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Joe Rogan Experience #1791 - Sadhguru

Sadhguru is a yogi, mystic and visionary. Named one of India’s 50 most influential people, and recipient of 3 presidential awards, Sadhguru has touched the lives of millions worldwide through his transformational programs.  An internationally renowned speaker and author of the New York Times bestsellers "Inner Engineering" and "Karma," Sadhguru has been an influential voice at major global forums like the United Nations and the World Economic Forum, addressing issues as diverse as socioeconomic development, leadership and spirituality. He established Isha Foundation, a non-profit, volunteer-run organization supported by over 16 million volunteers worldwide, and has initiated several projects for social revitalization, education and the environment.

Joe RoganhostSadhguruguest
Jun 27, 20242h 50mWatch on YouTube ↗

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  1. 0:0015:00

    (drumming music) Joe Rogan podcast,…

    1. NA

      (drumming music) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience.

    2. JR

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night. All day. (rock music) Pleasure to meet you.

    3. SA

      How close should this shoot be? Right here?

    4. JR

      Right there. That's good. Yeah, like, like a fist from your face-

    5. SA

      Mm-hmm.

    6. JR

      ... is what I usually tell people. Well, I'm enjoying your book.

    7. SA

      What, which one are you reading?

    8. JR

      I'm in the middle of, uh...

    9. SA

      Which one?

    10. JR

      Inner Engineering.

    11. SA

      Oh, okay. (laughs)

    12. JR

      Why is that funny? Is that a funny one?

    13. SA

      Uh, no. That was the... I mean, after that, three books have come, so I was-

    14. JR

      Oh.

    15. SA

      ... thinking you must have gotten a more recent one.

    16. JR

      Well, I found some of your stuff online, and I started, uh, watching some of your videos online, and they're very interesting and very, uh, educational. And then I said, "All right, let me find out what this guy's all about." And so-

    17. SA

      (laughs)

    18. JR

      ... I got into that book.

    19. SA

      That's good.

    20. JR

      How did you find out about me? Because your people reached out to, to be on here.

    21. SA

      Well, uh, right now, uh, we are on this, uh, soil mission. I brought you a little bit of gift. It's an Indian mint.

    22. JR

      Oh. Indian mint?

    23. SA

      Uh, this, uh, leaf, on empty stomach, if you just chew two leaves, they're not very pleasant to eat, and then drink some maybe tepid water-

    24. JR

      Okay.

    25. SA

      ... it is a, a great blood purifier.

    26. JR

      Blood purifier?

    27. SA

      Yes.

    28. JR

      Oh. How's it purify your blood? How's that work?

    29. SA

      Um, it has the necessary juices in it to do that.

    30. JR

      The necessary juices. Save Soil.

  2. 15:0030:00

    I love a joke.…

    1. SA

      If I can tell you a joke, you getting very serious about this soil business.

    2. JR

      I love a joke.

    3. SA

      (laughs) This happened in 2060. A few scientists, uh, from the planet got an appointment with God. They wanted to meet him. They went there and said, "Hey, old man, you've done pretty well with creation. But today, everything that you can do, we can also do. It's time you retire." God said, "Oh, is that so? What is it that you can do?" So, they dug up little bit of soil and made a vague picture of a, a human child and did so many things. And within a few minutes, the child set up a life. God said, "Oh, that's really impressive, but first get your own soil."

    4. JR

      (laughs)

    5. SA

      Everything, whether it's a worm or an insect or a plant or a bird or an animal or human beings, we've all come from soil. There is nothing else here on this planet which is not the s- the source is not soil. Everything, the source is soil.

    6. JR

      So, say, if you have something that's a large mono crop like corn, it's a big one in America, and you wanted to transfor- transform the way they're growing corn and make it so that it's sustainable and that you have some sort of regener- regenerative agriculture situation, how would you do that?

    7. SA

      See, if you want to grow mono crops, I, I wouldn't advise that. I w- that's not the best way to do it. But for commercial reasons, you want to do mono cropping. All right?

    8. JR

      Right.

    9. SA

      You're a corn farmer, you don't want to grow anything else. If that is so, you must put back substantial amount of organic content. Because even if you take a corn plant, which grows almost six to seven feet tall, and you're only u- eating the corn, you don't have animals on the farm largely. If you just... The plant part of it, if you just chop it into pieces and put it back in the soil, the soil will be very happy.

    10. JR

      Hmm.

    11. SA

      You got your corn anyway.

    12. JR

      Right.

    13. SA

      And soil will be very rich.

    14. JR

      What do they do with it now?

