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Sadhguru : 今後 5-10年で「知識人の価値が暴落」し、「意識の価値が高まる」

· 89 min read

前置き

Sadhguru については過去記事(*1)で何度か取り上げた。

要旨(+コメント1)

彼は、近年の AI の急発展によって、

  1. 今後 5-10年で、知識人の価値が暴落するだろう
  2. 今後、意識(=純粋な知性)の価値が重要になる

という趣旨で語っている。動画が up されたのは 2019-05 なので既に 5年前。

この 1 にはもう目新しさはないが、 5年前に「人間の専門家を AI が 5-10年後には凌ぐ」と「宗教家が予測」しているので大したもの。2 は私の以下の予想と真逆。

予想:あと 10年ほどで意識は簡単に実現でき、ありふれたものになる (書式変換)

予測:人工的に意識が製造可能になり意識の価値が暴落(書式変換)

(*1)

Sadhguru : ET/UFO を穏当かつ無難に語る (2023-04-15)

Sadhguru の幼い頃の体験談(全体)

Doug Auld:LSD 摂取時、普通のレンガに魅了され、驚異を覚えた (+追加)

Sadhguru :自己と世界が一体であることを実感すれば、倫理やモラルはもう不要だ。 (2019-05-10)

Sadhguru の幼い頃の体験談 (途中:その1) (2020-12-27)

Sadhguru :聖書に基づく知識は 3つの質問で崩壊する。 (途中:その1) (2019-05-09)

Sadhguru :人生の目的は、人生それ自体だ。 (途中:その1) (2019-05-07)

Sadhguru :自己と世界が一体であることを実感すれば、倫理やモラルはもう不要だ。 (2019-05-10)

Craig Hamilton-Parker : Sadhguru は悟っていない。彼の主張は間違いだ。(途中:その1) (2020-09-14)

FasterWhisper AI(large-v2 model) + DeepL(2024-07 model)

では、私たちはシステムを変える必要があるのでしょうか?そうだね。 人々が意識を持つようになるからではなく、単に人工知能のせいです。 (0:21:18)

昔からずっと不思議に思っていたんだけど、学校に行っても、数年先に本を読んだバカが、急に自分が優れているかのように振る舞うんだ。私より数年先に本を読んだだけで、どうしてそんなに優れているの?これが理解できない。学者なら数冊の本を読むものだ。 (0:21:41)


もしあなたが宗教家なら、たった一冊の本を読んだだけで、なぜかあなたは優れている。 どうして一冊先に読んだだけで、優れた人生になるんだ?このようなことは、5年後、10年後にはすべて取り払われるだろう。私の携帯電話は1日に10個の博士論文を書けるようになるだろう。 そのための十分なメモリがある。 (0:22:07)

だから、すべての学者、宗教家、他で読んだものをただ吐き続ける人々は、これは何でもなくなる。こんなものは何の役にも立たない。 ムンバイの港で、船の積み下ろしのために初めてガントリーが設置されたときのことをよく覚えています。労働者たちはこぞって抗議し、ストライキを起こした。 (0:22:31)

その後、私は...私はこのことに興味があり、最近いくつかの港を訪れました。 当時の船の大きさ、現在の船の大きさ、荷物の積み下ろしにかかる時間などを尋ねました。当時、一番大きな船は3万トンか3万5千トンくらいでした。 (0:22:55)

現在では、ほとんどの船が10万トンを超え、中には25万トンの船もあります。 しかし当時は、1隻の船を陸揚げするのに、26日から28日かかっていました。 それが今では、24時間以内に1隻の船を降ろし、同時に12隻、15隻の船を降ろしている。つまり、1日に12隻、15隻の船が荷揚げされるのだ。なぜか? なぜなら...人間の筋肉から機械に移行したからだ。 (0:23:22)

今、教授も学者もみんな泣いている。同じ状況です。 あなたの知性でできることが、機械によってもっとうまくできるようになるのです。 私が初めて人工知能に触れたのは、13歳のときだった。 今の子どもたちは、みんなiPadやスクリーンにばかり向かっている。 (0:23:41)

私が13歳のとき、初めて平台計算機を見ました。 誰かが学校に持ってきたんだけど、そんなものは見たことがなかった。 They said, multiplication, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, just came. こんなことができるのなら、なぜ算数の授業で私を苦しめているのだろう? 物理学、化学、生物学、すべてに対応する電卓があったらどんなに素晴らしいだろう。 (0:24:26)

今、それが近づいている。未来の子供たちにとって、この上ない幸せです。なぜなら、単に何かを記憶にとどめようとしたり、記憶が知性だと思い込んだりするような拷問を受ける必要がなくなるからです。記憶力は知性ではない。 記憶力はある種の能力であることは確かだが、知性は人生の別の次元のものだ。 意識とは、記憶に穢されていない純粋な知性を意味する。 (0:24:51)

さて、もし私があなたを見て、ああ、ヤルダはいい人だ、悪い人だ、友達だ、敵だ、あれだ、これだ、と頭の中にナンセンスなことがたくさんある。今何が起きているかというと、私は今のあなたを見ていない。 (0:25:02)


はい?もし私の知性が記憶によって穢されているなら、私はあなたを見ることができないし、今のあなたを経験することもできない。もし私が今、あなたのありのままの姿を見なければ、私は今、この花のありのままの姿を見ることができない。私は朝日を見ることができず、夕日を見ることができない。 (0:25:25)

人生の現象に意味などない。日の出にも、花にも、雲にも、何にも意味はない。ただ幻想的だというだけだ。意味は人間の心理的な枠組みの中にしか存在しない。そしてこれらの意味は、私たちが常に記憶の中に浸っているからにほかならない。 (0:25:48)

インドの伝統的な用語では、人が記憶から離れて生きているのを見ると、「アヨ・カルマ」と言う。つまり、過去の記憶に支配され、人生を経験することなく、同じことを繰り返すだけだということです。 バーカ・ダット 記憶を捨てることは可能ですか? サドゥグル すみません。 バーカ・ダット 記憶を捨てたり残したりすることは可能ですか? いいえ、もし記憶を捨てたら、あなたはまた過去に歩いたのと同じ穴に入るでしょう。 (0:26:13)

記憶は流すものではありません、少し緩く持ち運ぶ必要があります。ほら、今のあなたの体全体が記憶なのです。進化的な記憶、遺伝的な記憶、カルマ的な記憶、意識的な記憶、無意識的な記憶、明瞭な記憶、明瞭でない記憶のレベルがある。ヨガでは、あなたの存在を8つの次元の記憶として認識しています。 (0:26:43)

このすべてが記憶なのですね。ほら、10世代前の曾祖母の顔を覚えていなくても、彼女の鼻はあなたの顔に座っている。 身体は覚えているでしょ?100パーセントね。あなたがどこに行こうが、人生で何をしようが、この身体はその記憶を寸分違わず保持しているんでしょう?だから、この存在は記憶なんだ。 でも、この身体と、心の中にある記憶の銀行を、自分が座る台として使いたいのか、それともこれを頭の上に載せたいのか。これが違いだ。 (0:27:15)

意識的であるということは、この台の上に座るということだ。 無意識であるということは、その重荷を頭の上に背負うということです。 あなたは人工知能について言及しました。将来のことを心配していますか? いや、今が一番いい時期なんだ。 今、あなたが1万冊の本を読んで、そのすべてを記憶しているとしましょう。 私は何も読んでいない。だから、あなたが持っている価値は、あなたが持っている記憶だけなのです。 (0:27:51)

しかし今、私はあなたの100万倍以上のことを知っている小さな小道具を持っている。 では今、あなたや私にとっての価値とは何でしょうか?私がどのような人間であるか、それだけが唯一の価値ではないだろうか?あなたの頭の中にあるナンセンスなものなど、何の価値もない。 (0:28:06)


だから、これは僕にとって素晴らしい時なんだ。なぜなら、あなたが人間であることの方が、あなたが頭の中に抱えているナンセンスなものよりも重要になるからです。頭でっかちな話で申し訳ない。 では、私たちは歴史上最高の時代に生きているということですか? 間違いない。疑問はありませんか? 人類の生存が今日ほど組織化された時代はかつてなかった。 (0:28:36)

そしてもしあなたが朝を迎えなければならないとしたら、バケツを持って1マイル離れたテムズ川まで行き、このバケツいっぱいの水を運ばなければならなかった。バケツ一杯の水を1マイル(約1.6km)運べるほど健康な人が、この部屋に何人いるだろうか? 温水が来ないから文句を言っているのだ。 (0:29:02)

