Sadhguru: Because that's the interrogation
team, you have to seek permission (Few laugh). Is it clear to you? Hello? Oh! There are just… there’re people in the
upper region (Cheering)! Can we light them up? I just can't see them. If there is no more extra lights, you got
to light up yourself (Cheering). Well, this Youth and Truth, why this… this
has been on my mind for a long time because it's almost a constant question in the last
many years that I have been active, people come to me and say, "Sadhguru, where were
you when I was twenty (Few laugh)? If I had met you twenty-five years ago, I
would have done this, I would have done that. You came just too late!" This is like a constant whine, it's… continuously
it’s happening. So, I thought we will step out and meet all
those people who are below twenty-five years of age in this country. And that's why the Youth and Truth. What we call as youth or what we call as life
essentially is a certain combination of certain amount of energy and certain amount of time. Time is slipping away for all of us. You do something, it goes away; you do nothing,
it goes away. If you sleep, it'll go; if you are awake,
it'll go. Time is rolling away for all of us at the
same pace. And time rolling away is not about the clock,
it just means we are ticking off life till the final tick (Laughs), okay? When we are young we don't really understand
this that we are at the peak of our energy only in that time that we call as youth. When you are youthful, you will not understand
this, you think you're going to be like this forever but you will see as time goes by,
energy levels are not the same. So when the energies are at their peak, the
exuberance of youth, if only if it could be tempered with more clarity and balance, I
think this energy could become something tremendous. If the necessary clarity and balance is not
there, then the same energy could be disastrous, both for the individual, the society, the
nation and the world. So it's in this context we thought if we can
bring some clarity and balance into the life of the youth in this country – and once
this is over, the next phase is going to go international and we're going to reach out
to students everywhere. To bring some… at least a little more clarity
and balance so that this exuberance of energy which is only at this phase of life, will
find fruit… will find fruitful expression in one's life, doesn't go waste and doesn't
turn against ourselves. For most human beings they don't need enemies,
they're just doing great (Laughter). Please (Laughs). Isha Goshi: Namaskaram, Sadhguru! It's an absolute privilege to have you among
us today (Sadhguru laughs). Our girls are super excited as you can see. Sadhguru: They were excited when Ranveer Singh
came, I saw (Laughter), not… Isha Goshi: It's an absolute joy to have you
among us today. Before we begin, I will quickly introduce
the panel to you. This is Kajal Hamjath. This is Anjali Chandrana and I will be your
moderator for today. Sadhguru: Mhmm (Indicating agreement). Isha Goshi: I'm Isha Goshi. So we can begin with the first question. So we've had an array, a plethora of questions
come in from the entire student body, teachers too wanted to sneak in a couple of questions
(Sadhguru laughs), now and then. But most of these questions have come in from
our active student body, either through social media or otherwise, as personal formats as
well. So the questions are representative of the
mass, it's not an individual question that we will be asking. Yeah and the… Sadhguru: A question doesn't need so much
explanation (Laughter). Isha Goshi: I agree. So let's dive right in. So Kajal has the first question. Kajal: So sir, I think the first question
as such is something that happened in recent time. So, I am pretty sure everyone knows about
section 377 being decriminalized, yeah? And I think most of the youth – everyone,
me – I think most of us would have gone back home, we are very happy about this and
we talk to our parents and people from the… like you know older generation, right? So this is something that I do with my parents
on a regular basis, we sit and we discuss a lot of topics. So this is something that happened to me and
something that I have heard from a lot of people as well. So when we discuss something like this with
our older generation, they said, "We are not going to debate with you as such, we are not
going to impose our perspectives on you but this is not accepted in our religion." Right? So when I took a step back and I thought,
how difficult it would be for kids, for youth from the LGBT community to come out to their
parents and at the same time when the parents poses restriction that "it is not accepted
in our religion," how does a child and how does a parent deal with it? And sometimes a parent does cut off from their
child as well. So just want to know your perspective on you
know, the LGBT community or homosexuality as such with religion and at the same time
how a parent and a child should deal with it because I think a relationship between
a parent and child is so important, right? And to lose something on that lines is not
something. Sadhguru: Let's… See, probably till now largely in the social
space, in the media space… in the social media space, everybody is pitching either
for or against. Can we for some time not pitch for or against
and simply look at the issue as it is? Can we? Participant: Yes! Sadhguru: Look at me, I am not a prude, okay
(Few laugh)? Let that be clear (Laughs). So, when we say, “Sexuality,” lets understand
this – it is something nature has put in us because there is something called as perpetuation
of the race or the species, otherwise it won't happen. Of course we being human beings having more
brains than body – supposed to (Few laugh) – because of that we kind of eliminated
the reproductive part and just using the pleasure part of it, all right? This is sexuality right now largely in the
world. But essentially this pleasure also is (has?)
come into the sexuality process because otherwise… well, if there was no pleasure to it maybe
we wouldn't be born, you and me. Our pras… parents would not have gone into
it, if there was no pleasure at all attached (Laughter). Yes or no? Participant: Yes! Sadhguru: So, we are here because of that. So there is no denying it or putting it under
the carpet, that's not the thing. But somebody has a certain kind of sexual
preference, which has got nothing to do with reproductive process as such. It is their personal preference because every
individual has the right to do whatever the hell they want to do with their body because
it's their body. But if it is something harmful, you are going
to cut your nose off or you are going to cut something else off, then maybe we will try
to prevent you. But you are not causing any harm to yourself
in that way, then it's your business as long as you do something in your private. Right now the Supreme Court decision is just
that, that what a person does in their private space is nobody's business. Government need not enter people's bedrooms
– that is the law, all right (Laughter)? And I think it's right. But at the same time, why so many of you are
upset about it or for it or against it, is simply because there has been a campaign around
the world. I am saying the campaign should stop. There may be a few people who are oriented
that way, leave them alone. It's their business, all right? Even if you are a heterosexual, you don't
go about talking it on the street. Hello? You don't, isn't it? Because private matters must be handled that
way. Unless you give some sanctity to this body
– please understand this, the fundamental difference between animal nature and human
nature is this, we are doing the same things that they do. They earn a living, they go around, they reproduce,
they die. We also do the same thing. We think a lot about it and we make a whole
lot of fuss about it but we are doing the same thing. Only difference is we can do all these things
of eating, sleeping, reproducing, everything, more consciously. Because of that we hold ourselves little different
from the other creatures. Otherwise what's the big difference? You may think there is a difference, other
animals are looking at you and thinking (Gestures) (Laughter), "What about you?" Isn't it? So, this is the fundamental process. Now individual people have some choices, I
don't think it needs to become a national or international issue, it's their business
what they're doing. But at the same time there is no need to campaign
for it or against it. There is no need to campaign against it, there
is no need to campaign for it. If you allow nature to take its course, the
percentage of people who'll fall that way are extremely sau… small. But because of a whole campaign going on in
the world, the number of people entering that space has become bigger, much bigger than
what it should be. Having said that, your parents being upset
about it or not coming to terms with it, if they are doing it for religious reasons, well,
there may be lot of trash in every religion – there is – but there is also some wisdom
gathered over the times, in every religion. Yes or no? So this wisdom, some people are calling it
religion, some people are looking it just sensibly and doing what they have to do, some
people read religious texts and come to this wisdom because they are not able to figure
it out themselves. So, do you have to agree with all the things
that they say in their religion? No! But do you have to simply blanket disagree
with everything? That'll be foolish because human experience
cannot be thrown away, isn't it? Thousands of years of human cultural experience
cannot be just thrown away. We have to take what is sensible and what
is not. So when it comes to this aspect, they know
the consequence of this. See, when you are at this age, the most attractive
word is "freedom." Hello (Laughter)? Well, I come from the sixties, you know what's
sixties (Laughter)? Participants: Yes. So, freedom is the word! In this… But since then I've looked at human mind in
so many ways, the moment you utter the word "freedom," people will end up doing freaky
things (Few laugh). Because freedom is a consequence. It is not a thing that you do. See, freedom is not an act. Freedom is a consequence of how I experience
my life. Freedom comes out of a responsible existence. If you think of the consequence without taking
care of the process, you will always end up as a disaster. I must tell you this, well, at least twelve
to fifteen of close friends that I had when I was growing up, they all died before they
are thirty-five. Well, some of them you know… because we
were living on motorcycles, they got killed in the… on the motorcycles. Rest drank themselves to death. Others drugged themselves to death. At least twelve to fourteen people who were
very close to me, who were around me, all died before they are thirty-five because freedom. Do you understand? Freedom was the real thing. They became free, free and they became free
(Laughter/Applause). Death is definitely freedom. So, one thing that young people should learn
is don't utter the word "freedom" because freedom is a consequence – it's something
that you have to earn. It doesn't come as a philosophy. In sixties we thought it's a philosophy. If you live responsibly, you will see freedom
will come. When I say "responsibly," not in the sense
of civic responsibility – if you retain your ability to respond to life without any
prejudice, without any restriction, you will see you will become free. Your ability to respond, if it is unlimited,
it is freedom, isn't it? Now, coming to this religious resistance,
there's nothing religious about this. Sexuality is a biological process. Yes? The very fact that nature created opposites,
it has some intention. Well, some people didn't take to natural ways,
it's okay, it's their choice. We don't have to discriminate against them,
we don't have to persecute them, we don't have to put them in the prison – definitely
it's not necessary. But at the same time it doesn't need promotion
either. Now, when I say freedom and responsibility,
this is like this, see suppose you want flowers in your garden. If you sit in your garden and every day do
flower meditation (Laughter), flowers will not come. If you want flowers, you don't have to even
think about flowers, you must think soil, manure, water, sunlight. Soil doesn't feel like a flower. Manure doesn't smell like a flower. Water doesn't look like a flower. Sunlight doesn't feel like a flower but if
you take care of these things, flowers will happen, isn't it? This is the way life works. So, the important thing with our lives is… This is a very westernized approach that we
