E542 Sadhguru

Summary

Podcast Summary: This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von – Episode E542 with Sadhguru

Release Date: November 4, 2024

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Introduction

In Episode E542 of "This Past Weekend with Theo Von," host Theo Von welcomes renowned Indian guru, yogi, author, and spiritual teacher Sadhguru. The episode delves deep into various aspects of human consciousness, mental well-being, environmental sustainability, and the essence of true happiness. The conversation is both profound and enlightening, offering listeners valuable insights into personal growth and global responsibilities.

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1. Understanding Mental Friction and Human Intelligence

The episode begins with Theo expressing feelings of being frenetic and the challenges of shifting his mental state between relaxation and activity. Sadhguru addresses this by comparing the human mind to a machine, emphasizing how internal friction—stemming from thoughts and emotions—can impede our ability to function effectively.

• Notable Quote:

  Sadhguru [02:16]: "Almost all human misery is manifested in the human mind, isn't it?"

Sadhguru elaborates on the evolution of human intelligence, highlighting that while biologically humans are similar to chimpanzees (only 1.23% DNA difference), our cognitive and awareness levels set us apart. However, without a stable internal platform—balanced physiology and chemistry—our intelligence often works against us, leading to stress, anxiety, and other negative emotions.

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2. The Weaponization of Intelligence

Sadhguru uses the metaphor of a knife to illustrate human intelligence. Without proper handling, intelligence becomes a tool for self-harm and destruction rather than creation and growth.

• Notable Quote:

  Sadhguru [05:07]: "If we give you something sharp, if I ask you a simple question, do you want your intelligence or intellect to be sharp or blunt?"

He warns against the misuse of intelligence, pointing out that technologies and advancements, while beneficial, can also lead to unprecedented levels of suffering if not managed with consciousness and balance.

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3. The Essence of True Being and Overcoming Suffering

Sadhguru emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between oneself and one's body or mind. By creating a mental distance between the self and these accumulations, one can overcome suffering.

• Notable Quote:

  Sadhguru [07:03]: "If you just ascertain this one thing that you yourself are not an issue, just check and see. For most human beings, they themselves are an issue."

This separation allows individuals to utilize their body and mind as tools rather than being controlled by them. Sadhguru introduces the concept of "Shambhavi Mahamudra," a meditation technique aimed at creating this essential distance, thereby ending suffering.

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4. Environmental Sustainability and the Save Soil Movement

A significant portion of the conversation shifts to environmental concerns, with Sadhguru discussing the "Save Soil" movement. He highlights the alarming degradation of soil globally, citing that no nation maintains the recommended 3% organic content in their soils. This depletion threatens agricultural productivity and water retention, exacerbating issues like floods and droughts.

• Notable Quote:

  Sadhguru [75:03]: "60% is other organisms. So these organisms are the foundational life for everything."

To combat this, Sadhguru introduces "tree-based agriculture" (formerly known as agroforestry) as a solution. By integrating trees into agricultural practices, farmers can enhance soil health, increase crop yields, and contribute to climate mitigation.

• Notable Quote:

  Sadhguru [149:32]: "So, one way for us to help fight climate change is to have more trees on our land, more green leaf."

He shares impressive statistics, including the planting of 114 million trees and the goal to plant 2.4 billion trees within eight years, aiming to revive rivers like the Cauvery and restore ecological balance.

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5. Love, Consciousness, and the Nature of Existence

Theo inquires about the nature of love and whether it's a cosmic choice or a personal decision. Sadhguru explores love from a yogic perspective, linking it to the innate desire for reproduction and the unification of consciousness.

• Notable Quote:

  Sadhguru [91:40]: "Love means you long for somebody. What is the longing? You want to become one."

He challenges the conventional understanding of love, suggesting that true bliss and ecstasy come from within, independent of external relationships or stimuli. This internal state, achieved through practices like Shambhavi Mahamudra, fosters a profound connection to oneself and the universe.

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6. The Limitations of Modern Education and Identity Formation

Sadhguru critiques modern education systems for emphasizing early intellectual empowerment without addressing deeper aspects of identity. He identifies "Ahankara" (identity) as a critical component that, when limited, leads to conflicts and suffering.

• Notable Quote:

  Sadhguru [126:37]: "The mind works by protecting identity. If you think 'I am American,' your intelligence will serve America."

He argues that expanding one's identity beyond narrow definitions—such as nationality, race, or religion—can lead to greater harmony and reduce conflicts. By fostering a broader sense of self connected to the cosmos, individuals can utilize their intelligence for collective well-being rather than personal or group-based gains.

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7. The Miracle of Mind and Inner Engineering

Towards the end of the episode, Sadhguru introduces the "Miracle of Mind," an initiative aimed at transforming human consciousness through simple, daily practices. He shares his personal journey of achieving states of ecstasy and bliss through meditation, emphasizing that profound inner experiences are accessible to everyone.

• Notable Quote:

  Sadhguru [155:27]: "If 10% are willing to take it, whatever will. But 50% discount I'll give you for all those people."

He encourages listeners to engage with Inner Engineering programs and meditation techniques to harness the full potential of their minds, leading to a life of bliss without reliance on external substances.

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8. Conclusion and Call to Action

The episode concludes with Sadhguru urging listeners to participate in environmental initiatives like tree planting and to explore inner practices for personal transformation. Theo expresses admiration for Sadhguru's commitment to spreading peace and awareness, highlighting the importance of both external and internal efforts in creating a harmonious world.

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Key Takeaways

• Mental Friction: Internal thoughts and emotions can hinder optimal functioning; creating a mental distance can alleviate suffering.

• Intelligence as a Tool: Human intelligence, when properly managed, can be a boon for creation; unchecked, it leads to destruction.

• Environmental Responsibility: Soil degradation is a critical issue; tree-based agriculture offers a sustainable solution.

• Conscious Love: True bliss emanates from within, independent of external relationships.

• Identity Expansion: Broadening one's sense of self beyond limited identities can reduce conflicts and enhance collective well-being.

• Inner Transformation: Practices like meditation can unlock profound states of bliss and improve mental health without external dependencies.

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This episode serves as a compelling exploration of the interplay between personal well-being and global sustainability, offering actionable insights for listeners seeking both inner peace and a healthier planet.

Transcript

[Theo Von]

Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co founder of angie. One thing I've learned is that you buy a house but you make it a home. And for decades, Angie's helped millions of homeowners hire skilled pros for the projects that matter. Get all your jobs done [e-mail] I have some tour dates upcoming to tell you about. Bloomington, Indiana, November 13th Columbus, Ohio, Champaign, Illinois over there in Illinois, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Lafayette, Louisiana and Beaumont, Texas. There are some tickets still available. Theo vaughn.com tor make sure to go through that link so you're getting fair priced tickets. Today's guest is an Indian guru and a yogi. He is an author, he's a speaker, he's a spiritual teacher. He is the founder of the Isha Institute which teaches yoga as well as other spiritual practices. They have a branch here in Tennessee which is why he's here today. I'm really grateful for his time. Today's guest is Sadhguru. Shine on me and I will find a song I will sing.

[Sadhguru]

Tell me to you how you been?

[Theo Von]

Oh, frenetic. I feel like a lot of times what? That's just how I feel. I think trying to do a lot of things like trying to get my brain to shift from like sometimes like relaxing to being active or doing something, you know, it's like human brain is.

[Sadhguru]

Capable of doing a lot more than that.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. Well good. Yes, that's a positive to know that for sure. Yeah, I believe that. Yeah, I definitely believe that. I mean I'm grateful that my mind's able to kind of shift gears here and there where I need it, you know, but sometimes it's like. Yeah, I think sometimes I just feel frenetic.

[Sadhguru]

See the thing is this, any machine for that matter, depending on what is the volume of friction there is within it, accordingly it will reduce its ability to do things. If you take a car, let's say if you take the best car in the world and if you reduce the lubrication oil, it will go dead in no time because of friction. So this also is the same thing. People's thoughts and emotions are in frictious condition. So ordinary things that we can do feels stressful and all, almost all human misery is manifested in human mind, isn't it?

[Theo Von]

So, so it's on the inside you're saying.

[Sadhguru]

I'm not saying. You tell me.

[Theo Von]

Ah, yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Unless you are in a famine or a war zone or something where somebody can cause some trouble to you, rest of the time it's all self help, isn't it?

[Theo Von]

Yeah. The war Zone is more inside of me. It's not on the outside.

[Sadhguru]

No, I'm saying physically, if somebody is shooting a bullet at you. Yeah, that's a different matter.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

But right now, we are poking ourselves all the time. Why? The important thing is, see, to get human intelligence to its present state. It's taken millions of years of evolution, Brahman amoeba, to make you like this. It's taken millions of years of evolution. It's just one word, but actually, tremendous amount of research and development has happened to get you to this place. But now that brain is trouble for most people. 95% of the people use this brain to harm themselves. Because if we give you something sharp, if I ask you a simple question, do you want your intelligence or intellect to be sharp or blunt?

[Theo Von]

I would like it to be sharp.

[Sadhguru]

Sharp. So if I give you something sharp, how you hold it is very important. If you don't know which is the blade end, which is the handle, if you hold it tight, it'll hurt you more and more. Or if you're unconscious and you're like this, like this, like this, intestines may come out. You know why we don't give a knife to a child's hand? Not because knife is dangerous. Has it ever happened a knife popped up and stabbed someone? It never happened. Knife is not dangerous. It's the people who hold it and how they hold it. So right now, we've been given an intelligence. You know, there is a. There is a. The biologists today are saying the DNA difference between you and a chimpanzee is only 1.23%. 1.23% is not much of a.

[Theo Von]

It's not far off the jungle, not far.

[Sadhguru]

So physiologically, that's how close we are to a chimpanzee. But in terms of our intelligence and awareness, we are worlds apart. So essentially, we have an intelligence for which we don't have a stable enough platform. If you don't create a stable platform, stable chemistry, stable energy, stable physiology. If you don't create that, your intelligence will work against you. Once your intelligence works against you, there is no force in the universe which can save you. You can call it stress, you can call it anxiety, misery, anger, angst, whatever. Different levels of unpleasantness within you. Essentially, your intelligence not working for you, it's working against you.

[Theo Von]

Wow. Grateful to have you here today, Sadhguru. Thank you very much for coming. Yeah, that's a great place to start.

[Sadhguru]

And you call me here so I, you know, I get to golf in a good golf course. Tomorrow morning.

[Theo Von]

Do you actually hit the ball or do you just imagine that it's in the hole?

[Sadhguru]

I've had four hole in ones.

[Theo Von]

Have you really?

[Sadhguru]

I'm not an imagining character.

[Theo Von]

No. It's good to hear. That's awesome, man. I wanted to. So you're like a. Like a sorcerer? Not a sorcerer. What is you got. You're. You're a visualizer. What is kind of the terminology that they use for.

[Sadhguru]

I'm a full fledged human being.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[Sadhguru]

Is that good?

[Theo Von]

That's fair. Okay. Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Because as long as you right now, human beings are always trying to cripple themselves with their thoughts, with their emotions, their whatever else.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

If you. If you do one thing that in your life, you're not the impediment.

[Theo Von]

You're not the. What?

[Sadhguru]

You're not the impediment. You're not the problem. You're not the issue. There are thousand issues you need to handle in the world. The more you try to do, the more problems and more troubles there will be. All those things you handle to the best of your ability. But you are not the issue in your life. If you just ascertain this one thing that you yourself are not an issue. Just check and see. For most human beings, they themselves are an issue. Their thought, their emotion, their needs, their compulsiveness. That's what is the big problem. Outside problems are small.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

So if you ensure that you are not the issue in your life, then you are naturally a full fledged human being. You will do the best that you can do in everything that you do. Well, your best may not be the best, but it's the best that you can do in your life. If you do not do what you cannot do, there's no problem. But if you do not do what you can do, you're a disaster. Ah, but the moment your thought, your emotion is tripping you all the time, you will not even do what you can do, isn't it?

[Theo Von]

And how do we get ourselves in the best situation to be able to do what we can do?

[Sadhguru]

They tell me right now we don't like the weather outside for October. It's too hot.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

In Nashville. So what have you done? Turned on the air conditioning. What is the air conditioning called? This is climate engineering. You engineer the climate the way you want. How come your inner climate is not engineered properly? It gets hot, it gets cold, it gets boiling.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. It gets confusing. You don't even know what it is.

[Sadhguru]

Why is it that your inner engineering has not been done so that you have the conducive climate that you want. So my whole work is this, that to teach people how to engineer themselves. When I say engineer, people think it's some technology kind of thing. We need to understand what we call as engineering today. Used to be magic at one time.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah, I've heard of it.

[Sadhguru]

Huh?

[Theo Von]

Yeah. Magic. Yeah, they had wizards, everything, like.

[Sadhguru]

Not like that. If I sat here a thousand years ago and. And lights came on, what would you think I am? Yeah, not magic.

[Theo Von]

Maybe a electrician.

[Sadhguru]

No, come on. There was no electricity a thousand years ago.

[Theo Von]

But you'd have been a very. I thought you'd have been mystical.

[Sadhguru]

I could have said I'm the messenger.

[Theo Von]

Oh, you could have said you're a messiah.

[Sadhguru]

Yes. Or I could have claimed I'm the sun. Or I could have said I'm himself.

[Theo Von]

Yes.

[Sadhguru]

If just I turned on a light bulb. Unfortunately, I didn't have a light bulb 1,000 years ago. Now everybody has it. So it's not magic anymore, it's just engineering. So I'm just saying engineering means when you engineer something. Well, it's more than magical. No, magic can do those things that we are doing, isn't it? You pick up your phone and talk to just about anybody in the world. If you did this 200 years ago, you could have claimed your God himself.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

So if you engineer your interiority in the way it works for you, there are many ways to describe it. There's a simple way to say this is. Let's say we create a chemistry. Today, everybody knows that all their experiences are in somehow connected to their chemical structure.

[Theo Von]

Right.

[Sadhguru]

What you call as joy is one kind of chemistry. Misery is another kind of chemistry. Anxiety is one kind of chemistry. Tranquility is another kind of chemistry. Agony, ecstasy, everything has a chemical basis. So in many ways, if you look at the biochemistry of a human being, it is the most complex chemical factory on the planet.

[Theo Von]

That's true.

[Sadhguru]

It is. Because the number of things that are happening every moment in every molecule of DNA and stuff is unbelievable. Suppose you can create a chemistry the way you want it. Would you create a chemistry of blissfulness or misery? Choose. Choose. I'm going to bless you.

[Theo Von]

Blissfulness.

