Video summary
Sadhguru presents a transformative perspective on life's challenges, arguing that unpleasant events are not merely obstacles to be eliminated but opportunities to choose between becoming wise or wounded. He suggests that past traumas should not be viewed as waste requiring disposal, but rather transformed into fertilizer for personal growth through conscious action. Central to this philosophy is his redefinition of karma; far from being a system of fear-based punishment and reward common in Western thought, he describes it as an evolutionary record stored across every cell in the body, encompassing genetic history that vastly exceeds brain capacity. While individuals cannot erase these deep-seated karmic memories or their unique personality fragrances known as *vasana*, they retain the power to choose how to act upon them—either smearing filth over themselves or utilizing this energy as manure for blossoming and development.
The root of global conflict, unhappiness, and violence is identified not as inherent evil in individuals but as "limited identity," where people define themselves narrowly by factors such as family, race, religion, or nationality. When combined with high competence like intelligence or technology, this rigid self-definition becomes a curse that enables atrocities without guilt, as seen historically when leaders believe their actions serve a narrow cause at the expense of humanity. To resolve these issues, Sadhguru proposes expanding one's identity through practices such as reciting cosmic mantras and adopting a global perspective that recognizes shared human value above national anthems or borders. He urges parents to nurture children's possibilities rather than raising them into concrete blocks defined by rigid labels, teaching that even national pride is not absolute but should be balanced with broader awareness so that harming others becomes impossible when one experiences everything as part of oneself.
True existence has no boundaries, yet suffering arises from a lack of space between the individual and what they have created, such as their body or mind. Sadhguru uses the analogy of clothing to illustrate how tight identification with these forms causes people to be "wrapped up" in them; creating distance through practices like Shambhavi dissolves this identity and ends suffering. While humans possess an innate longing that manifests as ambition or love when seeking to experience others as part of themselves, he distinguishes between unconscious attachment driven by external desires for money and status—which leads to a form of slavery—and conscious yoga rooted in the sweetness of one's own emotions. He critiques the pursuit of endless expansion through material metrics, advocating instead for expressing inherent joy and fulfilling life according to one's competence, emphasizing that nurturing inner roots is far more important than focusing on external fruits or achievements.
Ultimately, greatness is defined as existing beyond boundaries rather than accumulating possessions or status, a state achieved by shifting focus from the "fruit" of success to the stability of internal foundations. Sadhguru warns against misusing unparalleled cerebral capability without a stable internal base, noting that intelligence becomes destructive when wielded with limited identities but serves humanity well when grounded in expanded consciousness. He concludes with three essential truths for living authentically: practice silence internally by shutting up one's own chatter, look directly at reality rather than through the filter of identity-based conclusions, and listen deeply to understand what is truly being said beyond words. By embracing these principles, individuals can move from a state of conflict driven by narrow definitions to a harmonious existence where they act as assets to humanity regardless of their specific accomplishments or societal labels.
Read the full video transcript
When unpleasant things happen, do you
become wise or do you become wounded?
How do I live clean? How do I live
happy? You don't have to eliminate the
waste. Waste [music] is very valuable.
Right now in this garden, they buy waste
at a very exorbitant price.
>> It's a fertilizer.
>> Yes, yeah. So, whether you turn your
filth into a fertilizer
or you smear it on your face and walk
around, that's your choice.
>> He is an internationally renowned
speaker and author of New York Times
best sellers Inner Engineering, A Yogi's
Guide to Joy, and one of India's [music]
50 most influential people, Sadhguru.
>> Intellect is like a knife. If you want
to dissect something, it's very good.
You want to stitch your clothes. If you
stitch your clothes with the knife, what
will happen? You'll be in tatters.
>> Right.
>> This is what is happening to people's
lives. They are trying to fix everything
with their intellect. The harder they
try,
the more tatters they'll become.
>> For the people watching or listening who
might be saying, "You know what? I don't
have financial abundance. I'm struggling
financially, struggling in my my health
and wellness." How can they start to
think differently to to apply these
principles?
>> You're setting up all the wrong goals.
>> What should the goals be?
>> Simply this.
>> From the Midwest in Ohio,
I grew up hearing the word karma saying
that if you do something bad,
then bad things are coming for you.
And you talk about in the book that it
it not necessarily that case. Can you
define karma for the uneducated person
like myself
on what karma truly
>> I thought that was my title.
>> [laughter]
>> You're stealing that from me.
Uneducated guru is what people say, and
now you're saying you're uneducated uh
interviewer.
Anyway,
about uh
if you do bad things, bad things will
come for you.
This has been the way of the world. You
don't need the word karma for that.
Because people have been trying to
control people either with fear or
guilt. This has been the basis of a
whole lot of things happening in the
world. If you do this, you will go to
hell. If you do that, you will go to
heaven. Otherwise, here itself it will
happen to you, whatever.
Are there is somebody up there with a
stick waiting and they will whack you?
Uh all these kind of things.
Essentially, you're trying to manage
humanity.
Control humanity
with the
fear or guilt.
>> Yeah.
>> Fear and guilt, I see particularly in
the Western world is like enormous. It
is in the psyche of people in such a big
way.
Well, karma is not about fear. Karma is
not about guilt.
Karma is about liberation.
It is about freedom.
Because you are a composite as you sit
here. You're composite of various
memories within you.
>> Yes.
>> It goes back.
It goes way back. But let's start with
amoeba in recent times.
>> Okay.
>> From amoeba to now, the whole
evolutionary process in some ways
recorded in this body.
Otherwise, this body would be confused
every other day whether this is human or
not.
This is 100% clear that this is human.
This is evolutionary memory. Always
there.
There is genetic memory. There is karmic
memory. There is articulate,
inarticulate, uh you know, unconscious,
subconscious, and conscious memories.
Right now when we say memory, people
think only of their conscious memory,
which is less than 1% of their actual
memory.
>> So, the things they actually remember in
their mind, the conscious memory.
>> Yes. That is less than 1% of the actual
memory.
So, for example, I can give you a
thousand examples like this which are
manifesting in everybody's life. So, the
simple thing is this.
Uh
let's say 500 years ago, how your great
great great grandfather was, you don't
remember for sure.
>> No.
>> But, his nose is sitting on your face,
probably.
>> Right.
>> My ears are his ears.
>> Yeah.
>> Yep. Many things.
>> Yeah.
>> Even the color of the skin and the
texture of the skin, everything.
So, the minutest details of what
happened to your forefathers a million
years ago still living with you right
now.
>> Wow.
>> It is living with you right now.
Now, all these memories a composite or
an amalgamation of all these complex
memories is what you call as myself.
What you call as myself consciously
maybe just a small part of that. But,
that small part is happening because of
this massive memory that is there.
In
you know, like in India, we have in the
yogic culture, we have this word called
vasana.
>> Vasana.
>> Vasana literally means smell.
>> Yes.
>> So, we say your personality is just your
smell.
See, right now you walk there, there is
jasmine.
>> Mhm.
>> You recognize the jasmine by its
fragrance.
You'll recognize filth by its stink.
>> Mhm.
>> So, we recognize your personality
personality by your vasana.
What kind of vasana or what kind of
smell is coming out of you right now
depends on what kind of stuff have you
gathered.
>> Mhm.
>> So, now karma means to understand that
there is all kinds of things.
Because when it comes to memory, you
have no choice what to keep and what not
to keep.
>> You can't You can't erase memory.
>> You cannot. If you
>> No matter how hard you try.
>> Try and see. What you try to forget will
be foremost in your mind.
>> Amplified. Yeah.
>> Whatever you think you should not
remember. So, always people tell me,
"Sadhguru, my memory is bad." I say,
"Just try to forget it. You see if you
will remember it always."
>> Right.
>> It's simple.
>> Mhm.
>> So, because this is the nature of the
mind, you cannot There is no subtraction
and division in your mind. There is only
addition and multiplication. Whatever
you try to do, it'll be one more.
If you try hard, it'll multiply.
This is the nature of your mind.
So,
what is there in your memory is not your
choice.
Whatever you see, it's all recorded.
>> Mhm.
>> Whatever you hear, everything recorded.
Whatever you smell, taste, touch, every
perception that you have is recorded
within you. You have no choice what to
record. Here there is a flower which is
beautiful. Let me just record that.
There there is filth. I don't want to
record that. There's no such thing.
[clears throat]
Everything gets recorded.
So, if all this is there, how do I live
clean? How do I live happy?
>> How do you eliminate the waste, the
trash?
>> You don't have to eliminate the waste.
Waste is very valuable. If you know,
right now in this garden, they buy waste
at a very I know a very exorbitant price
because their waste goes into the public
system. They have to buy waste from
somewhere. They have to buy filth.
>> It's a fertilizer.
>> Yes.
>> Yeah.
>> So, whether you turn your filth into a
fertilizer
or you smear it on your face and walk
around, that's your choice. This is why
karma.
So, what kind of karma happened in my
life till this moment is not always my
choice. So, many things have happened.
But, what kind of karma I perform right
now in this moment is 100% my choice.