are looking at the goal. We want the product. We don't want the process. No, if you're devoted to the process, if you're
truly devoted to the process that you are doing right now, you will naturally do your
best, everything that you have. Result will come or no? Result will come or no? It'll come! Just because you sit here and desire the result,
it's not going to come. You'll only have plastic flowers in your head
(Few laugh). Bl… Flowers will not grow in your garden. So, this is the time of life – I'm surprised
you know, like it's not just you, just about anywhere I go, young people are asking only
this question. What this means is, they are trying to live
too early. See this is a time to grow, this is a time
to enhance yourself because your ability to enhance yourself and grow will not be the
same after ten years, believe me. Your ability to ne… learn will not be the
same, your ability to grow physically, emotionally, intellectually and in consciousness will not
be the same after ten to fifteen years' time. So this is a time to grow. When it's time to grow if you try to live,
too much, some life you want to taste but if you try to live too much, you will see
your growth will be impeded and your life will be stunted in so many different ways. So, it's very important young people focus
on growth because we are seeing this, you know like I've traveled across United States,
many of these universities, it… it brings tears to me when I see how it is. I am glad at least in India most of the students
are sober in the day time (Laughter). Really! I am telling you, in top universities, day
time they are all gone (Few laugh). So, we are becoming slaves of commerce. Because people have intentions to do their
own thing, they are just enslaving the people… young people because they want to sell their
brand. Because it seems early age if you get used
to a certain kind of beer, that's what you are going to drink for the le… rest of your
life. Yes, they have done research on this. Universities have done researches on this
and they are supplying free beer in the school. Tell me, does it take a genius to understand
this, that if I open a book which is of some complexity and I want to grasp this, if I
am intoxicated can I grasp it? Hello? Participant: No. Sadhguru: Is… Does it take a genius to understand this,
I am asking? So, you don't have to… when your parents
say something, they may refer to their religion because they think it's an authority. You take away the authority, just listen to
the words, if it makes sense, do it, if it doesn't make sense, tell them politely, "That's
not the way it is with me," all right (Laughs) (Applause)? Participant: All right, the next question
that's come in from the students is internal and external validation. So, a couple of… let's take a decade back,
you know the word peer pressure was the next big thing, every one said, “You shouldn't
succumb to peer pressure, you shouldn't listen to what your peers have to say; they are probably
ill-intentioned than ill-mannered. But we've reached a point where our peers
don't have to say that to us anymore. It's internal validation. We do things to validate ourselves and that's
some… in some form or the other way more dangerous than a peer telling us because we
can stop them, the voices in our head we can't. So how do we sort of cope with internal validation? Sadhguru: I think I already… Participant: Are they necessary for internal
validation? Sadhguru: I already said that, most people
don't need enemies, they're just doing great by themselves. Now, see when you say you are a human being,
also connected with the previous question also because you're still not fully settled
(Laughter). When you say "I'm a human being," you have
a body, you have an intellect, a bunch of thoughts and certain penetration of intellect,
you have emotions and you have a consciousness behind this. Suppose we were some other creature, let's
say we were buffalos, then body would be the most dominant thing in our life, biology and
body is the dominant thing. Mind, intellect, not that it doesn't have,
it has its own mind but small. Emotions it has but still not as big as the
body. Consciousness it is not truly aware of. So, essentially body is the front-end of a
buffalo. What should be the front-end of you among
these four things? Participant: It's the mind of course. Sadhguru: No. That's why it's a mess (Laughter). Participant: Emotion? Sadhguru: Don't do guess work, tell me (Laughter). Participant: I would say mind. The mind. Sadhguru: If you say the thought process… Participant: (Overlapping conversation) Thought
process. Yes. Sadhguru: …see your thought is a consequence
of the data that you have gathered, isn't it? Participant: Yes. Sadhguru: In these many years – I will assume
you are eighteen, okay, just for safety, for my safety (Laughter) – in this little bit
of time that you have from birth to now, whatever data you have gathered, permutations and combinations
of that is what is coming out as thought process. Thought is not coming from somewhere else. Yes? Only from the data. Do you believe you have all the data that
is necessary to know the nature of your existence, the cosmos and the beginning and the end of
everything? No! Whatever, if you've read the libraries of
the world, still what you have is a miniscule. From this miniscule, you generate thought
and you say that should be the front-end of your life. This is a European ailment. It's the Europeans who said thought is everything. You know? You know Descartes? Participant: Yes. Sadhguru: You are not philosophy, then what
are you? Science? Okay (Laughs). Participant: ____ (Unclear) philosophy. Sadhguru: Okay (Laughs). Descartes said, "I think, so I exist." I am asking all of you, is it because you
exist you may think or because you think you exist, which way is it? Participants: Exist. Sadhguru: Because you exist you may think. Because most people are in a state of mental
diarrhea all the time (Few laugh), they think thought is an eternal process. No! If… See right now, if my hand starts jumping all
over the place, what do you think? You think I have a ailment, isn't it? So if your mind starts jumping all over the
place, what should I think? You have an ailment. Only thing is everybody is like you only (Few
laugh). That's how everybody is. So it looks like normal. That's how it is in an asylum (Laughter/Applause). Just because everybody's hand is jumping like
this, does it become normal? I am asking you, does it become normal? With hand it's very obvious and visible but
if you pay enough attention, it is visible, isn't it? So your thought is an outcome of limited data
that can never be the front-end, it's very, very small. Why thought became so significant in the world
is because of European system of education. Why in Europe thought became so important
was, they went through a few centuries of very dogmatic religious imposition. They were not allowed to think for themselves. So somewhere in 1700s they broke away from
that, they started thinking for themselves, it looked like liberation. But now the same thought is freaking people
to death. See, if I leave you alone in a room all by
yourself, I will give you food and shelter and everything, all good care for you. Only thing is nothing to do. You will freak yourself to death, believe
me. So, with that kind of a mind, you want that
to be the front-end (Laughs)? Participant: ____ (Unclear) (Sadhguru laughs). Yeah… Sadhguru: So, thought is a very, very limited
thing. In the yogic culture, there is no significance
to thought. We don't care what you think and feel. That may sound little abrasive, but why I
am saying this is because we know what you can think and feel. It does not mean you are ever exploring anything
new with your thought. You are only recycling the old data bin that
you have. Endless recycling of what you already have. Nothing new will ever happen. This is why societies are going on talking
the same rubbish forever, centuries after centuries, they are discussing the same damn
thing, we still can't figure out. Well, the most fundamental thing – the biology,
sexuality, we can't figure it out after millions of years of existence because thought-based. If you pay attention, simply you know (Laughs)
what it is. You don't have to think about it. Only because we're thinking about it, it's
getting all distorted in the mind. Otherwise biology is cla… quite clear-cut. There is no need to exaggerate it nor to… Participant: ____ (Inaudible). Sadhguru: Yes. There is no need to play it up or play it
down. It is there to the extent it is there. In different creatures, it's at different
levels. In different human beings also at different
levels, you just do it… leave it at that level. It's just one more aspect. It's a physical platform for our existence
– biology, isn't it? Now, you must decide what should be your front-end. You must decide. (General conversation – not transcribed) Participant: I will… so pretty (Laughter). Sadhguru: See it's not me who is dodging the
questions, okay (Laughter)? Participant: To be honest I think it's still
unclear to me (Laughter), to be very honest. But I think the tangent that we will have
to discover will… Sadhguru: No there is no tangent. I am just say… asking you, is it true these
four dimensions are there to you? Participant: Yes, very much. Sadhguru: What should be the leading edge,
that's all I am asking? What's the tangent about it? Participant: I still stand by thought for
some reason. I will probably… I am probably terribly wrong and will probably
discover with time. Sadhguru: No, no. Is it true your thought is coming from limited
data? Participant: True, yes. Sadhguru: So if you are coming from limited
data, is it true that you can never ever explore anything new? Participant: You can always widen your data. You can always go out there and learn and
study. Sadhguru: See, that is experience. Participant: Right, yes. Sadhguru: See, please understand – life
is happening in three fundamental dimensions. Why in this culture all these trishula, trikala,
trinetra all this three, three, three is because essentially your life is happening like this. There is memory of the past, there is experience
of the now and there is imagination of the future. These are the only ways life is happening. But people can sit here right now and suffer
what happened ten years ago. You can? You also can (Laughter)? And people can suffer what may happen day
after tomorrow already. Participant: Yes exactly (Few laugh). Sadhguru: So, if you are suffering what happened
ten years ago or ten days ago – what happened ten years ago, does it exist right now? No. So you are suffering that which does not exist. Please psychologists (Few laugh), please tell
me (Laughter), if somebody is suffering that which does not exist, what is the terminology
for them (Few laugh)? Participant: Like… You tell me (Laughter). Sadhguru: No, I am only asking for technical
terminology. If someone is suffering that which does not
exist here, what is the term? Psychiatric term? Participants: (Mixed Responses) (Sadhguru
laughs). Sadhguru: You can… You can call it whatever you call it. I call it simply insanity (Laughter/Applause). No, no that is a very strong word because
it'll not help your practice if you call people that (Laughter). But the fact is, if I am suffering something
which is not here, it amounts to insanity or no? Yes. So, if I am suffering what happened yesterday
or what may happen day after tomorrow, I am suffering something which does not exist,
isn't it? So essentially there is… in this form of
education, you have done no work as to how to manage the intellect… intellectual process. No work, simply it's going mad all the time. You don't know what is memory, what is experience,
what is imagination, it's all mixed up. In this state, this intellect is not a possibility,
it is only trouble. I must tell you this – four months ago… I think four, four-and-a-half months ago,
a television anchor in Andhra Pradesh, a thirty-four-year-old woman, she jumped off the fifth floor and
killed herself. She left a note saying, "Nobody is responsible
for my death, my brain is my enemy." Can you beat this? Well, she articulated it, but that's the truth
with a whole lot of people, ninety percent of humanity. Their brain is their enemy – they don't
need any external enemy. If they sit in one place, they poke themselves
(Laughter). So, she killed herself and this… I don't know if you saw this, this hand-written
thing went all over on the televisions and everything. Well, this brain… this brain is the most
bloody precious thing that you have. It took millions of years to manufacture this
brain, of evolution. And today it's become your enemy. Obviously, there is no stabilizing factor
