What is black magic? Is black magic real? Sadhguru tells us about the black magic that others can do to us, and shares a simple tool for black magic removal.

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Question: Can energy be used in a negative manner, for example to do black magic? 

What is Black Magic ?

Sadhguru: You need to understand that energy is just energy; it is neither divine nor is it evil. You can make anything – a god or a devil – out of it. It is like electricity. Is electricity the divine or the devil? When it is lighting your house, it is the divine. If it becomes an electric chair, it is the devil. It just depends on who is operating it at that moment.

Actually, five thousand years ago, Arjuna asked Krishna the same question, “If you are saying everything is the same energy and everything is divine if it is the same godhood which exists in Duryodhana, why is he functioning like this?” Krishna laughed, because after all the teaching, Arjuna was still coming back to this simple, basic, childlike question. Krishna replied, “God is Nirguna, the divine is Nirguna. He has no attributes of his own.” That means it is just pure energy. You can make anything out of it. The tiger that comes to eat you also has the same energy, a god that may come and save you also has the same energy. They are just functioning in different ways. When you are driving your car, is it good or bad? It can make your life or take your life any moment, isn't it?

So can people do black magic? Definitely they can. If positive uses are there, negative uses are also there. One Veda, the Atharvana Veda is dedicated to the use of energies for both positive and negative. But what I have seen is, most of the time these things are psychological. A little bit of it may be there, but the rest of it is your own mind driving you crazy. If I want to drive you crazy, I do not have to do any actual black magic. Tomorrow morning when you come out of your house, suppose there is a skull and some blood all over the place, once you see this, that’s it! You will become ill, your business will go bad, everything negative will happen to you because of a certain fear grips you. No black magic has been done. Just certain symbols which indicate that this seems to be some kind of black magic will destroy your mind. So most of the time, it is just psychological. Even if black magic is done to you, only ten percent may be the real thing. The rest of it is you destroying yourself. That is why it comes with symbolism. They understood the impact of your own psychology on you. Once that symbolism is created, you just destroy yourself.

How to Remove Black Magic?

But yes, there is a science where one can use their energies negatively to cause harm to somebody else. What is the protection? One thing is, if you are on spiritual sadhana, you need not bother about all those things. You need not even think about those things. Another way is, you can wear certain protections like a rudraksha , which is like protection against any kind of negativity. But you need not worry about such things. Just keep your focus in life and keep going. If you are in sadhana, you just don’t bother; it will be taken care of.

The Dhyanalinga

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If you have been under such influences, you can come and sit in the sphere of the Dhyanalinga, because there are certain dimensions to the Dhyanalinga which nullify all this. If you fear that something like this has been done to you, sit there for just one day and go. It gets taken care of. But it is better that you not pay attention to those things because your mind does more “black magic” to you than anybody else can.

There are the Vanashree and Patanjali shrines at the entrance of the  Dhyanalinga. They are in the space of a fifteen-degree angle from the Dhyanalinga. That’s why they are located at that point. Otherwise, architecturally, I would have liked to locate them much closer. Generally, people who are possessed by some spirits or who are impacted by the occult and such problems are asked to sit either in a forward fifteen-degree angle or a rear side fifteen-degree angle, depending upon the type of problem that they have.

That space has been specially created like that so that people can make use of it. Whether you’re aware of it or not, the negative use of energy like black magic and others is there. The fifteen-degree angle is where the doorway is. Whether you know it or not, everyone who enters just drops the negative influences they are carrying. There have been thousands who have dropped such influences. That’s why people who have been to the Dhyanalinga  find that suddenly life has changed for them. This is because the negative impacts on their life have dropped.

When we say ‘negative impacts’, it’s not necessarily in terms of somebody doing something negative to you. In so many ways, you could have just taken in some negativity. See, it’s not necessary that somebody should poison fruit and give it to you. The fruit might have some natural poison in it, which enters my body when I eat it. Similarly, the negative aspects of life can enter you in so many ways. It is not necessary that somebody is sitting there and plotting against you. So the entrance of the Dhyanalinga, the first fifteen-degree angle, is created for this purpose, and before people seek anything else, these things are just taken care of. They just have to walk in that space, about sixty or seventy feet, and that by itself takes care of these negativities.

Editor’s Note: “Mystic’s Musings” includes more of Sadhguru’s insights on the human energy system. Read the free sample or purchase the ebook.

Sadhguru explores the meaning of karma, defining it as a certain amount of information, and then goes on to explain the different types of karma and the role of karma in our life.

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Pre-order Sadhguru's new book - Karma: A Yogi's Guide to Crafting Your Destiny

Table of Content
1. What is Karma?
2. Types Of Karma
2-1. Sanchita Karma
2-2. Prarabdha Karma
3. Break Free from Karma!
4. Spirituality and Karma

What is Karma?

**Sadhguru:**What you call as "my life" is a certain amount of energy controlled by a certain amount of information. This information, in today’s terms, can be called software. A certain amount of life energy is charged with a certain amount of information. Together, this information technology is you. You become a certain kind of character because of the type of information that has gone into you. 

From the moment you were born till this moment, the kind of family, home, friends, the things that you did and did not do – all these things are influencing you. Every thought, emotion and action comes only from past impressions that you have had within you. They decide who you are right now. The very way you think, feel and understand life is just the way you have assimilated inputs.

The past impressions of life go far beyond the moment you were born, but in your perception right now, at least from the moment you were born till today, what kind of parents, family, and education you had, what kind of religious and social background, what kind of cultural realities – all these impressions have gone in. Someone has become a different character simply because of the type of information that has gotten into him. This is what is karma. This information is traditionally called karma or karmic body or causal body – that which causes life.

Types Of Karma

This information is on many different levels. There are four dimensions of karma, two of which are not relevant right now. For understanding, we can talk about the other two.

Sanchita Karma

One is sanchita karma. This is the warehouse of karma which goes right back to a single-celled animal and even inanimate substances from where life evolved. All the information is there. If you close your eyes, become aware enough and look into yourself, you will know the nature of the universe – not because you are looking at it through your head, but simply because this information is present in the making of the body. There is a warehouse of information going back into creation. That is your sanchita karma. But you cannot take your warehouse and do retail business. You need to have a shop to do retail. That “retail shop,” which is for this life, is called prarabdha.

Prarabdha Karma

Prarabdha karma is a certain amount of information allotted for this life. Depending upon the vibrancy of your life, life allots for itself how much information it can take on. The creation is very compassionate. If it gives you the whole lot of karma that you have, you will be dead. Right now, many people are tortured by the simple memories from the 30-40 years of this lifetime. If they are given a hundred times that memory, they would not survive it. Nature allots prarabdha, an allotted memory that you could handle.

Break Free from Karma!

