Yoga for the World: Sadhguru’s Vision for International Day of Yoga

Sadhguru: A lot of things are being planned for the International Day of Yoga. One thing is, we are looking at large-scale yoga programs in multiple locations. Another thing is to raise awareness that it is important that it is done precisely and correctly. Above all, we want to make the world understand that yoga is not an exercise system. It is a profound form of evolving a human being. It is about a very deep understanding of the human mechanics – not only of the physical dimension but of all aspects of a human being.

Bringing this awareness is more important than lots of people doing yoga for one day and then giving it up again. For someone to pursue something, it must inspire them. They must feel either in their mind, in their body, or in their emotions that this is something worth investing their time and energy in. To get them to see the profoundness of yoga, the nature of the offering is important. That is when the world will take to it.

Yoga is not another kind of religion, nor do we want to spread our brand. Human intellect is evolving in a certain way right now. Never before in the history of humanity could such a large number of people in the world think for themselves. All these millennia, there were only a few people who thought reasonably for themselves. For the rest, a scripture or a teacher would dictate what they should think. For the first time, large numbers of people think for themselves. Whether they think straight or not – this is a big step.

Human intellect is blossoming like never before. Consequently, there is no room for belief systems anymore. The whole idea that: “Don’t worry. Believe me. I will take you to heaven. Everything will be great there. It doesn’t matter that right now you are in hell. There, everything is going to be good” – this will not sell anymore. As every child in the world starts receiving education and starts thinking for themselves, as they access information by themselves, keeping people under control and telling them, “You got to do this, otherwise you won’t go to heaven,” will not work.

Earlier, in pursuit of wellbeing, people have looked up. This has brought a lot of hallucination – people have imagined all kinds of things. And it has created continuous wars between one kind of heaven and another kind of heaven. They are fighting over a God or a heaven that both of them have not seen, but they are willing to fight to death. In recent times, there has been a shift towards seeking wellbeing from the outside world. In the process of seeking wellbeing from the world, trying to take the juice of life from outside, we are destroying the very source of our living – the planet itself.

The message of yoga is this: “Not up, not out – in. The only way out is in.” We are 7 billion people, and it is expected that by 2050, we will be 10 billion people. Whatever the number of people, if we seek wellbeing from within, we are not in conflict with anything. If we look up, we are in conflict. If we look out, we are in conflict. But if we look inward for our wellbeing, there is never any conflict – not in the world, not within us. This is a successful process, and its eco-friendly!

Editor's Note: If you have done the Inner Engineering or Isha Yoga program and would like to volunteer to teach a simple process on International Yoga Day (only in India), contact a center near you.