inside. When we say stabilizing factor, we are not
talking about taking tranquilizers or having a glass of something to become stable. There is a dimension beyond all this. It is on the platform of this life we have
slowly built this body, we’ve built this mind, we’ve built this emotions, isn't it? Isn't there no concern about that platform
that you call as life? If we just attend to that, all these questions
will just vanish. People were asking me, when I was at the Anna
University day before yesterday, "Sadhguru, how come you can answer every question?" I said, "Because till now nobody asked me
a question that I myself did not ask to myself and to everybody around me." I had a billion questions, nobody answered,
then I realized, the questions are all coming from a wrong perspective. Because there is no profound experience of
life, on the surface, with information that I have, I am manufacturing questions and questions
and… questions hung like a dark cloud around me when I was young. So, I said, "Till now nobody has asked a question
that I myself did not raise." But why if I raise the question, the next
generation is raising the same damn question? That means we are not learning a thing from
each other, isn't it (Laughs)? Participants: Yes. Participant: With all due respect, speaking
of mental diarrhea and data bin (Laughs), we'd like to talk about the education system
and (Laughter)… sorry. So, as students at this point, I know this
has been through ages and like all students feel a certain way about the education system
but there's a certain amount of anxiety that exists within us because we learnt great things
here… Sadhguru: Hey, It's good for your future practice
if everybody is anxious, hmm (Laughter). Participant: That's there (Sadhguru laughs). That's there. Psychology helps. Sadhguru: Yes. Participant: So, we feel trapped. Because all the learning that we do here is
beautiful, like, we sit, we attend classes and it's really nice, but the concept of one
standardized way of evaluating all students is something that seems really unfair, in
a certain way. And it… it sort of pulls us down because
not everybody learns a certain way, not everybody has to be evaluated a certain way but the
system should work. So, there's not just one solution to it, you
just can't… Okay you do this and then everything is fine,
students are happy and the teachers are happy, there’s… there's no one direct way to
it. So, how do you sort of approach this system
that is trapping the creative minds of young, nice, sweet students (Laughter). Sadhguru: That "sweet" you added to describe
yourself (Laughter). See… Right now I'm involved in writing an education
policy for the country, we are working on it. It may take another year, year-and-a-half
before we really come up with this (Applause). Because… Because I live my life out of my experience
– and my experience of education was just ridiculous (Laughs) (Few laugh). I'm… The sisters (Laughter)… No, no, I'm acknowledging them because I'm
also a Carmelite (Cheers & Applause). One year, on my second standard I was in the
Christ The King Convent and in my seventh standard I was in my Nirmala Convent. No school would keep me for more than one
year (Laughter). Because I never understood why the hell am
I going to the school, nobody explained to me (Laughs). It's… It's very… Please whatever I say, please I want you to
listen to this carefully because it could be misunderstood completely. Because, when I was four, four-and-a-half
years of age, one thing struck me that suddenly I did not know anything. I do not know anything means I do not know
anything at all. If somebody gives me a glass of water, I do
not know what is water. Well, I know, I can drink it, I can use it,
I know how to use it but I don't know what it is. So I keep staring at the water for hours on
end. Well¸ actually the fact is even today you
don't know what is water, if you really look at it. We know how to use it, we know how to destroy
it, but we don't know how to… what it is really. We… With all this scientific exploration we do
not know one single atom in its entirety. We know how to break it, fuse it, make a bomb
out of it, all these things we know, but we don't know what it is. So, if I found a blade of grass, I'm just
staring at it for hours. If I sit up in the night in the bed I'm simply
staring in the darkness. My dear father being a physician, started
thinking that I need psychiatric evaluation (Laughter). You're just too late (Laughter). My problem was, I look at this (Gestures)
and I don't know what this is, they are asking me to look at that. I just cannot shift my attention, I'm just
looking at this. In this condition they sent me to school (Laughter). My mother said, "Don't look here and there,
pay attention to the teacher." I went and looked at the teacher (Gestures)
(Laughter/Applause). Absolute attention to the teacher (Laughter). The kind of attention they'd never received
in their life (Laughter). Many things happened in this, I don't want
to go into the detail (Laughter). When… about nine years ago, this school
where I studied for a couple of years, that's the only school where I stayed for two years
(Few laugh). So they came to invite me for their one-hundred-and-twenty-fifth
anniversary. I said, "See, why me? I was not just a not good student, I was not
even a student” (Laughter). Because I didn't have a textbook, I didn't
have a notebook, I just went. I just had a bicycle (Laughs). I thought it's good enough (Laughs). So, I said, "Why me? Please I'm not a good example for the students." They said, "No, no, our school has produced
Union Ministers, our school has produced cricketing stars, film stars, you are the only mystic,
you have to come (Laughter). So, I went (Few laugh). So I went and sat there in the quadrangle,
the same oppressive buildings (Few laugh) and… no, this is my experience I'm saying. And suddenly I looked at this particular classroom
and I remembered – I was twelve years of age, one afternoon – these are times when
I don't speak for many days because when you don't know anything, what to say? I'm still trying to drink in the creation
around me. I'm paying attention to the leaf, to the…
everything! Man, woman, child, animal, plant, anything,
I'm just paying attention to everything. I still not figured out a thing. So there's nothing much to say, so I don't
speak. So at one ti… at one point my father put
me through speech and hearing test, thinking I cannot speak (Laughter). This is the problem of a physician (Few laugh). Then that afternoon the teacher is trying
to get some response from me. After about thirty-five – forty minutes,
I'm just looking at him, I don't even hear what he's saying. I know this man's past, present and future,
but I don't hear the question. After thirty-five – forty minutes, he got
so frustrated and angry with me. He came and held me by the shoulder, shook
me like this (Gestures) violently, and said, "You must either be the divine or the devil. I think you are the latter" (Few laugh). I didn't feel insulted or abused, I just thought
about this because till then I did not know what is this, what is this, what is that,
what is that, everything is a question mark, the entire universe but I knew one thing this
is me (Referring to himself). This guy confused me about that also (Laughter). I just looked like this (Gestures) (Laughter),
"Is this divine, is this devil, what the hell is this" (Laughter)? I tried to stare, it didn't work, then I started
closing my eyes and sitting. This is how my journey started because I'm
trying to figure out what the hell is this because till now I had one assurance, this
is me (Gestures), suddenly he confused me about this also (Few laugh). Why I'm telling you this is – see, we have
set up education factories to feed for other factories, larger factories. You must all understand, day-in and day-out
when everybody talks economy, economy, economy, you must understand you are just raw material. You are not human beings. That's where we are driving the world – entire
world. When economy is the most important thing,
this is how you will run the education, there is no time for any tenderness, there's no
time for any nurturing, there is no time for anything because everybody has to pass at
a certain age and get into the job and make money and then in the wend (end?), I don't
know what. They'll relax in the end when they are seventy-five
(Laughs). So, this has to change – but for this to
change, we have been in fifteen, twenty generations of poverty in this country. Your parents have relaxed a little bit – my
time, our parents were so hyp… hyper about how will you earn a living, how will you earn
a living. I said, "Why do you bother about how do I
earn a living? Tell me when you don't want to feed me, I'll
just go somewhere. I'm… I'm capable of getting my food." And I have no problem of wanting to live like
somebody else. I'm not bothered what somebody else has. I know I will never go hungry, I will find
my food somehow. I went into the jungle and stayed for three
weeks by myself. And I managed to survive off the jungle. So, I knew if nothing works, I'll go into
Western Ghats (Laughter). So why I'm saying this is, we've become too
overly concerned about survival process. For the society to relax a little bit, I think
economic development is needed. See, these two things are like this – if
economic development is much more and there is ease that if you… let's say you don't pass your examination,
you won't fall on the street and get lost, if that assurance is there, everybody will
relax a little bit. Feet off the throttle a little bit will happen. So, right now, we created tree… three different
dimensions of education – one form of education is just for rural India because for them it's
economic. For them to get out of that economic and social
pit in which they are, a certain type of education. Another form of education for those parents
who are reasonably affluent, who want their children to be exposed to variety of things
– here at least fifty percent of the time is dedicated to art, music, theater like this
and the school is created like a museum almost. So, children live here in a completely different
way. And we have another school which you saw the
girls dancing. From the age of six to eighteen, there is
no academics for them. They learn only classical dance, classical
music, Kalaripayattu, which is mother of all martial arts, yoga, Sanskrit language and
English language, this is all they learn. They don't go to any academic stuff. They go through twelve to fifteen years of
very severe training. You saw the girls dancing but you don't know
their fitness. If you ask them to just climb up here, they
will just find their way up – they are like that. Physically… the main focus is to grow the
body and the brain to its fullest, without any intent. See, the problem is, at the age of three,
people like to hear their sweet little girls say – "What will you become" (Laughter)? "I'll become doctor" (Laughter). At the age of three. So, from the age of three, you are wishing
lot of people will be sick in the world (Laughter). I'm saying it's a completely wrong way of
nurturing… Raising children or bringing up human beings
is like raising a garden, it's not a factory. In one extruder everybody goes, but that's
not going to change in a hurry, so you need to learn how to make the factory feel like
a garden a little bit, because in your time it's not going to change, by the time you
get out of education. It will… If we start the process now and invest heavily,
it may change slowly in the next twenty, twenty-five years, that's how it is. Because changing the education system, in
thought we can change it, on paper we can change it, putting it down there, training
the necessary people, creating the infrastructure, this is not going to happen and also we need
to reduce our population a little bit (Few laugh). Otherwise it's very difficult to provide good
education for everybody. Participant: Sir, so, there is… since we're
talking about education and Indian education system… Sadhguru: Are the people in the upper regions
still awake and on? Participant: Yes! Sadhguru: Quiet they are so. Participant: Okay, since we're talking about
the Indian education system, one of the main questions that actually came to us, you know,
was… is attendance, sorry… is education all about attendance? Because somewhere (Applause) – yeah they're
awake now. Somewhere… no one wakes up in the morning
to say "Oh, I'm going to learn something new today!" Participant: Yes (Applause)! Sadhguru: She wants to become a star in the
college (Laughter). Participant: So, everyone I think gets up
saying "Oh, I don't have attendance dude, I think I need to attend this class." Or "I have eighty-five in that, so maybe I
