… She said, "I use your toothbrush" (Laughter/Applause). There are many ways of handling it (Laughter). Moderator (Anima Soankar): We'd now… There are hundred of students outside the
auditorium, so we'll now take up a question from outside. Questioner: Hello sir, my name is Mohammed
Akmal and I'm a student of JNU. My question to you is that, like I have…
some else ques… some other's question in my mind, but right now my question is that
you said when you were in United States you always said there that India is the biggest
living democracy… democracy. But now after four years you have stopped
saying this (Both laugh). What made you to stop like saying this thing
now? Like why you have stopped saying this, that
now we are not the biggest living democracy? Sadhguru: No, no. I think you're taking four years literally
(Laughs) (Laughter). Not because of these four years. I'm seeing we are also getting organized like
United States – either I am a Republican or a Democrat. My father was a Republican, my grandfather
was a Republican so I am also a Republican – this is what a Republican said. Then another person asked… a democrat asked
him "Suppose your father was a jackass, and your grandfather was a jackass, what would
you be?" He said, "I would be a Democrat" (Laughter). So (Laughs), United States was unfortunately
divided like this for last few decades, but that was not so in India. But now I would say in the last probably ten
years or so, it is becoming so vitiated, everybody belongs to some party – this is destruction
of democracy. Everybody should look at it not before…
three months before election you should start evaluating, what have these people done? Have they done something for the nation? Have they not done something for the nation? Should you give them another chance or should
you not give them another chance – is something than… that you must evaluate just before
election – not right through the five years. There's no sense to that. You must evaluate according to your intelligence. Today there's information, all right? There is enough information. Using that information according to your intelligence,
not driven by your peers, not driven by your party, not driven by s… your father or grandfather,
who was a jackass, by your intelligence, according to your understanding, you most vote. Only then, this franchise has some meaning. This is why secret ballet. Already we decided this is right, this is
left – what is the point of voting? We already know we can just count you straight
away. The entire exercise of election, it is one
of the largest phenomena on the planet – Indian election process. It's a phenomenal and fantastic process, it
reaches the remotest village in the country, and it's reasonably organized – believe
me. In spite of all the chaos, it is pretty well
organized. And what is the point if well beforehand,
five years ago itself I am determined which party I'm going to vote to, what is the point
of this exercise? What is the point of a secret ballot? The idea is nobody should know who you voted
for, isn't it? It's very important if you want to keep democracy. Moderator (Anima Soankar): Sadhguru looks
in complete mood to continue this conversation, however, we are running very low on time (Sadhguru
laughs) so probably we'll take just one more question from the audience and we close the
event. Questioner: Thank you. Hey, hello Sadhguru. My name is Samanna. Sadhguru: Little louder please. Questioner: My question tod… to you is – we
see quite a generation gap between ou… our generation and our parents' generation, and
it sometimes so happens that we wa… Sadhguru: Hey, not… not me, hmm? No gap between you and me (Laughter). I am much younger than you (Few applaud). Questioner: It so… It sometimes so happens that we want something
out of our life and they don't necessarily agree with it, and we end up in a conflict. And we sometimes even curb our desires just
to see them happy. So, how do we deal with that conflict? Sadhguru: See… Please sit down, thank you (Laughs). This is not a problem with your generation. This is the problem, unfortunately, with every
generation. I think it's very silly that every generation
has the same problem. If we are in a learning mode, at least we
must have a new problem, isn't it (Laughs)? Every generation has the same problem, though
they were also youth just twenty-five – thirty years ago, somehow, they suddenly act like
they landed just like as they are today. So, because your parents are not here I can't
talk to them, so we'll talk to you. If you want to craft your life the way you
want and what you want, if it's not in concurrence with your parents or the society in which
you live in or the university in which you're studying… It can happen. What you choose may not be in line, not only
with your parents' choices, may not be in line with your peers' choices, maybe… may
not be in line with the institution's choices, may not be in line with the society in which
you live. So if you want to do your own thing, you must
understand there will be a price to pay. Only thing you're complaining about is, how
to have what I want without paying a price? There's no such life. If you want to do what you want and if what