Whatever kind of karma you have, it is a limited possibility and that is what makes you into a limited person. Depending on what kind of impressions you took in, whether it was hatred and anger, or love and joy, you accordingly have a certain kind of personality – usually every human being is a complex mixture of these things. Once you allow this karmic structure to build beyond a certain point, there is really no such thing as freedom. Everything that you do is conditioned by the past. If you want to move in the direction of liberation, one of the first things that you need to do is to loosen the grip and shackle of karma. Otherwise, no movement will happen.

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How do you do that? One simple way is to break the karma physically. If your karma is to wake up at 8 o’clock in the morning, you set your alarm for 5 o’clock. Your body’s karma is that it will not want to get up. But you say, “No, I am going to get up.” Even if it gets up, your body will want to sip coffee. But you give it a cold shower. Now, you are just breaking the old karmic process by consciously doing something. What you like you can do it unconsciously, isn't it? What you dislike, you have to do it consciously. This is not the only way, there are other subtler and more effective ways, I am just telling you the crudest possible way.

Spirituality and Karma

Once you enter the spiritual path, you are making a statement, “I am in a hurry to get to my ultimate destination.” You do not want to take one hundred lifetimes. And in the process of this one hundred lifetimes you may gather enough karma to last out for another thousand lifetimes. You want to hurry it up. Once a spiritual process begins, if initiations are done in a certain way, it opens up dimensions which would not have opened up otherwise. You would have lived a more peaceful life if you were not spiritual, but a more lifeless life too, closer to death than life. Without anything fundamental being shaken within you, maybe you just passed comfortably.

Does this mean that all negative things happen to you once you are on the spiritual path? That is not how it is. It is just that when life moves at a tremendous pace – a pace much faster than that of people around you – you think some tragedy is happening to you. No tragedy is happening to you. It is just that they are going at normal speed but your life is rolling on fast-forward.

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Many people have this wrong notion that once you enter a spiritual path, you will become peaceful and everything will be clear. If you take on a convenient belief system and become a single-track mind, then everything seems to be clear. But if you are genuinely on the spiritual path, nothing will be clear. Everything will be a blur. The faster you travel the more of a blur it becomes.

A few years ago, I happened to be in Germany and after we finished the program, I had to drive to France, which was about 440 km from where I was. Usually the journey takes five hours. I had no intention of staying on the road for five hours so I just pushed it and we were doing something like 200 kmph. The countryside was supposed to be beautiful in this region, and I thought I would look at it. I tried to roll my eyeballs but everything was a blur and I could not take my eyes off the road for a moment. It was snowing and we were driving crazy speeds.

The faster you go, everything becomes a blur and you cannot take your eyes off what you are doing for a moment. If you want to enjoy the countryside, you must go easy and slow. If you are in a hurry to reach your destination, you gas it. You see nothing. You are just going. The spiritual path is like this. If you are really on the spiritual path, everything is in turmoil all around you. But you are still going, so it is okay. Is this alright? If it is not alright, you can go at the evolutionary pace. Maybe it will take a million years and you will get there.

For those who are in a hurry, there is one kind of path. For those who are not in a hurry, there is another kind of path. You must be clear about what you want. If you get onto the fast track and try to go slow, you will be run over. If you are on the slow path and try to go fast, you will get a ticket. Every seeker must always decide – does he want to just enjoy the road or does he want to get to the destination quick?

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Editor's Note: In this video, Sadhguru speaks on the nature of memory and how it influences not just our mind and emotion, but also our body.

Explore and share Karma Quotes from Sadhguru

The festival of Naga Panchami is not merely snake worship as commonly believed, but has a much deeper significance. Sadhguru explains the snake symbolism and the immense possibility that it is.

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Table of Content

1. Why Naga Panchami Has Receded in Importance

2. The Yogic Significance of Naga Panchami and the Three Levels of Human Evolution

2.1 Swana or Dog – Survival Smart

2.2 Kaka or Bird – Wisdom and Sensitivity

2.3 Naga or Snake – Perception Beyond Five Senses

3. The Significance of Snake in Spirituality

4. Snake Symbolism in Various Cultures Across the World

5. The Twelve Dimensions of Naga

6. Adishesha Snake in Mythology

7. NagPanchami – A Poem by Sadhguru

Why Naga Panchami Has Receded in Importance

Sadhguru: Naga Panchami, or Nagara Panchami as it is known in southern India, used to be one of the most significant festivals in India at one time. One reason why it has receded in significance is that as we became more logical. Because our logic cannot wrap itself around certain aspects of life, we tend to drop those things. This has been happening ever since European education became the standard form of education everywhere around the world. It has led to one form of development, bringing conveniences and comforts, but when you look at the consequences of this approach to life, we are destroying the very planet upon which we live.

There was a culture, still is living in Isha Yoga Center, where we chose to make our bodies, minds, and energies in such a way that we could sit on a rock very comfortably. We did not need a cushion. If a cushion came, we enjoyed it, but we never sought it. That happened because we did not evolve the idea of comfort and convenience through our logical means. We evolved the idea of comfort and convenience from our experiential dimension of life. We know that when we are feeling absolutely blissed out and wonderful, we can sit on a rock and feel tremendously comfortable. When we are feeling miserable and depressed, the best cushion on the planet becomes extremely uncomfortable. It cannot bring comfort to you because you have misunderstood life as a process that can be grasped by dissection. We think we can cut into everything and know everything by the scalpel of our logic. We have paid a price for this and we are continuing to pay. If we do not set a few things right, the price will be too big for generations to come. 

All the struggles that the world is facing today in terms of strife, war, hunger, and above all ecological degradation are simply because our idea of life has become too linear. We are unwilling to look at life the way it is. We want the whole cosmos to pass through the needle hole of our mind. Naga Panchami was one of the most significant festivals in this culture when our perception of life was more holistic. 

The Yogic Significance of Naga Panchami and the Three Levels of Human Evolution

In the evolutionary scale of things, the Yogic system recognizes three levels of development as very important. From an amoeba to who you are right now, there are three animals that still live within you in different ways and represent different aspects. These are called as swana, kaka and naga. In Yoga, we recognize these three stages of evolution as significant landmarks within you. Naga Panchami represents a certain aspect of it. For those who seek to be smart in the world – swana. For those who want to have an overview and feel wise within themselves – kaka. For those who want to immerse themselves into life – naga.  

#1 Swana or Dog – Survival Smart

Swana means a dog. It is a mammal which is very good with its survival process. For a long time, people said that dog is man's best friend. A man used to pet a dog because it was good for his survival when he was outdoors; a dog is very perceptive in terms of smell and hearing. As far as Yoga is concerned, the quality of the dog is of breath and brain. The swana aspect within you stimulates certain dimensions of your brain so that your survival process is greatly enhanced and you become smart. Do not misunderstand smartness as intelligence. Intelligence is a very inclusive process. Being smart is always in competition with something else, or being better than someone. 

This dimension exists within you and by handling your breath in a certain way, swana can be activated, honing the survival instincts in your brain. This is because your breath and your brain are very connected with this aspect. 

