Sadhguru on Kashi Vishwanath Corridor Secularism & Sanatana Dharma | Sadhguru

Sadhguru: When we say Kashi, it was built as a yantra with 72 thousand shrines and 108 main temples. The idea is to connect the micro and the macro, or the individual and the universal. We must not only be proud of it, we must preserve it. I bow down to the man for bowing down to those ladies and those hard-working men. Speaker: Today the Prime Minister dedicated the Kashi Vishwanath corridor to the people of the country, to believers and devotees. And in fact helped realize a dream that had been dreamt by none other than the father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi, over a century ago. Who had wondered when visiting the holy city of Kashi, of Banaras, of Varanasi, why is it that those that we worship cannot be kept in a state that befits them? Why can't we accord our deities the glory that we deserve? Today, Varanasi and Mahadev was restored in the glory that they deserve. The politics aside, what is the significance, why is this important for us as a country and a culture? Joining us now on the Newshour Agenda, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. Thank you very much, Sadhguru, for having spoken to us. To begin with… Sadhguru: Namaskaram (Sounds like – Narmaja?) Speaker: To begin with, as a Shiv bhakt yourself, what are your thoughts today? Sadhguru: Well, I am not a devotee of Shiva because he forcefully invaded my life and took me over, so I would say I'm a slave (Laughs). But I project it like he's my partner, but actually a slave because every step and turn in my life has been guided that way. And I say he's my sleeping partner because he does nothing, I do all the work but everything is his (Laughs) – this is my life. So, what is my thoughts about Kashi? It's very important, the time has come in the world where the world has to move away from divisive dogmas and philosophies and ideologies; this is what Kashi Vishwanath means. Vishwanath, as you know, it means the lord of the world, that means it is for all life on this planet. And when we say Kashi, it's a tower of light. What is the significance of a tower of light? And how does a place become a tower of light? We must understand Kashi as a mechanism. I'm using the word mechanism very consciously because it was built as a yantra with 72,000 shrines and 108 main temples – 54 of them for Shiva and 54 for Shakti, giving equal significance to masculine and feminine and forming a body, it's like a living body. Why 72,000 shrines is, there are 72,000 prana nadis in the body, so it's a mega human being sitting there. And the idea is to connect the micro and the macro, or the individual and the universal. So, this is an instrument to transform and transcend the human being to areas and spaces that individual human beings by themselves may not be able to do. Not everybody is steeped in spiritual practices, how do they find expression to their longing? Because there is no human being in the world who doesn't have a longing to touch aspects and dimensions of life which are not yet in their life, everybody wants to. Some people may invest their time and energies to do that consciously, others here and there aspire for it. Maybe instead of (Laughs) genuinely seeking within themselves, they will have a drink or they will drug or they'll do something but you must understand, all these are aspirations to touch something of the beyond. So, here, we… in this culture, in this Sanatan Dharma, we created instruments through which you could touch even ordinary people who don't have… who are not steeped in spiritual sadhana. They can also have an opportunity to transcend and transform their way of being. If not in their early life, at least towards the end of their life, they must go to Kashi to do this. There have been many attempts like this in the country, there are many places like this but Kashi is a very, very daring project a few thousand years ago. The size and the complexity and the sophistication of what it is, is truly incredible. And unfortunately, today a lot of it is lost but this is phenomenal that once again some revival has happened. The first time I went there, some journalist came to me and asked, "Sadhguru, what is your impression of Kashi?" I said, "It's fabulous and filthy," they didn't like it. I said, "See, this is the reality, you better address the filth. Fabulous is there, nobody is missing it but if you do not address the filth, fabulous could get buried in the filth." Here we are at last, Kashi has a revamp, Kashi has a… some amount of… if not the whole system being revived, at least a part of it is being revived. I think this will go a long way for many many people who aspired for this, who want to be there but cannot be there simply because of the way it was being conducted. So, this is a huge step in that direction. One must understand this is about Vishwanath; this is about an inclusive process, this is not an exclusive process, this is about everybody. I hope everybody gets this message. And also, the temple also is conducted in such a way, it does not discriminate between one and the other. During times of invasions, during times of occupation, during times of British rule, they evolved rules to stop other people, other nationalities and other religions, they used to stop at one time. I think that is largely gone, it must completely go. Anybody who wants to come, it should be open to them, because this is about Vishwanath ji. Speaker: Absolutely. And when you say it's filthy and fabulous, yes, it may offend certain sensibilities but… (Overlapping conversation) Sadhguru: Hey, I said fabulous and filthy (Laughs). Speaker: But you're at obvious company there Sadhguru, because it was the father of our nation who over a century ago said that, "When people come visit us from across the world and they look at Kashi, what will they think if this is how we keep our deities?" But why did it take so long? Was it the orientalism or, you know, that you sort of glamorize squalor? Why did it take so long to rejuvenate something that was apparent to everyone? Sadhguru: See, it's not that we gramalike… you know, romanticize our squalor – not at all. I think it's because since pre-independence there has been a thing but particularly post-independence, we are… we are being shy of our culture. Because we want to project ourselves like we are westernized and everything, because if you have to be modern, you have to be westernized. It's only now in the last five, ten years that there is a resurgence that you can be proud of your culture, you can be proud of who you are. This has come back, fortunately in common people. It's a very positive thing because no nation will move forward in a big way if they're ashamed of being who they are. So I think that was a significant part. And apart from that, without political will it could have never happened. Fortunately, it's come together now and it's great. It doesn't matter what is the history, there's a painful history behind Kashi. We ca