you want is not in line with the larger interests of what is around you, then they will make
you pay a price. If what you want means so much to you, you
must pay the price but if you find the price is too much for what little you want to do,
you will step back naturally. It is like going to the market, you know? You went and want to buy a few flowers. That guy says 2000 bucks. For flowers? You say, "No." I want flowers but, "No" because he's asking
too big a price. This is so with every step in our life. When we want to do something, there will be
a price attached to it. We must evaluate. "Do I want to pay this price? What I want, does it mean so much to me that
I'm willing to pay this price or I'm not willing to pay this price." This is individual. There is no standard treatment for everybody. This is individual. Some people want it so badly, they're willing
to pay any price. For some people it's a passing interest so
they will drop it and they'll go on. There's nothing wrong with both. Both are fine. Moderator (Anima Soankar): The questions are
interesting and intriguing. So, we'll ask Sadhguru… Sadhguru: Hey, you didn't say anything about
the answers, hmm (Laughter/Applause) (Laughs). Moderator (Anima Soankar): And we do not disagree
about the answers (Sadhguru laughs). Sadhguru: She's only praising JNU, hmm. She's leaving me out (Laughter). Moderator (Anima Soankar): Isn't that my primary
duty (Sadhguru laughs)? Sadhguru, if we can take some more because
we all are buzzing with questions in our heads. Sadhguru: I'm okay. I'm okay. Moderator (Anima Soankar): All right. Moderator (Anjali Yogi): Anima, can I take
one (Laughs)? Questioner: Namaskaram, Sadhguru… Sadhguru: Hey, not like this (Referring to
how questioner is holding the microphone). Shall I… You've seen Lady Gaga (Laughter)? Questioner: Sadhguru, my question is regarding
the education system which is followed everywhere, specially in India. Your lordship… Your lord… Sorry, I'm a lawyer. So (Laughs)… So, Sadhguru my question is – what is…what
exactly is the ideal education system that we should have in our country so that we can
explore every dimension of life keeping intact the material needs of the country, everyone,
with who… who are there around? Thank you. Sadhguru: See, there is no such system that…
that you can create in a limited amount of time that human life is and, that too, education
is a certain part of our life. To create that you can experience every dimension
of life for everybody – no. It won't work like that. Somebody is interested in academics, they
should go one way. Somebody just wants to earn a living, they
must go another way. Somebody else has some other kind of skills,
they must go another way. I think early on, I'm saying at the age of
twelve, by twelve everybody is reasonably literate. They can read at least one or two languages
in this country, two languages. You can read English language and you can
read your local language, whatever your mother tongue is. These two languages you can read and grasp
what is written in a paper. To this level we must bring every child before
they are twelve. We should not cramp them with too many things,
just language and perception. What I read I understand – that's all. This capability if you bring by twelve, then
you can do evaluation – who should go for skill-based thing, who should go for little
higher level of expertise in the same skills, who should go for academic pursuits. This needs to happen. If this doesn't happen, everybody is being
pushed through the extruder of academics, people are just committing suicide. Not one or two. In 2016 some 17,600 youth below eighteen years
of age commit suicide, 7000 and odd are below fifteen years of age. If twelve, thirteen, fourteen-year-old boys
and girls start killing themselves, are we not doing something fundamentally wrong in
our society? Hello? Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: Not grown up people – twelve,
thirteen-year-old boys and girls who must be exuberant life, at that time, they want
to take their life, obviously we are doing something very fundamentally wrong, isn't
it? And unfortunately ninety percent of these
suicides are education related, tch. Few other things are family, something else,
some other issues, but ninety percent of them are education related. Definitely, we need to revisit this education
as to how to do education. We are trying to put everybody through the
same process. Not everybody is equipped to go through the
same process. It's very important. It's most, what to say, cruel way of handling
a child. Questioner: Namaste! I'm from outside… Sadhguru: Where are you? Where are you? Oh… Oh. Questioner: Yeah. I have two questions. First is how do we choose a good career and
secondly how does… What do you think basically…? How is technology or more specifically artificial
intelligence helping in education? Sadhguru: Okay (Laughs). We will answer the second question first because
in the la (Laughs)… in the last two years people are inviting me to speak in all kinds
of international conferences about artificial intelligence. When they first invited me, I didn't understand