#2 Kaka or Bird – Wisdom and Sensitivity

The next is the kaka. Kaka does not mean just the crow, but a bird. The sense of smell and hearing is dominant in the swana or a dog. But in a bird, the sense of seeing and sensations are very significant. 

A bird has a vision. Because of flight, there is a distance and it needs to see things in a certain way, which leads to a certain wisdom. In many societies, specific birds are recognized as wise. In India, crows are recognized as birds which are having ancestral wisdom. In certain other cultures, owls are recognized as wise. In India, an owl is considered to be stupid! This is all cultural, but once you have a bird’s eye view of something, you naturally become wise because you have a bigger picture, which others who are crawling on the earth do not have. So, if you are seeking a larger wisdom of things of the world, then you need to activate the kaka within you. 

Another aspect is the sensation. A bird is covered with feathers. But the feathers are not really life. Feathers are alive but not the way the rest of the body is. It is like your hair. The feather is rooted in the body in such a way that it gives a very deep sense of sensation to the bird. If a bird is sleeping in the night and a snake starts moving up the tree, just that movement will give it sensations. I have slept on the trees for many days, so I have seen this. With eyes closed, they will just jump. They go to the edge of the branch while they are still sleeping. Those of you who sleepwalk know what I am talking about. They notice small things that are happening around because their sensation is very deep.

#3 Naga or Snake – Perception Beyond Five Senses

The third is naga or the serpent. In your physiology, this is connected to the visceral aspects of who you are. The cellular activity and the movement of the blood are related to naga. The swana and kaka represent sharpening of your senses in terms of hearing, smelling, seeing, and feeling, but the naga represents that dimension which cannot be perceived by the senses. This is why in the Yogic culture, the maximum attention was given to naga. Where the five senses fail, that is where the work of the naga begins.  

The Significance of Snake in Spirituality

There is intellect and then there is perception. If you empower the intellect, you will be very smart, but you need fools around you; otherwise, how will you be smart? In my understanding of life, accumulating a billion dollars is the dumbest thing you can do, because I know there is no banking services elsewhere other than this planet and I know my time is limited here. Why would I acquire billions of dollars? For what? But people think that is smart, so I said, “To feel smart, you need fools around you.” But if you allow life to happen to you in its full glory, maybe you will not be considered smart in the society. If you close your eyes and sit here, you are neither smart nor stupid, you are just life and that is all that matters. How vibrant, exuberant, joyful, and wonderful a life you are is all that matters. In this pursuit, naga is very important. 

The significance of the snake can be seen in this way. When you are logical, you are trying to grasp life. When you become very intuitive and perceptive, you are willing to allow life to grasp you because you have seen the limitations of who you are. Even now, do not think you are doing life; life is happening to you. The greatest thing that is happening here right now is life, there is no question about it. When it is happening free, all you have to do is find something and put it in your stomach to keep the body going. For that, how much fuss! 

This has happened because we have given up the way of the serpent, we are not allowing life to coil around us. We are trying to “get it.” If you relax it a little bit, life is always wrapped around you.

Snake Symbolism in Various Cultures Across the World

Naga became prominent wherever people spent more time with eyes closed, and perceived something beyond five senses. They recognized the significance of this dimension of evolutionary residue which remains within us, how we can activate that to evolve beyond the limitations of the senses. There are innumerable legends and mythological representations of a serpent across all cultures without exception. You can see symbols in the forms of various artefacts all around the world, showing how snakes played an important part in the mystical journey of those tribes. There are serpent symbolisms in a variety of places – Russia, China, Africa, Egypt, Greece, South America, North America and, of course, India. 

The Twelve Dimensions of Naga

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There are twelve dimensions of naga which are worshipped in India. These are called Ananta, Vasuki, Shesha, Padma, Kambala, Karkotaka, Ashvatra, Dhritarashtra, Shankhapala, Kaaliya, Takshaka and Pingala. These twelve aspects also relate to the twelve aspects of the calendar.

Adishesha Snake in Mythology

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The snake around Shiva’s throat is referred to as Vasuki. Vishnu’s snake is referred to as Shesha. In local Indian languages, “shesha” is a common term in Indian mathematics to represent remainder. The word is used for remainder because when a certain creation ends, a certain core aspect remains which germinates into another creation. It is upon this shesha that Vishnu rests. That means when there is no creation to maintain, he is resting on shesha, or the remainder. 

This goes far deeper, but the problem right now is that I have to speak in English language, and I have to sound logical. Logic is a powerful means for us to live well, but logic is not powerful enough to penetrate through every aspect of life. It is not powerful enough to take you beyond your present dimension of existence. 

The mythology says that Adishesha uncoils and time moves forward. This means the remainder that is left from the previous creation stays and when it begins to uncoil, it is called as Adishesha because it is the first remainder. When it uncoils, it means that another creation begins to happen. This is a very profound aspect of life expressed in symbolic ways. 

Nagara Panchami or Naga Panchami represents this. This day is very significant for those who want to penetrate and know life beyond their physicality, and beyond their five senses. This is not just about experiencing, realization, or liberation – this is about knowing. Maybe not everyone wishes to know. Some people just want to be free, and they do not care to know. That is all right. But for those who want to know, this aspect of evolutionary reminder within you is very important. Whether you actually relate to the symbolism or not, you have to invigorate that dimension. If you want to know aspects beyond the five senses, your Adishesha has to begin to uncoil and move. 

This is something that Indian culture has always valued, that people never killed a snake. In case they killed it accidentally, they gave the snake a proper funeral, just like it is done for a human being. This is because they recognized certain aspects of what a serpent is.  

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Editor's Note: Sadhguru reveals about the connection between mysticism and snakes, and the power and energy of this mysterious creature.

On the spiritual path, Sadhguru explains, life is lived in fast-forward. As a result, both pain and joy can intensify. Once life energies accelerate, an individual must align body, mind and emotions in the same direction.

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Q: I have been doing the practices for some time now. Initially, everything was fine, but then, there have been some outside disturbances, especially from the family. I don’t know how to face all this. I keep up the practices, but I feel I need Grace in my life. Please help.

Sadhguru: One dimension of the spiritual process is to put your life on fast-forward. You want to accelerate the process of evolution. Once you put it on fast-forward, your joy, your pain, your suffering – everything becomes more intense. With certain spiritual practices, you are setting your energies in a certain direction. When you are doing your kriya, you are setting your energies on the path of the ultimate. Once you do that, it is very important that your body, mind and emotions cooperate and align themselves to it. If your energies are going in one direction while your body, mind, and emotions are going in other directions, there will be struggle.

Align With the Divine

When you come and sit with me, I assume that you want to grow, that you want to go all the way. Once we direct your energies towards the ultimate, it is up to you to align your body, mind, emotions – everything in the same direction. If you do, you will travel joyfully. If you do not, you will still travel and move ahead, but hollering and crying. Do not entangle your mind and emotions with little things. This does not mean you have to leave your family or whatever other arrangements you have made in life. Family, street, ashram, mountain, forest, city – live wherever it is suitable and conducive for you. Your spirituality has nothing to do with where you live.

