Everything You Thought About Tantra is Wrong | Sadhguru

Everything You Thought About Tantra is Wrong | Sadhguru

Author Name:Sadhguru

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Transcript:
(00:00) The tantric traditions in India have variety of gods especially goddesses very powerful hedious forms and even today with certain excess code if you have you can call forth these goddesses they become a living reality. Tantra means technology. The tantra essentially focused on creating a mind higher than myself which is way beyond human capabilities.
(00:31) It takes a certain amount of sadena. When sguru walked as a ball of fiery energy they said nobody should cross the railway station. They put him behind bars and then just got up and walked through the bars and walked away. The king in the town built a huge Shiva temple. Night Shiva appeared in his dream and said, "I will not be able to come to your temple's inauguration because Buselar has built another temple. I need to go there.
(01:12) " They found Busel in a small hut. The whole science of tantra yoga is just this. I just built a whole world of my own in minutest detail. It became such a reality. Nobody else had entry into my world. I lived in my own thing. But this boy was in the house. So sometimes I took him on a tour and the boy went so crazy. So I am not really interested in your gratitude or your benevolence or your or whatever.
(01:54) I am only interested that you are more receptive to life. The whole process of yoga is to make you receptive in deeper and deeper ways. That's the only goal. If everybody in the existence, everybody in this world are absolutely receptive just in a moment I'll enlighten the whole world. The nature of human mind is such that if we can distinctly create something in our mind, the next step would be to
(02:43) empower that with our life energies. If we can do that, that will become a living reality by itself. Most human beings have lost this power to be able to create. truly create because mind has become listless and the life energies are not sufficiently
(03:28) organized to put it behind whatever you wish to. The whole science of tantra yoga is just this. I know in this part of the world if I utter the word tantra people are thinking about acrobatic sexuality. It's
(04:26) it's truly a sacrilege that people who generally visit India for a month or two at the most become experts in tantra and write books about it. Tantra means uh literally means a technology. Technology means
(05:12) technology is for creating what you want. If you the physical technologies that we know around us, they're all about creating physical situations the way we want it. And when we when human minds try to create what they want, they'll ask for many things. Most of the time
(06:00) you would be fortunate if your prayers are not answered. Yes, if all your prayers were answered, your life would be truly a disaster. Fortunately, most of them are not answered. So tantra does not believe in creating what you want in terms of the physical existence around you but
(06:49) is focused on what is generally considered. Maybe you would call it paranormal in creating forms and identities which will function way beyond your own intelligence. So Tantra essentially focused on creating a mind higher than myself, making an intelligence beyond
(07:40) my present capabilities to become available. The process of creating this, the technology of making this happen was what was known as tantric methods. In yoga, it is known as tantra yoga. Learning to use your body, your mind and your energies as just instruments of life
(08:29) so that it becomes available to a much higher possibility, an intelligence which is way beyond human capabilities. This fundamentally involves two basic steps. One is to have the ability to to vividly create what you want in your mind, every detail of it. And to be able to keep
(09:23) your personality traits out of this imagination. Which takes a certain amount of training and dispassion about yourself. That is you don't think much of yourself. If you think too much of yourself, even if you go into the restroom, there you have to write your name. 2 minutes to pee and come. There people have to leave their names.
(10:05) Have you seen when there is a certain sense of inadequacy in a person wherever he goes he tries to leave his temp. This has become the way unfortunate way of the modern modern day humanity. Wherever they go they have to leave their stamp. Smallest things they have to sign their name on it. You will see in the eastern cultures this was considered an an absolute sacrilege trying to leave your name on something.
(10:51) But these days they're also in the bathrooms they're writing. The greatest temples that were built, masterpieces of art. Nobody will know who is the master builder. His name is never there. That's one thing he will not do. Put his name on it. Oh, this was built at this time. Everything they know. Maybe the king who funded the temple, his name will be known.
(11:28) But the artist, the man who created it, his name will not be anywhere. This may seem very unfair for a western mind. A man who did such a job, his name should have been established. But the man who created it is made such a way that he would be absolutely insulted if his name was put on the temple. So if one wants to have this capability of being able to create, truly able to create as creator did.
