Sadhguru at NID Ahmedabad – Youth and Truth [Full Talk]

Moderator (Adhrik): Good evening one and all. We are grateful to have Sadhguru to address us in the session – Chalo ikne batein ho jaye. Today the moderators are Vaibhav, Prathiti and myself, Adhrik. Sadhguru: Hey, you got only one fan (Laughs). Moderator (Adhrik): When asked to this community about questions, we received a plethora of it. We handpicked a few which were relevant to this session, and we'd request Sadhguru to address it. Sadhguru: Can I say a few words before the questions? Moderators: Sure. Sadhguru: No. Can I say a few words before the questions? Moderators (Adhrik): Yeah, sure sir (Laughter). Sadhguru: Well, namaskaram, good afternoon to everyone (Cheer). So, why this Youth and Truth, how did it come about. In the last thirty-six years, wherever I go, one constant refrain has been, people always asking me this question, thousands of them, "Sadhguru, when I was twenty, where the hell were you? You come when I'm sixty, what I'm supposed to do? If you had come when I was twenty, I would have done this with my life, that with my life, so many things." So, this has been bothering me for some time, that I didn't get to their life soon enough. So, I thought we will step out and meet people below twenty-five years of age in this country, largely. And... When we say life, we can imagine many things, but essentially our life is just a combination of certain amount of time and energy. Time, as we sit here, is rolling away for all of us at the same pace. If we do something, it rolls; if we don't do something, it rolls; if you are awake, it rolls; if we sleep, it rolls. Awake or asleep, it just going away. As we sit here, what's ticking away is not the watch, what's ticking away is our life. When we are young we may not think about it, but slowly, if you take up a lot of things to do, one thing that you will see is always scarce is time. It's just going away. In Southern Indian languages, it's very appropriately said, that when we say somebody is dead, we say kalamaitaanga. It means, "His time got over," which is a perfect description. All that happened is somebody's time got over. When we are here, we are thinking we are immortal, at least people are going about as if they are immortal. But countless number of people like you and me have walked this planet and now (Laughs) they are all topsoil. Unless somebody chooses to bury you very deep, this (Referring to oneself) will also become topsoil. So time – we cannot do anything about it, it's running away. But how we manage our energies will determine the scale and scope of our lives. This segment of life which we are referring to as youth, it is in this segment of life that human energy is at its highest exuberance. Most youth do not understand this – they think they are going to be like this forever. You must pay attention to little older people, how they walk, how they sit, how they do things. You will understand that this exuberance of youth that you are experiencing right now, is not forever – it is only in this segment of life. So when your energies are like this, I thought, if we could be of some help to bring clarity and balance into this… this exuberance of energy, this could become a phenomenal process. Life can become a phenomenal process. Tell me if my percentages are wrong – because you are living... I mean, you are staying in a premier institution, you may have different ideas of percentage – but I travel around the world, what I see is every human being has a certain innate genius in them. But I would say not even one percent of human genius finds the necessary ambience both external and internal to unfold itself. Very few people are fortunate that they have an inner ambience and they also found an external situation where they can blossom, allow their genius to blossom. We want to create a great society, a great nation, a great world. There is no way to do it except by creating great human beings. And that will only happen if we create an inner ambience and an external ambience where human genius can unfold. External ambience will depend on societies, situations, institutions, families, so many things – that's not in our control. But we could definitely create an inner ambience where you are not the obstacle in your life. In your life, you should never become the obstacle. Somebody else will take that privilege (Laughs), they will exploit that in many ways, but I should not be the obstacle in my life. This much every human being can do, it's in this direction, with this intention, this Youth and Truth has been unfolded. And this month is closing and after that every three months we are doing different universities across the world. The idea is to assimilate every kind of question that youth can ask on this planet and see, in what sensible ways we can address this. Please don't hesitate to participate, you can ask any kind of question. Thank you. Moderator (Vaibhav): Namaskaram, Sadhguru. So the first question is… Sadhguru: I have seen people answering the... copying answers, but I never seen anybody copying questions (Laughter). Moderator (Vaibhav): Yeah, so, there is a statement, and it is from a book called Angels and Demons, which is very popular book among the youth. Sadhguru: Mhmm (Indicating Agreement). Moderator (Vaibhav): And the statement is, "Science is too young to understand religion." So being a mystic, what is your understanding about science, and the relationship between science and religion? Sadhguru: Science is too young to understand religion? Moderator (Vaibhav): Understand religion, yes. Sadhguru: See, when you say – let's get to the fundamentals – when you say "Religion," when somebody says, "I am religious," they always refer to themselves as believers, right? That means they believe something. What does believing something mean? Well, something that you do not know – because of a certain cultural ambience or a family ambience or a group of friends can get together and they believe something. Belief essentially means, something that you do not know, you assume, gather enough people around you and concretize that as the reality. If you want to believe something, you always need company, you need a flock around you. If you're alone and you believe something, you will look stupid. You need company, you need thousand people who believe the same thing, only then it feels like a great thing, because belief will give you confidence without clarity. If you believe something, suddenly you are confident, but there is no clarity. Confidence is not a substitute for clarity. Confidence without clarity is actually a disaster – it's one of the worst human disasters, that people have confidence when they can't see clearly, is a great disaster. Much suffering has unfolded out of this for humanity – for individual people, and for the larger humanity so much has been done. So why do people believe something? Fundamentally, you are not sincere enough to admit, "I do not know." "I do not know"… The value of "I do not know" has not been realized. Only when you see "I do not know," the longing to know, the seeking to know, and the possibility of knowing, becomes a living reality in your life. Everything that you do not know you believe, it will give you confidence. If everybody around you believes the same thing, it feels like a fantastic thing. But if you are the only one who believes that, you will feel like an idiot, yes or no? So by gathering a group or by attesting what you believe to something else – something that you considered as an authority – you have made authority the truth. Well, truth should be the only authority, if you want to move forward with life. But at the same time, these belief systems which you refer to as various religions on the planet, have worked wonderfully to provide solace to people. So there are two different things in one's life – are you seeking solace or are you seeking a solution for your life. If you are seeking a solution, you must seek the truth. If you are seeking solace, belief works very well. Or in a way, it's a mass psychiatry, and it's inexpensive and it works pretty good. So, I wouldn't disturb it, simply – uprooting it will freak a lot of people – but should we evolve beyond that, definitely we should. But science, as you know it today, does it know everything? No, it’s instruments of knowing are very simplistic, and it is struggling. The only reason science is as important as it is, is simply because the spill-out of technology. So science has taken great steps, but still their instruments of perception or what they're using as their fundamental logic and what is being done, is very simplistic. Today modern physicists have come to this and they are clearly saying, "We not only do not know, we will never know!" They understand with these instruments, they cannot go further than where they are. But with the physical world, they've done a fantastic job. Knowing the life itself – no; with the physical world they've done a great job. So, what comes out of science... Can I tell you a joke? It's okay? Story? Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: You all right? Because you look so serious, all of you, it scares me (Laughter). (Laughs) You know, this happened in 2050, a group of scientists got an appointment with God. And they went there, they told him, "See, hey God, you've done quite well till now with creation, your design is quite good. But everything that you can do, we can do. It's time you retire." So, God asked, "Is that so, what is it that you can do?" So they said, "See we can make life, what more than that?" God said, "Okay, give me a demo." They took a bit of soil and did whatever they had to do, many things, and after some time, this little baby started crying – came alive. God said, "That's quite impressive, but first get your own soil” (Laughter). We are forgetting that we are standing on a very small context and making conclusions about everything in the universe. So that is science problem. The problem of the religion is, they know everything without knowing a thing. So how do you arrive at these things? (Laughs) I had a really nasty joke, but you look like a nice guy (Laughter). So (Laughs), let me downgrade the joke. This happened, in New York City, a (an?) eight-year-old boy got home from school, one afternoon. He had a very progressive mother at home. Obviously, she was single (Laughter), and he came home and asked, “Mom, is God a man or a woman?” You know, this is a big debate in America. Is God a man or a woman? They tried to settle this in the last election (Laughter). And you know what happened? So she thought through this gender politics that is going on in the country, after much thinking, she said, “Both.” Then the boy went into deep thinking. After thinking for a while, he came back and asked, “Mama is God black or white?” This is also a big debate. The racial debate is a very big debate. So after thinking through everything, all the racial politics in the country, she said, “Both.” The boy went into very profound thinking. Then he came back and asked, “Mama, is God straight or gay?” She thought through all the politics involved with that aspect of life and then she said, “Both.” The boy jumped in joy, “I got it, I got it, it’s Michael Jackson” (Laughter). I don't know how you arrived at your beliefs. But I think, I think it's so human and so wonderful of you to see, “What I know, I know. What I do not know, I do not know.” Because ‘I do not know’ is the greatest possibility in your life. Only if you see ‘I do not know’ the possibility of ever knowing opens up. Everything you do not know if you believe it's gone. So the question is not this or that, it is not even this versus that. See this is a simplistic debate that has come to the world today, everywhere and unfortunately, it's coming to our country also, “Are you for or against?” Arrey, life is not all for and against. There are many, many aspects to life. If you consider life, you're never for or against anything. The question is what we're doing right now, is it appropriate to the situation in which we exist. Our actions must be appropriate, they must work, they must benefit, otherwise you will go right versus wrong. Then even the people who think they are not religious have all become religious fanatics. They think they are liberals. They think they are something but they're all taken the position of fanatics – “I'm right, you're wrong.” Life is not between right and wrong. Life is only about in a given moment are you doing the appropriate action? That's the most important thing about life (Applause). Speaker: I would like to ask something about, which is related to belief. Sadhguru: Little closer please. Speaker: Okay. So we are either stuck in the past memories or thinking about future, setting up goals and planning according to our goals. But it's not necessary every time things turn up the way we have decided, planned. So is it like everything is pre decided by the faith? Sadhguru: (Laughs) So, is somebody up there? Not you guys, ahh (Laughter). Somebody up there, are they deciding everything? See up, because all of you are in a design institute. You must know this much that you're on a round planet. Am I right? Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: You’re on a around planet and the damn thing is spinning all the time. So if you look up, invariably you're looking up in the wrong direction (Laughter). You're not even on the North Pole. You are at a certain latitude. Do you know what is really up in this cosmos, which is up? Hello? Do you know? Is it somewhere marked “This side up in this cosmos?” So you don't even know which is up but you know who is up? This is really dangerous, you know? You don't even know what is up. But you know who is up. You not only know him, you know his name, you know his wife's name, how many children he has, what he likes for his birthday, you know it all. But you don’t know a thing about yourself. So, this thing about destiny – is somebody up there deciding everything? Too much has been said about it. Every…you know, even the…I don't know if it is we call this Kilishastra. Do you have this, the parrots tell the future? Participants: Yeah, yeah, yes. Sadhguru: You have it in Gujarat? Ahh? Some green parakeet will tell the future. See, if a bird can tell your future, you must be bird brained (Laughter). Hello (Laughs)? If a bird can tell your future, there must be something wrong with your brain, isn't it? In this culture forever, we told you, your life is your karma. Karma means doing, action. When we say your life is your karma, what it means is, your life is your making, one-hundred percent. There is no idea of “The God” in this culture. All the people whom you worship or people who walked this planet or who walked this geography at some point of time, we bow down to them because we value whatever they did or whatever they offer to us. But there is no idea of “The God,” even those people went through all kinds of trials and tribulations, even their life did not unfold the way they wanted. Yes or no? See, Rama is still having real estate issues (Laughter/Applause). He couldn't even settle that in his life. And after 6000, 7000 years, still he not able to settle it. So (Laughs), he's not deciding your destiny, for sure. It is just that he is setting up an example for you, no matter what life throws at you. Because what life throws at you is not your choice. But what you make out of it is one-hundred percent your choice. Yes? You cannot decide what the world will throw at you. But what you will make out of it is hundred percent yours, isn't it? It's like this. Tch, you’re okay. Okay tell. Speaker: So, how to act as a way so that we get the desired results? Sadhguru: Mhmm. On a certain day a lady went to sleep. In her sleep, she had a dream. In her dream, she saw a hunk of a man standing there and staring at her. Then he started coming closer and closer and closer. He came so close, she could even feel his breath. She trembled, not in fear. Then she asked, “What will you do to me?” The man said, “Well, lady, it's your dream” (Laughter). What's happening in your mind, in your emotion, in your experience, is hundred percent your doing isn't it so? Hello? But right now, whatever happens outside is happening inside of you. This is why this question is coming up. Otherwise, if you decided what is happening within you, would you keep yourself blissful or miserable? You must choose all of you. If (Laughs), if your thought and emotion happened just the way you want it, would you keep yourself blissful, or miserable? What's your choice for yourself? What do you want for your neighbor maybe debatable (Laughter)? But for yourself, it's hundred percent clear, you want highest level of pleasantness for this one, isn't it? So right now, only because the outside is determing… determining the nature of your experience, you're worried about what happens outside. If you created a situation within you (Laughs), you're always blissed out, outside is just a play. You would play it with full force, isn't it? Right now you hesitate. Your… Most people's entire life is half steps. Because the fear of suffering, “What will happen, what will happen?” If you are determining the nature of your experience, fear of suffering is out. Only when the fear of suffering is gone will you walk full stride in your life. Otherwise, all the time you will take half steps. Human potential is hugely crippled simply because of fear of suffering. How did we get all these things? Somebody read this books, these days from scriptures people have come to Dan Brown, but (Laughs), but otherwise, the older the book is, the more wise it is somehow. How do you believe? What makes you believe that people who lived here 1000, 2000, 5000 years ago were smarter than you and me? Why? Why do you believe that? I don't think so. Then also there were some smart people. Then also there was a whole bunch of idiots. Yes or no? Now also it is true. Some people are smart, rest are doing whatever rubbish they're doing. Yes or no? Do you believe 10,000 years ago, everybody was super smart and wise and fantastic. No, that's not the way it is. So this whole idea – anything that falls out of an old book must be sacred – has to go. That is not the nature of this culture because even when so called divine entities came, we badgered them with questions, isn’t it? Shiva opened his mouth. His wife asked him a million questions (Laughs). Krishna tries to say something to his closest friend, that guy is full of questions. None of them could ever give a commandment and say, “This is what you must do.” Only debate and debate and debate because that's healthy. That means you're seeking. If you give a commandment, and this is it, ahh, that is a full stop to your life. It's very, very important that we understand why human life is… has become significant on this planet, because there are many other creatures who are physically stronger than us, faster than us, many other things. They're even more beautiful than us, many of them (Laughs). The only reason is because we have a certain consciousness and the capability that we can craft our destiny, we can determine what happens within me. Once we determine what happens within me, then outside is not really such a big obstacle. Right now, the biggest problem is, everything that happens outside either gives me pleasure or hurts me. Now, this is a crippling process, this one thing you fix that what happens within you is determined only by you, nobody else but you. If this one thing happens to you, you will see you will be the master of your destiny. If you take charge of your body, if you have some mastery over your body, fifteen to twenty percent of your life and destiny will be in your hands. If you have some mastery over your mind, fifty to sixty percent of your life and destiny will be in your hands. If you get mastery over your fundamental life energies, one-hundred percent of your life and destiny will be in your hands (Applause). It is just individual human beings. Will they strive for that or not is the only question. Participant: Can you repeat this? Sadhguru: I'm sorry. Participant: You were saying something no, repeat it. Participant: Last line, I guess. Participant: Can you repeat what you said. Sadhguru: What I just said. Participants: The last line. Sadhguru: The last line. (Laughs) I said fifteen to twenty percent of life will be and destiny will be in your hands if you just have mastery over your physical body. Have you noticed this, somebody who's physically very competent, takes charge of things effortlessly but their mastery over their life will be only fifteen, twenty percent. If you have mastery over