If your pain, joy, and whatever else you experience become intense, it is not because there is no Grace. The spiritual process is on. That is the Grace. Grace does not mean treating you like a sweetie pie all the time. Grace means constantly hurrying you up, not letting you settle anywhere. If we were just looking for solace, then all this would not be necessary. We would just tell you pretty lies, like “God will take care of you,” and “everything will be okay” – the kind of things they have been telling you in almost every religion and community for a very long time. Haven’t you heard enough of these stories?

Just stick to your practice. How to align your mind and emotions in the same direction? We spend so much time to teach you a simple practice just to orient your mind, emotions and body in the same direction as your energies. Your energies are always on the path of the ultimate, but with the spiritual practices, we have hastened the process. With the natural process of evolution, it was going slowly. Now it is going quickly.

Even when your process of evolution was going slowly, there was suffering, but you did not feel it that much because you were traveling at a snail’s pace. Now that you are moving fast, if one wheel turns another way, it will cause more trouble. It is like your car – only if all four wheels are in one direction, will it run smoothly. If one wheel goes in another direction, there will be friction. That is all that is happening right now. If that is happening, one simple thing that you can do is volunteer at one of the Inner Engineering programs. Be absolutely alert, simply listening to everything and taking it in. This will put your mind and emotions back on track.

If your mind gets entangled with something, it is like when a car is moving, you put your hand out and held on to the branch of a tree. Something has to tear – either the branch will break, or your arm will tear off, or the car will spin. Some friction will happen.

Only if You Want to Grow

Sit with me only if you really want to grow. Your perception of what you receive, don’t make it according to your convenience. Once, a cannibal chief wrote a letter to the Pope thanking him for the missionaries sent to perform religious duties for the cannibals. He said, “Reverend Pope, I thank you very much for the three missionaries that you sent. They were very kind, gentle, compassionate and knowledgeable. They taught us the sweet ways of Jesus. They were soft and utterly delicious.”

Do not base your perception of what you receive on what is convenient to you. If convenience is what you are looking for, you should join a sports club or a social club where you can gossip. You do not enter a spiritual path for convenience. You get into this because you want to open up a greater possibility of life.

Align your mind and emotions with the basic energies – your experience of life will be beautiful.

Editor’s Note: Offering the rare possibility to go beyond all limitations, Sadhguru takes the seeker on a mystical journey towards ultimate liberation. In the ebook “A Guru Always Takes You For a Ride”, Sadhguru delivers rare insights into the Guru-shishya relationship. Name your price and download.

Sadhguru answers a question about how once we tread the spiritual path, we become conscious of our suffering, which can lead to a confused clarity.

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Q: The more I seek the spiritual path, the more confused I become. Yet at the same time there seems to be a kind of clarity – a confused clarity. Will a time come when there will be clarity without confusion, and if so, how do I create that?

Sadhguru: The more you seek the spiritual path, the more confused you are becoming. That’s a good sign, because confusion is always a better state to be in than living in stupid conclusions. With the stupid conclusions that you had made in your life, there was comfort, solace and convenience. There was a false sense of security in these.

But once you step onto a spiritual path, everything becomes turmoil. All the things that you were comfortable with look stupid now. Things that you valued and cherished suddenly look so insignificant and not worthwhile. Everything has turned upside down. There’s a very beautiful Zen saying: “When you are ignorant, mountains are mountains, rivers are rivers, clouds are clouds, trees are trees. Once you enter the spiritual path, mountains are no more just mountains, rivers are no more just rivers, clouds aren’t just clouds, trees aren’t just trees. But once you arrive, once you are enlightened, once again mountains are mountains, rivers are rivers, clouds are clouds, trees are trees.” From ignorance to enlightenment, it is a full circle back to the same place, but a huge difference, a world of difference, a difference which is indescribable.

Becoming conscious of your suffering

Once you enter the spiritual path, everything is in turmoil, everything is in question. You don’t know where you stand – you don’t know anything. Before knowing anything about spirituality, you were at least comfortable, self-satisfied. You ate breakfast in the morning, drank coffee, and you thought that was the ultimate. Now, nothing matters. You don’t feel like eating, like sleeping, like doing anything, because nothing is really worthwhile anymore. It never was worthwhile. You just deceived yourself into believing that it was. If it was truly worthwhile, how could it go away? If you truly knew what’s what, how could you get confused? The very fact that you are confused means you didn’t know. You had made wrong conclusions just for the sake of comfort and security.

If comfort is all you are seeking, you must psych yourself up to believe you are perfect, that everything is okay with your life. “My house is good, my husband is wonderful, my life is great, my children are fantastic, even my dog is fabulous. This is it. This is life.” You must tell yourself this every day and go on with it. It will be quite good, nothing wrong with it. It’s just that it is limited, and this being will never settle for anything limited. It doesn’t matter in how many ways you try to fool yourself, somewhere there’s a longing. Carefully look at all the happiness that you have known in your life. On the surface there’s happiness, but somewhere deep inside, there is a certain suffering in everything. The suffering is just because the suppressed being is always longing. To even become conscious of this suffering, people take lifetimes.

Entering the spiritual path means you have become conscious of your suffering. You were suffering unconsciously; now you have become conscious of it. Conscious suffering is always deeper than unconscious suffering, but it is good, at least you are conscious about it. As long as you don’t become conscious, the suffering will always remain. Once you have become conscious, it need not remain forever. There is a possibility, isn’t it?

Entering the spiritual path is a possibility, being with a Guru is a possibility. If the possibility has to become a reality, the first thing is that you are willing to see everything the way it is. You are at least willing to recognize your limitations. If you want to hide your limitations, where is the question of liberation? You have destroyed the possibility completely. If you are chained right now and if freedom has to come someday, the first and foremost thing to see is that you are chained. If you refuse to see that you are chained, the question of liberating yourself never arises.

When you realize that you are chained, there will be pain and suffering, there will be struggle and confusion. Old memories will say, “I was better off before.” This is the way of your mind. When you were in high school, your mind told you, “Oh, kindergarten was so fantastic.” You know how you went to kindergarten! When you went to college you said, “Oh, my high school days were so wonderful,” but we know how you went through high school also. When you were done with your education, you said, “My university days were the most blissful days!” We know how you struggled to write your assessments, to find the book that you wanted in the library, how you suffered all those classes and those professors; but now that it’s over, you claim it was fantastic. As a part of your survival technique, memory has a way of erasing certain unpleasant things and making the past always more pleasant than what is there right now. This is a trick of survival. Otherwise, psychologically, you will crack up. You always have something to fall back on and say, “Oh, it was wonderful.”

