Saturday, October 22, 2011

Patience - Looking at the other side of the coin

During the chai stop at the ancient temple complex of Srirangapatnam, someone asked Amma, "What is our patience, is mistaken for weakness, and we are consequently exploited?"
                 Instead of answering, Amma asked members of the tour group to respond.  One westerner spoke about how he feels that any quality expressed will beget the same quality.  Thus, expressing patience, for example, will beget patience from others.  This he said, was the principle that governed his interaction with others.  He then gave the example of how auto-rickshaw drivers overcharge him sometimes, seeing him as easy prey.  Nevertheless, he would exercise patience and pay in the hope that the rickshaw driver would later feel repentant and thus stop his wrongdoing.
               In response, Amma disagreed with him.  She said that pointing out adharma (unrighteousness) was also one's dharma, or duty.  She said that only one or two in a hundred rickshaw drivers might feel repentance or regret for cheating others; most would be motivated to continue exploiting others.  Amma then presented a few hypothetical scenarios of what could go wrong.  The next passenger might be a poor man.  Or a ruthless rickshaw driver might kill a bank employee carrying large amount of cash.  The driver might be jailed for life.  By being a passive accomplice in the rickshaw driver's cheating, the Westerner would be guilty of fostering adharma.  Not only that, his actions would have paved the way for murder of an innocent man (the bank employee) and the consequent suffering of his wife and children, in addition to the life-long suffering of another in prison.
                Amma stressed that spiritual aspirants must assiduosly cultivate patience.  However when they step out in the world, they must ensure that their actions do not unwittingly foster or encourage unrighteousness.

If I'm Joyful Why Can't I Exist Forever? Sadhguru

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Swami Rama on the proper posture of sitting.

Today I am going to teach you the real practice. You will understand the value of it, provided you pay attention. As part of systematic meditation, you first learn to sit with your head, neck and trunk straight. It is the healthiest and most comfortable way of sitting. When you sit this way, the pressure at the base of the spine creates heat, and as the heat increases, the pranic forces expands and rises upwards. Because the spine is straight and the nervous system relaxed, the pranic energy flows freely upward along the spinal column toward the head. In this pose you are free from inertia and sloth. Without the proper posture you will face numberless obstacles in your meditation. And meditation is the core of all practices.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Things that you have never imagined possible will become a reality if you can just be aware in that moment when you are transiting from wakefulness to sleep. - Sadhguru

Q: Sadhguru, a lot of the spiritual traditions talk about the moment of death as the most significant moment of your life. Is that really true?

Sadhguru: All the moments before that moment in your life are most important. If people don’t realize that, they try to catch the final moment of their lives. Unless you have caught a lot of moments in your life as a deep, penetrating experience for yourself, you just cannot catch the final moment of your life. Try this and see: Tonight when you go to bed, just see if you can maintain an awareness of the final moment of transition from wakefulness to sleep. If you can manage that, phenomenal things will happen in your life. Things that you have never imagined possible will become a reality if you can just be aware in that moment when you are transiting from wakefulness to sleep. If you can do that, you will also transit from life to death in full awareness. Yes, the moment of death has many implications, many consequences. But let’s look at it this way. Did you ever die? No – so you have no experience of death. Did you ever see a dead man? No. You have seen dead bodies, but no dead man. Did you ever see somebody who actually died and came back? No. There may be near-death experience. Near is not good enough. “I nearly ate” – is it good enough? “I nearly lived” – is it good enough? No. So if some people nearly died, it is not good enough, as an experience.

So you haven’t experienced death, you haven’t seen it, nor have you had first-hand information from anybody. So from where did you get this idea that there is something called ‘death?’ Death is a fiction created by ignorant people. Death is the creation of people who live their lives in total unawareness. There is only life, life and life alone, moving from one dimension to another, another dimension to another.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev's talk at Dartmouth

Coolest way to drink water - Getting in touch with raw life


A Graceful Transition - An Isha meditator shares about his daughter’s death. Many Many Thanks to Sadhguru, for coming in our life.

