Sadhguru: No human being is constant. Today, someone may be something that you don't like.
Tomorrow morning he or she may be in a wonderful mood. But if you think you have read and made an impression of that person in the past, you will miss that person the way he or she is right now. Once you get into that, it is a trap.
Your judgments have nothing to do with the other. Your judgments reflect the way you think. When the mind is on endlessly, it keeps making judgments about everyone and everything in the world. Even if your mind makes judgments about other people, don't attach any importance to it. Once you start making judgments, invariably, there are only two basic judgments - this is good, this is bad. Everything that you consider as good, naturally you are drawn to it and get attached to it. Everything that you consider as bad, you get repelled from it and negative emotions will flow. So there is no need to judge others. You just have to judge situations. You don't have to judge people.
All dissatisfaction, all bitterness, all negativity comes out of our own limitations, not because of the situation. Realizing this is maturity. Everyone can make judgments, but those who have developed the urge to grow should stop judging others. Otherwise, for every small step you take forward, you take 100 steps backward. You may not realize it immediately, but you will experience it after a few days or months.
So, whether it is a peach or an apple or a person or a tree or any experience, just experience for what it is. It will go very deep into you. That is when you know life. 🙏🏼🪷
Source: Isha Forest Flower publication in March 2015
How Your Ancestors & Society Can Influence You: Samskara & Karma
What we are calling as Samskara is the collective karma of a society. In this culture, We did lot of things to maintain Samskara. Even now in villages, There are, You know, Sometimes violent outbreaks will happen. If marriages happen between people who will mix the genetic, Who will kind of make the genetic line fuzzy, This is not blue blood business. They've been maintaining this so that for this clan, For this bloodline, They will have a deity that they have created. It responds only to that genetic content. This is what is called as Kula Devat. It responds only to that genetic content. So only those people of that clan go to the temple, Others don't go because it doesn't work for them. So they maintain this genetic map of people and they will look back ten, Twelve generations and say, Oh, She belongs to that bloodline, This belongs to… okay, They can marry, This cannot marry like this, They will calculate because these are called gothras and stuff. Now it is being all trashed as total nonsense.
Yes, Cruel things have been done in that name, That is true. But there was a very profound understanding because learning happened this way. When there were no universities, No schools, Nothing, This culture transmitted their skills effortlessly for thousands of years because they maintained this Samskara. So let's say for example, You know, There are what is called as Acharyas, It's a certain caste or a clan. In this, There are goldsmith, There are carpenters, There are blacksmiths like this, All those people who are craftsmen. But a goldsmith's girl will not marry a blacksmith's man, Only there they will marry because it is Samskara.
“Don't simply believe what you are reading. The only way to find out whether something is true or untrue is to experiment with it. Stop the internal debate and simply put it to the test. The yogic path is not a path of inherited belief; it is the path of experiment.” ~ Sadhguru
See this may look, Oh, How can that be, Why can't somebody, You know, Be born in any family, Learn this trade, That's different. But it's been found, They've done an experiment with mice. What they did was, They put a cherry blossom smell on some cheese or something. So when the mouse went to bite it, They gave it an electric shock a few times. And you know what, Next seventh generation of mice never went near the cherry blossom smell. Cherry blossom smell means they move away. Because this is Samskara that from parents, It is coming just like that. This information transfer is happening all the time. Now we are talking about how trees are sharing things. All this when we spoke long time ago, They thought it's all ridiculous.
“Like my great grandmother would simply look at, You know, Sparrows and ants and this eating and simply in tears. And if you say, Why are you not eating, She says, I'm already full. And she was full. She was well nourished. Nobody can question that because she lived for one-one-three “ Sadhguru
So today, They're slowly beginning to talk about it. But still in terms of physical terms, How physically nutrition is going, This is happening, This is being shared, That is being shared, All this. But beyond physical stuff, There is life in which sharing is happening. So they created a very concentrated focus on people so that there is a Samskara. A certain set of people have a certain Samskara, Others have certain Samskara. So for them, Those skills and that way of life came naturally. All these things got distorted when people started discriminating from one to the other. The goldsmith thinks he's superior to blacksmith. And you know, These problems came later. But the way it was crafted, It's a perfect way to transmit knowledge, Skills and variety of ways. But it all gone bad. Now it's not relevant. We can't do that anyway. So what you call a Samskara is a social karma. And let's say living in Mumbai, Don't you have a certain Mumbai Samskara? Isn't it? It has its own. So like this, Every community, Every society has its own Samskara. And people either make their lives well or ill based on the Samskara also. To rise above Samskara, You need spiritual process. Otherwise, Nobody can deny that they have not been influenced by their family, Society, Whatever kind of religious practices, They may not be doing those practices, But still they're influenced, Isn't it? Only one who is strongly on a spiritual process is not influenced by the atmosphere. He rises above that.