[Sadhguru]

You must choose quickly. That's all I did, and that's all I'm teaching people, how to create a chemistry of blissfulness. So suppose you're blissful no matter what. If you sit, stand, eat, don't eat, you're blissful. If you're blissful. Essentially what it means is there is no fear of suffering. Ah, Only when there is no fear of suffering will you take full strides in your life. Otherwise, every step is a half a step. That's all that's happening to humanity. The fear of suffering is crippling them, not allowing their geniuses to flower. Every human being is capable of this, but it's not happening because the fear of suffering. What will happen to me? So if you give. If you are given this assurance, no matter what happens around you, nothing happens to you. You are the way you are. You are blissed out all the time.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You gotta get blissed out. Yeah, I understand that. So if you can.

[Sadhguru]

No, no, no. I didn't ask you to go for those things. Bliss, doubt mean. Not that.

[Theo Von]

No.

[Sadhguru]

Bliss down means like this.

[Theo Von]

Okay?

[Sadhguru]

That is, I fix my chemistry from inside, not from outside.

[Theo Von]

So that's what you're right, right. So you're saying if I get myself to a state that. Because the state I can control is the state that I am. So if I can keep that state as comfortable as possible, then.

[Sadhguru]

Don't use the word comfort.

[Theo Von]

Okay?

[Sadhguru]

See, the chemistry causes bliss. See, every human being, at some moment in their life, they have had blissful experiences.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Joyful experiences.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Loving experiences, ecstatic experiences. The same time they were all versions of negativity experiences also have happened. So essentially, are you competent of being blissful and ecstatic? You are, because it's happened to you already. It's not like you're not like a rock, where it didn't go into such an experience. You have gone into that experience now only. The question is about sustainability.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Sustainability is a problem right now because most experiences are happening in an unconscious manner. You are not causing it. Something else is causing it. An external stimuli. I look at something beautiful. Wow. Why am I not wow with my eyes closed? This is what I realized very early on in my life. You know, one thing I realized was when I was just four and a half years of age, I realized I don't know anything. Yeah, don't know anything means don't know anything at all. To such an extent, if somebody gives me a glass of water, I don't know what is water. I know how to use it, I know how to drink it. I know all the other things you can do, but I don't know what it is. Actually, even today. You don't know what it is.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sadhguru]

You will say H2, but with all this scientific exploration, we still do not know one atom in its entirety. We know how to use it. We know how to Fuse it. We know how to make a bomb out of it, but we don't know what it is. So if I find a leaf, I'm just looking at it for hours on end. If I sit up in my bed, I'm staring at the darkness for the whole night. My dear father, being a physician, he started thinking, I need psychiatric evaluation. Because this boy is staring at something all the time.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, he's a daydreamer.

[Sadhguru]

I'm not dreaming. I'm just paying attention. See, I look at this, I don't know what this is. So I'm not able to look at the other thing because I still don't know what this is. So I went on like this. And in this condition. They sent me to school. My mother said, you must pay attention to the teachers. Don't look here and there. So I went and paid attention to the teacher. The kind of attention they had never received in their entire life. That kind of attention. Then, you know, initially I saw, I kind of understood what they were trying to say. Then I saw actually, they're only making sounds. I'm making up the meanings in my mind. See, right now, if I start talking in one of the Indian languages. You know, India has over 19,000 languages.

[Theo Von]

Oh, that's a lot.

[Sadhguru]

If I speak one of those languages, as far as you're concerned, it'll be just sound. You can't attach meanings to it, right? So language is a kind of a conspiracy between two people. I utter one sound, you make up the meaning. You utter another sound, I make up the meaning. So I just sat there, oh, they're only making sounds. I'm making up the meanings. I stopped making up meanings. Just listen to the sound very attentively. Not disregarding, listening carefully. Then I found it so amusing. Teacher after teacher, they come and make noises and noises and noises. A big smile spread on my face. But they were not amused at all. So this happened probably 12, 13 years ago. It's 24 now. Probably 14 years ago. This school where I studied over 50 plus years ago, they came to invite me for their 125th anniversary.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

I said, see, you know, they. They came and said many things. I said, please see, I was not just a not good student. I was not even a student. I only came there when it was a must. Otherwise I escaped. So why me? Then they said, no, no. Our school has produced film stars. Our school has produced cricketing stars, you know, in India. Oh yeah, cricket. If you don't know anything about cricket, they'll take away your passport.

[Theo Von]

Then I'll lie.

[Sadhguru]

I guess so. We have produced cricketing stars. We have produced music stars. But you are the only mystic. You must come. Ah. I said, okay. And I went there. I stood in the quadrangle, looked around, same oppressive buildings. Then I suddenly remembered, in this particular classroom, what happened. I must have been around 12, little over 12 years of age. One day, a teacher comes and asks me a question. I've slowly graduated to a place where initially I was not attaching meanings to the sounds. After some time, I'm not even hearing the sounds. If I see somebody, I see just a blob of energy and all kinds of things happening, but I'm just fully attention. But I can't even hear what they're saying.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

So he asked me a question, and I'm just looking at him without a single word. And he tries to get an answer out of me for over 35 minutes. When he doesn't get it, he comes and holds me by the shoulder, shakes me violently like this, and says, you must either be the divine or the devil. I think you're the later then. Till then, my problem was, what is this? What is that? What is that? What is this? Because I don't have an answer for one damn thing. Everybody makes conclusions. Nobody knows, all right? We don't even know a single atom properly. We don't know where we are in this cosmos, all right? Hello.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

We don't know where we come from, where we go, what people can invent and believe. Simple things. That's different. But if you really sincerely ask a question, you don't know. So till that moment, I don't know anything. But I knew I am this. Suddenly I got confused. Is this divine or devil? What is it? I just tried to stare at myself. It didn't work. So I started closing my eyes. Then, till that moment, looking at everything, the visual contact with life around me, from an insect to an ant to a leaf to just about anything, looked absolutely engaging and amazing to me endlessly. See, it's made in such a way, if you pay enough attention, you can spend a lifetime studying an ant and you will still not know fully what it is. In hundred years of life. That's how profound and sophisticated and complex life is.

[Theo Von]

I understand.

[Sadhguru]

So I'm excited about anything and everything looks amazing to me. But then I realized when I closed my eyes, this whole thing exploded to another dimension. Because what is within, when I say within, not just thought, emotion as a life, what is happening within is so phenomenal that I had no need to open my Eyes. If I close my eyes, I just keep it closed for hours and hours.

[Theo Von]

Wow. Yeah. The inner world. Yeah, it's like a whole nother universe, I guess, when you close your eyes and you start to look within yourself. And I want to ask you about some of that. I want to ask you first and say thank you very much for being here today, Sadhguru.

[Sadhguru]

Thank you.

[Theo Von]

I'm very happy to see you and spend time with you. Some of my best friends are extreme fans of yours.

[Sadhguru]

Really?

[Theo Von]

Yes.

[Sadhguru]

Who are these guys?

[Theo Von]

Yeah, my friend James Basera is a huge fan of yours. He's been to, I think, some. Some institutes maybe that you have in. In India are. That's where you're here.

[Sadhguru]

Here we have.

[Theo Von]

You have one in Tennessee?

[Sadhguru]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. The is Ishi.

[Sadhguru]

Isha Institute of Inner Sciences.

[Theo Von]

Isha Institute of Inner Sciences. And you started in India, though. That's where you're from. And what is the main religion in India? Just so some of our audience can get familiar or like, what is the. Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

If I say it in a few words, they may not understand. So let me take a few minutes and explain this. See, religion is a very external thing for us. In India. We don't have a religion or the religion like that. We see that every human being has to pursue his pursuit of truth, wanting to know what is the nature of our existence here. And the only goal is to find liberation from the mechanics of life, which sometimes give you a high, sometimes give you a low, sometimes makes you feel like top of the world, sometimes crushes you. What is the basis of all this? To figure this? We have methods and methods and methods. Everybody who follows one method, they may think, this is my way, but nobody has any issue with the other. It's very strange. I mean, this part of the world will have difficulty understanding. In the same house. If there are five people, they will be worshipping five different deities. But there is no clash about it. There's no problem about it, because we see it's up to you. If you can relate to this plant, you can worship this plant. If you can relate to your mother, you worship your mother. If you can relate to the cloud, worship the cloud. Because the important thing is how you feel about it. See, people are always thinking. I mean, this is a very common terminology here. So I'm saying this. This is not about cultural. This thing. See, for example, somebody says, I love somebody. Why? Because he's a perfect person. That is different. You may realize after sometime how perfect somebody is. Nobody is perfect.

[Theo Von]

All right. Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

The thing is you love them. That is what is so special about not because they are perfect, you love them because you love them. They look so wonderful. So this is a fundamental aspect that we see. Our subjectivity determines everything.

[Theo Von]

I see. So it's not that even going to that example of love, it's not that you love the person because they're a certain way. It's that you love them, you love.

[Sadhguru]

Them so everything about them looks nice.

[Theo Von]

Got it?

[Sadhguru]

So similarly, you relate to it whichever way. The important thing is, your experience of life should become profound. If a plant can do it, if a tree can do it, if a dog can do it, a man or woman can do it, or some other entity that you think of do it, it doesn't matter to us. Whereas the important thing is, every day, as life goes by, your experience of life should become more profound. Profound means you have deeper roots into life not living on the surface. Because if you're living on the surface, one gale and you get blown away.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. One strong wind, a flood. Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Anything. So to have real roots into the life so fundamentally it is to live and to live totally, that is the only thing. But it's not a religion, because the word religion essentially implies you have to believe something. India has always been recognized as a land of seekers. A seeker means you can be a genuine seeker only if you realize I do not know, isn't it? Ah, if you see I don't know something, you don't have to label yourself as a seeker. The human intelligence is such it will start seeking you. You do not know where is the light switch you will seek, Isn't it understood?

[Theo Von]

So saying I don't know is the.

[Sadhguru]

Beginning of I do not know is a tremendous possibility, whether it is science or spirituality. The fundamental is I do not know only if you see, I do not know. The longing to know will come and the possibility of knowing will arise. Everything that you do not know, if you believe it will give you confidence. That is the whole thing. If you need confidence, you must believe something. But confidence without clarity can become disastrous.

[Theo Von]

Like, what does that mean?

[Sadhguru]

See, right now, let's say this room is pitch dark. You can't see. There's no clarity. But you have confidence, you'll walk over me. If you have no confidence, at least gently, you'll feel your way through. But if you are confident, you will blunder through everything. This is what is happening to a whole lot of people because they have confidence where there is no clarity. The confidence is not a substitute for clarity. Seeing things clearly is most Important confidence means you assume something and invest your emotion in it, and you become confident. So the question is just this. Do you want solace or do you want a solution to life?

[Theo Von]

Do you want solace or do you want a solution to life? And what does the word soulless mean? Just so we.

[Sadhguru]

Solace means we somehow convince you, don't worry, everything will be okay.

[Theo Von]

I see, right. Do you want to be convinced or do you want to know?

[Sadhguru]

Do you want to know to know, or do you want to just be convinced about something? See, right now, in this room of all of us said, this is it among us, it becomes the truth. But it's not the truth. All of us say that we are not in Tennessee. We are in Timbuktu.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

So among us, we are Timbuktu people. But when you step out, you're in Tennessee.

[Theo Von]

I've heard you talk recently about how evolution is not biological anymore, where we are as human beings. Right. And that it's more about our conscious now. Can you expound a little bit on that for me?

[Sadhguru]

The way it has shaped us and the way we have evolved is not accidental. It's got something to do with the planetary system as how this. It is how the whole system works. Or in other words, this solar system is working like a potter's wheel to manufacture the life that it has manufactured. To understand this, there are various aspects to it, mathematical aspects to it. Let me not get into that. One important thing is the relationship between the sun and the Earth. We know all life here is solar powered. Just everything. The whole system of evolution happened because when those very smart algae or fungi, we don't know which one, which one got smarter. First of who of algae and fungi.

[Theo Von]

Oh, okay. Algae.

[Sadhguru]

Between the two, there's a competition. Both are claiming we did it first.

[Theo Von]

Okay, okay.

[Sadhguru]

Some billion years ago, they learned one trick, how to manufacture food from sunlight. Today, we call that photosynthesis. It is that photosynthesis which is the basis of all life on this planet. The plant life came, and then animal life. Everything happened. But the fundamental thing is we learned how to transform sun's energy into food. Food and energy for ourselves, for life. So it's from there that came. So today we are also. We may not be directly solar powered, but everything that we eat is solar powered. If you don't go out in the sun for a year, you know, you become paled out.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sadhguru]

So it is the solar energy that's important which also controls the movement of the Earth around itself. Yeah, this 365 days or whatever. And the moon's movement around the earth, which is 28 days or 27 plus something days. All this is very related to our birth. One simple fact is this. If our mother's bodies were not in sync with the cycles of the moon, we wouldn't be born.

[Theo Von]

Oh, that's true. Huh? Because a menstrual cycle is related to the moon.

[Sadhguru]

It's exactly the moon cycle.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

So you want to know the yogic doomsday? We are not doomsayers. But there is a yogic doomsday. This calculation was made maybe some 26, 27,000 years ago. I'm sorry. Yep. They made a calculation and said every year the moon is moving away from the planet approximately an inch and a quarter, about 15 millimeters per year. Moon is. Moon's orbit is moving away. They made a calculation. In 28,000 years, the moon will go so far away from the moon, from the Earth, that human women will not have menstrual cycles. No. So quietly, human race will end.

[Theo Von]

They're going to be angry too.

[Sadhguru]

What do you mean?

[Theo Von]

The women are going to be angry.

[Sadhguru]

If they don't have them, I bet not angry. They won't be women anymore.

[Theo Von]

Oh, that's a good point. Huh? Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

So once they're not women, man will die too.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

So it's not by ice or fire or bomb. If we don't do that beforehand in 28,000 years, it can happen. But this calculation was made. I'm sorry, I said the wrong number. It's about 3,400, 3,500 years ago they made this calculation. So approximately 24,500 or 25,000 years later, this can happen because it is a fact that moon is moving away from the earth approximately 15 millimeters.

[Theo Von]

So we're on the clock right now.

[Sadhguru]

Yes. 25,000 years. You will die.

[Theo Von]

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[Sadhguru]

So, but this movement away from the Earth need not be 15 millimeters as it goes away. As Earth's gravity's influence becomes less and less, it could start moving little faster. But they say approximately this can happen in 28,000 years at that time. Wow. For 25,000 years, let's say. So this is how we are right now. The form of our body, the shape and how it works, everything is very connected to the system in which we exist. So we have recognized nine celestial bodies which have maximum influence on us. There are 14, 15 of them, but nine of them have very strong influence in that the most important three are the sun, the moon, and the planet itself. So we are a consequence of this planetary system.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

This happened approximately 14, 15,000 years ago or more. This question was asked to the first yogi. We call him Adiyogi. That means the first yogi.

[Theo Von]

Adiyogi.

