Synopsis: So can you please share your insights on how business leaders should act on social welfare?  

Synopsis: I just want to ask, that there are goals that I want to achieve, and I also know that there are certain things I shouldn’t do that will hinder my progress. So I’m trying to find methods of accountability for myself where I can push myself and get that. As you said that we all are trying to win in some ways, but I’m not able to figure out methods of accountability...

Synopsis: I have a question. What do you think is more important to the youth, being right and staying with their point, or staying with the point, knowing that they’re wrong? But admitting that they’re wrong, they would be doubting themselves.  

Synopsis: Sadhguru, my question is, I have seen youngsters. They are addicted to drugs or alcohol. They smoke. And I have even heard one of my friends saying, if I recollect correctly, that even Lord Shiva used to consume substance. And they take it as an excuse. And they imitate it, saying that even Shiva used to do it, why should we not imitate it? So that excuse that few of...

Synopsis: I want to ask you one thing. What makes us a human being? You said we can get stoned whenever we want to. So what makes us a human being?  

Synopsis: I just wanted to ask. So if you’re not goal-oriented, I feel that you push your goal too. What do you have to say about this?  

Synopsis: I talk a lot about mental health with the youth. It is a word that more and more, I become uncomfortable saying. Because when you say mental health, you’re already separating the other holistic health to one that focuses only on the mind. Right? And when I talk about mental health, for me it’s body health, it’s spiritual health, and it’s not only the mind. I...

Synopsis: Hello Sadhguru. I wanted to know, what is the one major difference you see between the youth of your time and the youth of this generation? What’s one major difference? And what’s one quality you would want of that youth to be imbibed in this generation?  

Synopsis: But is it true that if anything goes wrong with your bike or car, you’ll not let anyone touch it? And you will make sure it’s okay by yourself?  

Synopsis: But Sadhguru, I really want to know, what do you do to unwind?  

Synopsis: I wanted to ask you one thing. As young entertainers, as you know we all have youtube channels and there are millions of people following us. Do you think there’s some sort of responsibility on us? Like, how to go about it? Or we should just do what we like to do?  

Synopsis: Also speaking of schooling, and parents, and careers. Right now, we’re in an age where there’s so many different offbeat careers coming up. As youtubers, we get this question all the time. You know, how did you talk to your parents about it? How do we convince our parents about this really new career that we have? I would ask you. If you had to convince your parents...

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Synopsis: So if there’s no adrenaline when you’re driving fast, or riding fast, what’s the main purpose of going fast? As a human being, we do things like, swimming, jumping, climbing, because we love the drug which is being produced inside our head. What is the whole purpose of going fast?  

Synopsis: You’ve said that, you know, death is going to come. Is that the thought you have when you are speeding in a car? When you are being the rider that you are, standing on the bike and you’re going through smokeland, hilly, dangerous regions.  

Synopsis: Does one get less creative as they age? And if yes, why?  

Synopsis: I’m going to jump right into it. You know when you're this age, when you’re in college. When you’re just out of school, you’re in college, you’re under 25. Every little thing that goes wrong in life, feels like the end of the world. For example, a heartbreak. Breakups are bad, right guys?   Breakups are tough. Failing in exams, fighting with your family, getting...

Synopsis: How do we counter-balance the power of social structures put on by popular culture? It feels like it sometimes holds youth in ignorance and has them carry out a sweet perception of self-worth. And can also lead people to destructive behaviours, drugs, and alcohol, because it’s ‘cool’. This is the most common thing amongst us young people. Marijuana, alcohol, bad...

Synopsis: So my question is, that we learn that we are sophisticated machinery and that we must learn how sophisticated machinery works. But how do we approach that? How do we go about learning how this sophisticated machinery works?  

Synopsis: With respect to inter-personal promises and intra-personal promises, seeing that there are two types of promises that we make; to others and to ourselves. How do we balance both of those? Specially, considering, sometimes we have to keep the inter-personal promises at the cost of your intra-personal promises.  

