The Resilient Mind - Wake Up & Live An Authentic Life - Sadhguru

Episode Date: September 5, 2024

Sadhguru is the founder of the Isha Foundation located in Coimbatore, India. The foundation operates an ashram and yoga center that specializes in education and spiritual practices. An accomplished yoga teacher since 1982, Sadhguru is also the author of several New York Times bestsellers, such as Inner Engineering: A Yogi's Guide to Joy and Karma: A Yogi's Guide to Crafting Your Destiny. He is also a frequent speaker at international events and forums.Take action and strengthen your mind with The Resilient Mind Journal. Get your free digital copy today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Download Now⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Resilient Mind podcast. In this episode, you will be listening to, wake up and live an authentic life with Sud Guru. Get access to the Resilient Mind Journal by clicking the link in the show notes. Enjoy. See every creature. All of them are trying to be full-fledged lives. If one sees what's happening beneath the earth in terms of the root systems, It is an enormous effort for a plant or a tree to become a full-fledged tree.

Well, an apple tree is not trying to be an oak tree, but an apple tree wants to be a full-fledged apple tree. That effort is on in every life. So is it in human beings. But the problem with humanity is just this, that for every other creature, nature has drawn two lines. Within these two lines, they live and die. So their idea of full-fledged is hitting the ceiling of their life. But if a human being hits a ceiling, he gets frustrated and miserable. Because nature, this process of evolution has delivered to us to a place where there is only

the bottom line, there is no top line. Though some human beings are trying to breach the bottom line and go below. effort also is going on. So essentially what human life is is, when life was in the other forms of life that you'll see on the planet, nature determined a certain compulsive, instinctive ways of functioning. Once you become human, these lines have been removed. You can act consciously. That means what you call as human potential is not of any kind of measurable limit, it can go as far as you desire or as far as you have the courage to walk. So when we say human potential, unleashing human potential, it is not about reaching the peak.

It is a trajectory because what our life is a combination of a certain amount of time and energy. Time is rolling away for all of us at the same pace. If you sit, it rolls away, if you sleep, it rolls away, if you do something, it goes away, if you don't do anything, it goes away. You're happy or miserable, it goes away. Time is running out for all of us. So it's only the energy that you can do different things with. If you bring your energies to a certain level of intensity and possibility, what somebody does in 10 years, you may do it in one year.

This means if you live here for 100 years, it feels like in people's impact that you've created, it feels like you've lived here for a thousand years, simply because you have managed your life energies in a certain way. So for me, a human being being impactful means, how conscious have you become? This is very important. Because if you're in compulsive cycles, then your energy gets wasted in so many things.

If you observe people in a day, let's take 24 hours, in that anyway, most people, by prescription in America, they sleep for eight hours. So eight hours means one-third of life is gone. In the remaining two-thirds, they have to eat, they have to, you know, shower, bathroom, this, that, all this, another two-three hours gone. So literally 50% of life is gone, daily basis, just for basic main thing. of this life. 50% of the time is gone in maintenance. Remaining 50% what they have, if you look at every single move that they may make with their body, their thought process, their emotions, you will see a whole lot of it is happening in compulsive cycles.

Or in other words, if you are little sensitive to life, you will realize you are the biggest issue in your life. So this is one thing that I'm trying to do. that I'm trying to do with people, that you are never the issue in your life. I'm not the issue. My thought, my emotion, my body is never the issue. My thought, my emotion, my energy and my body are my instruments of function. They are not impediments in my life. But I would say for 90% of the human beings, their own body, the compulsions of the body, the compulsions of their thought, the compulsions of their emotions, or ruling them,

most of the time. So when you yourself are a problem, well, your own self-help. Everybody wants a solution. But nobody wants to delve into the problem and see what is the nature of the problem that we have. The nature of the problem is like this. Why are we compulsive? What is it that's compulsive about us? Compulsion means we are going to the same place again and again.

That means we're going in circles. The nature of physical existence in the world of physical existence in the world. the universe is such, whether you take an atom, an individual atom, or the cosmic space, everything that's physical is always in cyclical movement. The atoms are doing their circles. The solar system is doing his stuff. The galaxies are doing their stuff. Our own bodies are going through cycles.

