Social media has a great power to make a change, influence people and spread positivity around. We come across many creators with varied interests, who aim to interact, connect and entertain their fans. Well, everyone knows about the prominent spiritual leader, profound mystic, yogi and author, Sadhguru. He is famous for his mindful teachings, quotes and books. Recently, we got an opportunity to deep dive into his journey with an exclusive interview. Sadhguru shared some insightful messages for the youth, spoke about his new book ‘Karma’ and what he thinks about social media platforms. This interview really pushed us to think about our emotions and the world around us. Scroll down to check out this exclusive interview with one of the most influential personalities, Sadhguru right here!
All About his book, Karma: ‘A Yogi’s Guide To Crafting Your Destiny’
Sadhguru translates his thoughts into interesting and insightful books. His latest book, ‘Karma: A Yogi’s Guide To Crafting Your Destiny’ is an exploration and manual of understanding Karma through Sadhguru’s teachings. This book is all about learning how to live intelligently and joyfully in a challenging world. A much-needed inspiration during these uncertain times. So, if you looking for your daily dose of mindfulness, this book is a perfect addition to your must-reads!
What inspired you to write your new book, ‘Karma’?
Karma has become part of the English lexicon now. Everyone talks about karma these days, even in the West. I have been looking at people’s understanding of karma. In India, people are saying, “Aiyo karma!” That means they understand it as their fate. In the West, they think it is some crime-and-punishment kind of business. So I thought that it would be best to put it in the proper light because this is the most dynamic way to approach your life.
Karma means action. You are performing physical, mental, emotional, and energetic action every moment of your life, in wakefulness and in sleep. This incessant action accumulates in the form of a certain type of memory. All of it is not conscious memory; over ninety-five percent is unconscious memory. This is like you are creating an unconscious software. As it builds up, this memory will start determining your tendencies, the way you behave and the way you make choices. Everything is determined by what kind of karmic information you gather over a period of time. Fundamentally, your life is your karma. When we say this, it means that your life is entirely your making.
Well, creation has happened; we did not make the creation. Creation has given us these faculties and capabilities. But your experience of life is entirely your making, whether you are joyful or miserable. If you do not understand that your life is your karma, then you will become bitter and hateful, and lose all your sense of joy and peace. Only when people really understand this will they create the life that they want for themselves; otherwise, they are just one endless
complaint. How you experience any situation is entirely your making. If you determine this one thing, you will have wonderful people around you. Once there are wonderful people, you will have a wonderful humanity around you. Once you have a wonderful humanity, you will have a fantastic world around you. Right now, there is a pandemic in the world. It is our responsibility and our karma to see that we do not get infected, and to make sure that people around us are not infected. This is our business. This is our karma. If your karma is such that you sneeze into other people’s faces, it will have its consequences. So, this book on karma is bringing light to that aspect of life which is most vital. People need to understand that their experience of their life is one hundred percent their responsibility. This is what karma is about.
We got the opportunity to dig a little deeper into Sadhguru’s journey…
1. Today you are a significant spiritual leader. Tell us, when did you realize that spirituality is your calling?
One day, I went up Chamundi Hill in Mysore on my motorcycle. I parked my vehicle, went to a particular rock and sat there with my eyes open. That is when an explosion of an experience happened and everything about me changed. Until that moment, like most people, I had always believed that this body is “me” and everything external is “somebody else.” But there, for the first time, I did not know which was me and which was not me. Suddenly, what was me was just all over the place. The rock on which I was sitting, the air that I breathed, the very atmosphere around me – I had just exploded into everything. I had always been peaceful and happy – that had never been an issue. But now, every cell in my body was bursting with a new indescribable level of ecstasy. I had no word for this, but something phenomenal was happening within me. Ever since, there’s been no looking back. My life has been an effort to rub this bliss off on people because every human being can know this. My effort has been to create mechanisms so people can experience this.
2. How do you feel about being an influential voice globally? Can you share your first global speech experience with us?
At one point in a major conference, someone asked me if there is one thing that I can do to transform the world. I told them, “Give me twenty people that I ask for, for five days.” They asked, “Who are they?” I said, “Give me heads of state of the top twenty nations in the world for five days, and you will see within three to five years, there will be a phenomenal change on the planet.” Because for the very first time in the history of humanity, today we have the necessary resource, capability and technology to address every human problem on this planet. The only thing that is missing is inclusive consciousness, because the world is still operating in terms of you versus me, rather than you and me.If a certain sense of inclusiveness happens among the leadership in the world, everything can be sorted out in a very brief time. So, we do not want spirituality to remain in the alleys of new age people. We want the places of power to become meditative. If that happens then the way the world will be conducted will change, and human life will change. It is very important that the leadership – political, religious, economic, whatever kind – becomes meditative.
