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1EncountertheEnlightenedSadhguru, a profound Mystic of our timesConversations with the ord------------------- 3-6Note to the Reader---------6-6me and ME -----------------6-6
21] Grace--------------------------6-8.2] Unveiling-----------------------8-38.3] Inner Freedom-----------------38-674] Religion and Harmony--------67- 925] The Way-------------------------92-1106] at the Master's Feet----------- 110-1487] ---------149-156Introduction:Since offering myself in service to Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev and IshaFoundation several years ago, I have witnessed the transformation ofthousands of people in audiences as varied as humanity itself. Whether inthe Company of the world’s most prominent spiritual leaders at the UnitedNations, eighty million saints and pilgrims at the Maha Kumbha Mela, orsurrounded by prisoners on death row, the Master has an ability to arousepassion for truth and an illuminating power that amplifies our hiddenDivinity.As he tirelessly teaches the fundamental elements of inner peace andharmony, which are requirements to deeper inner discovery, I havefollowed in his footsteps as a volunteer assistant. I am always mindful ofwhat his energy contributes to every being he meets and how he changesthe world through his interactions with it moment to moment. His presencemakes deep impressions on all who see him. Even in the West, where Gurusand spiritual Masters are not part of our culture, every head turns as hepasses. People, unaware of who he is, are compelled to approach him andseek his blessing. Small children call him "holy man"--and relate hiswondrous presence to their innocent understanding of omnipotence-Santa! Many compare him to Jesus due to his beautiful demeanour, butalways people want to know more about him. The Master's presenceinevitably raises questions: "Who is this person, what does he teach andhow can I learn more?"As my involvement with Sadhguru expands, I am filled with love, gratitude,joy and the companionship of hundreds of thousands of the people who arealso drawn to him. As the intensity and momentum of his presencecontinues to grow around the world, I feel an awed excitement as I watchthe powerful impact he makes on our world. Yet in amusement, I reflectback on my initial encounter with the enlightened.When I first met Sadhguru, I wasn't even sure he could speak English, and Ididn't care. The energy transmitted by him coursed through my body,making every hair stand erect. Then he spoke. Simply, directly, withuncanny logic that can't be denied, yet with words that seemed to portray adeeper meaning that penetrated my heart and soul.
3For years I had ached for a spiritual guide, and with painful intensity Iprayed for a living Master from the East--one who knew Truth. In 1997those prayers manifested when Sadhguru made his first U.S.A. visit toNashville, Tennessee. Shocking he was, to a Westerner who had ingested alifetime of solace disguised as spirituality. Yet despite my lack of priorexposure to, or intellectual understanding of the Eastern esoteric sciencesand yoga, his every word resonated within me. I knew it was Truth. Hedisarmed me with his honesty and straight talk, burning through thecultural conditioning and resistance that separated me from Truth. Hispresence was like fresh water dropping on a parched spirit. He transformedme with his patience and grace and I feel an urgency to help make thisopportunity available to others.But how does one share an experience of Truth? Sadhguru says theunbounded is always there for all who can embrace it; yet like me, most ofus take a series of small steps to approach the threshold of Truth. We needa Master to lead us through the process of identifying what we are not, inorder to move into something greater. Using books and language for thepurpose of dissolving into the formless Divine appears to be acontradiction. But when you have found water in a desert full of thirstypeople, you must shout, "There is water here!"Therefore, despite the limitations of using printed language to share thisbeing we experience as Sadhguru, it is worth the risk. His knowing glance,the inflection of his voice, his wonderful humour, infectious laughter andhis powerful physical presence will be absent from these pages. But themystery and grace of such a Divine Being can never be limited. It is thehope of countless disciples and Isha Foundation volunteers that this simpleintroduction to Sadhguru will ignite a flame of passionate inquiry within allwho read his words.Linda WrightWright-WootenNashville, Tennessee USA.Foreword:Sadhguru, a very rare being, who dares not to conform to the acceptedambiguous norms just because the majority or the so-called spiritualdictum conforms to it. His teachings are but an outpouring of his innerbeing, which has risen from inner awakening and not derived from textualscriptures. He is one who cares little for scholarly views and who embracesTruth and stands by it. No one single description can provide an accuratepicture of this realized being whose teachings are simple and pristine. Whatcan happen in this person's presence, his energy field, is difficult to perceivefor those who are confined to just their sense perceptions.From eons of spoon-feeding by elders, society, and religion, most peoplehave become insensitive to-tasting life firsthand. Fear of ostracism bysociety if their authority, their rituals and their dogmas are rejected, thefear of standing alone, and the fear of having the respectability tag strippedoff has bound humanity today in many ways. An individual reared intoday's reality, never seems to know when or where he got his opinions, nordoes he seem to care as long as they are approved of.
