Is the Universe Random or is it Designed?

During an appearance on Off The Cuff with Shekhar Gupta, an audience member asks Sadhguru whether the universe is random or designed, and whether we are players or being played?

Q: Sadhguru, I am an actor and a writer. I would like to understand if the universe is random and chaos, or is there a design? And are we players, or are we being played and watched?

Sadhguru: Let me simplify the question: “Do I have a say in the way I live my life, or is it all controlled from elsewhere? Am I being kicked around, or can I also kick the ball?” This is the only culture on the planet that has always told you your life is your karma. This means your life is your making. This is the most dynamic way to exist. But unfortunately, we turned this dynamic approach to life into a fatalistic way of looking at it – “Ayyo, karma” – as if it was happening to you from somewhere else.

Karma means action – your action. As you sit here, you are taking a variety of actions. Physical, mental, emotional, and energy action is happening twenty-four hours a day. Whether you are aware, awake, or asleep – you are performing four dimensions of karma.

From the time you woke up in the morning to this moment, you have performed physical karma, mental karma, emotional karma, and energy karma. How much of your action do you think is conscious? For most people, it is well below one percent! Ninety-nine percent and more is unconscious action. When you are performing ninety-nine percent unconscious action, it obviously looks to you like someone is doing something to you.

This is what it means when we talk about consciousness – to become more conscious. Instead of your conscious action being less than one percent, let us say you become conscious of two or five percent. Suddenly you will feel empowered, and people around you will think you are a super human being, simply because you become more conscious of what is coming out of you and what is coming towards you. Then you will see: this is your making. When we say “your karma,” we are telling you, “Your life is your making.”

Editor’s Note: The “Power to Create” meditations for Peace, Love, Health, and Success (also known as “Chit Shakti”) enable each one of us to become our own alchemist, by empowering us to transform long cherished desires into reality. Try them out!

A version of this article was originally published in Forest Flower, August 2017.