can miss one class." I think many of the students here they don't
like maths but when it comes to calculating the amount of percentage that is required,
they're so good at it (Applause). I think even Anisha has a question when it
comes to motivation and drive as such, especially in college. Anisha: Yeah, so, our… my main question
is how do we shift that into more of a learning objective than making attendance so dominant
in this education system? Sadhguru: Uh, I… I don't want to share my experience of attendance
(Laughter). Participant: What happens with the student
body at large is, the drive to learn or the drive to acquire knowledge has died down somewhere. So, I think this is a question from the student
government itself because we as an organization, as an institution I think… Sadhguru: Now, you're trying to win the next
election also (Laughs). Participant: Won it already (Sadhguru laughs). So… yeah, so what happens with a lot of
the students in college is, we provide them with all of the avenues that they possibly
could ask for – the best associations, the best teachers, the best outlook, the best
reach, opportunity, name it and we've given it at some level, but the drive to get them
to actually do it or the drive to get ourselves to actually pick ourselves by the feet and
say "This is what I want to do, I want to make full… use the whole potential of what
I've been given." How do we accomplish that? Because I think there is a stage of stagnation,
we hit a plateau by third year and we've declined. So, how to overcome that stagnation? Sadhguru: See, as… as you have been pointing
out, as students everywhere and it's not that teachers and establishment doesn't know about
it, they also know. One thing is the massive size of the student
body, it's not small number to experiment and change this and that, it's massive. And if you make any changes, the loopholes
that arrive… arise in the new system, everybody will exploit the loophole. So, people are averse to change because of
this – which is not the right way to approach but the pressures of running an educational
institution I also know how it is. Talking about attendance… See, I can… I can… I raised my girl, with very little interference
with what she's doing, so she traveled with me – I was traveling across India, driving
myself all the time. So, she started traveling with me when she
was three-and-a-half months of age, I just held her down in the front seat, strapped
and drove, always my right leg is heavy, you know (Laughs)? So she grew up like this, in various homes,
and her exposure to people was tremendous, by the time she is eighteen months of age
she's fluently speaking three languages. But I made it very clear to everybody, “Nobody
will teach her anything. Do not teach her ABC, ‘Mary had a little
lamb.’ I don't care whether Mary had a lamb or not”
(Laughter/Applause). So, I made one rule, “You can play with
her, you can do whatever, nobody is going to teach her 123, ABC, nothing, no rhymes,
no nothing!” Well, she picked up some cinema tunes, this
and that, like Sounds of Isha is singing, she picked up those tunes by herself but nobody
taught her anything. Then I thought I'll never send her to school,
she can just be with me but one big problem is you cannot provide that age group company,
tch which is very important, she may become my age when she is still ten, twelve (Laughs). So I sent her to a school which is most relaxed
without too many restrictions. When she was twelve, thirteen years of age
one day she came to me, she… something that happened in the school upset her emotionally
and she came to me and she said "You're teaching everybody so many things, you don't tell me
anything!" I said "See, I don't teach anything to anybody
unsolicited, now that you've come, we can talk I think." I said "This is all you have to know – never
look up to anybody" She looked up to me like this (Gestures), I said "Even me (Few laugh),
because if you look up to me you will miss the value of who I am, you may… maybe you'll
hang me on the wall and nail me to the wall and smoke me out of your house with incense,
but you will miss the value of who I am, you have to look at me for who I am. So don't look at… look up to anybody, don't
look down on anybody. This is all." Just think through this because all human
beings have fixed it, something is good, something is bad, something is high, something is low,
something is superior, something is inferior. In this state there is no education, if you
ask me. Only misuse of knowledge. So this is all you have to know – never
look up to anything, never look down on anything – you will become absolutely present and
very human – full-fledged human. And if you become an overflowing human…
humanity, your learning possibilities, your perception will blow up like that. That's what we need to do, but how to do it
– they were telling me in these premises there are 10,000 girls – how to do it with
10,000 girls? It's tough. Okay, we will re… limit it to only 2000
girls, then there will be strike outside on the street, "Why are you not giving us admission?" So, this is a situation which can't be just
fixed simply because somebody changed their mind – you can't fix it. There is a very complex reality there. So for yourself we can do this, maybe, I don't
know from the student union or from the teachers' side, if we can identify responsible students. Responsible need not necessarily mean obedient,
responsible need not necessarily mean they're getting ninety-eight marks in… where they
should only get sixty (Laughter). So, responsible is different, all I'm saying
is, if all of you girls assure the management that our time in the college, don't compel
us to just necessarily sit in the class but these seven or eight hours we're here we will
stay focused on something. We will not sit here and there gossiping (Applause),
we'll focus on something. If education is a focused time, it doesn't
matter what you focus on. Who knows, you may be science, suddenly you
may become a better psychiatrist than her… psychologist than her or she may be psychology,
she may just pick up something else. Because choices are made considering so many
things at a certain time, that may not be your genuine aptitude. See, there is a certain genius in every human
being. Home situation and school situation must fundamentally
focus on how to unfold that genius – unless you create that atmosphere of incubation,
it will not flower. Believe me, ninety-nine percent of the human
beings on this planet live and die without ever touching the inner genius that they hold
within themselves. It is not just about them, what a loss to
humanity! This is why the same stupid things are being
debated for thousands of years, because human genius doesn't open – bunch of idiots (Laughs)! Yes, talking the same damn things forever,
as if it's something else. What every other creature with a millionth
of your brain knows, human being is struggling to figure out; what a grasshopper knows, you're
struggling to figure it out. This is not fair. Hello? This is not fair to humanity. I want a higher opinion (Laughter). Hello, all of you (Laughs). Participant: Yes! Participant: So another topic that is like
very sensitive but, it's not talked about as much is casual relationships that exists
in this nice age group that we are in (Few laugh). So, yeah I'm just going to say good things
about us (Laughs). So, people engage in physical relationships
today and what they lack is a lot of emotions and we want to know if it's… it's opinion… I mean your opinion on it, and whether people
do it by choice, is it healthy, is it, you know, what to make of it? Sadhguru: Mhmm (Indicating agreement) Can
I tell you a joke? Participant: Yes, please (Few laugh). Sadhguru: There was one Mrs. Bhatia. No Bhatias (Laughter)? I could change the name (Few laugh). There was one Mrs. Bhatia, who is having her
fiftieth wedding anniversary. They had a wedding anniversary and the next
day she filed for divorce. The judge saw the divorce petition, he was
also a good family friend, so he called her and he said "Why, you want to divorce your
husband? He's such a sweet little thing (Few laugh). Why do you want to divorce him? On what grounds you want to divorce him?" She said "He's not been faithful to me, he's
been cheating me." "How do you come to this conclusion, just
yesterday you had your fiftieth wedding anniversary, you were fine yesterday, how do you conclude
this?" "I got little nostalgic and started flipping
through the photo album, then I saw none of my five children resemble him” (Laughter). So (Laughs)… See right now, do you… do you remember how your great, great, great,
great-grandmother ten generations ago looked like? You don't! But her nose is sitting on your face right
now. Your body remembers, yes or no? Participant: Yes. Sadhguru: Your body remembers even the skin
tone of your forefathers a million years ago, it still remembers, not forgotten. So, what you're calling as my body is an enormous
amount of memory, isn't it? What you carry in your brain as memory is
minuscule, what you carry in your body – there is evolutionary memory, there is genetic memory,
there is karmic memory, there are articulate and inarticulate levels of memory, there is
so much memory. You know… You think you know how to walk right now,
please understand only because your body has built up that memory, if your body forgets,
you won't be able to walk. So the amount of memory for every simple thing
that you do, you know what to eat, what not to eat, how to eat, you must put it in your
mouth, not in your ears. This may look funny but you would not know
if you don't remember. So your body is a repository of tremendous
amount of memory and it's picking up all the time. If you walk from here to here (Gestures),
there may be fifty different kinds of mild smells, you may not consciously notice but
the body is picking it up and it recognizes. All the time it's recognizing, that's how
you know what is good smell, what is bad smell, this is this smell, that is…You recognize
the different aspects of sound, smell, this, that because constant recognition is happening. So, this body memory, traditionally in this
culture, we called this as runanubandha. That means physical memory that you build. You can either consciously build your physical
memory or you can simply take in wild amounts of memory and go through lots of co… physical
confusion. So, wherever there is impact… I don't know if you still have these things,
maybe in you… your generation is gone, but still there will
be people in Bangalore City, if you ask them to… if you try to give them salt, they won't
take it, they'll say, "Keep it there." Hmm? If you try to give them sesame seeds, they
will say, "Please, keep it there," because they have recognized many substances which
can easily carry your memory and it will become mine if I take it. So, I don't want to take in memory. This is the reason why generally in this culture,
touching each other, shaking hands, these things are avoided. We touch our own two hands and do namaskaram,
because we don't want to go on picking up memory. Because if I as much as touch this, this memory,
it remembers. You… You try this with four of your friends, you
touch their hands. Don't try to consciously remember, every day
touch their hands, forget about it. Tomorrow, if that person comes and touches
you, you know it's this hand, isn't it? So, the body remembers, it's not the mind. The physical body remembers; this is called
as runanubandha. When there is a sexual interaction or there
is any kind of intimacy which involves thought, emotion and body, the amount of memory that
is left in your system is very big. It is from this context, they said, "You must
keep this as simple as possible." There are other aspects where in certain tantric
process and all they are involving, they are preparing themselves for years to distance
themselves from the body in such a way, that the body doesn't pick up anything from anywhere. This is being done like a sadhana, not as
sexual promiscuity. So, the question is not of morality, the question
is of what is it that you want to do with yourself in your life. If you want to be in such a way that in your
life, your inner intelligence will be the most dominant thing in your life, not your
physical body, then you must keep the body's memory as simple as possible. This is why simple types of food. You know, people go into very simple kind
of food, not complicated. Even now, I eat one meal a day, and I eat
only one item in the meal, I won't eat ten. I may eat all of those things another day,
but today I'll eat only one item because it makes a huge… Just experiment and see, don't go by m...