[Sadhguru]

Yeah, that means the first yogi. The first yogi was asked this question that all these things you are teaching us and we are struggling to understand and grow. Why can't human system be evolved to a bigger possibility? Essentially, they're asking, why can't we increase the size of our brain or capacity, Something like that. So he explained something. He said, if something like that has to happen, some fundamental change in the planetary system needs to happen. Otherwise it cannot happen. You have reached the peak of physiological evolution. But of course, anything that we said in the past, we don't believe it has to come from our universities and laboratories. All right.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Today our laboratories and universities are saying this. Neurologically, if you want to increase the capacity of your brain, one thing you can do is pack more neurons into your head.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[Sadhguru]

Like, a lot of children come like this. They come with excessive neuronal capacity, but they're unstable.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Because too much. They are brilliant. But brilliance can't do anything without balance. You know, it'll work against you.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah. A lot of kids are really on balance.

[Sadhguru]

Yeah. So one simple thing to do for these children is unfortunately, here, you take them to the doctor, medicate them to see, when you give a medicine to slow down something, everything slows down. All right. You don't have a tablet which will go and act only in that Place, it will slow down everything. Sedations are given to children. Like anything, it's a wrong way to do it. If children are like this, the thing you need to do is take them out into the mountains. Make them climb, play a game, swim. Physical activity, intense physical activity. It'll burn down what is excess. Or if you can teach them the classical system of yoga, it will do that very well. But if that is not possible, you have enough space in United States. Let them run in the mountains, let them swim in the river, whatever. Yeah, physical activity to burn it down.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[Sadhguru]

Another way of enhancing the capacity is you increase the size of the neuron. See, right now, as you sit here in a restful state, 20% or more of your energy is spent on your brain. Your brain is only this much. I'm sorry, that much. Okay.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. It could be a little less over here too.

[Sadhguru]

So if your brain is this much, it's consuming 20% of the energy. This big body is consuming 80%. This much brain is consuming 20%. That is the nature of the brain. If you increase the neuron size, the volume of energy it will consume will be such. Even your physical growth will not happen properly.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

And you cannot sustain that. So today neuronal scientists are explaining it this way. But way back 15,000 years ago, Adiyogi said, unless there are fundamental changes in the planetary system, you cannot evolve beyond. But you can evolve consciously.

[Theo Von]

I see. So physiologically, body wise, we can't evolve anymore. We've evolved.

[Sadhguru]

You're thinking of growing horns or something.

[Theo Von]

Or wings or something.

[Sadhguru]

Yeah, that won't happen. But the existing system is largely unused.

[Theo Von]

So the inner system.

[Sadhguru]

Yes.

[Theo Von]

The conscious, let's.

[Sadhguru]

No, don't even go to consciousness. That's another thing. If you wish to go there today, we will go. Otherwise we won't go. Okay, Just. The neuronal system is largely unused. Most studies say our brain capacity Is only used 8 to 12% in average human beings.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

Some are using up to 20%.

[Theo Von]

Yes. Some are not.

[Sadhguru]

Yes. 20% is still not a great percentage.

[Theo Von]

No. Yeah, because it's like a G minus, I think.

[Sadhguru]

I don't know what that is.

[Theo Von]

I know what it is because I.

[Sadhguru]

Didn'T go to school much. So I don't know what grades they gave me.

[Theo Von]

Let us imagine they were good. So if we only are using up to 20%. But you believe that we can evolve that?

[Sadhguru]

Yes.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

You can push it. If you push it to hundred %, you'll be five times at least. Probably many, many fold more than what you are right now in terms of your intelligence and capacity, which some human beings are displaying. All right.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

So initially you said about this. Whatever. See, for example, the number of things I'm doing, probably, I don't know what you know about us. The number of projects and things all being done by a volunteer organization every day. You know, I have to guide them. It's not like they're professionally trained. Running a volunteer organization means nobody's trained for the job.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sadhguru]

They're enthusiastic.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, they're enthusiastic.

[Sadhguru]

They will not train for the job.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

And you can't fire them for inefficiency. So try to run something like this. Over 18,000. I mean, 18 million volunteers across the world.

[Theo Von]

Really?

[Sadhguru]

Yes. Part time? Full time. Over 6,000 full time volunteers.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

Massive projects being run in many places. We are the largest ecological movement on the planet right now. We are the largest replantation program on the planet right now.

[Theo Von]

Replantation.

[Sadhguru]

Tree. Tree plantation.

[Theo Von]

Tree plantation.

[Sadhguru]

We just completed about 25 or 26 days ago, we completed 114 million living trees.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

So all this takes a certain amount of work. And also our programs are going on all around the world for all this. It takes a lot of management.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

At any given time, I can run 14 tracks in my mind. They're all simultaneously working. Every building that is designed, I design it. From a door bolt to window to everything. I get engaged.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. From the windows to the walls. Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Now I'm trying to withdraw from those things, but this is how it's been for last 30, 40 years.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

So people ask me, sadhguru, so much work. How do you unwind? I said, I don't wind myself up. Why should I unwind? You wind yourself up and then you want to unwind. The important thing is this, which unfortunately, very sad consequences are happening to people because somewhere they have also realized this. The most important thing is if you want to be stress free, you must be intoxicated.

[Theo Von]

If you want to be stress free.

[Sadhguru]

Yes.

[Theo Von]

You must be intoxicated.

[Sadhguru]

Yes. Intoxication does not mean your Uncle Jack Daniel.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Intoxication means, as I already said, this is the most complex chemical factory. If you create a certain chemistry within you, you are always torn, but not unalert. Because we are not against intoxication. We are against incompetence.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

So if you take chemicals from outside, either alcohol or drugs or anything, you become incompetent as to what you can do. There is no time or room for incompetence in this life because our life is Very brief. For what possibilities human intelligence creates the what possibilities human intelligence can create for that. We don't have enough time. If you live to be hundred years, it's too brief. But have you noticed this? On a particular day you're very joyful. 24 hours, poof. Went off like a moment.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Another day, you're little depressed. One day goes like a eon.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

So time is a very relative experience. So intoxication is important, but not from outside. But if just intoxication means you'll sit around, you need exuberance of life. If exuberance and intoxication is there at the same time, then you know how to be still. Stillness, exuberance, intoxication. If these three things happen within you at the same time, life is like a breeze. No matter what is the situation, every day there are situations. For us, our activity is global and all kinds of troubles. Because we don't subscribe to any particular. See, we don't subscribe to any particular religious group or philosophical group or anything. So just about everybody's against us one way or the other.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sadhguru]

We don't ascribe to any political group. So political groups are. Everybody thinks I'm their enemy, though. We've not done anything against anybody. But you grow in size without being aligned to anybody. They think you are their enemy. This is the human mentality.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

So constant something going on. So I created one image. I took two and a half years to design this face. Today it's in the Guinness record as the largest face on the planet.

[Theo Von]

The largest face.

[Sadhguru]

Yes. This is to acknowledge and also inspire people. This is the face of Adiyogi. So when I wanted to design, I set this goal for myself. That it should have stillness, intoxication and exuberance on its face. I took two and a half years. And we made this internally within our center. Our own people, our own engineers. Engineers means not qualified. Engineered by me. We together created this. And that face has become like a huge thing in India. It's a destination point right now.

[Theo Von]

Where is it? I want to see it.

[Sadhguru]

See, here it is. Can you make a single large picture? See, that is the face.

[Theo Von]

So that's beautiful.

[Sadhguru]

You must tell me whether I have succeeded in stillness, intoxication and exuberance. Yeah, that one.

[Theo Von]

Here we go.

[Sadhguru]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

It's 112ft tall.

[Theo Von]

And what did they make it out of? What is that composed of?

[Sadhguru]

This is steel.

[Theo Von]

Oh, my gosh. And is it individual pieces that were put together like a puzzle?

[Sadhguru]

Yes, individual pieces. Now, second one we did in Bangalore. And that is also of the same size. Now others will come of a much larger size. The idea is to move human well being from belief system to philosophies, to ideologies, to technology. Technology is a well being. This is what Adiyogi gave 15,000 years ago. Methods and technologies as to how you can transform yourself. Not philosophies, morals, ideologies, methods and technologies. So though he gave this 15,000 years ago and in every generation there has been certain number of people making use of it. I think the humanity was never ready like today that we are willing to look at technology for as a solution for everything. So that goes for your inner well being also. So how to be well? There is a technology. When I say technology, the most sophisticated technology on the planet is human mechanism itself, isn't it? The question is, you have the most sophisticated technology, but have you read the user's manual?

[Theo Von]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, a lot of us haven't. And a lot of us don't even think that there. It's like you don't even start to examine the directions. You know, it's like you don't even get to know the instrument, but you're just playing music all day. And a lot of times it ends up being music you just already heard. You're just repeating other people's music, right? Or you're repeating a. You're not really learning the instrument or creating your own song music.

[Sadhguru]

It's okay. Mostly noise.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, it's a good point. It's a trap of noise. How does. How do. How would someone start to get to know themselves, would you say? I know that's kind of a broad question, but a lot of times we kind of just. We're just living right, instead of like kind of experiencing ourselves. I feel like, especially these days when a lot of our attention is captured so much. But how do we start. How would you suggest that we start to get to know ourselves?

[Sadhguru]

The first thing is to make a distinction between what is you and what is not you. Right now, because you're a podcaster, you can't live without this microphone. All right, but is this you? No, no, it's your mic. Fine. You wear clothes. Is this you?

[Theo Von]

No, no.

[Sadhguru]

Similarly, you have a body. Is it you?

[Theo Von]

Now that's where it gets a little questionable.

[Sadhguru]

Let's come to that. Now, you were born like this. Same shape and size.

[Theo Von]

Smaller.

[Sadhguru]

Like this?

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Bit. That tiny bit has grown like this. How?

[Theo Von]

By being fed. Nurtured, I guess.

[Sadhguru]

Fed.

[Theo Von]

Okay. Fed.

[Sadhguru]

Essentially. Food.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Food means what it came from the earth, either in the form of vegetable, animal, fish, whatever. Essentially it's piece of earth. So you put this piece of earth into you and it became like this. So now if this piece of earth that you call as food appears in your plate, you say, this is my food. You eat it and then you say, this is me. This is like you became a podcaster after a few years, you start saying, this microphone is me.

[Theo Von]

Right.

[Sadhguru]

Then people know you lost it.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Sadhguru]

You use the microphone, they may be happy.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

You start thinking, I'm the microphone. Or the damn microphone starts speaking by itself. Dangerous.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Right now, that's all that's happening. Body is telling its own story. Your mind is telling its own story. Your body is just an accumulation of food. Your mind is just accumulation of impressions. Both these things, if you use it, wonderful, they're great instruments. But if they use you, it's terrible. That's all that's happening. The bodily needs and psychological needs have captured and destroyed most human beings on the planet. They had invest their whole life to fulfill their bodily needs or their psychological and emotional needs. Yes or no?

[Theo Von]

Yes, for sure.

[Sadhguru]

You're not here to just take care of their needs. You are here to use them, to ride them towards whatever matters to you. But that's not happening because there is no distinction, there is no distance. So the simple thing I can do for you is we can teach you a simple method that if you sit here, this is called as Shambhavi. It's part of the inner engineering process. If you sit here, your body is here, your mind is here, you are little away, little space. Once there is a space between you and your body, between you and your mind, this is the end of suffering. Because there are only two kinds of sufferings that you know. Physical suffering and mental suffering. Do you know anything else?

[Theo Von]

No.

[Sadhguru]

Physical and mental suffering.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Once there is a distance between you and your body, between you and your mind, this is the end of suffering. Now, when there's no fear of suffering now, your intelligence blossoms. Now, what is being human finds expression. When I say being human, there are many ways to go at it. Simple thing is, we recognize that there are many creatures, from microbes to worms, to insects to birds, animals, trees, everything. Everything. Yeah, but we call them all creatures. This is the only creature that we call as human being. What this means is this is the only creature which has crossed that line. Where out of. Instead of living out of compulsive reactions, instinctive reactions, this has become conscious enough that it can choose how to be. Once you become human, there is a possibility. No matter what's happening around you, you can choose how to be. All other creatures are in compulsive, instinctive reaction. This one can choose consciously. Unless that happens, the evolution is not complete. I'm saying this is why I said evolution is conscious. Right. Now you sit here. I won't. But I'm saying, usually people are doing it to each other. Let's say I abuse you.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Now, you can either react instinctively or consciously respond as you feel fit. So in one, you will employ your intelligence in another fit of energy, which will mostly end loss to you, then to the other.

[Theo Von]

Right. So you're saying that how we can get to know ourselves is by starting to create a little bit of space.

[Sadhguru]

Between what is you and what is not you.

[Theo Von]

Right.

[Sadhguru]

Your body is an accumulation, isn't it? What you accumulate can be yours, can never be you. Isn't it?

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Same goes for your mind. It's an accumulation of impressions. So in the night before you go to bed, you try this. Today, lie down. Everything that you have accumulated in your life, your home, your family, your relationships, everything and everything that you have, including your body, mind, emotion, thoughts, memories, just keep it on the bedside and go to sleep. Initially, you will find it's kind of confusing, but if you apply yourself one day when you sleep and wake up, you'll wake up like a flower.

[Theo Von]

Really?

[Sadhguru]

Yes.

[Theo Von]

So you just say, I'm going to leave these things here.

[Sadhguru]

No, there are meditative processes for that.

[Theo Von]

I see.

[Sadhguru]

So you, because you. When you do it intellectually, you get caught up in that only.

[Theo Von]

Right.

[Sadhguru]

Instead of that, there are methods with which, if you sit here, clearly there's a distinction between what is you and what is not you. As we already went through, suffering happens physiologically and psychologically. Once there is a distance between these two, this is the end of suffering. Forget about being ecstatic. Most people can't be peaceful. This happened in Tennessee. A man died and then funeral. Everything happened, burial happened, and the wife wanted to buy a tombstone for him. Usually these tombstones are all coming from India.

[Theo Von]

Oh, really?

[Sadhguru]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

Oh, thank you, guys. A lot of them are very nice.

[Sadhguru]

Most of the granite tombstones are coming from India. So the wife ordered from India and she had a plaque written on it, and she put it. People came and saw. It was written there. Rest in peace until we meet again.

[Theo Von]

That's a lot of pressure saying, rest.

[Sadhguru]

In peace till we you and we meet once again. Things will start.

[Theo Von]

Wow. So once. So once we start to get to be able to separate.

[Sadhguru]

Now, don't blame it on me. I'm asking you, please. Body on accumulation.

[Theo Von]

Yes.

[Sadhguru]

You're saying it, not me. Is your mind an accumulation of impressions?

[Theo Von]

Yeah, it's just an impression of things.

[Sadhguru]

Whatever you accumulate, it can belong to you. But can it be you?

[Theo Von]

No.

[Sadhguru]

That's it. You saying it, not me. Don't accuse me.

[Theo Von]

Okay, good call. Good call. Yeah, this is me saying it. A lot of our capacity these days for consciousness has been hijacked by our phones. Right. By cell phones?

[Sadhguru]

Not really.

[Theo Von]

You don't think.

[Sadhguru]

No, not at all. I find phone as a very blessed instrument.

