Questioner: So another topic that is like very sensitive but, it’s not talked about as much
is casual relationships that exist in this nice age group that we’re in (Few laugh).
So, yeah I’m just going to say good things about us.
So, people engage in physical relationships today and what they lack is a lot of emotions
and we want to know if it’s, it’s opinion… I mean your opinion on it, and
whether people do it by choice, is it healthy, is it, you know, what to make of it?
Sadhguru: Can I tell you a joke?
Questioner: Yes, I like jokes, yeah, yeah (Few laugh).
Sadhguru: There was one Mrs. Bhatia, nobody Bhatias (Laughter)?
I could change the name (Few laugh).
There was one Mrs. Bhatia, who was having her 50th wedding anniversary.
They had a wedding anniversary and the next day she filed for divorce.
The judge saw the divorce petition, he was also a good family friend so he called her
and he said, “Why you want to divorce your husband?
He’s such a sweet little thing (Few laugh).
Why do you want to divorce him?
On what grounds you want to divorce him?”
She said “He has not been faithful to me, he’s been cheating me.”
“How do you come to this conclusions, just yesterday you had your 50th wedding anniversary,
you were fine yesterday, how do you conclude this?”
“I got little nostalgic
and started flipping through the photo album, then I saw none of my five children resemble him (Laughter).”
So (Laughs)… see right now, do you remember
how your great, great, great, great, great grandmother ten generations ago looked like?
You don’t!
But her nose is sitting on your face right now.
Your body remembers, yes or no?
Participant: Yes.
Sadhguru: Your body remembers even the skin tone of your forefathers a million years ago,
it still remembers, not forgotten.
So, what you’re calling as my body is an enormous amount of memory, isn’t it?
What you carry in your brain as memory is minuscule,
what you carry in your body – there is evolutionary memory,
there is genetic memory, there is karmic memory,
there are articulate and inarticulate levels of memory,
there is so much memory.
You know…
You think you know how to walk right now,
please understand only because your body has built up that memory,
if your body forgets, you won’t be able to walk.
So the amount of memory for every simple thing that you do,
you know what to eat, what not to eat,
how to eat, you must put it in your mouth not in your ears.
This may look funny but you would not know if you don’t remember.
So your body is a repository of tremendous amount of memory and it’s picking up all the time.
If you walk from here to here (Gestures) there maybe fifty different kinds of mild smells,
you may not consciously notice but the body is picking it up and it recognizes.
All the time it’s recognizing,
that’s how you know what is good smell, what is bad smell, this is this smell, that is…
you recognize the different aspects of sound, smell, this, that
because constant recognition is happening.
So, this body memory, traditionally in this culture, we called this as runanubandha.
That means physical memory that you build.
You can either consciously build your physical memory, or you can simply take in wild amounts of memory
and go through lots of physical confusion.
So, wherever there is impact…
I don’t know if you still have these things, maybe in your generation is gone,
but still there will be people in Bangalore City,
if you ask them to… if you try to give them salt, they won’t take it, they’ll say, “Keep it there.” Hmm?
If you try to give them sesame seeds, they will say, “Please, keep it there,”
because they have recognized many substances which can easily carry your memory
and it will become mine if I take it.
So, I don’t want to take in memory.
This is the reason why generally in this culture, touching each other, shaking hands, these things are avoided.
We touch our own two hands and do Namaskaram, because we don’t want to go on picking up memory.
Because if I as much as touch this, this memory, it remembers.
You try this with four of your friends, you touch their hands.
Don’t try to consciously remember, every day touch their hands, forget about it.
Tomorrow, if that person comes and touches you, you know it’s this hand, isn’t it?
So, the body remembers, it’s not the mind.
The physical body remembers; this is called as runanubandha.
When there is a sexual interaction, or there is any kind of intimacy which involves thought,
emotion and body, the amount of memory that is left in your system is very big.
It is from this context, they said, “You must keep this as simple as possible.”
There are other aspects where, in certain tantric process and all they are involving,
they are preparing themselves for years to distance themselves from the body in such a way,
that the body doesn’t pick up anything from anywhere.
This is being done like a sadhana, not as sexual promiscuity.
So, the question is not of morality,
the question is of what is it that you want to do with yourself in your life.
If you want to be in such a way
that in your life, your inner intelligence will be the most dominant thing in your life,
not your physical body,
then you must keep the body’s memory as simple as possible.
This is why simple types of food.
You know, people go into very simple kind of food, not complicated.
Even now, I eat one meal a day, and I eat only one item in the meal, I won’t eat ten.
I may eat all of those things another day, but today I’ll eat only one item because it makes a huge…
Just experiment and see, don’t go by what I’m saying.
Just experiment and see especially when your examination time comes,
eat simple food and see what a difference it makes,
for your intelligence how it functions, how alert you are, everything.
So, what is it that you are trying to build yourself to?
Do you want to build yourself to be a sexual supernova or (Laughter)…
No, I’m saying, some people may have that intention. That’s up to them.
But what is it that you want to do with your life, is something that you must decide.
If you have decided that, it’s very, very important
that you don’t unconsciously pick up enormous amount of memory because this will lead to…
later on you will see, it’ll become very difficult to remain peaceful and joyful in your life.
No matter what good things may be happening, simply because there is confusing memories
in the system.
When something else of similar nature comes, the body goes into a turmoil of confusion.
It may not translate into your mind.
Just physically, it will go on, so it's a choice that one has to make.
It’s not a question of morality, it is a question of living sensibly (Applause).