4I happen to be a product reared in this scenario that could never belong butsomehow made my life pretty comfortable, just feeling a little stifled attimes. Eventually, I thought my life was complete. Then, very accidentally, Icame across this devastatingly frank, unstudied and simple being, devoid ofstiffness and restraint. An out and out sceptic, I just went as an observer tohear him talk. Only then did I become aware of another dimension of life towhich I was totally oblivious, and ended up certain that if anyone couldsucceed in waking me up from my slumber, it was he. The peeling of theshrouds of ignorance and conditioning began. In thirst of seeking theUltimate, the conditions and conditioners lost their grip a natural outcomethis was and did not happen in reaction, but through intelligence andawareness. The catalyst in him triggered the dormant questions in me that Ididn't even know existed, "Where have I come from? Where do I go hence?"The path I set on was not always smooth. I stumbled with confusions thatarose in life within and without. He was always there, if not in person, thenotherwise, working through many levels.A Sathsang or even just a casual talk by Sadhguru can progress intosomething much more than just casual and tends to get under people'sskin, as at times the comments are scathing, more than brutal, but then theend is achieved. One is awakened from slumber. Many people, who comemerely out of curiosity to his talks, leave mesmerized, disturbed, awed, inlove, angry and they always come back for more. Nobody has ever fuelledtheir emotions, their energies and their lives in this manner. Requests andmore requests kept pouring in to publish the talks, always duly negated bySadhguru. When requests in turn became demands, a few of us forced outan "Okay," a "go ahead" nod from the Master.The most unforgettable times with the Master were spent during a lengthyWholeness Program when much of the Master's initial work wentunrecorded during the formative years of the ashram. This work wasdefinitely not wasted upon us. He would speak to a small group of us, aboutthirty to thirty five, sitting under the “leaning tree", sitting on the sandheaps under the starlit sky, standing under the blazing sun in the middle ofa ball game, or while walking in a light drizzle or the pouring rain. For thefirst time, rare glimpses of why this birth for him, the significance of hiscoming back again to be amidst us, and why the Dhyanalinga, wererevealed, some in words and some in Silence. Though he appears veryunassuming, we have witnessed a very tough critic restlessly urging us toexamine not only our actions, but our very thought processes. Thedistortion of the mind - its delusions and chaos -was able to be examinedthoroughly. The immense patience and unbounded compassion in himalways very discreetly guarded and guided the most intimate of ouremotions and outbursts. His presence brought out the very best and thevery worst in us--many times against our will. He has witnessed ourgrowing up and accepted all the contradictions. At times an intense gaze, apat on the shoulder, a knock on the head and one is freed not just from themind's confusions, but, if willing, even from the web of the karmic structureitself.No single angle provides a complete picture of Sadhguru. Once I wastravelling through the Western Ghats with him, when he decided to stop ata forest guesthouse close to the Subramanya temple at the foothills of the
5Kumara Parvatha. He suggested we visit the temple shrine, a very powerfulplace.He asked me to have a shower first, but I was in one of those defiant moods,not ready to take orders from him or anybody, and shot back saying, “I amvery clean and even then cleanliness is of the inside and not the outside."Saying this, I plunked myself on the riverbank, refusing to budge. Suddenly,one side of my Kurta felt damp and before I realized what had happened, Isaw a dog walking away after relieving himself on me! I ran inside to theshower. As I walked towards the car very sheepishly, he cast one glance atme and said, "Now you are ready." When pride arises and before it swellsand coagulates, he is always there to pierce it with one glance. Ignorance isdriven away at maniac speed!Another time, when a group from the U.S.A was