I had a daughter named Aarthipriya. She was born with a congenital myopathy . She could neither walk nor perform daily chores.

I first met Sadhguru 20 years ago. When I told him about my daughter who was four or five years of age at that time, he said that “because of good karma, she has chosen to be born to you. That life has chosen you to dissolve its karma. Take care of her with love.”

Later, when Sadhguru went to the US, he enquired about a treatment for this disorder. He called me to say that there was no known treatment and advised us to just shower her with love and to take care of her well. There was some sense of calmness within ourselves after he told us that. She was very active, sang Carnatic music and did lots of craft work. Everybody who met her liked her. She never worried about the disorder or showed her incapability. She would never create a situation where we would have to worry about her.

Each time she met Sadhguru, she would sing songs for him. And he blessed her and gave her a flower that she would preserve in her book. When he gave her a fruit, she would ask her mother to give her a little every day and savored it over two to three days. She had so much trust in Sadhguru.

Once, when she was 15, she complained about body aches, and a family friend suggested Reiki . She was given Reiki for two days, and the pain reduced a little. When we had an opportunity to meet Sadhguru and I told him about the treatment, he said, “Stop that treatment immediately. All her karma should dissolve in this body; in this lifetime. Let her not take anything with her. If she can bear the pain, stop the treatment.” The next day, I told Aarthi what Sadhguru said and when I asked if she would bear the pain, she said, “If Sadhguru had said so, then I don’t need this treatment. Please ask them not to come anymore.”

Whenever I went for Sadhguru’s sathsang, I had to tell her in detail what Sadhguru had spoken, and she would listen with so much interest. Once, Sadhguru said something like “Leave your last moment to me. I will take care that your death will happen smoothly.” When I shared this with Aarthi, I could see that this touched her deeply.

In the final year of her life, her health turned critical. For six months, she was bedridden, ate less, and needed an oxygen machine to support her breathing. One day, upon advice of the doctor, an x-ray was taken of her chest. The radiologist said that in his 25 years of experience, he had not seen anything like this – all the organs were merged one on top of the other. The doctor told me in private, “The situation is very critical. Anything can happen – there could be kidney failure, or the blood might clot, or she could go into coma.” I was helpless, and I could not share this with my wife or relatives.

But Aarthi insisted that I should tell her exactly what the doctor had said. When I told her that the doctor said the situation was critical, it seemed like she arrived at a decision. The next day morning, she called me and said, “Please pass on this message about my situation to Sadhguru.” Sadhguru replied saying, “She is in my awareness. Please ask the others to remain calm.” I told her this and that was when she relaxed. She asked Isha Yoga teacher Swaminathan to come and she spoke with him. After the conversation, he said she asked questions like “How to be in the last moment? In what mental state should I be? How to face it?” He added, “She is prepared. Prepare yourself too and everything will be fine.” When we went to see her in her room, she said, “Father, I have decided and there will be no change in this. It should happen soon.”

She kept listening to the ‘Brahmananda Swaroopa’ CD that had been sent to her from the ashram and she was looking at Sadhguru’s picture next to her. At that time, she was still on oxygen support. Four, five days later, she said, “Daddy, I have decided already. It should happen soon.” We were deeply concerned about what she said. To the doctors who came that day, she said, “Please make arrangements for my eyes to be donated. But please check if my eyes can be donated, to make sure that the disease will not spread to someone.”

One evening, a relative of ours came to visit, and when leaving, he said to Aarthi, “Today is Amavasya [new moon], so I will go to temple.” That whole night, Aarthi breathed without respirator and listened to ‘Brahmananda Swaroopa.’ She said, “I wish to be alone. I don’t want any relatives to come to see me.” In the morning around 10 a.m., I went next to her. It was as if her breath was going faster. In the next half hour, her breath changed. I sensed that this was going to be her last moment. When I touched her hand, she held it. I called my wife too, and we chanted together. In this half hour, without any struggle, she left her body peacefully. Her face was so clear at that moment. Death happened very smooth for her.