what I'm saying. Just experiment and see, especially when your
examination time comes, eat simple food and see what a difference it makes, for your intelligence
how it functions, how alert you are, everything. So, what is it that you are trying to build
yourself to? Do you want to build yourself to be a sexual
supernova or (Laughter)… No, I'm saying, some people may have that
intention. That's up to them. But what is it that you want to do with your
life, is something that you must decide. If you have decided that, it's very, very
important that you don't unconsciously pick up enormous amount of memory because this
will lead to… later on you will see, it'll become very difficult to remain peaceful and
joyful in your life. No matter what good things may be happening,
simply because there is confusing memories in the system. When something else of similar nature comes,
the body goes into a turmoil of confusion. It may not translate into your mind. Just physically, it will go on, so it's a
choice that one has to make. It's not a question of mo… morality, it
is a question of living sensibly (Applause). Participant: Thank you so much, Sadhguru. Now we shall be entering into the social media
questions that our students have been sending in. Sadhguru: Mhmm. Participant: So the first question is sent
in by Shivangi Sharma: "Lots have been spoken or debated about feminism. Girls are doing different things in the name
of feminism. Is there any meaning to feminism or are we
fighting a non-existent idea?" Sadhguru: See, there is a meaning to equal
opportunity for all human beings. You should not even consider their gender. "Women should have rights," I don't like that. All human beings should have equal opportunity,
and they should choose what they want to do. What a man wants to do, what a woman wants
to do, it's the choice of an individual. Just thinking, "All women are same, all men
are same," is a stupid idea. The requirement is not the same, the drives
are not the same, and aspirations are not the same. So, all women be like this, all women be like
that, this is a very… its… See, the… this is the problem, when something
is going wrong, people react to that, and they think they can correct it by reversing
everything. Reverse is not the answer, reaction is not
the answer. What you do in reaction will always lead to
one kind of injustice, will lead to another kind of injustice. There are various aspects attached to this,
but feminism – if you are importing it from United States – most of the feminists, they
didn't live well. They talked and talked and talked, and in
the end their life is empty, not because there is no man. You don't need a man, it's… it's your choice,
okay. But the problem is, constantly being in a
state of reaction doesn't need to… lead to well-being of a human being. This is one species. We should not forget this. These are not two species. This is one species. The species is made in such a way, that they
have to… there is only possibility to exist together. There is no other way. Question is, how much need you have for the
opposite gender or you don't have need for it, that's up to individual choices. But fundamentally, there is no such thing
as superiority or inferiority. Once again, this superiority business has
come or this male domination has happened in various societies, mainly because we made
economics the most important thing. Money is the only value. Now, the go-getter in the family is the only
value. Let me share this with you. My mother did not earn a rupee in her life,
and she didn't care about earning a rupee. But can you think that that family… can
you think of that family without her? Is it even a possibility? Rubbish! It's simply rubbish that somebody thinks,
"Oh, she didn't earn a rupee, so she must have been a slave, so she was a housewife. She worked all the time, nobody paid her." This is just stupid stuff, okay? Because money has become the greatest value… Right now, in this town, if you say, "There
is a big man," this doesn't mean he has a big body – we don't value them anymore. It doesn't mean he has a big brain or a big
heart or big something else. No! He just has big pocket! So this has to change in the society. If money is the only value, male is the only
value, I want you to understand this. Today, in the name of feminism, unfortunately,
a whole lot of women are desperately trying to be like men. It's not so much in India. If you look in, you know, business dis…
districts of United States and UK and other places, I feel terrible for these women. All the time, they have to be in a certain
way. It is so hard to be a woman in the western
countries these days. It… At one time, it looked like freedom. You will see, it is so extremely difficult
to be a woman, because she has to be always balancing on four… four inch heels, and
she has to be dressed like this, and she has to be… carry these bags like a man. Everything heavy, bags and computers, and
going here, going there, just doing the same stupid things that man is doing. All… This is all about how I earned a few dollars
more than another man. This is just a stupid way to structure life
both for a man and a woman. And for a woman, it will lead to lot more
suffering. Today, over forty years of age – I think
over forty-five years of age – forty-two percent of the women in America are on some
kind of antidepressants or something else. This doesn't speak well. This doesn't show that it's worked, isn't
it? Well, exploitation comes. Whoever is powerful tries to exploit. See, you must understand (Laughs), it is not
about a man or a woman – whoever has the power, tries to exploit. People are not trying to exploit the woman,
they will exploit another man also, a child… Why children are beaten in this world – simply
because they're small (Laughter). Hello? If your children were bigger than you, would
you beat them, I'm asking you? So anything that is weaker than you, somewhere
you think you must exploit. If this has to go, the front end of your life
should be your consciousness. Why consciousness is… See, when we sit here, your body is your body,
my body is my body, hundred percent. Till they bury us, we don't understand it's
the same stuff. Yes? When they bury us, we get it, it's the same
soil. But right now, this is me, that's you, hundred
percent. Now you are very cautiously agreeing-disagreeing,
because your mind is your mind, my mind is my mind. Yes (Laughs)? But when it comes to life, there is no such
thing as your life and my life. There is just life. This is a living cosmos. You captured a little bit of life, I captured
a little bit, somebody else captured a little bit. But it's like blowing soap bubbles. You blew soap bubbles when you were young? Participant: Yeah, yeah. Sadhguru: So you got only this (Gestures)
big bubble. Somebody got this (Gestures) big bubble. Same soap! Everybody has air in the lungs but one person
gets this big bubble, another person gets this big bubble. Why do you think? Tch, certain level of attention, isn't it? In blowing a simple soap bubble, there is
a certain methodology and a technique to it. Now you filled up this much, pupp it went. Then you can't say, "This is my air" (Laughter). There's no such thing. So, similarly as you sit here, there is your
body and my body, your mind and my mind, there's no such thing as your life and my life. If you put that as the front end of your life,
all this discriminations, prejudice, nonsense – your body will not work against you and
anybody, your mind will not against… work against you or anybody, your emotions will
not work against you or any muddy… anybody, because it is the identity which decides how
your mind functions, isn't it? Right now, this feminism is coming from, "I'm
identified as a woman." No, physically, you are a woman. It's fine. Fifty percent of the population should be
women, always. Always, it should be. That is good, but your identity need not be
hundred percent... You are identified as a woman at one level,
but your identity need not be one hundred percent with your female body, because this
means we are identifying with body parts. If we must identify with body parts, why choose
reproductive organs, at least choose the brains, hmm. But brain is my enemy (Laughter/Applause). Participant: Sir, this is another question
from Shruti. "This question is for Sadhguru, the style
icon…" Sadhguru: Ooh. Participant: "Nowadays, fashion is a multi-billion
dollar industry, at the same time, in the name of fashion, purely unappealing, gross
trends also come out. In the name of fashion, our cross… are crossing
a line, and how do we identify the line?" I'm sorry, I'm sorry – "are we crossing
the line, and how do we identify the line?" Sadhguru: What, the first sentence, withdraw
that one huh - I'm not a style icon or something (Laughs). See, for those of you who do not know this,
the third largest polluter on the planet is fashion industry, right now. It's estimated across the world, compared
to how many clothes, how much clothing our grand… grandparents had, how much clothing
we have is, on an average, five times more. All of you seeing that, isn't it? They're saying by 2025, that will double,
that means we will be ten times more than our grandparents. Out of this, all this cloth that we are wearing,
ninety-eight percent of it is now synthetic fiber. Only two percent is natural fiber. Out of this, ninety-five percent is poly-fiber. Poly-fiber has entered our bodies, has entered
the plants, has entered the animals, has entered the food chain, water, soil, everything. This is one thing that's gone under the radar. Everybody is trying to shoot at that little
plastic bag, which must be done, of course, but the poly-fiber cloth is the largest polluter
which is going under the radar. It is sitting on our clothing… on our bodies,
constantly polluting everything, because the micro-poly-fiber is just getting into everything. There are no poignant pictures of a turtle
being trapped in a plastic bag or something like that, but we are all those turtles, stuck
in these things. So one of the things that we are doing is…
you know, as you know from your history that India was the greatest supplier of textiles
to the rest of the world at one time. Sixty percent of the world's exports was Indian
textiles, three hundred years ago. It was systematically destroyed during the
British era. Over three to four million people died in
about fifty years, simply because the industry was systematically knocked down. And that's one reason why, when the English
left, nearly ninety-one or ninety-two percent of the people were in agriculture. Because all these weavers went back to agriculture
just for sustenance. That is why such small holdings all over the
place. And agriculture being in such disarray, one
reason is because of destruction of handloom industries, to a point where one of the governor-general
said, "The fields of India are bleached by the bones of the hand weavers," in nine… 1860, because millions died. So, having said that, we still have the skills. India is poised, if we do the right things,
to be able to clothe the world once again, in a sensible way, in a natural way (Applause). And in the sense, this can be economically
fantastic. We could completely stop farmer suicides and
the distress of the farmer, if part of the agriculture is towards generating natural
fiber. We have various natural fibers in this country. Fortunately, I am seeing the more high-end
fashion designers recently – I don't know if you saw we had conversation with Sabyasachi
– and people like this are promoting national… natural fiber. Well, now that you called me a fashion icon,
let me admit… admit this. In the month of October, we are having a fashion
show in New York City (Interjections)… Woo (Laughter)! This fashion show – I'm not going to walk
the ramp (Laughter), okay – this is not about showing the apparel, but this is about
exposing the top designers in America to Indian textile, the fabric. So thirty varieties of fabric we are… already
have… already transported to United States, it's waiting there. We're going to display this (Applause) and
give this… give this… give this material to them… of some part of it free of cost,
so that they can try what they want and to promote this. This could be a game-changer for India's economy. Participants: Yeah absolutely… yeah absolutely. Sadhguru: It need not necessarily be handloom. Even if it is machine-woven, but natural fiber. If natural fiber comes back, there is no other
nation on the planet which has the skills that we have. Over a hundred-and-twenty (Applause)… Over one-hundred-and-twenty distinct varieties
of weaves we have in this country. Nearly fifty of them will die anytime in the
next ten to fifteen years, because only one old person… one little couple are doing
something. Their children have become software engineers. And it will die in the next ten, fifteen years
unless we revive. Because we must understand this… I don't know if you've ever been to a handloom
weaving thing. Have you been there? Participant: Yes. Sadhguru: In Bangalore, there's lot of silk
saree weaving. You must go and see. At one time, you know, my father believed
that I will go into this. Because my family is… the larger family
was involved in silk weaving. So I went there to see. I was just seventeen. I wanted to see how they do it. I was, you know, cocky and like that (Laughs). He is working on the loom. They were weaving a silk saree. He's just doing choo choo choo choo choo choo
