Synopsis: Two major problems we all face are identity crisis and self-doubt. And self-doubt especially plagues us humans. So what advice can you give us?  

Synopsis: Pranam Sadhguru. My name is Ashok. In the beginning you mentioned that we can bring chemical balance, if not mental balance, through intellectual and spiritual education. I would just like to mention that years ago, I heard one of your discourses in Sathya Sai International Auditorium. There you gave an example of a guru and a donkey. That was regarding how to develop...

Synopsis: If you would like, how do you inspire your people? Because they are the leaders of tomorrow. The more we have, the better off we’ll be. Any tips that you would like to share with people out here as to how a team is made from beyond being a great individual player.  

Transcript: Well, see the way the question is asked and also the way, normally it's addressed is, people think there is something called as negative thought and positive thought. They want to remove the negative thoughts and have only positive thoughts. For such people, I would ask them to just experiment for 10-15 seconds. Let them forcefully remove one thought from their mind. For example, next 10 seconds, just...

Transcript: Time, how to manage? It's too big a thing to manage. Not in your hands. Whether you like it or not, it's sticking away, isn't it? Yes? If you sit here, it's sticking away. If you jump around, it'll tick away. Do whatever you want, it'll tick away, isn't it? But what you can do with yourself, that you can manage. That's nothing to do with the time. So self-management, not time management. Just a few...

Transcript: You're suffering your bondages, you're chained to something you're suffering that, understandable. But, you're suffering because you're free. Most human beings are suffering because they're free. They're always trying to bind themselves to something or somebody all the time because freedom scares them, because freedom is a pathless, path freedom is an open terrain, there's no fixed line. Because there...

Synopsis: When it comes to purpose, what has defined what your purpose is in this world? As it has led to you being here at Columbia Business School in the youth and truth program. But, as well as if you have any words for other people in the audience or just me, would be fine as well. Around, how do we find purpose in this world?  

Synopsis: So today we are here essentially to sense the future. Now what is this? Why have we given this title to this session? Sensing the future. Now I’ve heard you before, saying, the moment right now is eternity. This time travel, past, future, is all nothing. Everything is now.  

Synopsis: You mentioned success. You know, and everybody, you know I’ve noticed everybody is trying to define success. Along the way, I came across a meaning that I really liked. It was, success is the magnitude of the beneficial footprint that you can leave on the society, i like that definition. One of the definitions of success that I liked. But what is your take on this...

Synopsis: You thoroughly enjoyed watching the football. But what do you think about, what is your take on sports? It’s competition, it’s, isn’t it based on one-upmanship? Aren't you telling young kids that it’s about winning, you know? As a child, I didn’t get any kick from winning. It was very minimal for me. I used to really just enjoy playing cricket, playing football....

Synopsis: So the summary of that will be that, as people, we choose to learn those things that we think have value in it, not things that transform them. Correct? So how do you suggest that one can expand his or her horizon to see beyond what his/her logic tells them to do or not do?  

Synopsis: As we graduate from school and leave university, and go into the corporate world. A lot of people follow their passion and take an unconventional path. My question is, should you do what you love, or should you love what you do?  

Synopsis: So, one of the questions that keeps popping up in everyone’s mind is, how do you define the clarity of purpose in your life? And that’s something that you’ve probably been asked multiple times before. But this is something that we still struggle with. And we easily get influenced by people around us, and we get distracted from what we truly are passionate about....

Synopsis: How do you think positively in circumstances or, you know, external factors that are very negative?  

Synopsis: In helplessness, many youngsters start thinking about taking the extreme step of ending their life. On this topic, many questions were asked. One of them is, many of my close friends are suicidal. What could I do to help my friends to get rid of this thought? And, they don’t want to do yoga.

Synopsis: There are times when you feel worn out. It might be because of the external pressure, or emotional trauma that we’re going through. Or because of the lack of inner strength. In such a situation, or such a circumstance, what do you think would help us get back our interest and enthusiasm in life?