We had been afraid that her death would be painful, because that was what the doctors had said. We had been worried about the struggle that she might have to go through towards her end. But as she gave herself to Sadhguru, her death happened so effortlessly. We felt so humbled and grateful within.

The next day, we passed on the message to Sadhguru and his reply was, “She has reached the right place. Everybody can be calm.” I consider myself very fortunate for having known Sadhguru. Many times have I heard Sadhguru saying, “Give yourself to me. I shall take care of your life and death.” But now, I saw this with my own eyes through Aarthi. After this incident, my respect and gratitude for Sadhguru has increased even more.
- Krishnakumar, Isha meditator, Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu, India
[Translated from Tamil]

Monday, October 10, 2011

Kaushiki Chakrabarty - a bhajan in raag Bhairavi (1/2)

Ram Stuti Bhajan - Pt. Jasraj 1/2

Isha making a difference in Rural Villages.

A Guru’s Predicament - Sadhguru on His Full Potential

Q: Sadhguru, you once said that you are functioning at about 3% of your full potential. Can you tell us how we can create a situation where you could unleash your full potential? And what would that 100% mean?

Sadhguru: What would the full potential be? Different people have expressed this in different ways. Krishna said, “I am the radiant sun among the luminaries. I am the moon among the stars. I am the lion among the beasts. I am the king of birds among the birds. I am the Ganga among the rivers. I am the Himalaya among the mountains.” In this language he went on, very eloquently. Jesus said, “I am the son of God; the only son.” That is another kind of language; the same thing expressed in a different way. Gautama said, “If you walk my path you will never have to turn around,” – a subtler way of saying it. In India, it is very common to chant, “Aham Brahmasmi” – that means, “I am the Ultimate Truth.” Mansur al-Hallaj, who is the originator of the Sufi system, went to India, came back and said, “Anal haq.” That means, “I am the truth,” and he got into a lot of trouble.

I am not given to that kind of language; I am just putting it very simply. Whatever mechanics of this existence, whatever dimensions of this existence, if you just provide me the needed atmosphere, I can take you to any one of them and I can fix any one of them. I am not a god, I am not a Guru – I am a mechanic. This is the 21st century where God is a bad word, and Son of God is even worse. [Laughs] Two thousand years ago, God was a sacred word; so if somebody said, “I am the Son of God,” it was all right. So if you prepare the necessary situation, I can take you to the mechanics of this existence, whatever dimension it is; whatever needs to be done, I can fix it. That is the 100% potential; that does not sound as grand and poetic as, “I am the lion among the beasts. I am the Himalayas among the mountains. I am the Ganga among the rivers.” My interest in the existence is that it works. It looks so chaotic, so unwieldy, nobody knows the beginning and the end, but it still works.

So if you are interested in that which works, you are naturally a mechanic. I can make it work on any level of existence. It is just a question of creating a conducive atmosphere, and that is challenging. If we create the atmosphere, I can make it work on any level of existence. This is all I have aspired for – and this is all there is. So what do you have to do? One thing is the foundation – the foundation of any building should be in the ground, but the Isha Foundation is sitting on my head all the time. I want to put it to the ground. [Laughs] So if you are willing to be that ground and to take the load of the foundation, if it is off my head, a lot more things could be done. That is not all, but it is an important factor right now – I am trying to unload; step-by-step, I am getting it off my head, but still it is happening too slowly because life does not stop for one moment. [Laughs]
This is a race to the grave. You may think that the physical body is going to many places. “I went to Himalayas, I went to Florida, I vacationed in this place, I did this, I did that.” But still, your body is going straight to the grave – nowhere else. The rest is your imagination. Your physical body is going straight to the grave; no deviation. That is something that I am constantly aware of. In a very codified way, not the knowledge, but the keys to everything that is worth knowing are all in one place. If tomorrow somebody with the necessary awareness comes, it will not be lost. That was the intention of the Dhyanalinga – not just what I know, also what my Guru knew and what the whole tradition knew, everything is there, not in the form of knowledge, but in the form of keys. If someone is aware enough, they can pick it up and open whatever they want in the existence. It is a dvara, a doorway to the creation. You can use it to open just about anything. But right now, the 21st century is a talking century. If you don’t talk, nobody gets the point.