choo choo (Gestures) (Laughter). I'm just (Gestures). I… I think… At that time I think I'm smart. Then I realized, that's different (Few laugh). And I'm playing full attention and looking. (Audio disturbance). Simply he's doing this (Gestures). Simply one flower opens up in that cloth. Another flower opens up here. Geometrically perfect! If you have to put this into a software, it
will take so much effort. This guy has got it in his head, simply. So we have destroyed this mainly because of
compulsory education. Okay? If a child… if a son or a daughter with
their father or mother, goes to the loom or to the agricultural field to work with their
parents, the parents could be arrested because child labor. So we are determined to destroy all the skills
in the country, and have a millions of graduates who have the attitude of the educated, and
who don't know how to do a damn thing in their life (Laughter/Applause). So we pushed the education system towards
only fifty percent of the time that you spend in the school should be academics. Rest of the time in villages, agriculture,
craft, music, dance, folk arts, many things. For the first time the central government
announced about a month ago, fifty percent of the time is academics but to implement
that it will take… the way… the speed at which we move it may take ten, fifteen
years because infrastructure, training, you need teachers and everything. So coming to fashion, I think all of you must
be style icons in some way. That means you are not just imitating some
rubbish that some model or somebody does – something that fits you. Because each body is made differently, there
is a certain way to arrange the aesthetics for your own self, for your body and style
is also for your mind and emotion, isn't it? Not just about your body. So it must arrange itself like that and please…
maybe right now it's not possible for everybody, at least one day in a week, please wear natural
fiber. Hmm? Many farmers will not die if you do just this
one thing (Applause). At least one day in a wake… week, wear natural
fiber. You may save many farmers' lives because this
will be a steady market. If you grow more vegetables, it goes on the
street. If you grow less, there's… it's always a
struggle. But if part of it goes into producing natural
fiber as it used to be in this country… We were the largest cotton and jute manufacturers
in the world. But all wiped out. Time to get it back (Applause). Participant: So the next question is from
Uma. The question goes, "Life in cities have become
a nightmare for girls. Groping, hearing lewd comments in public transport
are a norm that girls have to put up with, and unfortunately don't raise their voice
against. What to do about such upsetting civilization
evils?" Sadhguru: It's an unfortunate reality. At that moment, I know what is the reaction
and what is it that we feel like doing, that's a different matter. But we must look at the larger picture. Why? Why is such a thing happening? See, this is because we are a society in transition. We have sort of given up our traditional ways
of doing things. We've not caught up with another way of doing
life totally. We're just hanging in between for too long. In the sense, probably thirty to forty percent
of the young people that you see in the cities are migrants. They have come from elsewhere. One thing is, when you're in a new place,
you can afford to be irresponsible. They won't behave like that in their own village,
okay? Because there are consequences. Here, they are new, and another thing we have
to address if we have to look at it compassionately is, if he was in his village, his mother,
his mousi, his athai, somebody, would be talking, "See, we are going to get you married to that
girl. See that girl? That is going to be your wife." Whether it's going to happen or not, that's
not the point. He thinks there is a solution for his hormonal
struggles (Few laugh). Yes! It's a reality. Come on! Between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five,
this is at its peak. So, even if there is no physical solution,
there must be a solution in thought and emotion that he knows that, you know – "This year
you are going to get married. No this year the crop is not good. Okay, you will get married next year." They may postpone it five years. But, he is living in that comfort that there
is a solution for him. You take that guy and transplant him into
Bangalore city. He's just a wild creature. He's living somewhere, ten people in one room. You know, day time one set sleeps, night time
another set sleeps in the same room. That's the living conditions, I'm saying. And there is no family. There is no any kind of balancing factor in
him. There's no society for him. It's just "dog-eat-dog-world" for him. And for his hormonal stuff, there is no solution. Nobody is telling him that girl is you…
you… for you. You know? His mind is going crazy. He watches movies. These days, pornographic stuff is all over
the place. He's watching it on the phone. So he thinks, this is what every girl wants. He's unable to think beyond that. You must understand his problem. See first of all, what puberty or adolescence
means is… See, when you were let's say ten, twelve years
of age, you looked at somebody, they were just fine. Suddenly you became fourteen, fifteen, your
intelligence got hijacked by your hormones. You look at somebody, every bump on their
body looks like a world by itself (Laughter). Yes, this is the reality. Now that guy who is transplanted from a village
to here and his idea of a woman was his mother or his mousi or somebody, now he is seeing
young girls here, the kind of girls that he only saw in movies, maybe. Now one drop of alcohol, the guy will pounce
on you. Little more push he needs. All these rapes and things you are seeing
is just this. Already he is out of control, he is somehow
holding himself. Put one or two drops of alcohol in his mouth,
boom, he'll go crazy. So this is an unfortunate situation. It's a cruel situation for him, it's a cruel
situa… situation for those who are victimized by him. But, we are a society in transition. It's time we address our issues directly. Don't go on thinking it'll get solved if we
close our eyes and sit. It doesn't get solved. So, as a society we must debate. Are you going to go back to, sixteen years
of age you can get married or are going to go back to a place where you will discuss
and see how to conduct this society? After all, there are young people, they have
their needs. How are you going to address this? We need to directly… head-on we must approach
it, not slinking around it. Not hiding behind religious books and this
and that – you need to address it. This is the issue, how to deal with it. If you don't do that, this is what they are
doing. See one thing is, when sun… such things
are done to you, how horrible you feel is one thing. But I want you to also think, how degenerate
does he feel doing these things? There is a certain degeneration. He can only do it when he believes he cannot
be caught, isn't it? Because there is a certain degeneration of
mind, essentially because it is just like a hungry child grabbing something and running
away to eat. He's in the same mode with his sexuality. So we need to address this. Very important, we address it. The sooner we address it, the better it is
(Applause). Participant: Thank you, Sadhguru. We have questions from the audience now. We will be taking questions from the audience. Logistic members, please help the audience. Sadhguru: Hey, you don't look like Mount Carmel
(Laughter)? Participant: There is a question on… on
top as well. Yes, please address it to Sadhguru. Participant (Harshita): Namaste, Sadhguru. Sadhguru: Namaskaram. Participant (Harshita): I'm Harshita. My question to you is, what do you think about
the concept of hell or heaven? Hell or heaven, what do you think about that
concept? Sadhguru: I heard it. I was just trying to figure out where you
are, what (Laughter)… is it heaven or… If you jump, it will be hell for sure (Laughter). Participant (Harshita): I won't do that (Sadhguru
laughs). Sadhguru: So, please sit down. Participant: Thank you, Harshita. Sadhguru: See, those who have made a hell
out of themselves, are always aspiring to go to heaven (Laughter/Applause). Yes. If I… If I'm sitting here, and… I am blissed out, totally. Look at my eyes, it looks like I am always
stoned (Laughter). Yes. Never touched a substance but this (Referring
to oneself) is the most complex chemical factory in the world, is that so? Do you agree with me? The question is only, are you a great CEO,
or a lousy CEO of this chemical factory. If you were a great CEO, you would keep this
(Referring to oneself) all the time blissed out. Right chemistry. If you're a lousy CEO, you produce bad chemistry,
and you think it's because of this one or that one or that one (Laughs). So for some reason, people are feeling miserable. Their chemical factory is not going the way
they want. They can call it sadness, they can call it
misery, they can call it depression. I know in Bangalore, a whole lot of people
are against me, continuously trying to troll me because of depression business. I'm saying again, for those activists – I'm
saying again, if you know how to manage your chemistry, your depression will go. Even if you go to the doctor, he is only giving…
going to give you chemicals, isn't it? So do you think the pharmaceutical industry
that they are using there, has better chemical structures than my body? You believe that? That means you're a vested interest, you have
investments in pharma industry (Laughs). So, when this is feeling like hell, we hope
that somewhere, when we go up there – how are you feeling out there, huh (Laughter)
– that everything will be fantastic. (Talks aside: What's her name, Arpita? Harshita. Harshita.) "Harshita" means, you know, blissed out (Laughter). So this happened. This happened in Alabama. You know Alabama state? It's a special state. It's a different kind of state – hardcore
religious state. So in a Sunday school, a Sunday school teacher
was going all out, full rhetoric, full force. And unfortunately, the audience were not like
you, they were all tiny tots. It's a "catch-them-young" policy. In his full rhetoric he was going, and children
were sitting like this (Gestures). Suddenly, he stopped, for dramatic impact. He stopped and he said, "What do you have
to do to go to heaven?" Little Mary in the front bench, stood up and
said, "If I mop the church floor every Sunday morning, I will go to heaven." "Absolutely!" Another little girl out there said, "If my… If I share my pocket money with my less-privileged
friend, I will go to heaven." "Correct!" Another boy said, "If I help people who are
in need, I will go to heaven." "Correct!" Little Tommy in the back bench stood up and
said, "You got to die first" (Laughter/Applause). Well that's a qualification. If you want to go to heaven, you got to die
first. So when you die, depending on your culture,
we will either bury you or burn you or cut you and throw you to the birds. Yes, one of these things we will do, depending
on the culture. So one thing is very clear, you will put your
body back into the earth, and it's a very eco-friendly thing to do. If you've not done anything in your life eco-friendly
(Laughter), that is one act which will be good. You should not take your body and go. You must put it back into to the earth because
this belongs to the earth. So you left your body and went to heaven. You know what is in heaven, Harshita? No? You know (Gestures)? Participant: No. Sadhguru: Okay, okay (Laughs). So, what is in heaven? In Hindu heaven, food is very good (Laughter). If you're a foodie, you must go to Hindu heaven. Nala himself will cook personally for you. He's the greatest chef. If you go to another kind of heaven, white-gowned
ladies will float around in the clouds (Laughter). If you like that kind of ambience, you go
there (Laughter). If you go to another heaven, you will have
virgin problems. If that's what you're looking for, you go
there. But, you went there without the body. What do you do with good food and virgins,
I'm asking? Hello (Laughter)? You don't have a body, these are all bodily
problems, isn't it? No body, what do you do with food and virgins? In the Hindu way of life, there is a thing,
up there in Heaven, there is an akshaya patra. How much ever you eat, food will always be
full. Well, when you go without a body, food will
always remain full in the vessel and they will always remain virgins (Cheers/Applause). So, we have been doing this for a long time. This was one simple way. You must understand the managerial skills
of the traditional people. This was a way of managing humanity. You're miserable "Ayyo," "Don't worry, when
you go there, everything will be okay" (Few laugh). Solace. So if it is a psychologist saying these things,
it's okay. But you really made them believe everything
is going to be better somewhere, you can mess up your life here, that's not good. Somebody is in deep state of suffering, "Don't
worry, when you go and sit in God's lap, everything will be okay." It's a psychological tool. It's fine in… when people are in extreme
states. But don't brand it and sell it everywhere
because it's not going to work like that. So now heavens are collapsing in people's
minds. Why there is such an increase of consumption
of alcohol and drugs on the planet, is mainly because still people are not articulating
it but in their minds, heavens are collapsing. How many of you are thinking, "One day when
I go to heaven, everything will be fantastic?" Not many of you, I'm sure. But in the previous or the previous generation
if you had looked, the numbers were quite significant. So heavens are obviously collak… collapsing