Synopsis: I’m sure many of my friends will relate to this question. We find no purpose in what we’re studying. And we feel we’re studying just for the sake of marks. We feel, most of the time, we regret the decisions we have made. We feel trapped sitting inside the classroom. We want to go outside, explore the world, learn, and do a lot of things outside the classroom. But...

Synopsis: Taking forward the theme, Sadhguru, about the process inside and work outside. When we look around the country today, we see so many problems affecting our fellow Indians. Poverty, discrimination on the basis of religion and caste, and inequality. And of course, when I look inside myself also there are problems. I’m very far from having a good process, I’m definitely...

Synopsis: In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna advises us to keep putting in effort without being attached to the results. But, I find it incredibly hard to keep working and not obsess over the results. And, I would love to know how we can better practice putting in effort while being detached to the results.

Transcript: We must look at this. All life on this planet, anything that you take. A worm, an insect, a bird, an animal, a tree, or a human being. The only thing that every life is aspiring for is, it is trying to become a full-fledged life. An earthworm is trying to be a full-fledged earthworm. A grasshopper is trying to be a full-fledged grasshopper. A mango tree is trying to be a full-fledged mango tree. So...

Synopsis: Lord Rama, is revered and worshiped as one of the most sacred Hindu gods. A born prince and a heir to large empire, his life was not exactly a smooth easy going success story. What exactly are we worshiping when we bow down to him in respect? In this talk, Sadhguru explains what made Rama the great man that he was and what can we learn from him.

Transcript: The simplest and the most fundamental thing that you can do in your life is, that you're life always. You don't have to be in any particular way, you just have to be alive. Everything else, including the body and the mind, are accessories to life. Accessories are added to life to facilitate certain things, not to overshadow life. We add accessories to facilitate, to add on and enhance. Not to overshadow...

Transcript: What is a good student and what is a good guru or mentor? How would you define a really good student, bad student, good guru, bad guru? You have already claimed the mantle of being a good student. So I think I am free to claim the mantle of being a good guru. For a good student there is no problem. Wherever he goes, he will learn. Whatever he meets, he will learn. A good guru is one who doesn't teach...

Transcript: The most important thing, the most important aspect of my life is I never identified anything as small or big. Even today, I pay the same level of attention to everything. I have no, anything small or big. I have to kind of encapsulate that I can say this. You know, my daughter has been traveling with me since she was three and a half months of age. So that was a time when I was driving across India,...

Transcript: Essentially a long spell of peaceful, civilized life, a long spell. You must understand this. The reason why we got this long spell is, in the North, we were protected by the Himalayan ranges. In the South, by the Indian Ocean. So this is Himalaya, the Indian Ocean that we call today as Indian Ocean, at that time was called as Indusagara. This is why we took the identity, he and du. Hindu. Hindu is...

Transcript: You must understand, whatever stimulants, whatever stimulus you may take from outside, essentially human experience of all kinds is caused only from within. The question is only are you on push-start, or are you on self-start. Which is better, technologically? Self-start. So if I teach you, suppose I teach you that you can simply sit here and be totally blissed out, more stoned than anybody on the...

Transcript: This is a fantastic planet, has nurtured not one or two life forms, millions of life forms. The sheer variety of life of animals, birds, plants, insects and worms that we have on this planet is mind-boggling. Our ability to gobble up the resources on the planet is too much. We exploited the land, we exploited the oceans, our idea of life has become exploitation. From an atom to anything, we are seeing...

Transcript: People always kept account of money and things that they have. But, very few people kept accounts of how they are, or they're progressing, or regressing, or what is happening. People have taken on this mode, if small things go wrong in their life, they'll find one little person down there and say it's because of him. I'm talking about the husband. If big things go wrong, it's because of him, the big...