Will I use this filth as manure and
blossom into a wonderful fragrance or
will I smear it around me and walk
around with filth? This is the choice
everybody has. When unpleasant things
happen to us, which happens to everybody
in some way if you're living in the
world, I'm saying, unless you dropped
from somewhere else. If you're living in
this world, so many unpleasant things
happen.
Now, with these unpleasant things, do
you become wise or do you become
wounded? This is a choice. To exercise
this choice, there must be a little
space. When I say a little space, where
is your memory stored?
People think here. Your brain has very
little memory.
Okay?
Every cell in the body carries a
trillion times more memory than your
entire brain.
>> Every cell in the body.
>> Every cell in the body. Because if I
take one cell from you, we can, you
know, create you completely in a lab.
That means what? Well, your parents,
your father and mother gave you only one
cell each. They were not very generous.
Only one cell each. See, a whole man
came out of it.
So, in that one cell, all this memory,
head to toe, everything was there, isn't
it?
>> Yeah.
>> No mistake. Texture of the hair, texture
of the skin, the nails, the works.
Every detail, to the minutest detail,
was it packed in that one cell or no?
>> Yeah.
>> Yes. So, every cell in your body carries
a trillion times more memory than your
entire brain carries.
>> Wow.
>> So, if you do not use that, if you just
use one part of your body,
then everything seems to be stressful.
Everything seems to be a struggle.
Today, everybody complaining about
everything. Everything is stressful. You
are toddler, you have stress of diapers.
You are a teenager, you have hormonal
stress. You're middle age, you have
crisis. You're old age, geriatric
stress. All right. Which is not stress.
Our entire life is stress. Tell them,
"Okay, you will die." Oh, that is
enormous stress. Mhm. So, this is not
because there is something wrong with
anybody's life. It's simply because it's
like you have a car, it's supposed to go
on four wheels. Try to drive on one.
Okay, one may look like too much. Try to
drive on two.
Well, within 10 miles your tires will
burst.
Because too much stress on one point,
other things are not being used. This is
all that's happening to human beings.
>> Are we stressing our minds too much?
>> See, when we say mind, see again your
your hand went almost here. Are we
stressing our minds? No, there is an
entire There is a mind across this body.
What is it that you call as a mind? A
certain combination of memory and
intelligence is mind.
>> So, our whole body is mind?
>> Yes.
In yoga, we see physical body, mental
body, energetic body, etheric body,
bliss body, like this. Everything is
body.
Because it is right across, it is not in
any one place. Only intellectual
activity is here.
>> Mhm.
>> Okay? Right now, because modern
societies, particularly Western
societies, have become such slaves of
their intellect. Because of that, they
think everything is here.
>> Right.
>> Intellect works only with the data that
you have gathered.
You cannot function beyond your data.
That means you will remain so small,
because even if you read the libraries
on this planet,
what you know in terms of data
is minuscule compared to what this
cosmos is. With that minuscule, you
think you're very intelligent because
you're analyzing and processing. Anyway,
all these people who think they're
intellectually very smart are going to
feel dumb, stupid in the next 5 years
because your phone will be far more
smarter than you.
>> Mhm.
>> Already people are calling it a
smartphone. See, why would you call
somebody or something smart? Only
because it's smarter than you, right?
>> Right. Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> Otherwise, [laughter] you wouldn't.
>> All right. So, right now, too much
dependence on intellect because our
education systems are crafted like this,
>> not exploring other dimensions of
intelligence at all.
See, intellect, if I ask you this simple
question, would you like your intellect
to be sharp or blunt? Choose Choose
quickly. I'm going to bless you. Yes.
>> [laughter]
>> So, essentially, intellect is like a
knife. If you want to dissect something,
it's very good.
>> Yeah.
>> So, now the only instrument that you
have is a knife in your hand.
>> Mhm.
>> You want to stitch your clothes. If you
stitch your clothes with the knife, what
will happen? You will be in tatters.
>> Right.
>> This is what is happening to people's
lives.
They are trying to fix everything with
their intellect. The harder they try,
the more tatters they will become. With
all this educate Tell me, uneducated
people are more unhappy or educated
people are more unhappy
in the world?
>> what type of education.
>> No, generally, illiterate people in the
rest of the world, tribes and this and
that, even in India, many, many people.
>> I Whenever I visit um
I go to Guatemala almost every year, and
I visit small villages, and the kids
seem so happy.
>> Yeah.
>> Because they didn't go to school like
me.
>> [laughter]
>> They don't have much, but they have
family, they have community, they
>> they don't have much?
>> they don't have much in terms of the
material world.
>> disastrous, that's what you're saying.
>> Right, exactly. Yeah. They don't have a
lot in the material side of things, but
they have a lot in their hearts,
richness, connection, community, love,
and they seem very happy.
>> uneducated people or illiterate people
are happier than the educated people.
With education, your life should have
become better, isn't it?
>> Mhm.
>> Unfortunately, they're becoming unhappy
simply because
they only have sharpened their knife.
>> Mhm.
>> And a sharp knife in your hand and
you're unconscious, you're cutting
yourself all the time.
All the time cutting yourself? You don't
need any outside help.
>> You stab yourself.
>> Yes. So, people come to me and say,
"Sadhguru, my boss, he's horrible. My
mother-in-law, she's not even human. My
wife, she's such a pain. My husband like
this."
I say, "You come here to the yoga
center. I'll make sure your boss,
mother-in-law, wife, husband, nobody
enters this place. Just you.
I'll give you a nice place to live, good
food to eat.
Nothing to do. Just be happy. That's
all. You must be just joyful.
I'll make random checks on you.
If I find you unhappy or miserable,
then I won't feed you because I don't
believe in feeding misery.
If you remain joyful, I will feed you
for the rest of your life and take care
of you like you're my prized guest. But,
if you show misery, we won't feed you."
Well, you leave them in one room for 24
hours. You will see in how many ways
>> they'll twist themselves out. It's
unbelievable.
>> [laughter]
>> Because when you're alone, if you're
miserable, obviously you're in bad
company.
>> [laughter]
>> Right.
>> I'm with you. I'm miserable. I think
it's because of this guy I'm miserable.
Because of this guy I'm miserable. I'm
sitting here alone and miserable.
Now, who?
>> Right.
>> Who is causing misery? [laughter]
>> How do we get out of that, though?
>> No, essentially one must understand
human experience is caused from within,
not from outside.
>> Right.
>> What we do, arrangements we do outside
in the form of home, family, automobile,
this, that, these are arrangements to
facilitate our activity.
They're not going to make you happy or
unhappy. But, right now, the car sellers
are telling you you only this is joy,
this this car I'm sorry. I'm not against
any brand. I like the brand. They say,
"This car is joy." Another somebody else
said this car is love. Oh, all the best.
>> This is power. This is yeah.
>> Power is okay. Car has power.
But where is love extruding from the
engine or joy extruding from the engine?
All right? Power all right.
>> Mhm.
>> But right now, if you you know, this is
something I've been noticing it's only
in recent times, probably last 10 15
years. If you look at any car ad, I look
at every advertisement.
Whether they're selling an automobile or
a machine or a crane or an earth mover,
because I'm interested in anything that
works. Not that I'm going to buy them.
So, when I look at it, car ads,
nobody's telling you what's the engine,
what's the transmission, what's the
power, what's the torque, nothing.
They're talking about the leather,
they're talking about the wood paneling,
they're talking about the stereo.
Hey, you buy you're buying a sitting
room?
>> [laughter]
>> You want to buy a drawing room or do you
want a car?
If I want a car, I would look at the
engine, how it is made, what does it do?
No, nothing.
>> [clears throat]
>> Only
>> Why is that?
>> Because they're buying a car for
neighbor's envy. They're not buying a
car because they love to drive a good
machine.
>> Yeah.
>> It's always about being better than
somebody else.
>> Why do we obsess over that in general?
And is that mostly in America or do you
see that all the world?
>> it's everywhere.
America kind of setting the you know,
top breaking.
>> The standard. We're [laughter] the best
at trying to be the best.
>> So, this is uh unfortunate cultivation
that is happening from kindergarten.
>> Mhm.
>> If you're going to school, what do your
parents will say? You must be number
one.
>> Uh-huh.
>> If you are number one, what about all
the other 30 40 kids who are there? They
must be below you.
>> They're losers.
>> Mhm.
>> So, your joy is only in other people
failing.
>> Mhm.
>> When your joy is about other people's
misery,
that's not joy, that is sickness.
>> Woo.
>> Right now, whole world is invested in
this. It's not just America. America
kind of display like that. Not that
it's not there everywhere in the else in
the world. Everywhere it's there. But
here it's being shamelessly displayed.
They are little shy everywhere rest of
the world, but still they got it.
>> Yeah.
>> [laughter]
>> What would What would the world look
like if we chose to lift everyone up and
celebrate other people succeeding or or
being happy or whatever it looks like
for them to succeed. What would the
world look like?
>> See, uh
I see in America everybody keeps talking
about family, family, family.
But you forgotten just as maybe a
century ago. Yeah. Maybe a century ago
or even 70 years ago or 50 years ago, if
you said family, it meant crime.