(12:13) The most fundamental thing is to be able to keep your personality of your imagination. It takes a certain amount of sadena. It takes a certain amount of preparation for a person to be like this that he can extensively use his mind without imposing his personality upon it. There are very beautiful incidents. There was a
(12:58) a South Indian sage his name was Balar. The king in the town built a huge Shiva temple. It took many many years to build this temple. And the next day was the opening ceremony for his temple which was which was his lifetime's ambition. He put much money and effort to build this great temple. Next day his inauguration of the temple.
(13:42) But that night Shiva appeared in his dream and said I will not be able to come to your temple's inauguration because Buselar has built another temple. I need to go there. He's also opening it tomorrow. King woke up with a fright. Because this temple he has tried to build it for so many years and spent so much money and effort and Shiva says he has to go to some other temple built by pushar in the same
(14:26) town. Who is this pusar and which is this temple that I do not know about? So they went searching for pular. After much search they found puzzler in a small hut a cobbler by profession those days not a profession that was looked up to but but looked up looked down upon. So the king went there and asked where is your temple? Shiva says he's going to go to your
(15:10) temple, not mine. Where is it? said, "Uh, I just built it in my mind. Every brick, every stone, he slowly built it, taking many years. And that is more of a reality than what you build with stone and brick. Once you build this, there's another step of empowering it with life energies, infusing it with life energies so that it becomes a live process by itself.
(15:57) The tantric traditions in India have variety of gods especially goddesses. These goddesses were created by people. They actually created and infused life into them that they became life forces. And even today with certain excess code if you have you can call forth these goddesses they become a living reality. There is a whole science and a tradition
(16:44) which evolved out of this science of how to make a god. the tantric traditions acquired mastery over these things and generally if I go into the details of this it'll be very hard to digest generally always they created very powerful hideous forms.
(17:31) Very few people created beautiful forms. All others intentionally created very hideous forms because uh the power of these goddesses would be such that if they were also pleasant and beautiful invariably you would somewhere get attached to them. So they always created absolutely horror of goddesses so that they were there for their calling.
(18:13) At the same time you wouldn't want to be attached to them simply because of their appearance and their demeanor. When I was just uh Second, third standard. How old would you be? 8 years. When I was just 7, 8 years of age till I was probably 12, 13, this took such a grip of me from within. There was another boy who was uh about 2
(19:01) years or a year younger to me. He was my cousin brother. They came from a village. So he was sent to our family where uh my father is supposed to be a very strict taskmaster. So they thought the boy will study better here than there. So they sent this boy to study with us. He was just a year younger to me. I would if I just I always would climb to the third floor terrace where there was no staircase where nobody can reach
(19:45) me. Only I have the access. Nobody else kept slime there. I I just built a whole world of my own. Another world in every detail in minutest detail. You know it's it's uh it's very difficult for people to understand this. Suppose uh I want to create a flower. I went uh cell by cell. You know how much time it would take to mentally create this flower?
(20:31) Every every point by point point by point like this. I created a whole world of my own. If I just sat like this for 4 hours, 5 hours, 6 hours unmoving. I just sat building it by piece by piece, piece by piece, piece by piece. It became such a reality. Nobody else had entry into my world. I lived in my own thing.
(21:01) But this boy was in the house. Uh, sometimes I took him on a tour and the boy went so crazy. He got so attached to me. He wants to go there every day. If I don't take him, he will start crying. Then my mother asking me, "What are you doing to him? He wants to go there every day. Otherwise, he'd just freak out on me.
(21:52) The whole If one has the necessary stability to remove his person from the activity that he does, if you can completely eliminate your person from whatever you do, suddenly you can raise the pitch of your activity to a completely different dimension. But people do not know generally
(22:44) how to act towards something that doesn't concern them or they are not involved in it. And that's the limitation. That's the terrible crippling limitation that a human being has imposed upon himself. Whatever is not him or his, he cannot act upon it. If this one limitation one can cross, we can do such miraculous things that most people The world will have to dismiss our lives
(23:29) as a fairy tale. It can become like that. If only if we can take away our individual person from our thought, our emotion and our activity and our energy. So the whole yoga that you're doing here is that fundamental of learning to take away your individual from simple things that you're doing. a very deep uh rivers of what I'm talking has happened especially here in this part of the
(24:14) world. It's always about you. It's always about you. You must there were time at one time they were preaching you must believe in God. Now they preaching you must believe in yourself. That was bad enough. This is horrible. If I don't believe in myself, how can I be confident? How can I act in the world? If I do not build my self-esteem, how can I operate in the world?
