Don’t postpone realization to the next lifetime! Sadhguru gives us a tool to make every time we sleep, a possibility for growth.

Questioner: Sadhguru, sometimes I wonder, if I die without reaching the Ultimate, will all the effort of doing the practices go waste? Or will this somehow help me rediscover this path in my next life if I don’t succeed in this life?

Sadhguru: You have decided to be a failed candidate? That means you are not only choosing to waste your life, you are planning to waste my life too. I don’t take that kindly. Why do you think you won’t make it?

Realization is Not an Achievement

It is just a question of realization. Realization is not an achievement, attainment, or acquisition. Realization means you suddenly see something that has always been right here. You suddenly realize you have been stupid all your life. Realization does not depend on your capability. If you remain oriented, you will realize. But if your orientation keeps changing every few minutes, then of course realization will only happen in another life. However, what makes you think next time you will come as a human being? Suppose you come as a cockroach, do you think the future teachers will talk to cockroaches? They won’t. I have not trained them for that!

Do not postpone it for later. You do not know when your life will end. Whatever your “horror-scope” may say, the horror does not always come true. This is not even to be postponed to tomorrow, let alone to another life, because you do not have to achieve anything. You do not need any particular kind of capability. You just have to maintain your direction. If you maintain the direction, invariably, it will happen. But most people keep changing direction – one step forward, one step backward.

Narada and the Peasant

Most yogis just sat in one place. They did not do anything other than maintain the direction. Whatever happens, that is all you have to do. There was a sage who was a little mischievous. His name was Narada. Narada considered himself Vishnu’s greatest devotee. All the time, he was walking around uttering god’s name – “Narayana, Narayana.” One day, in the assembly of the god’s court, when someone asked Vishnu, “Who is your greatest devotee?” Vishnu said, “A peasant somewhere in southern India.”

Narada was dumbstruck. He thought he was the greatest devotee because throughout the day, he was saying, “Narayana, Narayana.” Narada wanted to see who this competitor was. He went down to southern India and watched what the peasant did. In the morning, this man got up and uttered “Narayana” – once. Then he did his morning ablutions. Before eating, he said, “Narayana.” Then he went and set the plough. Before starting to plough, he said once, “Narayana.” After that, all he said was “Hey, hoo!” to the bullocks. When he went to bed, he said, “Narayana,” and fell asleep.

Narada thought, “What rubbish! In the entire day, he says “Narayana” four times and he becomes the greatest devotee! I am saying it 17,637 times!” So he went back to Vishnu and asked, “How can this illiterate peasant who utters Narayana four times a day and is otherwise busy ploughing the land and taking care of his wife, children and bullocks be the greatest devotee? Throughout the day, I don’t say anything other than your name.”

Vishnu picked up a vessel, filled it to the brim with water, and gave it to him. He said, “Just go around the world carrying it. Not a drop should spill.” Narada held it in his hand, went around the world, and came back. Vishnu asked, “How many times did you say Narayana?” “What? You said not a drop should spill – how am I supposed to say ‘Narayana’?” Vishnu said, “That’s all. This simple peasant’s life is like that. If he does one thing wrong, his life will spill. But in spite of that, he says it four times. You have nothing to do, so you saying it the entire day means nothing.”

It is not about what you do. You only have to maintain the direction. The rest will happen because it is not something that you or I do – it is the nature of life to realize itself. You just have to remove the distraction and maintain your focus in the right direction.

How to Maintain the Direction

Questioner: How do I maintain the direction? I have been struggling with that.

Sadhguru: Holding the direction means first of all to remove all false perceptions you have. This means keeping everything that you believe aside. Unless it is something you need to function in society. Among people, for some transactions, you have to believe certain things. But otherwise, keep everything aside. You may feel like an idiot then, and it is good for you to know that you are an idiot. The difference between being enlightened and being stupid is – an enlightened person knows that he is stupid; a stupid idiot does not know he is a stupid idiot. That is a world of difference. The problem with people is they do not know the trap they are in. If they knew, they would not stay there.

What You Can Do

Before you go to sleep tonight, sit down on your bed and mentally keep everything that is not you aside. Starting with your nationality, your race, your religion, your body, your mind, your thoughts, your emotions, your ideas, your philosophies, your gods, your devils – keep everything aside. Just sleep on it. Do this every day. You will realize sleeping. I cannot give you an easier way! Just enter sleep as a piece of life – not as a man, woman or whatever else. It will take a little work, but just do it.

Start from tonight, because who knows if you will wake up or not. Over 150,000 people’s lives end every day. What is the guarantee it is not going to be you or me tonight? We do not wish it upon ourselves, but it is possible. Do not think death is something that happens only to other people. You and I will die. Every day, approach your sleep like death. In sleep, you are gone. The world is dead in your experience. Tomorrow morning is your next life.

So, approach sleep like death, without creating some stupid paranoia. Just keep everything aside – your body means nothing; your mind means nothing; your thoughts mean nothing; your emotions mean nothing. All the different identities that you have taken on mean nothing. Keep all of them aside and go to bed, simply, like nothing. Some thoughts will come – just ignore them. Anyway they are not yours.

You do not have to orientate yourself heavenward. If you look up, you are looking in the wrong direction. All that needs to happen is that you shift your attention from what you have accumulated to what is really you. That is all the orientation you need.

Editor’s Note: “Mystic’s Musings” includes more of Sadhguru’s wisdom on life, death and the human mechanism. Read the free sample or purchase the ebook.

A version of this article was originally published in the January 2016 Isha Forest Flower. Download as PDF on a “name your price, no minimum” basis or subscribe to the print version.

That which is always pleasant if we find that then only we can also be pleasant irrespective of what is happening around us.

