Questioner: I always wondered about the significance of Jesus’s teaching “Love Thy Neighbor”. Can you explain what he was trying to explain through that?
Sadhguru: Neighbor does not mean somebody who lives next door. Whoever is, whatever is right next to you right now. One who is next to you right now, is your neighbor. If Jesus had said, love somebody who is in the other side of the planet, they would have loved them. Doing easily.
Love your neighbor is not easy. It needs transformation, isn’t it
Your neighbor – she is not good, isn’t it? This moment whoever is next to you, if you learn to love him, you will become loving by your own nature, isn’t it? Yes? At this moment this person is there, another moment another person is there, next moment an insect is there, next moment somebody is there. If you just learn to love anything that is next to you right now, your nature will become loving. Loving means what – on the level of the emotion, a certain level of inclusiveness, isn’t it?
Love your neighbor is not easy. It needs transformation, isn’t it? Something about you has to change to love your neighbor? To love God you don’t have to change anything. You can bullshit yourself completely. You can bullshit the whole world and still love God.
This is just like these days it’s become a fad. Everywhere, especially I find the new age spirituality in the West has taken on this – oh I love humanity, I love the cosmos. But that’s really easy. You don’t ever love anybody. If you have to love one individual man it costs life. If you have to just love one being, it costs life, isn’t it? I love the whole cosmos, but I can’t stand the person sitting next to me right now – that’s a different thing. Now this is just bullshit. Too much of it, Yes! I love the whole humanity – where did you see the whole damn humanity to love them? No, I just love. Yes, that’s very easy.
If you have to love one individual man it costs life
Just try to love one person and see what it costs. So much of you, you have to put it on the ground. So much of you, you have to surrender, if you have to love just one person, isn’t it? Yes? But I love the whole humanity! This is easy. Someone said, ‘Love Thy Neighbor’, that’s very significant, very significant. oh let me check who is my neighbor. That’s not the point. Whoever is next to you right now, whatever is in touch with you right now, just to love it indiscriminately. The very air that you breathe is your neighbor, yes. Is it your neighbor? The water that you drink, neighbor sitting here right, is your neighbor? The land that you walk on, is he your neighbor? Just to love that whatever is in touch with you right now. Now this is something else, it costs life. Otherwise it won’t happen.