(25:11) Right now, the very air that you breathe is doing such complex functions, isn't it? Isn't it? So is it doing such complex functions to keep this one alive right now? The very air that you breathe. Does it have any self-esteem? If it had, it would go into your lungs and tickle you and do something else with you without any inhibition, without any fear.
(25:53) We can inhale this and take it inside. There any one person here whom you can take inside with total confidence? Cuz you don't know what they'll do once they get inside. Isn't it? Because the individual identification has become so strong that it has completely dislocated the human being from his original nature. He stopped operating as life.
(26:29) If he operates his life and just life alone, his capabilities are immense and his capabilities no more need to be limited to what is contained within his physical form because he has access to everything. So the whole tantra yoga is about this about breaking the individual shell so that what you do doesn't happen as a petty individual but happens as a whole.
(27:20) There are various methods to bring into one's life to see that the individuality does not become something that you have to trip on every moment of your life. It does not become a concrete block around your feet that it doesn't let you move anywhere beyond the limitations that you have set for yourself. A few simple methods we have started with these first two or three programs.
(28:12) But if you want to know the joy of living here without the limitations of being a small individual then we have to do something more active. If you get into some kind of bad company, the moment you realize that I'm in bad company, you will want to get rid of it. Isn't it? So, whenever you're alone, if you feel lonely, that means you are
(28:58) in bad company, isn't it? Isn't it? So, so once you realize you're in bad company, you must see how to get rid of it. as a
(29:46) as a culture. I think it's very essential that uh the next the coming decade that at least the is yoga should try should strive immensely to turn this culture little inward. It's too much outward because of excessive outward focus. Outside situations have managed well. So nice.
(30:31) But that's not enough. Unfortunately, even the yogis or whatever kind of people who came from India to United States after they came here, they only created health centers. Most of the yoga institutes have become like therapy centers where they will
(31:17) cater to people's health. Isn't it? Nobody's really talking about the inner core because the society is focused on something. They're just trying to be market friendly. I think it's very essential that we shift that focus to whatever extent we can because the true well-being will come to people only.
(32:02) See from poverty to affluence is a very hard journey very hard journey for any for a society or a nation or even for an individual it's quite a hard journey from poverty to affluence. But when affluence comes all that happens is depression. Depression is not a small phenomena. It's a major thing, isn't it? It's a very major thing.
(32:42) When people are poor, they're angry. When they get rich, they get depressed. Because anger is a driving force to get somewhere. You get there and realize you haven't really gotten anywhere. That's depressing. So I see that board very boldly proclaiming Asia Institute of Inner Sciences. The moment you utter and proclaim that there is an inner science, you're rubbishing all the belief systems
(33:27) in the world. They know. That's not a small challenge that you're throwing at people. Even in a country like India where the culture is steeped in spirituality even there will be problems that have been
(34:17) here things have to be handled very careful. carefully. This needs to are we going to do something against the society? Not at all. It is just that uh I'll tell you one thing. Even in your own family, if you are joyful by your own nature, you'll be a suspect. Do you know you don't have to do any anything just simply you're happy by yourself you will become a suspect.
(35:00) So with a larger society, it's even more true when we when we create lots of people who are just an explosion of energy, who have no sense of who they are. That will be the greatest contribution to this world. Not teachings, not preachings, not ideologies, but human beings who are like powerhouses by themselves without any purpose,
(35:46) without any intention, simply an explosion of energy. That will be the most wonderful contribution you can make to this world. But uh it may bring about a certain amount of resistance in the society. I think this time around we're crafty enough to handle those things. Last time wherever I went I got into trouble.
(36:27) This time I've learned to smile at the idiots. When Sguru walked as a ball of fiery energy, those who loved him loved him immensely. Those who hated him hated him bitterly. constantly though he managed to create over 70 institutions around South India. He constantly was in trouble. They even put him in a prison.
