All language subtitles for Sadhguru - Why Are We Here. Karma, Evolution, and Breaking the Cycle of Rebirth

Why we are on this planet?

I think even the planet is wondering why
the hell these

human beings came here.

The solar system, the way it is, and so
as the other universal systems, the

galaxies, they're all happening because
they arrive at

a certain perfection of geometry.

Geometry in the sense, right now this
planet is going around the sun. It's

its perfect orbit. So it's going and
going and going.

Not powered by engine or something. See,
the airplane is going.

powered by engines, it's being pushed.

This is not being pushed.

This has just found a certain perfection
of geometry and it's going on.

The day it loses its perfection of
geometry, if it loses the line of orbit,

gone.

So in this process, life happens on this
planet, also involving this geometry

on various levels.

We say in the yogic culture, we say, A
human being is physiologically and

in terms of brain has reached its peak
physiologically.

That is, after a million years you will
not have a horn coming out of your head

or something else, like the tail
disappeared, something else will

This cannot happen.

We are saying this from a certain
context.

Today the modern neuroscientists are
saying similar things.

They are saying the size of the neuron
in the human brain can neither increase,

nor can the wiring inside can increase
because the physical laws don't permit

it. The laws of physics do not permit
it. I will not go into the detail of

To put it very simply, how we see it is,
your birth here, right now all life on

this planet is solar powered, isn't it?

Yes? It is the sun's energy which is
doing all this.

Human… and also the revolutions, And the
rotations of the moon also has

influence upon us. The very ocean is
rising and falling with the movement of

moon.

Only because our mother's bodies were in
tune with the cycle of the moon, we are

born and we are here.

Yes? If this twenty -eight day cycle of
the moon does not repeat itself in a

woman's body, you and me wouldn't be
born.

So because it has reached that, we say,

Physically, the physical laws have come
to a certain place where life upon this

planet cannot evolve further.

You can make use of what you have in a
much better way.

Using the same technology, we had a dumb
phone, then we had a smart phone, now

we have an iPhone.

Like this we can go on improving it, how
we use it. But the fundamental physical

laws will not permit any further
evolution of this creature.

So did it happen by accident?

No.

The theory of evolution, you know
Charles Darwin, who made a monkey out of

Not me, him.

If you look at the theory of evolution,
which was propounded just 150 years ago,

we have said this thousands of years
ago, in a sense.

You know the ten avatars?

At least the nine you know, those who
have come. What is the first one?

Yes, Matsya Avatara.

Matsya Avatara means fish or water life.

All life on this planet started under
water.

What is the next Avatara?

Kurma Avatara.

Amphibious, like a turtle.

Half in the water, half on the land.

The next one is Varaha Avatara, a pig or
a wild boar.

Among the mammals,

One animal which is strongly, strongly
rooted in its body is a wild boar.

See, we live next to the forest, we see
this.

The tribal boys can kill a deer with a
stick.

If you hit it with a stick, it'll fall
dead. The local dogs will hunt the deer.

But a wild boar, you try to kill him and
see, it's not easy to kill him.

You go smash him with a car, his spine
is broken, still he will go, he will not

stop. because he is so physically
rooted, his life is so physical.

So the next form of life was
Varahavatara. This simply means the

finding expression in first as fish,
then as a turtle, then as a wild boar,

one is Narasimha, half man, half animal,
next one is Vamana, a dwarfed man, next

one is a full -grown man but emotionally
volatile man who is Parishurama.

next one is a peaceful man, which is
Rama, next is a loving man, which is a

Krishna, next is a meditative man, which
is a Buddha, the next is supposed to be

a mystical being yet to come.

Okay?

This is running very much in parallel
lines with the Darwin's theory of

evolution. Yes or no?

It's in the same sequence, exactly in
the same sequence.

Darwin propounded his theory only 150
years ago. This was said 12 to 15 ,000

years ago.

Adiyogi himself spoke about it.

So, if you observe life, you can clearly
see from what is inanimate,

basic life formed. From that, life
evolved.

We've always seen it that way.

Always we saw life evolved.

Constantly... We are… in every temple
you go, there is a snake.

There are various symbolisms all around
the place because even today in your

brain, one part of your brain is a
reptilian brain.

You know, the core part of your brain is
still a reptilian brain and it still

functions and we have different
practices in yoga as to how to transcend

reptilian brain and allow the cerebral
cortex to function.

And today we have scientific evidence to
show you.

The University of California has done
scientific studies on Shambhavi

the basic practice we teach usually.

And they say if you practice Shambhavi
Mahamudra for three months, the neuronal

regeneration increases by two hundred
and forty -one percent, a kind of

percentage that's never been recorded in
the history of any kind of research,

okay? Just a simple practice for twenty
-one minutes.

