Omarion: Dancing is something very special to me and spiritual for me. And I wanted to know,
how, how do you see dance fitting in this spiritual space?
Sadhguru: (Laughs) Well, I’ve… I've not, I'm sorry, I've not really seen you dancing, but
people told me you're a great dancer (Laughter). Omarion: Just
check me out, man (Laughter). Sadhguru: I will, I will check you out.
I heard that tomorrow you're releasing some new album or something? I will check that out.
Omarion: Oh, “The connection.” Sadhguru: A-ha.
Omarion: Yeah, and it is, it is really, really cool.
Ah, one of my biggest… (Overlapping conversation) Sadhguru: Ah, let me say that ah. You shouldn't
say that yourself. I will watch it and tell you how cool it
is (Laughter). Omarion:
Okay, well, yeah, I recently got to travel to Michael Jackson's estate here in, in the
valley. They call it “The Hayvenhurst Jackson Estate.” And I thought it was so amazing because
the first concert that I ever went to as a child was a Michael Jackson concert. And I also got to
mee… shake his hand and he has influenced my life. Sadhguru: Hey, you're supposed to shake
a leg with him, not a hand (Laughter). Omarion: You know what, he was shooting a video,
I didn't get the chance to shake a leg (Sadhguru laughs). But it was a very profound experience for
me because I remembered, I remembered how much he has influenced my purpose in being a musician. A
lot of, a lot of people make music to sell records and I've done that, you know, I started at the
precious age of fifteen. That's when I put out my first album, I'll be thirty-six in
actually like two weeks. So, my, my purpose and my meaning for sharing and connecting with
people all over the planet has continued to grow and change and it was so cool for
my album, “The connection” to be able to go to the Hayvenhurst Estate and
you know, speak about his influence. So, the album is a really meaningful album. And
that's what I want to continue to do as an artist, is just continue to give people the tool to
be positive and feel good with music. And one of the questions that I have was, um, a lot of…
composing music, singing, dancing and performing on stage, um, is a spiritual thing. How can I
tap into a deeper dime… dimensions of that in my life and… (Overlapping conversation)?
Sadhguru: Now you piled up two questions, one on top of another man (Laughs).
Omarion: _____ (Unclear) first, so I got excited (Laughter). So, yeah…
Sadhguru: See, Michael Jackson had the power to inspire a whole generation of people. What
he did was so unique and eye catching anywhere in the world. I'm telling you, in the remotest
part of India, in some village where there is no… nothing, they know Michael Jackson. I mean, that's
a level of inspiration, he brought in a whole lot of youth dancing like him in India (Laughs),
in imitation of him. So that was a powerful possibility. But I'm sorry,
if I say something that hurts anybody. But I feel his life could have been, you know, he could have
made this into really transforming the world in some way. But unfortunately,
I feel no proper guidance around him, no proper advisors, and all commercial
people. I think it went waste because just five days ago I was at the Elvis Presley’s
museum in Memphis, as a part of the journey when we were coming back, we stopped at Memphis,
also went to Martin Luther King's, you know, that place where the assassination happened. So, when I
was at Elvis place also, that's what I thought. He also for two decades he dominated the music scene,
inspired a whole generation of people, but his own life became a total mess, because there is
no proper guidance. There is no balance. There is genius, but there is no balance. So, this is a sad
story that's happened to a whole lot of great talent in the world, particularly in America,
because people grow up on all the wrong things at a very early age. When I say wrong things, there
is chemical influence, there is alcohol, there is all kinds of distractions, but we must understand
this always that our intelligence, our competence, our genius, all these things are important.
But for all of them to find expression in the world, the most fundamental thing is balance.
Now you are a dancer, you asked what is the significance of dance, you can be as good a
dancer as you are. But if there is no stable platform, you are not going to dance, isn't
it? This is all life is, whatever our dance is, whether we're going to dance on stage or in the
office or wherever, in whichever form our dance finds expression in the world, the most important
thing is a stable platform within ourselves, a balance. If this balance is missing, all talent,
all competence, all genius, all, you know, whatever exuberant things you have, will go waste.
So, both these personalities, one that you mentioned, Michael Jackson, and also Elvis
Presley, are a classic example of this lack of balance, when there is such a massive talent,
that you are capable of influencing an entire generation not in one country, across the world,
when you have that, this could have been used to really create a new generation of people, new sort
of planet, actually. You can, you can do this, you had the power to do that. It is just the lack of
balance. So, I am saying you Omarion, you better dance your way, as well as you can. Whatever
it is, maybe it is not like everybody can be a Michael Jackson or we don't have to imitate that.
But a new possibility in that sphere, because music and dance has such a significant influence
on the youth. But bringing balance to yourself and bringing balance to everybody who gets in touch
with you, these millions of youth who get in touch with you, I think is a fundamental responsibility,
because when you have the power to influence other people's lives, you must ensure that
the influence is very positive and it is toward their well-being, never against their well-being.
So, having said that about, you asked about dance,
what's the significance of dance? Omarion: Whoa, come on now. Oh,
come on now. That's, that's the truth. I'm sorry. But I had to just balance,
this is so important, this is so important. Sadhguru: So, in terms of dance,
see (Laughs), I must tell you this. We come from a culture where all our Gods dance.
Everywhere else, God is a serious guy (Laughs), very serious guy. But in India, if a man… if
he doesn't dance, we won't treat him as a god. All Indian Gods male and female always dance,
because if they can't dance, he can't be God (Laughter).
Because dance essentially means that life is happening at… See, dancing in a particular
style is a different matter. If you do not know this, my, my daughter is a full,
you know, full-time classical dancer, Indian classical dancer. I took her off education and put
her into this because it meant so much to us that you know, what is dance is not just entertainment.
So, if you're doing a particular style of dance, it's one thing. Otherwise, even a child will get
up and dance. When it feels exuberant, it's the exuberance of life, finding expression is dance.
When body cannot keep quiet, it wants to do something exuberant, it will dance. Well,
you guys have might have evolved your own kind of styles. And I don't know you slide on the…
do you do all that like Michael Jackson (Laughter) was doing and, those are all
you know, what do you say many methods of doing it. But essentially, it's the exuberance of the
physical self, that the best way the body can express itself is dance. The highest way
the body can express itself is dance actually, because that is the highest level of exuberance
it finds. So, for this, also, you know, balance is most important. If you want to dance well,
the most important thing is balance. But most people dance only when they're drunk (Laughter).
We have a night long festival once a year, nearly a million people, last time 870,000 people
attended this event. And it is telecast nationwide in over hundred channels in India and all this,
but full night from evening six to morning six,
no alcohol, no drug, none of these things are there, you know, anywhere come near us. But entire
night the whole crowd will sing and dance, okay. Omarion: Wow. I have to see it. I have to see it.
Sadhguru: I think you must come and see. Omarion: Yes, I will… I might…
Sadhguru: I’ll ask them to send you some videos
(Laughs). Omarion:
Yes, I have to, I have to experience this, wow, that’s amazing.
Sadhguru: See, without the exuberance of… when your emotion becomes exuberant,
maybe you will sing. I'm not saying a practice singer or a professional singer,
when emotion becomes exuberant, people want to sing. Even those who don't know anything to sing,
they will also do something hmm, hmm, hmm, you know, at least they will hum.
When the physical self becomes very exuberant, it naturally dances. That's how it should be. Well,
styles of dancing and other things are a different matter. There is culture in it,
there is (are?) various aspects to it. But essentially, dance is an outpouring
of one's life's exuberance. Life energy is exuberant. So, we don't consider somebody
divine or godly unless their life energies are exuberant and overflowing (Laughs).