Exploring the wisdom of Sadhguru: A spiritual guide for modern living

In a world bustling with the chaos of modern living individuals seek solace and meaning beyond the mundane Sadhguru a renowned yogi mystic and spiritual leader has emerged as a guiding light for many on the journey of selfdiscovery and inner transformation Through his teachings he invites people to explore the profound dimensions of life encouraging a holistic approach that transcends cultural and religious boundariesSadhguru was conferred the Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India in 2017 the highest annual civilian award accorded for exceptional and distinguished service He is also the founder of the worlds largest peoples movement Conscious Planet ndash Save SoilIn this exclusive interview Sadhguru shares his profound insights on spirituality and more1 Therersquos a misbelief that you canrsquot be spiritual if you are materialistic How would you debunk this and how can people balance bothSadhguru There is no such thing as the material world and a spiritual world Life comes as a whole This distinction of what is material life and spiritual life has come from a certain level of ignorance When you sit here can we separate whatever you are referring to as the spirit in you from your body Your body is the material it is the earth So how can you separate the material and the spiritual There is no spirit without material and there is no material without spiritWhatever material that we handle our homes relationships money are external arrangements that we make in our lives for our external convenience and comfort Similarly whatever inner arrangements we make for our inner wellbeing are spiritual Can you live if you have fantastic outside arrangements but internally you are a mess Or if internally you are blissful but you have no food to eat Both of them need to be organised But with how much balance The priority that you give to each is an individual choice One has to do it according to individual needsAs far as I can see everyone is striving for happiness everyone is striving to be free That means every human being is seeking spirituality A few are striving consciously most are striving unconsciously If you find unconscious expression to it it gets labelled as materialism If you find conscious expression in it we call it a spiritual process Isnt it better to seek consciously with eyes open rather than closed2 You initiated the Save Soil campaign earlier this year What led you to start itSadhguru If you look at the way life happens on this planet the microbial life in the soil is the foundation for all other life The basis of all life is in the first 1215 inches of soil But today around the world soil degradation is happening at a rapid paceHalf of the worlds topsoil has been lost In normal agricultural soil the minimum organic matter should be between 36 per cent but in large parts of the world it is well below 1 per cent Right now United Nations statistics say that we may have agricultural soil only for another 80100 crops This means in just 4560 years there could be severe food shortages and getting rich soil will become the basis of wars on this planet This is why the Conscious Planet Save Soil movement is aiming to bring about a global policy that there must be a minimum of 36 per cent organic matter in agricultural landWith the Save Soil movement we have successfully turned the worlds attention to soil We have reached over four billion people Many UN agencies have joined us and 81 nations are in the process of framing soil policies For the first time at UNFCCC COP28 Dubai soil is playing a crucial role in the Climate Action agenda alsoSo the narrative around soil has shifted conclusively I am very sure soil policies will be implemented It is only a question of ensuring a quick pace so that we turn around from the disaster before it is too late3 Inner engineering is one of your highly popular courses What led you to introduce itSadhguru When I was growing up I had a cloud of a billion questions and no one seemed to be able to answer them So I grew up a superskeptic I got into business early and was very successful by smalltown standards of the 1970s Everything I wanted was happening in my life so I was not looking for anything I had been practicing Yoga since I was 12 years of age for physical and mental wellbeing but I never thought of anything spiritual Being spiritual was impossibleThen one afternoon on September 23rd 1982 I had a little time to spare between two business meetings So I rode up Chamundi Hill in Mysuru There I sat on a huge rock which was my usual place with my eyes open After a few minutes I had an experience that left me forever transformed Suddenly I did not know which was me or which was not me What was me was all over the place Every cell in my body was bursting with a new indescribable level of ecstasy All I knew was that I had hit upon a goldmine within myself that was dripping ecstasy that I did not want to lose even for a momentSince then 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 This is what Inner Engineering is4 In what ways can inner engineering help people transform their livesSadhguru We need to understand that our physical and mental health are both fundamentally our responsibility The source of our wellbeing joy and love is invested in us This is what Yoga is about how to live with exuberance and ecstasy every moment of your life This is the most needed thing in the world right nowToday the World Health Organization is talking about a mental health pandemic In the United States the Surgeon General says one out of two people is lonely This is not just in the United States It is starting to happen across the world Do you think we have enough psychiatrists to handle 84 billion people NoAs there is science and technology to fix the external situations there is a whole science and technology to fix the inner situations This is what we are calling inner engineering You can change the very fundamental chemistry of who you areInner engineering is offered as a technology not as a teaching a philosophy or a belief system The highest level of technology on the planet is the human system itself Even a supercomputer is a small thing compared to the technology involved in the making of the human system My work is to help people to use this technology to its fullestAlso Read Mumbai welcomes the New Year amidst price rise and inflation5 You also speak about science and spirituality How do you think they complement each otherSadhguru Unfortunately people think that science means doing things only with the physical existence You are not existing here as just a physical body You are much more than that isnt it Just putting a heart liver and kidney together will not make you a human being There is something else in you So if you attend only to the heart liver and kidney and forget about that something else you cannot refer to yourself as a scientific person you are oblivious to another level of reality So science should not be understood only as the physical sciencesIf you make a method and a proper process for the spiritual process it is also a science There is absolutely no conflict between whatever you refer to as modern science and the spiritual sciences Knowing how to be within yourself and transcend the limitations of who you are is also science Initially science was only thinking of providing human beings with more conveniences and comforts It is only today that science is thinking of breaking barriers and going into new frontiers So now science and spirituality are both seeking liberationIf your life is well taken care of outside then you have more time and energy to focus on the inward So in fact external science and technology are of great service to the spiritual sciences because only when peoples physical needs are taken care of when people feel that they should feel fulfilled yet they are not that is the time for spirituality6 How can one navigate through the complexities of modern life while maintaining a sense of inner peace and tranquilitySadhguru Right now the biggest problem with the modern world is that we are too goaloriented We want to enhance our activity without enhancing who we are This is why everyone is talking about being stressed You are stressed because you have enhanced your activity without enhancing yourselfIt is like this you want to race on the Formula 1 track but you have a Maruti 800 It is a wonderful car to go to your office But if you get it onto the F1 track the four wheels will fly in four different directions That is all that is happening to you you are aspiring for something that you have not upgraded yourself for Now the activity that you really want to do is freaking you outIf you enhance yourself sufficiently whatever activity that comes your way will be just childs play This is not just about growing in physical or intellectual strength It is about enhancing the very life that you have If you enhance the very life that you have you can perform whatever activity you have to with ease and joyThere are ways and methods with which you can enhance this life This is what inner engineering is about You can enhance this life in such a way that whatever you have to do you can do it like play It is my wish and my blessing that everyone should know the joy of playing through their life rather than stressing through it