your thought and emotion, fifty to sixty percent of your life and destiny will be in your hands. But if you take charge of the fundamental life process within you, one-hundred percent of your life and destiny will be in your hands. Speaker: So, Sadhguru your example on Rama brought me to this question. So you know how we, when we go through the Indian mythology, Hindu mythology, we come to this word called “dharma.” So what exactly is “dharma” to you? Sadhguru: See, the word “dharma” literally means the law. Now, you will see, if you look at the same Ramayan or Mahabharat, they're always talking in terms of Raja’s dharma to the praja. Husband’s dharma to the wife, wife’s dharma to the husband, parent’s dharma to the children, children's dharma to the parents, teacher’s dharma to the students, students dharma to the teacher – what they are trying to set is… you must understand this is a time from being nomadic tribes, they’re trying to organize an organized society. They're trying to create civilization. In this context, they are fixing norms for every aspect of life. This is the way this relationship sho… shoub… should be conducted. If you break this norm, then this is a disruption of civilization. That's what they're talking about. So to drive on the street, there is a dharma, you are supposed to drive on the left side of the street, most people don't seem to know that (Laughs), that’s another matter. Yet to get that simple dharma. We think this is a rule, this is not a rule. This is a certain law. When I say a law, like in physics, you're saying the laws of nature or laws of gravity or laws of motion, like this, these are laws. If this transaction has to happen properly, in a fruitful way, if you maintain certain things, this will be a fruitful transaction. If you do not maintain this dharma, there will be disruption. So continuously they’re talking about this dharma, that dharma, you must understand, they are trying to craft civilization. In all these things, they talk about one thing very significantly, which they refer to as sanatana dharma. Today, people are trying to brand it as their religion, but essentially sanatana means “Eternal.” They're talking about one particular law which is eternal. That means all other, other laws are generational. Every generation, these laws have to be relooked at and transformed, but one law is eternal. That is… that is, that concerns the inner nature of the human being – what concerns the body, what concerns the society, what concerns transactions in the society, all these things must evolve with generation to generation. But there is one law that need not evolve, because there is no change in that dimension, the fundamental nature of our life, how to conduct this life, just now he asked, how do we get there? You must know the sanatana dharma, the eternal law, which governs the life that we are. There is a law that governs our body, there is a law that governs our social transactions, there are many laws that govern the social transactions that we perform but there is one law which governs the fundamental nature of our life. This we called as the eternal law, just to make people know, this you need not change, because this is always a constant. So dharma means a law. Speaker: So in present context with the param…the parameters of dharma, which were there previously, the parameters keep on changing. So don't you think that even sanatana dharma should change its parameters to be called a religion? Sadhguru: Please repeat that question. Speaker: So, when dharma was said there has to be some parameters on which they crafted the laws. So, with change in time the parameters change as well. So even for sanatana dharma, don't you think the parameters keep on changing? Sadhguru: No, I think this didn't get across properly. Sanatana dharma is not a religion. That's what I'm trying to tell you. It is the laws that governs the life that we are. This is not a religion, you must understand, this is a godless land. This land does not have a religion because this is a land of seekers. The seeking is for truth, the seeking is for liberation. If you listen to the conversations of maybe your mothers, maybe they're too young, maybe your grandmothers, if you listen to their conversations – in daily conversation, not in some spiritual transaction, daily conversation, without uttering the words karma, prarabdha, mukti, moksha, there is no conversation in this country, because the only goal was liberation, the highest goal is freedom, not God. So in this culture, there is never been a belief system, only norms to function with minimum amount of friction because when human beings transact, what is my profit, is your loss. What is your profit, is my loss. How to conduct this transaction without creating friction among ourselves? For this, we make the law. “Why can't we drive all over the street, what's wrong, we're a free country.” It's just that nobody will get anywhere. That's all it… that's all that's happening. Nobody is getting anywhere, because everybody is driving all over the place. So the same thing with every transaction, if we do whichever way we want, constant friction will happen, nobody will get anywhere, nobody will realize the full potential of who they are, because at every point we will be colliding with somebody else. So there are norms. When it comes to sanatana dharma, this is not about a transaction. This is about understanding the nature of your existence. This is eternal, this cannot be changed, it need not be changed, there is nothing to change, because it's not changing. So you want to take that aspect and project it as our religion. No, this is about life. This is about human nature. This is not about either a particular religion or a particular name… nationality, no, this is about the fundamental nature of humanity, about this life, about the nature of our consciousness, how it functions and how to make it blossom. This is all the law is about. The law is not about this and that outside transactions. Over a period of time people do many things. Speaker: So, in today's technological world, we know that artificial intelligence and robotics are taking over. Those are the cutting edge technologies. So what is your take on the interaction of such technologies with the intersection of such technologies and ancient practices such as meditations and Yoga? Sadhguru: Are you sure I'm real (Laughter)? Because last year and a half they have been inviting me to speak in all sorts of artificial intelligence conferences in the world. I was just surprised, why are they asking me to come and speak about artificial intelligence because I'm not an expert in the field, nor am I an artificial intelligence (Laughs). So I asked them in one of the conferences, it was in St. Petersburg. I said, “Why are you guys inviting me to all these artificial intelligence conferences (Laughs)? I'm a natural intelligence, not an artificial intelligence.” They said, “The problem is, what are we going to do? We're going to lose our jobs. These are all professors in big universities in MIT and in Harvard and these kind of places. They're asking me, “What are we going to do in another ten years’ time?” Because everything that we know, everything that was sacred till now, suddenly is going to be there on a little gadget (Laughs). You must understand this, what artificial intelligence means is accumulation of information, analyzing it, and projecting it the way you want at a given moment, will no more be considered as a valuable thing in human faculty because a simple gadget will do it much better than any human being. Already that Google lady is looking smarter than any of you, isn’t it? She looks smarter than me, it’s okay. I'm not educated. But you guys (Laughs), she's looking smarter than any of us or no? Anything you ask without batting an eyelid she tells us. So, it's going to that place where intellectually everything that you perform will look stupid or meaningless. This happened to me when I was about thirteen years of age, I think. Thirteen or fourteen, thirteen I think. For the first time I saw a flatbed calculator, this Panasonic calculator, you know – at that time, it was hundred, hundred-and-ten rupees very expensive, tch (Laughs). You drink a coffee for more than that today. But hundred-and-ten rupees, Panasonic; Sony was one-twenty-five. So we buy the cheaper one, hundred-and-ten rupees, Panasonic, and they show me this. I didn't… I never bought them. Somebody brought one and they showed me. Tuk, tuk, tuk – results. Then first thought that came to me is, “Why the hell am I wasting my life in the mathematics classes?” I said, “All I need is this, I don't have to go to the math class.” Whatever question you ask, tuk, tuk, tuk. A hundred rupee thing can tell you, why this torture for ten years, going through these arithmetics and mathematics and all kinds of things. It can even do sine theta, cos theta, whatever nonsense you want (Laughs). Then only I thought we must make a big machine which does all this rubbish so that I don't have to go to school. At last, the dream is coming true (Laughs). In the next ten, fifteen years, the education as you know it, professions as you know it today, will become meaningless. Because right now they have created these machines, right now we’re still kind of obsessed with creating machines which look like us, which is unnecessarily complicating. It can be a square box, which walks everywhere and does everything we do, it's too insulting for human intelligence. So we're still making it look like a human being. If something is intelligent, it must look human, in our mind. But slowly for the sake of economics, somebody will make one tall box, which does everything that you do. Okay, time is coming for that. So once this happens, many, many things that we are spending years on learning will be meaningless. Now they built a thing… I was meeting this one top real estate guy in Russia. They're designing something, that if a customer comes and says what kind of house I want, what is my aesthetics, what is my culture, what I like, how it should be and what's my budget. A machine designs a complete house, ten different alternatives that you want, including paintings, hangings in the wall, the furniture, the works. Now they're saying in another five to seven years, they're saying it can even print the house and