>> Why?
>> Oh, because the families were running
the crime, you know.
>> Oh, wow.
>> Cosa Nostra, you know.
>> Family crime. Got you. Yeah.
>> They They always refer to crime as
family.
>> Mhm.
>> Because family is a crime.
>> Really?
>> Let [laughter] me come to that. I know I
will just get me into trouble.
Let me come to
>> you say that.
>> See, there is only one crime and there's
only one evil in the world.
That is limited identity.
Dip How much crime you will commit
simply depends on how empowered you are.
>> Say it one more time. How much crime you
>> commit simply depends on how empowered
you are.
>> How empowered you are.
>> Yeah.
>> So you don't want to be
>> If you are highly empowered and your
identity is very limited, you will do
terrible things.
So the most important thing is to
enhance or to expand one's identity.
>> How do we do that?
>> See, for example, it traditionally in
the yogic culture in India,
before we start education for a child,
the first and foremost thing is
that he must take a cosmic identity.
>> A cosmic identity?
>> Yes, he has to take that.
>> What does that What does that look like?
So, if I'm a child and you're teaching
me
>> the thing is one thing is there is a a
mantra which says that that he has to
say it again and again. He has to look
at the sky and say it, he look at the
earth and say it, look at the air and
say it, look at the fire and say it, all
the elements of water and say it.
Because these are all the composition of
the cosmos. You look at empty space and
say it, you look at water and say it,
you look at fire and say it, you look at
the earth and say it.
So, that you understand your identity is
limitless. Why this is being done is
Why this is being done is education is
seen as an empowerment. You should not
empower a person
who has a limited identity because he
will cause havoc.
I'll take the worst example which will
get me into trouble. Sure.
See, everybody talks about You're not
even supposed to mention this name,
Adolf Hitler.
>> Uh-huh.
>> Well, many people have been there who
caused enormous pain to other human
beings. But, I don't think anybody
managed to organize it,
mechanize it, and really deliver it like
a factory of misery
like this man did. All right, it's a
factory.
>> Yeah.
>> Literally a factory of misery,
manufacturing misery properly organized.
But, do you think
there aren't thousands or hundreds and
thousands of people with the same
mindset in the world?
>> Absolutely.
>> They are. Only thing is they're not
empowered like him. Competence is the
only thing that's lacking. Tyranny is
there in people's mind.
They're as much tyrants as Adolf Hitler.
You may find them in a school teacher,
you may find them in your parents, you
may find them all around you in your
neighborhood. Only fortunately they're
not as potent as that man. That man is
super competent. That is was the
problem. So, right now human competence
becomes a terrible problem
simply because you have a limited
identity.
So, you invest your identity in a
family, you invest your identity in a
community, race, religion, nationality.
>> Your relationships, your
>> Tell me in the name of nations, in the
name of race, in the name of religions,
in the name of communities,
how much terrible how many terrible
things have we done in this world?
>> It's still happening today.
>> No, the most terrible Leave what's
happening today. Just look back in the
last 100 years.
>> All for someone's identity, pride,
country, city, state, religion, all
these things.
>> How You just take 20th century, okay?
One century passed. 21st century is just
progressing now.
20th century, take it in the name of
race, what all have we done to each
other? In the name of religion, what all
have we done to each other? In the name
of nationality, what all have we done to
each other? Just look back and see.
We've literally killed half the world's
population in 20th century.
>> Because of identity.
>> Yes. Of a philosophy, of an ideology,
people have killed, all right?
>> All right.
>> So, limited identity and empowerment is
a disaster.
But we are continuously cultivating this
all the time. So, I said family is crime
because family is the first identity
that you take.
After that comes community. After that
comes maybe race or religion or
nationality. Right now nationality is
reasonably the largest identity you're
taking.
Within this nation it looks nice that
you are committed as an American to the
well-being of America.
But just see who is fighting who in this
world. A good Indian is fighting a good
Pakistan.
A good Hindu is fighting a good Muslim.
A good American fighting just about
anybody.
>> [laughter]
>> Because you never fought a war here. You
go out and fight all over the world. All
right?
Well, you will find reasons as to why
you fought that war and the heroic
nature of it. I know people who lost
their lives
believing that they're doing the best
thing in their life. Yes, but I want you
to know that man that you think is
horrible, that terrorist, that
miscreant, that militant, or whatever
you want to call him,
that guy also, like a suicide bomber,
see anybody, for every human being or
even for an ant,
its life is precious. You try to catch
him, see, he'll do everything possible
to save his life.
So, somebody to throw away their life
like this, obviously, what they believe
in means much more than their life.
Right? It's not crazy.
See, if they do it your way, you it's
heroic. If they do it their way, it's
crazy. I'm not trying to support
terrorism or something. I'm just telling
you it's limited identity.
Genocides have been committed because of
limited identity.
Nations have been raised down because of
limited identity. Evil things we have
done to each other on individual level
simply because of limited identity. So,
this is what yoga means. Yoga means
union. That means you consciously
obliterated the boundaries of your
individual nature and your experience of
life expanded. Once you sit here and you
experience everything around you as a
part of yourself, after that you do not
need any morality, you do not need any
commandments. Thou shall not cut that
tree. Thou shall not kill this man. Thou
shall not rob this. This is meaningless
to you
when you have experienced something as a
part of yourself.
So, the entire system of yoga, and when
I say yoga, I mean yoga. All right, not
the yoga that's happening in Los Angeles
studios. I have nothing against them,
but I'm saying we've reduced it to right
something just one aspect of
yes
twisting and turning your body. It's
good for you. You'll become flexible and
maybe healthy. That's good for you, but
I want you to understand. Would you not
wish that Adolf Hitler was a sick man
instead of a healthy man?
>> I would not wish that I would I would
wish he was a healthy man.
>> Huh?
>> I would wish he was a healthy man.
>> He was healthy. That's the problem. I'm
saying.
>> You wish he was a sick man?
>> Yeah, would you wouldn't you be happy if
you got cancer at 25 and you wouldn't
kill all these people wouldn't set up
this factory?
>> Yeah, I wish they wouldn't have died.
>> So I'm saying health becomes a curse.
Competence becomes a curse. Individual
intelligence becomes a curse. Why?
Because you have limited identity.
It's in that context I said family is
crime.
Family is a wonderful place where people
are supporting each other. Like you said
is it not important if you create a
world where everybody is supporting each
other to do their best. Well, that's
happening in the family. That's the most
beautiful aspect of the family, but why
is it only limited to those four people
or five people or whatever?
>> What should what should families start
to reconsider about their unity, their
their connection? How could they expand
it to something greater than just the
family of four or six in this home
living this way?
>> know if you heard even political leaders
in India. For example, wherever our
prime minister goes to United Nations,
he will say was with their कुटुंबकम.
This means the world is my family.
>> Uh-huh.
>> It's a chant that always he says is the
world is our family.
Uh because this has to be inculcated
from childhood.
That your identity is not about a few
people who are born around you or people
couple of people who bore you. Your
identity is the air that you breathe is
your identity.
>> Yeah.
>> This is your life.
>> Yeah.
>> So, if you identify with the air that
you breathe, what is it that's not you
and what is it that's you?
>> Everything is you.
>> Yes.
If everything is you, your intelligence
is a bone. Your competence is a bone.
>> Is a Is a what?
>> Your intelligence, your competence, your
capabilities, everything is a gift to
the world.
>> Right.
>> But, if your identity is small, all the
wonderful things that human being has
becomes a curse.
>> Mhm.
>> See, right now, our intelligence,
so much science, technology we
developed. But, the cutting edge of
science and technology always goes into
military equipment, isn't it? First, at
least.
>> Mhm.
>> Many of these things will never come to
you on the street. It's always there,
all right?
Only when every other nation has, maybe
then it'll come to you.
>> Sure, sure.
>> Till then, it's just kept there.
>> Mhm.
>> So, our intelligence is going into
destructive force. Why? Limited
identity. But, right now, can I just
open up the borders of this nation and
say I love everybody? We are not there.
>> Right.
>> We are not at there. The world is not at
there. We cannot do that, all right?
We still need nationality. We still need
all these things. But, we can hold it
little lightly.
>> Mhm.
>> We don't have to hold it like it is
absolute. It is not absolute. It's
something that we have done.
Our idea of family is our making. Our
idea of community is our making. Our
idea of race, religion, everything is
our making. Our idea of nationality is
our making. So, don't treat it like it's
an absolute.
>> What would happen if we open up every
border in every country?
>> That would be possible
only if there was no economic disparity.
>> Mhm.
>> If there was no economic disparity,
there were no national boundaries about
two centuries ago. People could walk
wherever they want. There were no visas
and passports anywhere because
economically reasonably everybody was in
the
>> What about race though? Would people be
you know, what about that?
>> India is a classic example. If you if
you travel from north to south, every 50
km people will look different. They
dress different. They talk different and
they eat different.
Every every few kilometers you will see
people are different and we have no
problem. That's what that's how it would
have been.
>> Yeah.