Two hundred and forty -one percentage
increase in your brain function and

neuronal regeneration. This means as you
grow old, you will become more

intelligent. Usually young people think
you're getting stupid.

Yes, your brain is actually growing.

You understand? It's getting better by
the day.

Now there is scientific evidence. We
always knew this.

But today a meter has to say it. If a
man says it, it's not true.

If a man says it, it's doubtful. But a
meter has to say it, now the meters are

saying it.

The meters are saying your brain is
actually growing by doing a simple

-one minute practice.

And you don't believe the meter. You
just do the practice for three months

see, you will see how clear and how
smart your mind is suddenly.

The essence of all this is, first thing
is to understand the

nature of how existence is happening.

Either you can look at this or you can
look at the atom or you can look at the

universe. If you want to look at the
universe, it is complex, it is difficult

because you don't have a gallery seat,
you know.

There is no… it is not like a stadium,
you can sit somewhere and watch the

universe.

Very difficult. You can only see it in
pieces.

If you want to watch an atom, nobody has
seen an atom. Do you know this?

Do you know this?

Even in a super electron microscope, you
can't see an atom.

We have observed its activity, but we
have never seen an atom as such.

But we have broken it.

We are capable of breaking things that
even we cannot see.

That's our… we are very proud of this.

We can break anything.

We can make it or not is a questionable
thing, but we can break anything we

want. Even if we cannot see it, we can
break it.

Now, what you see and what you do not
see itself is a very dicey thing in the

sense, what is it that you can see?

Right now, can you see my hand?

Yes. You can see my hand only because my
hand stops light.

If my hand did not stop this light, if
it allowed light to pass through, you

wouldn't see this hand.

Yes?

Or in other words, right now your visual
apparatus can see only those things

which stop light.

Anything that allows light through, you
cannot see it.

You cannot see light itself, first of
all.

Can you see the light that is here?

No. Only whatever stops light, you can
see.

What does not stop light, you cannot
see.

Very bad, isn't it? You must be able to
see all those things which allow light

to pass through because they are
important things.

But right now your visual apparatus are
trained to see or capable of seeing only

that which stops light.

So the whole process of seeing life the
way it is means, first of all, evolving

an eye, a thoughtless eye, an eye which
is free of

thought. When I say free of thought, it
is free from the taint of memory.

Right now, these two eyes are heavily
loaded with memory.

So you can see this.

If you see a group of people like this,
If you just casually look like this, if

the… among these hundreds of people, if
there is one face that you are familiar

with, you will see suddenly that face
sticks out.

Have you noticed this?

Have you noticed this?

You are going in a street, there are
hundred people standing there, your

is among that. If you look here, just
this friend's face is more clear

than the rest of the faces because

This eye works with memory. The more
memory you have, the better it sees. No

memory, it cannot see.

Memory means an accumulated past.

Memory means information.

Memory means that which does not exist
but acts out

as if it does.

Memories are more real.

than reality, isn't it so?

Yes or no?

See, I want you to understand,
everything in your life is run by

Not just your computer stick, everything
in your life.

When I say memory, not just what you
carry here, your very body is a body of

memory.

Why if you eat a banana, it becomes… a
masculine body, and if she

eats a banana, it becomes a feminine
body.

It's simply because of the memory that
it contains, isn't it? The information

that is stored in this body and that
body is different.

Same banana, it becomes a man. Same
banana, it becomes a woman.

Yes or no?

Huh?

Are you eating different types of
bananas?

Same thing, same food if you eat.

it is becoming one way.

In one person it is becoming dark skin,
in another person it's becoming fair

skin. How?

The memory that you carry.

Do you remember your great -great -great
-great -great -grandfather?

You don't.

But his nose is sitting on your face.

Your body remembers, isn't it?

You may not have no idea who it was, but
your body remembers even today.

A million years ago, how your
forefathers were, still it remembers,

So what you call as my body is just a
body of memory and eyes are loaded with

memory.

An eye which is loaded with memory, an
eye which is corrupted with memory

see anything the way it is.

It will only see things as it is
convenient because the software is

inside.

It will not allow you to see anything
the way it is.

This is what traditionally we are
referring to as karma.

It is there in your body, it is there in
your energies, it is there in the way

your chemical reactions happen, it is
there in your brain, it is there in your

mind, it is there in everything. In the
very physical energy that you carry,

there is memory because you will see
each person's energies behave

from the other.

simply because of the type of memory it
carries.

If you want to get rid of this, it's a
long process.

And if you get rid of this, dismantling
of the personality and body will happen.

So another way is to create a distance
from it.

Just hold it little away.

When you want to play with it, you play
with it. When you want to switch it off,

you must be able to switch it off.

So for this, an external view is needed.