Synopsis: So I’ve been watching your videos for quite some time. And, you know, you’ve made an interesting comment, that when you think of god, most people think of him as an old man sitting up there with a big beard. So my question was, I was curious to understand what in your definition would be god?  

Synopsis: I always thought that in order to be spiritual and liberated, you need to find yourself a guru. And in the process of doing so, I’ve traveled to Nepal and India looking for a guru. I’ve read an article that you published online where you said that, how do you know when you find your guru. And you’ve mentioned that if you meet someone who almost threatens you and...

Synopsis: My question is why do we do pooja? Or, any kind of ritual in our Hindu religion?  

Synopsis: When we’re all in this journey of life, we tend to set a lot of short-term goals. And when we don’t achieve them, we don’t know how to deal with failure. And that is something we deal with a lot at UofT in specific. But, in that moment when we can look back and say, ya this is fine. But in that moment, how do we hold our ground and how do we learn to see the bigger...

Synopsis: So, I’m a diaspora, I’m Canadian born, my family is from Tanzania but originally from Gujarat. So I’ve always struggled to identify who I am in the Canadian context. So when I went to school, I had to eat my lunch. So I would take my butter chicken and go on the side because I didn’t want my white friends to smell my food. But when I was with my family at a mosque,...

Synopsis: So, love is like a universal topic. It’s in movies, songs, it seems like such a basic component of life. Yet, it’s really hard for us to define it. Really hard for us to truly know when we’re in love, to truly know if it’s the right kind of love. If it actually is love. If it’s just infatuation. If you feel really strongly, it must be love, because you can’t...

Synopsis: So Sadhguru, going back to what you were saying, that we need to be part of the solution. And going back to what Daniel was saying that mental health is such a problem here. At UofT we are constantly challenged by new ideas, by some of the great minds in the world. And in such a competitive environment, which I sometimes describe as a rollercoaster ride we got onto knowingly...

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?  

Synopsis: Nobody goes through life unscared. Everybody has had a past experience with a person or a situation that left a permanent scar on them. Such that, whenever we are reminded of this, the sadness, or loneliness, or pain associated with the memory comes back regardless of how much time has passed. Is there truly a way for us to move on from things that have hurt us in the...

Synopsis: What worries you the most about the youth of tomorrow?  

Synopsis: My question is actually also about identity. You’ve spoken about the need or benefit of detaching from a biological identity. And I’m curious, I think there’s a lot of people in the room and this question came up again and again. If somebody wants to act positively in society, there’s an instinct to start from the biological community, from the people that you...

Synopsis: What advice would you give someone with healing gifts? Someone who can help people create miracles in their lives to grow in service to the world.  

Synopsis: My question is about this idea of a cosmic or global identity. I think it’s no secret that many of us here, no matter where we came from before this, we now have a certain level of privilege studying in a place like Columbia. And I think, I’m confused as to whether this notion of a global or a cosmic identity almost is predicated on a sense of privilege. And that...

Synopsis: There’s so much suffering in the world. Like when I travel on work, or otherwise, one observes that on one hand there is lack of basic peace, or there is so much violence. And on the other hand, there is even a lack of basic resources and abject poverty. So I would be curious to hear your perspective on, why does every single person have such different starting points...

Synopsis: Changing here slightly, I have a question submitted by the prolific anonymous. How do you, Sadhguru, decide between your principles/ goals/ priorities versus the person you like the most? The goals and principles both come from the same mind/ heart. And our anonymous used the word like but we can also use love in there too. But I guess the question is, how do you reconcile...

Synopsis: On the note of what we’re consuming and what we’re putting in our bodies, one of the things that I would like to know the truth about is the increase in addiction. I would say, in the US, is the length that I’m looking at. It’s something that has personally touched a lot of the loved ones in my family and friends. And I see it as a growing trend amongst my generation...