[Theo Von]

Oh, I have to know this then?

[Sadhguru]

Because if that damn phone was not there, how many places I will have to hop from here to there, there to there, to get things done today? I wake up in the morning, if I just look like this, in 10 minutes, I'll handle 20 different issues around the world.

[Theo Von]

That's a good point.

[Sadhguru]

So phone is a tremendously useful instrument if you don't know how to use it. Of course, you can even kill yourself with the phone. Take it and bang it on your head. It'll break. Not the phone, your head. So I'm saying anything that's given to us, it all depends on how we use it.

[Theo Von]

Right? Just like the baby with the knife.

[Sadhguru]

Yeah, like a man with intelligence cutting himself into pieces. So you just go stand on the street. Everybody is driving their dream car. Whatever their dream is, they're driving that car. Just block the traffic for five minutes. You'll see how they'll freak and fret. They're sitting in their dream car. Somebody is giving you an opportunity to stay in the dream car for another five minutes. But they'll freak and fret because the question is not about the situation. No matter where you put them, they will create suffering because the suffering is not from the situation. Suffering is mental condition, isn't it? If they see if they have a job, they will stress fire them. They will stress get them married, they will stress stress get them divorced. They will stress make them live, they will stress make them die. They will stress. All right, so stress is not a consequence of what you're doing. Stress is a consequence of you not knowing the nature of how your mind functions. What is needed to make it work? Well, like these people asking me, sadhguru, what do you do to unwind? First of all, why do you wind yourself up and then unwind?

[Theo Von]

Yeah, it's most of what we do now. It's a lot of like, yeah, it's a lot of feeling like we need to adjust ourselves. Right.

[Sadhguru]

To what?

[Theo Von]

I don't know. It's a good question. But I think that's a lot of the general feeling is like I need to adjust. I need to affect myself, you know?

[Sadhguru]

Adjust to what? With what?

[Theo Von]

I don't know. It could be anything. It could be with. It could be with drugs, alcohol. It could be with just scrolling on your phone. It could be with anger. I just think a lot of people, we feel like we need to do something all the time.

[Sadhguru]

That means you don't know how to be right. Then how do you earn the title human being? Yeah, we must strike it off as a human creature.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, I agree. It feels like we're getting back more towards creatures.

[Sadhguru]

You know, it's important to become a human being because that's a privileged position in the evolutionary process that we've been placed in a place where we can determine the nature of our experience.

[Theo Von]

Do you think that a higher consciousness did that? Do you think it was on purpose?

[Sadhguru]

See, what is consciousness right now? Are you conscious? Yeah, you're conscious. You're here. You're conscious that I'm here. So you're conscious. Now the question is only of how conscious. Yes.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

So nobody is really unconscious. Even in your sleep, you're somewhat conscious. Question is, how conscious? Right now? If you sit here, sit here, sit here. Another 12 hours, you will feel little droopy. Then you will become less conscious. Less conscious, Less conscious. In between, if I say 10 words, you will hear five, then you will hear two, then you won't hear anything. Now, how many are you hearing, Nana? No, none. The 10 I speak, you're hearing none.

[Theo Von]

Come on. Because I'm unconscious then?

[Sadhguru]

No, no, you are hearing right now. I'm saying, as you become less and less conscious, you'll hear less and less.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, right? Yes.

[Sadhguru]

So this is all life, is that right? Now, you know, these lights have been masked a bit. Generally, we control them with a little rheostat or a fader or whatever you call it. So if you put it at low fade and there's only single light, it lights up only this much full. The room is dark. Just lighting you mildly. Then I think, oh, only this guy is there, because I see only you. Somebody lights up the fader a little bit, heightens the voltage. Then I say, oh, this is there. That is there. That is there. That person is there. That person is there. Light it up fully. Everything that's in this room is crystal clear to me. This is consciousness. How intense have you kept. If your consciousness has to be like that, you must keep your physiology very clean and vibrant. Your mental structure unentangled. Unentangled means you are not stuck in your own ideas of what it is. You're using your intelligence to see what is there, not make up what is not there. If you. I have said this joke a few times, so you might have heard it, but let me say it. See, if you build castles in the air and start believing it's true, then we say you are neurotic.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

But then after some time you start living in that castle. Then we say you're psychotic.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Then somebody comes and collects rent for that castle. That's called Psychiatrist.

[Theo Von]

That's called Psychiatrist. That's awesome.

[Sadhguru]

Because people are creating this essentially. What is it? Your intelligence, your memory and imagination going wild.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Uncontrolled.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

These are the two faculties which are most beautiful things about being human. That you have a vivid sense of memory. What happened yesterday is vividly there in your memory. Using that, we have a fantastic sense of imagination.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

But these are the two biggest problems that human beings have. What is all the human suffering about? You ask people they still suffer what happened 10 years ago and they will suffer. That is yet to happen day after tomorrow. What happened yesterday is not alive right now. Isn't it? It's only alive in your memory. Is it anywhere else?

[Theo Von]

No, no, it's gone.

[Sadhguru]

So you're suffering something that does not exist. What may happen day after tomorrow? You're already suffering. Does it exist if you suffer? What? That which does not exist. What should we say about you?

[Theo Von]

You could be doing better things with your time.

[Sadhguru]

What should we say about that person?

[Theo Von]

That they.

[Sadhguru]

That you suffer something which is not here?

[Theo Von]

Yeah, they're just. Yeah, they're. That's worrying, right?

[Sadhguru]

That's called crazy.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

This episode is brought to you by Etsy. Oh, hear that? Okay, thank you. Etsy knows these aren't the sounds of holiday gifting. Well, not the ones you're hoping for. You want squeals of delight, happy tears? How did you. And spontaneously written songs of joy.

[Theo Von]

I am so happy. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Um, okay, the song needs a bit of work, but anyway, to get those reactions, make sure everyone on your list feels heard with handmade, handpicked and designed gifts from small shops on Etsy. Gifts like personalized jewelry, custom artwork, cozy style items, vintage pieces, and home decor to celebrate all of your favorite people and their specific kind of special. For original gifts that say I get you. Etsy has it.

[Theo Von]

It's turkey time. Do you know it? That's pretty good. Do you love the holidays but you hate grocery shopping? Ibotta is making your Thanksgiving easier with cash back on everything. You need to make your perfect holiday meal so you can get the turkey and your favorite sides for free. That's what's happening this month. Ibotta is giving new users 100% cash back on your Thanksgiving feast. Just add the offers in the app to redeem for everything you need to make your Thanksgiving feast complete. All you have to do is shop at your favorite retailers and upload your receipts. That's it. Simply download the Ibotta app now and use code theo to get 100% cash back on your Thanksgiving feast starting November 1st. Just go to the App Store or Google Play store and Download the free iBotta app and use code T H E O. That's I B O T T A ibotta in the Google Play or App store and use code Theo. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. You know that I'd like to take a moment to thank my therapist. I don't do that very often. I've had a lot of them, so I could. I don't even remember all of them, but yeah, I guess I want to thank them for listening. Over the years. Have you ever been to a therapist? Maybe you have, maybe you haven't. Maybe you think it's not a good thing or it's not cool or whatever. Huh? Well, I think it's fine. When I've had trouble figuring things out, which has been, most of the time, therapy. That's where I've gone. And Better help is a place where you can go if you're thinking of starting therapy. Give better help a try. It's entirely online. It's designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. You just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and you can switch therapists at any time for no additional charge. Let the gratitude flow with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com theo today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp. H e l p.com/t h e O. It's so hard to let go of things from the past. You know?

[Sadhguru]

Don't. Don't let go. Anything.

[Theo Von]

Okay?

[Sadhguru]

Let go means you're trying to forget it.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[Sadhguru]

See, the nature of the mind is like this. Can I try an experiment with you?

[Theo Von]

Sure.

[Sadhguru]

All the postures. Yogic posture is not needed for this.

[Theo Von]

Okay. I want to get an A.

[Sadhguru]

This is called a Brahma Mudra. All such serious things not needed. I'm just going to tell you. Close your eyes and don't think of monkeys. Do not think of a monkey. No monkey. No monkeys at all.

[Theo Von]

Okay?

[Sadhguru]

Only monkeys. Come on. So I am saying this is the nature of the mind. In this mind, there is no subtraction and division. There is only addition and multiplication. Whatever you try to do, it will become one more, one more. If you try hard, it will multiply. How many monkeys did you see?

[Theo Von]

At least three.

[Sadhguru]

If you try hard, it'll become 3,000.

[Theo Von]

Well, one of them was calling his friends so I could tell that it was going to start to grow.

[Sadhguru]

So essentially, this is the nature of your mind. You cannot forcefully make it do something else, but you can handle it in such a way the way you want it only if you're above it. Right now you're misunderstanding your psychological process as existential. See, what is happening in your mind is your psychological drama. On what platform is this drama being played? The life that you are. Are you alive or not?

[Theo Von]

Yeah, I'm alive.

[Sadhguru]

You're alive. Not because of your thought and emotion, because some European guy said, I think. So I exist. So I'm asking.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But as far as I know, I exist.

[Sadhguru]

You exist. So you may think, May not think, right? Like, because I exist, I may fly my hand or I may keep it here. Similarly, I may fly my mind or keep it here. But because most people have become so compulsive, they think. Because they think they exist. No, because you exist. You may think if you wish, but that option and that choice has been given away by most people. Thought is like a diarrhea. It's happening all the time.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Not by choice.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it is.

[Sadhguru]

So the important thing to understand is that your mental and emotional stuff is psychological, dramatic. It is happening on the stage that we call as life. So suppose your drama, one act, is not going the way you think it should go. We should change the act. End the act and change the act. Not burn down the stage.

[Theo Von]

Right.

[Sadhguru]

Right now we're burning down the stage with mental illnesses, suicide. These things are growing in such a scale. No more. It's individual problem. It's like a global problem. We are in the process of launching what is called as miracle of mind. That we are launching a very intelligent app which will provide simple tools for people to just 12, 15 minutes a day.

[Theo Von]

And what's it called? Sim.

[Sadhguru]

Miracle of mind.

[Theo Von]

Miracle of mind.

[Sadhguru]

Yep.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Because mind is a miracle, isn't it? Every miracle that we have affected.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Has only happened out of our mind. But we think it's a problem.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, it's true. We're treating our mind like it's a problem. Huh?

[Sadhguru]

It is not a problem.

[Theo Von]

I haven't even thought about that. It's like we're treating the greatest thing that we have as if it's a problem all the time.

[Sadhguru]

Because it's a sharp knife. If you had the brain of an earthworm, you wouldn't need marijuana, drugs, alcohol to be peaceful. You would anyway be peaceful. It can even be achieved now if you remove half your brain, you will sit here peacefully.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Destroying. Destroying the possibility. And then being peaceful is meaningless. Keeping all the human possibility full on. And then you're peaceful and joyful. Then it's wonderful.

[Theo Von]

Yes.

[Sadhguru]

You destroy it. You soak it in alcohol. You sit in one corner, you smoke and sit in one corner and you think you're peaceful. It's meaningless. Peace that way. Death is better. Death is peaceful.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Rest in peace till we meet again.

[Theo Von]

Oh, that sounds pressuresome. Even you just died and you already have an appointment on the books. That's the part that sounds pressuresome to me. Yeah. We have a ton of anxiety. I mean, that's a buzzword that a lot of people use nowadays is anxiety. Anxiety qualification is what?

[Sadhguru]

For a lot of people, I'm distressed and disturbed and I'm anxious has become a qualification. They think it's a qualification. They don't understand. It's. It's destruction of human nature. Destruction of human possibilities, isn't it?

[Theo Von]

Yeah. Oh, for sure. Yeah. I think it's definitely something that's very common now. I mean, I, I buy into it as well. It's like, you know, I feel like it's dealing with depression or I'm. Or I'm anxious. I hear a lot of younger people say anxious, though. That's one thing I hear them say a lot. Like, I have anxiety and I never heard that when I was growing up. I never heard anxiety that much. You hear it a lot now.

[Sadhguru]

We had no clue. We didn't know how to spell anxiety when we were young. Now the thing is, there are many, many factors to this. There are sociological factors. There are other factors. Like there is not enough nutrient in the food. There's not enough strength in the soil. So there's not enough in strength in the food that we consume.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah. A lot of the soil we're using now I know is it's just Soil we've used so many times, it's getting. There's nothing left in it, you know? And we're growing our food out of it.

[Sadhguru]

Nothing left means what is not left. See, we must understand this. If you take that much of sand and add enough organic content to it, it becomes soil.

[Theo Von]

Okay?

[Sadhguru]

If you take rich soil and take off all the organic content from it, it becomes sand. So essentially, it's the organic content. What does the organic content do? It feeds the organisms. What are these organisms? There are trillions of species of organisms in a handful of soil. There could be anywhere between 6 to 9 billion organisms, a handful of soil. 50 to 70,000 species of organisms in one handful of soil.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

But we are starving them to death. They are the foundational life. Even in your body. 60% is organisms. Only 40% is your parental genetics.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

60% is other organisms. So these organisms are the foundational life for everything. For a plant, animal, human being, for everything. This is the foundational life. They are dying in trillions per day or per hour because there's no food. Why there's no food. If organic material has to come into soil, there are only two sources. It's so simple, but unfortunately, it's. The world doesn't seem to get it. There are only two sources. You can't make it in the factory. You can't do something else. You can't bring it from Mars. Only two sources. Green litter from the trees and animal waste. These are the only two sources of organic material on the planet.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

Tell me, in your farm, the farms that we see in the world today, where are the trees? Where are the animals? No tractor is doing all the job the animal used to do. But the tractor doesn't sit.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. We need to try. Yeah. We gotta turn. Yeah. We gotta put a digestive system on a tractor.

[Sadhguru]

If there's no organic content, the organisms will start dying. See, the minimum organic content that is needed to coil soil as soil, according to UN agencies, is 3%. 3%.

[Theo Von]

That's how much soil needs to be organic content.

[Sadhguru]

That is the minimum organic content that should be there in the soil. But the shame is, not a single nation, not even one single nation on this planet has 3% average organic content across their lands. Not even one. The highest is 2.4% in Northwestern Europe. Southern Europe is 1.1%. United States is 1.25%. Africa is 0.03%.

[Theo Von]

Oh, man.

[Sadhguru]

India is 0.62%. This is death. Most agencies are saying we only have another 60 harvests. Left, not years harvest left.

[Theo Von]

Wow. Because there'll be nothing in the soil to make any more food. I wonder if. Cause sometimes I wonder if like some of these, like, forward thinkers and these larger corporations that buy up a lot of the land and farmland, if they know that, you know, if they're like planning ahead, you know, like instead of fixing the problem, though, and they're trying.

[Sadhguru]

To exploit the problem.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. Like instead of getting our soil better, people would rather, well, let's find something we can eat that we don't have to grow in the soil.

[Sadhguru]

You know, See, there is no such thing as growing elsewhere.

