- Well the word guru means, "gu" means darkness,
"ru" means dispeller.
One who dispels your darkness is a guru.
That means you walked in, this light, this LED light,
is your guru. Because it dispelled your darkness.
Physically, right now you can see things the way they are
because there is light.
So, other dimensions of life for which you can't turn on
a torchlight, or a tube light, or a LED light,
there you need a different kind of light
for subjective dimensions of your life.
Where you can't put on an outside light,
you need some kind of light to whatever opens up
that dimension for you. That's your guru.
- And why is that a four letter word?
- [Sadhguru] Because it is four letters
(both laughing)
- [Rose] You know, lately on the internet, I seem to see
a lot of gurus popping up from different places,
and sometimes I don't know if they're going to dispel me
from the darkness. Is this a phenomenon of social media,
where (is cut off)
- [Sadhguru] I called it a four letter word
because of the many ugly ways in which
it is being used today
- [Rose] Okay. Incorrectly.
- [Sadhguru] So, I wouldn't say incorrectly,
I would say ugly.
- [Rose] Okay.
- I would say, now the question that you're asking is
"How do I know somebody is really a guru?
"Or somebody is just going to take me into more darkness?"
The simple thing is this: you never believe
what people say. Just look at them, how they are.
Has it worked for the guy who is talking about it?
If you think that it's worked for him,
please listen to him. If you think that it has not
worked for him, don't worry even if he's talking
with the biggest things, there's no point.
It has not worked for that guy, what's the point?
(laughing)
- [Rose] That's simple.
- It is.
- [Rose] In India, there's a long history
and tradition of gurus.
- [Sadhguru] Yes, we have seen absolutely fantastic gurus
out there in the tradition. Not one or two, many thousands.
But, because we have been under a serious invasions
for a thousand years, we have been an occupied nation
for thousands of years, we have systematically had
people try to destroy the spiritual culture
and the force of that nation.
Because India is a nation, if you look at it culturally.
As to the mechanics of any making of a nation,
is the sameness. Sameness of language, sameness of religion,
sameness of race, sameness of ethnicity,
something like this, some sameness.
See right now, why do you want Brexit?
Because they are all speaking different languages,
different cultures, different everything.
We are English. It's the sameness, always.
But, India as a nation is a nation
which has just defied the definition.
We have thirteen hundred languages and dialects
in the country.
Every fifty kilometres or hundred kilometres, if you drive,
people look different, dress different, eat different,
everything is different. If you walk into any home,
the five people will be worshipping
five different gods and goddesses of their own.
But still there is no issue
because this was the land of seeking.
Seeking was the connecting trend for us.
That everybody is a seeker, not a believer,
is the fundamental nature of culture.
That you are supposed to seek, you don't believe
what is written somewhere, you don't believe
what some guru said, what somebody
who claimed to be a god said or a messenger said.
You always seek. You use all of them as help
to seek more profoundly.
So the guru is there not to give you a commandment,
but only to assist you to seek. You're seeking,
but maybe your seeking is not incisive enough.
So a guru gives you claws to seek
a little more effectively.
But he'll never give you a commandment.
So there is really no danger from him,
because he is not giving you commandments.
The moment he gives you commandments,
he is claiming to be God.
So, if you're eager to go Heaven right away,
the first thing you must do is die.
All right, you seek a guru because you want
your seeking to be more effective.
Not because you are seeking an answer.
(outro music)