Synopsis: You cook yourself. I believe Isha has also published a cookbook. Can you talk a little bit about food from the yogic diet perspective? Or what are things that we should be actively doing on a daily basis when it comes to food? What are tenants of the diet that we should be looking at? And, if you have a favourite recipe.  

Synopsis: So, I understand, you know, the pursuit of freedom and justice. But oftentimes what I’ve dealt with in regards to religion, I grew up Catholic, I’m Catholic, is it’s view and limited acceptance of the lgbtq community. And the fact that I am lgbtq, and just trying to understand how I fit in. And oftentimes I was not accepted. It depended on how progressive a church...

Synopsis: What role can we play, when people aren’t as enlightened as the people in this room? We can’t really make the same connections as you because we do agency. Right, we are people that want to make a difference and are willing to kind of have the courage to, I guess, have compassion or pity, depending on the mood we’re in. How do we do this? Because that’s something...

Synopsis: Politics. In America we’re more and more divided than before and quite polarised. For me, this is something that troubles me. As someone who has some less than popular opinion sometimes, I’m conscious of how I’m received. Because of people who are passionate about these identities. How can I and others that share, I guess, my desire to bring people together in...

Synopsis: So, on the note of purpose, one thing that I think that I’m constantly chasing is, and I would say I don’t know when I’ve reached it, the pursuit of happiness. I think everyone in this room at some point, maybe now you’re asking yourself, or if you ask yourself like have you reached your pursuit of happiness in kind of understanding why it can be elusive? For...

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: My question is, why do people lie all the time?  

Synopsis: My question to you is, since I’ve come here, I’ve had to explain my way of upbringing, my culture, or the way I do certain things. And, you have said, Adiyogi is not light, he’s darkness. Darkness is something which is associated with evil in certain cultures. I understood when you said Adiyogi is darkness, not light. But when I’m explaining it to my friend,...

Synopsis: My question is about India. India currently is a shining star on the global map, its economy is thriving, people are flourishing. All things are great, and going good. And in the last four and a half years, we’ve seen a serious government which is taking us into this development path. But my question is about this gruesome, you know, horrible act that happened yesterday...

Synopsis: Since this auditorium is filled with Indian expats. So one of the questions we wanted to ask was how do you recommend that we, the Indian youth here in the US, start thinking about contributing back to India while they are living their American dream. Because these two pursuits are very diverse, they might not coincide.   

Synopsis: The question has to be asked. That, okay, I don’t have to have passion at this moment, or any ambition. I just want to live my life at its fullest. Full on happiness, joyful, and I just want to live at the fullest of my potential. How can I do it? What’s the step for it?  

Synopsis: How does one truly find their values, and then eventually stick by their values? Or should they even be sticking by those values that they find throughout their life?  

Synopsis: So in working towards our ambitions, we sometimes forget to enjoy the present, experience life as it is. And we strive towards making a beautiful future. Now how do you recommend that we think about balancing the two? That is, enjoying the present versus working towards a future.  

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: I tend to follow the same thing, that you mentioned that the education system needs to be changed. So on the same note, that the education system needs to be changed. It’s more to say that learning and adapting, it’s anyone’s life’s integral part. You need to adapt with how it’s happening around you. Also, Charlie Munger said that human being needs to be a...

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Synopsis: I would like to know your opinion on present day art. Like, the modern art, the films, the videos. And its influence on the present day generation.   

Synopsis: How to learn to accept the truth? Because most of the time, truth is bitter and it is a hard path. So I always tend to make few adjustments and assumptions, which will make my life little easy, but I’m far from the truth. So how do I start learning to accept the truth?  

Synopsis: There’s always the right or wrong decision. Whether the decision is right or wrong, is only eventually realized. How will I know if I’m taking the right decision or wrong decision?  

Synopsis: How do I see or understand Adiyogi as a swayambhu, which is self born, and aja, as unborn, since both are contradictory. Also, he’s referred to as limitless, and nothingness. So can you please state your opinion?  

