Interviewer (Shekhar Kapur): So, let’s talk about the concept of a guru.
What is a guru and how does one find a guru?
And why is it that different people have different gurus?
Why is there… (Sadhguru Laughs) like there’s one God, there could be one guru, right?
They say okay, everybody goes there.
Sadhguru: You are wrong. In India, we have thirty-six million gods and goddesses (Laughs).
So, what is a guru (Laughs)?
The word “guru” literally means, Gu means darkness.
Ru means dispeller -
one who dispels your darkness is a guru.
You can call him a light bulb if you want (Laughs).
He is on (Laughs). That’s all.
So, what you cannot see, he is able to make you see.
So, that’s a guru.
Or to put it in other terms,
essentially because you’re trying to make a journey, and you’re seeking a guru, he is like a roadmap.
He is like a live roadmap.
When you want to travel uncharted terrain,
you will find it’s extremely important. Roadmap is more than god.
So, you will see in the tradition, “Guru is greater than God,” all this they are saying because…
because a live roadmap is more important than anything when you're lost in an unknown terrain.
Interviewer (Shekhar Kapur): Yeah.
Sadhguru: “So, can’t I find my way without a guru?” That’s always the question.
This question is coming from a certain egoistic standpoint.
“Why can’t I do it myself?”
See, do one thing.
Using a watch, right?
Interviewer (Shekhar Kapur): Right. No, I’m not, but I can see…
Sadhguru: I’ll give you all the parts for the watch.
You build your own watch (Shekhar Kapur Laughs)
let me see.
Something, it’s very simple.
I’m not asking you to build a computer or a spacecraft.
I’m just telling a simple thing, like a watch.
Most people have gotten rid of their watches today, because they’re looking (Laughs)
at time in their cell phones or computers.
So, an obsolete instrument like this, I’ll give you all the parts, you put it together, let me see.
You may take a lifetime, I am saying.
Something so simple.
So, you go to a watchmaker for a watch.
So, what’s your problem going to a guru for something that you do not know (Laughs)?
Interviewer (Shekhar Kapur): Yeah, but there is something different here.
Now, when I walk around Isha, as we’ll see soon,
I, what I noticed among most people is, the closest I can describe it is, “devotion.”
Some people would call it “worship.”
Now, when you find a guru, it’s not an intellectual, I mean, it’s not making a watch could be an intellectual exercise.
Yet finding yourself or finding something divine or living in the divine,
how much or what is this concept or the difference?
Where do you come in with devotion and worship?
Can you… can your guru help you without a sense of divinity that you find in the guru?
So, I’ve used three words - worship, (Sadhguru Laughs) devotion and non-intellectual.
Sadhguru: Yes.
So, yes, I don’t know how to make a watch, but I could transcend my present limitations
and go into other dimensions, why do I need to seek that kind of support, a subjective support?
Because, a watch is something else.
The guru is dealing with you.
Okay?
Because you are the subject here, not another object.
So, the devotion that you see around,
you must understand one thing.
At no point, are we teaching devotion, are we encouraging devotion.
But why do people seem to be so, you know, overwhelmed by the whole thing is…
See, suppose you were in a desert, and let’s say you’re really thirsty, so thirsty that you thought you will die.
And if somebody gave you a glass of water, would it be not natural for you to bow down to him?
Interviewer (Shekhar Kapur): Yeah.
Sadhguru: You don’t have thoughts, “Oh, this is God, this is that.”
That is... if you are trained that way.
Otherwise, simply as a human being, just out of gratitude,
wouldn’t you be overwhelmed and bow down to him?
Interviewer (Shekhar Kapur): Yes.
Sadhguru: So, what you see here is just that.
Nobody has taught them that they should bow down.
Nobody has taught them they should be this way or that way.
That is not at all encouraged.
But because of what they have received, the overwhelming nature of what they have received,
when that sense of overwhelming experience is happening within a human being,
to bow down is a very, very natural thing.
So,
why is it? I want to ask you this question…
Interviewer (Shekhar Kapur): Okay.
Sadhguru: Why is it the moment somebody begins to think that he’s an intellectual, he’s against devotion?
Interviewer (Shekhar Kapur): Yeah…
Sadhguru: I’m asking you, you’re a filmmaker; could you make a good film without being devoted to it?
Interviewer (Shekhar Kapur): No. There’s no passion, there’s no devotion, there’s no film. You cannot make it.
Sadhguru: Then nothing beautiful happens in your life.
Interviewer (Shekhar Kapur): No.
Sadhguru: So, now, the devotion is not exactly towards me as a person
but the devotion is towards me as a possibility in their life,
not me as a person.
So, nobody creates anything truly worthwhile without being absolutely devoted to it.
It cannot happen.