[Theo Von]

Do you understand?

[Sadhguru]

For all that, the basis.

[Theo Von]

Oh, I believe it.

[Sadhguru]

The basis is in nature. All right. We can reproduce that, we can use it in so many different ways, but you can't completely produce something out of nothing. Yeah, there's no such thing. So organisms are not just for food. Our very body is organisms right now. Why all these immune issues, psychological issues, is the life material is collapsing, but the first one that collapses is the psychological. The software. The software is collapsing.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Hardware is also becoming weak. Our immune systems are not as they were some time ago. Well, in this, apart from the soil being like that, there is lot of alcohol usage, drugs, especially in teenage period when people are growing up. Alcohol, this, that smoke. Oh, yeah, various things. Just weakening their substantial studies to show during growing period, those who consume these things, their ability to get into depressive states, their ability to lose balance over their mind is very, very high. In uk. So many studies have been done which clearly show this, that the amount of depression which is there in those who abuse these things when they were very young, when the brain was still growing.

[Theo Von]

That's Ireland. That's mostly Ireland.

[Sadhguru]

Probably no UK generally, is it? In all of them, London is a hotbed forever.

[Theo Von]

But so obviously. So if this. So we. So, man, there's a lot of things to think about. So we're not getting the proper nutrients that we need. So you think that that contributes to some of the anxiety that people are dealing with these days, like younger generation. I guess it makes sense. If they're not properly nourished, then how would you be able to create a stable environment inside of yourself? Right.

[Sadhguru]

100%. See, many studies shows this. If you. In 1920s, that's a little over a century ago, if you ate one California orange, what you got from that today? If you have to get the same amount of nutrition, you have to eat eight oranges. Have you eaten eight oranges any one day?

[Theo Von]

No.

[Sadhguru]

You will turn orange your Blood won't be red, it'll become orange.

[Theo Von]

Oh, man, I would hate eating eight oranges. It would take you half the day. It would take you an hour and a half.

[Sadhguru]

So United States, west of Mississippi, these are all grasslands. The prairie, we plowing them deep, 14, 15 inches with a machine. All right. With a tractor. The. Once you plow the grassland, the reason why it's grassland, why there are no trees in that part of the country, because it's windblown. My experience, people, they have traveled with me when I rode motorcycle across the western part of United States. The biggest problem is the wind.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

I'm riding a heavy motorcycle, which is over 360kg, but it goes like this because the wind is so strong. That's why there are no trees, because it's wind blown. So in this, if you plow 14, 16 inches, all the soil topsoil is flying away. You've heard of the dust bowls of the past. Even recently it happened in Illinois. So I was just talking to somebody and they're saying they're so excited about, you know, I don't remember the number exactly. They said so many million tons of soil landed up in New York City that the tall New York building stopped. So much soil. I said, what foolishness is this? You're. You're just looking at the million tons of soil which the New York City building stopped. What about probably a trillion tons of soil which went into Atlantic?

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Because you plowed the prairie so deep. It's a grassland. Grassland means it's wind blown.

[Theo Von]

It's just blowing it off. Yeah. I think it's just we don't care enough, I guess. I don't know. It's tough.

[Sadhguru]

No. Everybody says I'm generation Z, so they think they're the last generation.

[Theo Von]

Right. They're passing along the problem.

[Sadhguru]

No, no, See, when you say Z, that means the final thing, right?

[Theo Von]

Oh, it's true, huh? This is it.

[Sadhguru]

I'm generation Z. Means I'm the final generation.

[Theo Von]

I didn't even think about that. Yeah, I guess we don't have a strategy for after this. That's what it sounds like.

[Sadhguru]

No, we can still turn it around. I don't know if you have heard of the save soil movement. So here I am.

[Theo Von]

Safe soil. No, save our soil. Save soil.

[Sadhguru]

Save soil.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[Sadhguru]

As a part of changing the policy, because this can't be fixed. See, if I say this, especially in California, I started speaking and they say, okay, I'll go and fix my kitchen garden. You fixing your kitchen garden is very cute. I appreciate that.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

But it's not a solution. Yeah, solution will happen only when the policy changes as to how we use our soil. Soil is not a resource. Soil is a legacy that's come to us from previous generations. It's our business to see that it goes to next generation, if not better condition. At least the way they gave it to us. Yeah, at least that much. But we are finishing it off. All right. 52% of the agricultural soils are already degraded.

[Theo Von]

And why do you think that's just a mindset that we have? I guess, like you're saying, it's like we've reached generation Z maybe. Nobody, nobody's thinking about soil as a legacy. They're just thinking about, what can I.

[Sadhguru]

Get for see, Let me tell you this. I've. I'm not a scientist.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

I'm not people, but I've spoken to very various agro sciences conferences and stuff. They asked me, sadhguru, how do you know? I said, I'm a worm. I'm like a worm. I'm crawling on this land as a life and I know what's happening to me by being in various situations, what happens to me. I'm conscious and sensitive enough to know what's happening to me. So because we are not living in this universe, we are manufactured in the universities. Unfortunately, these days, only information, no experience of anything. Yeah, there is no experience of anything. If you go out, most people don't know what's the temperature. They will look in their phone. What is the temperature? Your body is there. Yeah, you must know what's the temperature.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, you're a thermostat.

[Sadhguru]

But they don't even know whether they are hungry or not. They will look at how many calories they ate today.

[Theo Von]

I know.

[Sadhguru]

I'm saying information, no profoundness of experience about anything from simple things to complex things. I'm saying because of this, we have arrived at this. We do one thing and forget the other thing. All bits and pieces of doing things. So you won't believe it. In 20, what is COP 26? Glasgow? 2022. Same soil is 22. No. Yes. 2022. January is Glasgow in, you know, Scotland. Scotland.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah. I like. I like Scotland.

[Sadhguru]

You like Scotland?

[Theo Von]

Yeah, I like Scottish people.

[Sadhguru]

You like. You're a golfer? Are you Scottish?

[Theo Von]

I'm not a bad. I'm not a good golfer yet, but I like the Scots just because they've just been through a lot.

[Sadhguru]

But you don't understand what they say.

[Theo Von]

That helps. You can just kind of go like this, you know, it's good they speak.

[Sadhguru]

The same language so differently.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. I got to visit India one time. I went to Madras.

[Sadhguru]

I think I'll tell you about India later. We'll finish this soil business. So in Glasgow, Cop 26 happened, which is all the countries meet the Nation's representatives meet.

[Theo Von]

COP 26, it's called.

[Sadhguru]

Yeah, this is the UN agency.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[Sadhguru]

It's called UNCCC for Climate and whatever.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[Sadhguru]

So a lot of all the environment ministers, some prime ministers, presidents, everybody are there for this meeting. So I after this is over 15 days they met and this is over this. I asked some of the environment ministers, what have we decided about soil? They said, soil. What about soil? I said, no discussion about soil. He said, no, those who are there for full 15 days, they're saying the word soil was not mentioned. Wow. Then I started a campaign. I rode a motorcycle from London to southern India. 27 nations, 30,000 km in hundred days, man. They thought I will die. But I didn't see. Here I am.

[Theo Von]

That's some wind burn, huh?

[Sadhguru]

Even now I came on a motorcycle.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. Oh really?

[Sadhguru]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

Oh, that's awesome.

[Sadhguru]

From McManville.

[Theo Von]

So you guys did that to raise awareness?

[Sadhguru]

Not awareness to change the policy in the nation. So we signed member Memorandum of Understanding MOUs with various countries and European Union has done good work in terms of changing policies, but still it is too slow. See, the political process in a democracy is so slow. You will be. I mean this is not a popular thing to say. We ran these campaigns across in hundred days we touched 3.9 billion people on the planet.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

Through social media and everything with that kind of. Once the democratic leaders see that kind of support, they want to do something about it. So Europeans started talking about it and made making some changes. It has to be implemented, at least beginning to enter their policy. Well, in Middle Eastern countries they are doing a lot, but they are in a bad land, you know, the desert land. They're trying to do their best. India, a lot of changes have happened. Implementation still slow, but at least in law changes have happened. But you won't believe we ran a very low level campaign in China. But the Chinese are doing the best in this.

[Theo Von]

Really?

[Sadhguru]

Yes.

[Theo Von]

They have a lot of soil land over there.

[Sadhguru]

The thing is, I'm not speaking against democracy, but democracy has to be. Democracy is a wonderful thing when people are conscious and focused towards one thing. When democracy becomes a business by itself.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Well, to get any simple thing done, it'll take 10 years of debate and discussion and political bombing against each other. What needs to happen in the country is forgotten. The individual parties and stuff goes crazy.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

So China doesn't have that problem. They converted millions of hectares of land or millions of square kilometers of land into, you know, tree based agriculture and other things that we recommended.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

Because there, if somebody, one person decides, it just goes.

[Theo Von]

It happens.

[Sadhguru]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

Not as much red tape. Yeah. Everything here has gotten so many legal issues, everything's a nightmare to get done.

[Sadhguru]

Not just here, everywhere, all democracies, you have the best policy. I will go to the court. One hook on you, you run on the same spot for next three years.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sadhguru]

It's like this. You may not have the endurance to get rid of the hook. You may go in a different direction.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. It's more a thing of endurance here. It's like you have to. It's just like to make a change everywhere.

[Sadhguru]

In all democracies, unfortunately, people have learned how to, to misuse democracy. It is the most wonderful thing that people can decide who should rule. How wonderful it is. But we have started misusing mechanics of democracy. Everybody's understood it's no more the spirit. It's the vulgar description of democracy which is working. The spirit of democracy is what's best for the people should happen.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, yeah. It's definitely. It's gotten very confusing. But I wonder if some of that's just a side effect of democracy over time and of capitalism over time, everybody.

[Sadhguru]

Figured out how to win an election. That's the whole thing.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, it's true. It's a good point. One of the things that I think sometimes we're missing in the world these days is, you know, people say connection a lot of times and I don't know if that's necessarily true because in some ways, like you're saying there's more connection than ever. But what about like, love and stuff like that? Do you think that love is a choice that we make or do you think there's something more cosmic involved in it? Like, whoa, when people choose to love one another.

[Sadhguru]

Your neighborhood girl sent by Cosmos. Cosmic agents.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, that would be nice, huh? You could just wish on a star for a date. But yeah. Do you think that there's something. Because love feels different whenever you're in love with someone. Right.

[Sadhguru]

So when you say whenever, that means it's not happening all the time. It happens once in a week.

[Theo Von]

Right. It's a leap year.

[Sadhguru]

So right now, how much radical view are you ready for?

[Theo Von]

I'll take it all, I think.

[Sadhguru]

Really?

[Theo Von]

I mean, it depends on how weird we're trying to get.

[Sadhguru]

But, yeah.

[Theo Von]

I mean, I'm into some stuff. Yeah, I'll listen. At least I'll start there.

[Sadhguru]

Okay. So one way to look at it is the emotion of love. Initially, it got the way people know it. It's just generally, love means romantic love, all right? That is initiated by a rush of hormone in your system.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[Sadhguru]

Essentially, I would say your intelligence got hijacked by your hormone.

[Theo Von]

That's fair.

[Sadhguru]

So till yesterday, that scorny little girl who in the neighborhood, suddenly she got a few bumps on her body.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Suddenly it became a whole cosmos.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

You can't take your eyes off her.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah.

[Sadhguru]

And don't think of all that now. I'm just telling.

[Theo Von]

Okay? Yeah, yeah. I keep my hands like this.

[Sadhguru]

So I'm saying just the hormonal rush in you suddenly makes you see everything completely differently. A little while later, if you look back, it may look stupid. All right? But at that moment, anyway, we're talking about love, not about hormones or sexuality. But that instigate that fire set. If you look at it by nature, what is nature's intent? Why is it getting you so excited about the neighborhood girl? Because it wants you to reproduce. If it doesn't fire something like this, there will be no next generation of people.

[Theo Von]

Ah. So nature needs it.

[Sadhguru]

Yes. It's the instinct of the species that it wants to survive. Okay, we may play all kinds of games with it, but essentially it wants you to reproduce. Leave that aside. We've kept that as a choice.

[Theo Von]

Now, okay?

[Sadhguru]

We want to reproduce or not is a choice.

[Theo Von]

Okay?

[Sadhguru]

But nature is pushing you in that direction. Leaving that aside. Now, love means you long for somebody. What is the longing? You want to become one. See, right now, you breathing. I'm checking on you. You breathing?

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Yes.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Don't just say yes to me. Are you really breathing? You notice it? Yes. Now, this is a small plant, but let's say that's a little bigger thing. What? The tree is exhaling. You're inhaling. What? You exhale, the tree is inhaling. Am I correct? Is it a fact or fiction?

[Theo Von]

It's shotgun in each other. Yeah, it's good.

[Sadhguru]

It is. Fact or fiction?

[Theo Von]

Correct.

[Sadhguru]

Fact. So you and the tree, for example, it's like one half of your lungs is hanging out there. You're not really separate from microorganism to a plant, to a tree, to animal. This is one big phenomenon. It's only in your mind intellectually, you're separating these things. Why? We already went through this. You want your mind to Be sharp. Sharp instrument is good for cutting. Hmm. I'll give you a knife. You can dissect whatever you want. But you want to stitch your clothes. If you stitch your clothes with a knife, what will happen? That is how the modern fashion has arrived. Everybody's got torn pants.

[Theo Von]

It will ruin it. No, now it would look good. Now it would look. It would look good. If you stitch your. Yeah, nowadays it would really look pretty. Fire, I guess, right?

[Sadhguru]

It's not that it will look good. It's torn.

[Theo Von]

It's torn.

[Sadhguru]

If you try to stitch with a knife, it'll go into ribbons. All right?

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[Sadhguru]

So right now it's the same thing. Your mind is a sharp instrument. It is good for dissection. It is not good for unifying everything. Unifying does not mean you and me have to sit together and put the universe together. It is anyway one large phenomena. It is you who is separating it. If you stop separating it, it'll be one. When you say love, it's a strong emotion to make those two pieces of creation which have become separate, to make them one. We're trying hard. Good. So being separate, it's a good emotion at least, is bringing you close to one person. Otherwise you are an island by yourself.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah. You're an island boy. After that. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. You want to find someone else. Right. So it feels like that makes sense.

[Sadhguru]

Essentially, this life is happening is a large phenomenon. We don't get it. But actually, as a life, we are just a pop up on this planet.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah.

[Sadhguru]

All the countless number of people who walk this planet before you and me, where are they? They're all topsoil. This will also become topsoil. You just have to wait for some time.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sadhguru]

So now it is all one life in your mind. You separate it. Then in your emotions, you try to stitch it, which is a struggle. Generally for most people, moments of great joy and fulfillment will happen in love. Rest of the time, it's only anxiety and pain most of the time. But for those few moments, they're willing to go through all the pain. Because those few moments are so precious. But I'm saying, why are they so few moments? This love is about. For a moment, you felt like you are one. All right? Either physically, mentally, emotionally, sometimes even energetically, you felt like you are one. I am saying you are anyway, one. If you remove the barriers of your mind, you are anywhere in one. You can sit here dripping ecstasy, not love.