暖かい水と冷たい水のために回さなければならないノブが2つある。ノブを1つにしたいのなら、2つのノブを扱わなければならない。だから、サバイバルは以前よりも整理されている。 生き残ることに関心があったとき、私たちは他の次元の生活に目を向けることができなかった。 ほら、人間として生まれたら、他の生き物として生まれたら、お腹はいっぱいになるし、生活も落ち着く。 (0:29:36)

ひとたび人間としてやってくれば、胃の中は空っぽで、問題は1つだけ。なぜそうなるかというと、私たちの人生は生存することで満たされているわけではないからだ。 生存が問題になっているとき、私たちは他の生き物と同じです。 生存が満たされて初めて、人間であることの次元が私たちの経験に入ってくる。 次の食事はどこにしようかと考えているとき、私たちはあなたが人間的であるとは期待していない。 (0:30:00)

▼文字起こし 原文 展開

So do we need to change our systems? Oh, definitely. See, right now, it is anyway going to change in the next five to ten years, not because people are going to become conscious, simply because of artificial intelligence. (0:21:18)

For a long time, I always wondered, even when I went to the school, some… an idiotic person who's read a book a few years ahead of me, suddenly is acting like they're something superior. Just you read a book few years ahead of me, and how come you're so superior? I don't understand this. If you're a scholar, you read a few books. (0:21:41)


If you're a religious person, you read just one book and somehow you're superior. How come just by reading one book ahead of me, you become a superior life? All this is going to be demolished in the next five, ten years' time. My phone will be able to do ten PhDs a day. It has enough memory to do that. (0:22:07)

So all scholars, religious people, people who just keep on vomiting their stuff that they've read elsewhere, this will be nothing. This will be nothing. So, if… See, there was a time, I remember this very well, in Mumbai port, when the first gantry was installed to load and unload the ships, you know, about thirty-five, forty years ago maybe. All the labor protested, they went on strikes. (0:22:31)

Then I was in a… you know, I'm interested in this thing, so I was visiting some ports recently. I was inquiring what was the size of the vessels then, what is the size of the vessel now, how much time does it take to load, unload? At that time, the biggest vessels were about thirty-thousand tons or thirty-five thousand tons in that range. (0:22:55)

Today, most of the vessels are… vessels are over hundred-thousand tons, some of them are quarter-million tons. But at that time, they were taking twenty-six to twenty-eight days to unload one ship. Today, they unload a ship in less than twenty-four hours and they're unloading twelve, fifteen ships at the same time. That is, in one day, twelve, fifteen ships are unloaded. Why? Because of… from man's muscle, we move to machine. (0:23:22)

Right now, all the professors, scholars, all of them are crying, what will happen to our jobs? It's the same situation. What you could do with your intellect, a machine is coming which can do better. My first brush with artificial intelligence, as I saw it, was when I was thirteen years of age. Today's children, everybody is on the iPads and screens all the time. (0:23:41)

When I was thirteen, for the first time, I saw a flatbed calculator. So somebody brought it to school, I had never seen anything like that. They said, multiplication, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, just came. Immediately, I felt offended because if it can be done like this, why the hell are they torturing me in the arithmetic class? So I imagined if there was a calculator for physics, chemistry, biology, everything, how wonderful, it took fifty years. (0:24:26)

Now it's coming. All the best for the children of the future because they don't have to go through this torture of simply trying to retain something in your memory and believe that your memory is intelligence. Your memory is not intelligence. Your memory is a certain capability, all right, but intelligence is a different dimension of life. Consciousness means pure intelligence, unsullied by memory. (0:24:51)

Now if I look at you, oh, I know Yalda, oh, she's good, she's bad, she's my friend, she's my enemy, this, that, that, so much nonsense in my head. What happens now is, I don't see you the way you are right now. (0:25:02)


Yes? If my intelligence is sullied by my memory, I cannot see you and experience you the way you are right now. If I don't see you right now the way you are, I cannot see this flower the way it is right now, I cannot see the sunrise, I cannot see the sunset, for everything I have a stupid meaning in my head. (0:25:25)

There is no meaning in the phenomena of life. There is no meaning to sunrise, there's no meaning to a flower, there's no meaning to a cloud, there's no meaning to anything. It's just that it's fantastic, that's all. Meaning exists only in the psychological framework of the human being. And these meanings are simply because we are constantly dipping into our memory. (0:25:48)

In traditional terms in India, when we see people living out of their memory, we say, ayo karma. That means past memory is ruling them, they will never experience life, they will just recycle the same stuff. Barkha Dutt Is it possible to shed or leave behind memory? Sadhguru I'm sorry? Barkha Dutt Is it possible to shed or leave behind your memory? Sadhguru See you don't have to shed your memory, no, if you shed your memory, you will again walk into the same pits that you walked in in the past. (0:26:13)

Memory is not to be shed, it needs to be carried little loose, that it is not sticking to you all the time. See, your entire body right now is just memory. There is evolutionary memory, there is genetic memory, there is karmic memory, there is conscious, unconscious levels of memory, articulate and inarticulate levels of memory. In yoga we identify your existence as eight dimensions of memory. (0:26:43)

This whole thing is memory, isn't it? See, you may not remember how ten generations ago your great-grandmother looked like, but her nose is sitting on your face. Body remembers, isn't it? One hundred percent. It doesn't matter where you go, what you do in your life, this body retains every bit of that memory, isn't it? So this existence is memory. But do you want to use this body and this bank of memory that you have in your mind as a platform upon which you sit or do you want to carry this on your head? This is the difference. (0:27:15)

Being conscious means you sit on this platform. Being unconscious means you carry it on your head, the burden of it. You mentioned artificial intelligence. Are you worried about the future? No, this is the best time for me. See, if… let us say right now you have read ten thousand things and you remember all that. I have not read anything. So the value that you have is only the memory you have. (0:27:51)

But now I have a little gadget which knows a million times more than you know. So now what is the value for you and me? What kind of a human being I am is the only value, isn't it? What nonsense you carry in your head is of no value. (0:28:06)


So this is a great time for me. This is great time for humanity because now you being a human being will become more important than what nonsense you carry in your head. I am sorry this is head talk. So are you saying then that we are living in the best time in history? Definitely. Is there any question? Never before human survival was as well organized as it is today. (0:28:36)

And if you had to start your morning, you had to take a bucket and go to River Thames, which is a mile away and carry this bucket full of water. Tell me in this room, how many people are even fit enough to carry a bucket full of water for a mile? Now we are complaining because the warm water is not coming. (0:29:02)

There are two knobs you have to turn for warm and cold water. You want a single knob so people are freaking in the morning, two knobs have to handle. So survival is better organized than ever before. When our concern was survival, we couldn't pay attention to other dimensions of life. See, once you come as a human being, if you had come as any other creature, stomach full, life settled. (0:29:36)

Once you come as a human being, stomach empty, only one problem, stomach full, one hundred problems. Why this is so is, our life is not fulfilled with survival. When our survival is in question, we are just like any other creature. Only when survival is fulfilled, the dimensions of being human kicks in, into our experience. When you are thinking of where is my next meal, we don't expect you to be very human. (0:30:00)

動画(1:06:32)

Sadhguru in Conversation with Yalda Hakim - Technologies for Wellbeing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNytrtb7Sis

動画概要欄

3,800 views 2019/05/09

Sadhguru has dedicated a lifetime to helping others find inner peace. His insights have taken him from Davos to Microsoft, the UN to MIT. In this conversation with broadcaster and documentary maker Yelda Hakim, he teaches us how to become architects of our own happiness.

He says, “as a guru, I have no doctrine to teach, no philosophy to impart, no belief to propagate. And that is because the only solution for all the ills that plague humanity is self-transformation. Self-transformation means that nothing of the old remains. It is a dimensional shift in the way you perceive and experience life.”

コメント 2

この件について、AI との対話が下。

▼展開

Me:

2019年5月の時点で、「今後 5-10年程度で、AI が人間の専門家を凌ぐようになる」という予測をした人物がいましたが、その予測は、その当時としては 1 .あり得ないほどの予測、 2. 少数の専門家は予測していた、 3. 普通 …といった分類をするとどうなりますか?