build it. So just imagine the design guys (Laughs). So many of you will be out of your vocation, unless you do something that a damn machine cannot do. All of you should gear yourself for this now. You must be able to do something beyond your intellect. Human being has many layers of intellect… intelligence, intellect is only a small part of it. Right now our education system is completely dedicated to intellectual development of the human being and we think that's the grandest way to live. No, it is not, we can explore that if we have the time. But in the yogic way of looking at things, we look at human intelligence as sixteen parts. If you explore other dimensions of intelligence, only then you will be relevant. When everything intellectual, intellectual means your intellect cannot function without accumulated data. Yes or no? Hello? Your intellect cannot function without accumulated data, is that so? Now, whatever is data assimilation, analysis and execution of that analysis, a machine will do better than you. A human being can always make mistakes, can always fudge information. But a machine is clear cut, it will simply do those things. So everything that you can do intellectually, will be meaningless in another ten to fifteen years’ time. Maybe in India, it will take twenty to twenty-five years time, but inevitably it's going to happen. So you must be equipped with something beyond your intellect. When I say beyond your intellect, there are many ways to look at it. I will make a simplistic example, simplistic because if we go into more sophisticated examples, we'll have to do a lot of exploration. We don't have that kind of time today. For example, what did you eat for lunch? Participant: Maggi. Sadhguru: You’re on Maggi (Laughter)? Can’t you…somebody take care of his nourishment. He’s on Maggi (Laughs). Okay. Even if you eat the noodle, a noodle doesn't look like him, doesn't feel like him, nothing. But this noodle he eats, within three, four hours’ time, this Maggi noodle has become a human being, isn't it? Participant: Yeah, part of it. Sadhguru: It's become part of the system. So you are manufacturing such a complex machine with Maggi noodles, tch (Laughter/Applause). This is like a 3D printer. You put Maggi noodles into it. No, I am not made of Maggi noodles, okay. I eat better than that. But you put chapati into this, this becomes a human body. This is the most sophisticated machine on the planet. You’re manufacturing this with whatever food that you eat, and the food that you eat is just the soil that you walk upon. Yes or no? And it stands up. Isn't this a 3D printer? Hello? Does that intelligence exists within you or not? Not even in your brain in your gut? Participant: It does. Sadhguru: It does. So, if only you found conscious access to this dimension of intelligence, you would live magically, isn’t it? Then artificial intelligence won't disturb you, you will be very happy because all the menial jobs if the machines do, tch, what a wonderful world. I am looking forward to that. Questioner: Sadhguru this question is something which many of us will be able to relate with. So people are going through a lot in their lives in their personal and professional lives. So my question is, how do you specially will be… how they'll be able to realize the difference between sadness and depression (Sadhguru laughs). And since realizing (Overlapping conversation)… Sadhguru: All the way from Bangalore to Ahmedabad (Laughter). Questioner: So realizing a problem is the first step of solution. So this is something important when someone is in depression they should know and realize, actualize it first. Sadhguru: No, no, professionals are telling you, however much of sadness you're in, you're not depressed, because you're still not gone to them (Laughter). You need a certificate for that. This happened in Bangalore city itself way back. Many years ago, fifty years ago, maybe forty-seven years ago, I think. There was a boy that I knew, he was very scrawny, like that and suddenly he went into some kind of psychological disturbance. He lost his cool, started yelling and shouting on the streets. Then the family took him to NIMHANS Institute, which is one of the premier institutions in Bangalore. I think he stayed there for maybe six weeks or so. Then he came out, he was quite normal. He was fine. Just that a month or two he kind of lost his balance. Then when he came, all the boys of his age, teasing him, “Hey, you're a nutcase. You were in the madhouse, weren’t you? So, you're a nutcase.” All the time people are making fun of him. So one day, he got fed out… fed up with this, and he pulled out a paper from his pocket and showed. “See, I have a certificate I have… I'm normal, Do you have one” (Laughter)? I have a certificate from NIMHANS which says I am normal now, you don't have one, right (Laughs)? So we must understand this, whether its physical health or mental health, a large part of it is in our hands, a large part of it. Well, things like cardiac ailments, they… variety of other things, people thought it's just God given. Today, doctors are telling you, “You don't have to come here, you just eat properly, get up in the morning and do some exercise or Yoga or play a game or take a walk or do some damn thing. Don't just sit around.” Yes. If you just move around, your ailment may go. That's what they’re telling you. And how many people have walked out of their cardiac problems simply by doing a few sensible things? And how many people have gone to the surgery table because they did not do those sensible things? Is it true or not? So any ailment is not an absolute? Yes, there are certain intrinsic aspects within us, which may tend to push us in that direction. Maybe, you know, congenitally, your genetics are such, maybe you're moving towards a cardiac problem. But you can also move away, hold yourself away from it. To a large extent… there are some things which are beyond us, that's different, but a whole lot of it is in our hands. Now without taking what is in our hands into our hands, we are looking up or looking at the doctor all the time. Some are looking up, some are looking at the doctor, those who look up will go there. Those who look here will go here (Laughter). United States of America, the most affluent country on the planet. See, why does an individual human being or a society look for affluence? At the initial stage affluence simply means a choice of nourishment. That's what it means, I can eat what I want (Laughs). At the next level of affluence, it's a choice of lifestyle. Now a country or a society, which has an immense choice of nourishment and lifestyle, seventy percent of their population is on prescription medication. They're spending over three trillion dollars on healthcare. People estimate by 2030 it could be close to eight-billion dollars, their healthcare bill. They… many people believe that this could sink the country – not a war, not some other tragedy – healthcare. And every other nation is going in that direction. Europeans have done a fantastic thing of reversing that process to some extent, really. Especially in some parts of Europe, people are much healthier than ever before, simply because they're cycling, they're walking, they're doing things and they're eating sensibly. This is… this culture is spreading in Europe, this culture was so much a part of our thing. But now we are all going the American way. And as a nation, we can never afford that kind of healthcare bill. Our, our economy itself is not three-trillion dollars yet. For 1.3 billion people, if you go for that kind of healthcare, we'll be finished in no time. First of all, we will never do it. Okay. For this population, you are never going to provide that kind of thing. Here you have to see or everywhere we have to see, especially in our country, we have to see how people can stay healthy, not how they can be treated for everything, isn't it? So this goes for physical ailment and for mental ailments. When it comes to mental ailments, there is right now a whole new subject evolving, called “Neuroplasticity.” You heard of neuroplasticity? You can rewire your brains completely. We have been saying this forever in the yogic systems, in twenty-four hours time, we can rewire your brain completely, so that you think differently, feel differently, act differently, in a matter of twenty-four hours, if you are willing to do something very intense and focused. Today, they’re telling you, just by cultivating a different kind of thought, by doing different kinds of kind of activity, you can change the very shape of your brain. The grey matter can increase and decrease in different areas of the brain, simply by doing these things in a matter of days or weeks. We have shown this, that people who practice like we have a simple twenty-one minute practice, which is large… _____ (Unclear) widespread, called shambhavi. It's part of the Inner Engineering process. Universi… University of California made studies on this and now they're saying that the neuronal regeneration in the brain is two-hundred-and-forty-one percent higher than normal if you're doing this practice for over three months. Everybody could do with little more intelligence, isn't it? Because over thirty years of age, generally there is depletion of neuronal production, what is being depleted and what is being replaced is not equal. But now what is being replaced is higher than the depletion that's happening. So age need not take away your intelligence. Age, when age happens, most people are managing by experience, not by intelligence. Young… youth below eighteen years of age are far more intelligent naturally. Their problem is they don't have experience and information. Over thirty years of age, their intelligence is depleting normally, but they are managing with experience and exposure and stuff like that. But now, there is proper studies showing that over thirty-five, forty years of age, you can increase the neuronal regeneration in your brain. So when all this is there, when substantial science is saying this, some people going on saying, “No, no, depression is not by choice, it is an absolute thing, once it happens, you have to come to me.” I can understand the business concerns of that. But please, every human being should take absolute responsibility for their physical and mental health from an early age. It's