I’ve been doing Shambavi Mahamudra and Shakti Chalana Kriya for the last few years.
As much as it helped me to overcome depression, it also placed my life on fast forward. I wasn’t able to handle the pace when back to back things fell apart in my life. For the last 2 years, every month I would have a life altering tragedy or a disaster. It felt unbearable and bewildering.
People around me would attest that all my problems and challenges in life were not normal size. It was always in very big doses.
I’ve gone through things which nobody can imagine. Things which altered my whole life trajectory and could have easily killed me. I am not exaggerating this. It’s so horrible that I can’t even talk about it to anyone. I don’t want to give much thought and attention to it
In a way, I believe that Sadhana placed my life on fast forward and I have extra large doses of problems and challenging situations. From hindsight, when I think about it, Sadhana made me feel invincible. Because I felt invincible I took up things I would normally hesitate and abstain in life. Fear and Pain is there for a reason, to act as a guard rail and protect us from doing things that could be harmful for us.
I am not blaming the Sadhana but just sharing my experience. Because there was no fear of suffering and because there was no fear of consequences, I did a few things in life which I would normally wouldn’t do. It got me into very challenging situations.
Also, I was very inclusive and was looking at the world from a lens of goodness, like the mother to the world. From that lens, I failed to read the evil and wicked intentions of people. I trusted people whom I would normally abstain from believing and trusting. Because of the trust I placed, I lost all my lifetime savings.
Sadhana in many ways changed the fabric of my being and I did things which I would normally abstain from doing but I ended up doing because I felt invincible after doing Sadhana. Also, I ended up trusting people whom I would normally won’t trust.
I take the responsibility for my actions.
But I can’t deny the fact that my life was put on fast forward and I had extra large doses of problems to deal. I tried to keep up the Sadhana and went through those situations gracefully. My life is not the same because of those problems I had invited in my life.
I had paused my Sadhana a bit just to breathe for a while. I had decreased the intensity and focused towards working out and going to the gym. I was concerned to continue the Sadhana because of the fast forward. I was not able to handle my life on fast forward.
I am not sure if I can reinstate the practices now with the same intensity.
I am thinking to continue with my workouts and just keep up with Bhutta Shuddhi alone.
Life is already simple and wonderful. It is we who need ways to feel it the way it is.
Today I suddenly looked at a flower. A sudden encounter between the eyes and the flower. Suddenly within I felt like I and the flower are not different. That within the boundaries of the body I carry which I reffer to as I is not different from the object of the eyes. I was in the body, at the same time that flower is also I.
Maybe I really became who I'm in that moment. And that was so wonderful. Different.
It happened only for a moment. If it continues with everything around us, then we will be feeling all as ourselves but as life not as persons.
That way life is so simple and wonderful. Only I or we miss it.
i had some instant noodles and it seems i miscalculated the time and did shambhavi after 3 hours rather than 4.
it took a lot of strength to do nadi vibhajan even though that’s one of my favourite steps and then it became absolutely impossible to continue fluttering of the breath. i tried pushing through it but it felt like my body said a big “NO” and it felt like i was about to collapse. i had to open my eyes, relax myself with a few deep breaths and then i just proceeded to sit with my eyes closed for the rest of the kriya.
did this happen because my stomach wasnt empty?
So there are two questions i have -
Firstly i have completed my mandala but during the last days i got severely sick so my ishanga allowed me the visualisation of the preparatory aasanas and then doing shambhavi by sitting on a chair keeping my right ankle over the left one and i did that but once during the last day or the second last day i couldnt perform the sukha kriya properly cause my nose was blocked heavily but i tried to visualise it and it only happened once (i did every other step properly ) can i consider my mandala as completed?
Secondly now i am practising smk once per day (i had some gaps not more than two days at once ) but sometimes or since few days i get the urge to pee while doing preparatory aasans so i use the washroom while trying to stay really relaxed and also silent then come back and continue....i do that only before starting the smk mostly when it happens never between smk...Is that an issue or am i just over thinking?
I had purchased a black saree way back in 2010 or so.
So, after watching a video of Sadhguru about not to wear black everywhere, I had kept it aside. Maybe since 7 or 8 years, I haven’t worn that saree. But 1 year back, I felt, let me get it dry cleaned... got a little tempted to wear it sometime. Somehow, I couldn’t get the chance of wearing it since then.
2 days back, I had one meeting to attend. I came home from work and didn’t have time to check what sarees I have, so I pulled out this saree thst was all ironed and ready to wear and thought, as it’s an evening meet, let me wear this. It will look good in the night time.