People don’t understand that if I don’t talk and just sit, something more profound is happening. If I don’t talk, they will gape, get up, and leave. People are even talking to themselves while driving a car or walking on the street, because there are hands-free sets. Just twenty years ago, if you had done this on the street, people definitely would have thought you have escaped from some kind of institution – but now it has become common. You don’t get along with anybody in this century but you talk to everybody. You go on the internet and talk to all kinds of people that you have not seen. People have love affairs with those that they have not seen because it is so easy to love people that you have not seen; it is just like loving God. [Laughter] The trouble is always with people that you have seen and have known for long periods of time, or that you have to live or work with. On some faceless Facebook, you are all lovey-dovey with the whole world. That is very easy, you know.

So because this is a talking century – I hope it won’t be a talking millennium – we have to talk, but at the same time create an atmosphere where the needed talk happens as quickly as possible so that we don’t have to go on talking endlessly. If the talk has to be quick, it has to be brutal. If the talk has to be brutal and still people should not run away, you have to create the necessary atmosphere where people are so overwhelmed by your love, devotion and intensity that when they come here, I can go straight at them – no diplomacy – so that the talking period can be shortened; otherwise, you will end up talking for the rest of your life and still people won’t get it. If you speak gently, the conversation will go on forever. One brutal word, it stops. To say a brutal word and not make them run away, to make them realize this brutality has a profoundness behind it, you need to create a certain atmosphere, otherwise the diplomacy that you should do, I will have to do, and my time is ticking away.

If people are created who are of a certain capability, people who are stable beyond mental moods and emotions, they will be the foundation – that means it is off my head. Then a lot more can be done. If we could find 100% expression with even a handful of people, that would already be fantastic. We are not expecting to find 100% expression with the whole word; that is never going to happen. I am not so dreamy. But definitely, it is possible to create a handful of people with whom it could be 100%. If that cannot be done, we may be a success in the world, people may be clapping their hands, but if we cannot find full expression even with a handful of people, if we have to be careful with them, watching out for their egos, then as a spiritual movement, it is a disaster.

We need people who have the necessary integrity, balance, stability, and heart in them, that even if you let them out into the most corrupt situation, they will function successfully there and come out untouched. Like Gautama allowed a young monk to stay at a prostitute’s house [knowing he can trust his integrity]; I want people like that, that I could send you into a place like that and still I would not have to worry about what you will be doing. We need people of integrity. Integrity has become a dicey thing in today’s world because people have very infantile ideas of freedom.

It would be impractical to think that you are going to make every fool on the planet into an enlightened being. The world is always a play between the positives and the negatives. Some generations enjoy the positives more than the negatives; some generations suffer the negatives more than they enjoy the positives. If there is something that we as a generation can do and be proud of, we have to see that for the next generation, the positives of life hugely outweigh the negatives. This does not mean there will be not a single problem in the world, that everything will be perfect; that would not be a dream, that would be hallucination.

When you dream something, it is also a possibility. When we talk about creating something, and you cannot see the logical staircase to reach there, or you see the staircase disappearing into the clouds, you think it is an impossible thing, but it is not. It just needs a little more fire. Suppose you were born in a social or family situation where education was not possible for you, and somebody told you, “Why don’t you become a doctor or an engineer,” you would have said, “Not for me, not possible, I will go to work.” But if somebody gave you a scholarship, if somebody supported you, you could have gotten there.