very, very important. Otherwise, I'm telling you, life can throw googlies at you in such a way, just about any so called normal person can be shattered, things will happen. So, now what will you do when you're, when you fear that you may be shattered like this, what will you do? You will curtail your life. That should not happen. This is why I said, only when fear of suffering is totally taken away from you, when you are absolutely clear, “My experience of life is determined by me and nobody else but me,” then you will walk full stride. This must happen. Human beings must walk full stride. They should not be walking half steps. But with the fear of depression, sadness, misery, we will all end up working half steps, isn't it? If you feel little depressed, what's the first thing you do? You curtail your life, isn't it? Isn't that the first thing you do? Don't curtail your life. This life must happen full on. It's a brief amount of time. In this time, there's no need to curtail. This must happen full on. Speaker: Thank you so much Sadhguru for addressing all these questions with so much clarity. And now we will move ahead with our second session of the event in which any of you can ask any question with Sadhguru one to one. Sadhguru: Take the microphone please. Questioner: Namaskaram Sadhguru. In the book Inner Engineering you have said… Sadhguru: If you can. Questioner: In the book Inner Engineering, you have said that if this planet gives you a chance, you want to transform entire planet into what you have enshrined in the south which you just showed. So what does the necessary support be? Sadhguru: See, do you understand her question what she's asking? We’re talking about, what she's… I will explain the... What she’s asking is, I think in the, in the book, it is said… I haven't read the book, I only wrote it okay (Laughs), so if I say something, if I, I am only paraphrasing because I don't remember the words (Laughs). What could have been said there is, if we create the right kind of energy spaces, human beings will blossom much better. This is why, in this culture, people have misunderstood this whole thing now, in competition with various other things, but in this culture, especially it was all over the country but the northern part of the country has taken so much beating in the last thousand years of invasions and occupations, you don't see that culture so much. But if you come South, it is still largely intact, you will see this much better, because South never really got trashed by invasions in any big way. Generally, it was quite, still people want their idli soft and sambar hot and those are the big concerns, because they never really faced any kind of extremes either of weather or of invasions and occupations every… all the time for few thousand years it's been there. So if you look at this, you will see especially in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, you will see this, the center of the ancient towns is a magnificent temple. If anybody wants to understand engineering and design with the limited material of just having granite stone, it's the most miraculous way of doing things. This temple to build it normally it took one or two generations of people working to the same plan and design. And they never left their names on it – who is the designer, who planned this – not in one place did they write their name. And this was created as a consecrated space. You must understand these temples were not places of prayer. Never ever did anybody lead a prayer. There is a pujari, who does some chores there for you. He is not in any way leading you. He has no power over the people who come there. That's the best part of this culture, that the man who stands in the temple as an official has no power over the people who come there, he cannot tell them what to do and what not to do. This is a very good thing in a religion (Laughs), that they don't have any power. Otherwise, in the assembly of what is considered a sacred space, you could influence people in so many different ways. So apart from this, this was mainly an energy center. So the tradition always said, nobody told you, you must pray, you must send a petition to God or anything like this. But they told you if you go there, you must sit down for some time. Have you heard this, if you go to a temple, you must sit there for a while? Today, people go there just touch their bottom to the floor and go, because they're doing a ritual of… because somebody said sit down, they sit down and go. The idea is to sit there and imbibe this energy. Every day in the morning, particularly people who are householders or who are in family situations, before they start their daily, whatever activity, first thing is take a shower, go to the temple, sit there for some time, then go for your activity. This is like a public battery charging place to charge you up in a certain way, different types of energies. Today, you want to go for a business thing, you go to one kind of temple, today you have a wedding to attend, you go to another kind of temple, like this for different purposes, they created craft… crafted different kinds of energy systems. The important thing is to just sit there, imbibe and go. They also said, if you are on a spiritual path, you don't have to go to the temple. If you don't know this sadhu’s and sanyasi’s don't go to the temples. They are full time on spiritual path. So they have their own self-charging methods. They never enter any temples. I have built them, but I never go there. I never go there, because if I close my eyes, things are handled for me. I don't have to go and sit in a public place where other people are making use of it. So this was created for a specific purpose, so that a human being can blossom, in the sense, if you want your plants in your garden to be full of flower, you have to maintain a certain ambience isn't it? Similarly, if human beings have to blossom to their full potential, a certain ambience is needed. This is not about worship. This is not about belief. This is about creating a certain kind of ambience so that naturally it will be easy for a human being to blossom. Right now as an example of this, I think they showed the Dhyanalinga, what this means is, without any instruction, without any preparation, you can make people meditative. People just come and sit there not knowing anything about it. They've never heard what is meditation. They will sit there thinking they'll sit for ten minutes, they'll sit for one or two hours without knowing what happened. Simply because the very energy ambience is such that they will become meditative. Like this, so many things can be created. The important thing is, every home used to have a consecrated space (Laughs). If you just look back, if you just go to any house, which is like let's say three generations of people have been living there, they will have a sizable pooja room. This… somewhere there will be one yantra, there will be some consecrated substance, object. But now, because of their fear, they have added two dozen Gods all over the place, every time somebody brings one new God, they will put it there because fear has become the key, now. Fear has become the basis of all this. But if you look at any home, which is over two or three generations, you will see always there is a consecrated object in the house, because they knew the benefit of this and they knew how to use it for their benefit. There are different ways to use this. For health, for well-being, for prosperity like this, there are many kinds of things that one can create or for spiritual well-being, all this. So I, what I might have said in the book is if we create this in every working place, in every home, in every office, in the cities, that people are in a cared-for space, it's very important. In many ways this is what a design school means in a different way, that when you live somewhere, you must live in a cared-for space – an uncared for space will create a different kind of culture within ourselves, different kind of psychological makeup within us, different kinds of behavior. When you know, many years ago, about twenty-five years ago, I went to speak in a college in Bangalore. It's called… The problem is these videos are going to go everywhere (Laughter). This college, maybe I hope it’s improved now. It's called Acharya Patashala. You heard of this? In Bangalore city among the young people, they call this college students as apes. Acharya Patashala is apes (Laughter). They're very proud of being apes. So I went there to speak. I just looked, everything that can be ripped off, has been ripped off, including the door shutters, window shutters, even the steel bars are all bent and removed. Only the concrete shell which they could not demolish, is standing. I looked at this and said, “No wonder everybody calls you apes.” This is… this place is only fit for apes. This is not for human beings. Human beings need a better ambience to blossom. So when we created our schools, I said one thing is it must be a super cared for space. Children should walk gently, and they must learn to maintain these things. First of all they must learn to live gently and well among themselves. Today, if you come and see our Isha Home School, it's like an art museum. Not one thing in the last twelve years has ever been damaged by the children. They manage everything. Young children, they just learn to live in a cared-for space. And parents are saying, “Sadhguru how to provide these things at home. They're coming and demanding. Why is the house so bare and bad like this? Our school is so wonderful” (Laughs). It's very, very important, all of you are in design that you should put… put India back on it aesthetics. Aesthetic is very important for how human psychology evolves, how a human being behaves, how he shapes himself depends on the shapes and forms and sizes that we create around. If it in some way oppressive, we will become those kind of harsh people. So this is very important, not only to create a physical ambience and aesthetic ambience, energy ambience is also equally important. What kind of support we need? We need you, that's why I'm here (Applause). Questioner: Sir, can you talk about… Sadhguru: Can you take the microphone please. Questioner: Namaste. Can you talk about mentalism? Sadhguru: I am sorry. Questioner: Ahh, mentalism. Can you talk about