>> Only because you protected yourself for
too long. Now race seems to be one big
issue, right?
>> But the money disparity you think is the
challenge?
>> disparity which is difficult to handle.
Right now if you take away the
boundaries of this country, maybe half
the world it will be right here in the
United States.
And that will not be a solution because
you will become poor.
>> Why?
>> Okay? United States will be
poverty-ridden.
>> Mhm.
>> If that happens.
But
if you
totally wall yourself out, then also you
will become poor in a different way.
So this has to be first thing is if your
identity is little flexible, you will do
things judiciously as it's necessary for
the situation and appropriate action.
Not our actions are never ever absolute.
Our actions are just about being
appropriate to the situations in which
we exist.
>> Yeah.
And there's some parents watching or
listening
and they're like, "Wow, this is very
eye-opening. I've never thought of it
this way." They've always raised their
kids a certain way. Their kids are
between
>> This word. This is the word that I hear
very often in United States. We don't
hear this in India. I was raised this
way. People say I was raised Catholic. I
was raised Jewish. I was raised Baptist.
I was raised this way.
See, you don't raise human beings. You
only raise cattle.
A human being is a possibility that
needs to be nurtured, not raised
in a particular way.
So, you are raising people in a certain
way because you're already committed to
something that you think is absolute.
Nothing is absolute. Life is a
possibility. Will you allow your
children to explore that possibility, or
do you want to make them like concrete
blocks that they come out in a
particular shape, raised in a certain
way?
No, this is not the way to handle
humanity.
>> So, say these parents are hearing this
and they want to nurture
their children in a different way.
>> Yes, the first thing they must do is
>> But they've been taught something their
whole lives.
>> do their prayers as they know it, but
let them know that it's not absolute.
They can sing their national anthem
with pride, wonderful.
Let them know it's not absolute.
Let them also teach them a two lines of
global anthem.
If not cosmic anthem, one global anthem
which includes every life's well-being.
Every child should sing this in every
school.
>> A global anthem?
>> Yes, we need to make a global anthem.
I'm singing Indian anthem with great
fervor, and you're singing American
anthem.
What does it mean? Next moment we get an
opportunity, we're going to pull out
each other's eyeballs.
>> Yes, yeah.
>> Not because you're bad or I'm bad,
because I'm Indian and you're American,
all right?
>> Right.
So, a global anthem.
>> We need a global anthem for sure.
Today, technology has many ways made
national boundaries meaningless. All
right?
People are sitting in India and working
in America right now. Whole lot of
people.
>> Sitting in India and walking in America?
>> Working in America.
>> Working in yeah. Yeah, they're getting
paid, yeah.
>> You pick up a phone
the Indian guy is the practice American
accent and he's pretty speaking from
Bangalore.
>> Right. Right. [laughter]
Yeah.
>> So, when national boundaries borders
have become so porous, it's time to work
towards that. It's not See, tomorrow
morning if you open up all the borders,
there'll be disaster.
>> Yeah.
>> We must know these things we made at
certain times for certain conveniences.
It is not absolute.
The lines that we have drawn on this
planet are not absolute. We just made it
for certain convenience. It's time to
relax it. See, one great example that's
happened in the world is Europe.
They fought as bitterly as they fought
World War I, World War II.
Did anybody think
Germany and France will share
open borders? Hello? In 1944, would you
believe that?
>> No.
>> See, today they have open borders.
>> Right.
>> I don't see this as a a geopolitical
whatever. In a way, it's an evolution of
human consciousness itself.
They might have done it for economic
reasons, political reasons, but still
there is human consciousness involved in
this because that's not easy after
fighting such bitter wars when that
generation is still alive.
You opened your borders to each other,
trusted each other. It's not a small
thing to do.
>> Yeah.
>> We need to make that happen in the world
everywhere. But, for this we need a
reasonable level of economic parity.
Otherwise, you cannot do it.
>> Can't do it. One of the things I feel
very grateful for in my childhood, my
father, we didn't have a lot of money
growing up to travel to other places
outside of Ohio.
But, I had seven exchange students from
around the world live with us for 6
months at a time from Brazil and Japan
and Germany and France and Philippines.
>> Nobody came from India.
>> No one from India.
>> See, otherwise they would have taken you
back.
>> Yes, [laughter]
exactly. But I felt very fortunate as a
5-year-old until I was about 12
having these cultures come
and learn the language, learn the food,
learn about the beliefs.
>> when you [snorts] live just in a limited
atmosphere, you don't know how horribly
prejudiced you become. You never realize
that. You think you're doing fine.
>> All right.
>> You become horribly prejudiced. I'm sure
even Adolf Hitler is thinking he's fine.
>> Mhm.
>> He thinks he's fine.
>> Mhm.
>> That's why he's doing what he's doing.
>> Yeah.
Right.
>> I'm saying the extreme example.
>> Right.
>> Even he thinks he's doing fine.
>> Right.
>> Only the wrong thing he did was he lost
the war.
If he had won the war, whole world would
have said what he's done is fine.
Please know that.
It's a a horrific thing.
>> Do you think someone who's doing that
feels a sense of guilt?
>> No.
No, no.
>> Like when they're taking another life
and they're seeing someone in pain?
>> See, every nation is taking somebody
else's life.
>> Mhm.
Every nation?
>> Yes, every nation is, isn't it?
>> But I mean an individual, one one
person.
>> See, nation means it's individuals who
act on the ground, right?
>> Mhm.
Yeah.
>> It's an American pilot who drops the
bomb. It's an American sniper who pulls
the trigger, all right? But he believes
he's doing it for the country.
>> Right.
>> So, he won't feel any guilt. Even the
terrorist who is right now which we
think is absolutely unreasonable and
insane,
that guy thinks he's doing the right
thing. He's doing God's work. Not a
simple thing.
He feels great pride
in what he's doing. So, this why I'm
saying it's a limited identity.
>> Mhm.
>> It is not that somebody is bad, somebody
is good. The moment you have limited
identity, you are a crime.
It's just that whether your crime is
recognized in the law as a crime or not
is a subjective thing. But, you are a
crime. Right now I sit here, my identity
is with myself. I'm interested [snorts]
in the well-being of this. I don't care
a damn what happens to this.
So, this is a crime. I may not shoot you
with a gun, but I'm committing a crime
because I don't care what happens to
you.
The moment in some way you forsake your
humanity,
I don't care means I have forsaken my
humanity. It is a crime. Will I cause
enormous damage or small damage? Simply
depends on how competent I am.
So, competency becomes a curse.
The more competent you are, the more the
more you can hurt and harm. Your
intelligence and competency is a being a
solution becomes a problem. Isn't that
what is happening in the world today?
So, where does karma fit in
>> [laughter]
>> around
people that are
acting to harm or to not support someone
else's well-being or the things around
them? How does karma fit in? See, all
your identity is only from your memory,
isn't it?
How are you an American?
You remember that you were born in
America. Suppose I erase your memory,
are you American?
Suppose what? I said I I erase your
memory. Am I an American? I don't know.
No.
So, how does your family identity come?
How do your racial identity come?
Everything is by memory, isn't it?
Now, karma means this accumulated
massive amount of memory.
Now, will you stand above that? Is this
is a stage for our life.
This karmic background is like a
platform.
If you create enough surface tension in
this, you can stand on it and do your
fresh act today.
But, if your feet sink into it like
quicksand, then
you are just a victim of your memory.
Right now, the person that you think is
a racist
is a victim of his memory.
>> Right.
>> The person that you think is a terrorist
is a victim of his memory.
>> Mhm.
>> The person who is a suicide bomber is a
victim of his memory because he
remembers what has been taught to him.
All right? If he loses his memory, he's
a fine guy.
>> Right.
>> [laughter]
>> Right. Right. Yes.
>> So, right now, you don't have to lose
your memory. Where is your memory? Your
memory is in your body.
And what you call as your mind, which is
all one. All right?
>> This is hardware that is software.
>> Sure. Sure.
>> So, this software, you wrote it
unconsciously
through various incidents, experiences,
your own perception according to your
intelligence. You wrote your own kind of
software unconsciously. It's written by
you,
but unconsciously.
There have been cases where people have
sleepwalked and committed a murder.
Even the judiciary
thinks that is not worth punishing. They
don't punish them even though they
committed murder sleepwalking.
As far as the act is concerned, somebody
died. They lost their life. Not a small
thing.
But, this man was sleeping.
So, that man doesn't get punishment
because he was sleepwalking.
All right?
>> Mhm.
>> He could have even killed himself in his
sleepwalking. It's possible.
>> Right.
>> But, instead he killed somebody else.
So, essentially, you're unconscious.
So, you're not punishable because you're
less than a child, I'm saying.
>> Mhm.
>> But, the important thing is to become
conscious. Where is your memory? It's in
the body. It's in the mind.
If you create a little distance between
you and your body, between you and your
mind,
this is the end of your karma.
>> The end of your karma?
>> Yes. The karmic influence, I mean to
say. Karma is still there.
>> Yes.
>> Karma is the richness of your life.
Okay, if you have no karma, you will be
a bimbo.