Transcript: Not every situation which seems like a solution is actually a solution. And not every situation which seems like a problem is a problem. So what is a problem? What is a possibility? It's like this, there was a little bird in Michigan, United States. And winter was just sitting in. This is the time he has to move South to warmer climes. But he was a little too happy and tweeting around, you know. He...

Transcript: Raise the bar of survival, keep on raising it. What was your idea of survival 25 years ago? What was your idea of survival 15 years ago? What is your idea of survival today? It's raising the bar, isn't it? Two meals a day was survival when you didn't have anything, if you have known such a state, it's good to know those things. But now maybe mercedes is survival. In every different segment of society,...

Transcript: There's common sense, there is sense and there's something beyond sense. With common sense your survival process gets handled. You don't have to be brilliant, you just have common sense. You will survive pretty good. You could turn out quite street smart actually. If somebody very intelligent is walking down the street, let's say Albert Einstein is walking down the street, a street urchin can easily...

Transcript: You must clearly evaluate in your life. How much of your life is happening from outside, around you? How much of it is just your psychological structure? This is something, distinctly, you must draw a line on this. What is, right now we're sitting here, what's happening here? What am I doing within myself? This distinct line, if you sit up what is happening in my mind? What is happening around me?...

Transcript: There is a very big difference between doing what I like and doing what is needed. When you start doing what is needed, there is no such thing as what is it that I like and what is it that I do not like. If you just transcend this one thing, that I like something, I dislike something. If you just transcend this one thing, 90% of your spiritual work is over. That's all. Because the karma generating...

Transcript: You know my great grandmother. People used to say, she's a devil of a woman. When I saw her, she was over 100 years of age. They called her a devil of a woman not because she ever did any harm to anybody, but she had a laugh. If she laughed, the entire street shook. Like that she laughed. She lived to be 113, 113 years of age. She was married into a very rich family, a big land-holding family. When...

Transcript: So in terms of dance, see, I must tell you this. We come from a culture where all our gods dance. Everywhere else god is a serious guy, a very serious guy. But in India, if he doesn't dance, we won't treat him as a god. All Indian gods, male and female, always dance because if they can't dance, he can't be god. Because dance essentially means that life is happening, see dancing in a particular style...

Transcript: See, Michael Jackson had the power to inspire a whole generation of people. What he did was so unique and eye-catching anywhere in the world. I'm telling you, in the remotest part of India, in some village where there is no nothing, they know Michael Jackson. I mean that's a level of inspiration he brought in. A whole lot of youth dancing like him in India. In imitation of him. So that was a powerful...

Transcript: Why are you trying to label a day as a bad day, or a good day? It is only human beings who, in their experience, they do these things to themselves. Why they do these things to themselves is, see today there was a glorious sunrise. Millions of flowers blossomed across the planet, so many wonderful things are happening, even the stars are twinkling right now, the moon is full today, everything is fantastic....

Transcript: Whether you're political, or spiritual, or you're in a commercial venture, or you're doing nothing, you're a citizen of this nation. You have rights and responsibilities of being in this country. Each person, according to his understanding of his rights and responsibility, and his intelligence and capability, should act to better everything around us, because we are all benefiting from the platform...

Transcript: Are your thinkings rooted in religion, meaning traditional Hindu practice, Shivaism or is it rooted in the practice you mention of yoga? Which is, of course, a practice which is secular but still related to traditional Indian thinking. I mean how will you describe your relationship to Indian traditional thinking and religion? See, for me, when people refer to me as a Sadhguru, what they are saying...

Transcript: The name India is given to us. It's an English name. This is the technology of dominance. You must see this, when they imported slaves from Africa, the first thing they did in the port was to change their name. To call you Cucu, Tobo, Nono, Pupo, something like this. If I call you Padmanaban, now you're standing like this. I call you Cucu, you're. First thing is to give a meaningless name which has...

Transcript: I'm trying to equate this to like, polarity. I mean we have, we have light and dark, we have hot and cold, do we have an evil and not evil if you will? Or a good and bad? See, good and bad is not in terms of your belief, or your idea. Anything that sustains and enhances life is what life should be looking for. See, don't look at yourself as a person, don't look at yourself as a man, don't look at yourself...