– why am I being invited? I said, "I am not an artificial intelligence. I'm a natural intelligence. Why are you calling me for artificial intelligence?" Then they said, their problem is everybody
is worrying if artificial intelligence comes, we will lose our jobs. I said, "That means you're going to have a
holiday," which you're always looking for. What is the problem if the machine does all
the work on this planet? How fantastic it is for human beings, hmm? Tch… I think if machines d… start doing all the
menial jobs… Already, just see… Suppose everything that you have built in
this JNU, let's say you are building it, you had to just build it with a pickaxe and a…
a crowbar, how much work it would have taken? Because machines and other things have come,
how much work has been taken off, because of that, your intelligence has found more
opportunity. If you were just wielding a crowbar, only
your muscles would have grown. So now, right now, most of the work that you're
doing and most of education that you're teaching in this world is essentially about ge… gathering
of data. Accumulate data, analyze it, assimilate it
in a certain way and throw it at people in different ways. This you call as education. But now (Laughs) this Google lady (Laughs)
– she knows more than anybody around you, yes? She seems to know everything. You ask her anything, withing… without batting
an eyelid (Laughs), she's telling you any damn thing in the world. Yes or no? So, a… a time is coming – it's just a
question of five, ten years – where what you will learn in five years of research,
a machine will process it. If you feed the data, it will process it and
tell you in five minutes. This happened to me when I was very young. I was… For the first time I saw a calculator – a
Panasonic or a Sony calculator. At that time it was just around hundred rupees,
a flatbed calculator. Probably you have not seen such basic calculators
today. It was very simple. Then first time they showed me tuk, tuk, tuk…
arithmetic chuk. The first thing I thought was, "Then why the
hell am I going to this stupid math class" (Laughter)? If this damn machine can add for me, multiply
for me, divide for me, cos theta, sin theta, everything, why the hell have… why the hell
are they torturing me with this?" I said, "Just give me this one thing, I won't
come to the math class. I'll give you all the answers you want. Give me any problem, I'll give you the answer." It took so many years, over forty-five, fifty
years. Now, that calculator has become so complex,
it knows more than you can know in your entire lifetime, hmm? It's great, isn't it? It's great. Absolutely great because as physical work
was taken away from you by the machines, physical machines, mechanical machines, now your intellectual
work is being taken away by another kind of machine. I think it's fantastic time coming. You don't have to bother about gathering information,
processing it, struggling with, misinterpreting it, misunderstanding it. Nothing. Everything processed and it'll come out clean. Now what will the human beings do? That's the big question. This is what the caveman also thought when
you showed him an earthwomer… earthmover. "What will I do if this earthmover comes?" Well, that caveman is probably in JNU now
(Laughs). Yes! If there was (were?) no machines, you would
be also moving a rock somewhere, isn't it? Because mechanical machines came, today you're
in the university. Tomorrow if an intellectual machine comes… Anything that you can do in terms of data
processing in your intellect, machines will do better than you in the next five to ten
years' time, and it will not be one big supercomputer, it'll be in your pocket. It will be that small a machine. A small machine which will do more than all
these brains put together in terms of intellectual assimilation of things. Information, assimilation and projection – this,
the machine will do better than you, it will give you permutations and combinations. All research, done in three days (Laughs). You put the data, boom it will tell you what
is the conclusion. So, people are worried they will lose their
jobs. I'm glad they will lose their jobs because
I think a great time is coming for humanity that we don't have to do physical work, we
don't have to do intellectual work. Only now you will explore other dimensions
of intelligence within the human being. Intellect is only the surface of your intelligence. I know this may gather lot of…Will you give
me two minutes to explain this? Moderator: _____ (Unclear) Sadhguru: Because what you call as intellect
is called buddhi in the yogic culture. Buddhi, your intellect – I wl… I'll ask you a question, those of you who
are awake and asleep you must answer this question – if I ask you "You want a sharp
intellect or a dull intellect," what's your choice? Participants: Sharp. Sadhguru: Sharp. So obviously intellect is a cutting instrument,
isn't it? You want it sharp like a knife. Now, what is happening with our education
system and the way we're building the society is – we are using a knife to do everything. Somehow, this is coming to me quite a few
times in the last few months because I think once again… after many years I'm once again
riding motorcycles much more than what I've done in the last thirty years, so these memories