[Theo Von]

Okay?

[Sadhguru]

You'll seek love because you think love will bring blissfulness and ecstasy.

[Theo Von]

That's the truth. Yeah. You think it's going to bring something different?

[Sadhguru]

Yes. But I can teach you a simple way. You can sit here with eyes closed or with eyes open and be totally blissed out. People ask me, sadhguru, of all these things that you're doing, what is your greatest achievement? I said tears. So what? Tears. Why today, millions of people across the world, if they close their eyes in the morning, to do a simple practice, tears of ecstasy. Every day drips.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

Wherever I go, whichever part of the world I go, not a day passes for me without me seeing tears of love and ecstasy.

[Theo Von]

Wow. Really?

[Sadhguru]

This is the greatest boon you can have in this world where everybody is trying to pull and push each other. Every day you are meeting people who are in tears of love and ecstasy.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

So this is just this for all human experiences. Whatever it is, pleasant, unpleasant, love, hate, anger, agitation, tranquility, beauty, everything, agony, ecstasy, everything comes from within you, isn't it?

[Theo Von]

Yes.

[Sadhguru]

Now the question is, do you want an external stimulus or can you consciously do it yourself? What do you drive?

[Theo Von]

I drive a cybertruck.

[Sadhguru]

You're on the cyber.

[Theo Von]

I know, I just got it. It's a long story. It's somebody.

[Sadhguru]

Somebody brought it to gift it to me. I said no. Look like cardboard to me. And above all, I belong to a generation where we have admired, enjoyed and cotton infused with internal combustion engines.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, you love them.

[Sadhguru]

Wow. Heartbeats with it.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. When you get some of those old engines, I really, really dig them. But one thing I like about it is I don't have to stop to get gas. That's one thing I do like about it. But go on, carry on.

[Sadhguru]

So this whole process of blissfulness is the goal. See, people may call it whatever here, they will call it love, relationship, this one drink, drug, everything is towards the highest level of pleasantness that a man can experience, isn't it? Or no. Nothing. Here you become hopeless. You say, I'm going to heaven. What is your idea of heaven? The most pleasant place. Yes or no?

[Theo Von]

Yes.

[Sadhguru]

If right from your childhood you've been told heaven is the pleasantest, beautiful place on the in the universe. So you want to go there. Suppose right from your childhood, I told you God lives in heaven, but it's a horrendous place. You want to go there?

[Theo Von]

Not as much, no.

[Sadhguru]

I'll pray from here only I don't.

[Theo Von]

Want to go there. I'll send an email.

[Sadhguru]

Yes. So essentially, your search for pleasantness is fundamental. So all these addictions of alcohol, drugs, Everything is that finding a quick fix, that longing to have a most pleasant experience of life, you're looking for a quick fix. The question is, it's not a moral issue. It's just that it makes you less when I say it makes you less. You know, I've been invited to all these in India. They keep inviting me to this. They have conferences called under 25.

[Theo Von]

Okay?

[Sadhguru]

Under 25 years of age. They have their own conferences. And I'm always invited. I'm under 25. They think I am, so I go there. And in Bangalore City, over 40,000 people are in a open ground. It's not legal there. But the places, the strong smell of marijuana.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah.

[Sadhguru]

No, it's not legal. Yeah, everything. Everybody's smoking Sadhguru. You have so much influence in the government, why can't you make marijuana legal? I say, why just marijuana? We'll make cocaine legal, meth legal, fentanyl legal. Tell me what else. You give me a list, I'll make everything legal. Why you want to make it legal? Because you want to smoke up and go to the university. They're all students.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah. You gotta get high and go to university.

[Sadhguru]

That's what. In India, the term is smoke up.

[Theo Von]

Smoke up?

[Sadhguru]

Smoke means tobacco.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Smoke up means that.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

So you want to get high. So first of all, when you smoke, what happens?

[Theo Von]

You get kind of disconnected.

[Sadhguru]

All right? Right now what happens essentially is your faculties come down. So you want to go through a surgery. Let's say you have a brain surgery and the neurosurgeon comes smoked up.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

You want the surgery.

[Theo Von]

Not. Not now.

[Sadhguru]

Not with that guy. Yeah, not with that guy.

[Theo Von]

I'll let the nurse do it.

[Sadhguru]

Yes. Because you understand clearly when you do this, your faculties come down. Even your cognition comes down. Whether you see it or not. Faculties come down for sure. So putting your faculties down, you're calling it high? I said at least first when you smoke up, you say I'm down. Don't say I'm high.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Because your ability to do things, ability to perceive everything has gone down.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

The way to be high is if I can see things that you can't see, if I can hear things that you cannot hear, if I can experience things that you cannot experience. This is high, isn't it?

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

You lower tone down the life, and you say you're high. Don't do this. At least you say I'm low. We'll make it legal.

[Theo Von]

At least for them. We're working from an honest place.

[Sadhguru]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, man. People get Pretty high. It's outlawed in India. Huh? It's illegal.

[Sadhguru]

See, India is a place where it's available almost everywhere. But nobody cared to smoke because everybody in America is smoking. They all started smoking now.

[Theo Von]

Ah, I see.

[Sadhguru]

Otherwise, if you go into the valleys just about anywhere, if you just do like this in the plants, the resin will be on your hands.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sadhguru]

The places where we trek, the marijuana grows like 7ft tall. Wow, we are walking through that. Taller than us.

[Theo Von]

Oh, I'd have my mouth open. And when I went through, I would love that. One of the problems we see are seeing a lot here in USA is pornography. Young people getting addicted to pornography. Is that something that's happening in India? Do you, do you guys see that there? Or is it not something.

[Sadhguru]

Not that we see it, but I hear, I hear it's rampant and it's causing many, many issues and problems.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, because it hijacks a lot of, like your masculinity, you know, it hijacks a lot of your energy.

[Sadhguru]

It feels like it's not about hijacking energy fundamentally. See, women have been fighting for their liberties or women's liberation as such. This is the end of women's liberation. If pornography becomes the normal viewing thing for everybody. A woman isn't just an object, all right? There is no more. A woman is not worth connecting to, being one with knowing, you know, making an attempt to know her. All this is not needed. She's just a doing thing.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

So if we value women, this should be brought down. But now it's spread like anything. Somebody was telling me 70% of the content on the Internet is pornography.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

I don't know if that number is correct, but that's what they're saying.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. It's just unfortunate. Is it the responsibility of a government to prevent that or is it the responsibility of humans to not want to view it? Does that make sense?

[Sadhguru]

See, most humans are knotted beings. So society, government, plays a role in who they are. If there are no laws, a whole lot of people will kill themselves. Driving crazy, for example, or taking all kinds of drugs already. I think in 2023, there have been over 100,000 overdose deaths. I believe in United States itself.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

So human beings are not yet in that state where you can just leave everything to them. Some things need to be regulated, some regulation should be there, but it's not for me to say that because it's so pervasive. I only hope people get tired and disgusted with those things, hopefully. But when 12, 13 year old children look at It. They are completely taken by these things. It rules their mind. I know, you know, thousands of people are in touch with me on a daily basis. I have met people, many of them crying and, you know, asking for help, that they started watching pornography when they were 11, 12.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

They can't even look at their mother.

[Theo Von]

Simply as their mother without shame or discomfort.

[Sadhguru]

Discomfort because they only see the body parts of her.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

So I'm saying if you want to reduce a woman to body parts and you are born out of her, all right, you don't fall out of a sky. You born out of a woman. When you degrade her, you degrade all life, human life. So there are many implications to that, which unfortunately, today it's commerce. So they don't care what is the impact as long as they're making money.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. Is it the same in India as it is in other countries? Is that popular? Is it?

[Sadhguru]

I hear in rural India it's just taken the youth. Oh, totally.

[Theo Von]

It's unfortunate. Sadhguru, a couple of other things that I wanted to get to. What about if you had to suggest to someone to read a certain text every day? Right. Or if people only had the ability to read one text? What is a text that you recommend, that you would recommend for people?

[Sadhguru]

Only one text means just how many lines?

[Theo Von]

Just as many lines. But it is only one book.

[Sadhguru]

Only one book, yeah.

[Theo Von]

Do you have one that you think would be most helpful to people? That may be a lame question. It's. No, it's not a good. It's a good question.

[Sadhguru]

See, this is once again thinking that information is a solution for everything.

[Theo Von]

No.

[Sadhguru]

With more and more information. Tell me people have become better or worse?

[Theo Von]

I think people have become worse.

[Sadhguru]

Situations have become better. But people have become worse, isn't it?

[Theo Von]

Right. People have become less of themselves?

[Sadhguru]

When I say worse, I'm not saying anything else. I'm saying they're more distressed.

[Theo Von]

I'll agree with that.

[Sadhguru]

But situations, never before in the history of humanity situations were this good for us, isn't it?

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah.

[Sadhguru]

We're controlling the climate. If you open the tap, water comes. If you do this, the shit will get flushed.

[Theo Von]

Yes.

[Sadhguru]

These are simple things you've taken for granted. If these things are not there, just see how your life will be.

[Theo Von]

Oh, I would hate it.

[Sadhguru]

You want a bucket of water? You have to walk a mile and bring a bucket of water. How many young men are today fit enough to carry a bucket of water for a mile?

[Theo Von]

Not me.

[Sadhguru]

They cannot.

[Theo Von]

40%, maybe.

[Sadhguru]

So I'm saying Life in terms of situations is better than ever before. But human beings are becoming more distressed simply because too much information. With information we create conveniences, comforts, but no profound experience of life. So this is not in a good place.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

If this is not in a good place, let's say we take you to heaven. I can arrange it for you. Yeah, yeah. But if you are miserable here, there also you will go and multiply your misery, isn't it?

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah.

[Sadhguru]

And anyway, I'm asking you one question. You must answer this question honestly.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[Sadhguru]

How do you know that you are not already in heaven and making a mess out of it? Do you have any proof?

[Theo Von]

No.

[Sadhguru]

So you're already in heaven and making a mess out of it. If you don't make a mess, what we thought with what are you making a mess with? Your mind. If you don't make a mess out of your mind, you are in heaven. Anyway.

[Theo Von]

I love that. Dang. That's some real wizardry right there. That's some real ninja thinking.

[Sadhguru]

Ninjas killed.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, that's true. That's some very kind ninja thinking. Tell me a little about, like how can people get involved with you guys. Institutes. Because you have them around the world, right?

[Sadhguru]

Yes.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

More than anything, the first simple way to start is there are free offerings. People can start doing these simple meditations. It'll work wonderfully well. Of course there is material and you know, our 2023 video viewership has been 5 billion plus.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

Apart from superstar musicians, nobody has those kind of numbers. They have bigger numbers, but in terms of talks reaching people over 5 billion, this is our platforms. Over thousand other platforms are there which are propagating our material. We don't know their numbers.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

So that much involvement is there. Some people only listen. See, listening to something could change a little bit of your opinions, ideas and give you some relief. The important thing is you do a simple practice which changes your chemistry if you are serious about it. There is a 28 hour program, or let's say seven day program. It is divided into seven days, seven steps program called inner engineering. It comes with the final day of teaching a very powerful process that's called difficult for you to pronounce. Shambhavi Mahamudra.

[Theo Von]

Shambhavi Mahamudra.

[Sadhguru]

Yep, you got it. So the Shambhavi Mahamudra is a powerful process and it's only 21 minutes. There is enough study about this. We have a center in Beth Israel Hospital in the Howard Medical School where lot of research has been done. One thing that they found there are many aspects. You can. I can ask them to send you the research findings. It's incredible. One important thing that will interest you and people in Tennessee and California is the endocannabino cannabinoid level in the body goes up by 70%, which is higher by 23% higher than what happens in sexual orgasm.

[Theo Von]

Oh my God. And where y'all getting this from, huh? How do you get out?

[Sadhguru]

It's all within the body.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah. God. Yeah. Yeah. I'll do some of it. What do we do?

[Sadhguru]

Seven steps.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[Sadhguru]

We'll send a complimentary thing to you. You do it.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Yes.

[Theo Von]

I would love to. I would love to have that experience.

[Sadhguru]

If you.

[Theo Von]

I'm going to cancel my.

[Sadhguru]

How many people are listening to your podcast?

[Theo Von]

I don't know. I think probably maybe a million and a half people will listen to this.

[Sadhguru]

Okay. If 10% of your people who are subscribed to you are willing to take this step because this is there for their well being. I'll tell you my journey, where it is and if 10% are willing to take it, whatever will. But 50% discount I'll give you for all those people.

[Theo Von]

Okay. That's awesome. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Because I think a lot of people are seeking some or just people want to figure out a way to be more at peace.

[Sadhguru]

They need to understand this. This is not a religion, this is not a philosophy. This is not an ideology. This is a method. It's a technology.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[Sadhguru]

What happened was it's now 1982. Means what? 42 years ago, one afternoon, I'm just sitting on a small hill in Mysore. Suddenly I burst into an ecstatic state where every cell in my body is dripping ecstasy. I think it lasts just for 5, 10 minutes. Then when I come back to my normal thing, about four and a half hours have passed. For the first time in my life, tears of ecstasy flowing. Then I. At that time, I'm a super skeptic. Super means super super skeptic.

[Theo Von]

I am. Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

I don't believe anything other than what I can see, that kind of mindset. So I shake my head and think, what's happening to me? Maybe I'm going off my rocker. Then I talk to my closest friends. Something is happening. If I close my eyes, I'm just blown away. Hey, come on now. What did you pop? Did you find the mushrooms in the hill? What happened to you? All this, then there was nobody to relate with. In about six weeks, this became my normal experience. That if I sit in one place, if I close my eyes And I think it's two minutes, seven, eight hours are poof, gone.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

Like that. Because when you're ecstatic, a year will feel like one moment it just poof, goes away. Like that. Then I realized, what is this? I started, you know, looking at this. What is it that's happening to me? Then I realized, if I can keep my hands off my psychological activity and simply sit here. Because you're going into this posture all the time. That's what it means. You're trying to keep yourself off your psychological activity. If I take my hand off that, suddenly an ecstatic wave happens in my system. Then I thought, this is it. I've discovered this. And then I thought, who wouldn't want this? I couldn't think of one guy who doesn't want this, who wouldn't want to be blissed out.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, I'm in it.

[Sadhguru]

Then I sat down and made a plan. I was 25 years of age. I made a plan that in the next two and a half years, I will make the whole world blissed out. On that day, the population was somewhere around five plus billion. And I made a plan how to hit the geography of the world. And in two and a half years, I can do it. 42 years. Look at me.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, it's taken a while, huh?