(37:17) Any of you been to UTI? So on the way to UTI there's a place called Kundur. Even today that ash is still on a small place. There's a cordite factory close by. What's cordite? Explosive factory. And uh this is the pre-ind independence time in India when the British were holding the gun
(38:04) and there's a railway station in front of the ashroom. You always uh he always walked through the railway station and went. It's a very beautiful railway. It's a narrow gauge little toy like train going up the mountain. It's quite cute and uh when the World War II broke out suddenly new security came and uh they said nobody should cross the railway station.
(38:49) But you know he's not the kind to submit to those kind of things. He just walked through the railway station. So they held him and imprisoned him. They put him behind bars and to their amazement he just sat there for about 10 minutes and then just got up and walked through the bars and walked away. This uh This incident and one more in Udi lake itself sort of made him a household name in the Nilgiris.
(39:33) Almost every home carries his picture because of this incident. Not because he was a great yogi, because he walked out of the prison. So that is how or that is where the social understanding is and that's where the values are. For the greatest things that you do, there is no value. You need to do some circus. then it means a lot.
(40:16) >> When I see beautiful autumn leaves and their colors, I wonder are the trees in any way aware. If we peel our eyes properly and look around the way life is happening to us, if you're able to please clear clearly see all that's involved to make your life happen. Let's say a plate full of food appears in front of you.
(40:54) to make this bread. Do you know how many people have worked from the farmer who sold the seeds to all the things that happened in the land, the one who harvested, the one who sold it, the one who brought it to the shop, the one who bought it from there. And just look at the whole lot of things involved. Like this you look at every aspect of life from your breath to food to everything that you're enjoying and experiencing
(41:40) instead of thinking okay I paid for it so what the hell I have to get it. If any of these people in this whole chain were not there or did not do what they have to do, it doesn't matter how much you pay, you wouldn't have those things. Isn't it? Just open your eyes and see how you're nurtured and supported by every kind of creature on this planet and beyond.
(42:07) Isn't it? If you see this, you don't have to develop an attitude of gratitude. Gratitude is not an attitude. Gratitude is something that flows out of you. When you're overwhelmed by what has been given to you, isn't it? If it's an attitude, it is horrible to whatever anything. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
(42:43) That's not gratitude. When you truly see how everything in existence is collaborating to keep you alive, isn't it? Yes. Isn't it so? Everything in existence is somehow collaborating to keep you alive and well. Right now, if you're able to just look through one chain of events, let's say take food and look at it, you cannot help being overwhelmed with gratitude for all those people and all those things which have nothing to do with you right now, but they have everything to do with you every moment of your life.
(43:28) So if you open your eyes and look at the way life is happening, how can you help not being grateful? Only if you're blatantly living thinking you are the king of this planet, then you miss out on everything. Only if you're too full of yourself, you can miss out on the whole process of life.
(43:54) Otherwise, if you just look, everything will overwhelm you with gratitude. So if you are grateful, >> you're also receptive, isn't it? If you're grateful to somebody, do you look up at them or look down upon them? You look up at them. If you look up at something, are you more receptive? Or you look down on something or you're more receptive.
(44:25) Looking up is definitely more receptive, isn't it? Or your or whatever. I am only interested that you're more receptive to life. The whole process of yoga is to make you receptive in deeper and deeper ways. That's the only goal. That is the only objective that you become receptive in deeper and deeper ways in ways that you don't know right now.
(44:59) So definitely being overwhelmed by gratitude is a very beautiful way to be receptive. It opens you up to a certain extent. So probably it's in that context I would have said that even if something is given somebody should take it isn't it if everybody in the existence everybody in this world are absolutely receptive just in a moment I'll enlighten the whole world
(45:43) Yes. The hardest part of the work is to make them receptive. If they worked on their own receptivity, giving them what they need is very simple. If one is hungry, is it difficult to make him eat? Is it difficult to make that man eat? No effort is needed. But to make him hungry, that's a hard job. Theresa, where
(46:31) is it? Because of their awareness, because they want you to enjoy the fall time. They're turning red and yellow and whatever else why um why a spiritual process is of such a significance is the human being can also be beautiful just being physical. Just a physical body has its own beauty, isn't it?