coming back to me. I was riding all over the country without
any purpose, simply end-to-end till I hit the national border, I went, and then turned
back and rode in another direction, another direction. I just only calculated the money I had in
my pocket and the kilometers to cover, okay (Laughs)? So, one of those… Sometimes… This is something… something for you to
do research on is – there are times when I rode three nights and three days continuously
without hitting anything, without falling drowsy or sleepy, anything. I did certain things with my system because
some of… some of… you asked the question – can se… semen be transformed into something
– if you do certain things with your system, it gets energized to such a level of alertness
that three nights and three days… Those days when the roads were what they were
and motorcycle was just 250 cc Yezdi, okay? Jawa motorcycle. It's not like today, some big stuff and it's
not like highways, four-lane highways, nothing. All single roads full of potholes, backbreaking
but I would ride continuously up to seventy-two hours to seventy-five hours non-stop. Only gas station to gas station, gas station
to gas station. So one night I'm riding full night and I'm
somewhere in… I'm not very sure where, somewhere between
Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. I… Early morning I came and parked near a dhaba,
thought I'll have a tea and rest for some time and move on. My chain had become slack. I don't know if you all still motorcycle or
you're all metro people. So I never allow anybody to touch my motorcycle
because I'm always on it. So I don't trust anybody, I do everything
myself from engine work to everything, but chain had become slack. I was sitting there, full night of riding. Then I saw Mubarak Mechanical Works, handwritten
sign. I saw this and I saw a strapling (strapping?)
young youth… I said, "Hey, can you tighten my chain?" Because tightening a chain is not some great
technology but hands become messy. So I thought, let him do it for me. So then he said, "Yes," and he came full enthusiasm. Then I saw in his hands he just had a chisel
and a hammer. I say, "Wait. What are you doing?" He said, "No, I can do it." I said, "Wait, you don't have any tools?" Then I walked into his little shack which
is his garage. I went inside – there're only few chisels
and bigger and smaller hammers. This guy does everything with a chisel and
hammer. Maybe he can do it but after he does it, that's
the last time you're going to fix that machine again (Laughs). After that it's done, okay? I said, "You don't touch my motorcycle." Why I'm saying this is, right now our education
system is like this. We are doing everything with one dimension
of our intelligence, which is the intellect. Intellect is good only if it's sharp, otherwise
it's no good. If you use a sharp instrument to do everything,
then obviously you will be in tatters. This is why people are thirty, forty, fifty,
sixty years of age, they still don't know how to handle their thought and emotion. When are going to learn? Are you going to live for 10,000 years or
so? When is it that you're going to learn how
to handle your thought and emotion? You may call this stress, you may call this
anxiety, you may call this misery, you may call this madness. Essentially, you do not know how to handle
your own thought and emotion. That's all, isn't it so? This is because you're going on one wheel
of intelligence. There are many wheels of intelligence. Only one wheel is spinning, others are all
stuck or you've never explored. So it's very important that if artificial
intelligence comes, everything that you can do intellectually, a little machine will do. Now, I think human beings will explore other
dimensions. I think I will become very significant… The sooner the artificial intelligence comes,
the more significant I will become because then they will come, "What else can I do?" There are many more things you can do (Laughs). Questioner: Kim… I am Kimsy Sonkar and I am a P… Sadhguru: Where are you, where are you, where
are you? Oh, on the screen. Okay. Questioner: Yeah. I'm sitting outside. I'm a PhD scholar in JNU and I always have
an ethical dilemma that… that when I eat the mess food, it is always not… not in
the standard of like… we get the mood of eating, we don't want to eat and I end up
wasting a lot of food. So I want a solution – how do I make up
a… my mind to eat the food which I feel I don't like at all (Applause)? Because I see that there are people dying
for a single grain of food and I am here wasting food, getting all the facilities but still
I can't eat that food (Sadhguru laughs & laughter). However hard I try to tell the mess worker
that please put little bit… So… Sadhguru: (Laughs) If you want a demo, how
you should eat this mess food… Questioner: If you can (Laugh)… Sadhguru: Yeah, if you want a demo, you must
take me out for dinner today at your mess (Cheers/Applause) (Laughs). Moderator (Anima Soankar): Sadhguru, the mess
timings are already over, unfortunately (Laughter/Applause). Sadhguru: Oh, I'm too late for that. This is like this (Laugh)… You know, in any institution, this is always
a problem. Even children in our school – though we
