Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is a South Indian yoga master, an international speaker, author, and peace advocate. He founded the Isha Foundation, a non-profit organization aided by over 100,000 volunteers to advance physical, mental and spiritual health through yogic science.

Q: You say in your lectures that yoga is commonly misperceived as aphilosophy, a faith, or an exercise form. The scope of yoga does seem broad. What is
yoga really?

S: Today, modern science has proved to you beyond a doubt that the whole existence is one energy… you have gotten into the trap of the intellect, which is discriminating, not allowing you to experience that reality. Yoga is a simple science of transcending the intellect, or transcending the limitations of the five sense perceptions and experiencing reality the way it is — the unity of the existence.

Once a person experiences this, he is never the same again because all of the struggles and conflicts that he’s going through within himself and outside of himself fundamentally are only because of the discrimination factor of the sense perception that it perceives everything by dividing. It has created a whole range of dualities. The moment (a person) transcends duality all conflict within and outside is finished for him.

Q: So, yoga is actually a method to reach an inner experience of unity transformation that allows you to see the world differently?

S: See people are in pursuit of happiness. They may believe that they are after something, but fundamentally, they are pursuing happiness.

Somebody is after money because somewhere he believes that if he gets that much money he will be happy. Somebody is after education because somewhere he believes that that much education will bring him happiness. Somebody is after power. Somebody is after pleasure. All these things they’re seeking, simply because they believe that will bring happiness in their life?

Now, if you go deep enough into yourself, there is a way to be not just happy, but to be ecstatic by your own nature… your life becomes an expression of happiness, not in pursuit of happiness? This whole process of shifting from pursuit of happiness to expression of happiness is extremely important, because it doesn?t matter how much you fix the world, the external situation will never be in your absolute control?as long as its not in your control, you will be in distress.

Q: If yoga can really create more than health and wellness, more than relief from daily stress... the possibility of creating lasting blissfulness, than it must work on a more fundamental level than we are currently aware. How do the methods of yoga really work?

S: If you look at yourself, you will see that everything that happens to you (pauses)‹right now you?re angry, it?s a certain expression of your energy. You?re happy, it?s another expression of the same energy. every experience you go through is just a certain expression of your energy? If you have a little mastery over your energies, you will see, you will naturally become a joyous being, because, now your energies find a conscious expression.

Yoga is the science of transforming your inner energies—gaining control over your inner energies in such a way that, whatever you do, within yourself it?s a conscious process....it?s no more an unconscious reaction to the external situation. So being peaceful, being joyous, being loving just happens naturally out of your own nature, not because of somebody or something around you. Only, then human life is truly fulfilling, otherwise you will always live as a slave to external situations.

Allison Murry is a hatha yoga instructor in Atlanta. For information about Sadhguru’s upcoming program July 7-13 in the Atlanta area, visit www.ishafoundation.org.

Back to New Life Journal..