Transcript: People always thought, Charlie Chaplin was very funny. But, if you listen to his private talks and things like that, there was a deep sense of agony in him. He was especially sensitive to the agonies of life. Yes. What an artist. But, when you see him on the screen, he just made it just so ridiculously funny. Hilarious all the time. Everything, every step, every act, not just some act, just every step...

Transcript: Hey Sadhguru. My question is, so many times in society you are often told what should make you happy and in a way we are followers. I wanted to find out your opinion on what should make a person essentially happy. So what is it or what does it mean to be truly happy? Namaskaram Kagi. I was just telling them this is mango season in India and maybe in some parts of Africa also. Now when we go near a...

Transcript: There are only four things with you, right now, that you can make use of. Your body, your mind, your emotion, and your energy. If you manage these four things well, they will produce a certain level of life for you. If you have a healthy body, you will live in one way. If you have a very stable and sharp mind, you'll live another way. If you have stable and exuberant emotions, you'll live another way....

Transcript: If you look into your own mind. If you look at your own persona, of what you consider yourself to be. Normally what you call as a personality is essentially different levels of constipation. I don't like this, I can't stand this, I can't do this, I can't do that, I only like this, I cannot like that, different levels of constipation. What causes this constipation? Constipation, in its physiological...

Transcript: How can we explore every aspect of the life without being untouched and getting attached to all the compulsive activities? We say, I don't want to drink but somewhere we are afraid that we will be addicted to it. My question is how can we explore every aspect of life without being untouched? See, nobody says I want to drink. Some people drink, some people don't. Some people who drink may drink for...

Transcript: Whatever you do in your lives, I'm sure each one of you will go out and do so many different things. But whatever you do, is it very important? It is relevant to the world in which we are living. Hello? Is it very important, it's relevant. Suppose you set a goal today, in the next 25 years this is where I want to be. In those 25 years, the entire situation changed, but you're still going that way because...

Transcript: So, the Shambhavi. One thing that's happening is, it stimulates the pineal secretion in a big way. Which leaves you drenched in a certain level of sweetness throughout the day. It just leaves you in a certain state of ecstasy and blissfulness because the pineal gland is active. This is one aspect of your physiology which is very close to your consciousness. Rest of the physiology is about survival....

Transcript: So there are many reasons why one indulges in sex. For some, it is just pleasure. For some, it is a way of building this bond and companionship. Otherwise people feel they're going away from each other. They may be just fine, but lot of people, it is psyched in their mind that if they're not sexually involved, they're actually moving away. Not true. You can be very close to somebody and need not be...

Transcript: See, this is an unfortunate condition that a whole lot of human beings are, in their experience, in their personal experience, life is like me versus the universe. Being in competition with the universe is a stupid thing to do. That's not a competition you must get into. Hello? Me versus the universe is a bad competition to get into. Would you also agree with me? So, this is why yoga. Yoga does not...

Transcript: If you try to control the variety of situations that may pop up in your face tomorrow morning, all that'll happen is, you will become a very limited life. You would step out into the world and do whatever that needs to be done only if you have an assurance, no matter what you walk into, you will not lose yourself. You will walk full stride, otherwise you'll only be half a step. Most human beings are...

Transcript: It is time, one thing that you do, one thing that everybody who considers themselves some kind of sadhaka or a seeker. One thing that you must do to yourself is, you are absolutely truthful to yourself. If you're also truthful to everybody around you, you will get other kinds of benefits with people. But, I will not go that far right now. With yourself, you're 100% truthful. Otherwise all kinds of...

Transcript: Astrology. What is it that you're trying to do? You're trying to look at the positions of the planet and make certain predictions, right? I want you to understand. Most of the time, people who make good predictions, or people who, you know, tell you about the past very clearly, or some people tell you tomorrow what's going to happen very clearly, they're not doing it looking at the planets. They're...

