Sadhguru: Realization is not an achievement, it is not an accomplishment — it is just realization. That means, something that’s always here, you just managed to see it now. It is the most obvious thing. But right now the problem is, all the instruments of perception that you have are outward-bound, but the seat of your experience is within you. When I say the word life, maybe you’re thinking about your profession, your family, your car, your home. No, these are all accessories. This is life, isn’t it so? For everything that happens within you, instead of fixing this one, you’re trying to fix everything around you.
Realization is not an achievement, it is not an accomplishment
Participant: It was a pleasure listening to you, unbelievable. But my question is, what can I do to… so that I can acquire your skill of clarity? Honestly, honestly, candidly speaking, a very few people, you know, are like you are, I’m sure you’ve heard this before. So what makes you, what makes you so secure from within and being so candid, honest, truthful, clarity of expression?
Sadhguru: The problem with the human being right now is this; we have created a world, we have created education syst… created education systems, where we believe that human beings are essentially all wrong or the creation is all wrong or the source of creation or the Creator is all wrong, and you’re going to fix it. This is a convoluted idea.
Instead of paying attention to life, we are coming up with philosophies and philosophies and philosophies
Instead of paying attention to life, we are coming up with philosophies and philosophies and philosophies. Philosophies are fantastic explanations to that which cannot be explained. If you want to know life, you must pay attention to life, isn’t it? Right now, do you agree with me, madam, that this human mechanism is the most sophisticated machine on the planet? Do you agree with me? Are you a doctor?
Participant: Yes.
Sadhguru: Yes. So this is such a complex machine. This is the super, super computer. All right. I’m asking, have you bothered to read the user’s manual (Laughter)? If you understand how this functions, you would know how to use it. Even if you take a simple gadget like a phone, the more you know about it, the better you can use it, isn’t it so?
You’ve definitely… coming from India, you’ve definitely been bombarded with this thing about realization, self- realization. Let me put it in very simple terms — what self-realization means is, first of all, what the word realization means — realization is not an achievement. It is not an accomplishment. It is just realization. That means, something that’s always here, you just managed to see it now. That means you’re stupid all your life. Just now you saw it. You did not invent something new. You did not ramp yourself up to a mountain. No, you just saw the most obvious thing which was always here, you realized.
Realization means, you realized how foolish you have been
So, realization means, you realized how foolish you have been. Everything has been right here and you didn’t get it. So there are many ways, of course, most of you being from the Indian origin, I’m… I’ve… I’ve… I have not read this… I have to admit I’ve never read the Gita because it never occurred to me. I’m sorry. I know this is a shock. But you know, be… living in India, bits and pieces of this are always floating around in the air and it’s… you know, many pieces of it, but I’ve never really studied it in any sense.
So when in a certain moment when Arjuna asked, “What is the nature of this truth that you’re talking about? Where is it?” So Krishna laughed and said, “The highest truth about your life is the tip of your nose.” Now, there are many schools of yoga intensely focusing on the tips of their nose. Please try it for two minutes, you will get a headache. You will not get enlightened. What he’s saying is, it is the most obvious thing.
The fundamental seat of your experience is within you
But right now the problem is all the instruments of perception that you have are outward-bound, but the seat of your experience is within you. The fundamental seat of your experience is within you, but all the instruments of perception are outward-bound. “So how should I do this?” You must understand anything beyond survival, if it has to enter your life, some striving is needed. Let’s say, as a little infant, you were left in the jungle without human contact. If something edible came in front of you, would you first try your ears, then nostrils, and somehow by accident find your mouth, is that so? You would just know where to put it, isn’t it?
So what I am saying is, everything that is necessary for survival is built into you. It… you’re born with it, the five senses takes care of it. But if you want to know something more, you have to strive. For example, do you remember when you were three, four or five years of age, you had to learn to write the alphabet, that damn “A” how complicated it was! And the… on top of it, there were two versions. You had to write it a hundred times to get it, isn’t it? But today with your eyes closed you can write. If that striving was not there, today could you write, today would you know language?
Anything beyond survival needs striving, without the needed striving it won’t happen
So anything beyond survival needs striving, without the needed striving it won’t happen. There are ways to perceive the interiority of who you are. But unfortunately, there’s been no striving. Right now, we made this technology into such a simple, almost like a physical science — A plus B equals this or two parts of hydrogen, one part of oxygen, water will come. If a great scientist puts it together, only water will come; an idiot puts it together, only water will come. So we made the entire Yoga Sutras like this, that if you do this, this and this, this will happen to you. That simple, and all I’m asking generally from people is, about thirty to thirty-two hours of focused time to develop an instrument where they can turn inward.
“Oh! thirty hours is too much.” I’m saying if you cannot dedicate a little bit of time to know what this is, that means your existence must be truly worthless. If this is worthwhile, you must pay attention to this, isn’t it? If you want to know life, this is life, isn’t it? When I say the word “life,” maybe you’re thinking about your profession, your family, your car, your home. No, these are all accessories. This is life, isn’t it so? But no attention has been paid. Your idea of fixing life is fixing all kinds of things.
This happened one day. Shankaran Pillai was going home. No, I’m not done. Shankaran Pillai was going home. It is 7:30 in the evening. The rules at home, the wife’s rules are, eight he must be home. It’s only 7:30, he thought there’s still time. Let me have a quick drink and go. He just stepped into the local bar. He had a quick drink and a quick drink and a quick drink and a quick drink and a quick drink. Then he looked at the time, it said 2 AM. Tch, you know, drinking people are like yogi’s, they become timeless. There’s a certain correlation.
Then it’s late and he got off the barstool and tried to walk. It’s such an unfair world. A man is supposed to walk on a round planet. As if that’s not enough, it spins. You notice that the planet is round and it’s spinning only when you have had a few drops more or a few drops are missing between two… your two ears. Either you’re drunk or you have a vertigo, then you notice the planet is round and spinning. Otherwise you think it’s flat and you’re going on fine. So with great difficulty he was walking sideways and trying to find his way home.
He was crossing a garden and he flipped over and fell face down into a rosebush. His face became a mess. Then he somehow reached home. And you know, these keyholes are so minute, he took twenty minutes to find the keyhole. Then he found his way up to the bedroom. And then he went into the bathroom, and he looked at his face, it was a real mess. Then he opened the medicine cabinet, took out medicine, plaster, Band-Aid, fixed himself up and slowly crawled into the bed. Fortunately, the wife is a big sleeper. He slept.
Morning eight o’clock, the wife took a bucket full of cold water and splashed it on him. “Ahhh,” water-boarded he woke up, said, “Why, why it’s only a Sunday?” She said, “You fool again drinking?” She’s… he said, “Honey six months ago I promised you, since then I haven’t touched a drop.” She grabbed him by the shirt and took him into the bathroom and showed him — all the plaster was on the mirror. Why? Why people have lost their clarity?
If life has to really become beautiful for you, this one [self] has to be fixed
Why people have lost their clarity is only because of this, that if there is any suffering here [self], they think this one [other] should be fixed. If something else happens, that one should be fixed. If something else happens, that one should be fixed. Everyday morning prayer means what? Trying to fix the God. Yes, you’re trying to fix up the God, isn’t it? So, day in and day out for everything that happens within you, instead of fixing this one, you’re trying to fix everything around you. No wonder you will be confused. We fixed the planet sufficiently, at least in this part of the world. If you fix it anymore, there’ll be no planet left. But are people bursting with ecstasy? No.
So, because… clarity has been lost simply because of this. If you understand, if life has to really become beautiful for you, this one [self] has to be fixed. If you understand this one thing, clarity will dawn within you.
