Ever wondered what’s the ideal shape of a human energy body? According to Sadhguru, it functions best when it is in the form of an ellipsoid. Yet, on our journey through lifetimes, due to Karmic impact, it gets distorted, and the effects ripple through our existence. In a satsang with brahmacharis, Sadhguru shared insights into loosening what he calls the “Karmic grip.” What follows is an exploration of this transformative process toward a more effortless way of being.
Question: Namaskaram, Sadhguru. You once said that one whose energy body is in the shape of an ellipsoid will pass through this life and beyond effortlessly. What can one do to get to such a state?
Sadhguru: Even getting the physical body into good shape takes a lot of work. Some people are too lethargic or unconscious of what and how much they eat. People who are very focused on being super fit may become packed with muscles. Achieving a proper human shape itself takes a certain level of consciousness. Just to be a simple, natural human being takes a certain amount of consciousness.
The energy body takes a certain amount of beating from lifetimes of taking shape. Let us say you have been human for the last ten lifetimes...
Just to be a simple, natural human being takes a certain amount of consciousness.
Think of ten people you have known in your life who are quite different from each other. One may be a very nice person living a proper life, another a drunkard, another a thief, and so on. Suppose you were these ten things in ten lifetimes – can you imagine how much beating your energy takes?
The physical body, whatever beating it takes, has an option; when it does not want to continue, it will drop dead. That is an advantage for the physical body. If you do not treat it well, it will deteriorate and fall dead one day.
The physical body has the choice to quit, but the energy body cannot quit. It can only move from one “idiot” to another. In this process, do not assume you will be the same as you were in your last lifetime. Unless it comes to a certain point, you may be very, very different. Nothing and no traits may be similar.
Now that we have known someone to be in a certain way, it does not mean they will be like this in their next life at all. They may be totally different. In their next lifetime, they may be the complete opposite of what they are today.
If your energies are not constrained by heaps of information, they will effortlessly take the shape of an ellipsoid.
So, the energy body takes an enormous amount of beating and develops its own tendencies by accumulating information that distorts it in a certain way. Unless you undo this substantially to a point where it is not restrictive, your energy body will not get into the ellipsoid shape that we are looking at. On the other hand, if your energies are not constrained by heaps of information, they will effortlessly take the shape of an ellipsoid.
The conscious information you have about something limits how you function. Let us say you have some information about how a microphone works. Now, if you approach a microphone, you will do so with those restrictions of information in mind.
Suppose I have a divine microphone, or just a new model that does not work like the one you know; the information you have will make you function only with those restrictions.
When you do not have information, acquiring it may feel liberating, but it is actually a restriction. When I say I am uneducated, people often misunderstand what I mean. What this means is that when I look at something that I have no information about – whether it is people or things or whatever else – my solutions for everything are so simple because when I look at something, I do so without carrying any information. It takes time for me to retrieve the information.
The heavier you are loaded with information, the more it can distort not just your physical body and your mind, but also your Karmic body and your energy body. You would have experienced how certain information has distorted your mind, at least for certain periods of time. Some people may get affected for a whole lifetime.
The heavier you are loaded with information, the more it can distort not just your physical body and your mind, but also your Karmic body and your energy body.
Let us say two people are constantly talking to you about someone else, painting them in a certain negative light. After a few days, when you see this person, you may look at them differently; your perception of them may become skewed.
There are people working on you like this, on and off. It happens everywhere. If people keep telling you something about someone, when you look that person, you cannot see them the way they are. The information that others have given you has become a restriction. You cannot see the person the way they are. You will see them in the form of the information that you have in your head.
Your psychological structure distorts the information that determines the shape of your causal body or your Karmic body. Accordingly, your physical body is shaped. Over time, the energy body becomes restricted. If you are concerned about Karma, you need to make sure that whatever you do, it is not about you.
When it is not about you, activity does not stick to you as a load. You work the whole day as if you are going to die today. When you go to bed, you feel like you are dead. You wake up in the morning, it is another day – you do whatever is needed because it is not about you.
When it is not about you, activity does not stick to you as a load.
If what you do is about you and determines who you are, it constantly goes through your head, whether you are conscious of it or not. You cannot stop thinking about it, even in your sleep. People may say they are dreaming, but in reality, they are unconsciously, endlessly thinking.
Once the activity is no more about you, there is a looseness to the Karma. What was holding everything tight has become loose. If you loosen the Karmic stuff over the energy body and you give it enough time, it will regain its form as it should be.
If you do everything like it is your last day – when you sleep, you die; when you wake up in the morning, another day begins, so what to do? But it is not about you. The activity is not going to enhance you, nor is it going to depreciate you. Whatever you are doing, whatever the nature of your activity may be, will not add to who you are.
If whatever you do does not determine who you are, and you do whatever is needed, the Karmic grip loosens.
Today, you may be busy designing Adiyogi; tomorrow, you may be cleaning the toilet. You do both the same way because it is not about you anyway. If you do Adiyogi, we are not going to give you an award. If you clean the toilet, we are not going to keep you away. It is the same thing.
If whatever you do does not determine who you are, and you do whatever is needed, the Karmic grip loosens. Once loosened, the energy body returns to the form it should be in.
