Prepare Yourself for Guru Purnima

குரு பௌர்ணமிக்கு உங்களை தயார்செய்து கொள்ளுங்கள்
గురు పూర్ణిమకు సంసిద్ధులు కండి……!!

This year (in 2016), the summer solstice on 21^st of June happened to be a full moon day. The following full moon day on 19th of July is the day Adiyogi started the first yoga program, about 15,000 years ago. Adiyogi means “first yogi.” He never bothered to introduce himself, nor did people know his name, so they called him Adiyogi. He did everything possible to ignore his first seven disciples. Today, in India, these seven disciples are celebrated as the Saptarishis, the seven sages who are held as the basis of all spiritual knowing – it was they who transmitted it. They did everything possible to get his attention – he did everything possible to ignore them. He wanted to enjoy the ecstasy of yoga that he experienced. He did not want to teach. He did not want to be bothered with anyone, but these guys hung around for years. The lore says they were there for nearly 84 years. We don’t know, but definitely they hung around for a very long time.

On the day of the solstice, 21^st of June, Adiyogi was making certain arrangements within himself. The relationship between the Earth and the Sun goes through a certain change during solstice and equinox. When these changes happen, every yogi makes certain changes within himself or herself. So when he was making those changes, he looked and saw these seven people sitting right there. They had become so very receptive; they were waiting for him to transmit what he knew. When he looked at them, he could not take his eyes off them. They had become such shining receptacles that he could not ignore them anymore. He paid attention and observed them for the next 28 days.

We are in that 28-day phase right now – I am looking at you. And on the next full moon day, which is known as the Guru Purnima, the birth of the first Guru – it happens to be on 19^th of July this time – he could not help but start teaching and transmitting what he knew. He explored the dimensions of the body, the energy system, the one hundred and twelve chakras with which you can work, the five pranas with which you can transform your system, and the sixteen dimensions of the mind. It took a long time to expound all this. When he found none of the seven sages had the intellectual breadth to grasp all the one hundred and twelve ways, he divided them into seven parts of sixteen each. He gave sixteen ways to each one of them, so that they at least carry that part of the knowledge.

The transmission started from the next full moon day, but now is the time he paid attention to his seven disciples. This year is very significant because once again, solstice and full moon fall on the same day. This is a rare happening. In the lore, it says he watched them for twenty-eight days, which means the solstice was on a full moon day. 2016, it happens to be like that as well. We are all fortunate to be here together, this year. Your education systems, your cultural backgrounds, do not teach you anything about turning inward. They are all teaching you about doing something outside – it is all about fixing the world. We have fixed it so much that if we fix it any more, there will be no world left. All this fixing of the world, we did in pursuit of human wellbeing. Fixing is happening, but wellbeing has not happened, because wellbeing will not happen unless you turn inward.

When I say turning inward – everything that you perceive is through your five senses. Right now, your entire experience of life is happening because of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching. In the very nature of things, sense organs are outward bound. You can see what is around you – you cannot roll your eyeballs inward and scan yourself. If an ant walks on your hand, you can feel it. So much blood flows within you – you cannot feel it. The five senses opened up only when you came out of your mother’s womb, because this is essential for your survival. If you want something more than survival, which is the nature of the human being, you have to strive to turn inward. How far is it? Should you go to a Himalayan cave to do this? Let me tell you, all Himalayan caves are taken – there is no accommodation left there. You better learn to do it in Berlin.

I hear that you are very proud of breaking the concrete wall, and I am very happy for you for having done that. But it is time to break the walls between the internal and the external. For a long time, if you uttered the word “Berlin,” people thought of the wall. Now Berlin means people who broke the wall. That is a good thing, but what about the walls between the internal and the external? To turn inward, you need a little striving. That little striving is missing in societies. If only you knew how the seat of your experience functions and you took charge of it, you would definitely generate the experience that you want.

You said you want the highest level of pleasantness, not unpleasantness, for yourself. This is true with every human being. We have never focused on this in the world. If we create joyful and sensible human beings, we will have a great world. Now turning inward is not a faraway thing. It is not difficult – it is just that it is in a different direction than the way you have been trained. You have always been trained on how to fix the outside. You may fix everything in the universe, but unless you fix yourself, you will not know the beauty of this life.

I repeat myself, “In is the only way out.” In this time before the Guru Purnima, make yourself into a shining receptacle. Keep yourself in such a way that your faculties of body, mind, and emotions do not become an impediment.

I am in you.

Let’s make it happen.

Editor’s Note: Celebrate Guru Purnima With Sadhguru, in the Presence of Adiyogi. Join in person at the Isha Yoga Center or watch the free live webstream.

Celebrate Guru Purnima with Sadhguru