inquiring whether he was avegetarian or not before they would enrol themselves for an in-houseprogram at the ashram, in all earnestness he replied, "Please inform them, Ithrive on human kidneys." and after seeing the startled look on theBrahmachari's face, he laughed uproariously.The difficult choice for us was how to choose what we were going to print.His words kept lingering in my head, "Silence is the way." Where do westart? Volumes and volumes of transcribed discourses and question andanswers and much more than that are stored in the archives stillunprocessed. How do we go about it? Brahmahacharini Indira was morethan eager to supply us with any amount of material that was required fromthe archives. She is always excited about bringing out anything onSadhguru that can go public-visuals, audio and now a book!Swami Devasatva and Rajasekar took on supervising the printing processand were always on the look out for the missing commas and the forgottenexclamation marks and Swami Nisarga was forever there to see that theexcitement doesn't go out of bounds, asks, "What! A book! Don't we all haveenough work on our hands?" and adds, "Why don't we tend to the papayatrees instead? We can at least eat the fruit!" And finally succumbing to,"Okay, at least don't choose any controversial questions." And Linda inNashville was always there with her computer to comply with ournumerous requests for proofreading, however unfair and unreasonable.How can I name all those people who came forward with total enthusiasmto make this book happen? This book would not have been possible but forthat unsuspecting questioner, who, staking his ignorance, elicited theMaster's words of wisdom which at times fell on the questioner asthunderbolts.After choosing a minuscule portion of Sadhguru's work for printing, themost difficult task we faced was how would a discourse or an answer,spoken to a certain person, in a certain context, translate itself into print?How can an outpouring of energies with just that wisp of a smile, a burst oflaughter, a tear that escapes from the damp eyes, or a gesture of the handand the tone of the voice, convey the subtler nuances, the space and thesilence between the spoken words? Can justice be done to our Master'sspoken words in the print media? The incredible diversity that he is, canone grasp him as a person, let alone grasp the intricacies or the fabric he ismanifested through? Can he be comprehended by reading this book?
6Maybe not! But then let those who have never seen him or heard him haveat least a glimpse of the possibility that he is. This is an invitation to gobeyond words.BharathiNote to the Reader:Dear Reader,The following book is an unedited version of dialogues spoken by SadhguruJaggi Vasudev to audiences in various settings. The Master addresses eachspecific group with a particular intention and approach that will best unfoldan inner understanding. While the energy of the Master's spoken word canguide the mind to more effectively embrace the intended message, thisguidance is restricted in printed text. For this reason, we never planned touse these dialogues to constitute a book.But the longing for truth in an age imprisoned within the confines ofmaterialism and dogma, begs for useful tools to transform us and awakenthe eternal essence dormant within us. We therefore offer this material toyou with the suggestion that you vicariously become a member of theaudience being addressed in order to create the necessary mentalenvironment necessary to receive the rare gift being offered.At the heart of the material in this book is what Sadhguru refers to as, “mytricks to awaken you," a key to transcend the mental conditioning of thethree-dimensional world and glimpse the Divine that we are.Namastheme and METhe impish meAnd the absolute MEMany think is a contradiction but a perfect complement,my love, my joy, my laught
Using books and language for the purpose of dissolving into the formless Divine appears to be a contradiction. But when you have found water in a desert full of thirsty people, you must shout, "There is water here!" Therefore, despite the limitations of using printed language to share this being we experience as Sadhguru, it is worth the risk. His knowing glance, the inflection of his voice .