>> Right.
>> All right? There is karma. There's the
more rich and vibrant the karma is, the
better. Only thing is, is it your
platform to dance upon, or is it a quick
sand that sucks you in?
Most human beings right now are only
suffering
their memory, isn't it?
>> Yeah.
>> This moment they're not suffering. What
happened yesterday, they're suffering.
What happened 10 days ago, they're
suffering. Why? What happened 25 years
ago, they're still suffering.
>> When they hold on to the thought, the
memory.
>> See, it is not their choice
>> to think about the thought.
>> They don't have to. They're identified
with the situations in which they were.
Now it makes them suffer.
Today we know that a whole lot of
diseases that people are suffering are
psychosomatic.
It does not mean they're always thinking
about it. But it's working. The memory
is working depending on how strongly
you're identified. Let's say you're
strongly identified with your family
structure.
Now
something happened in your family which
is not pleasant, something very
unpleasant happened, let's say.
Now you don't have to every day think
about it. Slowly your face will become
like this.
A lot of people, just see.
Because the memory is working from
inside. You It doesn't even ask your
permission.
It doesn't ask ask your permission,
should I come or go?
It just works on every cell in your
body. Slowly you lose your vibrancy.
What was a vibrant, exuberant person
slowly becomes like this. This has
happened to more than 75% of the
population.
>> Right.
>> When they were 5, 6 years of age, how
joyful and exuberant lives they were.
>> Mhm.
>> By the time they're 30, they're like
this. What is their problem?
What is their problem? Is somebody
poking them? No.
Because their karma is overtaking them.
So, the entire process of this book is
step-by-step way of standing above your
karma on the richness of your memory.
Because you can convert this memory into
manure and you can blossom upon that.
>> Ooh.
>> Because what happened yesterday, you
cannot change. What is happening today,
you can only experience.
What is tomorrow, you have to create.
>> Mhm.
When you have I mean, you've you've
experienced some bad things in the past,
right? Some harmful things, some
challenges, pain. You've you've felt
these things, right?
In the past?
>> People People try to do lots of bad
things and they're still doing lots of
them. Every day, a whole bunch of people
abuse me. People that I've never met.
They have enormous hatred for me.
Because, you know, like today what I
have said, a whole lot of people will
hate me for this. Do you know?
>> Yeah.
>> Because their identities are shaken.
They have created false sense of
identity upon which they are standing.
Shaking. They know if this is gone, they
have nothing to live for.
They need to understand there is a life
beyond identities. Identities are
created for purpose of action in a given
situation. It is none of our identities
identities are absolute. See, first of
all, we need to understand before you
and me came here, countless number of
people walked this planet. Where are
they? All topsoil. Part of the manure in
this garden.
Yes or no?
>> Yes.
>> You and me, what will we be in 100
years' time?
>> Same thing.
>> Same thing. Unless your friends fear you
may raise from the dead and bury you
real deep.
>> [laughter]
>> So, no roots can get to you.
I'm saying.
So, we are just a small pop-up
in time.
But, we are thinking too much of
ourselves.
>> Yeah.
>> Because we are we attached too much
self-significance to ourselves.
Because of that, our identities have
risen beyond
absurd limitations.
>> Can identities be good at all?
Can having an identity be good?
[clears throat]
>> Without identity, you cannot function in
the world.
Right now, this is me, that's you. If
identity is not there, if you ask me a
question, I will look like this. What's
the point of that? No activity is
possible without identity. The important
thing is to It's like wearing your
clothes. Right now, these are my
clothes. See, I wear loose clothes, so
that always you're aware this is my
clothing, this is not me.
>> Mhm.
>> Suppose I wear skin-tight nylon clothes.
After some time, I don't know which is
my clothing, which is my skin.
So, that's all the thing is. Do you have
a space between you and what you have
created? Or are you stuck with it?
That's the important thing. If you're
stuck with it, you will do crazy things
thinking you're doing good things.
>> If you're ho- held on to the identity,
if you're attached to it.
>> Uh it will wrap you up.
>> [laughter]
>> Once you create it and leave it, it will
just wrap you up unless you're
conscious.
>> Sure.
>> So, if you can see this is the entire
inner engineering process we are
offering, it's just this.
If you do this practice which we call as
Shambhavi, if you sit here,
your body is here, your mind is out
there, what is you is elsewhere.
Once there is a little space between you
and your body, between you and your
mind,
this is it.
>> Mhm.
>> One thing is there's no suffering within
you anymore. Because suffering happens
only two ways, physical suffering,
mental suffering. Do you know any other
kind of suffering?
>> [snorts]
>> Once there is a Once there is a little
distance, this is the end of suffering.
And above all, this is the end of all
identity.
>> How do you distance the suffering?
>> You don't distance the suffering. You
distance yourself from your own body and
your mind.
This is what the practice is about. How
to distance means this. See, right now
there are life energies.
See, when you were a 5-year-old child,
how much were you identified with your
body?
>> [sighs]
>> I'm trying to remember a 5-year-old
child. Um
How much do I identify as my body?
>> Mhm.
>> I think I was probably exploring my
body, trying to run around.
>> you were not exploring anybody.
>> Uh my body? I think I was like running
and jumping and I was like being active
and I was
>> were using it, but you were not
identifying it because every day it's
changing. You can't even identify with
it. All right?
>> Your identity with the body got
strengthened when you became an
adolescent.
>> Okay.
>> That is when when hormones started
poisoning your mind.
>> [laughter]
>> When your hormones hijacked your
intelligence, suddenly you lost your
sense of who you are.
>> Yeah.
>> Otherwise, you as a life were far more
exuberant than your body can ever be.
>> Mhm.
>> Yes or no?
>> Yes.
>> When a child laughs, when a child jumps,
when child does these things, I'm still
like this.
>> [laughter]
>> I'm saying
you will see body is just a thing to
use. He's not that. That's not the prime
thing.
>> The same was true with your intellect
and your mind also, isn't it, when you
were a child?
>> Mhm.
>> So, now
>> You're curious. You're exploring. You're
>> Yes, because
it was changing and growing.
>> You're questioning everything.
>> You You real You You Not that you
consciously realize, but you know this
is not it because your exuberance is
beyond that.
If you keep your exuberance of life like
that today, very clearly you know what
is you, what is your body, what is your
mind. When I say what is you, let us not
give a definition to that, but your body
we can define.
It's a defined physical form. So, we can
define this. How did this happen? Just
the food that you've eaten, isn't it?
It's a heap of food.
>> Right.
>> What you call as my mind is a heap of
impressions.
What you gather, whatever you gather,
can be yours, but can never ever be you,
isn't it?
>> What you gather may
>> So, right now, this cup
>> It's yours, but it's not you.
>> Yes.
>> Your thoughts
are yours, but they're not you.
>> They're not you, because yesterday you
had one kind of thought, today you have
another, tomorrow you may have different
thoughts.
>> a collection of your thoughts make up
you?
>> No.
>> What makes up you?
>> Why are you asking me?
>> [laughter]
>> See, this is the problem. You want to
get life into a definition.
>> Oh.
>> You can only define that which has
distinct physical boundaries.
Anything which doesn't have a physical
boundary, you cannot define that, isn't
it?
>> It's balance.
>> Don't go there. That is also a
definition, because that's just a word.
>> Okay.
>> All right, boundless is a good word, but
still it is just a word. People think
boundless means, "Oh, maybe like that."
>> Mhm.
>> Boundary means like this. No, no, that
is also a boundary, isn't it?
>> Sure.
>> Yeah.
>> When you are a child, uh maybe this
house compound was your world.
Today your world might have expanded,
>> Mhm.
>> but still it's a boundary.
>> Right.
>> Larger boundary, but still it's a
boundary. But there is something
naturally within every human being that
the moment you realize you're restricted
by a boundary, you want to go beyond
that. Whoever you are right now, you
want to be something more.
>> Don't touch this. Okay, I want to touch
it.
>> No, no, I'm not talking about that. See,
whoever you are right now, you want to
be something more.
>> Yeah.
>> If that something more happens tomorrow,
you want to be something more. Isn't it?
>> What Why is that?
>> That's what I'm saying. This is an
innate longing within the human being
because there is something within you
which is not physical in nature. It
doesn't like boundaries.
>> Mhm.
>> Till you experience that, you will think
you buy shopping you'll expand your
boundaries, by ambition you'll expand
your by conquest you'll expand your
boundaries. See, always a human being is
seeing how to be something more. If it
finds a very basic physical expression,
we call this sexuality.
What sexuality means is
something that is not you, you're trying
to experience as if it's a part of
yourself.
It works for a few moments.
Then, anyway, two people are separate.
If it happens mentally, it is called
ambition, conquest, or simply shopping.
Different people do it different ways.
If it happens on an emotional level, we
call it love.
What love means is somebody who is not
you, you want to experience them as a
part of yourself.
>> Mhm.
>> But if you do it consciously, we call it
yoga.