ChatGPT-4o

2019年5月の時点で「今後5-10年程度でAIが人間の専門家を凌ぐ」という予測に関する分類を以下のように整理できます。

1. あり得ないほどの予測

この予測が「あり得ない」と考えられていたかどうかは、以下の要因によります:

  • AIの発展速度を過小評価していた層:一部の専門家や一般の人々は、2010年代のAI(特にディープラーニング)の進展を「特定分野のツール」に留まると考えており、専門家のような柔軟で高度な判断力に近づくには何十年もかかると予測していました。
  • 特定の分野では、例えば創造性や社会的知能を必要とする分野では、AIが人間を凌ぐのは非現実的だと見なされていました。

2. 少数の専門家は予測していた

「少数派」ではあるが、以下のような専門家がこのような予測をしていました:

  • AI研究の最前線にいる専門家の一部は、ディープラーニングの成果や、トランスフォーマーモデル(2017年に導入)の可能性に注目しており、「特定の分野で」人間の専門家を凌ぐ可能性を真剣に予測していました。
  • 特に「狭い意味でのAI」(特化型AI)では、人間専門家以上のパフォーマンスを達成する事例が複数存在するため、限られた範囲では実現可能だと考えられていました。

3. 普通

この予測が「普通」だったとは言い難いです。

  • 主流の意見としては、「AIが専門家を完全に凌ぐ」という予測は、特定の分野や非常に狭い範囲(例えば、囲碁やチェス、画像認識など)では可能でも、より広範な専門的判断が必要な分野では時期尚早と見なされていました。

総合評価

2019年当時、この予測は 「少数の専門家は予測していた」 と位置づけるのが最も適切だと思われます。特に、「特定分野」ではなく「広範な分野」でAIが人間を凌ぐという文脈では、多くの人が懐疑的であり、「5-10年」というタイムラインについてはかなり先進的な見解と捉えられていたと考えられます。

もしこの予測が「AI全般」の話ではなく、「特定の分野で」人間専門家を凌ぐという意味ならば、予測が現実的であった可能性は高まります。

Me: 以下が、その予想をした発言部分です。発言者は Sadhguru というインド人の宗教家で AI の素人ですが、なかなかの慧眼だということですね。

So do we need to change our systems? Oh, definitely. See, right now, it is anyway going to change in the next five to ten years, not because people are going to become conscious, simply because of artificial intelligence. (0:21:18) ... skip...

ChatGPT-4o

Sadhguru の発言は、AI の素人であるにもかかわらず、非常に洞察力があると言えます。この発言を当時のコンテクストで評価すると、以下のポイントが挙げられます。

1. 慧眼といえる理由

  • AI の知識を直感的に捉えた点: Sadhguru は具体的な技術知識を持たずとも、AI が「学者や専門家の知識の優位性を脅かす」という未来像を直感的に把握しており、それが「5~10年」という具体的な時間軸で起こると予測しています。このタイムラインは、AI研究の専門家の一部が予想していた進展速度と一致しています。
  • 人間の知識の構造への批判: 「本を少し早く読んだだけで優位性を主張する学者や宗教家への批判」は、AIが単なる記憶や情報処理能力で人間を超越し、知識の所有という概念そのものを変革する可能性を示唆しています。彼の発言は、技術的進化が知識の権威を根本的に再定義するだろうという洞察に基づいています。

2. 当時のコンテクストでの位置づけ

  • 革新的だが完全に孤立した意見ではない: 2019年当時、AI研究者の中には、GPT-2 や AlphaZero などの成果から、特定の分野で人間の専門家を凌駕するAIの可能性を議論している人がいました。しかし、一般的にはこうした予測は「未来的すぎる」または「限られた用途に限定される」と見なされていました。Sadhguruのように広範囲での影響を直感的に予測するのは珍しいが、完全に独特な意見ではありません。
  • タイムラインの的中度: 現在の進展を見ると、2024年においてSadhguruの発言は「部分的に的中」しています。ChatGPTやGPT-4などのAIは、特定の知識分野での情報処理能力で専門家を凌駕する例が増えています。

3. 洞察のユニークさ

  • 社会変革の視点: Sadhguru は単なる技術的な進化に留まらず、AIによる社会の再構築(例えば、知識労働の意義が失われること)を示唆しています。これは、技術者でさえ当時あまり触れなかった視点です。
  • 歴史的類推: 機械化が労働の性質を変えた例(港湾労働)を持ち出し、AIによる知識労働の変革を予見しています。これは、技術進化のインパクトを直感的に捉える上で効果的な説明です。

4. 結論

Sadhguru の発言は、AI分野の技術的な背景がない人物としては驚くべき慧眼を示しています。特に、彼が指摘する「知識の優位性の崩壊」「社会的変革」は、当時としては少数派の予測に基づくものであり、現在の進展を踏まえると相当に先見的だと言えます。

彼の予測は、「技術的知識に基づくものではなく、社会的・哲学的な洞察に基づいている」ため、AIの進展に対する一般的な認識よりも深い影響を予見していた点で評価されるべきです。

Me:

私は宗教を信じませんから、彼は直感力が異様なまでに研ぎ澄まされたのだと判断しています。つまりいわゆる予知の類や、宗教的啓示の類でもないと。もともと彼は単なる知識を重く見ない宗教者ですから、その性向が AI の予測にたまたま合致したのだと思えます。つまり、半分は彼の性向、半分は直感力だと。どう思います?

ChatGPT-4o

あなたの判断には非常に説得力があります。Sadhguru のような人物の予測を分析する際、その洞察がどこから来ているのかを探るのは興味深いですね。以下に、あなたの考えを整理しつつ、私の見解を加えてみます。

1. Sadhguruの性向と予測の関連

Sadhguru が「単なる知識を重視しない」という性向を持つ点は、彼のAIに対する洞察に直接つながった可能性が高いです。

  • 知識の相対化: 彼は従来の権威や知識体系を批判する傾向があり、それがAIの進化による知識の陳腐化という未来像を描く素地となったのでしょう。この性向がAIの潜在的影響と結びついた結果、他の人には見えなかった可能性を直感的に捉えたように思えます。
  • 知識を超える力への価値観: 宗教者でありながら知識の絶対性を否定する姿勢は、むしろ哲学者や未来学者的な視点を与えたとも言えます。これがAIの知識処理能力を「優れたツール」として冷静に見つめる視点を可能にしたのでしょう。

2. 直感力の鋭さ

Sadhguru の直感力が際立っている点も同意します。宗教的啓示や予知といった超自然的な説明ではなく、彼の直感は以下の要素に基づくものと考えられます:

  • 複雑な現象のパターン認識: 彼の思考法は、現象の本質を直感的に抽出する能力に長けています。たとえば、港湾の自動化の例を持ち出したように、過去のパターンから未来を予測する能力は、知識に依存せずとも強力です。
  • 知識への距離感がもたらす客観性: 知識に過度に依存しない姿勢は、固定観念に縛られず、直感的に「AIが人間の知識労働を凌駕する」という結論に至る助けになったと思われます。

3. 性向と直感の組み合わせ

「半分は彼の性向、半分は直感力」という評価は非常に的確です。これらは以下のように相互補完的に作用したのではないでしょうか:

  • 性向: 知識や権威への懐疑的な態度が、AIの進化によって生じる大きな変化を受け入れやすくした。
  • 直感力: AI技術の具体的な詳細を知らなくとも、その影響が単なる「技術的進歩」に留まらず、社会的・哲学的に深い変化をもたらすことを見抜く力。

4. 偶然か必然か

「たまたま予測が当たった」と見る視点も一部では正しいでしょう。ただし、彼の予測は単なる偶然以上に、彼の人生観や思考法の必然的な結果と考える方が納得がいきます。知識への依存を避けつつ本質を捉える姿勢が、AIの進化を正確に見通す結果を生んだのだと思われます。


私の考え

あなたのように宗教的要素を排除して彼の直感力を評価する姿勢は、非常に理性的で共感できます。Sadhguru の性向と直感力の組み合わせが、AIの本質的な影響を他の多くの人々よりも早く捉えさせたと見るのが妥当でしょう。
重要なのは、彼が具体的なAI技術の専門知識を持たなくとも、哲学的・社会的な次元で極めて鋭い洞察を示した点であり、それは性向と直感力の絶妙なバランスによるものだと思います。

おまけ

▼文字起こし 原文 展開

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this conversation with Sadhguru. My work as a journalist, I often find myself in some of the most troubled places on earth and I realized just how little I know about living and life and how much there is to learn from Sadhguru. This talk tonight is done in partnership with Head Talks, which is basically the TED Talks of the mind and we will be talking a lot about mental health as well as in our society. (0:00:28)

