Sadhguru explains that self-realization is a process of knowing the mechanism that you call “myself”, in its entirety. He looks at how once the body, mind and energies happen as per your instruction, bliss and ecstasy are within reach.

Full Transcript:

Vinita Bali: So Sadhguru, you’ve talked about well-being, I’ve… You know, one of the things that you say is, it’s all about how the body, mind, emotions and most importantly, energy come together and I think you’ve said it very eloquently, which says you know, when the body is feeling pleasant, we call it health, if it is feeling very pleasant, we call it pleasure and so on and you go on to say…

Sadhguru: You can… You can go all the way.

Vinita Bali: Sorry?

Sadhguru: You can go all the way.

Vinita Bali: I can go all the way (Sadhguru Laughs)? So, when the mind is feeling pleasant, we call it joy, when it is feeling very pleasant, we call it peace. When the, you know, when the emotion is feeling pleasant, we call it love, when it is feeling very pass… pleasant, we call it compassion. When the energy is feeling pleasant, we call it bliss and when it is very pleasant, we call it ecstasy.

Sadhguru: You’re a very good student (Applause)!

Vinita Bali: So… So, here is the question. Can you just elaborate on what you really mean? What is the difference between bliss and ecstasy? You know for… for people who are not mystics, what does…

Sadhguru: Oh (Laughter)?

Vinita Bali: … what does it look like?

Sadhguru: I think I need to clarify this accusation of being a mystic (Laughter). On a certain day, two cows were grazing on the English meadow, English cows.

Vinita Bali: Got it (Laughter). The Thomas Hardy kind.

Sadhguru: One cow said to the other, “What is your opinion about the mad cow disease?” The other one said, “I don’t care a hoot, I’m anyway a helicopter” (Laughter). So, what a mystic means is that there is no mistake about his perception as to who he is (Laughter).

Vinita Bali: Okay (Laughs).

Sadhguru: So, there are only two kinds of people – mystics and mistakes (Laughter).

Vinita Bali: That’s an easy one to remember.

Sadhguru: So, a mystic did not fall from somewhere else, strived to pay attention to simple aspects of life, very simple things. Very simple things means extremely simple things. Just… Right now, how do you know that you are here? What is the basis, I’m asking?

Vinita Bali: I am talking with you.

Time 68:45

Sadhguru: Even when you’re not speaking, you still know that you are here, right?

Vinita Bali: Yeah.

Sadhguru: So, how do you know?

Vinita Bali: I’m perceiving…

Sadhguru: What?

Vinita Bali: …that I am in this place, there is an audience here, we are in conversation…

Sadhguru: No, even if you close your eyes, you are still here, right?

Vinita Bali: …I have a mindfulness, I’m attentive to the fact that I’m in conversation, I’m conscious…

Sadhguru: You are conscious?

Vinita Bali: I’m conscious.

Sadhguru: The reason that you know that you are here is because you’re conscious. How do you know that you have a body?

Vinita Bali: Because I can move my hand (Laughter).

Sadhguru: So many things can move.

Vinita Bali: But I am causing my hand to move.

Sadhguru: Fine, even if you don’t move, you know it’s there, right? How do you know? Because there is sensation in the body, right?

Vinita Bali: Yeah, yeah.

Sadhguru: If no sensation in your body, you wouldn’t know whether it’s here or not. No consciousness, you wouldn’t know whether you are here or not.

Vinita Bali: Right.

Sadhguru: Yes?

Vinita Bali: Yeah.

Sadhguru: So, these are s… taken for granted things. If you pay little attention to these things, you will see there’s a whole world out there, there’s a whole existence by itself. Just your sensation, if you pay enough attention, you know the nature of your physical existence. If you pay attention to what you’re calling as my consciousness, you know the nature of your b… your basic existence. Once you know the nature of your existence, that is when you can use this (Referring to oneself) gadget well. I’m calling this (Referring to oneself) a gadget because human mechanism is the most sophisticated mechanism on the planet. We are on top of the evolutionary heap, not for nothing. It’s taken millions of years to manufacture you. Yes?

Vinita Bali: Yeah.

Time 70:32

Sadhguru: Not… Not a simple process. An enormous process has happened to get you to this level of neurological sensitivity, sensations, awareness, everything. So, these are the keys of your existence but everybody is reading a book or l… they’re looking into… they’re looking at the cosmos through their iPhone. Nobody is paying attention (Laughs) to this (Referring to oneself) because this (Referring to oneself) is the basis of your existence. Only if you know this (Referring to oneself), you can employ this (Referring to oneself) to its fullest capability. Even if you take your cell phone, the more you know about it, the better you can use it, isn’t it? The same with this (Referring to oneself). So, what this whole unnecessarily exaggerated - exaggeration is not the word - unnecessarily decorated thing about self-realization means is, you know more about this (Referring to oneself) or you know everything that’s worth knowing about this (Referring to oneself). That means you can use this (Referring to oneself) whichever way you want. If you want to sit still here for the rest of your life, you can sit. If you want to jump out and be active, you can do. If you want to do this and that together, you can do. Whatever you want, you can do because you know the mechanism fully, in its entirety, not just the physicality of it, but its entirety. So, if you know this (Referring to oneself), suppose your body happens as per your instruction, your mind happens as per your instruction, your life energies happen as per your instruction, how will you keep it - pleasant or unpleasant?

Vinita Bali: Pleasant.

Sadhguru: Pleasant. At least for yourself, highest level of pleasantness. What you want for your neighbor may be debatable (Laughter) but what you want for yourself is clear. So, when you main… When you want pleasantness, now generally, if you are very pleasant, we say you are blissful. Now bliss can get boring sometimes, okay (Laughs)? Yes?

Vinita Bali: Good to know that.

Sadhguru: Pleasantness gets boring, isn’t it, sometimes? You want some slosh to happen. Now you use ecstasy (Laughs). But that slosh cannot be kept up. Bliss can be kept for your entire life. Ecstasy cannot be kept for your entire life. You go up and you come down or in other words, bliss is a sustainable level of pleasantness, the height of pleasantness. Ecstasy is not sustainable but you can hit it often enough. At least a few times in a day, you must hit it.