Transcript: It's time to understand, all the problems of individual nature are generated from within. And we don't have to solve problems that we create. We just have to dissolve. Problems that you create, you don't have to solve. If there's a problem in the situation then yes, we have to solve. But you have a problem within you, solution is not what you need. Solution is madness. Solution means, for an illusion...

Transcript: See somebody can betray you or you can think they betrayed you. Only because you have unrealistic expectations of them. Well, if they do what they want to do, why do you think they have betrayed you? They're doing what they want to do. You must respect it. If you say, they're beloved to me, I love them. If you love a person, should you let them do what they want to do or should they do what you want...

Synopsis: So Sadhguru, a lot of our students take leadership roles at school. A lot of them are just good friends, and are part of families where problems do exist. And they take the caretaker role a lot. So, what they’ve asked is, how do you take care of yourself when you are usually the one taking care of others?

Transcript: So one thing that all of you should do, before you make big decisions in your life, is withdraw from this pressures of peers, professors, parents, everybody. Just spend three days to one week by yourself. Look at it, what is it that you really want to do. Not under pressure from other people. What does this life want to do. Do that. It doesn't matter what other people think about it. When it comes...

Transcript: Vairagya means. It is not, Vairagya does not mean giving up your life and going somewhere. There's nowhere to go, unless you go with that guy, outer space. They're going to send you out with a one-way ticket I believe. Otherwise, where is there to go? Wherever you go, it's still life, isn't it? So, Vairagya means this. Literally means, Vairagya means beyond colour. That means you become transparent....

Transcript: The walls that you build for self-preservation are also the walls of self-imprisonment. If you build a wall to protect yourself today, after some time, this is your prison. Isn't it? I've been always encouraging people to say, yes and yes, for everything. Yes or no, if I ask. People around me always say, "Sadhguru, it's always yes. Tell us what." So for you to say an absolute yes to everything, one...

Synopsis: This is a concern we all have. How to achieve balance between spirituality and life? Will being spiritual take me away from life as I know it? Isn't spirituality something I should work towards once I have taken care of my social and material responsibilities? Sadhguru reveals that our top priority should be about enhancing ourselves - our inner nature. Every step we take should be for our inner growth....

Transcript: If we had come here as any other creature on this planet, life would be very simple. Eating, sleeping, reproducing, and dying one day. Now we have to do all those things but somehow where you are right now, wherever you may be, is not enough. Isn't it? You want to be little more than what you're right now. If you know only money, maybe you're thinking of little more money. If you know only pleasure,...

Transcript: It depends how you describe simple life. If you think being a simpleton is simple life, I don't recommend that. But simple life, generally meant that the arrangements that you make around your life are simple. So that it doesn't entangle you, it only supports you. A spider webs a web for other things to be caught. But if you're that kind of a spider, you build a web in which you're caught, you're a...

Transcript: You're creating such a level of conflict within yourself for every simple thing. That you think you could always be doing something wrong, something wrong, something wrong. Well, joyfully do something wrong. It's okay. Hello? Nobody knows really whether they're doing the right thing or the wrong thing. Do they know for 100%? No. So don't bother yourself too much about is this right, is this wrong....

Synopsis: During a Youth & Truth event at Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University in the US, a student asks Sadhguru - "One question on Karma - Can good karma cancel our bad karma? Is our life predestined, or can we change it by Karma? And, what is good karma?" Sadhguru explains what Karma really means. He says, this is not about 'good karma', or 'bad karma', what is important is that how much of your...

Transcript: Money is just a process. But, a whole lot of people are beginning to think that money is a goal by itself. Money is not a goal, I want you to remember. It is only a process. It's an enabling process. If you want to buy food, you need money. If you want to buy comfort, you need money. But now, you're trying to buy a life with money. You will not succeed for sure. It doesn't matter, whether you have...