do a lot of variety of food for them, children complaining about the food. I remember, when my daughter was studying
in a school, I go there as a parent, as a guest, to stay in the school for three days
twice a year. I just love the food in the school. I eat much more in the school than I would
eat anywhere else. She just can't eat it. She just curses is (it?), "Every day it smells
the same, I can't eat this." I think this is the problem in every institution,
it doesn't matter what kind of food you give, this issue is there. But I think a whole lot of people are complaining
in their homes also, all right? So (Laughs), I think one thing you can do
is – I don't know if it's possible, I am taking the liberty of saying this, the Vice
Chancellor is here, it's a suggestion, not a thing – one thing you should do is, maybe
some of you should form teams that you will go and participate in the kitchen maybe one
week in a year, different people, at least you will know whom to curse (Laughter/Applause). Right wing parties, left wing parties, if
they cook, at least who is cooking better (Laughter/Applause). Maybe things will happen, chemistry will happen
if they cook well (Laughs). Questioner 1: Sadhguru, every time I come
to know of a feat achieved or the great ability of a role-model, there is an instinctive aspiration
to encompass that and to achieve that for myself as well. But then, with it comes the formidability
of the profoundness of the ambition. So how... what is the right approach for such
ambitions in life? Sadhguru: See, this role-model business is
a very Western idea that we have taken on to. Every human being is made in a unique way. It's very important every human being explores
what is so unique about us, and how to find expression to the intelligence that we are. If we try to do what somebody else is doing,
then one thing is, maybe it's easy, because it's like a set path – already they have
done it, so I want to do the same thing, it's easy to do it but you're saying that is also
formidable – but, the beauty of life is that you explore the full potential of who
you are, not do better than somebody or do what somebody else has done. You being better than somebody is not of any
consequence. Or you being like somebody else is also of
no consequence. No two human beings can ever be equated in
body and mind. Isn't it so? Hello? You can never, ever equate two people in mind
and body – they… this is one kind, that's another kind – absolutely unique. Never, ever these two things are going to
be same, do what you want. So, this is the beauty of being a human being. Don't destroy that by trying to imitate somebody. Imitation we should have left in the previous
stage of our evolution, you know (Gestures) (Laughter). We should have left it there, but this thing
about creating role-models has been built up because, you know, there is a whole school
of American thought where they're always telling you how to manage your life, how to eat, how
to manage your industry, how to manage your business, how to do this, how to keep your
hair – everything. Everything standardized. No, one person's hair and another person's
hair are different. It can't be kept the same way, isn't it? Hello? It cannot be kept the same way. Forget about the head, even the hair (Laughs). Hair is also unique, isn't it? So, people keep asking me, "Sadhguru, you
became like this, who is your role-model?" I tell them, "See, I never rolled with models,
so don't ask me such things" (Laughter/Applause). This role-model business you leave. I… All of you young people, you must do this
– in some way, you find a place which is supportive but not influencing you. No influence from the peers, no influence
from your professors, no influence from your parents, no influence from society – such
a place you choose where you're well-supported in terms of food and whatever. Spend at least three to ten days depending
on what you need, and look at it, what is it that you genuinely want to do in your life. Is your life precious? I'm asking you. Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: Is your life precious? Participants: Yes! Sadhguru: If this is a precious life, in what
do you want to invest this life? Please consider this, don't do something that
somebody else is doing. If this is a precious life, where do I want
to invest this life? It is not a question of profession, it's not
a question of becoming like somebody, it's not a question of earning or living like somebody. It is a question of what do I want to make
out of this life? Where do I want to invest this life, in what? So, look at this in a prof… as profoundly
as you can. Today if you're taking a call on something,
you look at it, in twenty-five years, will it still mean something to you, whatever you're
planning to do today? In fifty years, will it still mean something
to you? At the end of your life, if you look back,
will you die a fulfilled human being? This is something you must consider because
this is your life, and you said it's precious. If it's a precious life, it needs a certain
amount of consideration and attention. Don't do what somebody else is doing. That's not the way to conduct your life (Applause). Moderator (Anima Soankar): Dear audience,