mentalism? Sadhguru: What’s mentalism? Questioner: Ahh, mentalists like… Sadhguru: Oh, mentalist that movie, like that? Questioner: Mentalism, yeah (Laughter). Sadhguru: Don’t… don’t go by the Hollywood movie, a lot of things are exaggerated there, but can human mind do things, outside? Of course! Of course it can. Today if I utter this word, I am sure there’s a whole lot of misunderstanding, because this comes from elsewhere. This is what tantra means. Tantra does not mean unbridled promiscuity as Americans have projected it. Tantra means technology. Technology means, when those times, when we did not have any external instruments of technology, we realized the highest grade of technology is here, and to exercise this in many different ways. Now if we want to see outside the door, we need a periscope. Now somebody found a way to look beyond without a periscope – in a way this is the mentalism or what do you call this? Questioner: Mentalist. Sadhguru: Mentalist (Laughs). Using your mind beyond the realm of your body. Right now, mind is functioning within the realm of your body, you want to use it there. It is possible to do that, it's not, not possible. It’s just that, all kinds of wild and absurd things are believed. If you trim those things, in many ways, knowingly or unknowingly, many of you are using this. You create what you want in the world when you really want it. In a way, it's simply your focus, which makes those things happen. Maybe it is not as tangible as it’s in a cinema but every one of you, to some extent you are doing, isn't it? How effectively do you do it depends on ah… There are many things if I say, things that happen around me, they are too fairytale-ish. I wouldn't believe such nonsense if anybody told me. So I won't tell you, because I don't want you to believe or disbelieve those things. But everyday people around me witness things which they think is nothing short of a miracle, but there is no miracle. Life is a big miracle. Are you a part of it or are you out of it, that's a big question? Isn’t this a big miracle, this guy eats a noodle and becomes like this (Laughter)? Is it not a miracle? I'm asking. It is a miracle, isn't it (Applause)? Question is, are you consciously in it or are you out of it, that's a big question? If you are in it, you are… see if you use any thought this is well, he was asking, “How do we do it?” in the beginning. Suppose you generate a thought – have you noticed this – suppose you generate a thought and then you invest your emotion in this thought, suddenly this thought becomes boom! Hmm? Yes or no? Right now, I generate a thought, “Oh, she is such a wonderful person.” But now I invest my emotion into that thought, now suddenly you are not just another person to me, you are something else to me. Is it reality or no? Just because you invested your emotion into your thought. Now there is a next thing, if you invest your life energies into it, consciously, suddenly this will become something else altogether. Suddenly you become like, life is a play, is no more a struggle. Because miracles are always happening – you put a little seed, it becomes a tree. He eats a noodle, he becomes a man (Laughter). I am saying, this is happening to, it’s happening all the time. Just see, you put filth into the root, just see, it becomes fragrance. Is it, is this not miracles and miracles all over the place? The question is only, are you consciously a part of this miraculous creation or are you stuck in your own logic and outside this miracle? That's all the big difference is (Applause). Questioner: Hi, Sadhguru. Do you think it's important to have a companion? Sadhguru: Companion is a very benign word. If you're asking is it important to have a lover? Is that the question? No, just a companion. Okay, benign word. Companions can be of many kinds. There could be companions for education, there could be companions for a party, there could be companions for your as a sounding board. There could be companions for your business or your edu… you know, many, many things. So is it good to have a companion in various aspects of our life? This question was asked to Gautama the Buddha long time ago. I'm not usually given to quoting anybody, because looking at you and on your question, I thought we'll bring him back. Okay? Someone asked this. “Is it good to walk in company or alone?” Gautama looked at the person and said, “It's better to walk alone than to walk with a fool.” You understand? Because he's saying, who else will walk with you (Laughter)? So do you need a companion? If, if you're thinking of a long haul of something, it's good to have a companion. If you're looking at short bursts of creativity and action and change of direction in your life, being alone, you will be very agile. If you're looking at a long haul, company is good. If you're thinking of short bursts of doing things, being alone is always best. Questioner: I've seen Mahabharat, your version. So it was about… it was full about boons and curses. And the question is, do we have control over other’s life? Like you just said, that you make your own life. If I am making my own life, and somebody curses me and then I'm finished. So what I have the role to play (Laughter)? Yeah. It’s like the energies, do I influence your energy and can I control your, the way you live? Sadhguru: See, we were just talking about this. You talked about mentalist, your question is related to that in a way. Now, in my mind, I just create a thought that something should happen to you, something good or bad. Well, it may happen, it may not happen; if you are very receptive to me, it may. If I say something, if you take it very seriously, you may change things. But if I invest my emotion in my thought, I will make sure the thought gets across to you in a very big way, then the chances are more that it may happen to you. It is not even that it is necessarily happening only because of my thought and emotion. It's just that my thought and emotion will create a whole bunch of thoughts in your mind, which is now modern science is called as neuroplasticity. That because of a powerful thought and emotion that I threw at you, now you get enslaved to that and your whole psyche is around that thought and emotions. “Sadhguru said this, Sadhguru said this,” and you're going crazy about that, and your entire brain will take shape in that way. It is no more mythology, modern neurology is talking about it, neurosciences are talking about it. So you will manifest that, good or bad. Now if I invest my life energies behind it, even if I don't tell you what is my thought, still, I can change the neuroplasticity of who you are. It's possible to do that. So when you talk about those boons and curses, they're talking about that kind of influence. Somebody who's invested a lot to generate this kind of energy within himself says something and that thing just happens to you because your whole mind gets wrapped around that little seed that is thrown into you. So this is why, this is why even, even to teach a simple form of spiritual process, even to teach a very basic form of meditativeness, when you come to us, we will not do it, unless you take a larger identity, that you become all inclusive in some way. If you are not all inclusive and you become powerful in your mind, you are a dangerous character. It’s just like somebody who's not in some way responsible for the world has a nuclear bomb in his hand. He will inevitably cause damage, isn't it? So this is why meditations and spiritual processes before they're being taught, a certain amount of making you, your identity much larger than your individual identity, so that you become all inclusive, before you become meditative is always taken care of, in spite of that there could be a Vishwamitra being born, what can we do (Laughter)? Questioner: So _____ (Inaudible) we won’t have any control here. Sadhguru: Oh, no. Okay, that part of it, it doesn't matter how powerful I am, and what do I do, you can develop your own sense of integrity, about the nature of who you are, if you have done enough work upon yourself, you will determine nobody else can determine. Because if you adjust on the level of your mind, I can take over. But if you have touched your deeper dimensions of intelligence, if you have become conscious in some way – no, you cannot be influenced. So that is why it's very important to be conscious. Conscious means that a dimension beyond your physiological and psychological structure has become a living reality for you. If this has happened to you, you can walk into hell, no problem, it will not influence you. Please. Questioner: I was a student of this institute and I still feel very happy that the education here was very questioning. So we questioned everything, all the belief system. So as a result, the students grew up very self-reliant, and they know themselves well. But what happens is that they grow distant from their family, because of the difference in the belief system now. So, so we may become very confident individuals. But what happens is we become alien to our parents, and we don't fulfill the expectations of the parents. So what do you think there is a role as a daughter or son also to be fulfilled? And there is a role as an individual as well. So how do we crack that balance? Sadhguru: See, we must understand this – inquiry, seeking, questioning, does not mean you take onto another belief system. Leaving one belief system and going into another belief system is not a better place. It's just a new gang. Right now, in the world, there are theists and atheists. Theists means those who believe there is God. Atheists means those who believe there is no God. But the problem is both of them believe something that they don't know. One person believes positively. Another person believes negatively, and one person thinks he's superior to the other. But the problem is the same with both the people. They are not sincere enough to admit we really don't know. The reality is you don't really know, isn't it so? Hello? Do you know for sure? Hello? Do you know for sure how this creation was made? You don't know. But both are not sincere enough to admit. But one thinks they are sup… very superior to the other. They think that theists are idiotic; they're going to the temple and doing Ram, Ram. But the theists have compassion and pity for these people, tch. They