Synopsis: What is the right age to have a boyfriend or a girlfriend?  

Synopsis: Is it alright to be ordinary? Or should I be special in something?   

Synopsis: Human body is made up of an unimaginable number of atoms, particles, and molecules. And, even the mind is really very complicated. With these two complicated instruments, how is one expected to live a simple life?

Synopsis: Speaking about how it is very important to realize about life and death. So, because I did not decide to be born. A lot of us, we did not decide to be born. But certain countries have taken up this issue of euthanasia very seriously. And they have legalized this, pulling off the plug. So do...

Synopsis: Sadhguru, a lot of us youth, how do we make time for it? How do we make time to do sadhana? Because, we’re so tied up. We probably stay up a little late completing projects and assignments. Not just the youth, a lot of the seniors also. They probably stay up till 12 O’clock, 1 O’clock and then wake up again by 6 O’clock in the morning, and then rush to their...

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: I often find myself in a situation where I’m not happy with myself. I compare my abilities, achievements, and even my appearance, with that of others. Also, I think since I’m a humanities student, people around me constantly compare me with my other friends who have taken up medicine or engineering. And that really puts me off. And I think that’s one reason for...

Synopsis: I, being a law student, give a lot of importance to the rights that I possess. Which is, basically the fundamental rights, that’s what we’re talking about here. So I think I should probably be allowed to sleep during classes because that comes under Article 21, right to life and liberty. But, I also have a sense of responsibility, that I should stay awake and focus...

Synopsis: I just wanted to ask you about how we can contribute back to society and give back? Because everyone keeps talking about contributing and contributing, but it’s really hard for each person to come up. I just want to hear your thoughts on that. 

Synopsis: Sadhguru, you speak so logically and it makes sense to me. But at the same time, you’re celebrating the religious festival of Mahashivaratri in a grand way at the Isha Yoga Centre. For a young person like me, these religious festivals seem like outdated rituals. So I want to know what is the relevance of Mahashivaratri to the youth? 

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Synopsis: I personally feel, Sadhguru, that there’s this phenomenon of castration anxiety in India. Castration anxiety, something related to male ego. We see that this male ego has been somewhere hidden behind rapes that happen, sexual harassment that happens. A lot of gender disparity. I wouldn’t say this is the only reason, but somewhere hidden behind. And we never address...

Synopsis: For a woman who chooses not to be a mother. So she has chosen you as an advocate for her case. And you have to fight the case. What are the arguments that you would give for a woman who doesn’t want to bear a child?

Synopsis: So, can good karma cancel out bad karma? And is our life predestined or can we change it by karma? And what is good karma?

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.

Synopsis: My question today is, in the world that we live in today, there exists a multitude of paths to traverse, both, spiritually and religiously. For instance, in Hinduism, there is both, Veda and Vedanta. I can make a conscious choice as to what I would like to take up. But I’m confused. As a millennial I’m really doubting if a ritualistic approach is relevant today....

Synopsis: I am interested in, or I learn, Carnatic music in my pass time. Around the same time, last year, 2013, there was a controversy that broke out about four Carnatic musicians, famous ones, who sang kritis, which were not related to Hinduism or Jesus Christ. The common folk believe that Carnatic music is sacred of Hindu origin and should remain so. My question is, is Carnatic...

Synopsis: You said in one of your speeches that Shiva entered your life and enslaved you. Why did it happen to you? Why not others? The consciousness of the truth that you have, that is because of the seeking that you did. But this thing, why did it happen?

Synopsis: So I had finished my inner engineering program three years back, through Isha. So I felt really blissful, I’ll be very honest. So I just wanted to ask you this question that many decades back, when you were pursuing the path, the philosophical path to find the solution, were you not even a little scared that you might have gone wrong?

