Why You Shouldn’t Use The Left Hand For Hard Work

Sadhguru: Right hand was kept for vigorous, difficult or hard actions. Left hand was kept for gentle, mild actions. It is a yogic principle that you do not use your left hand for doing hard things. Because the left has the responsibility of cardiac function, which is not a small thing. Questioner: Sadhguru, I've noticed that in India, there is a kind of prejudice against the left hand, it seems that it's considered in a way inferior (Sadhguru laughs), and the use is repressed. I would like to know what is the root cause of this. And also I know that the left hand is connected to the right hemisphere of the brain, which is responsible for holistic thinking and intuition and this kind of activity. What would be the connection of repressing the left hand and the functioning of the right hemisphere of the brain? Sadhguru: It is not a question of repressing the left hand. Different hands have different uses. All the Indians are putting their heads down. (Laughter) They don't want me to talk about it. (Laughter) And there were not very powerful disinfectants in the past, so left hand was used in a certain way. Not just that, right hand was kept for vigorous, difficult or hard actions. Left hand was kept for gentle mild actions. This is not a cultural thing. Well, it is become a cultural thing over a period of time. But it is a yogic principle that you do not use your ri… left hand for doing hard things. Why this is so is… You… your heart, is it on the left side or right side? Left, your left. There are a few who are on the right; you're not one of them. Because of the cardiac function being on the left side, if you are a left-hander, if you are using your left hand for all the more difficult, physically difficult actions… There is research, which shows that left-handed people on an average live seven years less than right-handed people because the left has the responsibility of cardiac function, which is not a small thing. So, the left should not be in rigorous action. You must balance the two in terms of strength and balance, but in general usage, it's best to use the right hand for all that that involves a certain physical difficulty or stress; you use the left in a milder fashion. In most actions which need balance, in this culture, they are compelled to use two hands. If you have to receive something, nobody in India stretches out their hand like this; it's always like this, you must use both the hands. If you want to offer something, you don't give like this; you give it with both your hands. So, anything, which needs balance, you use both your hands, anything that needs physically difficult action, you use the right. For certain other actions you use the left. This is an understanding, which has come by observing the body in a certain way. If you use your left hand, your left brain or right brain does not get active. Not in… it doesn't work like that; otherwise, all left-handers should have been… boom in their brain. Doesn't necessarily happen like that. Energetically, if you're active on the left side, it is possible that the intuitive dimension of your brain becomes active. Not that it's possible, we know, and we have a whole lot of sadhana for the left. If you've been to the Devi temple, everything is on the left side. Because within you, this is Ida; this is Pingala. This is masculine; this is feminine. The feminine has to be handled in a certain way and the masculine very differently because essential quality of what masculine and feminine is, is fundamentally different. It is not a question of it's a… It's very rudimentary for people to think, which is superior. It's a rudimentary mind which thinks which is superior. It is not a question of superiority; it's a difference. If you do not recognize the difference, you will not be life sensitive. If you try to equate everything, all sensitivity about life will go away. You have to recognize the difference, but a difference need not translate itself as a discriminatory process. Differences are differences; it is not discriminatory in nature. Right now, men are not allowed into this pool. Is it discriminatory? It's just a difference. So, right and left are used differently. It is not that one is superior to the other. They are different, and they must be employed differently.