    15. SA

      Right now, they bale it up and sell it to somebody. Some people in some countries, they just burn it. They use it as fuel for, uh, you know, household purposes or they use it in so many other ways, but, uh, it is not going back into the soil.

    16. JR

      And they just use commercial fertilizer for-

    17. SA

      Yes, that will last-

    18. JR

      ... to grow the crops.

    19. SA

      See, that will last for first, uh, 10, 20 years maximum. After that, it'll start diminishing because you can't just grow with salts, you need organic content. Because the way the soil mechanics happen is, it's a very complex and sophisticated marketplace. The plants have to capture the carbon from the atmosphere and make it into carbon sugars, and that is the currency with which it can exchange for nutrients with organisms. They won't give it free. So, even in our own stomach, you... today, you know that without the gut microbiome, you cannot really digest the food that you eat without their cooperation. Though, what is happening in the soil is probably a thousand, ten thousand, or a million times more complex operation. Who we are right now as a life, we are just a consequence of what's happening in the soil. Even in the evolutionary process, that's how it's happened, that today, what we are right now, over 60% of our body is actually microorganisms. Only 40% is our parental genetics. Res- rest is all microorganisms. So, what we are now is a reflection of what's in the soil.The moment you weaken the soil, life on the planet will start becoming weak. People don't notice this. Uh, I know this is a controversial thing to say, but I think you're known for controversy, so what's my problem? (laughs) So, I'm saying, see for example, there are certain countries which are suffering this whole, uh, coronavirus much more than the other. I don't want to make a absolute statement about this, but one thing is something we must look at is, any doctor, you don't need a top virologist, a simple doctor will tell you if you lack vitamin A, vitamin B6, B12, DE and, uh, you know, foliate and iron and zinc and magnesium in your system, you will become susceptible to upper respiratory tract infections. This is a known fact.

    20. JR

      Yes.

    21. SA

      So, what is the deficiency in America? Vitamin E, most Americans are 90% deficient.

    22. JR

      D.

    23. SA

      Yes.

    24. JR

      Yes.

    25. SA

      Vitamin A, 43% deficient. Vitamin C, 39% deficient. Like this, you can go on.

    26. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    27. SA

      With all these deficiencies, we are trying to make it up with pills. I see, I was in, uh, Los Angeles, uh, last month and there's a building sized hoarding which says, uh, "My favorite pharmacy." Said, "When did this happen?" When the next thing is you'll say, "My favorite hospital."

    28. JR

      (laughs)

    29. SA

      Next thing you'll say, "My favorite cemetery." (laughs)

    30. JR

      Yeah.

  3. 30:0045:00

    Oh. See, by definition,…

    1. JR

      up the data to hide the fact that it's gonna be detrimental because you want to maximize your profit, and you don't care about the negative impact it has on people 'cause you're only thinking about money, and you're already substantially wealthy. That, by definition, is being greedy, right?

    2. SA

      Oh. See, by definition, it's like this. Somebody is dreaming of a million dollars. He thinks that is the ultimate goal in his life.... but a guy who has a million is wanting to be a billionaire.

    3. JR

      Right.

    4. SA

      One who is a billionaire, he looks at somebody who has hundred billion dollars, he thinks at least that much he must have.

    5. JR

      Right.

    6. SA

      So, I'm saying instead of being judgmental about this, human wellbeing is sought from outside, that is the whole problem. See, human experience essentially happens from within. Whether it's your joy or misery, comes from within you, isn't it? Maybe somebody or something can stimulate it from outside, but still it happens within you. Joy and misery happens from within you, pain and pleasure happens from within you, agony and ecstasy happens from within you. Every human experience happens from within you. But in pursuit of happiness, we're turning the world upside down. Because this is the case of a, you know, there was an old potato farmer. One day he wanted to eat apples, so he went to an apple tree. But by habit, he started digging for the apples, till the tree came down on him, because he's a potato farmer. So right now, (laughs) human beings have become like this. They have gotten used to this, that they think by getting this, by getting that, by having one more thing and one more thing, they're going to be happy.

    7. JR

      Yes.

    8. SA

      But human experience happens from within. If you take charge of your interiority, being peaceful and happy is a natural consequence of that. But for convenience and comfort, we do things outside. To create impact, we do things outside. So, this experience of if human beings were naturally joyful by their own nature, they would only do what is needed, nothing more, nothing less. But right now, they're in pursuit of happiness. You can't stop them.

    9. JR

      Yeah, they are in pursuit of happiness, but they're also, again, in pursuit of profit, because it's a number-based system, so it becomes like a game, and you get connected to corporations. When you're in a corporation, there's a diffusion of responsibility, because you don't think about your own involvement and what the corporation is doing, you think about your role, what you do as a job, and then you try to maximize profit. And it's a game that people get wrapped up in.

