So, “Sadhguru, the year is coming to a close. What should I plan for my next year?” I would like you to think – see, there isn’t a great advantage in what I’m going to say now, you will live very long. That is, I would like you to consider 24 hours as one year. Hello? In great celebration you go to sleep today, every day, because you treat every day as a year. It’s a cycle of time.
I’m sure, probably, I don’t know, ants, earthworms, or some other, maybe even the Corona guy, so, whatever this virus, probably it’s counting 24 hours as a year. Many other life forms may be experiencing life like this. Like people say for a dog, a dog’s one year is 10 years for a human being, or 10 years for a human being is one year for a dog, whatever calculations we have. So, I would like you to count every day as one year. Big celebration!
Why is it a new day, as important as a new year? That’s all I’m trying to ask you. Why is a new day, which starts in a most glorious way all over the world, spectacular sunrises happen. Well, very few people have seen, others are watching on their phone screens. It rises any time you want on the phone screen, that’s the advantage of that. So, when such a spectacular event is happening every day in the morning, why is it not a new beginning?
Every day is a new beginning. “Sadhguru, you’re spoiling, we are planning a celebration, you are spoiling it, Sadhguru!” No! I’m saying, even 1st of January is the same thing. It is also worthy of celebration, but I’m saying every day it begins in such a grand way, it is worthy of celebration – only problem is, your mental cycles have gotten into this phase that it needs a whole lot of support and preparation, and a lot of things.
This happened. Shankaran Pillai had attended a satsang like this, and he took this seriously, and every day in the evening, he was at the bar, drinking away. And every day he was late to his work. And the boss was just about to fire him. He was done with him, he told him any number of times, but he always came an hour, an hour and a half late. And then, he had a friend who also was his bar colleague. No, when you do something so regularly, he becomes your colleague, otherwise he may be just your buddy, okay?
But that guy was going to the office bang on time. So, Shankaran Pillai said, “How do you manage this? Both of us go home at the same time, both of us drink about the same quantities, but you are always at the office on time.” So, the friend said, “What I do is – see, normally, we are going home by 12 o’clock, I sleep immediately. At 2 o’clock in the morning I wake up and have another shot of whiskey, I sleep. At 4 o’clock I wake up and have another 2 shots of whiskey. And then I wake up at 8 o’clock and I’m 9 o’clock in the office.”
Shankaran Pillai thought, “Let me also try it.” And he went and tried the same thing. And to his amazement he woke up at 8:30, and he rushed to the office. He made it just before 9:30. The boss was furious. He said, “This is it! You’re done, you’re fired!” He said, “Why? Every day I was coming an hour, an hour and a half late, today I’m only 27 minutes late!” “What do you mean 27 minutes? Where were you on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday?”
So, where were you on all these 364 days? And suddenly you’re in a celebration mode. Everybody should ask this question to themselves – why is it that you were not celebrating these 364 days, only one day you’re trying to celebrate? I’m not trying to say you never were happy, you never were joyful this year, but I’m saying it’s extremely important, because – the nature of life is, it is rolling away, that’s what a new year means. That is, it is not stopping for you. Whether you are locked up in the house, or you are locked up in the office, or you were in the gutter, it doesn’t matter, time is rolling away. Time is rolling away means, life is rolling away.
So, when this is the nature of life, that time is a ceaseless mill going on, there is a different way to approach time. The most important thing is that a human being has to learn to be still. “So, if I don’t do anything, will it be useful?” You need to really examine – this whole year, have you been busy, or have you been preoccupied? You think if your RPM in the head increases, you are busy? No, you are not busy, you become inefficient.
To generate one sensible thought, you are generating 10,000 thoughts – that is inefficiency! One thought that you need to act, that’s all you need. Why do you need 10,000 thoughts to arrive at that, if at all, if you ever arrive at that? So, this inefficiency, do not call it busy. This is just preoccupation. This preoccupation has become a global phenomena now, because people do not know how to sit, how to breathe, how to hold themselves up, because nowhere in the education system it is there.
They told you if you eat protein, vitamin, this, this, this, you will be fine, everything will be okay. You will survive, of course. But if you want to realize the potential of what it means to be human, if you want to unfold your humanity, if you want to unfold your genius, all you need is a space where the outside doesn’t really enter. You need a space within you, where just this [self] is there. The world is around you. Actually, the world is only around you, it is not inside of you. But for most human beings it is inside. They close their eyes, it will drive them crazy from inside. So, this is because nothing has been done, no work has been done on such a phenomena of a machine. The most sophisticated technology on the planet is this one. Nothing has been done, even to find the levers, or – can’t even say a keyboard anymore – touch screen. What does what? Mhmm. Somehow!
So, in trying to fix the world for our comfort, we are coming to a point where we are destroying the very source of our existence. It is far more dire than people think it is right now. We may be directly involved, we may not be directly involved, but we are 100% responsible for everything that every human being does in this world, and everything that is happening and not happening, because this is what consciousness means. This is what becoming a human being means, because every other creature is structured in a way that it is defined as to what it is.
The only undefined life on this planet is the human being. And this is what a whole lot of human beings are suffering. They would like a definition – this is why they attach themselves to a philosophy, an ideology, a religion, a belief system, because they are trying to put themselves into a definition. But the greatest beauty of being human is, this life is not defined. It is not defined means it’s free, that’s what it means! But freedom is a scary thing. You would like to be among the 4 walls because freedom looks like, scary. But that’s what you always try for, unknowingly. When it comes, you are afraid. This is something to be addressed.
This coming year I hope every one of you will address this fundamental aspect – are you living to be free, to be liberated, or are you living just to establish more and more bondage in your life? So, at a time like this, or at any time for that matter, an intelligent human being will make use of every situation for his or her growth. A fool will make every situation turn against themselves and cause pain to themselves and to everybody around them.
This is all there is to life – is your brains working for life, or against life? So, if you lived a year full of foolishness, and suddenly tomorrow morning with resolution you will come awake, no. One has to strive. But at the same time, a human being can make up their mind – you’re going this [left] way, you can make up your mind, turn around, and go this way [right]. You have the ability to do this. I’m telling you, you are the only one who has the ability to do it upon this planet as a human being. All other creatures are ruled by pre-existing definitions within themselves, they can only do that which they are programmed for.
This [self] is the only one which is largely un-programmed, so you can make up your mind. You can make a conscious decision, as to how I will be. This is not a small privilege. This is the highest privilege and freedom that has been entrusted upon life, upon this planet. Let’s make it happen.