we understand your urge to ask questions, but we'll take just one last question. Questioner: Hello, Sadhguru. First of all, namaskaram. I'm a Hindu by birth, not by choice. So basically I'm an agnostic kind of person. So my question is, like, we all have been
encountering a statement everywhere, like on social media and in our day-to-day life,
that our religion is in danger. First of all, this question comes in my mind
since my childhood – what is religion? And the other thing – how is it in danger,
and is it necessary to have a religion at all? Sadhguru: See, (Talks aside: It'll take a
few minutes, he's asked a question…) (Laughs) Moderator (Anima Soankar): Sure, sure. Sadhguru: See, I want you to look back on
this nation and see, what is the context of this nation? If you look back on the history of this country,
there was a time when there were over two hundred political entities, kings, I mean. Many small kingdoms, big empires. Sometimes, certain kings came and conquered
and made it into larger empires, sometimes it broke into small… Largely, it was (had?) been somewhere between
hundred to two-hundred-and-fifty nations within one geography of what we call as Indian subcontinent
today, but though there were so many political nations, people from outside always called
this land as Hindustan. Yes? Even now, if you go to Arabia, let's say,
Lebanon and Jordan and these kind of places, you will find thousands of women in Lebanon,
are still taking the name Hind – it's their name. Because in… in their language, Hind means
India. I asked them – first time when I went, I
was surprised – "Why are you taking name India? I mean in Lebanon, why are you Indian?" They say, "No this is our culture. We always connected with India." Probably these people are somebody who went
long time ago. They've become part of that culture, and they
look like that, they… everything is like that. Must have been thousands of years ago. They must have been homesick. When you're homesick, you call your daughter
India, so at least I can call, "India, India," everyday (Laughs), because I'm missing my
country. So that tradition is still there, but even
then, they called Hind or Hindustan, though we were many nations within this subcontinent. Sadhguru: (Talks Aside: Oh, okay.) So why did they call this nation Hindustan
is – one thing is, it's a geographical identity. The land that lies between Himalayas and the
Indu Sagara, which is today called as Indian Ocean – they called this Hindustan. Himalaya and Indu Sagara, between that is
Hindu-stan. So geographical identity were… identity
was given but not political identity, not language identity, not religious identity
– this is very significant because they could not figure out who the hell we were,
even then. As even today, you can't figure out who the
hell you are, that's why you're asking this question (Few laugh) (Laughs). Even then, the same question, as your Vice
Chancellor asked, "Sadhguru, would you answer the question, 'Who am I?'" So we still can't figure out who the hell
we are (Laughs), because this has been a land of seeking, never a land of belief. If you want a religion… Essentially, when somebody says, "I am religious,"
they always say, "I'm a believer," isn't it? Let's explore this word belief. How many of you believe you have two hands? All of such people just at least raise one
hand, please (Few laugh). Do you believe you have two hands or do you
know you have two hands? Participants: We know. Sadhguru: You know. If somebody starts an argument with you and
tries to prove to you, you have no two hands, if their argument becomes too overwhelming,
one slap in the face, he knows you got hands (Laughter), isn't it? But there are so many things you believe – you
believe in heaven, you believe in God, you believe in many, many things. Why do you believe? Simply because you have not become straight
enough in your life even to admit "What I do not know" as, "I do not know." This is a serious problem. Whatever you do not know, you say, "I believe." It is so human of you, so wonderful of you,
to see, what you do not know, as "I do not know," isn't it? "I do not know" is a tremendous possibility. When you say, "I do not know," genuinely within
you, the longing to know, the seeking to know, and the possibility of knowing becomes a living
reality in your life. Otherwise, everything that you do not know,
you believe. When you believe, it gives you instant confidence. Confidence without clarity is the most disastrous
thing that has happened to humanity. Confidence! All kinds of idiots have confidence. When you don't know, at least you must have
hesitation, isn't it? Hmm? When you can't see clearly, you must have
hesitation. When you can't see clearly, if you're confident,
are you not a disaster? You are either a disaster for yourself or
for everybody around you. So, this land was never, ever identified with
belief systems. This has always been a land of seekers. Seekers of what? Seekers of truth and liberation. Just now yesterday I was at, you know, the
BHU in Kashi. You just see there – people are coming from
all over the country and now, all over the world. In search of what? Mukti! Tch, freedom is the highest value. God has never been the highest value in this