3. What would you like to say when it comes to maintaining your physical, mental and spiritual well-being in the current situation?
This is the most challenging time we have ever faced. Even after so many months and despite all the work by scientists and doctors, we still do not know how the virus will play out. One thing we can be sure of is that nations, businesses, institutions and individuals will face unexpected terrain in the post-virus situation.
But unexpected situations are not something we need to suffer. If you pay attention, unexpected, undefined situations can hold a million possibilities. So when there is a challenge before you, the most important thing is to be at your best. This is not the time for fear, anxiety, anger, or resentment. You can give it as many names as you want, but all of these essentially mean your intelligence has turned against you. When there is a challenge before you, your body, mind, emotion and energy should work for you, not against you.
The best thing we can do right now, while we wait for the situation to play out, is to upgrade ourselves. In the next one month, you must be at least ten percent fitter than now, ten percent sharper mentally, ten percent more balanced, and ten percent more energetically effervescent. This will be most vital to face this unknown terrain and ensure the virus passes as a minor aberration in our lives rather than a major calamity. Let’s invest this time upon ourselves to transform into more competent, balanced and better human beings.
4. As a visionary, we would love to know what do you think about the current generation and their connection with spirituality?
In pursuit of human wellbeing, people have looked up, heavenward, and become hallucinatory – they have fought war, done horrible things to each other. And many people started looking outward in search of human wellbeing. Looking outward, we have ripped half the planet apart. All the ecological disasters we have caused is all in pursuit of human wellbeing. Human wellbeing will not happen unless one turns inward, because human experience is created from within or in other words, in is the only way out.
Today, human intellect is sparking like never before; more people are capable of thinking for themselves than ever before. So naturally anything that you talk to people must make logical sense or must have a scientific basis to it. The spiritual process or yoga – a technology for inner wellbeing, tools for self-transformation – become very relevant. In my perception, I see that as human intellect fires more and more, in the next few years, yoga will become the norm on the planet, not an exception.
5. Do you think that social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, etc. play an important role in making people aware of spirituality and mindfulness?
For me, social media is a tremendous tool. I can sit here and talk to the entire world. When did we have such a possibility before? So if we want to transform humanity, this is the time. Whether we are going to mess ourselves up or transform human population with social media is left to us. I decided to get on social media. Now I am everywhere making more noise. It is against all my aesthetics, but I have made myself like this because I think we have to turn this around. Technology should deliver to humanity that which is positive, not negative. When we have the power to speak to the entire world, we have to speak the right language so the future generations imbibe what is best for them. Today you can sit here and speak to the entire world. When you have this capability, why do we think we cannot transform the world? We can. It is just that – are we committed to making it happen?
6. You currently have more than 5 million followers on Instagram. Through your content on social media, what message do you aim to deliver?
My fundamental goal is to bring down spirituality from the mountain top to the street. I want to redefine the term street. This word should mean wellbeing, street should mean love, street should mean meditativeness, street should mean spiritual process.
The idea is to bring spiritual process as a day-to-day aspect of your life. Becoming spiritual means you have deepened the process of life in such a way that something far deeper has started moving within you, which is not of the body, or of the mind. Once a dimension beyond the physical and mental has become a living force within you, then you are spiritual.
7. Lastly, what message would you like to give to our youth, who are trying to make it big in this competitive world but also exploring the world of spirituality?
Youth are capable of either immense destruction, or if they have the necessary stability to use their energy in a positive and constructive way, they are capable of immense construction. The most important thing that needs to happen to youth on the planet is that they need to become meditative. Whether they are in academics, vocational training, or they are simply doing whatever they wish in their lives, if they are a little more stable, this energy which we call as youth could be put to better use, for their own wellbeing and for everyone else’s wellbeing.So, here’s everything you need to know about Sadhguru. A spiritual leader and an influential voice whose work has touched the lives of millions worldwide. His mindful teachings and thoughts have not only inspired us but also have motivated us deeply.On a side note, we truly hope that you and your loved ones are doing well and staying home and safe during these uncertain times.