So that which is not in your realm of experience and thought seems to be impossible to you. But should not whoever has the largest experience, whoever has explored the world to the maximum extent, guide where the world should go? That is how it should be, but that does not happen right now. The whole world may not go spiritual but if you at least create a possibility that is available and accessible to the whole world, then the pluses would increase to a point where people can gloss over the minuses. When life is so good, even if one little bad thing happens, you can ignore it and go on. Otherwise, every little minus pricks you so badly because there are no pluses in your life.

Particularly in today’s world, because of technology, our ability to reach people is phenomenal; never before was this possible. What we can do in terms of reach, a Krishna could not do, a Buddha could not do, a Jesus could not do. Today, we have the advantage of technology – we have audio, video, television, and the internet – we can slip into everybody’s house. Though there are many other disadvantages in today’s world, this is a phenomenal advantage. If we make use of this – if we can change the culture of this planet from materialistic to spiritual even by one percent in our lifetime, it is a phenomenal achievement because if a ship keeps changing direction by one percent, after some time, it will have made a complete U-turn. Yes, you cannot turn everyone around right now, and there is no need to. If you can just change the direction by one degree, in a certain period of time, the world will have made a U-turn. This can be done if the necessary people are there.
We still have some life in us – there is time left. You decide how far you want to take it, what you want to do. Let me see that fire spilling from your eyes – not a fire of anger, greed, or passion, but the cool fire which burns quietly and does all the work that needs to be done without burning itself up. Cool fire fuels everything but it does not burn anything up – and we have everything in our hands to do that. Today, we have a social situation in the world where as long as we don’t break the law, we can do whatever we want. This was never so before.

It does not take millions of people to do this. Fifty really committed, stable people who don’t have basic questions on an everyday basis, are all it takes. You must settle your basic questions and from then on your questions should dig deeper. People come up with the same nonsense every day. If you are asking the same stupid question for ten years, then this speaks of your intelligence, or rather the lack of it. “Is he going to exploit us? Is he going to use us?” If I wanted to exploit you, I could have made it in such a way that when you walked into that free introductory and I would have told you, “Drop everything that you have here and walk away,” you would have done it. At least trust my efficiency. If you take that idea from your mind, you are on stable ground. If you cannot settle these basic questions, you must leave or just be on the fringe; just come and go, fine.

So, if you settle these basic things within yourself once and for all, this will bring stability, a new ground for you to stand upon within yourself. Then the next steps will naturally come. Every rung will be a challenge, so you have to stabilize the ground on which the ladder is standing. I am not asking you to run up the ladder without checking every rung. But if you keep disturbing the ground on which the ladder stands, then however good the quality of the ladder is, it is useless. You take your time on every rung; that is perfectly okay. If you are maddened by this, you run up the ladder without bothering whether it is going to withstand your weight or not – that is also okay. If that is not possible for you, check every rung and go. But this one basic thing, the ground, you must settle. If you don’t settle that, it will be just waste of time.

Time is not a commodity that comes and goes – it just goes. Time is life. We cannot afford to squander it. I would even say, there is no such thing as time, there is just life. If we create such people with the necessary integrity, stability, and balance, we can start exploring.
- Excerpted from a talk by Sadhguru

Anger is Intensity. Sadhguru

Is it Possible to Disappear Using Yoga? Sadhguru

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Isha Fest 2011 - Isha Insititute of Inner Science

Introduction to Sadhguru and Isha Foundation in HINDI from AASHTHA CHANNEL - Part 1

The spine's importance in spiritual growth. Sadhguru

Do the Ida and Pingala nadis really exist? Sadhguru


Title track - Dancing Flute - by Bikram

Night Whisper by Bikram (album 'Dancing Flute') - So much peace and love.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Difference between Sadhguru and the Dhyanalinga