    10. SA

      Yeah, but that is, uh-

    11. JR

      Doesn't make them happy. You're absolutely correct.

    12. SA

      No, no, it's in pursuit of happiness, but.

    13. JR

      Well, it's in pursuit of success.

    14. SA

      See, uh, most human beings cannot be happy if they're not successful, isn't it?

    15. JR

      Mm, there's a lot of that, yes.

    16. SA

      No, it is-

    17. JR

      And then they get medicated to help them get happy.

    18. SA

      (laughs)

    19. JR

      That's a lot of people. I mean, what percentage of people are not following by the principles that you're espousing, which would, are very natural and very healthy, and they instead follow this corporate structure, the corporate guidelines, they- they follow that path, and they're not happy. So, what do they do? They medicate themselves.

    20. SA

      No, today, uh, we have come to this place where, uh, if you want to be peaceful, you need a chemical.

    21. JR

      Yeah.

    22. SA

      You want to be joyful, you need a chemical. You want to be healthful, you need a chemical. Well, you want to be ecstatic, of course there is a chemical.

    23. JR

      Right.

    24. SA

      So, what is the consequence of this? Why this is happening? One thing is in this generation, one thing that's happened in people's minds is, the heaven has collapsed in people's minds.

    25. JR

      The heaven?

    26. SA

      Yes.

    27. JR

      How so?

    28. SA

      See, uh, I've been talking to people. 50 years ago if I spoke to people, and, uh, I asked, "How many of you want to go to heaven?" almost 80% would raise their hands. Today, you go to your university and ask them, "How many of you want to go to heaven?" they'll say, "Hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee." They think it's a ridiculous question, all right? Nobody will raise their hand. So, in their minds, heaven has collapsed, there's no place to go. So, they want to do it everything here, all right?

    29. JR

      Mm, I see.

    30. SA

      So, they have not found how to be j- joyful and ecstatic within themselves. So, chemical usage, initially it became alcohol, then it became chemicals, it's getting stronger and stronger. And, uh, you know, so many people dying of those things every, every day, and illnesses, and it's costing a nation and the world a lot. It's not just in one country. It's, it's going across the world. Law enforcement agencies may be controlling it a little bit, but they can never control it totally, because the consumption is mass-based. It is, uh, more people maybe (laughs) consuming these things than people eating bread. It's becoming like that.

  4. 45:001:00:00

    Right. …

    1. SA

      toolkit, this machine, which is the most complex machine is going crazy.

    2. JR

      Right.

    3. SA

      Right now, you're r- reading Inner Engineering. It's a toolkit.

    4. JR

      Yes.

    5. SA

      You just use the tools. Don't worry about the philosophy, don't worry about belief system, don't worry about your concept, somebody's concepts, your beliefs, somebody's beliefs. Just use the necessary tools. Being peaceful, joyful, loving is a natural outcome of that.

    6. JR

      Okay. Well, what are those tools? Like l- like the scenario that I laid out, you have a person who's 30 years old, they- they have-

    7. SA

      Yes.

    8. JR

      ... a history of trauma in their life. They're very unhappy, very depressed, maybe they're alcoholics.

    9. SA

      See (laughs) -

    10. JR

      They're trying to get their life in order.

    11. SA

      See, today... Today, I want you to understand this, the Isha Foundation and this Inner Engineering process that we're doing around the world... In 2021, I think... 2020 or 2021 (laughs) , I think it's 2021, our video views are 2.2 billion.

    12. JR

      2.2 billion video views?

    13. SA

      Yes. Yes.

    14. JR

      That's a lot.

    15. SA

      Yes. Why? Because it's worked, and-

    16. JR

      Because-

    17. SA

      ... we, we have over-

    18. JR

      ... because of what?

    19. SA

      It has worked, I'm saying, for people.

    20. JR

      It's worked?

    21. SA

      Yeah. We have over 16 million volunteers working with the foundation. Why are they doing this? Because the only reason is, it has worked. What is it that's worked? I did not teach them a morality. I did not teach them a philosophy. I did not promise them miracles. I did not pull, uh, gold chains out of thin air and give it to them. No nothing, simply tools to fix themselves.

    22. JR

      Well, also-

    23. SA

      Just how to sit, how to breathe, how to manage yourself. This is all.

    24. JR

      Yes.

    25. SA

      If you-

    26. JR

      But you're entertaining, you know? That's also one of the reasons why-

    27. SA

      (laughs)

    28. JR

      ... you have that many views. How many views do we have? If you would guess. Put your- pull your mic down so we can hear you.