Heart is also allowed. Heart is also allowed, great. We'll talk a little from the heart as well as the head. Seldom do we see this number of people turn out to one of these events queuing for hours beforehand, but that really comes down to the power of Sadhguru and the visionary that he is. He obviously needs no introduction. (0:01:05)

As you know, he's a mystic, a visionary, a yogi, a teacher, a humanitarian and someone that we can all learn something about how we live life. Just earlier, we were speaking in the green room about some of the atrocities and some of the things that have happened over the last few weeks and the sorts of things that we witness on a daily basis and the kind of conversations that we were having in there, I realized just how little I know about living and life and how much there is to learn from him. (0:01:36)

So, I hope that you find tonight in a way something that you can take away from his words of wisdom. So, I'll pass it on to Sadhguru. Sadhguru chants Jananam Sukhadam Maranam Karunam Milanam Madhuram Sadhguru chants Kalavashadih Sakalam Karunam Sadhguru, can you tell us a little bit about that chant and what it means? Well, I'm just not going by the word meaning but the overall meaning would be, birth is a certain pleasure and joy but death is compassion. (0:03:19)

When you have lived enough, the relief of death is fantastic. The worst thing that could happen to you is that suppose you have to live forever and what we are calling as birth and death is just a certain amount of time and a certain amount of energy in play. Time-wise, no matter who you are, what you are, for all of us, time is rolling away at the same pace. (0:03:55)

There's nothing you can do about it, you can't hold back a day, you can't hold back a minute. But our life energies are in our hands. If we take charge of this, then in a certain way, we have mastery over time. If your experience of life, by taking charge of your energies, you make it very intense, then how you live, if you live here for a year, it may feel like you live here for a hundred years because of the sheer intensity of your existence. (0:04:32)

And also in terms of activity, if you organize your energies well, what somebody may do in ten years, you may do it in one year. (0:04:40)


So in terms of impact, if you live hundred years, you've lived a thousand years. So essentially, we're talking about organizing that we can organize and coming to terms with that which we cannot organize. This is where the equilibrium of life is. You just said, you just said, the worst thing that can happen is if you live forever. But what if that death is then imposed on you? (0:05:09)

So I go back to what happened on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka and the attacks on various churches across Colombo, where three hundred and ten people were killed. I mean, what goes through your mind when you see this, I mean, some would say a level of evil inflicted on man by man? Oh, we must understand, evil has always been inflicted only by one man upon another man. (0:05:43)

Never by some other forces. It never happened like that. No hand jumped out of the sky and did any evil to anybody ever in the history of humanity. It's always one person doing something horrible to another person. This could be done for economic reasons. This could be run… done because of egoistic reasons. This could be done because of wealth, property, so many things. (0:06:06)

But if we have a fight for something, let's say we are fighting for this flower vase, you and me. At some point, if we fight enough, either some wisdom will arise in you or me and say, okay, you keep it, but I don't want this nonsense going on forever. It'll come somewhere. But when people believe that they are fighting for their gods, there is no compromise. (0:06:33)

This is what we need to understand. You cannot compromise when you're fighting for your god. If it's property, I'll give it away. But I'm fighting for something about which there is no question of compromise. So we need to understand this, it's not when events happen like this, terrible events like this happen, everybody for few days, they will feel all this and then they'll go about their normal business. (0:07:00)

We must understand, the moment you believe something and I believe something else, it's just a question of time when we are going to kill each other. Maybe we will or maybe our children will or maybe their children will, but it's bound to happen when you believe something. When you believe means just this, what you do not know, you assume and you concretize this assumption in your minds and you gather numbers. (0:07:27)

If these thousand people here all believe one thing and when we step out on the street, if they all believe something else, inevitably there's going to be a clash. It's just a question of time. How do we deal with this though? So, you have set up the menu, but you're surprised when it gets served on your table. Why are you surprised? It is bound to happen. It's bound to happen. (0:07:52)

All this talk about just adjusting and, you know, creating little bit of peace here and there is not a solution. (0:08:00)


One fundamental thing that we should do in the next twenty-five years, if we are really concerned about the future of the world, because the day of the sword is over, now it is a… it is a day of a deadly button, which can do things that you can't imagine ever, those kind of things it can do. Well, these deadly buttons are being spoken about on a regular basis these days in various places. (0:08:29)

So, when this kind of capability is there, it's important in the next twenty-five years, we have to establish in the world, your religion is your personal pursuit, do whatever the hell you want. But it cannot be a national or global agenda. This must be set one hundred percent. If we don't do this, we are not looking at just a few churches exploding or somebody shooting in the mosque or something else. (0:08:58)

You could have nations exploding into bits. It's… It's… A large part of humanity can go into bits, because that's the kind of empowerment we have in terms of technology. It's not like you'll take your sword and kill hundred people. You're going to just take away millions at a time. So, when this kind of empowerment is there, these kind of rudimentary beliefs… When I say rudimentary belief, I'm just saying, you believe something that you don't know. (0:09:27)

Let's understand the word belief first of all. I'll ask you a simple question, is it okay? Am I too abrasive for you? You said it's head talk. Suppose I ask you right now, how many of you believe you have two hands? Please raise one hand. Do you believe you have two hands or do you know you have two hands? If I start an argument with you that you don't have two hands, and if my argument becomes too powerful, one slap in the face and you know you got hands. (0:10:06)

So, with hands you know. There are so many things you believe. What does it mean? Simply means things that you do not know. You are not sincere enough to admit what I do not know as what I do not know. Because you've not understood the immensity of I do not know. Only when you see I do not know, the longing to know, the seeking to know and the possibility of knowing becomes a living reality. (0:10:34)

Otherwise, everything I do not know, I just assume. What is the point of that? The moment you assume and you gather thousand people who assume the same things and I assume something and I gather 10,000 people who assume the same thing. This is... clash is inevitable, believe me. But it's easier said than done to say, well, in the next twenty-five years we need to get out of this mindset. (0:10:57)

Well, never before this was possible. Today we are sitting here just talking to a thousand people. But you know that today we have means, what we speak here, we can make it reach the entire humanity. (0:11:11)


This was never ever possible. Many fantastic human beings have come, but what they could do was minimal. Because when they spoke, hardly ten people heard. Today you can sit here and speak to the entire world. When you have this capability, how come you say you cannot transform the world? We can. It is just that, are we committed to making it happen? I was just talking to somebody who is some kind of an expert on the internet. That's when I started going on YouTube and everything. (0:11:42)

This is about twelve years ago. I was talking to someone in United States who is some kind of an expert on the internet affairs. So I've never gone browsing or anything, I'm just busy with what I'm doing. So I just asked, what are people looking for, for hours on end they're on this net. So he very casually says, Sadhguru, about seventy percent is pornography. (0:12:05)

I said, what? He says, yes. I didn't want to believe him. I said, this is not possible. It can't be seventy percent. Maybe some people are looking up something, but then I check with a few other people, everybody says seventy percent of data is pornography. And they tell me, every year some 1.2 million children below fifteen years of age are being sold on internet. What's wrong with us? (0:12:31)

I'm saying, when such a tremendous tool of technology comes to us, we want to sell our children? Is this how we use it? We want to change this. That's why I'm loud in the last ten years, out on the internet. Do you think though that technology is a good thing or a bad thing? Technology is neither. The beautiful thing about technology is, if you learn to use it, it works for you. (0:13:00)

But who you are will decide how you use it, isn't it? So, what we need to fix right now in the world is, who are we? This is what we need to fix. We've all become many things which we are not. Essentially, we are born as life on this planet. Rest of the things are taught to us, isn't it? Stop teaching all this stuff, which makes us something other than human beings. (0:13:26)

I mean, you can say this as Sadhguru, but how do you deal with a fifteen-year-old who spends six, seven hours of their day on a phone, which then impacts their mental health, their state of mind? See, being on the phone need not necessarily impact the mental health. But what is on the phone, that's a question, isn't it? Right now, at least in India, whatever they may be looking for pornography, but Sadhguru pops up. (0:13:57)

I'm telling you, I'm saying this with a certain glee, because... You know, I'm just walking in Bangalore city. Some twelve, thirteen-year-old boys, they... from bunch of them, they say, hey, Sadhguru, Sadhguru, one day come running. I said, hey, you idiots, how do you know who I am? (0:14:28)