[Sadhguru]

So today they are saying we are touching 2, 3 billion people, whatever. But that's not my idea of humanity. Humanity is now 8.4 billion people. So I am only trying to. I know that I will die as a blissful failure. Yeah, okay, I am. I will die blissfully, but I am a failure because I thought, I'll do this to the whole humanity. I am only getting a little bit of percentage. So I am still trying to improve my percentage. So for all the people who subscribe to you, we'll give them 50% off.

[Theo Von]

Oh, that's very sweet of you. Thank you. I'll make sure to subscribe too, man. I want to have the experience. And it's instructional. It comes.

[Sadhguru]

Are you free?

[Theo Von]

Well, it's sweet of you. It takes you through the experience.

[Sadhguru]

Yes. Step by step. You take this properly because the reason why these things have not happened to people is not because it's difficult. They don't have focus towards that. Their focus is somewhere else. They think, if I get this, my life will be better. If I get that, my life will be better. No, if you are better, whether you get something or not, you're still better. That's all.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, yeah, I love that. I love the fact that if you are Taking care of you the best you can then no matter taking care. Okay.

[Sadhguru]

If you're not messing. Everything is taken care.

[Theo Von]

Right?

[Sadhguru]

Tell me, what's the problem with your intelligence? It's the most fantastic thing on this planet, isn't it? Yeah, we don't know. We are always thinking somebody else from some other planet. The aliens are more intelligent. Maybe they are. We don't know. We don't know for sure. A lot of people see them in their dreams and.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, they're perverts too though. And yeah, you never see.

[Sadhguru]

The most fantastic thing that you have seen is human end intelligence. Yeah, but that intelligence is cutting you into pieces. You can call this stress, anxiety, madness, whatever you want. Essentially, human intelligence is cutting you up into pieces.

[Theo Von]

It's happening these days for sure. Why is it one thing?

[Sadhguru]

As I said, it's a sharp instrument and you don't know how to deal with it.

[Theo Von]

Right.

[Sadhguru]

There are many ways to look at it. See, one thing that's happened is what we call a science today, unfortunately, has become purely utilitarian, not subjective in the name of objectivity. In reaction to the religious dogmatism, science has taken a very dry route where they won't find any life. It's a very, very dry route. Everything is objective, but you're subjective, isn't it? Your experience of life is very subjective.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, for sure.

[Sadhguru]

There's no value for that. So we will with objectivity. Essentially it means we use our intelligence to dissect. Now, Theo, I really want to know you. I'll arrange a dissection for you so that I can explore you and really know you, who you are.

[Theo Von]

That's not the same though.

[Sadhguru]

No, I just have bits and pieces.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, you don't have the whole truth.

[Sadhguru]

Yes. If you embrace something, you may know something by dissection. You will have information without knowing anything. This is what we are doing to the world. We are using the human intelligence purely as a logical scalpel to cut everything into pieces. That's why nothing is of value. Nothing is of profound experience. People can't do anything with deep sense of involvement because they are well informed. That's what they think. They are not well informed. They are just having bits and pieces of memory. If you wipe out their memory, they don't know anything. All right?

[Theo Von]

Yeah. There's not a lot of concepts. It's more just random facts.

[Sadhguru]

No, they may even have concepts, but there's no experience.

[Theo Von]

Right. There's no. Yeah, we're not. We're learned, we're. We're hearing things and reciting them, but we're not understanding them.

[Sadhguru]

See, there is a difference between. You read in the school textbook, the planet is round.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

But you took a voyage and went around the planet and came. Or you went to the moon and looked down. That planet is round. Very different, isn't it? Profound experiences and information are two different things. Information is useful to fix the outside situation. But the inner situation is never fixed with information. It needs a profound experience. It needs access. That access is missing because information is always coming from outside. Right now people have seen the whole cosmos through their phone screen. It gives them a false sense that they know whole cosmos. But all they have seen is the phone screen.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

So because of this, the basic mental structure, how it works, what happens. See for example, how our sense, how our mental structure is formed. Everything that's there in your mind today, whatever content you have in your mind today is something that you imbibed from outside. Yes. How did you imbibe? By seeing, by hearing, by smelling, by touching.

[Theo Von]

That's how you imbibed. Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

That's how you imbibe through five senses. But today, most of it you're imbibing only as information, not even as impression.

[Theo Von]

Right.

[Sadhguru]

At least the impressions together would become an experience. But today it's purely information.

[Theo Von]

Just the frosting, no cake. Does that make sense or. No?

[Sadhguru]

Oh, okay. Like that. I thought just cake, no icing.

[Theo Von]

Oh, I see what you're saying.

[Sadhguru]

Or the other, the without icing, cake is actually a good thing. It's bread.

[Theo Von]

But this, we're just getting the icing.

[Sadhguru]

Yes.

[Theo Von]

We're not getting any of the substance.

[Sadhguru]

Yes. No substance.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[Sadhguru]

No nourishment.

[Theo Von]

Good.

[Sadhguru]

Just surface. Which looks good.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

And when you stand on it, it cracks.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

So all this is metaphorical. But let's come down to the simple fact. The simple fact is this. As we went through this monkey experiment, if you say I don't want something, only that happens to this mind. Somebody tells you what is good, what is bad. Don't think about bad things. Well, that's a full time job right now. So without understanding the mechanics of how human system functions, how human intelligence is formed, these things are happening in the yogic system. We see the human mind as 16 parts. These 16 parts can be seen as four segments. These four segments are. One is called Buddhi, which literally means intellect. Another is called Ankara, which means identity. The third is called Manas, which means memory. The fourth is called Chitta. We'll come to that. Buddhi means intellect. It's a front End of your intelligence.

[Theo Von]

Buddhi. Buddhi, like Buddhism almost.

[Sadhguru]

It actually comes from that.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

See, if you are above, Buddhi means intellect. Dada means one who is above. One who is above his intellect is a Buddha.

[Theo Von]

Ah, Buddha.

[Sadhguru]

Yes. That's not his name.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

His name is Gautama, Siddhartha.

[Theo Von]

Oh God.

[Sadhguru]

He became a Buddha. That means he went above his intellect. That is, your intellect is normally cutting the world into pieces. Whatever you look at, it wants to dissect. So he went above that and looked at the world the way it is. So he's a Buddha.

[Theo Von]

So he's a Buddha.

[Sadhguru]

So he's not the only Buddha. There have been thousands of Buddhas and still are.

[Theo Von]

But the fact is that you go above your intellect.

[Sadhguru]

Yes. So Buddhi is the front end of your intelligence or your mind. It is a cutting edge. It is very, very needed to be in function for you to be surviving in this world.

[Theo Von]

Right. Because you have to understand and process.

[Sadhguru]

And make choices you have to make when you came here. You have to discriminate and decide whether to sit in that chair or this chair. Otherwise you'll go and sit on this.

[Theo Von]

Yes.

[Sadhguru]

So intellect is very vital for your survival. When you're in the survival mode, it is most important. But a cutting instrument doesn't give you a full picture of anything. For example, all the information that intellect has, the data it's collected, is from the five senses. Essentially, what you see, hear, smell, taste and touch. Right. Now can you see my hand?

[Theo Von]

Yes.

[Sadhguru]

You see this part, but you don't see this part. If you this see this part, you can't see this part. It's not just the hand. Even if you take a grain of sand, if you see one side, you can't see the other side. This is the nature of our senses. They give all half information. All the information that you are gathering today in the form of information is all half because human senses perceive like this. Now with all these half pieces, you make a picture and you think that is it. So what happens with intellect is, suppose I give you a million piece jigsaw, you got five pieces together and you say, wow, it's a bear. But there are million pieces, you got only five. So all the information that you have, all the libraries on the planet, if we grind it and put it in your head, still what you know is a miniscule in this universe. Yes or no? Yeah, it's just a minuscule. With this minuscule you always making conclusions. So the important thing to understand is intellect is a front end defender It's a knife, a sword in your hand. You need to use it discreetly in such a way that you don't go on slaughtering people. You can kill people with your intellect, you know. Human intelligence is killing people, isn't it?

[Theo Von]

Yeah, all the time. Always has, yes.

[Sadhguru]

So this is the front end. But now the knife by itself is not dangerous or useful or anything. It depends the hand which holds it, which makes it what it is. So the next one is called ahankara. The word ahankara literally means identity.

[Theo Von]

Ankara, the sense of identity.

[Sadhguru]

Yeah. So right now, if you think I am this whatever is your identity, let's say you think I'm American. Now you're willing to live for America, die for America, fight for America, do whatever for America, or your identity is something else. It's racial or it's religious, or it is something else. Gender, whatever, what you're identified with, your intellect will do everything possible to protect that identity.

[Theo Von]

Ah.

[Sadhguru]

This is the only way the mind works. See, right now, your brain cells, my brain cells may not be very different, but you think I'm American. So your intelligence will do everything for America. Suppose I think I am something else. My intelligence or my intellect will work only for that because it functions from the data that you have gathered. The data is in memory. See, the third dimension of the mind is called manas, which is a silo of memory. Here there are eight types of memory. There is elemental memory. There is evolutionary memory. There is genetic memory, conscious and unconscious levels of memory, articulate and inarticulate levels of memory. There are eight different types of memories. So you are. This memory is what is firing your intellect.

[Theo Von]

Okay?

[Sadhguru]

Many times you may see or understand things that you have never been exposed to. Because in your evolutionary memory and in your genetic memory, there are so many things. There are ways to consciously activate them, but at least even unconsciously, they are finding expression in so many ways. So many human beings act as if they know something in a given moment, though they have never been exposed to that. Because there are other forms of memory within us. Whatever has happened to the human species in some way, it is within us. Whatever has happened to our father forefathers, it some way is within us. Whether you find excess or not is a different matter. So the silo of memory. Let's analogy. We'll keep the knife analogy.

[Theo Von]

Okay?

[Sadhguru]

Front is Buddhi, which is a sharp knife. The sharper it is, the better it is.

[Theo Von]

Okay, That's.

[Sadhguru]

And the hand that holds it, which is ahamkara, or the identity. Now this Is one thing we have neglected hugely in this world. In India there is a tradition. Unfortunately these things have been given up in the name of being modern. All right, because our education is as western as it is here, there also today. Otherwise, before starting education for a child, as a rule, there was no education till a child becomes 12 years of age. Because we always saw one's body and brain needs to mature to a certain point before you burden it with education. Today we want to start at three years of age.

[Theo Von]

Oh yeah, they're teaching kids hand Spanish or whatever when they're seven months. It's just ridiculous. It's like what are we doing?

[Sadhguru]

So 12 years we start education before we start the education. Because education is seen as an empowerment for a human being. Before you empower a human being, first thing is he has to identify himself with the cosmic identity. First thing is you. I, you change your identity from being a son of your parents or daughter of your parents, belonging to a caste or a creed or a religion. You say my identity is with the cosmos. I'm a product of this cosmos. It's called Aham Brahmasmi. That means I am that which is the ultimate right. So first this identity, then education. Because education is empowerment. If limited identity is empowered, it will do terrible things. See, you can, you know, we have a program in India and also we did some in Pennsylvania and Kentucky. This is called as Inner Freedom for the imprisoned. Our programs are mandatory in southern India. It's done wonders for these unfortunate, you know, convicts who are locked up for very, very long periods. Some of them on the death row for 15, 20 years in India they don't get hanged but they're on the death row going for one more appeal. One more appeal. Those kind of people.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

So thousands of people, they have transformed their lives with these programs within the prisons we conduct these things. So anyway, so when we are doing this, what I realize is the only problem with him is limited identity. He is intelligent. Actually he is far more resourceful than the people fools who are outside on the street. I find them very vibrant, high energy individuals. Only problem is their identity is so small. My well being is everything I want this to be. Well, I don't care what happens to that.

[Theo Von]

Right?

[Sadhguru]

But suppose somebody says, oh this is my family, what did they do? They included that also into their identity and suddenly the question of doing any harm to them doesn't arise because this is yours.

[Theo Von]

I see what you're saying. They look at a more of a worldly. They have more of a worldly Understanding that they're part of something bigger than just them.

[Sadhguru]

No, no, I'm saying let's go one step at a time. You are an individual, okay? Then you raise a family. Suddenly your wife and your children, or your husband and your children or whatever, suddenly they become a part of your life. You're even willing to die for them.

[Theo Von]

Okay?

[Sadhguru]

Now you say I belong to this community. Now you are willing to live and die for that community. Now you say, I am this nation. You are willing to live and die for that nation. So what is this? You are enlarging your identity.

[Theo Von]

I see.

[Sadhguru]

So all crime on this planet, all evil on this planet, all genocides on this planet, all the most horrendous things that human beings have done is a product of limited identity.

[Theo Von]

Ah, that makes perfect sense.

[Sadhguru]

I'll take the worst example. I'm always known to take the worst examples. Okay, the worst example you can take is Adolf Hitler. What is wrong with this man? He's super competent. There are many people, thousands and thousands of people with the same mindset. But fortunately, they're incompetent.

[Theo Von]

Right?

[Sadhguru]

The guy is too good an organizer and competent. So suddenly, evil multiplies. All right, See, human beings cause pain to each other in so many different ways, but this is an industrial level of suffering he creates. What is that? That is not because he has a different intent. There are so many people with the same intent. But. But it's a different level of competence. So when this happens, what do you think human competence becomes? A curse.

[Theo Von]

Ah, understood.

[Sadhguru]

That should never be so. Human intelligence and competence should never be a curse. It's the greatest boon that we have. More intelligent and more competent people we create, the better the world should be. But it's not so. The more intelligent and more competent people come. Our bombs become bigger, our weapons become more deadly, and our things. Why limited identity. So the. All the horrible things that you see people do to each other is a consequence and a product of limited identity. So first thing is to enhance the identity. Because how sharp this knife is, the sharper it becomes, more important the hand is steady, isn't it?

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

If this is a wonky hand, sharp knife is a dangerous damn thing. Yeah, that's all that's happening. And the memory is a silo of memory. There is plenty there. Plenty means the whole evolutionary process of who we are is captured there. Genetic memory, evolutionary memory, elemental memory is all there within this.

[Theo Von]

So we can get back to a good level quickly.

[Sadhguru]

Oh, yes, if only if you remove the impediments that you have created essentially, which is limited identity that you think I am. This, this is mine. That is not mine. This is me. That is not me. This whole thing, if you take away this limited identity, you. Right now, we are speaking only intellectually, but this can be done experientially. Say right now, I spoke about this. Shambhavi Mahamudra. If you sit here, your body is here, your mind is here. You are little away. When we sit here, that's your body. This is my body. Till we are buried in the same symmetry, we remain separate.

[Theo Von]

Okay?

[Sadhguru]

Someday you will live 50 years more than me. All right?

[Theo Von]

Someday we will be connected again.

[Sadhguru]

If we buried in the same soil, we will be connected. Even now, we are connected. We are not seeing it. That's all. Connection does not mean emotions. Connections does not mean imagination. As life, we are connected. All right? So. Because what you think is me as a physical self, and what I think as me as a physical self is from the same soil, isn't it?

