Navigate life’s struggles and find your direction with Sadhguru’s profound insights. Learn how to harness your life energies to rise above confusion and distress, and create your life the way you want it.
Questioner: Namaskaram, Sadhguru. I’ve been struggling with a personal problem for years, which has caused me a lot of mental and emotional distress. What can I do to overcome this and find the right direction in life?
Sadhguru: “How do I reach something when I don’t know what it is?” Most of the time, you do not know what it is that you are seeking, but you know that whatever you have right now is not it. So, what is that elusive something? It does not matter. If you want to see what is beyond where your current position, you must rise a little bit. You must ascend to a higher spot to gain a wider view. That is what you should do now.
To elevate your vision and see beyond your current limitations, you need to rise up. To rise, you need to intensify your life energies. Once your life energies are very intense, you will naturally rise. That will give you a better vision, and you will know where you want to go.
Even if you do not know where you want to go, once your energies rise, you will naturally go in the right direction. Fundamentally, you have these four faculties: your body, your mind, your emotions, and your life energies. If you follow the needs and instincts of the body alone, you will only eat, sleep, reproduce, and die because this is all the body is interested in.
If you follow your thought process, you will be confused on a daily basis, also because your mind says different things on different days. For instance, your mind might suggest one direction, but as you start walking that way, it might suddenly say that another way might be better. Unless you are a fanatic, you always experience confusion, which is a good thing. Being confused is far better than concluding, “This is it.” Being confused means you are still in the process of seeking and exploring.
Only absolute fanatics are dead sure about what they want to do. Everyone else should always explore what the best thing to do is. That is a good way to be. It does not mean that you will not achieve anything. Those who constantly keep their eyes open, not knowing what is next, will do the best things in this world. Fanatics may penetrate through something, but sooner or later, they will hit a heartless rock. We only hope they do not take too many people with them. Unfortunately, this has been a pattern we have witnessed many times throughout history.
If you rely on your emotions, it can lead to a lot of pain. Those whom you are emotionally closest to can often hurt you the most. You can ignore whatever nonsense someone on the street may do. But when it comes to the person who is closest to you, along with the sweetness, there is always the fear of pain.
It is crucial to intensify your life energies so that your vision rises. Once the voltage is increased, the light is brighter, and you see more.
You cannot trust your body, your mind, or your emotions. But you can trust your life energies. They never work against you. Whether you are awake or asleep, conscious or unconscious, your life energies are always working for your wellbeing. Among these four aspects of who you are, which is the best option to be the leading edge of your life? Your life energies. That is what Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya is about. When you sit here, your body, mind, and emotions are at a little distance; your life energies are right here, as the most dominant aspect. Unless you ensure that, you will always be misled.
Your body has its limitations; it will only take you so far. Your mind, on the other hand, can take you in countless directions. Your emotions may take you on a roller-coaster ride. But your life energies are always working for your wellbeing, never against you. You must make that trusted aspect of you the leading edge of your life. If you sit here, your energies must be the most dominant aspect of who you are.
If your energies are the most dominant aspect of who you are, you will conduct your life in a completely different way. There will be no confusion about where you will end up. Wherever you go, you will make it beautiful.