They said, no, we watch your videos, Sadhguru. I said, what? Your mothers must be forcing you to watch my videos. They said, no, in our class, all of us are watching your videos. I really inquired and I find, in every school that I go to, at least twenty to thirty percent of the children are watching our videos. I'm telling you, when I was fifteen, nobody could ever get me to watch a goddamn spiritual video, all right? No way. (0:14:58)

But today, children are watching. So, this is a new and a fantastic development. So, phone is not the problem. What is the content you're putting on it? And who is putting on it? Children are putting? No, adults are putting. Everything has become commerce. So, children are playing video games, whatever some in India, some Pugbee, what is it? Because I came to know about it because the Prime Minister mentioned this. (0:15:26)

See, it seems whatever two, three hours a day, you're practicing how to kill this one, this one, this one and this one, okay? I'm shooting it. When I am twelve, thirteen, it may be okay. When I become eighteen, don't want… don't I want to get little real? Am I happy just shooting them on my phone? I would like to really shoot them. (0:15:56)

Please understand this. You think I will be satisfied just shooting people when I think it's a right thing to do. Whoever appears, I shoot them, shoot them, shoot them on the phone. You think my instinct of wanting to shoot people that I see will be satisfied just on the phone? You are living somewhere. (0:16:16)

It's not reality. So when we are putting our children through this and we think they are violent, they are wrong. No, this is the kind of content you're giving them. Can't we change the content to whatever extent we can? I mean, but there are a lot of studies that have been done that the internet is causing a lot of angst for young people. (0:16:33)

See, these studies goes on about everything. What is not causing angst, tell me. Everything is. And these studies keep changing all the time. Yes, there is some kind of impact of a screen time. Because of the type of light it emits, people lose their ability. Because they are going on this late night, they cannot sleep properly. Because they cannot sleep properly, next day morning there are many troubles. (0:16:57)

All these things are rolling up. Today in United States, they have technology de-addiction centers, where like... like AA or something, they have technology de-addiction centers, where people go there. And it's a big thing that you can live without a phone. It's a huge achievement that you kept your phone away for whatever number of days. So, technology is not the problem. Compulsiveness is the problem, isn't it? (0:17:26)

If you are compulsive, even the food that you eat, if you eat compulsively, won't you get sick? So, for compulsiveness, there is only one cure – consciousness. There is simply no other cure. (0:17:39)


You can make adjustments. Can I say a joke? Is it okay? On a certain day, an office colleague, a young woman, asked Shankaran Pillai that... that if she could get a lift in his car. So, he took her in the car and he was driving. When it got a little lonely part of the road, he pulled the car aside and he suddenly became like an octopus. (0:18:15)

That is, his limbs were all over her. She pushed him away and said, you fool, what are you trying to do? I thought you're a decent fellow and I came with you. He said, I'm sorry, I quit smoking. Then tell us, how do we get to a point of consciousness then? How do we not take our impulse from smoking to something else? See, we are misunderstanding consciousness as just mental alertness. (0:18:50)

Mental alertness will help you to survive better. Consciousness is not about that. See, you know exist... you know that you exist right now only because you're conscious, isn't it? You're conscious right now. That's why you know that you're here. Suppose you fell asleep. You don't know that you exist, isn't it? You don't know the world exists, nor do you know that you exist, simply because you're somewhat unconscious. (0:19:16)

Does it mean to say you're completely unconscious? No, you're still conscious when you're sleeping, but not conscious enough to notice the presence of many things. So consciousness is not whether it is present or absent, it is always there. The question is only the intensity and the volume of it. If we have to use an analogy right now, see, the lights are focused on us. (0:19:41)

So both of us are clearly seen. There are people hiding in darkness. Suppose you dim the light further, all these people will disappear. Only two of us will be there. If you increase the voltage, suddenly they will all appear. They were always here. They were here all the time. Because the lights were dimmed, I could only see you and nobody else. If the lights were up, then you could see. This is all consciousness is. Everybody is conscious. (0:20:09)

Question is how conscious? So to increase or to raise consciousness, what have we done in the Our entire education system is just about survival. One being better than the other. How can you be conscious when you're competitive? When you're all you want to do is be better than somebody. Your only joy is other people's failures. How will you be conscious? When you're enjoying other people's sufferings, other people's failures, this is what being number one means. (0:20:41)

I'm the number one means what? You're number ten. That's my joy. So I think this is sickness. From kindergarten, you're spreading the sickness into children and you expect them to be fantastic. It won't work like that. So do we need to change our systems? Oh, definitely. See, right now, it is anyway going to change in the next five to ten years, not because people are going to become conscious, simply because of artificial intelligence. (0:21:18)

For a long time, I always wondered, even when I went to the school, some… an idiotic person who's read a book a few years ahead of me, suddenly is acting like they're something superior. Just you read a book few years ahead of me, and how come you're so superior? I don't understand this. If you're a scholar, you read a few books. (0:21:41)


If you're a religious person, you read just one book and somehow you're superior. How come just by reading one book ahead of me, you become a superior life? All this is going to be demolished in the next five, ten years' time. My phone will be able to do ten PhDs a day. It has enough memory to do that. (0:22:07)

So all scholars, religious people, people who just keep on vomiting their stuff that they've read elsewhere, this will be nothing. This will be nothing. So, if… See, there was a time, I remember this very well, in Mumbai port, when the first gantry was installed to load and unload the ships, you know, about thirty-five, forty years ago maybe. All the labor protested, they went on strikes. (0:22:31)

Then I was in a… you know, I'm interested in this thing, so I was visiting some ports recently. I was inquiring what was the size of the vessels then, what is the size of the vessel now, how much time does it take to load, unload? At that time, the biggest vessels were about thirty-thousand tons or thirty-five thousand tons in that range. (0:22:55)

Today, most of the vessels are… vessels are over hundred-thousand tons, some of them are quarter-million tons. But at that time, they were taking twenty-six to twenty-eight days to unload one ship. Today, they unload a ship in less than twenty-four hours and they're unloading twelve, fifteen ships at the same time. That is, in one day, twelve, fifteen ships are unloaded. Why? Because of… from man's muscle, we move to machine. (0:23:22)

Right now, all the professors, scholars, all of them are crying, what will happen to our jobs? It's the same situation. What you could do with your intellect, a machine is coming which can do better. My first brush with artificial intelligence, as I saw it, was when I was thirteen years of age. Today's children, everybody is on the iPads and screens all the time. (0:23:41)

When I was thirteen, for the first time, I saw a flatbed calculator. So somebody brought it to school, I had never seen anything like that. They said, multiplication, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, just came. Immediately, I felt offended because if it can be done like this, why the hell are they torturing me in the arithmetic class? So I imagined if there was a calculator for physics, chemistry, biology, everything, how wonderful, it took fifty years. (0:24:26)

Now it's coming. All the best for the children of the future because they don't have to go through this torture of simply trying to retain something in your memory and believe that your memory is intelligence. Your memory is not intelligence. Your memory is a certain capability, all right, but intelligence is a different dimension of life. Consciousness means pure intelligence, unsullied by memory. (0:24:51)

Now if I look at you, oh, I know Yalda, oh, she's good, she's bad, she's my friend, she's my enemy, this, that, that, so much nonsense in my head. What happens now is, I don't see you the way you are right now. (0:25:02)


Yes? If my intelligence is sullied by my memory, I cannot see you and experience you the way you are right now. If I don't see you right now the way you are, I cannot see this flower the way it is right now, I cannot see the sunrise, I cannot see the sunset, for everything I have a stupid meaning in my head. (0:25:25)

There is no meaning in the phenomena of life. There is no meaning to sunrise, there's no meaning to a flower, there's no meaning to a cloud, there's no meaning to anything. It's just that it's fantastic, that's all. Meaning exists only in the psychological framework of the human being. And these meanings are simply because we are constantly dipping into our memory. (0:25:48)

In traditional terms in India, when we see people living out of their memory, we say, ayo karma. That means past memory is ruling them, they will never experience life, they will just recycle the same stuff. Barkha Dutt Is it possible to shed or leave behind memory? Sadhguru I'm sorry? Barkha Dutt Is it possible to shed or leave behind your memory? Sadhguru See you don't have to shed your memory, no, if you shed your memory, you will again walk into the same pits that you walked in in the past. (0:26:13)

Memory is not to be shed, it needs to be carried little loose, that it is not sticking to you all the time. See, your entire body right now is just memory. There is evolutionary memory, there is genetic memory, there is karmic memory, there is conscious, unconscious levels of memory, articulate and inarticulate levels of memory. In yoga we identify your existence as eight dimensions of memory. (0:26:43)