But if you do it successfully, it's
called yoga. Yoga does not mean twisting
and turning, yoga means union. That
means you consciously obliterated the
boundaries of your individu-
individuality so that you experience the
union with everything. This is not an
idea, this is not a philosophy, this is
the nature of the existence. Most people
get it only when you bury them,
unfortunately.
>> Really?
>> When you bury them, they understand
they're part of the earth, right?
>> Right.
>> That also they won't understand because
they today they're burying them in a
concrete box.
>> Wow.
Right. They're creating a boundary
around them.
>> Yes, [clears throat] that's worst thing
to do. At least when you die you should
become part of the earth.
>> Right.
Why is it so hard for people to feel
that type of love, that unity love, the
conscious love in a relationship, an
intimate relationship?
>> See, this is because they're interested
in the fruit, not in the root.
>> The fruit, not the root. What's the
root?
>> See, right now, you want to experience
love.
So, what will we do? Like people are
going about chanting this mantra, I love
you, you love me, you love me, I love
you throughout the day.
Because you know, if you don't say it
for 2 days, it may go away.
>> Mhm.
>> Love does not happen because you say it.
Love does not happen because you're
attracted to somebody. Yes, you may feel
it at certain moments. When you like
something, you may also begin to love
it. All right?
Essentially, love means sweetness of
your emotion.
>> Sweetness of your emotions.
>> Yes.
When you have very sweet emotions,
that's called love, isn't it?
>> Uh-huh.
>> If you have nasty emotions, that's
called hate, that's called whatever.
So, sweetness of your emotion, why is it
that you have tied it to something that
you like to eat? I love ice cream. I
love this man or woman. I love this, I
love that, I love car, I love food, I
love heavy. You know, people are talking
this everywhere.
>> All right.
>> [laughter]
>> So, or I love God. That's the safest
thing to do.
>> Mhm.
>> [laughter]
>> Because you can always claim God loves
you. But if you claim this person loves
me, tomorrow the guy when it goes away,
you can't say anything.
>> Mhm.
>> But this is a safe thing to do. All
right? People have found various ways. I
am not saying there's anything wrong
with that. It's okay. You use whatever
means you want to feel the sweetness of
your emotion. But you must understand,
it's the sweetness of your emotion. I'm
asking you, what happens within you? Why
is it determined by somebody else?
What happens within you if it's
determined by somebody else? This is the
worst form of slavery, isn't it?
>> When love is determined by someone else.
>> Not only love, your happiness, your joy,
your peacefulness, your love, anything
that happens within you, when your inner
experience is determined by something or
somebody, that is the worst form of
slavery.
>> Yeah.
>> But we are a free country.
>> [laughter]
>> So, when
people are in a relationship
and there seems to be a wave of joy and
love and acceptance and then
other days maybe it's anger or
resentment or frustration.
How do we How do we move out of that and
more into acceptance
and conscious love as opposed to control
or manipulation or well, you need to do
this for to make me happy. How do we
expand beyond that?
>> See, first of all, you must decide.
Is your life in pursuit of happiness or
is it an expression of joy?
>> Is it in the pursuit of happiness or
expression of joy?
>> Tell me in your life
when you're expressing your joy, was
that the best moment? Or when you're
pursuing happiness, what the best
moment?
>> The joy.
>> Yes.
So, why is it that you have not done
that? Because you still believe there is
joy in this tree and you can squeeze it
out. There is joy in this man or woman
that you can squeeze it out. You wring
them and then you expect relationship
with great. It will not be. You're
wringing them out so that juice of joy
will come to you or love will come to
you. No, love is not something that you
do.
Love is something that you can become.
It's your quality.
If your mind is in a certain way, it's
joyful.
If your emotions are in a certain way,
it's loving.
This is the quality of sweetness of
body. If your body becomes sweet and
pleasant, it's called health and
pleasure.
If your mind becomes very pleasant, it's
called peacefulness and joyfulness. If
your emotions become pleasant, it's
called love and compassion. If your very
life energy becomes pleasant, it is
called blissfulness and ecstasy. Only if
your surroundings become pleasant, it's
called success.
Only to achieve success, you need
competence, you need cooperation, you
need help from other people. All right?
Because without all of them cooperating,
[snorts]
there will be no success. Right now,
these guys must cooperate, otherwise
this shoot is not going to go well. All
right?
>> [laughter]
>> But even if these guys don't shoot well,
we can still be joyful. They cannot stop
us.
>> No, we cannot we can be joyful, yeah.
>> Yes, they cannot stop us. But for the
shoot to go well, you they need to
cooperate. If they don't cooperate, the
situation will not go well. For the
success of this situation, you need the
cooperation of all these people.
But for my body, for my mind, for my
emotion and my energies to feel
pleasant, I don't need anybody's
cooperation. This is 100% my business.
So right now, to experience love within
you, you're asking somebody to be in a
certain way. Oh, all the best.
You're going to have a trip.
>> [laughter]
>> Is that why you think
most marriages get go through divorce
because it's more of needing the other
person to
support you in feeling a certain way?
>> See.
>> [laughter]
>> Suppose [snorts] you cannot walk without
a crutch. Crutch, you know?
Without a crutch, you cannot walk.
Then next moment you go to go and say to
somebody, some pretty woman, "I cannot
live without you."
Between the crutch and her, what is the
difference, I must
One is a physical crutch, another is a
emotional and psychological scratch,
isn't it? So, essentially, you have
crippled yourself.
This life is a complete life by itself.
If this is a complete life, it's joyful,
loving, wonderful by its own nature.
Now, when it's feeling so wonderful, it
may want to share this wonderfulness
with
people around.
You can share this with thousands of
people. But, you also want a more
intimate sharing to happen. For that,
you need one person.
So, if it's about you expressing your
joy and love to somebody, and you find
that person, you think that person is
going to run away from you?
No. You want to squeeze them for love
and joy.
Initially, they drip. After a while,
sometime, they're dry.
Because [laughter] you squeezed them too
much.
>> For the people watching or listening who
might be saying, "You know what?
I've struggled in my relationships.
I I don't have financial abundance. I'm
struggling financially.
I'm
out of shape. I'm struggling in my my
health and wellness."
And they're wondering
how they can
use karma, in a sense, to support them
to create more abundance. Financial
abundance,
spiritual abundance, relationship
abundance, health and well-being.
Or maybe they've been thinking, "Well,
maybe I karma's been against me." In
that that way of thinking.
How can they start to think differently
to to apply these principles?
>> You're setting up all the wrong goals.
[laughter]
>> What should the goals be?
>> Simply this.
See, right now, if you
instead of philosophizing, reading
scriptures, reading self-help books, all
this, just pay attention to the trees
around here.
What are they doing?
>> Being.
>> Be No, no, no, no, no. They have no
capability to be.
They're not called beings. Only you call
being. Human being you are. They are
not. That's just a tree. It's a
wonderful tree. What is it doing?
Beneath the ground, it's fighting. All
right?
>> Mhm.
>> What is it fighting for?
Is this
maple tree trying to produce apples?
>> No.
It is just trying to be the best
possible maple tree it can be.
It is not trying to produce apples.
Definitely, I don't see any coconuts up
there.
All right?
>> Right.
>> This is all. As a human being, you must
see how this life can blossom into its
fullest. If it blossom to its fullest,
somebody may become rich
with money, or somebody may become
intelligent, somebody may become
knowledgeable, somebody may become
loving, somebody may become an artist,
somebody may just wonder.
But, a fully blossomed human being is a
joy to see, no matter what the hell
they're doing or what they're not doing.
Whichever way they're an asset to whole
humanity.
Instead of doing that, you what? For
example, you said abundance in economic
terms.
What is your idea of abundance in
economic terms? Jeff Bezos, is it?
>> Me personally, that's not it, but you
mean having enough to be able to do what
you want, not feeling like you're a
slave to
paying your bills and things like that.
>> insulting anybody. I'm just saying right
now, everybody saying he's the richest
man in the world or whatever. So, what
is your idea of abundance? $200 billion
of personal wealth?
I'm asking. Are you up to it?
>> $200 billion for me?
>> Yeah, yeah, why not?
>> Uh
that's not my definition of abundance,
but that is
>> What is it? 2 billion?
>> Um
Probably I mean
probably over
I guess it depends on what age I am.
>> [laughter]
>> Tell me your present
>> If I'm 10 years old, it's like $100,000,
I'm rich, you know. Uh my present? I
mean I feel pretty abundant financially,
but I mean
if you're asking for a specific number.
>> No, no, I'm asking for a number not
because I want to find out your number.
I'm asking because these numbers are
bloody meaningless.
They're all socially relevant, not
relevant to you.
And anyway, talking about karma, right
now let's say you're the guy who has 200
billion dollars.
>> Yes.
>> It's only in your memory. If I erase
your memory
your money's gone.
Hello?
>> Yeah.
>> It's gone, isn't it?
>> Well, it's in your bank account.
>> It is in the account, but if you if
you've forgotten what
>> Yeah, if you forgot the code or you
forgot the access, then it's gone.
>> A whole lot of people buried their
treasure all over the bloody world, and
somebody else found it thousand years
later.