    29. SA

      On YouTube, I guess.

    30. JR

      Yeah, let's just go with YouTube.

  5. 1:00:001:15:00

    Yes. …

    1. SA

      experience is not there. If... Can I tell you my... how this happened to me?

    2. JR

      Yes.

    3. SA

      So, when I was, uh, four or five y- years of age, I suddenly realized I don't know anything. I don't know anything means I don't know anything at all. If, uh, I look at a glass of water, I don't know what this is. I know I can drink it, I know in how many ways I can use it, but I don't know what it is. Even today, with so much scientific exploration, we still do not know one atom in its entirety. We know how to use it, we know how to break it, we know how to fuse it, we know how to make a bomb out of it, but we don't know what it is.Even today, we don't know what it is.

    4. NA

      Mm-hmm.

    5. SA

      So if I found a leaf, I'm just staring at it for five, six hours at a stretch. If I sit up in the bed, I'm just staring at the darkness for the whole night. My dear father, being a physician, started thinking I need some psychiatric evaluation. He started saying, "This boy is staring at something all the time."

    6. NA

      (laughs)

    7. SA

      "It looks like he's lost it." (laughs)

    8. NA

      Hmm.

    9. SA

      My problem is, I'm looking at this, I still don't know what this is, I'm not able to shift my attention to anything else. In this condition, they sent me to school. My mother said, "Don't look here and there, pay attention to the teacher." So I went and paid attention to the teacher, the kind of attention (laughs) they would have never received in their entire life. I'm paying absolute attention to the teacher. Initially, I kind of understood what they were trying to say, but after some time I realized that they're just making noises, I'm making up the meanings in my mind.

    10. NA

      Hmm.

    11. SA

      Even now it is so, isn't it? Language is a conspiracy between two people. The moment I talk another language, you, I'm just making sounds as far as you're concerned. So when I just heard they're just making sounds, I'm the one who's making up the meanings, I stopped making meanings. Hour after hour, teacher after teacher, they come and make noises and noises and noises and go. It became so amusing to me, a big smile spread on my face. They were not amused at all. (laughs)

    12. NA

      (laughs)

    13. SA

      So...

    14. NA

      You were five when this was happening?

    15. SA

      Yeah. I, uh, they sent me to school when I was three and a half.

    16. NA

      Did this, uh, accelerate over time? Did it start off slowly and, and become...

    17. SA

      Yes. Uh, the qu- the thing is, I don't know one thing from the other. I look at the sky, tremendous things. I look at a tree, I see every leaf and it drives me crazy. I can't figure out where this is coming from, what's happening. Endless amount of things. If I look at a pebble, I'll keep on looking at it for hours because I don't know what it is.

    18. NA

      Hmm.

    19. SA

      Because there is so much to it. If you take an atom, you can spend a lifetime looking at it, still not knowing what it is.

    20. NA

      Yeah.

    21. SA

      That's the nature of the creation, all right? It's that complex. So my schooling went on like this and, uh, (laughs) I slowly started going there only when it was absolutely necessary. Otherwise, I had my own excursions going. So about, uh, 11, 12 years ago, this school where I studied over 50 years ago, they come to me and say, "Sadhguru, you must come. It is our 125th anniversary of the school. You must come and speak." I said, "See, why me?" Because I was not just a not good student, I was not even a student. I was barely there. "Why, why are you asking me to come? I'm not a good example for any of your students." They said, "No, our school has produced ministers, our school has produced cricketing stars, sports stars, film stars. You are the only mystic, so you must come." (laughs) So I went. I went and stood up to speak in the same quadrangle, the impressive buildings around me, and I looked at this classroom and I suddenly remembered, and I narrated this to them. See, I was around 12 years of age and, uh, one teacher came and those days, because I don't know anything, what's there to talk?

    22. NA

      Mm-hmm.

    23. SA

      For days on end, I don't utter a word. I just go to the sports f- field. I play intensely any game that is there, uh, and classroom, home, I don't say a thing because I don't know anything. (laughs) So what is there to say? So this teacher is asking me some question. I'm looking at him. I know his past, present and future sitting there, but I don't know what he's talking about. Initially, I hear the words. After some time, I'm just seeing him like a blob of energy, like that. And I know that guy through and through, but I don't know what he's talking. About 35, 40 minutes he tried to get an answer from me. I didn't say nothing. So he came, held me by the shoulder, shook me violently like this and said, "You must be either the divine or the devil. I think you are the later." See, till then my problem was I didn't know what is this, what is that, what is that, what is that, but it was clear this is me. Suddenly this guy confused me about this also. I looked at myself, "What is this? Is this divine, devil? What the hell is this?" This question had never come to me till I was 12. (laughs) I had a question about everything in the universe, but this was clear, this was me. Suddenly this guy confused me about this also. Then I tried to stare at myself, it didn't work. I started closing my eyes, and initially it started with minutes, it went into hours, it went into days. Sometimes I just closed my eyes and sat for days on end. This changed the whole experience of my life. When I was 25, I just burst into an experience where suddenly every cell in my body was dripping ecstasy like that.