In fact, we are born because of the cycles in our mother's bodies. That's why we are born. So entire physical nature is born out of our own. of cyclical moment. That means compulsiveness. So do not misunderstand compulsiveness as something bad. It's the basis of your existence. It is a good platform. But you're supposed to stand on the platform and act. Right now you have become the platform. So somebody else will dance on you. There is substantial medical and scientific evidence to show that only when you're in a pleasant state of experience, your body and your brain works at its best there's no argument about that there's enough evidence to show that so whatever impact

or success or reaching goals or growth or whatever you say on one level in the physical world it's about how well you harness your physiological and your psychological process isn't it whether your body and mind works against you or works for you this is a big difference so there is enough evidence to show only when you're in pleasant level of experience, this happens best. So obviously, joy is first, then growth. If you're joyful constantly, and you have no fear of suffering, because you understand all human experience comes from within you,

and so you have managed to create the kind of experience that you want, now growth is possible and brittle. If you have the fear of falling down and suffering, you will not go very high, isn't it? All human experience has a chemical basis. to it. Right now, let us say you're joyful. If you look at your chemistry, it'll be in a certain way. Let's say you're miserable. If you check your chemistry, it'll be a completely different way. Now we have a technology that with which you create a chemistry of blissfulness.

So my chemistry is blissful. Doesn't matter what's happening. The drama around me is happening in so many different ways. But, But this is a privilege that I've kept for myself. Me being joyful or miserable, me being peaceful or disturbed. These privileges I have not given it to anybody else. I kept them to myself. I think every human being should do that. That the privileges of the nature of your experience must be in your hand.

Because when you try to act in the world, there are many, many forces. All of them will not always cooperate. Sometimes they cooperate many times. They will not cooperate, many times they'll turn against you. This is the nature of the world. That's how it should be. World will never happen 100% your way. And I'm glad it is so.

Because if it all happened your way, where do I go? I'm glad it's not happening your way. Little bit my way, little bit your way, little bit somebody else's way. That's how the world should be. How many parents would dare and encourage their children, children not to be identified with parents, not to be identified with the religion that they follow, not to be identified with their racial and national and other prejudices that they hold. They all think these things are sacred, isn't it?

Yes. These are the things which destroy human potential. Whether you want to turn a human being, see, I see this term and it It really hurts me when people say, it's very common. Only in America I hear this. I was raised as whatever, Catholic or Baptist or Christian or Muslim or whatever else. I was raised. See, you must raise only cattle and sheep.

You don't raise human beings. You have to cultivate a human being. You have to give space and give support of. love and support so that a human being grows because every human being is capable of a unique possibility. Raising means what a flock is what you raise. You don't raise an individual, isn't it? So for this, we need to come to a certain level of maturity within ourselves.

The most fundamental thing is our children need not look like us, not think like us, need not act like us, Need not be ours in any way. A child is not a legacy. It's a life. And it is an individual life. It has to be what it has to be. Well, if I do not influence, right now the theory, if I do not influence, somebody on the street will influence the child.

On the social media, they'll influence the child. So to cultivate a child so that they know that the intrinsic intelligence and being human is more important. than being influenced by this or that, it doesn't matter what it is. Whether it's parentage or it's a priest or it's a guru or it's a pundit, it doesn't matter who. Influence is not important. What is important is the intrinsic intelligence finding its full potential. You look at your own picture when you are five years of age, it's like this.

Slowly it's becoming like this. What is it? You're dying in installments. The more conclusions you make, the less alive you've become. This is all that's happened to people. They call this knowledge. This is not knowledge. This is just conclusions that you're drawing about everything. See, with all this scientific exploration,

the fact is that even today, we do not know one single atom in its entirety. We know how to use them. We know how to use everything on this planet. But we don't know a damn thing about anything. Over 90% or 99% of an atom is empty. We don't know what that emptiness contains. Over 99% of the cosmos is empty. We don't know what that is.

So this is like I give you a million piece jigsaw. But you found in your hands you have only three of them. With these three you make a picture and you're euphoric that you made a picture. Well, I'm sorry. There are million pieces to this. Has anybody gathered all the pieces? Then don't make a picture. You know you're here only because you can see, hear, smell, taste and touch.

This is the only way you know that you're here right now. Suppose you dose off, don't, okay? Suppose you dose off. You don't know that you're here, isn't it? Yes. Even though you're here. Your heart is beating. everything is functioning, the world is on, we are all here,

but you won't know that you're here, nor will you know that I'm here or anybody else is here, isn't it? Yes. All that's happened is life is on, full on, even within you. Only thing is these five sensory organs have shut down. So your entire experience of life right now is happening because you can see here, smell, taste and touch. Just look at the nature of the sensory organs.

In the very nature, they're outward bound, isn't it? Can you roll your eyeballs inward and scan yourself? No. Let's say, let I give you a bad example. Sir? Our nose is located right above our mouth. Suppose you don't brush your teeth for three days. Though this nose is right here, it won't tell you you have not brushed your teeth.