in human mind, because if you ask three questions, all the three heavens will collapse (Laughs). Yes. So now, once human intellect became active,
inevitably it'll ask questions. If you ask questions, these things will collapse. So people are trying to have alternatives
right here, that they are getting drunk and drugged right here. So this is the moment, all of you young people
must understand this, at this point of time if we don't raise human consciousness in a
big way, if you don't teach people how to sit here absolutely blissed out by your own
nature, believe me in another fifty to seventy years' time, at least ninety percent of the
human population will be on some kind of chemical. To be healthy they need chemicals, to be peaceful
they need chemicals, to be joyful they need chemicals, for everything they need chemicals. I want you to know this – seventy percent
of US population is on prescription medication. The most affluent nation on the planet! Why does (do?) individuals and societies seek affluence? Because the first step of affluence is choice
of food, choice of nourishment. The second step of affluence is choice of
lifestyles. The most incredible variety of food is in
front of you and enormous lifestyle choices are there and in this society seventy percent
of the people are on pharmaceutical… you know, prescription medication. This clearly shows if you do economic development
without also cultivating human consciousness, our wealth will become our biggest problem. So, we are still on the threshold of economic
development. This is the time, where we have to invest
in evolving human consciousness. For all this, previous question, the problems
that you asked and everything, fundamentally evolution of human societies need to happen. But there is no such thing as a society, there
is just you and me. It's only individual people, if you and me
evolve, society is evolved, world has evolved, isn't it? Society is only abstract. It is actually all of us individuals, isn't
it? So if individual evolution in terms of becoming
conscious doesn't happen, you will see ninety percent of the population will fall into chemicals. When they fall into chemicals – I'm not
talking about this as a moral thing – if ninety percent of the human population goes
on constant usage of chemicals, the next generation that we produce, will be a generation which
will be much less than who we are and that's a crime against humanity. Every generation, the next generation that
comes must be at least one notch better than who we are. If we produce a generation less than us, then
we have committed a crime against humanity. We have taken humanity backwards and that
is what will happen if chemical usage multiplies and it is going wild. This is the time to raise consciousness, that's
why we are here with you (Applause) to… to blow your mind without cocaine (Few laugh). Participant: I think Anjali has a follow up
question to that, so post her question, we will continue taking questions from the audience. Participant (Anjali): So, just going back
a little. So psychology and psychiatry has been held…
infamously held by the neck because of pills. It's something that, you know, has been like
a raising concern in everybody's mind because at least that stigma of going to counselors
have fortunately come down a little but the fact that people go to psychiatrists and the
fact that they are prescribed pills is somehow still there. And the fact of the matter is that when…
when a patient is put on pills, it's… it's not the be all and end all of it. They do not stick to their pills for the rest
of their lives. They're put on the pills so that the psychotherapy
or like the therapy works on them and little by little they're actually put off the pills
and, you know, until and unless that entire procedure of putting you off the pills and
making you independently live without the pills happen, the… the procedure is incomplete. Unfortunately a lot of these procedures are,
you know, left halfway because, you know people do not complete the term of, you know, their
therapy but the entire science behind it… Sadhguru: You're telling me... I am not... I am not rubbishing the science. I did not rubbish the science, I only said
somewhere in a quote, not even a saying, somewhere past quote that was put out, I said "If things
are going wrong with your life it's bad enough. If you get depressed you're only multiplying
the problem." For this, the activists have been… You also? You also? Okay. Okay, I'll explain that. I very much understand, I'm closely associated
with various people who are in the profession and there are many people. Because every day I'm meeting thousands of
people, not everybody is perfectly sane, lot of them go off, they need doctor's help, everything. It's not we're discounting that but if you
do not bring the fundamental responsibility in every human being, that their physical
and mental health is their business, if you do not bring this from an early age, you will
see lot more people will go off. Don't think everybody is pathologically ill. No. Those who are pathologically ill, without
medication for periods of time, they may not be able to come out at all, some of them will
never come out – that is also there, that is a different matter. But we're talking about all the fringe kind
of madness, which all of us have. I can also drive myself into depression, something
that I want doesn't happen… Everybody can (is?) capable of driving themselves
into depression, isn't it so? Is it possible or not? Participant (Anjali): So, what you're saying
is depression is a choice? I mean, is that what you're saying, you think
depression is a choice? Like there might be... Sadhguru: See, please understand, there are
some who are pathologically ill, it gets them in spite of themselves. But many of them push themselves into it. Suppose you get very angry, what is the expression
you use, "I'm mad at you!" So consciously, willingly, you're getting
mad because you get some results in the society. If you keep trying it, because the line between
sanity and insanity is so thin, if you push, push, one day you will cross. There are many, many, many people in the world
who need not be ill, both physically and mentally, not just mental illness I am talking. Both physically and mentally, they need not
be ill. See, right now, for last fifty years, some
millions of cardiac surgeries have been done, today surgeons are clearly telling you if
you go off red meat, you eat the right food, if you exercise, you will not come for the
surgery table. Is that against your cardio… cardiology? Why is psychology such an insecure profession
(Laughs)? Participant (Anjali): Absolutely not (Sadhguru
laughs). There's just one last thing that I will add
before we move on for the next question. There's a certain diagnostic criteria for... So, I might be sad, I might be extremely sad
but that does not mean that I am depressed, I am entitled to my sadness… Sadhguru: Who… See, who doesn't know this? Do I look so simplistic that I don't understand
somebody is sad and somebody is depressed? But is it possible that many people push themselves
into depressive states at certain times in their life, and the same people also came
out in a determined way, is it there? Thousands of them? Is it there or no? Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: Many of them. So if I say it is open, everybody need not
end up with chemicals, maybe it's against a particular profession but we're talking
for humanity. Participant: Thank you, Sadhguru, although
I don't think Anjali is fully convinced on the answers tangent. Questions will be taken from the audience. Yes sir. Can the sir please be given a mike? Sadhguru: How… How do you get fully convinced or not convinced
on a fact? If it's a opinion, you can be convinced or
not convinced. Is it a fact that many of you I am saying,
most of you are young, you have not seen much life but even in this little life that you
have seen, there were moments when you crossed your sadness and became depressed for a few
days? Has it happened to you? Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: And most of you have come out of
it without anybody's help or maybe with a friend or a somebody who mentored you a little
bit. Have you? Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: These are facts, these are not opinions
(Applause). Interviewer: All right, yes, question please
sir. Please switch on the mike. Participant (Ujwal): Namaste, Sadhguru. My name is Ujwal Bijen. I'm just a visitor but I've been quite a lot
following you and your teachings. Just one question in mind. In today's day and age, where students are
very well connected on social media and there are a number of ideas which have been shared
on social media, we both on and off social media; the main question which I want to ask
is, many people find that there are an array of conflicting ideas which are floating around
in social media, and sometimes… many a times these ideas are equally appealing as to the
conflicting idea. So, my question is, how can we be sure that
we're making the right decision and we're going to go on the right path? Sadhguru: Okay. Interviewer: Thank you, sir. Sadhguru: Now, once you say there is a right
path and a right decision, you are trying to make a world full of fanatics. There is no right decision in your life. Whatever stupid decision you take, if you
put your mind, heart, and soul in it and make something out if it, it may turn out into
a great thing. "Is this the right thing I did?" Who is to decide what is the right thing you
did? The question is…That's why I said even when
it came to education, the question is not about what subject you're studying, you're
sitting in class or under the tree, where, but is your student life being spent in a
focused way, or is it loose – that's the question. So there is no right thing to do. But if you put you have... everything that
you have into it, it becomes a great thing to do. So, right decision, right path, the moment
you fix those things, we will become fanatical and you will see nobody will be right, everybody
will pretend to be right and that's a world we have created for a long time, it's time
to change that. Participant: Questions from the audience,
please. Vrinda: Namaskaram Sadhguruji! I am Vrinda. So my question is how can one spend a balanced
time in academics and spirituality or maybe career and spirituality? Sadhguru: See, anything that you do with your
body is connected to time, it takes time. You want to run, you want to walk, you want
to do this or that, everything takes time. What you do with your mind also takes time
but not to the same extent enslaved to time. Physically, you know all this timings, Mr.
Bolt runs something in nine seconds means because fa… body and time are related because
our sense of body… I mean our sense of time is only because of
our body. You don't have to look at your watch to know
what is the time. If you observe your bladder, you know how
many hours you have been sitting here (Laughter). I am saying our sense of time is essentially
because of body. We had sense of time even before the watch
came, isn't it? Because physical is keeping time always. How long you can sit here, how long you can
walk, how long you can do something – everything is decided by time. Time may be a relative experience at different
times, you have seen at a certain time when you are very joyful one day, twenty-four hours
poof, went like a minute. Another day you are little depressed… I am sorry, clinically depressed (Laughter/Applause),
then that one day feels like a whole lifetime. See when we are very miserable for some reason,
that one day… hey, I am not picking on you, I am just joking with you, okay (Few laugh). I'll come for counseling (Laughter). It's okay, right? Participant: Yeah, it is. Sadhguru: So, when somebody is very miserable,
you will see time just won't roll. So time is a very relative experience but
still it's very directly connected to our body. If we did not have a body, suppose you don't
have a body, you sit here for 10,000 years, what's the problem? Isn't it? So when it comes to the mind, it is not as
much enslaved to time as your physical body but mind also has time. But there are dimensions within you which
are not related to time. So, this thing about right path, wrong path,
all these things, largely relates itself to body because it takes time, it takes away
life. If you just take a wrong turn, it will take
away life. Maybe you lost half an hour but you lost not
half an hour of time, you lost half an hour of life, isn't it? So when it comes to physical things we must
be little conscious of which turn to take because it takes away our time. Mentally you can take any turn you want, whichever
way you want because it doesn't take much time. So when you talk about spiritual process,
it doesn't take time at all, it's an inner dimension which doesn't relate to time. So your education… you may be studying,
you may be running, you may be working – to be spiritual, it doesn't take time. Only little initial guidance may take time,
afterwards it doesn't consume time because it's not physical in nature. Participant: Thank you so much, Sadhguru. We will be taking the last question from the
audience. Yes ma’am, please. Participant (Raman): Namaskaram Sadhguru! Sadhguru: Where are you? Okay. Participant (Raman): My name is Raman and
my question is that at a point of… at some point or some other point, all of us we feel
kind of lost like we are not connected to something or this idea of not belonging anywhere. So what is that phase and how can we come
out of it? Sadhguru: That's called freedom (Laughter)! Yes. See, people are always talking about freedom