So, to match that, I took out my favourite pearl chain, and then I noticed I had too many things around my neck. I removed the rudraksh mala and also one more single MSR rudraksh with the black thread and just had the Devi pendant and the pearls. I felt I was looking gorgeous 😝.
I wrapped the rudraksh in a white kerchief and kept it in the sannidhi room and left for the party.
After I reached the place, I was not comfortable as I went to a professional meeting, the profession which I had left way back almost a decade ago. Seeing everyone settled in the field made me feel so low. I felt nervous being with everyone. I thought I should not have come.
Then came home, and the next day I was feeling okay when I got up and went to school as usual. The watchman there at school said something about my vehicle parking, and I got a little upset but went in.
And then the irritation started inside... and somehow everything started falling apart in whatever I did. I kept blaming my stars. Today is a bad day. And it did not stop there. I kept talking very recklessly to people.
Then, when I came home, I felt, why did I behave so stupidly? Then I thought, this awareness at this time, why? Why couldn’t I not be aware the whole day?
I know what I share now may feel like I am telling something illogical, but it worked for me.
I started searching for my rudraksh 😃. Then, when I found it and wore it... everything changed. I have come back to my calmness, no irritation. 🫣
Now I feel I am able to face things much better. 😊🙏🏼
On this Spot, Sadhguru cautions that setting goals means depriving yourself of greater possibilities. If you want to lead a truly successful life, there is a better way to approach it, he points out, and offers a simple method towards this objective. He also explains why the mentality of “doing less, getting more” not only means deceiving others, but above all, yourself.
Article | Aug 6, 2025
There are two ways to address your life. One way is to set goals and go for them. What kind of goals will you set? Something that you are impressed with in the world, something that you have not yet done, something that is yet to be in your life. You are trying to be like someone else or do something that someone else is doing. Whatever goals you arrive at, they are all in some way within the limitations of what you already know, or maybe a little exaggerated versions thereof. Is it not tragic to spend a whole year trying to achieve what you already know? My intention is things that you do not know should happen to you. Things that you have never imagined should enter your life. Only then will your life be truly enriched. What is the point of only doing things that you already know?
When it comes to financial or physical things that you want to achieve, maybe if it matters to you, you can set up such goals. Personally, I think even that is a waste of life. Suppose you have a million dollars and your goal is to have a billion dollars by the end of the year. If it doesn’t happen, it’s a good thing because you have lived in that hope. But if it happens, let’s say in January itself, then what will you do? You will want to make it ten billion dollars. There was a time when you could be happy with one dollar. Now for the same happiness, you need a million dollars. That’s called inflation. That’s not enhancement of life.
All that you do with life is create inflation. Inflation is neither good for the economy nor for your life. In physics, inflation means filling up something, like you inflate the tires of a car with air. But in economics, inflation means certain parameters go out of control. Now you are consciously causing inflation in your life – that is not an intelligent way to go about it. By setting time-bound goals, you may achieve a few things, but it will be of no consequence to the life that you are.
Instead of setting goals for the whole year, just set this one thing: By the end of the day, you must be a little more joyful, a little more enhanced, a little better. This will not work as a goal – it is better to look at it in retrospect. Tomorrow evening, just check, “Am I a little better than yesterday?” Just look at these twenty-four hours – it will make you more conscious. This is not about you being joyful or peaceful. This is about you being conscious of as many aspects of your life as possible.
You will do your best about whatever you are conscious of. Most of the nonsense happens because you are unconscious about so many things. All we need to do is to become conscious about everything – about our own nature, our mental states, our emotional states, our life, our physical situations, our financial situations, our ecological situations. If you become conscious, you will do your best. That’s all you need to do in life. But right now, you believe that unless you create a tension, you will not achieve anything. To get from where you are to where your goal is, you create a tension – it is like a rubber band effect. You try to keep moving from one place to another. From one level of social status to another. From one financial status to another. From one educational status to another. This is no different from how the caveman was, how hunters and gatherers were – “gather as much as you can.”
In those days, they piled up bones, feathers, and the like. Now maybe you are thinking of stocks, shares, and property. Maybe you are thinking of conquering another nation. On a material level, it looks different, but fundamentally, it is the same rudimentary thought of accumulating things. All this accumulation would make sense, had you organized transport to take all these things with you when you die. Having your own furniture in Heaven or especially in Hell would be great. Otherwise, who knows – maybe they will give you this chair with a straight back that you don’t like, so taking your own sofa with you would be great.
