It is a common notion among people that spirituality is a rich person’s area.
So even if you look at the people who have gathered around here, we’re all pretty much
well off, and once we have earned for ourselves, we then find time to do yoga, or meditation,
or look into our inner being.
But as we discussed all through… throughout the whole discussion till now – there are…
yes, you yourself have said that five-hundred million people are still malnourished and
there are so many people in this country who are daily-wage workers who… who at that
point of time, spirituality and learning of their inner being would not there…would
not be the most important thing for them.
Their most important thing would be feeding themselves and their children for the next
meal.
Sadhguru: Really you think so?
You do one thing.
You go to any so called spiritual event in the country, will you see rural masses there
or people like you in denims?
(Applause) Who will you see, hmm?
Questioner 3: Yeah, yeah…
Sadhguru: So, don’t make conclusions which are not even true.
Are we trying to prove something or are we trying to look at truth?
The truth of this nation is, we have kept our populations in extreme abject poverty.
Nourishment is missing, leave anything else, nourishment is missing.
In spite of that…
I must tell you this, people ask me these questions wherever I go in the world, “Sadhguru,
so many spiritual teachers and masters, so many great beings have come in India but why
are we so poor?
Why is India so poor?
Where is the spirituality?”
Well, you know this.
Two-hundred-and-fifty years ago we were the richest nation on the planet.
Everybody wanted to come to India.
Why do you think a Vasco da Gama or that Columbus who made that mistake, all these people set
off in the oceans that they did not know and over hundred expedition… expeditions in
the ocean drowned, nobody ever wrote about them, all right - because nobody writes about
people who drown in the oceans.
So, why was everybody in Europe trying to come to India?
Because it was the most prosperous nation.
Well, in two-hundred-and-fifty years we got cleaned up, we can’t…
well, somebody did it to us because we can’t just blame them because it is also ourselves
who allowed that thing to happen to ourselves.
Now we are trying to build back, all right?
But even though you kept them in such abject poverty, wherever these people went, they
made sure not a bit of the local culture remained.
Just look at North America, South America, Australia and large parts of Africa, anywhere,
this one culture, after thousand years of invasions, we’ve still kept our culture
and our spiritual process - not for nothing!
Where we are, you know, where our yoga center is, there is a police station about twelve
kilometers away.
This police station is supposed to service nearly a quarter million people in different
levels of economic situations, all right?
Some are rich farmers, some are medium, some are really poor, there are tribal communities,
everything.
There are only (Sounds like – to/till?) now… in the last thirty years I’ve been
there, at a time there was only seven, eight policemen with a ASI (Referring to assistant
sub-inspector of police).
Today, there are about fourteen to fifteen policemen with a SI – this is an upgrade
that happened three years ago.
Otherwise, even now, with these fourteen policemen two or three will be on leave because of something
or the other, and three, four are on night duty.
Hardly seven, eight policemen for quarter million people, and these are poor people
living in small huts.
People are driving in Mercedes cars up and down but they never pounced on them, killed
them and took what they have.
It never happened.
This is spirituality if you’ve not… if you’ve forgotten this, this is spirituality
(Applause), you understand?
Well, you don’t stretch this too far, you don’t take their spirituality fo… too
far.
You have to settle what they need in their lives as quickly as possible otherwise they
won’t hold for too long.
But it is because of that spiritual process we as a nation have survived in spite of all
the abuse that’s happened to us and don’t say rural masses don’t have spirituality,
they are the ones who are really on, urban masses are losing it, isn’t it?
Questioner: No, my question wasn’t towards rural masses, mine is like…
Sadhguru: No, poor…
Questioner: … for example, I’ll just…
Sadhguru: Poverty, right?
Questioner: Not… not poverty as such but for people who are working every day, like
for example the maid in my house, for example, she let’s say she works in five-six different
houses, she probably is able to make 4000, 5000 a month and at that point of time she
would try to… the most important thing going in her mind would be educating her children,
probably feeding herself.
I am saying that they do deserve to…
Sadhguru: Yes.
Questioner: …have the self-awareness and the spirituality but how… how will we…
Sadhguru: Okay, how will we do it?
If you do not know this – seventy percent of our work is in rural India, where the poorest
of the poor are, okay?
Poorest of the poor are in rural India, seventy percent of our work is in rural India and
it’s free.
It’s free of cost.
