The sacred city of Kashi has been destroyed many times over millennia. But is Kashi energetically still intact? Can it be rebuilt? During a satsang in Kashi, Sadhguru tells us something surprising: what is important for people is not necessarily important for Kashi.
Questioner: Namaskaram, Sadhguru. My question is regarding Kashi. You said that the energy body of Kashi is above the ground. Has the significant physical destruction that has happened impacted the energy body of Kashi? Are you planning to rebuild Kashi?
Sadhguru: No, and there is no need to rebuild Kashi. Similarly, the physical structure of Dhyanalinga that you see today is actually not needed. We could have removed it because it was only used as scaffolding. To construct a building, they use scaffolding. Once the structure is strong enough, they remove it.
Scaffolding is needed only while you are consolidating the structure. Once the consolidation is done, you can remove it. In the case of a building, we will remove it because it would impede our ability to use the structure. But in the case of these kinds of energy structures, we do not remove the scaffolding because most people go by their visual perception. They cannot simply sit there and feel it; they need to see something. There have to be cultural elements, traditional processes, and so on; otherwise, if they come into a temple and there is nothing inside, they would wonder, “Where is it?”
We leave the scaffolding because for a majority of human beings, their sight is their most dominant sense perception. The other four senses are significantly lower. But if you make yourself really sensitive – if you become a Yogi – the biggest sense perception is touch.
When you use your sense of sight, you are getting all kinds of distorted images. But if you close your eyes, you touch things – life touches you in so many ways. The more intense your energies become, the more the proportions to which you use the different senses will be reversed. Right now, the visual perception may be 65%, but it will start reversing itself and the sense of touch could become 65–70%. Then you would not have to look at anything. If you close your eyes, you could just put your hand out before you, and you would know who is here and who is not.
I destroyed my olfactory system now to some extent, but at a certain stage in my life, if I walked into a hall, I would just know who was there – not because they were wearing a particular perfume or anything like that. And I always chose to walk in the forest at night – no torch light, just by smell like a wild animal.
Animals are mostly feeling their life. For carnivores, among the five senses, their sense of smell is the strongest and most important. Their other sense perceptions are not that good. The reason why dogs are being used even to trace down criminals and substances is because they can smell things out.
Seeing is not believing for a Yogi because seeing is very deceptive. If I only see you with my eyes, I may think, “Oh, she is so happy. All the receptionists and air hostesses seem to be so happy.” No. If you close your eyes and feel, you know who is who. Seeing is very deceptive – anything in the world can fool you if you only go by that. What looks fantastic may not be so fantastic. Because what you see is only a reflection that forms an image. That reflection can be jigged whichever way you want and is not the real nature of things.
If you really want to perceive something, you may close your eyes. You may not be conscious of it, but somewhere deep inside, there is an instinct which tells you that by closing your eyes, you may see better. Another reason why you may be closing your eyes is to eliminate visual distractions so that you can process your thoughts better. If your sense of touch becomes 65–70% of your sense perception, then no one has to touch you – just by being here, you will be touched by everything.
Let us say you are sitting in a hall with 1,000 people. At least their breath is touching you, but you are not conscious of it. The reversal of the sense proportions is important for you to perceive certain aspects of life – otherwise what you see is all there is for you. That is the reason why the scaffolding is not removed. Anyway, what has been set up in Kashi lives, but if we want to remove the scaffolding, it must be done in a gentle way – not by an invader who wants to destroy it. An invader removing the scaffolding is not the point.
We must put back the scaffolding, but it is sub judice; it is not for me to decide. Kashi itself does not depend on scaffolding, but people’s emotion and connection with it depend on the scaffolding. It must be put back for them; but for Kashi, it is not important.
What has happened in Kashi in the last eight years is miraculous in many ways. Earlier, in spite of you seeing it as a great place, people and the situation made sure that coming to Kashi was a bad experience for you. Now there is a proper entry. Of course, there are disputes; certain people do not want a resolution. A problem is a great investment for a whole lot of people who have risen to power over other people’s problems. If you find a solution, they lose their ladder to climb. I hope some judicial settlement will happen. I think they are moving in that direction.
There are historical documents which clearly show that a written order had been given to demolish this temple. And the men who demolished it gave a completion report of the demolition, and that they would build a mosque using the same material. These historical documents have been preserved, so there is no real property dispute. It is more about settling communal issues, to ensure that it does not go up in flames.
It should be settled because such festering wounds in a country are not good in the long term. Now that it has come into people’s awareness, you cannot put them back to sleep, like they had slept for a few centuries.
Having said that, should Kashi be built back? We do not have to think on those lines. Because we believe in the constitution more than anything right now, everyone should go by the constitutional law and be done with it. You cannot fix history. Everywhere in the world, one way or the other, terrible things have been done to someone or the other. Here it has been to the majority community. You should not forget it because if you do, similar things may happen to you again. But at the same time, we should not be poisoned by resentment because of terrible things that happened in the past.
Today’s communities have nothing to do with the invaders. But unfortunately, a certain number of them identify with those invaders. Such people should come to some sense of remorse and reconciliation – then the issue will be gone. Because it is about everyone’s life, not about fighting over what happened 300–400 years ago. Yesterday’s life was bad, but we do not have to spread the rot into today and tomorrow. It is important that today’s and tomorrow’s life goes on well. This wisdom is needed.
