Sadhguru Answers Questions About Meditation, Spirituality, And Finding A Guru

Question: Whenever I sit for meditation my mind doesn’t cooperate. Why does this happen?

Sadhguru: The mind does not like meditation because if you keep the body still, the mind will also naturally become still. This is why so much stress has been laid in yoga on asanas. If you just learn how to keep your body absolutely still, then your mind will also become still. I want you to just observe yourself and see how many unnecessary movements your body makes when you stand, sit or speak. If you look at your life, you will see that more than half the time is taken up in these things that you yourself don’t care for.

If you keep the body still, the mind will slowly start collapsing and the mind knows that it will become enslaved if it allows this. The main aspect of meditation is, right now your mind is the boss and you are the slave. As you meditate and become more meditative, you will become the boss and your mind will become the slave and that is how it should always be. As a slave, the mind is wonderful – it is a miraculous slave. But as a master, if you allow the mind to rule, it is a terrible master. If you don’t know how to keep it as a slave, the mind will put you through all kinds of endless suffering.

Question: Can spiritual people solve political and social problems?

Sadhguru: One who is spiritual is one who has looked at life with more clarity than other people. He is able to see more about life and human nature than other people can. If he applies himself to any situation, he will see it more clearly than others, so he can be a solution. Will clarity clear up problems? Definitely. Someone who is evolved on the spiritual path can definitely be a great solution for all the problems in society. This is the reason why some masters always tried to influence the kings and the leadership and they themselves went and lived in the king’s court, not out of greed but simply because they felt that clarity should be made use of. After his Enlightenment, when King Janaka wanted to follow his Guru, Ashtavakra, to the ashram, his Guru said, ‘No. This is not about your convenience. The people need an Enlightened king. You must go and be a king,’ and he sent him back to his kingdom.

So people definitely need an enlightened approach to all problems in society, because we have been suffering from the same problems for too long. People are not looking at it with the necessary clarity to find a solution. We are committing the same mistakes generation after generation and causing the same problems in different magnitudes. Essentially a spiritual person means someone who has more clarity than others about how the human mind, body and everything works. That person can definitely be of immense value if society wishes to make use of him, whether it is in the political, economic or in any sphere.

Question: Like many people around me, I am seeking the ultimate Truth and the right guidance to experience it. Sadhguru, can you tell us how a person finds his Guru?

Sadhguru: If you are truly a seeker of Truth, Truth cannot hide from you. It is in the lap of Truth that you have happened. Most people who claim to be seekers are only seeking security, solace, or the fulfillment of their desires. Their life is just an expression of their greed and fear. Do you see, many people in the world shamelessly claim to be God-fearing? They are not God loving, they are God-fearing. Unless you have fallen in love with the creation, how can you love the one who created it? Like Jesus said, ‘Love thy neighbour.’ Everyone can love God, because He does not demand anything from you, but to love the one next to you right now costs life. It is a challenge. It takes much courage to do this. ‘Love thy neighbour’ is a very good device for breaking your illusion of loving the one who is in the heavens.

A genuine seeker, a person who develops an urge within, will always find his Guru. He may find it in a man, in a woman, or he may find it even in a rock. He will definitely find it somewhere; there is no doubt about it. When any being calls or really yearns, the existence answers. If the thirst within you is strong enough, God always answers.

(In his Ask Sadhguru column, the spiritual leader talks about intelligence being important to live life sensibly)

(Sadhguru is a Yogi, mystic, visionary and a New York Times bestselling author. He is also the founder of Conscious Planet – Save Soil)