How do enlightened beings navigate their existence? In this insightful answer, Sadhguru reveals the amount of Karma he has, explains the different types of Karma that shape our lives, and how we can use our karmic load to our advantage.
Questioner: Namaskaram, Sadhguru. From what I understand, our lives unfold according to our Karma. But how is it for an enlightened being who has no Karma? And how did all the challenging situations you have faced come to be?
Sadhguru: The question should be about you. Whoever told you that an enlightened being does not have Karma is wrong. An enlightened being has immense Karma – much more than others. Because if you are at a certain level of energy, without the necessary weight of Karma, you cannot remain grounded. This is why 90% of the time, enlightenment and leaving the body happen at the same time because without consciously grounding yourself with substantial and weighty Karma, it is impossible to stay in the body.
It is important to understand that Karma is not a negative force. It is because of Karma that you are who you are. When we speak of Karma, we are referring to the layers of memory that make you who you are. There is evolutionary memory that makes you a human being. Suppose your body lost that evolutionary memory, you might start crawling because you are a human being not out of knowledge but out of the huge amount of evolutionary memory that is invested in every cell in your body.
During certain programs, such as Samyama, some people may start crawling or doing other things. This is simply because the process is touching their evolutionary Karma. There is an immense amount of Karma, starting from the evolutionary Karma, and even before that, the elemental Karma.
The evolutionary Karma that is invested in every cell in your body gives you a human form and a sense of being human. Essentially, the shape and form of you is just Karma or memory. Like this, there are many levels of Karma, but I will not go into all of them. There is genetic Karma because of which you have a particular kind of nose, skin, and certain aspects of behavior, capabilities, and incapabilities. In addition, there is your own stuff, which is articulate, inarticulate, and conscious Karma.
Karma is not a negative thing if you know how to use it. But if you do not become conscious enough to use it, then it runs like a software. Many people are programming themselves for bondage. They are trying to build bonds with something or someone, thinking that only by tying themselves to something, they will feel safe.
Creating bonds, like a sailor throwing an anchor, can be beneficial if you want to remain in one place. If you want to sail, anchors can prevent you from doing so. You must decide whether you want to be safe or sail.
Those who are closely around me would have seen me go through all kinds of situations, all the nonsense and all the absolutely wonderful things that come my way. When you have nothing to lose and nothing to gain, you can do whatever you want. Either you can go sit in a mountain cave, simply blissed out, or you can get active in the world, to whatever extent you choose.
My choice has been shaped by the needs in the world, not by my whim. Until I consecrated Dhyanalinga, there was no other intent. I served a man for three lifetimes who did not even want to touch me with his foot; he touched me with a stick. That is a terrible story, but it yielded fantastic results. Because I am result-oriented, I do not resent the touch with the stick. I am saying this because many of you have these issues that “Sadhguru didn’t even look my way.” He does not.
Until I consecrated Dhyanalinga, I was not bothered about anything else. I thought that was it, and that I would even end with it. When my basic structure became severely damaged, almost to the point of being crippled, it became a challenge to see if I could get back. There were wonderful and dedicated people around me who were willing to give their life if necessary. For their sake and also as a challenge, I took up certain things and started working, which is another kind of Karma.
If you had seen me in 1999, my physical wellbeing is significantly better today than it was then, though normally, there should have been a decline in that time span. Without the people around me looking hopefully at me, I would not have had the intent to go through enormous striving for almost three and a half years to build back the system.
Then, naturally, I got involved in people’s spiritual process. When I went to teach the spiritual process, I saw that some people were hungry, some were sick, and nothing was happening for them. That is why we got involved in the social process. And even if someone was just about to get enlightened, there was not even a tree in the village for them to sit under. So we began planting trees, to the point where people started calling me a “tree planter.” All this is Karma.
But do you think this Karma is taking a toll on me? Sometimes, I may not have slept well, I may look a little tired, but does it look like it is taking a toll on me? I want you to understand that if you have immense mountains of Karma, it is great. This means you have a complex structure.
But if this complex structure tortures you, and you use your suffering to cause suffering to everyone around you, then it is a disaster. On the other hand, complexity is necessary to come up with significant solutions. If you use this complexity, then it is a great way to live. If you do not have complexity, people may call you a simple fellow or a simpleton. They may have compassion but no passion for you. This is a sad way to live.
If you want to deal with your Karma, the simplest thing is to have absolute dispassion for yourself, and total passion for everything else. The problem is that people have enormous passion for their own lives, but they have dispassion for other people’s wellbeing and suffering. Showing passion for other lives and dispassion for yourself is a sure way of release.
If you have absolute passion for every life around you, and total dispassion toward yourself, you do not need to worry about karmic nonsense – you will be free from it.
