Questioner: Namaskaram Sadhguru. The first question is from Lavanya, "Sadhguru, two days ago you said that
virus doesn't want to kill you and your body is their habitat. A few people who claim
they are intellectuals on Twitter are making fun of this statement, out of context. Can you clarify,
is this really true that virus doesn't want to cause death?"
Sadhguru: Well, except human beings, no other creature wants to destroy its habitat.
It's only human beings who are known to do that. So, they also don't do it by intent,
unconsciously they do it. Similarly virus also does it unconsciously.
It wants to live in you, but it over does its act and you and me may die.
Well, I must tell you this, I was seventeen years of age. By then, you know, I...
I had measles, I had typhoid and relapse. I had smallpox, (Gestures) see I have proof on my nose (Laughs).
All kinds of things... any... anything and everything young children or boys can get but through all this,
I never really... it never really put me down. Even when I had typhoid relapse,
running high temperature I was still playing games and doing things. Only advantage was,
you didn't have to go to school so I like these things. Whatever they called it, I really liked it
because you didn't have to go to school, you were officially bunking (Laughs).
But when I was seventeen I got a cholera. But I saw this damn thing,
within two hours after I realized I have this, it just knocked me down cold.
Well, I am like almost unconscious. I hear my mother, my grandmother all crying,
"Oh, we lost the boy, we lost the boy." And my grandmother is feeling my nose,
"My God no... nose is gone cold, he is finished." Everybody's crying and my father is like... he's a doctor.
He is trying to do whatever he can. Then two more doctors came
and really I was just passing out completely. Just within two hours. But by next day evening I sat up.
The second day, I got up and started moving out. They said, "You cannot move out."
And they locked me up in the room but I said, "At least let me be on the terrace."
So that I can move around a little bit. Then they let me be on the terraces.
Then this bothered me, some... till now many things I've had, I enjoyed them because they
prevented me from going to school. But here, this damn whatever
knocked me down in such a way that I almost died. So I wanted to know something,
these are not the days of internet and Google, you can just ask.
So I went into the school library and inquired with th librarian and she gave me a book on pathogens.
I had not heard that word till then because I rarely went to the biology class.
So I read through this book, it had various kinds of things and what they do and everything.
Then it was bothering me, how is this... this some little thing that I can't even see can take me off like this.
Then I came and had a conversation with my father. He was an accomplished doctor
and then he explained many things to me and I said, "I don't like this, this damn thing knock me off almost.
What is this?" Then he was telling me many things about what these things are, that never left me,
I even now remember every word that he said and what I read in that book also,
because this was experiential challenge for me. It was a life threatening kind of stuff that happened to me.
So I was not fearful but it was like being beaten in a hockey match or a cricket match, you know.
That's the kind of feeling I have (Laughs). So, what are pathogens, whether it's bacteria or virus,
there are many varieties of them. One thing is… right now for example Corona,
see it was living in the animals pretty well without killing any of them.
Now it jumped onto the human being and it's still doing the same thing what it was doing in some other animal.
But we are not able to withstand and we are collapsing. Well, that also has been clearly established now
most human beings whose immune systems are good they are recovering.
But those who have a weaker immune system are unfortunately becoming victims of this.
What does it say? It simply says that it wants to live but it lives so aggressively that we may die.
Well, many scientists are talking about it but even what I read at that time I was only seventeen,
I want you to remember this. Even then it was explained, I don't remember the author's name
otherwise I would have quoted this. Even then they clearly explained that most of the viruses and bacteria
which enter us, who are within us right now, who are in many ways assisting our life process, not harming us.
They were at one time... could have been very harmful but they understand if they live like that
they will destroy their own habitat. So they will mutate into something milder over a period of time
and then learn to live with us. They were living with other animals comfortably,
other animals survived comfortably with them. They were also... this is the nature of life
that one inside the other, one inside the other, so many life forms,
trillions of life forms are all living enmeshed into each other. We are also that;
trillions of bacteria and virus are living in this (Gestures) right now.
But, like for example, if you do a Mantoux test, Indians I'm saying, because right now
in the last three, four weeks we are looking who is a foreigner, who is an Indian.
Not because of any racial discrimination, we want to know where they came from,
did they come from Italy or China, where did they come from? See now Italy is ahead of China.
Very unfortunate situations. But these... like for example, if you do Mantoux test for Indians,
almost all of us will fail Mantoux test. Mantoux test is for tuberculosis bacteria.
Almost all Indians will fail this test because all of us have substantial amount of tuberculosis bacteria in us,
but we don't have tuberculosis as a disease. Well, so they came up with another name,
they're calling it primary complex or whatever else that happens in children, but that shows some symptoms.
All of us have this bacteria, we will fail the Mantoux test, but we have no symptoms of tuberculosis in us
because we have learned to live with them. They have learned to live with us.
They know if they get... if they live too aggressively, as we are living on this planet right now,
they know they will leave... they will lose their habitat. So they will mutate themselves to be milder life.
So this is not some new rocket science. It's always been there,
at least in the last hundred years it has been there. So, these people who claimed to be intellectuals,
well it looks like they didn't even go to their pre-university because I was in my pre-university at that time
when I read this. It was part of our library, so it must have been probably in the textbook also,
but I didn't read the textbook. Maybe these intellectuals did not even get to their pre-university.
They think the qualification to be on Twitter is that they must have a birdbrain (Laughter).
They think that's the qualification to tweet. Well, it's unfortunate at a time like this,
at a time like this when there is an imminent disaster waiting ahead of us, for the nation, for the world,
to a point where countries are putting out their armed forces against their own people right now.
You need to understand how serious that is. How serious is it
that entire United States Army is out there to prevent their people from coming on the street.
Indian police is out there on the streets, aggressively enforcing it.
That's because they realize how serious a matter it is. But even at a time like this,
these people can not stand up and do something useful and positive for somebody around them,
all they do is just this rubbish. They got a doctorate or they became doctors on the Twitter?
(Laughs), avian doctors at least they should become.
Well, it's very unfortunate, there is a segment of population which doesn't care what happens
to people around them, which doesn't care what happens to the nation,
it doesn't care what happens to the rest of the humanity. All they have is
their own vitriol - spilling poison all the time. Well, I hope at least the virus will cure them of this poison.
These few days... (Applause) These few days of being with themselves, I hope
they stand up and do something useful. Please do something, whoever you are, I don't know who they are.
Whoever you are, who's talking this rubbish, please do something useful. What is this problem?
I know what is your problem, I don't want to address that now. Right now there is an imminent disaster.
If we do not handle this situation right, we are heading for a major disaster
where millions of lives could just get wiped out. When such a situation is there, all you can do is this?
When I said this is not the time to go about criticizing our healthcare system or our health ministry,
this is not the time! This is a time everybody stands up and does something,
whatever little positive things we can do in our lives. Because this is not ordinary time.
As a generation of people we have never faced this kind of a situation, let people understand this.
We have never ever faced this kind of a situation. This is a bigger emergency than the wars
you have had in your countries. This is a bigger emergency than anything that you have known.
It can pass off without too much disaster if we behave responsibly and do the necessary positive action.
This is what I request them also, it doesn't matter even if the size of their brain is that of a bird.
Even birds can contribute I am saying.