Sadhguru: There's no difference. It's just that I still have the problems of eating and sleeping. He doesn't. Otherwise, there's no difference, except that I can walk; he can't (laughs). Now, what you're referring to as the Dhyanalinga is the highest possible subtle body. It is at its peak vibration with all the seven chakras intact. It was consecrated by creating a certain vortex, which drew in enormous amounts of energy. Another difference is that I took three lifetimes to become like this; he managed it in three years. That's a big difference. The etheric body, or the subtle body, was constructed using enormous amounts of energy. If we had made it any more intense, it couldn't have retained a form; it was in that level of intensity. This was the peak of intensity that you could hold within the dimensions of a form. The Dhyanalinga is the highest possible being sitting there all the time, stable, steady, always the same way because he has no problems of a mental body, karmic body or physical body. He is always the same because he's just a subtle body.

In theory, it is possible to slowly construct a human physical body for the Dhyanalinga, and to create a being like that - somebody who will walk - if we're willing to work towards this. In theory, it is possible, but to get all the ingredients and all the forces together is an enormous job. Once we create a physical body, to sustain himself in such peak energies, he would have to do so many things. Above all, once you have a physical body, people's ability to experience what's beyond that will decrease, because once you see a person, you start judging - seeing what's right and wrong about him, what appeals to you or doesn't. All these judgments will take away your ability to experience that being. That's the huge difference. To create the subtle body itself took enormous amounts of work. If we want to create grosser dimensions of the body, we can create a very beautiful human being without him being born through a womb, because the subtle body is properly established. It would be like having Shiva back, alive, walking, but it wouldn't serve any purpose and would involve too much. It's very difficult to tell you logically or sensibly what this is all about.

This reminds me: when Vivekananda was a highly energetic and intense young boy, he was very skeptical and full of questions. He wanted to investigate everything. He had won many awards in debates and was always looking for more debates with whomever he met. When he met Ramakrishna he asked him, "You're always talking about God. What is the proof that there is God?" He was expecting some great explanation, which he obviously had the logic to break down, and he would defeat him. Ramakrishna said, "I am the proof." Vivekananda didn't expect this answer. He was expecting some explanation as to how there's a creation and a creator. So when Ramakrishna said, "I am the proof," he didn't know what to say. He sat there, bewildered. Ramakrishna thought this fellow's snooty logic was making him stupid. Vivekananda had enormous intensity, but he was missing the whole point. So Ramakrishna just took his foot and placed it on Vivekananda's chest. He lost all of his logic, and tears started flowing. Tears and Vivekananda were impossible. Logical people cannot shed a tear unless they're touched in their innermost depth. Tears just started flowing and then he said, "I'm very sorry I even asked you such a question."


When you go to the Dhyanalinga, just sit there - you don't have to believe or disbelieve anything. It's as if a good dinner is being served in front of you. You're not overly hungry nor do you dislike the food. Simply sit there, not trying to grab it. Just be willing, open, not making any judgments about the food in front of you. You must sit in front of the Dhyanalinga like that, not doing anything, but not putting your foot into the food either. Sit there with a certain willingness and openness; then you will see that this is not just a symbol. The Dhyanalinga is not just a stone standing there anymore . You will see it is like a living being in every way.

Somebody who doesn't have a physical, mental or karmic body, but only has a subtle body - spiritual or etheric body - can only touch you on that level. If we teach you Hatha Yoga, kriyas, or if we change your mental attitude through the programs, and you practice for some time, then you give it up, you will see, you will go back to square one. But once you're touched at the level of your etheric body, you can't get rid of it. Whether you live or die, it still goes with you. This is what initiation means. It's not just a bundle of instructions. The idea is to touch you on the level of your etheric body so that it can never be taken away, no matter what kind of life you live, or how ignorantly you live. The seed can't die; that's how it is put across. That's what an initiation means.