are not connected to our gods, so they're lost. But the problem is, both of them, neither have the courage nor the commitment to admit that, “I do not know,” and seek what is the truth about it. There is no courage and commitment to seek, that is why both of them are taking their own conclusions, but one thinks he is better than the other. So being in an institution like this, especially design, if really design has to flow out of you, one important thing is there's no conclusion in your mind about anything, about anything. But it takes a lot of courage to live without conclusion. To simply live here, without taking sides, without concluding this or that, to simply look at life in constant wonder takes some courage. It's easy to belong to some gang or the other and unfortunately, joining a new gang, people think new gang is better than the old gang. No, this will also become old in some time. Just a little bit of time. You have to wait for ten minutes it will be old gang (Laughs). So do we have duties to our parents? It is not a duty. It is just that we must understand we were not born like this. We were born helpless little babies. Somebody fed us, somebody washed our ass and you know somebody did all those things for us, when we could not do any of those things. Somebody made us stand up, somebody protected us, somebody nourished us. Out of this, out of gratitude, we do certain things. At the same time, we don't surrender what we wish to do with this life because this is a fresh life, this has to do something new. So there are civilized ways of doing these things, of breaking away from everything that your parents are, and still maintaining. It's not a balance, there's no balance, it's an imbalance. When you want to do something very revolutionary, they're not going to agree with it. But the problem with most of the young people is, they will get angry that somebody is stopping them. No, they're not stopping you, they are telling you the best that they know. Yes or no? They're trying to do the best that they know. If you appreciate that they are only trying to do the best that they know, it doesn't mean you have to give into what's best that they know. As a new generation, you must do something new, otherwise what's the point of one more generation, we could have ended with ours? Yes, what is the point of a new generation if you don't do anything new, but they will get angry that you're breaking away. You don't have to get angry, you can still be loving, hug them and do what you have to do. Yes, because the relationship with the parent is not of intellectual evolution or revolution. It is of love and protection and care, that’s a relationship, please maintain that part of it and do whatever the hell you want. Questioner: So empathy is a word that we use every day, and especially we as designers have placed it on a pedestal. So we want to know, what is your interpretation of empathy and is it necessary for everyone to have it? And if so, then how can it be taught to someone? Sadhguru: Oh, well, there's a lot of room for empathy in design, in creating things. But today, a whole lot of design that's happening in the country, a land which was steeped in aesthetic at one time, that we invested, people invested their entire life to just cover just one stone column. That kind of culture. Today, our design and aesthetic needs more sympathy than empathy. (Laughs) Because if you walk in front of a home, all the seventy-two shades of Asian Paints are used on a single home (Laughter). It needs more sympathy than empathy (Laughs). So, empathy essentially means that your life reverberates with another. This is not your idea. This is the way it's happening, isn't it? When (Laughs), you know, when we realized that Tamil Nadu had only 16.5% of green cover and the national aspiration was thirty-three percent, and a very rich land, which it was. Some UN agencies came and predicted in ‘97 or ‘98, that by 2025, sixty percent of Tamil Nadu will become a desert. I don't like predictions, first of all, any kind, because predictions don't take into account… they take into account the cold facts that are there. But they don't take into account what's beating in a human heart and what are human aspirations. So I drove around to see whether it's true, then I found that it would happen much sooner than 2025. Then we made a simple plan. I made a simple barefoot plan. Okay, so many thousand square kilometers. If you plant one hundred and fourteen million trees in the next eight to ten years, in fifteen to twenty years you will have thirty-three percent green cover. So I called a bunch of volunteers. And about four, five thousand people sat there, I told them see we need to plant hundred-and-fourteen million trees. They looked like this, “Sadhguru do you know hundred-and-fourteen million means, what Sadhguru? How many zeros? Can we ever plant that many trees?” I said, “See, Tamil Nadu’s population is 6.2 or sixty-two million people. If all of us plant one tree today, take care of it for two years and plant one more after two years, we got the number. So it's just that people have never thought how to compensate what we are using. Then they said, “No, how can we get people to understand this? How will it happen?” Then I did a simple thing, I said call one meeting, called a much larger meeting. Seven, eight thousand people or somewhere between five to six thousand people. Morning eleven o'clock meeting in Tamil Nadu. This is a place where there are some five, six huge rain trees, which cover almost like three acres of land. These five trees cover literally almost five acres of land full shade, beautiful. But we sat in hot sun at eleven o'clock. So I also sat there in hot sun and talking to them, talking to them, just gossiping with them, telling them jokes. They slowly… initially they were laughing, nice, but slowly (Gestures) you know, after one hour… if you're moving around, you won't feel the sun, when you sit there, slowly it gets you within an hour's time. They're looking like this. “What's wrong with Sadhguru? Why is he …? Right here, so many trees, we can sit there.” I went on. When I saw they could all faint, and I said “Okay, let's go,” and we walked in sat under the tree. Ah, ah, everybody, ecstasy. I said, you see the difference, you know what's a tree only when you're real roasted for some time in the sun. Then come under a tree, you realize it's like paradise. Really, it feels like that. After a hot, sunny day you come under a tree, you realize it's something else. People who are living in buildings won't understand this. If you're working outdoors, you know this very well. Then I said… I made them sit there and see…We set up a certain spiritual process. See what you exhale, the trees are inhaling, what the trees exhale, you are inhaling. They all sat like this with tears in their eyes and some of them screaming, shouting, rolling. I said this is it. All we have to do is this is one half of your lungs hanging out there. You don't fix it, this won’t function. It became an experiential process. Now you can't stop them from planting trees. Tamil Nadu has got a culture of planting trees like crazy. Even in the weddings everybody is giving saplings to each other. Well, they've planted some thirty-three, thirty-four million trees till now. It's not hundred-and-fourteen, but at least the culture has changed. People have understood. Now I think… how many schools? No, no, some few thousand schools have become green schools. If they plant over 10,000 trees, we give them a certificate of a Green School. A few thousand schools have become green schools now. The culture has changed. People are planting trees simply because they understood what I exhale, the tree inhales. Always this life has been reverb… reverberating with that, isn't it so? So, empathy is not an idea. It's not a philosophy that you develop. If you pay attention to your life, your life is reverberating with everything around you, isn't it? If it becomes an experiential process, we call it Yoga. Yoga means union, that you actually experienced union with something beyond your body. This is called Yoga. Consciously, you obliterated the boundaries of your individuality. That means you're in Yoga, twisting and turning is not the Yoga. Yoga means union happened, how will union happen? You have drawn a boundary of your individuality. If you consciously obliterate that in some way, then there is Yoga, but whether you experience it or don't experience it, every moment what you exhale, trees are inhaling; what they exhale, you're inhaling, isn't it? So when you experience this, and I don't have to tell you, “Don't cut the tree,” it will anyway happen. But now you're trying to bring it as an idea, as empathy. But it is fine. Empathy is fine. But if it becomes a living reality, it will be much better. Life will happen more naturally, rather than trying to rub ideas on each other because life is all inclusive. It's not that you and me have to make up a philosophy to make it inclusive. It's anyway all inclusive, isn't it? Nothing can live with… live without anything else. Everything is happening as one big happening. Instead of being a part of this mega celebration of life that's happening on all levels, then you will see you won't need a party. If you simply sit, observe things, everything flares up within you, because everything is happening like that. Nothing is separated from anything in the universe, isn't it? And empathy, you're trying to bring it to the back door. It's like morality. When you have no humanity, you need morality. If your humanity is up and alive, you don't need any morality. You will do what is needed anyway. Questioner: Today when we have a lot of opportunities available to us, the multitude of choices that we have almost paralyzes us, because we have a limited amount of time. How do we choose? How do we go about choosing what… what do we want to pursue? Sadhguru: Yes, ma'am. Questioner: Hello. So taking this context into account what he just described, I would want to ask about how this context would be taken in terms of what spirit is, elaborating spirit in terms of me as a body standing here right now and being able to converse these words to you and then listening to these words, you then say what? Sadhguru: No, I didn't say I'm listening (Laughter). Questioner: Are you not listening? Sadhguru: You're misusing that question (Laughter). His question is totally different (Laughter/Applause). We'll come to you. We’ll answer that question. Questioner: Yeah. Sadhguru: But that question, and this is… (Laughter) You're creating more confusion for him. Questioner: No, after this question, maybe, yeah. Sadhguru: Yes. Yes, ma'am. Questioner: Spirit. Thank you. Sadhguru: (Laughs) That's a good design (Laughter). So about making choices, probably you're talking about professional and other kinds of choices, right? Is that what you mean? See, there are different ways to look at this. Today, unfortunately, I was… they were asking me till now, whatever this number of universities you covered, did you get the kind of questions that you want? I didn't want any kind of questions in particular. But I wanted every kind of question that's possible. But what I'm seeing is (Laughs), very few questions have come asking with concern for the larger world, for the humanity, for the life on this planet, for the nation, for things like that. Very few have come, very small percentage. Rest are all about personal stuff. I'm not saying it's not important, but I'm surprised that young people are not thinking of larger situations in the nation and in the world. Having said that, see, there are two ways to approach your life. Either I want to do what I want to do. But you must understand what you want to do is just a thought that you generated and it's not even yours. It's something that you pick up from around you. Well, there may be certain aptitude. Well, people were asking me, you know, some news channel is asking me, “Sadhguru, why don't you? Are you standing for election this time? 2019, are you standing for election?” I said, “I have no such intention.” “Okay, next election, at least are you standing?” Said “No. But why?” I said, “That's not my competence. I don't think I'll make a good politician. If I thought maybe I would have thought about it.” So one is aptitude. Do you have a certain aptitude towards a certain action? So are you thinking in that direction? Or a whole lot of people today are deciding what to do depending upon what they will get out of it? What will I get? Will I get this kind of lifestyle? Will I get this kind of salary? Will I make this kind of money and lifestyle? This is what they're thinking of. This is a wrong way to approach because you will have everything and you will have nothing in the end with life. The important thing is this. See, if you make yourself… first of all, you must do this. You must not be driven by your anxieties, your frustrations, your concerns, you must take… when… when this question becomes a serious question in your life, you must take off at least three to ten days, let's say depending upon who you are. Some people may need three days, somebody… somebody may need more time, let's say maximum three to ten days range. And not to be influenced by your peers, switch of the phone, not to be influenced by your professors, not to be influenced by your parents or the social pressures. Spend some time with yourself and see… I'm asking you a simple question. Are you a precious life? Your life is it precious to you? Hello? If it's precious to you, what are you going to invest this precious life into is something that must concern you, isn't it? You must not do something because he's doing it. You must not do something because he's not doing it. This is not the way to decide things. You're investing your life. If this life is precious, you must see what is it that really matters to you and you must do that. It doesn't matter – it pays, it doesn't pay. But believe me, if your heart is not in something, really, you will not do your best, yes or no? If you don't do your best, how will great things happen to you? See, whether it is art, music, design, business, sport, spirituality, politics, it doesn't matter what it is. If you are not absolutely devoted to what you're doing, you will never do anything significant in your life. That's for hundred percent I'm telling you. You may earn a living, but you will not do anything significant, if you are not totally, totally devoted to something. See, right now, there are many examples, because they gave him a Bharat Ratna, I am choosing him. Let's say Sachin Tendulkar – this man knows nothing except hitting a ball. He gets so devoted to hitting a ball, hitting a ball, hitting a ball, hitting a ball and he hits it like nobody. Now he is Bharat Ratna. Yes or no? It is just devotion. You must talk to him and see privately, he is like you talk about the ball he will… he is so devoted to it. Okay. It's his, it's his religion, it's his sacred stuff, it is everything to him – hitting that ball. His entire life he invests in one simple act, hitting a ball, is it a big thing? But hitting a ball because of enormous devotion, just see what happens. Tremendous things happen, isn't it? So the question is not about what you want to do. The question is just this. Can you be devoted to this? Let's say you think in terms of today, “If I invest my life, next twenty-five years, can I be devoted to what I'm doing right now? Will this matter to me? Will I feel fulfilled if I look back and see what I have done?” Something, you do whatever the hell you want, just do it well, that's important. And don't do any damn thing that you will be ashamed of doing tomorrow, isn't it? What other people say it doesn't matter. But you should not be ashamed of what you have done, isn't it so? Hello? This much you must keep, this much pride and freedom you must keep in your life. It doesn't matter the whole world says you are wrong. But you are not ashamed of what you have done, that much you must always keep in your life. If that one thing if you give up, I'm telling you, you live a very poor life. You may have everything but you will have nothing (Applause). Questioner: _____ (Inaudible) Sadhguru: I'm sorry. Questioner: What do you think then you can be devoted to anything? Sadhguru: Yes, that is the next aspect. The question is will you do what you want to do or will you do what is needed most right now in the world? If you… if you are joyful by your own nature, what I want to do is not important, what is needed right now you will do that with absolute devotion. So if you can be devoted to anything that you do, what does it matter? What does it matter? You will do what is most needed, isn't it? You must do what's most needed, actually, I think somewhere else I said, see, if you're a fool, you will do something that you don't like to do. If you are an intelligent person, you will do what you love. But if you really want to be a genius in your life, you will do whatever is needed with absolute joy and involvement. It’s no more about me, because you can do anything with total involvement. So what's the problem? Questioner: _____ (Inaudible) Sadhguru: I am sorry. Questioner: What according to you is most needed? Sadhguru: Right now design (Laughter/ Applause). There are, there are two ways of looking at design. When we say design, we may be thinking of designing a building or clothing or something else, material stuff. But the most important thing is, your life must be designed right. You must be a designer life. Yes, design… designer life means or designer anything means it's just the way you want it. Your life must be a designer life, isn't it? It must happen the way you want it. It doesn't matter whether they approve it or not. It must happen the way you want it. This can happen only within you. Because outside, outside world is not completely mine or yours. Little will happen my way, little will happen your way. This is the way it is. But what's within me must happen my way, isn't it? This is a designer life. Because I design my thought, I design my emotion, I design my experience, I design my chemistry everyday how it should be. So you must have a designer life. Speaker: Thank you so much Sadhguru. I'm sure… one minute… We will be having an informal session. I'm sure there are many unanswered questions over here, so don't worry about it and thank you so much Sadhguru, I'm sure baathen with you have triggered many minds over here, I would request the director to say a few words. Speaker: On behalf of NID community, I would like to thank Sadhguru, for spending time with our community and we really feel honored. And today's discussion certainly is opening up lot of, is going to allow us to think differently, and see that how we can take these discussions to the next level. Sadhguru: I would, I would like to take this opportunity to say this that, see, in this country of 1.3 billion people, most youth of your age, the kind of conditions they educate themselves, the kind of conditions they live in, and the kind of conditions they end up in for a lifetime is not really great. Well, we're trying to change that. But still, not too, not too close. So all of you who are in a premier institution, it's very, very important that you value this and make use of this time here. Because what I'm seeing is there is a rush to live. Don't live too early. This is a time to build yourself up. If you don't enhance the life that you are early on, you will see you live a small life. It's very important that you are an enhanced life before you step out of your education. Enhanced in every way – in thought, emotion, spirit (Talks aside: Where is the spirit girl?) In thought, emotion (Laughs), energy, in every way you must be an enhanced life. That is when, when you step out, you have a full scope of life. If you go there in a small way, you will end up with a small aspect of life. So please make use of this time to enhance the life that you are, not just skills, not just education, but the life that you are must rise to a different level of competence within yourself. This is important because not many people have this opportunity in this country to study… study in premier institutions. So I hope for the next generation you will create a more aesthetically sensible India. Thank you very much for having me here (Applause).

Channel: Sadhguru

Views: 325,309

Keywords: Sadhguru 2018, youth and truth sadhguru 2018, youth and truth sadhguru unplugged, youth and truth sadhguru september 2018, isha, yoga, spirituality, wisdom, mysticism, seeking

Id: JP3CLSiqDp8

Length: 103min 15sec (6195 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 15 2018