Synopsis: In this talk Sadhguru tells us that "it is very simple, whatever the nature of your experience is, it happening from within you". If your experience is happening from within you, then it is very natural for a human being to see how to make it most pleasant experience for themselves. Once you take charge, you will make sure that you make the most pleasant experience for yourself.

Synopsis: Sadhguru says, that every situation in your life, either you can use it to learn and become stronger or you can cry over it. Irrespective of what happens in your life, even if it is a horrific situation, you can use it for your growth. This can happen only if you understand the true purpose of your life. So, every situation is a stepping stone for a larger possibility. If you look at life this way,...

Synopsis: Sadhguru says - "You would step out into the world, and do whatever needs to be done, only if you have an assurance that no matter what you walk into, you will not lose yourself. You will walk full stride, otherwise you will only be half a step. Most human beings are half a step, because of fear of suffering". Once you are well managed within yourself, once your thoughts and emotions are well managed...

Transcript: So, just loosen up your life a little bit, laugh a little more, involve yourself with people around you. Do things that you think is not so important. Don't do things which are very important. Do simple things, very important that you do simple things. Very important things you are doing in your life, you will become dead serious. You know Bertrand Russel, an Englishman. Bertrand Russel said, if you...

Transcript: I want you to observe your day to day life. A simple thing. Just let's say how many, how many words do you utter in a day? You never counted? Oh, you should. You should. Just make an estimate tomorrow. From morning to night, how many words do you utter? Day after tomorrow cut it by 50% and say the same things. You're not cutting off communication with people, you're still communicating but with 50%...

Transcript: This was in 1939. And this family, a Jewish family in Germany or Austria probably, was taken away. First they took away the parents and they took away the children separately. And this girl, who is 13 years of age at that time, and her brother, who is 8 years of age, were brought to the railway station along with a lots of other kids. Parents were taken away somewhere, to some labour camp or something....

Transcript: We need to understand this. We are experiencing life the way we are experiencing not because that's how life is, because that's how we are. Our experience of life is essentially determined by us, not by what's happening around us. There are situations in the world, family, work, street, many things. Nation, world, all kinds of situations. Whatever happens in the outside situation has a certain amount...

Transcript: Today, just to take very affluent societies because every society is aspiring to be like that. Let's say you take United States, which is the most affluent nation on the planet right now. 70% of US population is on prescription medication. Another 30%, of course, buying it off the back streets. Most affluent nation. Obviously affluence is not working. To be healthful, you need chemicals. To be joyful,...

Transcript: So what is it? Okay, so for all of us, how do we live our days? What is the best way to just go about it? Give us in clear simple, simple sentences, do this and you will be at least on the way to being blissful or happy or aware or living in a nice conscious way. Do not take this for granted. If you wake up in the morning, tomorrow if you wake up in the morning. No, this is not my wish. But I want...

Transcript: You heard of Lao Tzu? Lao Tzu? Lao Tzu is a celebrated Zen master today. Even then, he gathered a certain number of disciples around him. It is part of the Zen tradition, that when the master, or the Guru is dying, people gather around for a final message. So at the age of 83 or 84, he was passing. So people gathered around him and asked him, 'Master, what is the secret of your joy?' You know, he faced...

Transcript: What is well being? When do you really feel well in your life? When do you truly feel well? When you're very happy, you're well. Even if you are physically ill, you are still well, isn't it? Even if you are medically diagnosed as ill, you are very happy right now. You are feeling well, isn't it? So fundamentally well being means a certain level of joyfulness. Certain exuberance of life. What is happiness?...

Transcript: A young woman went to a doctor. And said, oh doctor, my body is hurting all over. Just everything in my body is hurting. The doctor looked at her, she looked quite young and healthy. He said, that looks strange. Every part in you body is hurting? Show me what's happening. She said, just look at this doctor and she just touched her right knee. 'Aaah!' she screamed. Then she touched her left elbow. 'Aaah!'...