This whole thing is memory, isn't it? See, you may not remember how ten generations ago your great-grandmother looked like, but her nose is sitting on your face. Body remembers, isn't it? One hundred percent. It doesn't matter where you go, what you do in your life, this body retains every bit of that memory, isn't it? So this existence is memory. But do you want to use this body and this bank of memory that you have in your mind as a platform upon which you sit or do you want to carry this on your head? This is the difference. (0:27:15)

Being conscious means you sit on this platform. Being unconscious means you carry it on your head, the burden of it. You mentioned artificial intelligence. Are you worried about the future? No, this is the best time for me. See, if… let us say right now you have read ten thousand things and you remember all that. I have not read anything. So the value that you have is only the memory you have. (0:27:51)

But now I have a little gadget which knows a million times more than you know. So now what is the value for you and me? What kind of a human being I am is the only value, isn't it? What nonsense you carry in your head is of no value. (0:28:06)


So this is a great time for me. This is great time for humanity because now you being a human being will become more important than what nonsense you carry in your head. I am sorry this is head talk. So are you saying then that we are living in the best time in history? Definitely. Is there any question? Never before human survival was as well organized as it is today. (0:28:36)

And if you had to start your morning, you had to take a bucket and go to River Thames, which is a mile away and carry this bucket full of water. Tell me in this room, how many people are even fit enough to carry a bucket full of water for a mile? Now we are complaining because the warm water is not coming. (0:29:02)

There are two knobs you have to turn for warm and cold water. You want a single knob so people are freaking in the morning, two knobs have to handle. So survival is better organized than ever before. When our concern was survival, we couldn't pay attention to other dimensions of life. See, once you come as a human being, if you had come as any other creature, stomach full, life settled. (0:29:36)

Once you come as a human being, stomach empty, only one problem, stomach full, one hundred problems. Why this is so is, our life is not fulfilled with survival. When our survival is in question, we are just like any other creature. Only when survival is fulfilled, the dimensions of being human kicks in, into our experience. When you are thinking of where is my next meal, we don't expect you to be very human. (0:30:00)

You lose it in many ways. Now survival is settled for large part of humanity. Unfortunately, there are still populations for whom it's still a struggle. But I would say at least for sixty percent of the population on the planet, for the first time, survival is better organized than ever before. The world is safer than ever before, though people are constantly complaining. Well, we are talking about Sri Lanka. Yes, it's an unfortunate incident. (0:30:27)

But thousand years ago, if thousand people died just hundred miles away, you would be sitting here thinking world is super peaceful. Yes or no? Today, it's because of BBC that somebody dies somewhere, the blood flows into a sitting room. It's a good thing at least your humanity is being evoked. Otherwise it will sleep. So I'm saying in terms of violence, we are more peaceful than ever before. (0:31:03)

Our survival is organized better than ever before. And above all, our ability to communicate is better than ever before. These are not small things. Now the question is, what are we going to communicate? Are we going to abuse each other? Are we going to throw dirty things at each other? Or are we going to do something that will transform us as a generation? Because this is our time on the planet. (0:31:26)

Are we going to make this the greatest time in the world ever? Or are we going to let this pass? (0:31:32)


That's all we have on our hands. What else do we have? That's all we have. All we have is a little bit of time, isn't it? Hello? All we have is a little bit of time. But most people think they're immortal. That's why they don't do anything. Because they think only other people die. They don't understand you and me will die. When we are born, we are geared to die. (0:31:59)

So it's only a question of time. Time is ticking away right now. As you sit here, from the time we came and sat here, we're twenty minutes closer to our graves, all of us. Yes, if you're conscious, if you think about death once in a way, it'll become a morbid thought. But if you're conscious that you're mortal, you would organize your time in the most productive possible way, isn't it? (0:32:23)

Are you worried about global leadership though? I mean, you say we're living in the best time that we... it's the best time for us in terms of survival and technology. But if we look at the global phenomenons at the moment, I mean, even if we look at what's happening in this country with Brexit and identity politics, and people feeling like they need to belong to a certain type of thinking or group on either side of the spectrum, is that not dividing us more and more? (0:32:49)

See, I think this reaction is happening not just here, in many places across the world. I've been talking to media and others saying, don't push the pendulum too much on one side, it'll inevitably swing the other way round. So people have been pushing it too much on one side about politically being correct, saying the right word, not the right thing. (0:33:18)

The right word you must use. If I say mankind, women will react. I'm saying, is everybody so screwed up in their head, all the time they're discriminatory? I don't think so. Some people are, of course. But today it's become like this. You know, it was very natural for me, if you see a child, you want to pick up the child, you want to do something, you want to talk to them, you want to hug them, whatever, because it's like a fresh flower. (0:33:50)

But today, you don't know whether to touch the child or not, because people are making such a big deal about it. I am not saying there are no issues, there are serious issues, this which needs to be addressed. But at the same time, when we push it to a paranoia level, instead of taking necessary steps, we make it a paranoia among people, then the other swing is inevitably going to come. (0:34:15)

Now somebody is saying, don't worry about all this ecological nonsense, nothing is going to happen. Everything is fine, let us, you know, let's do everything as it is, because this is all rubbish, because you pushed it too much. This is very important to understand people who are concerned in this world. If you are a concerned human being, it's very important, whatever you think is right, you must not push it too much. (0:34:45)

If you push it too much, the reverse pendulum will anyway happen, you are seeing that right now. Talking about Brexit, is it okay? Because I think you already made up your mind. (0:34:53)


See, could you sell this idea to anybody in 1945? 1945, could you sell this idea that Germans, French, Italians, Spanish, English, all come together as a union? Could you even think, I'm asking, after World War II? So in fifty years' time, when such a thing happens, it's not just an economic arrangement, it's a huge step in human consciousness, that with people that you fought so bitterly, bitterly means it can't be any worse. (0:35:34)

Human beings can't find any worse than that. After that, within fifty years, when the generation is still alive, many members of that generation are still alive, you thought of coming together, it's not a small thing. It's not just economic arrangement, it's not just euro versus your pound or whatever. It is a tremendous step for humanity. But now you want to go back on it? (0:35:58)

It's done? On that note, I just want to open up to the audience and give you a chance to ask some questions from Sadhguru. Just stand up, introduce yourself and we'll start here on the front row. I'm Meenakshi and I work in technology, Sadhguru. So thrilled and privileged to be here, feeling blessed. (0:36:34)

Thank you. My question is that in Kali Yuga, is it possible to take the Advaitic meditative route to try and get your... get in touch with your consciousness without a guru and the guru mantra? Or should one pursue namasmarana and bhakti marga as the way one tries everything but is flapping in the wind? See, you're a technology person and I'm asking all of you. (0:37:01)

Well, each one of you may have your own religious beliefs or whatever, but please look at it sincerely. Your belief is only to a point of convenience, isn't it so? Are you willing to believe to such an extent? You have children? Children? So, are you willing to leave the future of your children in God's hands and leave it, just do namasmarana and leave them on the street? Because, arey, street is also in God's hands, right? Are you capable? No. Are you willing to leave your home doors open, your wealth, everything open, because God is there anyway? No, you do everything that matters to you. (0:37:47)

You're keeping God as insurance, all right? So, when you're in this state of mind, don't talk about devotion, it won't work. Devotion is a fantastic thing. Devotion is another dimension of intelligence. But with the kind of education that you've gone through and your intelligence has become very skewed just by exercising one aspect, that is the intellect. (0:38:20)

Right now, our education systems are exercising only one dimension of your intelligence, that is just the intellect. If I ask you a simple question, would you want your intellect to be sharp or blunt, all of you? Make a choice, I'm going to bless you. So, you want it sharp. So, essentially, it's a cutting instrument. So, let us say you have one knife in your hand and you want to do all the activity of your life with the knife. (0:38:54)

Well, you can cut things well with a knife. But if you want to stitch your clothes, you use a knife, you will inevitably be in tatters, isn't it? That's all that's happening today. (0:39:00)


Because you're exercising just one dimension of your intelligence, which is the intellect, which is a discriminatory sharp instrument, which slices open, dissects things. Now, I want to know something physical, I want to dissect it. Now, I want to know you, shall we dissect you? Is that the way to know you, I'm asking? If I dissect you, will I know anything about you? Is it possible, I'm asking? By embracing you, by including you, I may know something. By dissecting you, what will I know? What will work for a physical substance? (0:39:37)