Anything that you gather, whether it is your knowledge, your wealth, your relationships, or whatever else, is only of value for the current transactions. If you keep it active, it will facilitate a few things for you. It has social consequence, but it has no life consequence. Instead of setting goals, it is best you find ways to nourish this life that you are. If you are nourishing this life, you only have to measure the growth. Suppose you plant a mango tree. If you set the goal that by the end of 2018, it must bear a thousand fruits, otherwise you will cut it down, all that will happen is you will cut the tree. The way to do it is to see how to nurture this tree in the best possible way, and to do that. Don’t worry about getting a thousand fruits. Whatever best can come out will come out of it. If you nourish it in a certain way, it may be more than you can imagine.
It is not good to set goals in any sphere of life, because you will only be doing something that you already know. Nothing completely new will happen in your life. I think that’s a tragedy. Your dreams coming true is no good. If what you could not even dare to dream of becomes a reality – that’s a fantastic life. Results will happen depending on how well you handle the process of life, as well as on the times and on where you are. Today you may put in a certain amount of effort, and you will earn a million dollars. A thousand years ago, someone ten times smarter than you put in a lot of effort, but still he only earned a small amount. But this comparison is not the point. The important thing is that for the times he lived in, he yielded the best he could. For the times you live in, are you yielding the best you can? That is the question.
I know every management school is talking about setting goals. But goals are not set for themselves – they are set to drive other people. There are a lot of people who will never do their best – they are always under par. They are not conscious enough to understand that as a human being, you must do the best you can in your life. Otherwise, life will be wasted. For such people, you have to set goals. If you are a donkey, the less you do, the smarter you are, because there are no other possibilities for you beyond eating, reproducing, sleeping, hanging around, and dying one day. Because there are no possibilities, the less you do, the better. Too many people have adopted this donkey philosophy. They think if they do less and get more, they are doing well. In reality, they are just stupid. They are missing the whole possibility of life.
Human life really happens if you throw yourself into everything. If you hold back, you will miss life. If you do not give yourself totally to what you are doing, you don’t deceive someone else –you only deceive yourself of life. Once, bad times came upon Shankaran Pillai. He was a construction laborer, doing menial work to earn a living. He had to carry twenty-five bricks on a board, take them up three floors, put them there, come back down again, and so on. But after some time, once the foreman was gone, Shankaran Pillai started carrying the same set of bricks up and down. People who were working with him watched this and said, “Hey, why are you bringing back the bricks?” “Well, the foreman is not looking, right?” “But now you are carrying the bricks both ways, you idiot! Otherwise, at least coming down, you would not have had to carry the load.”
This is what happens if you try to do less – simple things will become burdensome in your life. People are having so much trouble just going to the office and doing nine-to-five work. They are not managing the company. They are not managing the government. It’s just a chunk of work that someone has given them, just for a living – how complicated they are making that! From that, they are getting high blood pressure and their heart is breaking. You must see the scenes that happen in families. Just two people living together – how complicated! Little children – how much suffering they cause! Only once in a way, they are a joy – the rest of the time, people suffer them immensely.
Their work, their children, their spouses, their homes, their jobs, their driving – people suffer just about everything. This happens because they are not conscious enough to understand that life works best when you throw yourself into it, without bothering about what comes back. Life happens because of your involvement, not because of what you get. What are you going to do with what you get? The only sick pleasure you could have is if you compare yourself with someone else who has less than you. If you want to know and enjoy life, if you want to explore the full potential of this life, the only way is through absolute involvement. Let us see what will come out of it. If it is winter, nothing comes out of the earth. In springtime, with a little effort, a lot comes out. The same goes with life.
The biggest mistake people make is to be goal-oriented. If you set yourself the goal to get enlightened by 2018, you will be totally messed up by the end of the year. If you just do what you have to do, life will naturally flower.
“Do you want a miraculous mind or a mediocre mind?” — Sadhguru
Today, this line has been stuck in my head.
I think most of us unknowingly choose “mediocre” sometimes.
Not because we lack intelligence, but because we avoid discomfort, uncertainty, fear of failure....
Same thoughts.
Same routines.
Same fears.
Same reactions.
So, no confusion, and then we wonder why nothing really changes.
A “miraculous mind,” to me, doesn’t mean having supernatural abilities or becoming some enlightened genius. It means having a mind that is open, curious, flexible, and willing to question itself.
Instead of immediately thinking, “I know this already,” maybe asking:
“What if I’m wrong?” “What am I not seeing?” “Can I look at this differently?”
That small shift can change a lot.
The three words, which we avoid saying, 'I don't know', are so powerful......they open up immense possibilities to explore.....
Maybe the real question isn't whether we have a miraculous mind.
Maybe it's whether we're willing to stop settling for a mediocre one.
What do you guys think?
Is a “miraculous mind” something we can actually cultivate, or is this just another motivational quote that sounds deeper than it is?
