How Does Sadhguru Remain Calm in Difficult Situations? Abhi & Niyu Ask Sadhguru

Abhi: Whenever you get any question that is slightly offensive, you manage to stay calm. Sadhguru: Whether it's a bouncer or a googly, I am calm. I'm just a normal human being. All the others who have taken to self-imposed crippling aspects to their life, they are all thinking I am something very special. Abhi: Is Ramayana and Mahabharat real, or was it just a story? Sadhguru: This human story in some way, should right a few things within you, should inspire you to do something about your life. But today, it is all factual, you know, 1452 this battle happened, 1566 that battle happened. What are you going to do with it? There is no nutrient in the soil. That means death for most of the populations. We have this challenge, and we have this privilege, that if we can turn the life on this planet back from its brink to a safer place, or we can let it pass. Abhi: So, namaskaram Sadhguru. Niyu: Namaskaram Sadhguru. (Overlapping conversation) Sadhguru: Namaskaram. Namaskaram both of you. Namaskaram. Abhi: Okay, so the first question that I have for you is that, whenever you get any question that is slightly offensive or that is triggered… that is targeted in such a way to get a reaction from you, you manage to stay calm. That is one quality that you have, that I really want to… us to have as well, becasue we are really new to social media (Sadhguru laughs). Sadhguru: No, (Laughs) I don't stay calm only because something is a bouncer question, I'm just calm. Whether it's a bouncer or a googly, I am calm, not because of that question or not to attend to that particular question; I am like this, okay? Why I'm like this is, see, essentially what you call as reaction is, that your faculties don't function the way you want. Your thought, your emotion, your speech does not function the way you want. Well, that is called crippled. Hello? If you can't use your hands the way you want, if you can't use your head the way you want, it's a crippling experience, isn't it? So, I'm just a normal human being, who knows how to use his thought, his emotion, his energy, his hands, his legs, the way he wants. All the others who have taken to self-imposed crippling aspects to their life, they're all thinking I am something very special. No, this is how a human being should be, because you are the only creature on the planet who is referred to as a being. No other creature is referred to as a being. Why you are referred to as a human being is, you're supposed to know how to be. If you knew how to be, would you keep yourself blissful or miserable? That's all I'm doing (Niyu laughs). Abhi: (Sounds like – Right?). Abhi: So, the next question we have is that, a lot of students are facing a lot of stress right now, because of their exams. So, just the way you manage to stay calm in stressful situations, like… I mean, of course, this is not a stressful situation, but this is something that is happening beyond what is planned. So whenever… like Mike Tys… Mike Tyson had this quote that, "Everything goes as per the plan, until the first punch lands on your face." So, what does a… what should a person do when things are not going according to the plan, especially students? Sadhguru: The examination is not supposed to go according to your plan, your education should go according to your plan. The examination is always supposed to be a surprise question for you, otherwise, what's the point of examination, all right? So, the problem is, we are thinking examination is a problem; the problem is we are doing something that we are not interested in, largely. Most people are not interested in doing that. Because this is large scale education, everybody should go through academics, everybody should read physics, chemistry, mathematics, che… you know, biology. This is not a reality, this is not an intellectual reality in the world, not everybody is designed for that. Somebody may do well with music, somebody may do well with something else, but there is no such opportunity, everybody's going through the same stuff. So, different shapes of people are all put through the same extruder, so there is a certain amount of pain. If we know what we're reading, if we are interested in the subject, we won't be reading the syllabus, we'll be reading something beyond that, isn't it? So, examination would be a play. But right now examination is such a big stress for everybody, because first of all, through the year they're doing something they don't much care for. Everybody is going through education not because of the longing to learn, because somebody has told them, "If you do this, you will… can get this much money. If you do this, you can have this kind of lifestyle." So, because of that they're doing it. So naturally, they will suffer the process. So this is very important. In yoga, we say like this, "If you have one eye on the goal, you will have only one eye to find your way," and it's very hard, inefficient. If you use both your eyes to find the way, depending on your competence and the fire within you, you will go as far as you go naturally. So, this problem is, this Westernized way of being goal-oriented – they're dedicated to the goal. This is something I'm changing here with our people; here people are devoted to the process – if you do the process well, the goal will happen. Now you're only wanting the goal, you want the mango, but you don't want the mango tree, this will cause a lot of suffering (Laughs). Niyu: Very true. Abhi: Speaking of a tree, a lot of times people say that our education system is trying to disconnect us from our roots, especially when it comes to ancient Indian epics such as Ramayan and Mahabharat. Now there are great leadership lessons that are there in Ramayan and Mahabharat, that used to be taught to kings, so that we can make better leaders out of them. So, a lot of times, the conversation gets stuck at this particular question that, "Is Ramayana and Mahabharat real or was it just a story constructed to guide us into our future?" So what are your thoughts about it? Sadhguru: Whatever happened in your life yesterday, if you tell somebody, it is a story, isn't it? Whether it's an interesting story or a boring story, that's the only question, but it's a story. So, even (Laughs) – I'm playing on the words – his-story… means they left her out, his-story it is (Laughs), all right? So, what happened to people in those times, the stories are said to people from generation to generation, context changing slightly according to the generational requirement. This is a flexibility we have in this country, which the western way of looking at life… just facts are important. I'm asking you… People are debating about this, you know, "If… if Krishna was born in Uttar Pradesh, how come he was dark? Probably they got it all wrong or maybe he's a South Indian man." This is silly. I am saying, "Whether Krishna was dark, he had a nose or