The whole room will know you have not brushed your teeth, but you will not know. This is the human predicament. It's very easy to see what's wrong with this guy, what's wrong with her what's wrong with her it's very it takes a lot of observation to see what's wrong with this that level of keenness of observation is missing in most people they need to cultivate that people or who they are only because of what they believe and what they have a hell like that because without this they don't know where they belong to live here without belonging to anything but still involved with everything takes a lot

Most people belong, but they're not involved. It is like belonging is like an insurance policy. It's simply there. Involvement takes you. To be constantly involved with people around you, it takes you to be conscious and on. But I belong to you. I don't have to anything.

I've professed already I belong to you. I'm married to you. I belong to you. Legally, it is settled. So I don't have to be conscious of it. have to be conscious of you nor do I have to be involved with you still I belong to you so belonging means belonging believing or identifying simply means you have found a way to sleep through your life it's called sleep when we say you know people usually use

this term with animals if you said we put our cat to sleep what does it mean to you. For real, that they killed their cat? Yes. So I'm talking about sleep in that context. I believe this, I belong to this, I'm identified with this means it's sleep. That means you're partially dead. You made conclusions which takes away the life that bubbles within you.

This is why people are walking around like they're dying in installments. Not knowing is not a notion. It's a fact. It's not a notion. You really do not know a damn thing about this existence, isn't it? Yes. We don't even know a blade of grass in its entirety. We do not know a single atom in its entirety. We do not know a single cell in this body in its complete context. We do not.

We know some things. We can manipulate a few things. But we don't know much about it. So it's like this. Let's say we turn off all the lights. If the lights are on, you can whistle and just walk around wherever you want in this building. We'll turn off all the lights and make it pitch dark where you can't even see your own hand, like that. Now, every step that you take, will you take it in utmost alertness?

Will you be fully awake or asleep? Fully awake? Totally awake. Why? Because you don't know where's the next step. Just to live like this. If you simply live like this, naturally you are on the highway to enlightenment. Everybody assume and believe because it's comfortable to simply believe something. The very word belief means this, that I have concretized assumptions of which I know nothing about, isn't it? Isn't it so?

Yeah. Either you know or you do not know. Where does the belief come from? When you pretend what you do not know as I know, that's belief. But you can't believe something all by yourself. So you need a hundred people around you. That's why always believers are in groups, seekers are alone. It's intrinsic to human intelligence to seek.

Isn't it? Yes. You don't have to teach seek. You have to teach belief systems. You don't have to teach seeking. If you don't teach anything, everybody is a seeker. It is the nature of human intelligence. It naturally seeks.

But people want to seek with the comfort of belief. They want to be in the belief system and then seek. This is like tying your boat to the pier and then rowing hard. It's good. It's not bad because it gives you good exercise. because it gives you good exercise. It's like being on the treadmill. Most people are on the treadmill.

Because they are not walking or running to go somewhere. They're just trying to tone their muscles. It's perfectly fine. So if that's all you wish to do, it's fine. But if you want to go somewhere, you can't tie your boat and then row, isn't it? If you just let it go, even if you don't row, it will go. You have to make up your mind. Do you want to retain your ability to respond?

to every situation that may arise or may not arise in your life, or do you want to surrender your ability to respond? This is something everybody should make up their mind on. Fundamentally, if people understand that the source of human experience is within you, joy or misery, agony or ecstasy, pleasure or pain, everything comes from within you. If you understand this much, If I understand, suppose right now I think I'm miserable because of you, there's no solution for my life, isn't it?

Because all you have to do is walk in front of my home. I will become miserable. So simple it is. You don't have to kill me. You just have to walk around in front of me. I will die within myself every day. If I understand the source of my joy and misery are within me, then you know what's the obvious choice? Joy.

It's obvious choice, isn't it? Mm. So this one fundamental thing has to get across to all the human beings on this planet. Your experience is entirely determined by you. This is what the word karma means, unfortunately, has become something else here. Karma means action. That means when we say your life is your karma,

we are saying your life is entirely your making. entirely you're making 100%. What happens in the world? There are many, many forces involved. What happens within me? It's 100% me. 100% isn't it? Yes. If you don't take charge of this, then you're an accidental life. When you're an accidental life, anxiety is very natural. Natural, isn't it? Suppose you're driving accidentally. That is, you don't know what's happening and you're simply somehow going anxiety is natural or no yes any accidental moment creates anxiety so this is why consciousness means this that you have taken charge of the instruments of life which on most fundamental level is our physiological and

psychological space you've taken charge of this now your health your happiness your joy your ecstasy your misery everything is in your hands for tuning in. Continue strengthening your mind by listening to our other episodes.