but they are always thinking how to bind themselves to something or somebody. If you're really lost in your life, you are
absolutely free, isn't it? Hello? No? So, freedom is a territory which needs lot
of maturing and culturing to handle, otherwise people doing compulsive things, they are thinking
they are free. These are compulsive things. Somebody is drinking, if you say "Why… why
don't you not drink today, you can do it tomorrow?" "Why? Don't I have the freedom to drink?" No it's compulsive. If you are calling your compulsiveness as
freedom, it's very unfortunate. You've lost all your freedom in compulsiveness. So, freedom is that kind of a territory where
you have to culture yourself, mature yourself to exist free. Everybody… I think at some point… We provide these opportunities for young people
to come and just be by yourself. No compulsive talking, no phone, no drink,
no nothing, simple, you eat what you want for nourishment and then simply be. Everybody must spend at least a little bit
of time like this because only then you understand how compulsive you are. Unfortunately we are translating compulsiveness
as some kind of a goal in our life or freedom in our life, no! See if you want to get somewhere in your life,
get somewhere does not mean be better than somebody, do this, earn this, that. No! As a life your experience of life should become
a fantastic experience. So right now all the crazy things that people
are doing in their life, why? They drink, sexuality, temple, this, meditation,
whatever they are doing, why are they doing? Because they want their experience of life
to become pleasant. Yes or no? Somebody hits the bottle, somebody hits somebody
else and somebody does something else, but essentially looking for pleasantness. If your body becomes pleasant, we call this
health. I am talking yoga now to you, officially (Few
laugh). If your body becomes pleasant, we call this
health. If it becomes very pleasant, we call it pleasure. If your mind becomes pleasant, we call this
peace. If it becomes very pleasant, we call it joy. If your emotions become pleasant, we call
it love. If it becomes very pleasant, we call it compassion. If your very life energies become pleasant,
we call this blissfulness. If it becomes very pleasant we call it ecstasy
(Applause). If… If your surroundings become pleasant, we call
this success. Only for this last one, to make our surroundings
pleasant, we need the cooperation of many forces around us, many things have to fall
into place. But to keep your body pleasant, mind pleasant,
emotion pleasant, your life energies pleasant, it's one hundred percent your business. Not good for the business (Laughter). Isn't it one hundred percent your business
to keep this body, this mind, this emotion and this energy pleasant within yourself? If these things are pleasant, right now you
sit here and you're blissed out. Now what will you do with your life? What do you think you will do? Hmm? Participant: Probably nothing. Sadhguru: Really? Okay. She's saying "probably I'll do nothing." I am asking all of you, tell me on a day when
you are very happy are you willing to do lot of things or a day when you are depressed
you are willing to do lot of things? Participant: Happy! Sadhguru: When you are happy you are willing
to bend backwards and do everything possible. When you are little unhappy, how difficult
it is to move you, isn't it? So why do you say if you are blissed out you
will do nothing? It is just that you will no more be a vested
interest. You are not in pursuit of happiness, your
life is an expression of your bliss. Now what will you do? You will do what's needed. Every human being should be doing what is
needed, isn't it? Right now they are trying to milk happiness
from the world, destroying the world in the process, completely destroying the world. See, today what is it that these ecological
disasters unfolding, what do you think it is? In pursuit of human happiness, isn't it? Nothing else. In pursuit of human happiness, we have turned
this planet into a bonfire (Laughs) and people are not even happy (Laughs). Forget about being happy, most people are
in different state of struggles. So, it's very, very important what is in your
hands, first all those things must be taken charge of. What we do in the world, let us see to what
extent the world allows us to do it. Your body, your mind (Few laugh), your emotions
and your energies must take instructions from you. Isn't it so? Hello (Applause)? Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: Right now, it is taking stimuli
and instructions from all sorts of people. So wh… how the hell do you think you will
go where you want in your life when somebody else and somebody else can make this body…
this person do whatever they want. At least what happens within you must be determined
by you. What happens around you, it'll never be hundred
percent determined by you. If you work hard, little more influence, otherwise
little less influence but never hundred percent. Outside situations will always be like that
and they should be l… like that because if the whole world happens the way you want,
then where do I go? Little bit your way, little bit my way, little
bit somebody else's way, it's fine. But what happens here (Referring to Oneself),
must be my way (Applause). If this one thing happens your way, will you
keep yourself blissful, miserable, depressed, what? So essentially you must understand, you can
call it stress, anxiety, misery, depression, whatever you call it, essentially your intelligence
has turned against you, that's all that's happened to you. Because there is no any kind of knowledge
in your education system from ABC to till this day, how to take charge of the faculties
that you have within yourself, there is no addressing it at all. If you address it, people say oh you are archaic
(Laughs). Tch… This has become the norm in the country, if
you say you need to do something with yourself; no, no, no, we do everything outside. No, you need to do something with yourself
because otherwise you will not happen the way you want yourself to be, that's a disastrous
life (Applause). Participant: Thank you so much, Sadhguru. It's an absolute pleasure having a conversation
with you. Sadhguru: Can I have free consultation? Participant: Yes (Laughter). I am sure Anjali would make arrangements for
that. (General conversation – not transcribed). I am so sorry there is a constraint of time. I apologize for the inconvenience. Sadhguru: She is the elected leader here,
you can't go beyond that (Laughter). (General conversation – not transcribed) Sadhguru: You must ask her, she is the elected
leader here. Participant: I can't crossover my dean, so
go for it (Sadhguru laughs), please ask the question. Participant (Shoropratum Mukherjee): Pranam
Sadhguru. I am from West Bengal, my name is Shoropratum
Mukherjee. I have been following you for last three months… Sadhguru: Was that a warning (Laughter)? Shoropratum Mukherjee: No, no, why, why sir? I have been following you for several, last
few months and I have been watching your videos and literally I can say that I am your fan
but I have… what… have one question that I have noticed that you have said that whatever
we accumulate in our life, like salary, our reputation, our wealth, our body fat also
it's all…we can say that it's mine but it's not me, you say, I have seen this and it's
extremely logical, sure. I can say that the house is mine but that's
not me, I can say that the body is mine but that's not me. Then what is me? Then what is me? If we… If I release whatever I earned, if I release
whatever (Applause) I earned, then what is me, what is my existence? That's what I want to know. Sadhguru: Hey, why you're asking me, huh (Laughter)? Please sit down. Well, what is you (Few laugh)? Right now what you think is me is just a bundle
of thought, emotions, ideas, prejudices, philosophies, ideologies, a hotchpotch of many things that
you picked up. You are a scrapbook – tch, that doesn't
sound good? No, you are a cocktail (Laughter). Shall we upgrade him a little more? Participant: Upgrade him. Sadhguru: You are a bouquet of flowers (Laughter). All right. So what is you? This happened at the Cincinnati airport in
Ohio, United States. People had lined up to check in at the air…
airline ticket booth. One man just skipped the line and came straight
in the front and thrust his ticket. The lady at the counter, she said, "Sir, there
is a line." He said, "No, no, I am in a hurry." She said, "Everybody is in a hurry, you are
on the same plane, (Laughs) please stand in the line." Then he said, "Do you know who I am?" She looked at him, promptly picked up the
microphone and said, "There is a man here who does not know who he is, can somebody
help him” (Laughter)? So, "who am I" is not a question that you
ask somebody. It's a question that you ask yourself. Make it more and more profound (Applause). If… if you had stood up… this is like
a… What you are asking is like a morning prayer,
you know, how people pray. If you go and learn one mantra "Nmm, numm,
numm" your child is doing "Aye chuhuuu!" (Makes funny sounds) and phone also you can
attend in between. These days (Laughter) even in the temple,
priest is attending the phone in between (Laughter), all this. This happened closer to Christmas, a lady
in Minnesota was praying, it was overheard by the neighbors. She was praying, "Dear god, please this time…
last time that old fool Santa Claus came and he mistook my prayers. What I want is a thin slim body and a fat
bank balance, last time he mistook this" (Laughter). Why I am saying this is, you please look at
all the prayers on the planet, "Dear god give me this, give me that, save me, protect me." Does it look like something divine or does
it look like simple survival? Survival outsourced (Laughter)! To survive on this planet you just need four
limbs and a few brain cells which work (Few laugh). So right now, "Sadhguru, all that is okay
but I want to know who I am!" This whole "Who am I" business became very
popular because of Ramana Maharishi, you know. You've heard of Ramana Maharishi? He's not a Bengali (Laughter). So, Ramana said "Who am I" and sat down there. People today think they don't have to do anything,
if they once in a way ask somebody, “Who I… who am I?” They think they're being spiritual. I was… I was teaching a program in Los Angeles. There's a bunch of people, about hundred-and-fifty
people, all prominent people, many of them from the Hollywood crowd and a whole lot of
young women were looking similar. They… They are not sisters, they have the same doctor
(Laughter). And… (Applause), and then one of them say, "Sadhguru…" I am just teaching them a simple twenty-one
minute practice.” Why? To turn you inward because you are asking
this question out, you will not find anything. If I tell you, “You are an atman, paramatman,”
nonsense, where does it take you? Just more vocabulary (Few laugh). See if I tell you, “You are a soul, you
are a divine entity, you are atman, you are paramatman,” you didn't get anywhere. You just got more nonsensical vocabulary. That's all you got! So I said, "We are teaching you a simple process,
twenty-one minutes how to turn inward." "But you are telling us all this twenty-one
minutes we have to do all this but Ramana Maharishi said, ‘You don't have to do anything.’" Tch, (Laughs) I said, "Whoa, whoa, Ramana
got to Los Angeles?" But Ramana did nothing, that's a fact. He simply sat like that (Gestures) cross-legged. Simply, doing nothing, absolutely. Rodents came and bit and ate his flesh, it
festered wounds, became worm infected, he simply sat doing nothing. If you can do that kind of doing nothing,
immediately there is an answer, all right? But now in California they are made like this,
if a mosquito bites they'll call 911 (Laughter). Yes, that's how it is. In this state you don't ask. So right now if this is an existential question,
this is not a small question. You don't know who you are, is it a small
problem? Hmm? It is a fundamental problem, isn't it? And you are getting up and introducing yourself,
where you… Bengal you've come from and everything and
now you are asking the question – the question has not matured yet. If you stood up and you could not ask question
and tears came to you, I would have answered this question completely differently. But now it's a joke, so I am joking with you. Is that okay? Hmm? Question is there, it's a good thing the question
is there but the question needs sharpness to penetrate. It still doesn't have enough intensity that
it can penetrate something. It's right now a casual question. So, right now I can tell you something, who
you are but it's not in your experience. If I tell you something which is not in your
experience, what can you do? You can believe it or you can disbelieve it. If you believe it, you are not any closer
to it; if you disbelieve it, you are not any closer to it. If you believe me, you can go and tell some
fancy positive story. If you disbelieve me, you can go and tell
some negative story about me. But you have not moved an inch, isn't it? So if you genuinely… if this question is
burning within you, if tonight if this question bothers you so much you cannot sleep, you
cannot sit, you cannot stand, if it bothers you like that, then you come, I'll give you
something else. Something totally different (Applause). Sadhguru: To all the young women because you
are calling yourself millennials, so I am thinking you are all eighteen. So (Laughs)… to all of you, the simple thing
is this, do whatever the hell you want but do it well, hmm. That's all that matters (Cheering/Applause).