[Theo Von]

That's a good point. Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

This happened. This happened in 2060, you know. 2060.

[Theo Von]

2060.

[Sadhguru]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

We're not there yet.

[Sadhguru]

You were not there.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah.

[Sadhguru]

This happened in 2060. A few scientists wanted an appointment with God. They got it. They went there and then they said, hey, old man, you've done pretty well with creation, but everything that you can do, we can also do. Time you retire. God said, oh, is that so? What is it that you can do? He said, look at this. They picked up some soil. They did it. Made a vague form like a human baby. And they did all kinds of things. In 10 minutes, it came alive and started crying the baby. God said, that's very impressive, but first, get your own soil.

[Theo Von]

It's.

[Sadhguru]

Yeah, fundamentally, it's the same material, right? All right. But this psychological thing of you is you. Me is me. All right? For physical function, this is important. That is you, this is me. That is your body. This is my body. We respect these boundaries. That's your mind. This is my mind. Here and there we may overlap, but still. That's your mind. This is my mind. But there is no such thing as. That is your life, and this is mine. My life. Life is one big phenomenon. You captured some, I captured some. Now we have a way how you can capture more life. If you. If I capture more life than you, suddenly my life is enhanced. Not only in my experience, in everybody's experience, other people also will feel, wow, what? A life is more enhanced not because of what you do, simply or more enhanced. Right now you can Enhance your body by building muscle. Then people say, wow, what muscles. You can enhance your intellect by studying and doing certain things. People will say, oh, he's so smart. But you can enhance the life within you. Once you enhance the life within you, your presence is significant both for yourself and for others. So the fourth part of the mind is called chitta. Chitta means that level of intelligence within you. What do you have for breakfast?

[Theo Von]

Eggs or huevos? Eggs.

[Sadhguru]

Human?

[Theo Von]

Not. Yeah, animal eggs.

[Sadhguru]

Animals. Birds.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, birds.

[Sadhguru]

Okay, so you eat the chicken egg and over this three, four hours, this chicken egg become becoming a human being, isn't it? The body that you carry is all what you have eaten. So a bird egg. If a chicken, according to Charles Darwin, has to become a human being, he will say it will take so many million, million years. All right. But you are such a miraculous guy, Theo Wan. Such a miraculous guy. Over the morning, over four, five hours time, he would transform a chicken egg into a human being. Wow. Are you doing it or no? Yeah, technically, yeah, but missing the whole process, missing the profoundness of that experience, isn't it?

[Theo Von]

Yes.

[Sadhguru]

Because unconscious, whatever you're unconscious of, doesn't exist for you right now there's a huge dinosaur standing behind you. Don't look back. But if you are not conscious of it, it doesn't exist. Isn't it true? So I'm saying the greatest force in the universe, which is consciousness, most human beings are not aware of it, so it doesn't exist for them. They struggle with their little bodies and little minds endlessly. If you become conscious of an intelligence which is devoid of memory, this is important. Please understand this properly.

[Theo Von]

Okay?

[Sadhguru]

Your intelligence, presently what you're using is mainly memory based, right? If I wipe out your memory, your intellect is useless. It's like you have a computer. If I wipe out all the memory from it, what does your computer do? You can jam your keyboard, nothing happens. Yeah, only with memory, it functions. So your present intellect, or what you're using right now, is only data based. If you remove the data, it's gone. But there is an intelligence within you which makes a chicken egg into a human being. That's not data driven, it's pure intelligence. You want to call it God, you can call it. You want to call it consciousness, you can call it. You want to call it myself, you can say myself, call it what you want, but one thing is clear. See, people are always spreading these things. God is love, God is compassion, God is whatever. If you don't listen to anybody, if you paid attention to life all you can see is whatever created this is super brilliant. Yes or no?

[Theo Von]

Yes.

[Sadhguru]

From filth a flower comes. From stink, fragrance comes. Is this not just brilliance?

[Theo Von]

It's pretty fascinating if you just do.

[Sadhguru]

Not take any input from anybody. Just pay attention to life around you. You will see. You should have said God is brilliant instead of sad. Because people who are desperate, you know, desperate for love because nobody around them loves them.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Or they can't love anybody because of that. They say God is love. God loves me. No, no. Whatever you're referring to as God is come. Because mainly you have no explanation for the creation. You don't know how all this happened. So somebody sitting up there and doing it, being human being, we are thinking it's in human form. But essentially you're talking about the source of creation. Source of creation. The only way you can define it, if you pay attention to it, is incredible intelligence, isn't it?

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

That is the only qualifying value that is there. Rest is all made up according to your needs. If you've fallen down, you think God should be compassion. If you nobody responding to you, you think God should be love. So many things. But if you don't do any of those things, simply pay attention to creation, you will see the source of creation is absolute brilliance.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, I would agree with that.

[Sadhguru]

Brilliance. But not data driven. You must understand evolution is that. That it's not data driven. It's being driven intelligence. A egg becomes a human being, not data driven. So there's an intelligence within you which is unsullied by memory. This we call as chitta. There is a. There is a mischievous way. In the yogic culture, there is a mischievous way of saying this. They say if you touch your chitta, if you find access to your chitta, God will become your slave.

[Theo Von]

Oh yeah, yeah.

[Sadhguru]

That means he will do what you want. You don't even have to ask.

[Theo Von]

Interesting. Wow. Yeah, it's a lot of con. It's a lot of. It's. It's a lot of conceptualizing, you know, it's pretty fascinating.

[Sadhguru]

No, no. Concept means you made it up.

[Theo Von]

Oh, it does.

[Sadhguru]

The con, the word concept means you made it. Ah, this. I'm not making it, I'm asking you. That's. Why is it fact or fiction, what I'm saying?

[Theo Von]

Yeah. So chitta is we can evolve our chitta or.

[Sadhguru]

No, we can access.

[Theo Von]

We can access.

[Sadhguru]

We don't have to evolve it. It is the thing.

[Theo Von]

Okay, that's fascinating, man.

[Sadhguru]

If you find access, suddenly your life is magical. If you don't find access. It's hard labor.

[Theo Von]

So there's a little bit of homework there. Yeah. Before you go Saigura, I wanted to ask you a little bit more about what are the. What is the plans or what are the plans for save soil? What are the, like what does that look like for you guys group moving forward?

[Sadhguru]

See, one thing is as a consequence, as a demonstrating project we have what is called as Cauvery calling. What Cauvery means.

[Theo Von]

What is it called?

[Sadhguru]

Cauvery calling.

[Theo Von]

Cavity calling.

[Sadhguru]

Yeah. Cauvery is the name of a river in southern India. It's a lifeline for three states.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[Sadhguru]

It runs through this, through the three states. As a young person I grew up around Cauvery River.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[Sadhguru]

What it used to be then that is 50 plus years ago, what it is today. Only 40% is left.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

So why is this? Because we must understand this, how rivers are made here, the big rivers, like let's say Mississippi. Mississippi has been fascination for me because we read a lot of Mark Twain.

[Theo Von]

Oh yeah.

[Sadhguru]

I went to his place, Hannibal. Oh you did? His house, his museum.

[Theo Von]

That's cool man. Yeah, I've been to the top of the Mississippi where you can walk right over it at the very beginning.

[Sadhguru]

So I just 2 days ago I got this book I had missed called Roughing It. Have you seen the book, one of his book called Roughing It? So I just got that. I'm here to open it.

[Theo Von]

Oh, nice. Congratulations.

[Sadhguru]

So Mississippi, if you look at it, nearly 90% of its water comes from the Great Lakes, which is actually ice melting. So in temperate climates, most of the rivers largely are melting ice. So that's a different phenomenon altogether. But in tropical climates, for example, in India, there is only one source of water which is the monsoon rains. Monsoon rains have not changed in the last hundred years. Actually now it is increasing.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[Sadhguru]

Last year we got 107% monsoon. This year, 2024, I think it's about 115 or 117% monsoon. It's increasing like that. But what is happening is you either have a flood or a drought. Flood and drought, Flood and drought. Why this is happening is when the rains come and that torrential rain, when it comes monsoons means, you know, four days, five days nonstop. It'll be pouring in the southern India.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, just rain, just rain.

[Sadhguru]

It's fantastic time. All this. If there was enough vegetation, the water would percolate like this because all the root system and the organic content that is there in the soil would make the soil water go down like this.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[Sadhguru]

When there's no vegetation, it runs on the surface like this. So when the rain comes, all the rivers flood. And in three months it'll be in drought now.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

Because there's not enough vegetation, agriculture, we've just sheared it bald. So in the Cauvery basin, which accounts for 83,000 square kilometers of land where we are working now, nearly 83 to 84% of the tree cover has been removed in the last 70 years. We are trying to put this back. Putting it back means there is no space or there is no land for recreating forests because farmers are farming. So we brought in what is called as tree based agriculture, with which you can increase the yield of the crops that you're doing.

[Theo Von]

Tree based agriculture?

[Sadhguru]

Yeah, tree based agriculture. It used to be called agroforestry.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[Sadhguru]

But because you use the forestry word, it goes under the Forestry Ministry. And the Forestry ministry has only restrictions, no facilitation. So we called it tree based agriculture. And we are under the Agriculture Ministry now.

[Theo Von]

A lot better.

[Sadhguru]

It's a lot better. So now farmers are growing trees which as crops, not fully in between, other crops are still there.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[Sadhguru]

Those crops grow much better because the green litter from the tree, that's the only way organic content comes.

[Theo Von]

Got it.

[Sadhguru]

And animals together, the land is richer. Better. Over 100,000, 150,000 farmers have significantly changed their economics. Some of them have improved their income anywhere between 300 to 800% in a matter of seven to eight years time.

[Theo Von]

Good for them.

[Sadhguru]

So right now we are working in this 83,000 square kilometers, as I said earlier, 114 million trees we planted. We are only asking for 60 cents for a tree.

[Theo Von]

Oh, that's great.

[Sadhguru]

All your followers ask them to plant at least one tree on their birthday.

[Theo Von]

That's cool.

[Sadhguru]

1.5 million trees per year can happen.

[Theo Von]

Hey, that's beautiful. Yeah. To think that that's all it needs. Yeah, we forget about that.

[Sadhguru]

So each one of these trees are.

[Theo Von]

Giving back to the system.

[Sadhguru]

Each one of these trees are geocoded. If any one of them dies immediately, they will be replaced. The Indian Space Research Organization is giving us free service for us to geocode.

[Theo Von]

Wow. And this is all these are being planted in India in that basin and.

[Sadhguru]

In that basin only because the idea is to revive the river to demonstrate that this can be done.

[Theo Von]

Excellent.

[Sadhguru]

So we wanted to plant 2.42 billion trees in eight years. Wow. But we have done 114 million trees.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[Sadhguru]

It's a poor thing, but it's good.

[Theo Von]

Because it's still a lot.

[Sadhguru]

It's still a lot. So get me to 2.4 billion and in five to six years time the river will flow much better because the monsoon rains that come, the land has to hold it.

[Theo Von]

Oh, we want to see.

[Sadhguru]

This is something that people don't, don't know generally is people think water means a pond, a lake, a river, something like this. No. The biggest reservoir of water on the planet is soil. It's soil, soil, soil and the vegetation that lives on it. But the soil mainly, if it's well vegetated soil, holds the maximum. How much? All the freshwater rivers on the planet, five to eight times more water soil can hold. If soil held that water temperatures would go down.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

Naturally people are talking about climate change, global warming. You don't have to do PhD in climate affairs. You just go stand in the hot sun for one hour, just go under the tree. Climate change will happen.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Four to five degrees drop will happen immediately in tropical countries, it'll be bigger. All right. So every extra leaf that you put on green leaf that you put on this planet is one more step towards climate mitigation.

[Theo Von]

Got it.

[Sadhguru]

Every extra leaf. I'm not even saying a tree. So all the people you are an influencer, you must make sure they put more trees. Especially if you put it below 33 degrees, I mean 33 degree latitude. It's most effective because that's where the maximum sun is.

[Theo Von]

Ah. So one way for us to help fight climate change is to have more trees on our land, more green leaf.

[Sadhguru]

Because the photosynthesis as a phenomena which is the basis of our life has come down by 80% in the last thousand years. 80%?

[Theo Von]

Yeah. No, I think this is great information and it's good for me to learn too. And it's just.

[Sadhguru]

See, we are putting solar panels. Well, that's needed for your home. But the best solar panel is a green leaf.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

It captures solar energy and does fantastic things and makes life out of it.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. Well, I just think the fact that it's, it's picturing, it's, it's an overall idea of just seeing the world as more than just yourself. Of seeing.

[Sadhguru]

No, even if it's just for yourself, because it's natural for people to think of their well being.

[Theo Von]

Right.

[Sadhguru]

See, everybody is busy talking about carbon. Carbon, carbon. I'm not saying it's not important. Carbon particles and carbon dioxide is important thing to manage. But what is most important is right now our oxygen levels in the world is coming down slowly. If you push it up by 2 to 3 percentage points. Mental health, physical health, plant growth, everything will boost itself. Life will happen better.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

Right now it's some 22.6% or something overall atmospheric oxygen. If you push it to 30%, we will live a grand life.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Sadhguru]

The only way you can do that is more green leaf.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. These are the global O2 levels right here. Look at this. This is unbelievable. Is that real?

[Sadhguru]

Oh, they got a picture. Okay. Yes, it's real.

[Theo Von]

What is that? That's unbelievable.

[Sadhguru]

Where is it? What is the percentage now? 21% something. It is. If we push it by 5% or 6%, boom. Life will happen so much better.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. Well, I'm looking forward to life happening better. And I appreciate you Sadhguru, just sharing what some of you guys initiatives are with safe soil and also just helping us have a new idea of ways to experience our experience, you know, and.

[Sadhguru]

I'll also give you information about miracle of mind. Our idea is to make at least 3 billion people close their eyes for 12 to 15 minutes a day with some instruction. If 3 billion people do that, there'll be a significant change in the way the human beings are. Let's make it happen. You got one. Your contribution is 1.5 million.

[Theo Von]

I'm ready. I'm definitely going to start with myself for sure. And. And I'm sure a lot of our listeners want to get involved and we'll put the links on that stuff below in the. In the information. And sagura, thank you so much just for your commitment to. I think I want to say just trying to spread more awareness and peace in the world.

[Sadhguru]

Ecstasy, not peace.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. Bliss. We'll take it.

[Sadhguru]

To be blissed out.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. To be blissed out. Thank you so much, brother.

[Sadhguru]

Without chemicals.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Sadhguru]

We got a chemical factory here.

[Theo Von]

Amen.

[Sadhguru]

Thank you.

[Theo Von]

Thank you, brother. I'm just floating on the breeze and I feel I'm falling like these leaves I must be cornerstone oh but when I reach that ground I'll share this piece of mind I found I can feel it in my bones but it's gonna take a little.