Confused Clarity

But now there is a confused clarity. Isn’t that good? You are confused and still clear. On a certain day, a farmer with a truck full of animals is on his way to the market for auctioning. He comes upon a hitchhiker and gives the man a lift. On the way to town, the farmer starts sipping on some home brew, swerves off the road and crashes in a big ditch. The hitchhiker is thrown out of the truck and into the ditch, with shattered ribs, a busted leg and a smashed arm – he’s totally in pieces. The farm animals are also seriously messed up. The farmer is the only one with only a few cuts and bruises. He gets out of the truck and inspects his animals. The chickens have broken legs and wings, and can barely move. “These chickens are useless now,” the farmer explodes. “Nobody will buy them!” He grabs his shotgun from the truck and shoots the chickens. Next, he sees that the pigs are all busted and bleeding. “These pigs are worthless too!” So he reloads the gun and shoots them, too. The farmer then looks at the sheep in the same state as the chickens and the pigs, and screams, “Worthless sheep!” He reloads his shotgun and blows away the sheep. The injured hitchhiker witnesses all this carnage in great horror. The farmer then moves over to the ditch, peers inside, and shouts, “Are you okay, down there?” Instantly the hitchhiker, crawling up really fast, says, “SURE, I’VE NEVER FELT BETTER IN MY WHOLE LIFE!”

That means even if we throw you into hell, it doesn’t matter, you will be clear. I am not interested in sending people to heaven. I am interested in making people in such a way that even if they go to hell, nobody can make them suffer. That’s freedom. “I want to go to heaven,” is a huge bondage. Suppose you land in the wrong place? Suppose someone hijacked your airplane on the way to heaven. He didn’t crash it, he just landed it in the wrong place – you are finished. You are always living with something that can be taken away from you by somebody or something. True liberation is when nobody can take away anything from you, and that which can’t be taken away from you is your blissfulness, your inability to suffer. “I want to go to heaven,” means you are still capable of suffering. That’s why you want to go to a good place.

Gautama repeatedly said, “I don’t want to go to heaven. I want to go to hell.” People thought he was crazy, but that’s how a liberated man will be. “What’s my problem with hell? Anyway they can’t make me suffer, so I will go to hell.” This man is free. So if you are confused and clear, that’s good. “When will all my confusions go away? When will absolute clarity come?” I don’t want to fix a date, but I bless you, let it be today. Why tomorrow? There is a lot of time left today. Let it be today.

Editor’s Note: Excerpted from Mystic’s Musings. Not for the faint-hearted, this book deftly guides us with answers about reality that transcend our fears, angers, hopes, and struggles. Sadhguru keeps us teetering on the edge of logic and captivates us with his answers to questions relating to life, death, rebirth, suffering, karma, and the journey of the Self. Download the sample pdf or purchase the ebook.

Do you find yourself caught in a vicious cycle of compulsive thinking? Find out what Sadhguru has to say about being stuck in the mind and how one can come out of it and become more conscious.

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Sadhguru: The moment you get identified with something other than what you really are, the activity of the mind begins. You cannot stop it. Have you tried? You entertain yourself and just pass life. Do not entertain yourself. Just sit down for 24 hours and try very hard to stop the mind. You will see where it will take you. In three days you will be in madness. This is like you ate bad food, and now there is gas. It will not help if you try to hold it. You should just stop eating bad food.

You have wrong identifications and once the wrong identifications happen, the activity of the mind goes on nonstop. You cannot stop it, no matter what you do. It is just that if it is within a certain limit, you think it is normal. It is not normal. You are in socially accepted levels of madness. Everyone is the same way, so you think it is okay. But you do not know the joy of simply sitting here without a single thought on your mind. If I close myself up for four-five days, those four-five days I do not have a single thought. I do not read anything or even look out of the window. I simply sit without a single thought.

Suppose you started looking at a glorious sunrise, your thought disappeared for some time because something much bigger was happening. Or you got involved with something that you considered as important, at that time the thought disappeared for some time. Those have been the most beautiful moments of your life.

If you get in touch with something bigger, the smaller things naturally evaporate. The source of life which is functioning within you is a far bigger phenomenon than the thought process. Because you never came in touch with that, this thought has become so important. Or in other words, if your thought is very important, it means that somewhere in your distorted perception, the creator’s creation is not important. Your own creation has become very important. You do not pay attention to the creator within, nor his creation, but you are busy with your own creation. Isn’t this the worst sacrilege towards the creator? Not even for a moment has your attention shifted to the source of life within you. If you know the blissfulness of just being able to simply sit here, not thinking or doing anything, just being life, then life would be very different.

Getting in Touch with the Source of Creation

When it comes to the outside world, different human beings are capable in different ways. But when it comes to the interiority, all of us are equally capable. It has not happened because you have never paid attention, not because it is difficult or unapproachable or because you are unqualified. Every human being is equally qualified for inner nature. For external work, whether you want to build a building or cook a meal, or do something else, each one of us is differently capable. But when it comes to inner realities, all of us are equally capable. It has happened to one and not happened to the other simply because one has not paid attention, that is all.

People have come to these conclusions that spiritual process is very difficult because they keep doing the wrong things. With the outside world, you have realized that unless you do the right thing it will not work. The same is true with the inside. On a certain day, a tourist came to a village close by and asked, “How far is Isha Yoga Center?”

The local village boy said, “It is 24,996 miles.”

He said, “What! That far?”

The boy said, “Yes, the way you are going. If you turn around, it is just four miles.”

You are looking in one direction and trying to be spiritual – now it is a very long way. You have to go across the universe and come back. If you just turn around, it is right here because what you are looking for is within you, not outside of you. What is within you, no one can deny you except yourself. Can anyone deny you entry to your own interiority? If it is not happening, you must understand that you have not created the necessary willingness. There is no other reason. 

Are You Out of Your Mind?

Right now, do not try to suppress the thought. The biggest mistake has been that people have told you, “Control your mind.” Once you try to control your mind, you are finished! Let us say that right now you are practicing Shambhavi Mahamudra. If you do the process, it will create a certain distance between you and the body and between you and the mind. You do Shambhavi and simply sit – your body is here, your mind is out there and what you see as “myself” is somewhere else. Once this distinction arises, now there is no struggle with the mind.

Once you are out of the mind, there is no problem. If someone tells you, “You are out of your mind,” do not you feel insulted. It is the greatest compliment that they can give you. They are telling you, “You are a Buddha.” Buddha means he is out of his mind. People think being out of mind is madness. It is not madness. Madness is always of the mind. If you are out of your mind, you will be one hundred percent sane. That is the end of madness. Now you see life just the way it is.

Once you see life the way it is, not the way your mind is reflecting it, then you will see everything is just so small. What your mind can do, what the world can do, is so petty that you can just play with it to the extent that you wish. If you do not wish to, you can just withdraw. Both are conscious. There is no more compulsiveness in you. The moment you start witnessing the very source of creation, all compulsiveness in you is gone, now everything is by choice and life becomes beautiful.

