Sadhguru: So I did everything that could have killed me two dozen times (Laughter)
not simply out of egoistic jingoism that you want to do something others cannot do.
It's about stretching yourself beyond your limits, somewhere.
Youth without any sense of adventure are not youth.
Participant: First question is from Georgie.
Sadhguru, we know that you're always game for adventure,
but many young people mindlessly get into adventure sports,
and even lose their lives in the process.
What is your suggestion for the youth who get into adventure sports?
Sadhguru: Well, I have no right to advise anybody on this arena,
because I did everything that could have killed me two dozen times. (Laughter)
But I'm here, somehow. (Chuckles)
So… see, when we say ‘adventure,’
you can have ventures in your life, or you can have adventure.
Adventure means, you don't know where your next foot is going to be - that's adventure.
That means there is danger.
No danger, everything safe - there is no adventure, isn’t it? It's a venture. (Laughs)
I'm not against ventures, but you're talking about adventure; that means,
you want to step into something that you don't know, isn't it?
If you step into what you know and predictable, that's not an adventure.
That's just an activity.
So, I must tell you this. (Chuckles)
Why should I tell you all this, and make some crazy people do something crazy? (Laughter)
Well... one thing, my father
the physician, and...
constantly worried about me.
His greatest worry was, he would knock his head and say,
“This boy has no fear in his heart, what will happen to him?”
I've heard this dialogue right from the age of 5, 6.
“He has no fear, what will happen, what will happen?”
One day - I was around 11 - he said the same thing,
“He has no fear in his…” because about 12-foot long cobra came, I just picked it up and walked away.
So, he kind of… this is the first time he's seen it; I've been doing it since I was 6. (Laughter)
The first time he saw. And then... he had a Vespa scooter.
From the age of 9 I've been riding it without him knowing.
I was cleaning it for him, but I was riding it. (Laughter)
So one day, you know, in front of our house, the road is slopy like this.
I'm just coming and putting it in the neutral gear, and I'm standing on the seat and...
coming like this on the Vespa scooter.
He saw me, and his heart broke. (Laughter)
So he said, “This boy has no fear in his heart, what to do?”
Then I asked him, “When did fear become a virtue?”
He said, “See, I told you he has no fear!” (Laughter)
So, why are we thinking that we have to enter life fearfully?
If you're fearful - fear is one of the worst emotions that people go through in their lives.
Why fear happens is, you're imagining something that is yet to happen.
Hello? You're imagining something.
So, what you're suffering is not some situation,
you're suffering your own imagination.
No, imagination is a fantastic thing; you're an architect, you must imagine,
but if every building that you imagine, if you fear it may fall down (Laughter)
it will drive you crazy! (Laughs)
Even in architecture there is adventure, isn't it?
You must see Ranakpur. Have you seen Ranakpur, in Rajasthan? You must see.
Ranakpur also has Kumbhalgarh within 20 kilometers.
It's the 2nd largest wall on the planet!
Most Indians know, because we keep all the things that we should be proud of a secret. (Laughter)
See, in Kumbhalgarh, close to that is Ranakpur,
this architect is a madman, but he's a very super-sane madman,
because he knows what he's doing.
See, if you build a building, this is a temple with one thousand columns.
If you're thinking about safety, what would you do?
Just in case, over a period of time, if one column collapses, because those days
the material is only stone; there is no steel, and concrete, and stuff.
You would make sure if one column falls down,
there will be another column which will keep the temple up.
No, he built it in such way, the audacity of him is such,
if you pull down one column, the entire temple will come down.
His pride, and his intelligence, and capability is such,
that he made it in such a way, if one column comes, the temple should not exist.
And it's standing for over 500, 600 years without an issue.
You will see something like that in the yoga center.
We built an elliptical dome; no steel, no concrete,
and at the top, it's only 8 inches thick.
And just to freak people, I left a 9-feet diameter hole.
People said, “This is going to collapse.” It will not collapse.
If you don't have any adventure in your life, in whatever you do,
it doesn't matter, in every sphere of life there is room for adventure.
This means, you must trust your capability and competence,
and a step, one step more than that.
There is a risk of course – if there is no risk, there's no adventure, isn’t it?
So, will young people get killed? Yes, unfortunately, sometimes it does.
Before I became 35 years of age,
at least 12, 13 of my friends died;
some in motorcycles, some in hang-gliding, and...
all the things we were doing together, some of them died.
Well, they didn't kill me, but...
could I live without having done all those things? No.
Even if one of those situations had ended me, still I would do it!
Not simply out of egoistic jingoism that you want to do something others cannot do.
It's not about that. It's about stretching yourself beyond your limits, somewhere.
But today, the world is far more organized, there's a whole lot of equipment.
When we were doing crazy things, we had no equipment of any kind.
We just did things, just like that.
But today, there is safety equipment, there are systems,
that are nets, and there are so many things.
Well, one of you should start a venture in adventure,
and bring the right equipment, and everything.
See, right now some of the young boys, when they get the 2-wheeler, they want to do some stunt,
as I was doing, standing on the scooter and riding.
They want to do those things; I'm saying, if you cannot stop them,
only thing is, they should not be doing it on the street.
We must create a space where they can do it with a reasonable amount of safety.
Is it 100% safe? No, nothing is 100% safe.
All of us are mortal, isn't it?
But we must create reasonable levels of safety,
where youth will go through adventure with the minimum amount of risk.
No risk adventure - there is no such thing.
I was one person, people were very surprised
when I spoke for Jallikattu, in Tamil Nadu,
they said, “Sadhguru, you cannot say this.”
I said, “See, are you capable of building sports arenas in every village?
Can you make them play football, this one, adventure sport, everything in the villages - can you?”
There's really nothing!
The only thing that they have is a traditional sport,
where once a year they play; which is risky, of course,
but it comes from a tradition of doing something.
It's risky for the animal, it's risky for the man;
actually, more risky for the man than the animal.
When I spoke for it, everybody resisted, “You can't say this.”
I said, “See, youth without any sense of adventure are not youth.
You can already bury them as old men.”
They have to do something, but this does not mean they have to do wild things on the street.
We can create situations and spaces where they can do this
with reasonable amount of safety - there's no absolute safety.
(Applause)
Some of the parents who are here don't approve of this, but...
otherwise, they'll do it somewhere where you can't see. (Laughter)
This is one thing I noticed in United States,
especially… our center is in Tennessee, so I'm just seeing this.
If you go to a shop - I go to a motorcycle shop -
and I see, they made motorcycles for 3-year olds.
They actually built motorcycles for them. 3-year olds were riding full-on in the dirt bikes.
I thought this is great, parents are standing there,
fully helmeted, jacketed, everything, and they're riding.
This is great, because this needs to happen,
otherwise, they will do something wild when they are 15, 16,
without any training, without any preparation,
without the safety equipment; then we don’t know how it will end.