As we are that but we feel we are the part of situations around. If we continue feeling like that then other situations will also impact us in some way or the other. When the impacts are manageable we anyway try to manage, otherwise we have to try to rise beyond the situations. To find out where we truly belong. Not in the midst of situations but above that.

In fact situations are manifestations of that what we truly are. Mind identifies with a little among them and that manifests a identity by itself. Through the whole process the thread remains as strong as it could be of the core. Hence, laying the path open for us always to come back home.

Even sitting at the home all the imaginations happen. But, we get so lost in the imagination that we can't notice that we are already at home as always.

Super Fun Rapid-Fire – Karan Johar With Sadhguru

Ready for a blend of wit and wisdom? Sadhguru’s quick responses to Karan Johar’s rapid-fire questions will leave you both chuckling and contemplating.

Sadhguru has said many times before how we need a global anthem that pays respect to all life on Earth. I've experienced personally how limited my own identity has been crafted growing up without tending to it at all, clinging onto Indian and American nationalism, the scientific community, and the city I live in...all of this had been done unconsciously without much care and attention.

Recently, I've taken the steps to go out of my way and learn about other countries, their economies, their successes, their history to build a connection with them. I feel a lot more balance in my mind. I've been reading about Angkor Wat, a structure in the Khmer Empire in present day Cambodia, Georgia, the people that went to India and mixed with the Dravidian population, Uganda, which holds 10% of the world's species of birds and where Sadhguru started a school.

I feel that since I've been responding to other nations and people that I'm becoming a citizen of the world, instead of trapped in the borders of my country. I feel a lot of pride in those in other continents and want to keep continuing this exercise. Sadhguru says our eduction system is totally ignorant of this exercise, especially Western societies, which rely heavily on morality and goodness, which is a very superficial way to use the intellect.

Anyone who's crafting their identity, I'd be happy to hear your experience in the comments!

Sadhguru often speaks about moving from belief to seeking. But how do you apply this when your parents are deeply conditioned by superstitions and traditions and aren't open to questioning them? How can you encourage them to think?

Q: In many cases you have said to your disciples, "I can only show you the path. I cannot liberate you." Does that mean you will not dissolve their karma?

Sadhguru: I am not talking about death when I talk to you about these things. I am talking about your present life so that you can live this life fruitfully. Do not wait for me to pull the plug, living a stupid life until then. I am teaching you practices and asking you to take your life into your hands so that you live gracefully and sensibly. Take care of your own life, work towards realization so that you live an elevated life here.

Those who have given themselves totally to me, even for a single moment, they do not have to worry about their liberation. Liberation is assured. To live gracefully or not, that is not assured. That is something that you have to earn. There is no other way.

Questioner: Namaskaram Sadhguru, Could you tell us about the path of Bhairagini Maa and what "Bhairagini" means? And how is it different from Brahmacharya?

Sadhguru: Raga means color. In a way, "Bhairagini" means one who has become the color of the Devi. Brahmacharya is to become vairagya - that means "colorless." In the English language, the word "colorless" has a negative connotation, but it also means "that which is transparent." So, a Brahmachari is looking at how to get into a state of vairagya, to make life transparent, where clarity is the ultimate goal - clarity which will see through life and death. A Bhairagini is like the moon; the moon is not shining by itself, but in reflection of the sun. The sun is powering the moon, but still, most people enjoy the moon than the sun. They will look up at the moon; it is more approachable, it has more variety and looks different every day. It has twenty- eight versions. The sun is the same every day - day in and day out.

These are two different paths. Until now, we have not focused on the path of Bhairagini much, we just have about half a dozen who are in the temple, but more could go into this as a path - not just to maintain and conduct the temple processes. It is just that Isha has a brand and image problem; we do not want too many people wearing red and walking around. It is not about what people will think about us, but for the effectiveness of what we are doing, image is important. In many ways though, we have crossed the time where we have to be worried about our image in the world. In the coming one or two years, more people could go on this path. It is a beautiful path if you give yourself totally. If you try to analyze it logically, you will go mad, but if you give yourself, you will be in an ecstatic and beautiful state.

So, for those of you who are proud that you have a big heart and no brain, it is a very good path to walk. Or, if your brain is subtle enough to go beyond the rudimentary logic of what is black and white, right and wrong, if your intelligence can slip beyond this and look at life, then it is a beautiful path. It takes a certain subtlety of intelligence to be able to look beyond logic in a logical way, otherwise logic will tell you this okay, this is not okay, this is in, this is out. Devi is both "in-out" and if you give yourself as a Bhairagini or otherwise - it is a different mode of energy completely. Dhyanalinga is not like that; he is the same every day - reliable. But she is going on in her own way. I live in her backyard, so I know.

The path of a Bhairagini means to take the color of the Devi, not just in clothes, but in every way. Your blood is anyway red, your head should also become red, everything should become red within you. You don't retain anything of yourself. But should I lose myself? If you want to find something worthwhile in your life, you have to lose yourself; there is no other way. If you are trying to preserve the petty personality of who you are, then all the best. Right until the last days, the same issues will go on endlessly, believe me. I want you to look back and see - you may be in different atmospheres, but the struggle is the same, the problems are the same within the mindscape. The atmosphere might have changed, the content might have changed, but the fundamental has not changed and believe me, many people die like this.

Just to satisfy the urge of food and the urge to reproduce - an entire life will go. You can glorify it and romanticize it, but please understand, that is how it will go. I will not go on repeating this to you, I have said this enough times. For those of you who have a working brain, invest in something. I am saying that from my experience of life, the way I searched and struggled to know, this is coming too bloody easy for you. Yes! So, if you want to become a Bhairagini, it is a wonderful way to be. As everything else in Isha, I have not paid enough attention to them yet. I plan to shut down travel and these things will happen. Then you will start to wonder...when will Sadhguru travel again?