Life becomes beautiful not because of what is happening but because you are choosing to do it. Nothing is beautiful or ugly. If you choose to do it and you involve yourself, everything is beautiful. If it is imposed upon you or it is compulsive, then everything is terrible. The same goes for mental activity. If this was conscious, you could have played with the mind which is quite a wonderful instrument, but because it is compulsive, it has become stressful. 

Editor's Note:  Ready to dig deeper? Here is a collection of eye-opening articles and videos by Sadhguru covering different aspects of the mind. A smorgasbord of key insights, every aspect is explored at a fundamental level and provides pragmatic tools to enhance your life.

Sadhguru looks at how we cultivate rigidity on many levels, which creates a barrier that does not allow us to flower.

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Sadhguru: I am glad you understand that it is your rigidity that has prevented your flowering. You can become rigid in many dimensions. During the practice of yoga asanas, you realize how rigid you are physically. It takes a little more awareness for you to know the rigidity in your mind and emotions. Somebody who is very rigid in his thoughts and emotions believes he is perfect because he does not allow room for any other way of looking, thinking, or feeling. When you meet such a man, you think he is pig-headed, but he thinks he is perfect. Similarly, there can be rigidity in your energy. For someone whose energy is very fluid, energy will start moving and transforming the very first day of the simplest kriya. Whereas, for another person, even after practicing for a long time, nothing seems to happen. This simply depends on how malleable the energies are. The rigidity in all these dimensions is not really separate; they are interconnected. The rigidity in one dimension manifests itself into others.

On Patanjali’s path, yoga is a system where it doesn’t matter what kind of a fool you are, what level of unawareness you are in, or what kind of karmic bondages you have, there is still a way for you. If you are willing to at least bend your body, you have already broken one karma. If your forehead touches your knee, you have broken a physical karma. This is not a joke. It is quite an achievement for a person who has never done it before. This simple limitation would have increased with the passage of time. Even the little flexibility that is there in you today will become less as time goes by. A day will come when you are totally rigid, both physically and mentally.

Look at your own life and see how flexible you were at the age of 10 or 11 – both physically and mentally. At the age of 20, your flexibility is considerably less, and by the age of 30, most of it has gone. Not just physically, but mental rigidity has also set in very severely. Life is just a regression for most people. They are not growing; they are going backwards. They don’t grow even the few assets they come with. Every advantage that comes to most people ends up as a curse. Money, influence, comfort and intelligence come as blessings, but become curses for most people. You are not using your intelligence to reach the peak of your consciousness or to become peaceful and loving. You are using your intelligence to drive yourself crazy. Anybody who goes against life, anybody who goes against that which is the source of life, is plain stupid.

Are You For or Against the Creator?

Every moment in your life, if you just watch whether you are for the Creator or against the Creator, everything will be settled. Your mind will be settled if you just do this sadhana. But it needs diligence. Otherwise, it is not going to happen. With every moment and every breath, just see. If you have the diligence to see, this is enough for you. It will clear up your mind totally. Tomorrow you will be ready for samadhi.

It is actually very simple, but it becomes extremely complicated because of a person’s personality. The complexities one encounters on the spiritual path are not complicated because of the path. They are there only because of the mess that is your mind. The path is very simple, but because you are there, it becomes extremely complicated. Nothing moves within you. You become rigid, as if rigor mortis has set in. You need the Master’s Grace to quell the madness of your mind. If you allow this, then the path is too simple, as the path is the destination.

If you simply sit, your whole being will pulsate with the existence. There is no other way to be unless you make an effort to be some other way. How can you be away from the existence in which you live? How is it possible? It envelops you in every way, inside and out. No one can ever be away from it. It is just that you are doing everything to stay away, maybe unconsciously. Just stop doing that and everything will be okay. So, just to get you to stop doing all that nonsense, we have started you on kriyas.

Activating Creation Itself

If you look at it, all of this is not necessary. But unfortunately, it is needed right now. You have kept your energies suppressed to such an extent, and the mind has become so oppressive, that it suppresses life to the point where nothing moves except what is needed to support the ego. Your energies are moving only to the extent that is convenient for your ego – a little more energy and the ego will burst. The moment energy rises within you, everything is dissolved. The ego knows it very well. That is why it has kept it suppressed. If you don’t have any energy, then again the ego will become very weak and it doesn’t like that. So it just allows the amount of energy which supports and feeds it well. If the energy becomes too much, the ego will be shattered. If kundalini begins to rise, everything will be shattered and nothing will be left. You will be just a force merging with everything around you. You won’t have a will of your own anymore.

Since you are not willing to surrender your will, we are prodding you through this sadhana to provoke your energies. That is why the path of asana and kriya. Since you are not able to do it by yourself, just activate creation itself in a certain way. If it begins to move, it settles everything. It is like a flood. So your sadhana is not about getting somewhere. It is just a way, a method to unleash a flood so enormous that it wipes away your petty creations and leaves you as the Creator intended you to be.

Editor's Note: Excerpted from Mystic’s Musings. Not for the faint-hearted, this book deftly guides us with answers about reality that transcend our fears, angers, hopes, and struggles. Sadhguru keeps us teetering on the edge of logic and captivates us with his answers to questions relating to life, death, rebirth, suffering, karma, and the journey of the Self. Download the sample pdf or purchase the ebook.

Sadhguru answers a question about how we can become more energetic, and looks at how what you need to do depends on what your idea of energetic is.

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Q: Sadhguru, sometimes I feel dull and sluggish. Can you tell me how to become more energetic and alive? 

Sadhguru: One level of energy is the food that you eat, the water that you drink, the air that you breathe and the sunlight that you receive. These things become the day-to-day energy that you experience. Another way of looking at it is that what you call “life” or what you call “myself” is energy. How alive and wakeful you are is how energetic you are. The ability to convert food, water, air and whatever other inputs go into your system will be different in different people.

It is not just about digestion and assimilation. The conversion of energy happens in different states, depending on how alive or how awake your energies are. Once you start certain spiritual practices, you might have seen that your level of energy is totally different. Your ability to stay awake, not be tired and to go on with life is so much better once you start these practices. If you practice these kriyas daily, you can see that if you don’t do them for one day, there is a distinct difference. In a way, all spiritual practices – the kriyas and meditation – are fundamentally to make your energies more awake than what they are right now.

Whether we are talking about kundalini or, as they say in English, “plain, simple energy,” it is basically about raising ourselves to a higher level of energy. What you call “life” itself is energy. If you want to function on a higher plane of life, you need a higher level or quality of energy. There are many methods to do this. There are dramatic ways to energize a person, but such methods need proper preparation, balance and control over life. That requires much more awareness from a person, to know what he is doing and not doing with himself. Most people, even the so-called “spiritual” people, do not know what is happening within themselves 98 percent of the time, especially when it comes to their body or their energy. And when it comes to their mind and emotions, they usually do not know until it becomes acute.