(47:17) It's a glorious piece of creation. No question about it. The combination of body and mind can be can be very beautiful. But uh somewhere within a human being has the necessary intelligence to realize that the physicality of life however beautiful it is. There is a certain fragility to it that today it's all beautiful. Another
(48:03) day it'll be like this. See me. I think uh recently there was a movie called the beautiful mind. See how ugly the mind became. The mind that was beautiful which could do incredible things. Just see how ugly and what a source of suffering it became. So the same that is the nature of the physicality. Mind is also physical.
(48:39) So the trees are not putting on colors for you to look at them. They're just starting their survival process for winter. That's all they're doing throughout the year. survival, self-preservation and procreation. This is the nature of the physical. Flowers bloom not for you to pluck it and put it up here.
(49:17) Flowers bloom because they want to attract the bees and the insects so that pollination will happen. One is trying to be more attractive than the other. Because that's what that's the way you catch the opposite sex, isn't it? Isn't it? So, it's the plant's sexuality which is making this flower beautiful. It wants to reproduce. Without this, no reproduction will happen.
(49:51) Nothing bad about it. It is beautiful in its own way, but it's very fragile and limited. Once a certain level of awareness has entered a human being, he's looking for something which is beyond this fragility. He's looking for something which is for always and ever. He's looking for something which will take him beyond the compulsions of the physical.
(50:30) If you sincerely look at your life, not the hogwash that you give to other people. If you sincerely look at your life, all the beautiful things that have happened, ugly things that have happened and those horrible moments when nothing happened. If you simply put everything in a line and look at it, depending upon the level of intelligence that you can
(51:14) apply to it, you will get into different levels of frustration. And if somebody asks you, would you want to go through the same thing once again? It would be a 100% no. only people who are working on constantly enhancing a few beautiful things that have happened to them. They're hyping it up. Oh, my life has been beautiful. I fell in love here.
(51:42) I was joyful there. They're focusing on those things and enhancing it. They are willing to say, I want to go through this again and again and again. Let's say whatever you have gone through let's say you have somebody was saying yesterday I have not I've been fortunate I have not gone through other kinds of misfortunes that other people have gone through let's take one fortunate life like this and now you have to repeat this 10 times over you want to do you want to no isn't it because the very nature of your intelligence is such that it doesn't
(52:22) like limitations. There's something within you which does not like limitations. Any kind of boundary it resists. Any kind of boundary it struggles with because human life is brief. They're getting away with it. Let's say we make everybody live thousand years but life will happen only in the scale in which it's happening right now.
(53:02) I think uh except those who have realized something beyond all others will commit suicide by the time they're 150. They won't last that yogic 160. Isn't it so nothing went wrong with your life? You get up in the morning, have breakfast, say good morning to everybody and eat your lunch and it's all fine for some time.
(53:31) After some time. So the trees only because they are not aware some of them have lasted for 2 3,000 years. If they were fully aware then 3,000 years wouldn't be a problem. If they're not aware 3,000 years is not a problem. Now you are semiaware. This is the problem. Everything is a problem now cuz what you call as human is a flux.
(54:15) It's neither here nor there. When you know when you were a monkey I am not calling you a monkey. It's not me. You know that guy Charles Darwin. You did not desire to drop your tail and become human. There was no such awareness. Being a monkey was fine. If monkey was given a 10,000 year lifespan, he would still continue to the same thing. Survival, reproduction,
(55:00) survival, reproduction, survival, reproduction. Season after season, the same thing would be happening. He wouldn't mind because he doesn't know how to mind. But once you became human, somehow nature pushed you into this level of awareness. Now you know how to struggle with yourself. Now you're aware of your limitations.
(55:31) An animal is not aware of his limitations. He's just fine with the way he is. He's much more complete psychologically than you are because he's not aware of his limitations. That is so with lots of people. Do you see? Simple-minded people seem to have more confidence and clarity than people who think. Isn't it so? Because if you if you limit the possibility of the mind and become just programmed for self protection and procreation, there's really no hassle. It's quite
(56:16) fine the life. I don't think the pigs are bored with life. They're quite okay, aren't they? So are the trees. They're not bored with life. If they have to stand there for another 10,000 years, they'll just stand there. It is only the human being who has this problem. Because it's like a trapeze bar, you know, this like a circus tent.