Right now, your ears are loaded with
memory, your eyes are loaded with

your tongue is loaded with memory.

Why if you are born in Karnataka, if you
go to

North India, food doesn't taste good is
because the tongue is loaded with

memory.

Yes or no? Have you suffered this or no?

You went north,

And they said, aloo bhaji, aloo...

aloo matar, aloo palak, aloo parota,
aloo, aloo,

aloo, aloo, they said.

You couldn't stay there.

Because your tongue is loaded with
memory.

It wants the same things back, otherwise
it will suffer.

So what...

being loaded with memory means is a
cocoon of the past is holding you. It

not allow you to even move into the
present.

A cocoon of the past holds you and you
allow it to do this because it feels

safe. It creates a cocoon.

There is safety but in safety there is
also imprisonment.

You are really safe if we lock you up in
a safe, isn't it?

But the problem is you can't get out.

That's the whole problem.

Walls that you build as self protection,
they also become the walls of self

imprisonment. That is the nature of
life.

If you lock yourself from inside or
outside, it's the same thing.

As long as you do not open the door,
Whether somebody locked you from outside

you locked yourself from inside, there
is no difference. Anyway you are

imprisoned, isn't it?

At least somebody locked you from
outside, you can at least complain and

You locked yourself from inside, you can
only be depressed.

You cannot even scream.

Who… at whom will you scream?

So this process of what we are looking
at is, The memory imprints itself on all

levels, right up to the elemental level.

From the five elements which function
here, from just after

that, memory's work starts.

So when we utter the word karma, it is
not one simple formula

or it's not, you know, people are saying
theory of karma. We are not talking

about any theory.

we are referring to a certain reality.

Karma means memory.

Action and memory.

Past action exists only in the form of
memory, isn't it so?

Yes?

Memory not just what you carry here.

Every cell in the body carries its own
memory.

Why one atom behaves differently from
another atom, though the same

is, it has a memory.

A hydrogen atom has one kind of memory,
Oxygen atom has another kind of memory.

Unless you mix them up, they will
continue to behave like that.

It is in a small circle.

You are in a little larger circle.

The universe is in a much larger circle
but the same memory rules all of it.

So when we said karma, we are not
talking about some concept or

We are referring to a certain reality
which is finding manifestation as who

are. The very shape of your body is
because of memory.

If a bird eats a mango, it becomes a
bird. If a worm eats a mango, it becomes

worm. If you eat a mango, you become a
human being.

Same mango, how many things it's doing,
depending upon what kind of memory it

carries.

Isn't it?

What you call as a seed, if you plant
the same seed, if you plant a seed in

same soil, Here you plant a mango tree,
here you plant an apple tree in the same

soil. This will only produce apples,
this will only produce mangoes. I know

there is a newspaper picture where, you
know, a jackfruit has become banana.

That's different.

Yes? You saw this?

Are you all from Bangalore or
Devanahalli?

No? You didn't see this?

A bunch of bananas are coming out of a
jackfruit for some reason.

And that's a freak.

And that's happened because of some mix
-up.

We don't know who did the mix -up.

But essentially, if you… in the same
soil, if you plant an apple seed and a

mango seed, this will only produce
apples, this will only produce mangoes

because seed is a certain amount of
memory, isn't it?

Whether it is a seed of a plant, or your
father's seed which enter your mother's

womb, it is just memory and memory and
memory, isn't it so?

This is karma.

And this goes right back, right up to
the elemental level. Everything is

Only the pure element is free from
memory.

So the idea, when we start, we're
starting on bhutecha because that's the

important thing, that he mastered the
elements, that's why we bow down to him

because

Because he mastered the elements, he has
an eye which has no memory, a tantalus

eye which sees everything just the way
it is. So yoga essentially means

developing an eye which is not
contaminated by memory, which simply

It does not see things the way your
memory perverts it. It simply

sees everything the way it is. This eye,
will see those things which do not stop

light. Right now, these two eyes can
only see what stops light.

If you start seeing something that does
not stop light, that means another

dimension of the eye is beginning to
function.

The question is, is there rebirth?

If it's there, what is the basis for one
being to go from one birth to another?

What is it that carries a person from
one to another?

Now if you need to understand this, you
must have some understanding

of the mechanics of who you are. I'm
talking about the mechanics of how a

being is built.

See, when you say I'm a human being, the
outermost periphery is the physical

body.

In yoga, we look at everything as body
because it is easier for you to

understand that way.

So we see the body as five dimensions or
five sheets.

Physical body is known as anamaya kosha.

Anamaya kosha means, anna means the
food.

This is food body.

Next one is called manomaya kosha.

That means it's the mental body.

The third one is called pranamaya kosha,
which means the energy body.

Physical body, mental body, energy body.
All these three dimensions are

physical.