Right now, a certain emotion may be building up within you in a very small way, and you may not even be aware of it. For example, if someone suddenly calls you an idiot, you will explode. You think you are getting angry only now, but actually, it has been building up for days, weeks, or even months. It was not in your awareness because of your state of energy. When this is the case, the whole process of life is accidental, and your energy is accidental. When it is accidental, you will see that one day you are energetic, the next day you are not.

You will definitely notice that on a certain day, if you are very happy, you seem to be very energetic. Another day, when you are not so happy, you have no energy. One reason we are always talking about being peaceful and happy is not for the sake of peace and happiness, but only because if a person is peaceful and happy, his energies begin to come alive in a certain way. Otherwise, the system is simply blocked up. Only if these energies are alive can you activate them towards a higher possibility.

Being Truly Energetic

Being energetic means different things to different people. For a school kid, being energetic means being able to go to school, play games, come back home and fall asleep. For a laborer on the street, it means to be able to perform his activity all day. For an executive, it may mean to sleep less, travel more, or be more productive. For a yogi, he doesn’t want to sleep or eat. He wants to be that way for many days – just being alive by his own contact with existence, not by putting something into him.

So, when you say “energetic,” if it is just about being a little more energetic in performing your day-to-day activities in the world, there are many simple practices that will definitely take care of it. If that is not enough, there are ways to upgrade that a little bit so that it can be taken care of. For me, being truly energetic means that when you just sit, the physical body is no more a limitation for you. If your energies are really active, the physical body is no longer a limitation; energy becomes the main contact. Right now, your body, mind and emotions are the main contact that you have with the rest of the world. That is how you communicate and reach out. You can touch someone physically. Or, you can communicate with your thoughts, or emotionally convey something.

But once you are truly energetic, you can communicate with everything in the existence energy-wise. When you start communicating energy-wise, there is no distinction between this and that. Once the barrier is broken, that is ultimate nature. When you start a spiritual process, being energetic means going beyond all limitations, because in energy there is oneness. In the physical body, there can never be oneness. In mental thought, there can never be oneness. We may talk about oneness, but it is never going to happen. With our emotions, we may think we are one, but we are still separate. No two people can feel exactly the same way. You may believe so, but if you have any sense, you will realize within a short time that it is not so. Some people may take years to realize; a few people will realize quickly, but everyone will realize. No two people are exactly alike physically, mentally, emotionally; it’s not possible. But when you become truly energetic, oneness is just natural. That is the way it is.

Editor’s Note: Excerpted from Mystic’s Musings. Not for the faint-hearted, this book deftly guides us with answers about reality that transcend our fears, angers, hopes, and struggles. Sadhguru keeps us teetering on the edge of logic and captivates us with his answers to questions relating to life, death, rebirth, suffering, karma, and the journey of the Self. Download the sample pdf or purchase the ebook.

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Sadhguru talks about how on an individual level, raising the consciousness can be tricky, but in the presence of a Guru, getting enlightened on the level of energy can be easy to achieve.

Sadhguru: When you look at your life and the way you live it, many times, you would have noticed that you are ruled by compulsive emotions. For example, on a particular day when there was some special occasion, you really wanted to be peaceful but that is the day anger ruled you – it just came out for no reason. It is not about anyone or anything. It is a compulsive emotion that is coming out. Usually, whoever is around you becomes the victim. Actually, it doesn’t need anyone. You could get angry with trees!

People try to control these things their whole life but nothing changes. The mechanics of the mind and the way it functions is just the way the karmic substance is. This is because the mind is just an accumulation. What kind of accumulation you have is how it functions.

Going Beyond Compulsions

If one has to go beyond the limitations or compulsiveness that a certain type of accumulation creates within us, one has to either rise into a different level of consciousness with which he can become free. Or, another way is to transform his energies. Rising to higher levels of consciousness is generally very deceptive. Everyone believes they are a very high consciousness. If you put them to test, they will fail miserably because the nature of the mind is such, it can deceive you till the end. The mind is not a simple instrument. It is very complex. You may think you know it, but you will see, after twenty-five years you will realize that you have been tricking yourself all the way. Most people are using just a miniscule of their mind so they think it is simple. Otherwise, it is a very complex instrument.

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Raising the level of consciousness is not out of the question, but it is very tricky and can be very deceptive. People believe they have changed many times simply because their situations have become a little more conducive. If situations become extreme, they are back to the same place again. Have you noticed this? Someone may be working in a certain situation and they don’t like it – they are constantly angry and disturbed. Then they went to a new work situation and they think, “Now I am fine. Everything is okay with me.” It is not so. Everything is not okay, it is just that right now the weather is good so they seem to be okay. If the weather turns bad once again, which invariably it will today or tomorrow, you will go through the same thing again. When you talk about consciousness, you are looking at life in such a way that you are not subject to the processes of life – the external situations don’t decide who you are. That is what it means to become conscious. That is also a possibility, but it can be deceptive most of the time.

Enlightened on the Energy Level

Transforming your energies is a more certain and solid way because here, you can’t fool yourself or imagine things. You may imagine “I am in heaven,” but your energy won’t move unless you do the right thing with it and something genuinely happens. So this is a more sure path – you are walking on solid ground. All you need is dedication and involvement in a certain practice. If one works sufficiently upon his energies with the right sense of understanding and guidance, one can very easily get enlightened on the level of his energy. His consciousness might not have gone beyond, but his energies will be enlightened.

We have created many people whose energies are enlightened, but their consciousness has not yet risen. We are working on it in a certain way, allowing the mind to mature slowly. So, you can still do stupid things but because your energy has reached a certain peak, these stupid things don’t really affect your life. They don’t rule your life anymore.

The Enlightened One in the Kitchen

There is a very beautiful Zen story. You might have heard of this master who was very popular, whose name was Eno. When Eno first came to the monastery, the master looked at him and declared to everyone else, “Eno is enlightened.” The next day he put Eno to work in the kitchen for the next 12 years because only his energy was enlightened, his consciousness had not risen. In many ways we have hundreds of people around us today who are energy-wise enlightened, but their consciousness has not risen; and we are not in a hurry for that. That will happen. It will slowly mature.

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Shiva says, “When the spinal thread is touched, a light begins to glow in and around you.” If you place the whole attention on the Sushumna nadi and if it is properly touched, then it becomes alive and it glows. Once it glows, the energy will mature within a very short period of time and will become enlightened. This is something we have been doing with close groups of people for a long time. You have the glow of an enlightened being, but you don’t have the consciousness of an enlightened being. If you simply sit quietly you are a powerful being. If you open your mouth you are a fool – that is how you will be!

This is easy to achieve. All you need is dedication. Especially when a Guru is around, this is very easy to do.

