Participant: Sadhguru, what is devotion?
Sadhguru: Every emotion, every experience that you go through in your life, is after all your making.
If only you could be conscious that anyway it is your making, you would definitely choose
the sweetest way to be.
Devotion is not only the sweetest way to be, it is also the highest form of intelligence.
But people who claim to be devotees usually happen to be a bunch of idiots.
So people who think they are intelligent always strive to stay away from any form of devotion.
What devotion means…
Devotion does not mean going to the temple, mosque or church and doing a particular form of ritual.
Devotion simply means that in your life, whichever moment in your life when you are aware that
there is something larger than yourself functioning around you, there is no other way, you will be devout.
When you are overwhelmed, if you are sensitive enough, if you are intelligent enough,
if you are sensible enough to see that something far bigger than you is constantly in function,
then you are naturally a devotee there is no other way to be.
You may not be bowing down, you may not be performing a ritual, you may not be sitting in a temple,
you may not be doing any of those standard things which are expected.
You may be not dressed like one, maybe your clothes are not printed with God’s name (Laughs).
Maybe you never uttered God’s name in your mouth but if you are aware, if you are conscious
that something far larger than you is in function right now,
you are naturally a devotee, there is no other way to be.
When you are obsessed by the power of your muscle or the power of your mind or
what silly little things that you can do and you think that’s everything, only then you are not a devotee.
In that condition, you cannot be a devotee. When you think you are everything you cannot be a devotee.
When you see the reality of life that you are just a small happening here
and something far larger than you is always in function, if you are aware of this,
if this is a living reality for you, you are always a devotee. I have never said this before (Laughs).
I hesitate to say this because the word will spread and spoil my reputation (Laughs) that I am a devotee.
(Laughs) ‘Oh come on Sadhguru, you a devotee? You are arrogant’ (Laughs).
It takes a lot, takes a lot to look arrogant (Laughs).
‘What kind of devotee are you? Oh you must be Shiva’s devotee.’ Shiva is my partner.
This’ll be very hard for you to digest I am devoted to you (Laughs).
Whether you understand this or not, it's very difficult to understand this - devotion does not mean
that I have to bow down to you or touch your feet or sing your praises. In every way I live for you - that’s devotion.
I took this very birth to make this happen for you and that’s devotion.
When you hold someone’s well-being above your own, that’s devotion.
What a devotee does with absolute ease many other people do it with great struggle.
Just to keep this little fellow aside, what a lot of struggle (Laughs)! What a lot of struggle! Lifetimes of struggle!
Standing on your head, holding your breath, going…crawling on the ground and all kinds of things.
Devotion is just a simple sweet beautiful way, of just keeping yourself aside.