culture. All the people whom you worship, are people
who walked this land at some time, isn't it? And they were not superheroes. They did not drop from the sky or fly in the
air or walk upon the water, nothing. Just same grind as you are going through,
much more grind than you are going through. If you want to take the example of anybody
– either Shiva, Rama, Krishna, whatever, the main deities in the country – let's
take Rama, because he's always in political dispute (Laughter). He's still in a real-estate problem (Laughter/Applause). At the age of seventeen or eighteen, he's
been coronated as a king, rightfully, because whatever those days it's father and son. He marries a young princess. In a short while some political situation,
something goes wrong and they're banished to a forest. Well, in your television, whatever you saw
or in some movie you saw Ra… Rama, Sita doing honeymoon in the forest. No! It was an exile. Going to the jungle is not a picnic. Most (Laughs) of you may not know, I've lived
in jungles by myself alone without any outside support. After three weeks when I came back home, my
mother would look at me, she couldn't recognize me because from head to toe insect bites,
this, that, you know? You cannot be recognized. Especially if you take girls, when they come
out after two, three weeks you cannot recognize them because everything will be swollen. All kinds of things will happen to you if
you live in the jungle. So, taking a young wife and going – she's
not a tribal woman, she's a princess – going to the forest was not picnic or honeymoon,
it was an exile. As if that was not bad enough, the Sri Lankan
people came and kidnapped the wife (Laughter). Yes (Laughs). Happened, right? Now, he's a king after all. If one wife goes, he could have found a local
solution (Laughter). A king is entitled to have many wives but
one is gone, he could have found somebody next to him, but the man loves the woman so
much. In those days, no GPS, you don't know (Laughter)…
you don't know where exactly Sri Lanka is located (Laughter). Just him and his brother walk… I want you to imagine the walk from Ayodhya
to Southern India, not a simple search. How many people will search for a lost wife,
6000 – 7000 years ago walking 2000 plus kilometers. How many men would have done that (Applause)? So, he walked and formed a Tamil army. Then went to Sri Lanka, burned down a beautiful
city, fought a war, killed hundreds of people, got back his wife. Tch, if a man has to do this, that woman should
mean so much to him to do such an act, isn't it? And he brought her back. Again he became a king, again something goes
wrong. By then she's pregnant. See, a king's wife or a queen being pregnant
means it's not just a pregnancy, it's the future of the nation. It is a big thing, it's not a small thing,
and he's a big emperor by then. But something goes wrong and he sends his
wife to the jungle, again. No sonogram, so doesn't know whether it's
a boy or girl, boys or girls or what – it's not a small thing for a king. If it's going to be a son, it's important
for the future of his everything. But he doesn't know, sends his wife away to
the jungle. Then she delivers two boys. He doesn't know. If something really, really horrible has to
happen in anybody's life, knowingly or unknowingly you killed your own children, this is the
worst thing that can happen to you, isn't it? He almost killed his own children, he fought
a battle with them. Nearly killed, he had intent to kill, not
knowing they're his children. Fortunately it did not happen but anyway,
he never again saw his wife, she died in the jungle. You don't call this a success story, isn't
it? Hello? Participants: No. Sadhguru: You don't call this a success story. Then why are we worshipping this man? Why is this man celebrated as a great whatever? Simply because no matter what life threw at
him, most people would break if one of those situations happened in their life, he's a
serial disaster but in spite of all this, he did not become angry, he did not become
resentful, hateful, he managed his balance all the time. Did not withdraw, active, doing the best he
can and that's about it. And after he came back from Sri Lanka, he
did something fantastic. After having killed Ravana, he wanted to take
a year of penance in the Himalayas. Lakshmana, his so… his brother said, "Are
you crazy? You killed the man and we had to kill him. He took his wi… your wife. So why are you… why do you… why do you have to do penance for that man?" He said, "See, he had ten qualities. The nine qualities I killed, I have no regret. But he was also a great devotee and I killed
that also along with everything else. For that I have to do penance." Because the man is free from whatever is happening
around him, you throw the most horrible things at him, he is just who he is. This freedom is called Jeevan Mukti. It is for that freedom that we bow down to
him, not because he is a great hero, not because he's a great success (Applause). So, in this culture… in this culture, the
only valuable thing is, that you attain to freedom from the process of life. Life… What life throws at you is never your choice. It will throw all kinds of things at you. What will you make out of it, this is your