You walk with me in Tamil Nadu - you go into a village, the entire village will gather
not for money, not for something else because they know there is (are?) some tools of transformation
which they can make use of.
So, in the city there is money involved simply because you want it in a air-conditioned room.
Air-conditioning is on right now, whether I pay or you pay or somebody else pays, somebody
is paying for it, isn’t it?
If you don’t understand this, you have no sense of economy.
That’s a biggest problem in the country - people have no sense of economy so they
are always asking for welfare schemes, “Give me this, give me that.”
But whether I pay or you pay, somebody is paying, isn’t it?
If what is paid is not accounted for, it’s not going to work.
This is the reason why we are poor because we are not conducting our economics properly.
Now spiritual process is about inner strength - especially if (Sounds like – we/you?)
are going through hardships, inner strength is most important or no?
That is the time to remove it.
Is it there for the rural masses?
Definitely there, much more than…
Seventy percent of our time we are investing but when I come to the city, when I come to
Delhi, activists come and invite me, “Why are you only meeting the rich and powerful?
Why are you not coming to the slum?”
I said, “The whole goddamn country is a slum and I’m traveling all over.
When I come to Delhi I want to meet only the rich and powerful, let it be very clear to
you.
I’m not going to come to the slum in Delhi because the entire country is a slum if you’ve
not seen.”
Moderator: So this is a question we were sent.
And the context of this question as I understand is that previously our understanding of gurus
or mystics were individual... individuals who meditated and were in penance in forests
(Sadhguru laughs), who were not attached to…
I mean who are not attached or concerned with businesses.
So a question we were sent is that now we see a lot of mystic individuals who have huge
foundations, who have companies.
Some of whom who have gone into production of foods and soaps.
So, the question here is that is this…
Sadhguru: Toothpaste…
That’s the most popular (Laughter).
Moderator: So the question here is that, is this a healthy trend that you have individuals
who you otherwise identified as individuals, devoid of material pleasures, or away from
material pleasures, or away from businesses are now actually turning to them?
Sadhguru: Well, you have not yet managed a business.
Managing a business is definitely not a pleasure (Laughs), okay?
But I know who is in the focus right now (Laughter).
See, I was (Laughs)…
I had a… some kind of a conference in Chennai.
And somebody came to pick me up and the driver was driving.
He’s a regular driver.
He goes behind what is in front of him.
And it’s getting late.
I have a reputation to keep, that in these thirty-seven years I have not been late to
a single event in my life (Applause).
Though in one day I may have three, four, five events, still I have not been late to
one.
So I want to get there.
This guy is going at his own pace in the traffic.
So I said, “You get out” and I took the wheel, and I did some force driving.
That was in Tamil Nadu.
The Andhra Pradesh police cannot do anything about it (Laughter).
So I did some force driving and just made it in time.
The security gate at the hotel, you know these days they are stopping you, opening your bonnet,
checking your engine and your boot.
Nobody knows what they are looking for (Laughter).
After that…
After that Mumbai event, unfortunately everybody has to go through this.
So the car in front of me went and the gate opened.
I just went through and they were screaming.
I came into the portico, stopped, left the car there and ran into the conference.
There was some journalist standing there.
After I finished the thing and I came back, they said, “In ancient times yogis, used
to walk (Few laugh).
You drive your own car, what kind of a yogi are you?”
Then I said, “You idiot, in ancient times, everybody was walking (Laughter/Applause).
Not just a yogi.”
So…
Moderator: So mystics keep with the times?
Sadhguru: Hmm?
Moderator: So mystics keep with the times?
Sadhguru: Oh, they were always contemporary (Laughter).
The problem…
The problem is most people’s idea of a mystic is the Sivakasi calendar (Few laugh), where
one man is sitting under the tree with a constipated look on his face (Laughter).
That is a calendar art.
That is not a mysticism, all right?
The mystics of the day…
Well, look at anybody.
If you call Krishna a mystic, he was working with the kings all the time because he wanted
to transform the political system.
If you see Gautama Buddha, always working with the kings, because he wants to transform
the political system.
Without transforming the political system, people will not benefit.
So always, the gurus were always around the kings not because of their palaces, because
of their concern - unless the one who rules transforms himself, there will be no benefit
for the people.
Right from ages, you go back wherever you want - always they were around the kings not
looking for crumbs in the palace but simply because unless you transform that one fool,
the country will not change (Applause).