>> It's true. A lot of people have lost all
their Bitcoin, and they can't get access
to it, yeah.
>> Yeah.
So, all these issues are there, but the
important thing is why do you want
affluence? Let me put the word abundance
as affluence.
An individual person wants affluence.
A society wants affluence. A nation
wants affluence. Everybody's striving
for that. Why?
Because initially it means a choice of
nourishment.
>> A choice of nourishment.
>> Yes.
>> Mhm.
>> If you have money, you can eat what you
want. Initially, that's the goal.
>> Yes.
>> If it goes beyond that after you eat
everything you want to eat, next thing
is a choice of lifestyle.
>> Yes.
>> Now, for example, United States of
America has the highest choice of
nourishment choices, highest level of
lifestyle choices. All right?
But you're spending 3.25 trillion on
health care.
>> Right.
>> Oh, wonderful. That's big that is larger
than India's economy.
>> Really?
>> For 1.4 billion people, we don't have a
3.3 and a quarter trillion-dollar
economy. All right?
>> So, what is the abundance you're
seeking?
You You want to destroy the planet.
That's what you're saying.
>> [laughter]
>> I don't want to say for me. I'll say for
people watching. Yeah.
>> No, no. I'm saying this the thing that
you're thinking is because you're in
California, your idea of abundance is
here.
If you're in Timbuktu, your idea of
abundance would be this. All right?
>> So, I'm saying do not think in terms of
abundance. Think in terms of a
fulfillment of life.
If you are a fulfilled life according to
your competence, according to your
capability, according to the times in
which you live, you will do the
appropriate thing. Right now in the in
pursuit of abundance, people are doing
vulgar things. Two people are living in
a
50-bedroom
house. What's the point of this?
>> Right.
>> You can you sleep in 50 different
places?
>> No.
Yeah.
>> You can have everything that you can use
well.
But the important thing is are you
making arrangements of home, automobile,
this, that, everything
as a means to act in the world or as a
means to enhance yourself? This you must
decide. This is why I said the car
advertisements are all talking about the
leather, about the paneling, about this.
Why? Because this is a way of enhancing
yourself. Your car [clears throat] is a
little shinier than your neighbor's car
and you're supposed to be better. I'm
saying nothing makes you better. All
right? Nothing makes you better. The
only thing is everything that you can be
within yourself. Are you or are you not?
That's all. In our lives, if we do not
do what we cannot do, there's no issue.
If we do not do what we can do, we are a
disaster.
So, I'm saying at least are you as
joyful as you were when you were 5 years
of age?
At 35, 40, if you're not as joyful and
as exuberant as a 5-year-old boy or girl
that you were, obviously you're a
disaster because you're not even square
one.
That was square one of your life and
nothing was in your control. All right?
You're not even in square one, you were
sunk deeper. That's a disastrous life.
>> So, we shouldn't be thinking abundance
in finance or this or that.
>> No, those things will happen according
to times, isn't it?
>> Yeah.
>> See, if you and me were here 10,000
years ago,
I would definitely find an Indian cave
because there are many. I don't know if
you would have found one. Ohio has
caves.
>> Yes, it does. Yeah.
>> You wouldn't have come to California.
You would have found a big cave in Ohio
or gone to neighboring state of Kentucky
and found a really massive cave out
there. All right? I've been visiting all
these caves.
>> Yeah.
>> So,
>> Try to find some water that's abundance.
>> would be your idea of abundance at that
time? I'm asking.
>> Yeah.
Um
>> So, I'm saying do not think of abundance
because the moment you thought like
that, that is what destroyed this planet
massively. And now you are saying you
want to be eco-friendly by driving an
electric car.
No, no. It is because fundamentally
wrong thinking has come. Life has become
about something else.
Something else around you enhances you.
No.
The only way to enhance yourself is to
bring this to its full blossoming of
what it can be. At its fullest best,
what it can be.
What I am at my fullest, am I better
than you? No, I'm just different.
This tree, is it better than that tree?
No, this is one way, that's another way,
and that's why the world is so
beautiful.
If there was one more guy just like you
in your house, could you live there?
>> No.
>> No?
>> [laughter]
>> If there were 7 billion people just like
you, could you live in this world? You
would commit suicide, believe me.
>> [laughter]
>> So, how does someone know what their
full potential is of who they can truly
be?
>> See, if you don't fix yourself with
limited identities,
if you do not compare yourself with
anything, if you explore and not See, if
you want this tree to grow to its
fullest thing, that's why I said not the
fruit, root.
If you count the fruits, maybe that tree
is bearing more fruit than this one.
That's not the point.
You nurture the root. The fullest
possible nurture if you give to the
root, what it has to become, it'll
become. A blade of grass cannot become a
tree.
But, is it not wonderful?
Is it not wonderful? You may step on it,
but is it not wonderful?
>> Yeah.
>> You mostly have the garden for grass,
not for trees, actually.
>> Right.
So, how do we nurture our our inner
roots
and not focus on the fruit?
>> See, as there is a science and
technology
to create the situations that we want in
external situations, there is a whole
science and technology to create inner
situations that we we want.
If you want to be nurtured, the first
and foremost thing is just look back and
see, has there been one 24 hours in your
life, or many people that you know in
your life, one 24 hours that they passed
without anxiety, without fear, without
being agitated, nothing. Simply at ease
24 hours. 24 hours if you come to ease,
believe me, your ability to use your
mind and body
may go up 100%
in 24 hours.
Just ease.
This has not come to people they're not
even at ease. People ask me Sadhguru,
how are you like this?
I say I'm like I'm talking to a crowd of
100,000 the way I would talk to somebody
they came and asked me something I'm in
the bathroom. I have to peep out of that
and speak. Just like that I'm speaking
to 100,000 people on stage with the same
ease and with the same not being
concerned about what somebody thinks
about me, what happens. That's not the
point. What I see as truth I speak. You
like it, you don't like it, you realize
it, you don't realize it. That's left to
you.
But you will get it someday. If you if
you heard the words not today, maybe on
your deathbed you will get it, but
that's a waste of time. If you get it
today, it would be wonderful. Today if
you understood sitting here.
This body is just a piece of the planet
that I picked up. This is not really me.
It's for me to use it right now. It's
wonderful. Okay? This human body is the
finest mechanism on the planet. It's
given to me as a gift. I must keep it
well, but
it's not me. Something that I
picked it up from the planet.
If I understand this now,
I will live a very sensible life. If you
get it from the maggots,
what to do? Some realization happened at
least for the maggots.
It's good.
>> [laughter]
>> Do you have any personal fears?
>> What do you mean by that?
>> Do you have any fears of anything in
your life? Are you [snorts and laughter]
afraid?
Do you remember the last time you had
fear?
How old were you?
>> I know fear only from other people's
experiences.
See, it's not about whether I have fear
or not. I made myself like this. Only
what I want happens within me.
What I want may not always happen around
me.
>> Mhm.
>> But within me, only what I want happens.
>> Mhm.
>> Because this is my space. It must happen
my way.
Why should it happen your way or
somebody else's way? The same goes for
you, isn't it?
>> Yeah.
>> What is within you must happen 100% your
way.
No other way.
>> When you see
chaos around you in whatever way that
might be.
>> Well, I'm seeing it all the time.
>> [laughter]
>> How does your What's your initial
response inside to whatever? Someone
screaming at you or something unjust or
some pain happening around you or
whether it's attacking you or not.
How do you internally respond or what do
you say
or what's your come from in that moment
to stay grounded, to stay peaceful,
joyful in a moment of pain?
>> I will act as it's needed.
>> Mhm.
>> That's [laughter] all.
>> Yeah.
>> I will not do anything other than that.
If it needs action, I'll perform that
action. If it's not necessary,
>> Yeah.
>> I'll walk away from that. It depends
what kind of situation it is.
>> Yeah.
>> And I'm facing such things all the time.
>> Yeah.
>> You know, all the time.
>> Yeah.
>> Don't think I'm always celebrated. There
are millions of people who celebrate me
as a very in a very fond manner
that I'm very dear to them, though they
have not seen me. There are also quite a
number of people who simply hate me and
they make hatred towards me, though they
have not seen me.
Simply because they're all invested in
something.
>> An identity.
>> If you Something, whatever it is. They
call it nationality, they call it
religion, they call it caste, creed,
race, whatever.
The moment you say something that
threatens that identity,
>> Mhm.
>> they will hate you.
>> What does hate
saying about the person who's hating
something?
>> It
him.
>> It empowers them?
>> Yes.
Hate is far more empowering in terms of
propelling you into action than love.
When people are loving, they hesitate.
>> Mhm.
>> They hesitate.
But when they hate somebody, they go all
out.
>> [laughter]
>> What does the hate do to someone
who's
creating the hate?
>> Uh little acid.
But you know, in California, acid is
popular.
>> Right. Right.
And do you have any
big dreams? Do you think about your
dreams in the future, or is it more just
you're here in this moment, you're here
to show up the most joyful way you can?
>> [laughter]
>> No.
See, this whole thing about being in the
moment is is a just a mixed-up idea.
>> Mhm.