(57:01) He has left the stability of animal nature. He is yet to get a grip on the absolute stability of divine nature. He's in between that in between state. When you're unaware, completely unaware, it is elating. If you look down, it's terrifying. So, some people are related, some people are terrified of life.
(57:35) Or you yourself, sometimes you're related, sometimes you're terrified. Isn't it? Isn't it? So, because you have left one trapezebar, you're yet to cling to the other one. The in between state is what you're calling as human. If you the problem with this trapeze act is you don't even crash and become a smear on the earth. Even that doesn't happen.
(58:10) You hang there forever. If you don't get a grasp over the next bar, you don't even fall down. Or you do fall down, but into your bottomless pit. Falling into your bottomless pit is an endless affair, isn't it? If there was a bottom, you would hit it and it'd be over. But there's no bottom means you keep falling and keep falling and keep falling all the time.
(58:41) You fear there may be a bottom somewhere, but there isn't. If this happens in total awareness, it's a fantastic process. If it happens in unawareness, you will somehow go through it reasonably okay. But it happens in partial awareness, then you suffer. So a trees aware that they're producing, they're making all the leaves red for us to enjoy it. No.
(59:17) They're least concerned about you. I want you to know this. It's very important that you see life the way it is. I know they have taught you these kind of things. The plant is throwing out its flowers because it loves you and God loves you. So that's why it's all coming out. If you want to psychologically settle yourself, so lace yourself.
(59:49) You can believe such things. If you want to climb the ladder of life, you have to see where the wrongs are. That's the only way to climb. You can't just deceive yourself with all kinds of things. If you want a nice story, we can say God knows you get bored with green. So he's painted everything red and yellow and whatnot just for a while is not so it is just going through its own survival process.
(1:00:30) It's shedding his leaves preparing for winter with leaves. If it retained its leaves, all the trees would crash. You know, just imagine if the foliage was there and huge lumps of snow sat on it. The tree will just crumble. So, it is just trying to slim itself down so that not too much snow sits upon it.
(1:00:56) In spite of it, some of them crash because of weight, isn't it? The tree is not aware of its beauty. You enjoy it because you're aware. What's the problem? The tree is not aware. But you are aware. So you enjoy the beauty of the tree. But don't imagine things which are not there because hallucinatory states can be hugely elevating.
(1:01:33) But they always crash. Somewhere they will crash. You nobody can keep it up forever. Namaskarum satguru. What is the purpose of existence and human life? >> After he heard your question, the man is crying. I should be the one. >> He's doing it for me. Now
(1:02:29) you are just rattling off all these questions very effortlessly. It's coming too easy. The same question which is tearing him apart. Yes. the same question that which is tearing the man apart where he's crying because this question is questioning the fundamentals of your existence. You're just rattling it out like this because you still don't understand the depth of the question that you're asking.
(1:03:15) If you're like that, I would have answered the question in a different way. >> Now you're asking the question the way you're asking. When you do not understand the depth of the question, how would you understand the depth of the answer? Now uh on one level you're asking me to tell you the very basis of your existence the very basis of life in the existence.
(1:03:55) >> On another level you are asking me please tell me how to live. These two things don't go together. Only those people who have never concerned themselves or bothered themselves about knowing the fundamentals of their existence need advice as to how to live. Those who have concerned themselves to know the fundamentals of their existence, they need not be told how to live because for them
(1:04:40) how to live is not even an issue. For them, they're only thinking of how to be. Yeah. How to live in the society? You have to learn its tricks. How else? Even if you don't play that tricks 100%. At least you must know the tricks. Otherwise, you can't be there. Isn't it?
(1:05:25) Isn't that so? If you're ignorant of the tricks of the society in which you live, they will trample you. You must know the tricks. Maybe you don't give into them, but you must know the tricks. If you don't know the tricks, you'll get trampled. These are two different aspects. of how I should be within myself and how I should live in the world.
(1:06:00) These are two different things. Unfortunately, they have always tried to connect these two things. They need not be connected. How you are within yourself has nothing to do with what you do in the world. If your activity or if your situations allow you the possibility of expressing who you are, then it can find expression in everything that you do.
(1:06:39) If the situations do not allow you that possibility, you may just play everything according to the social norm. But still nobody can stop you from expressing who you are in the little things that the society allows you to do. Nobody can stop you from that.