Synopsis: Shouldn’t this be the government’s job? Why should I pay 42 rupees when I already pay taxes? I don’t even live near Chennai. 

Synopsis: So Sadhguru, speaking of Chennai and change. All of us here are undergoing one of the biggest changes in our lives. Because up until now, we haven’t really faced the shortage of a basic necessity, that is like, water, or food, or shelter. But now Chennai is facing one of the biggest water crises, I think in history. Where they predict in 10 years the city’s going...

Synopsis: I consider myself very against littering. So what I do is, I generally take all my trash and I put it in my bag. At the end of the day I go to the trash can and I dump it there. And it hurts me when I see someone else littering. In this case, I’m taking a selfless effort to make the world a better place. And that effort is made worthless because of one selfish person....

Synopsis: It feels like at every point in human history, for society, there’s always been this one challenge or one recurring. For instance, for most of human history, a society’s main issue would have been to protect itself from outsiders. In my opinion, right now, humanity’s or society’s issue is climate change or nuclear war. So, it feels like solving this has been...

Synopsis: A significant population in our world identifies as religious. And they do so for a number of reasons. Some of them say it is for peace, or a way of life, or some direction. And they bring up their children with religion. They sort of imbibe values and principles using religion as a channel. But on the other hand, we have some people whose values are so deeply entrenched...

Synopsis: So Sadhguru, going back to what you were saying, that we need to be part of the solution. And going back to what Daniel was saying that mental health is such a problem here. At UofT we are constantly challenged by new ideas, by some of the great minds in the world. And in such a competitive environment, which I sometimes describe as a rollercoaster ride we got onto knowingly...

Synopsis: So, love is like a universal topic. It’s in movies, songs, it seems like such a basic component of life. Yet, it’s really hard for us to define it. Really hard for us to truly know when we’re in love, to truly know if it’s the right kind of love. If it actually is love. If it’s just infatuation. If you feel really strongly, it must be love, because you can’t...

Synopsis: So, I’m a diaspora, I’m Canadian born, my family is from Tanzania but originally from Gujarat. So I’ve always struggled to identify who I am in the Canadian context. So when I went to school, I had to eat my lunch. So I would take my butter chicken and go on the side because I didn’t want my white friends to smell my food. But when I was with my family at a mosque,...

Synopsis: When we’re all in this journey of life, we tend to set a lot of short-term goals. And when we don’t achieve them, we don’t know how to deal with failure. And that is something we deal with a lot at UofT in specific. But, in that moment when we can look back and say, ya this is fine. But in that moment, how do we hold our ground and how do we learn to see the bigger...

Synopsis: My question is why do we do pooja? Or, any kind of ritual in our Hindu religion?

Synopsis: I always thought that in order to be spiritual and liberated, you need to find yourself a guru. And in the process of doing so, I’ve travelled to Nepal and India looking for a guru. I’ve read an article that you published online where you said that, how do you know when you find your guru. And you’ve mentioned that if you meet someone who almost threatens you and...

Synopsis: So I’ve been watching your videos for quite some time. And, you know, you’ve made an interesting comment, that when you think of god, most people think of him as an old man sitting up there with a big beard. So my question was, I was curious to understand what in your definition would be god?

Synopsis: With respect to inter-personal promises and intra-personal promises, seeing that there are two types of promises that we make; to others and to ourselves. How do we balance both of those? Specially, considering, sometimes we have to keep the inter-personal promises at the cost of your intra-personal promises. 

Synopsis: So my question is, that we learn that we are sophisticated machinery and that we must learn how sophisticated machinery works. But how do we approach that? How do we go about learning how this sophisticated machinery works?

Synopsis: How do we counter-balance the power of social structures put on by popular culture? It feels like it sometimes holds youth in ignorance and has them carry out a sweet perception of self-worth. And can also lead people to destructive behaviours, drugs, and alcohol, because it’s ‘cool’. This is the most common thing amongst us young people. Marijuana, alcohol, bad...