>> See, what this means is right now, the
way it is understood in in this part of
the world, the way it's understood is
being in the moment means don't think
about the past, don't think about the
future.
Essentially, they're saying do not use
your cerebral capability.
>> Mhm.
>> A human being is endowed with a
phenomenal cerebral capability,
which no other creature on this planet
has. In that department, we are number
one on the planet. Isn't it?
>> Yeah.
>> So, right now, because people do not
know how to use it, and they're
torturing themselves with their cerebral
capability. They're poking themselves
with their sharp intellect. Because of
that, somebody is saying don't think
about the for past, don't think about
the future, just be in this moment. If
you're drinking water, just drink water.
If you're talking, just talk. Don't do
anything.
See, this is just saying, why don't you
become an amoeba once again?
An amoeba also has a brain. Small brain,
that's all.
No problems. Amoeba need not pray.
Amoeba need not meditate. Amoeba need
not think how to be peaceful, very
peaceful, and fine. All right?
So, even now for the human beings, if
you remove half their brain, they will
all be peaceful.
>> Mhm.
>> Essentially, their problem is they don't
know how to handle their own
intelligence.
>> Mhm.
>> So, either you come up with philosophies
like this, or you soak your brains half
in alcohol, or drug it.
>> Right.
>> Do something. Eat too much so that it
won't work. All you're doing is somehow
dull the brain.
I'm saying
this evolutionary process took millions
of years to give you the cerebral
capability, and now you don't know how
to handle it. How sad is that?
>> Mhm.
>> That's a miserable thing that you're
doing, because no other creature
has the cerebral capability that human
being has.
So, essentially, we are thinking
intelligence is a curse.
I told you already, it's a curse. If you
have limited identity, intelligence is a
curse, not just for you, for everybody
around you.
See, somebody who is very sharp but evil
thoughts, and they're doing things, you
wish he was brainless.
>> Mhm. Doing so.
>> Yes.
So, this is simply because of this, you
don't know how to handle your
intelligence for well-being. In You tell
me, in your experience, is intelligence
a solution or a problem?
>> It depends on how it's being used.
>> No, no, that's not the point. Is
intelligence a solution or a problem?
Essentially.
>> I feel like it's a solution if
>> an absolute solution.
>> [laughter]
>> But, people are making a problem out of
a solution.
>> Right.
>> Right now, people are making a huge
problem out of a solution. You think we
evolved like this to create problems?
We evolved like this to sort out
everything.
>> Right.
>> That other creatures cannot sort out,
isn't it?
>> Right.
>> But we are not able to sort out anything
simply because we crippling ourselves
with this kind of things. So, the most
important thing is you have an
intelligence for you don't have a stable
enough platform. That is a fundamental
problem. If you do not create a stable
chemistry, stable energy system, stable
physical body, your intelligence is the
worst curse you have.
>> Right.
>> The sharper it is, the more you will cut
yourself.
>> Mhm.
>> So, this is your inability to handle it.
For this, there are various reasons
because people are being raised like
cattle.
>> Mhm.
>> All right.
>> Not nurtured.
I don't say everybody.
>> Right.
>> But unfortunately, that's a majority.
>> Right.
>> [sighs]
>> I got many more questions, but I want to
finish with two final questions uh
before
>> Two is not considered final. Only when
you come to one, you say it's final.
>> Two additional questions.
>> [laughter]
>> Uh before I ask those questions, I'm
very grateful for your time. Thank you
for for showing up the way you do and
for
educating an uneducated human being on
all these things. I appreciate it.
>> grabbing the title from me, huh?
>> [laughter]
>> This book is really inspiring. Uh you
shared some of these things uh that we
talked about today that are in the book
in the first chapter I read I read a lot
of these concepts I heard here. I know
there's a lot more to go into, so make
sure you guys get the book. Very
inspiring. I recommend to get three to
five copies give them to friends if you
want your friends to also have expanded
identities and not be limited in that
thinking. So, get Karma,
a Yogi's guide to crafting your destiny.
Extremely inspiring. Also check out
innerengineering.com
for more. Lots of courses, books,
programs, everything there. I'm going to
have to come to Tennessee someday
>> come.
>> and check it out. So, I want to go there
and
>> Don't come there to check it out. It's
already well checked out by me.
[laughter] Don't try to make use of it.
Come there to experience it. Come there
to experience it.
>> I will use it.
>> [laughter]
>> I will use it.
>> Checking out, I have done all the
checking out and saw that I'll probably
use it.
>> It's all working.
Uh well, I want to acknowledge you
before I ask these two final questions
or two additional questions. I want to
acknowledge you for being in a journey
with all of us. I think the fact that
you uh have learned so much and you want
to show up every day and teach and you
want to show up and create content and
offer solutions through whatever means
necessary, whether that's books,
courses, videos, Tik Tok, things you're
not even a part of that you're aware
that are impacting the world. I'm just
appreciative and acknowledge your
showing up.
>> No, all this effort is to
uh because I want to live in a
a joyful, loving, exuberant world.
>> Yeah.
>> So, I'm just trying to
set that atmosphere for myself.
>> Yeah. All right. So, this is not a
service. This is not a mission.
This is just a simple like a dog comes
if it wants to sit down, rearranges the
rug and sits down, you know? I'm just
trying to rearrange humanity so that I
can live among joyful, exuberant, loving
human beings.
>> I love it.
>> Don't you want to?
>> Absolutely.
>> Yes.
>> Amen.
>> So, as a part of this uh we are working
towards creating a conscious planet. Uh
Louis, you must be part of that in some
way. I'm trying to put together
all the influencers in the world to come
together, own this process
and create a conscious world because
that's the only thing that's lacking.
Never before in the history of humanity,
any generation had these kind of
conveniences, these kind of comforts,
these kind of wonderful things that we
have today. Never before human survival
was better organized than it is today.
If we don't do it now,
when?
Many great beings have come on this
planet, but when they spoke, hardly 10
people could hear.
>> Mhm. It's true.
>> Yeah.
>> Today, we can sit here and talk to the
entire world. When we have this, if we
do not transform the world into a more
loving, joyful, exuberant humanity, it
simply means we don't care.
>> Mhm.
>> I don't want to go as that.
>> Yeah, it's beautiful. It's a beautiful
way of being.
Uh this question
I asked you last time, but you didn't
really answer it. So, I'm going to ask
you again.
>> Really?
>> Yeah, it's okay.
This is called the three truths.
And maybe you don't have an answer, and
that's fine.
>> [laughter]
>> It's called the three truths. It's a
hypothetical question. So, I'd like you
to imagine you get to live as long as
you want to live in this physical body
on this earth, but then one day, you got
to go.
And you got to take all your work with
you. All your contents, your
>> I've already taken care of it.
>> It's a hypothetical. It's a
hypothetical. You don't You don't You're
not going to take it, but it has to go
somewhere. No one has access to it
anymore.
So, it's got to go somewhere else, but
we don't have access to your
information, your content. Your books,
all of it's gone for whatever reason.
>> I've already taken care of it.
>> It's a hypothetical, right?
>> [laughter]
>> So, imagine that you only get to share
three final things that we would we
would have. Three final [snorts] lessons
that this is all we would have to
remember you by, your information.
I call three truths.
What would you be What would be your
three truths for the world?
>> Oh.
Only three?
>> Maybe this is why you didn't answer last
time, but
>> [laughter]
>> Everybody just shut up,
look, and listen.
>> Yeah.
>> Really look.
>> Uh-huh.
>> Right now, people are not looking. If
they look,
they are making their conclusions based
on their identities.
>> Uh
>> They're not hearing anything.
>> Yeah.
>> They're making their conclusions. Just
shut up.
Look and listen. Life is all there.
>> Yeah.
That's one.
>> That's all. That's
that's up is one.
>> Look and listen.
>> Three.
>> I love it.
>> If you do this, everything that I'm
speaking will be naturally yours.
>> Yeah.
>> This whole I did,
I just shut up, looked at everything
absolutely,
investing my whole life energy in my
look, and investing my whole life energy
in listening.
And that's all I know.
>> Yeah.
>> And you whatever I know, you will know
if you just learn to look and listen,
but first you must shut
>> I love it.
>> Shut up means not just outside, inside.
>> Mhm.
Mhm.
And the final
>> Very good teaching.
>> It's great. I love it. It's perfect.
[laughter] It's perfect. Final question
now. Now this is my final question.
What's your definition of greatness?
>> What is my definition of definition of
greatness?
If it can be defined, it's not great
enough for me.
>> Mhm.
>> As I said, definition means it has clear
boundaries.
>> Mhm.
>> Well, if you can be here without any
sense of boundary, that's greatness.
>> There you go. Thank you so much,
Sadhguru. Appreciate it.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you. Thank you.
>> It's a pleasure talking.
>> Pleasure.
>> Millions of people in this world live
[music] with this heaviness, and they
don't realize this heaviness that they
call my life is actually a narrative
that they tell themselves. That's
mind-made sense of self is ultimately
fiction. Can you see how [music] insane
that is?
>> You've been one of my great inspirations
here on