    24. NA

      Suddenly?

    25. SA

      Yeah. I was sitting on a rock and, uh, just I burst out like this. For the first time in my life, adult life, tears were coming. Tears and me were impossible. I lived like that. So, uh, I was just wondering what's happening when I, I thought it's 10, 15 minutes. When I came out, it was four and a half hours. My shirt was wet with tears. Thought, "What's happening to me? Am I going off the rocker or something?" That's the only thing my skeptical mind could tell me because I was a super skeptic about everything in the universe. (laughs) I had a question about everything, about the family structure, about the soc- society, about religion, about politics, about economics, about everything.

    26. NA

      So what do you think was happening?

    27. SA

      I'll tell you. Then I talked to my closest friends, "Hey, something is happening to me. I'm just blissed out. You know, if I just talk to them, tears are coming to me." They said, "What's happening to you, man? What did you drink? What did you pop?" This is a question.

    28. NA

      Mm-hmm.

    29. SA

      Then I knew there was no context to my experience. So I spent... started spending more and more time by myself, and I realized...If I just take my hands off my mind completely, then I see that every cell in my body just bursts out with blissfulness. Then I establish this properly within myself how to do that, then I sat down and made a plan. At that time, the world's population was 5.6 billion people. I made a plan. In two and a half years time, I will ho- make the whole world ecstatic. Here I am 40 years later. (laughs) It took me time to realize people are so deeply invested in their miseries that even if you offer them the best thing, they will go round and round and round around that, not getting the point, because they're too deeply invested in something. They don't realize as you sit here and through your misery or joy, life is slipping away. Every heartbeat is life going away, isn't it?

    30. JR

      Yeah.

  6. 1:15:001:23:09

    Sure. …

    1. SA

      is so small, but otherwise it's not perpetual. At time... one time it was not there, at some time in future it w- it will not be there again. That's a different matter. But right now, it has hit a certain geometric perfection that it keeps going as if it's forever. So, yoga, one aspect of yoga is this: to get your body to a geometrically congruent state with the rest of the creation. If you're geometrically congruent, suddenly your experience is not that of an individual, but that of being universal. So, to put it very, very simply, it's like this. See, uh, we can do an experiment. Can we?

    2. NA

      Sure.

    3. SA

      Just, uh, put your hands together. With your eyes closed, what you do is, you rub your hands very briskly for 30 seconds (rubbing hands) . Now hold it three, four inches away from each other. Something happening between them, huh?

    4. NA

      Is it?

    5. SA

      Don't you feel something?

    6. NA

      I feel the heat of each hand.

    7. SA

      Not the heat.

    8. NA

      It's warm from friction.

    9. SA

      No. Isn't there a sensation between them?

    10. NA

      Yeah.

    11. SA

      Yeah.

    12. NA

      Don't you think there's a heat from rubbing your hands together?

    13. SA

      So right now, see right now, what is the difference between you and the chair on which you're sitting? It's only the sensations which tells you. How do you know this is me, this is not me?

    14. NA

      Right.

    15. SA

      Here there are sensations, here no sensations.

    16. NA

      Right.

    17. SA

      So essentially, what you call as myself is a certain boundary of sensations. It's a sensory boundary which determines what is you and what is not you, isn't it?

    18. NA

      Yes.

    19. SA

      This water, is it you?

    20. NA

      It'll become me when I drink it.

    21. SA

      If you put it into the boundaries of your sensation, it becomes you.

    22. NA

      Yes.

    23. SA

      And that's how this whole thing has come, right? When you were born, you were this much.

    24. NA

      Right.

    25. SA

      Now you've become this much. It's the food that you've eaten, water that you took and everything into the boundaries of your sensation, now you experience it as myself, 100%.

    26. NA

      Right.

    27. SA

      So if you lose ten kilograms, would you think that ten kilograms of me is gone? No, isn't it?

    28. NA

      Well, you would if you look in the mirror.

    29. SA

      No, no. In your experience?

    30. NA

      Your experience is exactly the same.

Episode duration: 2:50:21

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