choice, isn't it? So we always told you in this culture, never
in this… Now people are beginning to say this uparwala
business… Otherwise, in this culture we always told
you, "Your life is your karma." Yes or no? What does it mean to you? It simply means your life is your making;
nobody up there (Gestures) sitting and managing your life. Well, you're on a round planet and the damn
thing is spinning, you don't even know which side is up. Hello? Do you know which side is up in this cosmos? I'm asking you. Is it marked somewhere "This side up"? So, you do not even know which side is up
but you know who is up (Laughter/Applause). This is a serious problem. No, it's not a laughing matter because it's
taking lives. It not taking… It's taking lives does not mean people are
being killed. It's… That's (that?) also is happening, that's a
different matter. But it's taking lives because instead of creating
your life, you're looking up and walking. When... Forever we told you, "Your life is your karma
– what you make out of it is all there is. What is thrown at you is not in your hands,
what you make out of it is one hundred percent yours." So the idea is just this – the fundamental
ethos of this culture is not religion. This is a godless country, I want you to know
this. There never been the god up there. We worship a few people. In… You know, it's very appropriate, today people
are saying, "Tendulkar is cricketing god." Whoever excelled in any aspect of life beyond
a certain point which we considered is normal huma… human being, if somebody excelled,
then we say, "Oh, he's god-like. He's a deva." This word God as a Supreme entity never has
been here. Here we are always talking about those who
have excelled beyond what we normally consider as human, as devas, that's why we have thirty-six
million gods and goddesses. You must create more, there's no problem because
after all, this is the only and only culture in the p… on the planet which understands
God is our making (Applause). Everybody thinks they are God's making. Right now Vinayak Chaturthi celebrations are
going on around the country. See, this is the classic example, where we
create the God, we will put him there, next ten days or one month, whatever, our entire
life is around him – full emotion, bhajan, dance, music, whole thing, but when the time
comes, we go and dissolve him in water. We made the god, we worshipped him, we enjoyed
it, we enthused ourselves in a big way using him. When we are done, we dissolved him. This clearly shows you we have an innate understanding
God is our making, isn't it? So, here we have only had a spiritual process,
variety of spiritual processes, but never religion. We became religious in competition. When outside forces came and too much competition,
we are also trying to organize but you can never organize this culture because if there
are three people, there are five opinions. Within the same house there are ten gods. How do you make a religion out of that? No, this is just a process. You use everything for your emancipation,
for your liberation. If you listen to the conversations of your
mothers or maybe you're young people, your grandmothers – not some spiritual conversation
– daily conversation, if you listen to it, without uttering the words karma, prarabdha,
mukti, moksha there's no conversation in this country. Constant reminder, no matter what you're doing
– your education, your family, your business, your spirituality, everything is only towards
your liberation, always. Freedom is the highest goal – not heaven,
not god (Applause). Moderator (Anima Soankar): Sadhguru, you leave
us with a lot of thought to ponder upon. We take this opportunity to thank you for
taking out your precious time to be with the youth of JNU for this wonderful conversation
that we have with you today evening. We also extend our thankfulness to Mohit Chauhan
for a scintillating performance. I'm sure we all loved it and Isha Samskriti
for their Kalari performance (Applause). Sadhguru: Can I… Can I just say a few words to that? (Talks aside: I'm okay.) I would like to take this opportunity to just
remind all of you – you're just, as you said, 8000 people, 5200 in research and others
in other kinds of studies, but I want you to understand, you are just a few privileged
ones among millions of youth in this country. You have this privilege of being in a premier
institution like this, the kind of facility and what you have here, most people in this
country don't even dream about it, okay (Applause)? So, for yourself… See, you must understand this – the most
important thing when you're young to do is, don't be in a hurry to live. This is the time to build yourself – to
build your body, to build your mind, to build your perspective, to enlarge and enhance the
horizons of who you are. This time of your life should be invested
in that because, as I said earlier, it is only by producing great human beings that
we can create a great society, a nation, and a world. So it's my wish and my blessing that all of
you should make use of this time at the university to enhance yourself as truly wonderful human
beings who can contribute to the well-being of humanity in future. Thank you very much (Applause).