You're trying to apply it to your own life. It's not going to work like this. See, the more educated people are becoming, the more disturbed they're becoming. Education should have settled them, isn't it? Education should have enhanced life. But tell me who is causing maximum damage on this planet, educated people or uneducated people? Hello? Educated people, isn't it? Educated people should have been the solution. (0:40:10)

Educated people are the problem. Simply because we are using a knife for everything. If you wonder, this thing, you know, there was a time when I was crisscrossing India on my motorcycle. So, one whole night I've been riding, I'm somewhere between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, I don't know which state, somewhere around there in the border. So, early morning around six-thirty, I end up at a tea shop, full night I've been riding. (0:40:33)

Then, you know, people who ride motorcycles, they will know one problem is always that every five-hundred kilometers those days, the chain will become slack. So, you have to take off a link and put it back, tighten the chain. This is a very easy job, but it's messy because of the grease and stuff, your hands will become messy. (0:40:56)

So, I'm just about preparing for breakfast, I'm not willing to mess. Then I see, on the opposite side, a shack which says, Mubarak Mechanical Works. Then I see a young boy there, and I say, hey, can you tighten my chain? He said, yes, yes, full enthusiasm. Then he goes inside and brings his tools. (0:41:14)

What he brings, he brings a chisel and a hammer. Then I say, what, you're going to do with that? He said, yeah, I can do it. I said, wait. Then I walk into his garage and look, only what he has is chisel and hammer. He can fix it, but after that, that's the end of it. (0:41:35)

So, right now, this is what you're trying to do. You're trying to fix everything with the sharpness of your intellect. You will become a mess. The more you do it, more mess you will become. You only satisfaction you have is, you know words and things that other people do not know, but you are a total mess. (0:41:54)

Yes, because the other dimensions of intelligence have not been opened up in this society, largely. Not everybody, but largely. The systems, there are no systems to open up other dimensions of intelligence. So when we say devotion, we're talking about a completely different dimension of intelligence. (0:42:08)


Devotion is not about belief. Devotion is not about going to a temple, church or mosque. Tell me, is there anybody in this world, either in sport, art, music, business, spirituality, whatever, has anybody done anything significant without being absolutely devoted to what they're doing? Has it happened? So devotion is another dimension of intelligence. If you exercise that, life will be very beautiful. (0:42:43)

But it does not mean that you can simply believe that it's devotion has become deception, because it's a deal. Right now the deal is like this, dear God, I will give you ten pounds, will you give me a million? I'm saying, when there's not a single idiot on the streets of London who is willing to make such a deal, how come the source of creation is willing to make such a deal with you? (0:43:02)

So what do you think of organized religion then? I generally don't think about it. It is not that it has no use. See, if there was no religion, a lot more people would have lost their mental balance. It is a very inexpensive way of psychiatry. No, I'm saying, see, I want you to understand, the line between sanity and insanity is so thin. Don't think there are insane people and sane people. (0:43:47)

Every one of you are crossing the line here and there. Some people are not able to come back, that's all the difference is. Yes or no? Well, aren't you saying with somebody, I'm mad at you? So you are not mad at anybody, you're just mad, that's all. You are able to go mad for some time and come back, so you think you're normal. (0:44:10)

Somebody went there and could not come back, it became a terrible problem, all right? So, do not assume sanity is some kind of an established status for you. No, today you may be perfect, tomorrow morning you may be gone, do you understand? It's very much possible. Like today you're healthy, tomorrow morning you may be talking about terminal illness, it's possible for any of us. (0:44:41)

So the same thing is possible with mental illnesses also. It is not to be taken lightly, but I'm talking about not exercising different dimensions of intelligence in a human being. Making an education system which is all like a factory extruder, everybody has to come of the same shape and form, this is causing enormous distress in human societies. Yes. It's really nice to be with you, Sadhguru. I wanted to know about Adiyogi, because I've learned and I studied some yoga for years and I never heard about Adiyogi except from you. (0:45:23)

Oh, you thought Madonna invented yoga, is it? The word Adiyogi means the first yogi. We don't know the exact time, but it's somewhere over 15,000 years ago. That much we know because of certain... certain relics we have found and certain things that have been said, certain astronomical phases that they've talked about. Based on this, we estimate it's over 15,000 years ago, we don't know the exact time. (0:45:59)

So the significance of Adiyogi is this, for the first time for the human beings, he said, if you are willing to strive, you can cross all the limitations that nature has set up for you. (0:46:14)


Only thing is if you're willing to strive. And above all, the most important thing of this is, he's the first one. I don't want to take the credit away from the English people. Charles Darwin spoke about evolution about hundred-and-fifty years ago. You had a 200th birth anniversary recently. So Adiyogi spoke of evolutionary process over 15,000 years ago. He spoke in a different language. (0:46:52)

When they asked how life happened, what is its beginning, what is its end, when his disciples asked him, he said, the first form of life was fish. Second form of life, he said, is a turtle of amphibious life. That means life is moving out of water, finding its way on the land. You Indian people know about the nine avatars. The next one is an animal, usually is called a wild boar because wild boar is supposed to be the most physical creature among the mammals. (0:47:26)

So he says, it's a wild boar. Next one is half man, half animal. Next one is a dwarf man. Next one is a full-fledged man, but emotionally volatile man. Next one is a peaceful man. Next one is a loving man. Next one is a meditative man. The next one which is yet to come is supposed to be a mystical man. (0:47:45)

That could be you. Because if you pull out a small thing in your hand and start speaking to somebody in India or America, you're quite mystical. If only... Yes. I'm saying if only you had a phone hundred years ago, you could claim you're God and people would have believed it. Yes or no? So he's not talking about individual people, he's talking about different stages of evolution. (0:48:17)

If you look at what Adiyogi spoke, in many ways it runs absolutely parallel to what Charles Darwin spoke hundred and fifty years ago. So he spoke about evolution and he said, till now evolution happened without your consent. Now you have the privilege to decide how far you want to evolve. This is the... he said, this is the most significant aspect of being human is this, that you decide your evolution. (0:48:44)

When you were a monkey, it's not my statement, it's Charles Darwin's. When you were a monkey, you did not decide, I want to become a human being. Nature just pushed you on for whatever reasons. But now that you're a human being, now you can decide what kind of a human being you want to be. (0:49:07)

This moment you can be like a brute, next moment you can be godlike. Both are possible for you right here. So he said the most significant dimension of being human is you determine your evolution. This is the only creature on the planet who has that freedom to do that. He said this is the most important thing and he gave 112 methods through which a human being can evolve to their ultimate nature. (0:49:31)

So that's why Adiyogi. Namaskaram Sadhguru. I would like to know about science of consecration and if I'm worthy of knowing it, how do I go about it? Sadhguru Well, we must congratulate Yalda, because in the next three weeks, she will be a mother. (0:49:56)


This is terrible gender discrimination, because only women are ever allowed this privilege. So, she was talking to me about how she's conscious when there is a situation in any place, given place without any logic to it, conscious of certain energies and how different people and different forms and different spaces impact you. So the science of consecration is just this. (0:50:44)

The best material to consecrate is a human being. Because of all the physical forms on this planet, this is the most evolved physical form. The easiest thing to consecrate is a human being. But the problem with the human being is, every few minutes they'll make a U-turn. You can consecrate them right now, by tomorrow morning, we don't know. So first of all, to get them committed to stay with whatever is given to them is a big issue, especially in today's world. (0:51:16)

Because of that, we consecrate other forms. We always want to choose a form or a substance, first of all, which is of the highest density possible, because physical form, its strength and its integrity depends upon its density. So we normally solidify mercury to do this. This is called as rasa vaidya, which means it is the technology of solidifying mercury. (0:51:39)

People think it's a miracle. No, it's not a miracle. We use mercury as a process of consecration. The idea is, it will change the very energy in which you are. Well, today, our modern science is still busy studying physical things. Everything physical about you has been gathered from outside, isn't it so? Hello? What you call as my body is just a piece of this planet. (0:52:10)

You slowly gather it by the food that you eat. So if everything physical about you is just something else, not you, what you gathered cannot be you. What is you? Definitely there is a dimension beyond physicality. If you ignore that, there's simply no life. But right now, still the logic, the human logic, which thinks it is scientific is still at this level of logic that except what I can measure on the instrument does not exist. (0:52:45)

So actually all of you do not exist because you cannot be measured. This happened to me. I don't subject myself to these indignities anymore. Way back, because of some obligation, I had to... I was in some institute, they said, we want to measure your gamma waves. I didn't know I had gamma waves. They said, no, there are gamma waves in your brain, we will measure it. (0:53:09)

