Devi is a Living Entity

We are nearing the completion of two years since Devi. Since we started off with the Bhairavi consecration in the month of January 2010, there has been no looking back; it has been a roller coaster of excitement and Devi has touched the lives of a countless number of people. Already, four full-fledged Bhairavi temples have been confirmed, and many small ones are coming up. So, She is going places. Even before we established the temple, I expressed my apprehension that people may start making Her more important than Dhyanalinga, but that is not our fear. If you have a child in your house, the little infant becomes more important than everybody else. That is not a bad thing.

The reason why many people are able to feel the Devi temple much more than the Dhyanalinga temple is simply because She is physically manifest. Dhyanalinga is subtle; it takes a certain receptivity to feel it. It is of a completely different dimension. Devi is physically manifest – She is even capable of slapping you in the face. She can also do pleasant things, but She can even slap you in the face. Yes, I am telling you, fifty fingers may be left on your face. So, is Devi manifest? She very much is. Is She physically manifest? Very much. As far as I am concerned, She is a living entity for me and for many people.

So, what should I do to experience Devi? You don’t have to do anything. If there is not much of you, you will feel the presence of what is not you. If there is too much of you, you won’t feel anything anywhere. Not just here, anywhere. Devi is difficult to miss. If your vision is normal, we could write ‘A-B-C’ in big letters and you could read it. Right now, Devi is like that. She is for people who won’t get anything else – Big Bhairavi – you cannot miss her. It is very simple and easy. But most people are like this – they have not even felt their breath themselves. So for such people, if your heart is beating – dubu, dubu – if you cannot even feel this, how can you feel anything else?

There are people who have not felt their heartbeat, there are people who have not felt their own breath, there are people who cannot see the full moon. If you don’t notice a mosquito biting, your heart beating, your breathing…if you don’t notice how food behaves within you, how will you notice Devi? Fifty finger marks should fall on your face. If you want, we can also do that. I am not joking. We can do it, but it will hurt. There are a few things which have manifested in some people’s lives with Bhairavi which are very strange and, probably, they would not want to talk about it, so I will leave that alone, but things have happened. But the problem with most people is – they are already imagining something.

Don’t imagine anything. Imagination is not good for experience. If you think imagination is a substitute for your experience, it is a stupid way to live. Imagination will feel pleasant for some time – if it goes out of control, you will go nuts. Experience is different. Experience transforms life. With imagination, you can go to heaven in two minutes and come back and you are in the same place – a little depressed because you are back. Not that kind. Real life experience. Physically manifest experience. It is very much possible.

So…devotion. It is not because you are singing for Devi or loving Her that She will appear. She is always there. It is just that with devotion, you are trying to wear yourself down. Who you are is becoming less and less as your devotion overflows. She doesn’t care whether you are devoted or not. Your devotion has nothing to do with Her. Your devotion has something to do with you. If you are absolutely in devotion, nothing of you will be left. If nothing of you is left, She will be as strong and real as the morning sunlight. The only thing is, for you to feel it, you must be empty. How empty you are, that strongly you will feel it.

Your devotion is not about Devi; your devotion is about dissolving yourself. But without Her, you cannot be devout. You need something; you need somebody to be devout, so you can use Her. If you are in love with somebody or something, it is like this…If you see a cloud, Oh, it looks like Bhairavi! If you see a stone, It looks like Bhairavi! For devotees of Shiva, if you show them anything, they will say, Oh, it looks like a lingam! See that cloud? It looks like a lingam. Do you see? Do you see? It may sound stupid to you – it is stupid on one level, but it is a fantastic device. In everything, if you see that, now you don’t see yourself anywhere.

This is a fantastic device to lower the sense of who you are because your sense of the world is just yourself, please understand this. Your experience of the world is just yourself. Everything is just a reflection within you. Only because of you, the world exists as far as you are concerned. Only because of you, the whole creation exists. In this condition, there can be no devotion, there can be no perception. Everything that you see as the world is your interpretation, it is your reflection. That is not the world, that is not the creation, that is not the Creator. To demolish this, where ‘me’ has become so big…I see Bhairavi everywhere. Now, after some time, everything is like that. If you see a leaf, Oh, it looks like Bhairavi. If you see a flower, It looks like Bhairavi. You don’t say this to anybody, just do this within yourself. Who you are will just disappear over a period of time.

So, is this not stupid? An idea that works, do you call it stupid or smart? It works, that’s all. All devices are to be used, not to be analyzed. It is not for analysis, it is for use. If you use it, it works. If you analyze, what is there in it? If I analyze you, what the hell is there within you? There is really nothing. Isn’t it?

Editor's note: The next Yantra Ceremony will be held at Isha Yoga Center on July 31, 2019. You will be initiated into a powerful process and receive the Yantra in Sadhguru's presence. For more details, click here or call 844 844 7708.