I see this happening everyday. Well, in the world in a big way – but even among our own people – a whole lot of people, not a small percentage, a large percentage of people. They will do something – something has to be done, let’s say, some task. It doesn’t happen. When it doesn’t happen, the initial instinct is, it’s because of ‘her’ [pointing to someone] it didn’t happen, it’s because of ‘him’ [pointing to someone] it didn’t happen. But we have largely cured that for our people. That they can’t point fingers at anybody.
You will see a whole lot of people will look for some metaphysical reason, as to why it did not happen. [Speaking in Tamil…] Essentially, they are blaming me – Sadhguru, your grace is not working!
From day 1, from day 1 of Inner Engineering, even from the free introductory, only one thing that we have been trying to nail into your head is – if something is not working, obviously it’s not done well. Hello? Yes. Something is not done well. Maybe you’re not able to figure it right now, that’s not the point. But, something is not working. Something did not work the way it should. We obviously did not do something right. But people look for metaphysical solutions.
For a whole lot of people this is what mysticism means. Simple things in their lives, they complicate and that’s mystical! No…no.. mysticism means, the most mystical things that you can not perceive through your five senses, or your fundamental logic that you have – to make that available, in a reasonably logical way – this is mysticism. But to make simple things unavailable and metaphysical is not mysticism of any kind.
If everything that you try to do is becoming frictious, friction is happening – obviously you’re the sandpaper
So you must understand this. If everything that you try to do is becoming frictious, friction is happening – obviously you’re the sandpaper. You know what’s a sandpaper? I’ll ask them to provide you a sandpaper, a small piece. Everyday whenever you have friction with somebody, just scrape your skin somewhere. So if you don’t cure yourself quickly, you won’t have any skin left. When you don’t have any skin left, then you will not touch anything. You will not create, you will not look for any friction.
You will walk in… suppose you had no skin, how do you walk? Even a little feather won’t touch you, like that you will walk, isn’t it? Because everything hurts now. So, if you want that kind of treatment, we can do. Otherwise, first come to your senses. Friction is happening means, wherever you go friction is happening – obviously it’s you.
One simple thing you can do to reduce friction is… how many words per minute are you uttering? Bring it down to 50%
One simple thing you can do to reduce friction is, I’ve told you many times but you’ve not done this is – whatever you’re saying in a day, or in an hour, or in a minute – how many words per minute are you uttering? Bring it down to 50%. Still do the same work. You will see a whole lot of friction will go down simply because you’re not blabbering. Yes! And, we’ve been trying to train you, whatever you see – whether you see a man, woman, child, cow, donkey, donkey also – you do [bow down in namaskar]. No [walking with a swagger]. How will friction not happen? It will happen.
So, only when Sadhguru is here like this [bowing down], rest of the time like this [walking with a swagger] – it won’t work! Bring this into you [bowing down]. Not just as a symbolism, genuinely.
So, friction – is of two kinds. One within ourselves. Outside is just an expression, and a consequence. SO, this whole thing about Inner Engineering means just this – that when you sit here, you can sit here without any friction. If you can sit here without any friction, outside friction also will go down.
But when you meet a sandpaper, there must be some friction. There are sandpapers, hello! So, when you meet a sandpaper, there must be friction. Otherwise, how – there will be. So, generally we avoid sandpaper if we can. But, sometimes we have to work with them. When we have to work with a sandpaper, you need tact. This is something you have to learn. This will not come. This not something spiritual about it. This is… tact in the society. Sometimes it doesn’t work. But it’s a question of skill.
Some people who are not spiritual in any way, they are very tactful, when they meet sandpapers. You will see – these kind of agents and others, who are working in government offices, and in political atmospheres – they are so smooth. It doesn’t matter how rough the other person is. These people just…[find there way]. They will just get their job done, and leave.
So, working with sandpaper, takes a little bit of skill and experience. Nothing spiritual about it, it’s a social skill. But, generally in the ashram, there are very few sandpapers. Once in a way, people pop up sand on them, but they drop it, you know. They don’t keep it all the time. Sometimes, sometimes they are like that. They are not like that all the time. So, when they are like that, when the porcupine has it’s thing up, you must just keep away, a bit. When it’s down, you can talk to it. It doesn’t keep it up all the time. It doesn’t have the strength to do that.
So, your friction – you must understand – is just you. What should I do? What should I do? I will not tell you. This is all you have to do. We will get a special donkey for you. You must bow down, from the rear. Not from the front. Sadhguru – I went and touched donkey’s hooves. No…no… from the front it doesn’t work. From the rear it works.
