Shiva as the Adiyogi

He explains that this will be named after the Adiyogi Shiva – the First Yogi, who brought about the first spiritual revolution on the planet.

Full Transcript:

Sadhguru: Sixteen years ago on this day we concluded the 90-day Wholeness Program in this place, on 13th September I think. So when I suddenly remembered this in the afternoon, I was itching to do something. So when we were doing the Wholeness Program with those 60 and odd people, very hardy ones because there was no place to live; a hut was… that was threatening to fall down any time, repeatedly threatening us that it’s going to come down upon us, but still we did all that we had to do there. And at that time everybody dreamt we must build a meditation hall. It took maybe another six years or seven years before we built the Spanda Hall. Today it is such that the Spanda Hall is occupied almost 20… 20 to 25 days in a month and it’s not available for anybody in the ashram, and Sadhana Hall is anyway bursting at the seams.

So today we started the project called ‘Adi Yogi Alayam’, a south-facing… a meditation hall which is south-facing because Adi Yogi when he sat as a guru he sat south facing. So this meditation hall is south facing. And we will have a wonderful consecration which will befit Him for this hall.

So…you like the name Adi Yogi Alayam? I’ve been thinking we have to have something in his name, because this… this fundamental possibility has evolved from this one idea that he put in those seven people’s minds. He made them thirst for something beyond the limitations of their existence. He put this hunger into their stomach, he put this hunger nto their hearts, that they want to be something more than what we normally know as a human being. Every creature has come with a framework. An ant can do certain things; I’m sure there are some champion ants which can do little more, but within that framework. A tiger can do something but within that framework. An elephant can do something but within that framework. A human being can do something within that framework; a certain dimension of whatever.

He put this idea that you don’t have to limit yourself to your dimension, you can transcend this, there is another way to be, a completely different way to be. This idea he not only gave the idea and the thought, he also gave a method to go there. It is that… this one idea that a human being can strive to evolve beyond the dimension of his present existence, which is the basis of this whole civilization and culture. It does not matter whether somebody calls himself a Hindu or a Buddhist or a Jain or a Sikh or whatever, all of them are striving for this one idea that they want to cross these limitations and attain to liberation. The idea of mukthi, the whole culture is… the centerpiece is mukthi, please see. Everything that we’re doing here in this culture is essentially towards that, that there is a possibility of transcending all limitations and getting there. There has never been a more revolutionary idea on this planet. Since his time, nobody has come up with a more revolutionary idea than this, that you can transcend the very limitation… the very dimension in which you exist.

When I was in United States somebody asked me, ‘Who… Who is one person in the western world who has played a big role in, you know, evolving human consciousness?’ Without a moment’s doubt I said, ‘Charles Darwin.’ They said, ‘Charles Darwin? He’s only a naturalist.’ I said, ‘For the Western world, he is the one who gave the idea that you can evolve,’

So Charles Darwin, though in no way was he spiritual, he saw this thing in nature that everything is evolving – a single-celled animal is becoming a multi-celled animal, a multi-celled animal is becoming more complex and more complex, from one dimension to another, life is evolving. ‘So there is a possibility for a human being also to evolve beyond his present limitations’ is a natural progression of Theory of Evolution.

For one to go beyond his limitations, even to strive, the compulsion should go, the compulsiveness should go. This compulsiveness, one dimension, one fundamental dimension of compulsives is your own prarabdha. Prarabdha is the allotted karma and it is like a coiled spring, it wants to find expression; it will not spare anybody. So the best thing is to exhaust the prarabdha as quickly as possible with immense activity, so that if you sit, there is nothing compulsive in you, if you sit here you just sit here, that’s all.