Editor’s Note: Find more of Sadhguru’s insights in the ebook “From Creation to Creator”, available at Isha Downloads. Pay what you wish and download it. Enter “0” or click “Claim for free” for a free download.

Sadhguru discusses the significance of the bindu, a specific spot on the pineal gland, and the reason that yogic sadhana always aims first for stability rather than ecstasy.

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How the Pineal Gland Controls One’s Mood

Sadhguru: As scientists explore the nature of the human mind, and as we find better instruments to look at the nature of the human brain, one thing is becoming very clear for modern psychologists and neuroscientists: there is much more to be known about the human mind than they know right now.

As there is medical physiology, there is a whole yogic physiology. One aspect of yogic physiology that aligns in some way with modern neurosciences has to do with the pineal gland. This gland was always recognized as being associated with the agna chakra. Today, neuroscientists say that the secretions of the pineal gland control and moderate one's moods and experiences. If you have a very stable and sufficient pineal secretion, having a pleasant mood within yourself is not a problem.

Both medical sciences and street-side drugs have made it clear that chemicals can create pleasant and unpleasant experiences within you that are very real for you. Others may dismiss it as you causing it to yourself, but actually, you are causing everything to yourself. The only difference is whether you cause it with or without outside help. If you simply become ecstatic right now, you are causing it to yourself without outside help. If you cause the same thing with outside stimulation, it may be the same thing experience-wise, but the end result could damage the system. And such an experience will not result in any kind of consciousness. Unconscious experiences, however big they are, are of no significance for one's evolution, growth, and transformation.

Many Cultures Were Aware of the Bindu

A little-known aspect of yogic physiology, which is totally absent in modern medical sciences, is something which I constantly keep “on” within myself, called the bindu. “Bindu” means a tiny point. It is a particular spot on the pineal gland surrounded by a certain secretion. If you touch the bindu, it will release secretions that make your body comfortable and make you feel ecstatic. To activate the bindu, there is a certain point at the back of your head. So many cultures around the world have recognized this, and there is an understanding that that point needs to be protected and activated.

In the Hindu way of life, when young Brahmin boys are initiated into spiritual sadhana, they shave off the hair on the rest of the head and leave a tuft at this point. In many other parts of the world, if people are doing a certain type of activity which they believe is spiritual, they want that spot to be covered, so they started using small caps or some kind of a cloth. Everywhere in the world, at some point some people would have been aware and probably spoke about it. I really do not know what they have said, but I have noticed people doing these things. If there is someone who comes from the Jewish culture for example, have they told you something specific about why you should wear this cap?

Meditator 1: When you do a spiritual practice, you go to the synagogue, and you wear the cap to show that you are just a human being and you are not the divine. So, it is a sign of respect and a separation between you and the God that you are worshiping.

Sadhguru: Somebody else have something to say?

Meditator 2: It's more of a connection, to remind you that there is a divinity. You're always wearing it so you don't forget. It's not necessarily a separation, it's more a reminder of the divinity within you or around you.

Sadhguru: I do not know when the neurosurgeons will come upon the bindu. Even if they come upon it, because it is so small, they may ignore it. But if you pay attention to your system, it is there all the time. But do not start imagining these things!

Ambrosia and Poison

You will see, many times when people are in certain meditative processes, they become overwhelmed because the “glass of ambrosia” inside is tipping a little bit. They have still not learned how to drink from it in sips. If you give a glass full of water to a small child, he will spill it all over the place when he drinks. Similarly, their glass is tipping because they do not know yet how to sip gently. If they do the necessary sadhana, slowly after some time, they could consciously drink from it. Once you can consciously drink from it, every cell in the body and every moment of your life is ecstatic.

But the bindu has two sides to it. These two interpretations that you gave are interesting. Both could be right – distorted, but they could be coming from a certain understanding. The bindu has another point to it which also has a secretion but is poisonous. If you tip the wrong side of the glass, then poison will spread through the system. It is not like poison that you drink. It will spread through the system in such a way that, for what looks like simply no reason, you are miserable. A lot of people have done that to themselves. You could call that depression. You are miserable because you tipped the wrong side of the glass by doing improper things with life.

There are many cultures around the world which have been aware. Some wear caps, some have tops, some have taken other kinds of care. You will notice the level of mental imbalance in those cultures is always lower.

First Stability, Then Ecstasy

No matter what you are pursuing in life – money, wealth, power, God, or enlightenment – what is it that you are seeking? Essentially, what you are seeking is an ultimate sense of sweetness within you. Either you hit it accidentally or consciously – that is the choice you have.

There are many simple processes and methods that are devised not to go towards that ambrosia which is in every human brain, but to bring the necessary foundation within you that, when you hit it through grace, you do not go crazy. Too much sweetness can drive you crazy, unless you are sitting on a stable foundation.

In yoga, the initial phases of sadhana that you do are aimed at stability, not ecstasy. Stability is more important than ecstasy. If ecstasy comes before stability, you are heading for a crash. If ecstasy comes after stability, it is fantastic. The yogic system has devised the practices in such a way that everything is aimed at stability to start with.

The Processes of Ecstasy Were Never Written

The processes of ecstasy were never written down or transmitted as a teaching. It is only in the presence of a certain being that those things happen – because they are very subjective, and it is best they are not written down. In some books on tantra, they have tried to write it down, which I feel is very irresponsible. Suppose you read a book where the first two chapters talk about some simple practices to stabilize yourself and the last five chapters talk about simple practices to take you to ecstatic levels – which one will you do? You will be asking for trouble. These are usually ignorant people who have done some guesswork around the real thing and tried to write down something about it. People will not go for stability, they will go for ecstasy – and they will break up. You cannot hold your system if it is too ecstatic unless you have already worked for your stability.

Never aspire for anything that is not yet in your perception because you will aspire for the wrong things. Just do your sadhana. That is why traditions have always been insisting on trust – simply because if we explain something beforehand, naturally you imagine the wrong things and go for it. Do not worry about that. Just do the practice every day. It will produce results. If you did not know how a plant grows, if I show you a lump of filth and the beautiful flower and say, “These two things are the same. This comes out of that,” would you believe me? There would be no way to convince you. It takes a crazy sense of trust. That is why we usually do not talk about all those things. Because this cannot be logically worked out. This needs a little fixing of life.

A man walked into the court. He was the defendant. The judge looked at him and asked, “Do you have a lawyer?” The man said, “No, but I have some good friends in the jury.”

This is how it is. You cannot logically work this out. That is why the Guru came into the picture, because a little fixing is needed. Without the fixing, you will not jump. You will stand on this side forever. Without a little fixing, nudging or shoving, you will not cross the line.

Editor's Note: The word "tantra" creates many misconceptions in the modern mindset: of immorality, sex and clandestine activity. In the video "Tantra – Being an Instrument of Life," Sadhguru redefines tantra, restoring it to its original scope and dimension as an ancient technology for ultimate transformation. Purchase and download at Isha Downloads.