Sadhguru - Of Mystics and Mistakes: A Journey Beyond Space and Time

ISBN: 9781623097714

Contents

Preface

There are only two types of people: mystics and mistakes, says Sadhguru, leaving most readers in no doubt of the category to which they belong!

That sounds damning. But mistakes can thankfully be rectified. And thats the hope this book holds out to seekers. It reminds us that each one of us can make the journey from confusion to clarity, from error to enlightenment, from self-deception to self-discovery if only we choose.

This book is an invitation to a journey from a life of mechanical autopilot to a life of freedom and grace. It leads readers from narrowly logical categories to spaces far beyond the frontiers of probability, from the realm of fact to landscapes lunar and mysterious. But even as it charts its course, it does not posit any easy polarities; it is evenhanded in its rejection of the dogmas of both science and religion. Sharp, piercing and unsparing, what it represents is mysticism demystified stripped of the trappings of facile logic and facile illogic, of rigid rationality and rigid faith.

Above all, this is a book that offers signposts on a journey that can so often be a bewildering one. Sadhguru draws the readers attention to the many perils of self-delusion on the path. Mysticism, he tells us in the very first chapter, denouncing many long-cherished assumptions, has nothing whatsoever to do with thinking about God, yearning for salvation or even attaining peace. And it is emphatically not an expedition for those with shopping lists.

It is, instead, a journey for those willing to take risks, for those willing to travel beyond the limited and unreliable matrix of logic and the five senses, for those willing to open their doors and windows and let sunlight in. Does it take an act of conversion? Yes. Conversion to total receptivity. You can convert this human system into absolute receptivity where you can perceive life in ways that you have never believed possible, he says. But he concedes that receptivity doesnt come easy; it entails putting aside ones ideas, emotions and long-held identifications, with no guaranteed dividends in store. And yet, the spiritual life will settle for nothing less. When dominated by the human intellect, life is a mere circus, says Sadhguru. But when dominated by the human intelligence, it is nothing less than a dance.

That dance entails discernment. Sadhguru draws our attention to certain vital distinctions: between the clarity born of fanaticism and the clarity born of realization, between magic and mysticism, between a spurious spirituality and an authentic mysticism. You saw God. So what the hell? he remarks caustically, pointing out that the only index of any genuine spirituality is self-transformation. A spiritual process that doesnt produce joyful and intense human beings, he maintains, is worth nothing.

In the second chapter, he tells us just what it takes to break out of self-created cocoons of individuality, how to generate intensity enough to break the bubble of space and time. In a subtle and vital distinction, he emphasizes that mysticism is not for those seeking mastery but for those seeking freedom. And the journey towards that freedom which he describes tantalisingly as an intoxication that is not insanity entails an understanding of how to be intense but not tense, relaxed but not lax. The chapter also includes forays into areas that are more obviously non-logical and mysterious: the question of past life memory; the nature of true bliss; the moon and mysticism; and the masters personal account of how the bubble was broken in his own life.

The third section takes us even deeper on this voyage into the unknown, pointing out that both modern science and the yogic science intersect at one vital point: in their acknowledgement of the mystery of existence. Here Sadhguru discusses a range of fascinating subjects: the beginnings of the universe; the true meaning of the term sacrifice; the yogic process of linga -making (the unique subtle energy form of the Dhyanalinga created by him in Coimbatore, as well as the birth of the linga in the ancient temple of Thanjavur); the yogic alchemy of transforming a man into a god; the birthing of a goddess (in which he discusses the Linga Bhairavi temple that he consecrated in 2010); and the significance of living in a consecrated space.

An exciting culmination to the book is the final chapter which covers a gamut of related themes, probing the mystical dimensions of subjects as diverse as dreams and destiny, karma and memory, imagination and meditation, human conception and birth, the human body, liberation and the limitless possibilities of the human spine.

Theres something here for every kind of reader. There is Sadhgurus razor-sharp logic in dealing with fluffy illogicality, and his ability to uncover profound truth in seemingly sterile scientific fact. For those inclined to soar too readily into the empyrean, this book will offer a firm anchor to the terrestrial. For those who prefer to remain earthbound, it is likely to offer moments of unexpected free-fall.

Fasten your seatbelts. Both matter-of-fact and wildly improbable, heres a book that crash-lands when you prepare for altitude, and takes off just when you expect to find the earth beneath your feet.

Arundhathi Subramaniam

Chapter 1

Beyond the Five Senses: From Misunderstanding to Mystery

One little step existentially is worth more than all the scriptures that you can read on the planet.

Sunlight comes into your house not because you want it. It happens because you open the windows.

Sadhguru: Two cows were grazing on an English meadow. One said, Whats your opinion on the Mad Cow disease? The other said, I dont care a hoot about it. Anyway, Im a helicopter.

If a cow realizes that it is a cow, it becomes a celebrity a holy cow. It is that simple. It is just a question of realization. In India, we have always called mystics realized beings. Realization is not about inventing or discovering something; it is just about realizing who you are. If there is something you do not understand, it is mysterious to you. Someone who seems to know what others do not is called a mystic. But the mystic is just someone who has realized what is there. Others dont because they are too self-engrossed to pay any attention to life.

Mysticism: what exactly do we understand by the word? That which cannot be understood through logic usually gets termed mystical. Or in other words, that which you are unable to comprehend through the five sense organs gets labeled mystical.

Let me give you an example. I am sitting here; suppose you could not see me, but you heard my voice that would be very mysterious, wouldnt it? Now you can see me here, but my voice can be heard all over. Do you see that my voice is coming from everywhere? Is this not mysterious? Oh, this is just a microphone, you say. You have an explanation for it, so it is not mysterious. But anything that you cannot explain logically, all those things are considered mysterious.

Right now the logical dimension of thought is filtering life through the intellect. The logical process has become so dominant simply because right now perception is limited to the five senses. The very nature of sense perception is such that it always perceives everything in bits and pieces. It always divides everything into at least two; it never perceives anything as one. If you can see this part of my hand ( turns his hand, revealing his palm ), you cannot see that part of my hand. If you see this part, you cannot see the other. This is so even if you take a grain of sand; if you perceive one part of it, you do not perceive another.