People have left their Gurus for even more frivolous things. This is simply because, in your day-to-day life, you are deeply caught up with your own physical and mental bodies. What has happened within you on deeper dimensions is not in your moment-to-moment awareness. Certain moments you know this is the deepest thing that has happened to you in your life. The rest of the time your mind will argue and prove to you that it's not so. With Dhyanalinga, you don't have these problems because it doesn't carry a physical or mental body. If you experience him once, every time you sit, you will look up to him reverentially. If he had a physical body, one moment you would be looking up to him reverentially, the next moment you would be judging him and condemning him for something. It's bound to happen. So he has come with extra advantages

Shanti Mantra - Pandit Jasraj

Always stay in your original nature. Do not fear the storms and hurricanes of life.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Kaya Project - Raag To Ragga

Prem Joshua - The Tree Mudra

Tangerine Thumri ( Orange Turban rmx) - Prem Joshua

Aree Rukh Ja Re Bandeh.....By Indian Ocean..

Govind Bolo Hari Gopal Bolo(remix)


There are those images of him that puzzle you at first: riding a motorcycle, sometimes a horse; poking away at a computer; clad in a robe,dhoti, pants, maybe even jeans….you wonder, is he really a man of god? But follow for a bit the ideas he has passed on to the public, and you realize Jaggi Vasudev is a spiritual rebel. The outward visual is just the beginning. No tradition ties him, no dogma binds him. Freedom is what he espouses and it is what he practices even while engaging in society.

He is the Sadhguru who experienced transcendental bliss in his 20s when the rest of us were ducking classes in college and experimenting with stuff parents abhor. What followed was the public’s discovery of him. People flocked to hear him and practice Shambavi Mahamudra* and he soon became an invited regular around the world with his Isha Yoga centers sprouting everywhere. His several environmental, education and rural upliftment programs has drawn global attention making him a regular at the World Economic Forum and a delegate at the U.N. Millennium World Peace Summit.

Blindingly articulate, master Jaggi Vasudev can simplify profound philosophy to simple truths with analogies from daily life. His speech is remarkably free of jargon and phraseology, and instead full of hearty laughs, references to cars, people we know from today…. He transmits an energy and joy that speaks of human empathy and a simple encompassing Oneness. You come away wishing that there was more time as there is no one you would rather spend time in conversation with. Some excerpts:

Q: You have just come back from the Kailash Yatra. What makes different aspects of nature holy to different faiths? For instance, why doesn’t an Indian-American feel the same charge of spirituality going to Mt. Shasta which is holy to others?
A: Mt. Kailash is not limited to a particular faith. The spiritual community at large has held it as sacred. It has nothing to do with religion. In the case of Mt. Kailash, it is the planet’s mystical library. When mystics want to share, to know, they come here. And the knowledge they have and they gain they store in energy form. They do it here and not in a place like Mt. Everest because it is too difficult to approach. But they also don’t go to easily frequented places. In Kailash… Aadi Yogi (considered the original transmitter of all yogic knowledge), Rishabh (Jain Tirthankara), the three Buddhas including Manjushri all are connected to it. The Bon, Druze and several other Central Asian cultures hold Kailash as sacred as their masters’ knowledge is stored there.

Q: So what happens when we go there? Do we have access to this knowledge?
A: Not everyone can access it. But everybody can experience it. That’s why when we go there we only take people who are already engaging in spiritual practice. It’s not some kind of a tourist company thing.

Q: Which and with who is the most meaningful relationship for a human being?
A: (Laughs).There is no relationship like that. In actuality, every relationship can be made meaningful. Someone might think it’s with their mother, spouse or child. If you ask me, that relationship can be experienced with dog, flower, waterfall, all of nature. You can be touched deeply by everything around you. It depends on whether you are willing to be open to it.

Q: So who or what inspires you to be this way?
A: (Pauses then laughs gently). I am not inspired but fired up!

Q: By what?
A: Life!

Q: In the decades that you have been putting people on the right journey, showing them the joy of life, have you found yourself having to talk about different issues or are they fundamentally the same over time?
A: Oh, I feel old now that you say decades!