So they put 14 electrodes into my body and they said, meditate. I said, I don't know how to meditate. They said, you teach everybody meditation. Yes, I do because they don't know how to sit still. If you want, I will sit still. But this is the whole problem. Their problem is they want what kind of meditation. They want a name and the process and they want to measure the result. (0:53:35)

So I'm not going to give them that pleasure. I said, if you want, I'll sit still. So I simply sat. (0:53:41)


After about 20 minutes, with some metallic object, they're hitting that funny place in your elbow, you know, where it hurts most. Then I thought it's part of their experiment and I sat there. Then they're hitting my ankle, my knee. It became quite consistent and painful. Then I opened my eyes and said, am I doing something wrong? Why am I being beaten? They said, no, according to our instruments, you are dead. (0:54:17)

I said, this is a great diagnosis. But then they thought through and they said, no, it looks like your brain is dead. I said, I will stay with the first opinion. I am dead like this is okay with me. Brain dead if you give me a certificate. That's not going to be good. Why I'm saying this is, the essential life that you are, you think you are going to measure it in some instrument? (0:54:47)

Only physical processes will measure, isn't it? And you know, everything physical about you is from outside. It's not yours. It's not yours, it's just a piece of the planet. So you can't be measured, so you don't exist. What a great conclusion are you making? So what is consecration is a dimension of energy which is not physical in nature, but it's life, concentrated life, let's say. (0:55:17)

Consecration is a way of creating a very concentrated life process. If you walk in, it's like that. So in certain cultures, particularly in India, every street we consecrated at one time. But people slowly misunderstood thinking these are temples for worship, whatever, it all went into all kinds of things. But still, there are fantastic spaces of consecration in that culture, you must come and experience this. (0:55:41)

These days, they're measuring some bio stuff and all, they're saying some fantastic things happening, I don't know what their meters are. But I know this, Yelda is saying she knows this, if you walk into a space, you know how alive or dead that space is. So is it measurable by something? No. Only life knows life. When life meets life, it knows. When life meets death, it knows. (0:56:04)

Is there some instrument to measure this? No, because all your instruments can only measure physical processes. So consecration is the concentrated life process. No human being should live in unconsecrated spaces. If you care for humanity, especially children, especially children below fourteen years of age, believe me, if you make sure they spend a certain amount of time in consecrated spaces, you will not have any of this nonsense about adolescence problems. See, right now, toddler… if you're an infant, diaper problems, toddler means he's running away problems, adolescent means some other problem, middle age means crisis, old age means horrible. When are you going to live, I'm asking? You're looking at life process as a problem. (0:56:55)

It's not a problem. You're making it a problem because you're trying to fit life into your intellect. No, your intellect fits into this life perfectly well. If you try to fit this life into this intellect, it's not going to work. So consecration is a dimension and a science and a technology with which you concentrate life in such a way, if you walk in, you… whole energy system bursts forth. (0:57:25)

You will see we have created spaces like this. If people just walk in, sheer intensity, simply tears start flowing. They don't know why. Simply the intensity of the place, simply tears start coming. You must… every day, your cheek should be washed with tears of love, joy and ecstasy. If this doesn't happen, you're not living yet. (0:57:40)


Sadhguru, we've just got a few more minutes left, but I wondered… I mean, it was such a beautiful thought that you've just left us with, but I wondered if there was some final thought or a mantra or something that you can leave our audience with before they go home. See, this is what I would like to change. To learn ABC, just twenty-six alphabets in English language. (0:58:18)

If you come to Tamil language, two-hundred-and-twelve alphabets at least, it's complicated. Only twenty-six alphabets. Tell me, how many years did you spend just learning the alphabet and learning to use it? Your basic education till high school, this all you're doing, learning to use the language and using the language so that you can understand whatever comes your way, this all, at least twelve years? Twelve years you spent, one solar cycle that's called in yoga. One solar cycle you spent just to learn a language to communicate with people. (0:58:54)

But to transform your life, you want a two-minute mantra. That is what she was trying to say because certain people told you that if you just utter this so many syllables, everything will be transformed. I'm not saying it is not possible. It is possible because sound has the power to transform if you use the sound right. But what level of preparation are you, is the question. (0:59:35)

If you throw such a small seed somewhere, it will become a huge tree. But only if the soil is fertile, isn't it? If you put it here on this platform, will it grow? So, what have we done to ourselves, what is the level of preparedness we have, this is the issue. All of you, I could just initiate you into a powerful meditation process, just like that, in two minutes, if only certain level of preparedness was there. (1:00:02)

But to do this, a few minutes of initiation, normally in our basic program, we spend thirty to thirty-two hours of preparation, because everybody is invested in all kinds of identities. People keep asking me, Sadhguru, what is the secret, how did you become like this? Told them, this is all I did, never identified myself with anything. The moment your intelligence gets identified with something, you must understand this, the nature of the intellect is such, suppose you identify that you are a woman, now your intellect keeps on doing rounds around that, protecting this gender all the time. (1:00:46)

Now you say, I'm English, now it will go only around that, protecting that. Now you say, I'm a particular religion, now it will go only around that. Whatever is your identity, your intellect will serve only that. The moment you identify yourself with something, you have subjugated your intelligence to just self-defense and protection and survival. (1:01:10)

The intellect could have been a penetrating force to reveal life to you, instead you're using it to fight life, other life, because it's a defense mechanism. The moment I have an identity, I have to defend it, isn't it? Just to be here, without any sense of who the hell I am, you actually don't know who the hell you are. (1:01:25)


Hello? Assumed stuff, isn't it? Only because you dip into your memory. So if suppose Mr. Alzheimer visits you, suddenly you don't know who the hell you are. Even now you don't know, this is an assumption based on the accumulated memory. So if you just learn this one thing, before you go to bed tonight, everything that you are not, keep it aside and go to bed, okay? (1:01:55)

Say right now this clothing, is this you? No. So you understand this not me. It's not that physically you have to keep it aside. I'm saying, you know this is not me. Is this me? This is not me. Is this body me? This is accumulated, this can't be me, isn't it? It is said, if you live here for about seventy-five years, you approximately eat, depending upon your diet of course, you approximately eat between twelve to fourteen hundred tons of food. (1:02:35)

Are you carrying it right now? Hello? Those of you who are middle-aged, are you carrying at least six hundred tons? Where is it? What you thought was my body is coming and going all the time, isn't it? It's not even the same body. It's coming and going all the time. So this is not me, if you keep it aside. (1:02:53)

All the impressions that you have gathered, you also gathered from outside, keep that aside. Everything that's not you, just keep it aside and go to bed. And see, if you can just be little conscious till that last moment till you fall asleep. Most people don't know when they fall asleep. Most people, when I say most, I'm being generous with percentages, ninety-nine. If you make a little effort, just a little effort, a few days, if you make an effort to stay conscious till you fall asleep, you will see you will wake up like a newborn baby, every day. (1:03:34)

And it's important. Why… in a wonderful way, you will see the baby. What do you think he's trying to do? He's drinking life. You will become like that. Why? Because you're just living in the capsule of your memory, you think you already got it. If you got it, you must be dead, isn't it? So people are practicing death in installments. See, if you're really super alive, it's fantastic. If you're dead, it's good. (1:04:12)

But if I want to torture you, what will I do? I will not kill you. I will make you half alive. That's torture, isn't it? This is what is self-inflicted for most human beings right now. They're keeping themselves half alive and they're wondering why life is such a torture. I just asked a simple question about a year, a year and a half ago when I was in London. I was speaking to a very prominent group of people. (1:04:41)

I asked, how many people in London city can sit in the evening peacefully even without a glass of wine? They clearly said less than one percent. So to be healthful, you need a chemical. (1:04:54)


Today, seventy percent of the people are on prescription medication of some sort. To be peaceful, you need chemicals. To be joyful, you need chemicals. To be ecstatic, of course you have ecstasy. I'm saying for everything, if you need chemicals from outside, this is not a moral issue for me. The concern is this, if ninety percent of the population is doing chemicals to be healthful, joyful, peaceful, everything, the next generation that you produce will be less than you. (1:05:28)

This is a crime against humanity. Next generation should be at least one step ahead of us. But if you produce a generation which behind you, you're seeing this, you're beginning to see this everywhere. If you produce a generation which is less than you, you have committed a serious crime against humanity. This will happen in a big way if we don't go off chemicals, both prescribed and otherwise. (1:05:55)

(2024-12-03)