Q: Years, decades in terms of wisdom!
A: Okay then! On the surface it seems like different issues over the years. But essentially it is a lack of perception. We are not able to perceive life in its entirety. We are concerned only with what are our problems. Even what is perceived as problems, are only a series of situations. My work is to show that there is greater access to life. It is to deepen the receptivity to life.

Q: What is the role of men of god in society today? Is it to change the way people think? To influence government? You met with Anna Hazare, so did Sri Sri Ravi Shankar…..
A: We are always in public. My work is with people. I did meet with Anna Hazare. I would not participate in normal conditions, but I went there not as a spiritual man but as a citizen of India. The most wonderful thing about what happened with Anna Hazare was that it made everyone sit up and take notice. It was a fight against intolerable corruption. It was a huge and valid movement and it was important to make sure nothing was goofed up. I have met several political and economic leaders in my travels and they want to come to India. But corruption – it is an embarrassment.

(Pauses) India is sitting on the verge of immense economic possibilities. I don’t mean this in terms of shares and the number of limousines that are there. You and I know where our next meal is going to come from but there are millions today in India who are going to eat a very meager meal and others who won’t eat at all. For them what we do now can make a huge difference. In the next five years we can change it for people who have had such a bad deal for six to eight generations.

Q: You have done so much work, adopted villages and the benefits of the model are obvious to see. What stops this from snowballing into neighboring villages?
A: It has to be a movement. To create and manage a movement is a skill and capability that is unfortunately lacking. Whatever changes you want to do…..just policy makes no difference. This Jan Lokpal that we are talking about for instance is only policy. Merely changing the law does not bring change.

Q: Policy aside, aren’t the people around the villages where Ishya Yoga works ( near Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu) observing the success with which villagers are producing quality products, becoming self-reliant, etc., and feel they want to emulate it?
A: It’s definitely a lack of leadership. The people themselves are in such a hopeless pit unless a helping hand is given they cannot come out of it. You know when I see these little children in the villages their eyes shine brightly. Like stars. But by the time they are 11 or 12 they will meet you with downcast eyes. All the hope is already gone. We want to touch these children. We want to impact them through education. We will be adopting 3,000 villages. It’s a huge financial challenge. It is also physically demanding. The schedules are stretched not just for me but for every single person who is involved with this. But if you don’t do it, it’s a crime.

Q: You look like a prophet from the Old Testament…. do you think this combined with your cool, liberal and secular image breaks the first barrier with audiences here, in the West?
A: Aaah…an Old Testament prophet. Now you have made me thousands of years old! In the U.S. I thought if you are seen with a turban and beard they think you have something to do with Osama bin Laden!

Q: What is your daily sadhana?
A: Working liking a dog. (Chuckles). Joyfully of course, but tired we do get.

Q: How do you remain joyful?
A: Practice yoga everyday certainly. People feel burnt out just going to their regular day jobs for eight hours. The system won’t take 20 hour days. A very well known lawyer in India told me that by doing Shambhavi (Mahamudra) he was doing in three hours what took seven hours before. If you want to run a race you can’t sit and think about it. It means preparing your legs and lungs if you want that Olympic medal. It’s the same here.

Q: What do you recommend for the Indian-American?
A: For you? Inner Engineering! It’s a simple process making the difference between seeing life as a whole and not. We offer Isha Kriya. More than 2.5 million cds have been sold across India, its spread like fire. But they should want to do something about themselves. There has to be the right approach, the right seriousness. If you want to become a journalist or a doctor you go to college, you engage in serious study. If you hope to be a more profound human being by just reading a book in theory, it’s the wrong approach. Practice daily.

Q: A parting message for our readers….
A: If you are doing well turn inward. If you are not doing well… look inward!

*an ancient energy practice that practitioners say has transformative powers

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev will instruct those who have completed a 7 session online course on Oct.15 and 16 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. For more information: or