They are physical existence.

Physical body is very gross.

Mental body is subtler. Energy body is
even subtler. But all these three are

physical.

Just like the light bulb is physical,
you can see that.

The electricity behind also is physical,
isn't it?

The wire that connects is also physical,
the electrons that flow through the

wire also are physical existence.

So similarly, physical body, mental
body, pranic body, all are physical

dimensions of life.

This physical dimension of life, both in
all these three dimensions,

carries the imprints of karma. On the
body it is imprinted, on the mind it's

imprinted and on the energy it's
imprinted.

This karmic imprints or the karmic
structure is what holds it together.

Karma is the cement which holds you to
the physical body.

Karma is the bondage. At the same time,
it's only because of karmic stuff you

can hold on to the body and be here.

This is where

spirituality seems to be difficult
because if you try to take it away, it

doesn't work. If you try to add, it
doesn't work.

You need to be just there.

If you're just there, it's a moment.

Now, the next two dimensions are called
Vijnanamaya Kosha and Anandamaya Kosha.

Vijnanamaya Kosha is non -physical,

related to the physical. It is like a
transient state.

Anandamaya Kosha is completely non
-physical.

So, Vigyanamaya Kosha and Anandamaya
Kosha means it's the bliss body.

There is a bliss body inside which is
hundred percent non -physical.

It has no form of its own.

Only if the energy body, the mental body
and the physical body are in shape,

it can hold the bliss body in shape.

If these things are taken away, the
bliss body will just become a part of

cosmos.

So whatever you are referring to as
atman or the soul is a fiction

actually.

In the sense, people are describing a
certain limitation of the non -physical

as a soul.

But the body for the soul is still your
karma.

If the karmic structure is completely
dismantled, there is no soul. Everything

merges into everything else.

What is referred to as Mahasamadhi or
Mahaparinirvana is just this, that you

slowly understand where the keys are and
dismantle the karmic structure so that

you become truly no more.

When somebody dies, we say this person
is no more. That's not true.

That person is no more the way you know
them, but they still very much exist.

Now if you dismantle the karmic
structure hundred percent, now you merge

the existence.

This is what is referred to as mukti,
mahasamadhi. In Hindu tradition it is

referred to as mukti.

In yogic tradition it is referred to as
mahasamadhi.

In the Buddhist way, it is called as
Mahaparinirvana.

Generally in English, we are saying
liberation.

Liberation means becoming free from the
very process of life and birth and

death.

Liberation means becoming free from the
basic structures of body and mind.

And for all this, the karmic structure
is the strings which hold these things

together. So when a person dies,
obviously,

the physical body is something that you
borrowed from the earth.

This body is just earth, isn't it?

You understand?

This physical body is just a piece of
earth which is right now prancing around

like this.

But you have to pay it back atom to
atom. No interest though.

But you have to pay back every atom. You
won't be allowed to carry a single atom

from this planet.

Nobody has managed it.

Physical body will fall apart.

The mental body and the pranic body,
depending upon the strength of your

goes on.

If the karmic structure is very intense,
unfinished, then

it has to finish it.

If the karma has become weak because it
has run its course, then it very easily

finds another body.

If it has to find another body, the
intensity of the structure should come

it should become passive.

If it is very intense, it cannot find,
it has to hang.

So this is what you are referring to as
ghosts.

Somebody is dead, his karmic structure
is still intense because it's not over.

Now he needs much more time to find
another body, he is still like this.

And the more intense his karmic
structure is, the more visible he

more experientially available to people.

There are innumerable such beings all
around you, whether you know it or you

don't know it.

But most of them you won't feel because
their karma is dissipated. They're just

waiting for more dissipation before they
find another body.

But if their karma is very intense, this
is why they told you in the tradition

if somebody dies unnaturally, either by
accident or suicide or some other way,

they will become ghosts. It is not so.
Everybody becomes.

It is just that they are more
experienceable.

They are more available to your
experience because they have more

structures. So you people may experience
them little more than other beings who

die of old age.

If one completely completes his allotted
karma for that life,

he will die just like that, without
disease, without accident, without any

injury. When one dies simply like that,
that person may find another body within

hours.

This is why in this tradition always
they said, if one completes his life and

dies peacefully, it's the best way to
die because he need not hang around.

Immediately it goes on.

Now when you walk the spiritual path,
the ultimate goal for every spiritual

seeker is, he wants to break this whole
process.

Or otherwise, to use an analogy, we can
say, what you call as

my soul right now is like a bubble.

The outer periphery of the bubble is
your karmic structure.

Inside, there is air.

Suppose you blow the bubble, you burst
the bubble, where is the air?

Where is your air?

There is no such thing as your air. It's
become part of everything.

So what you call as soul is fictitious
because there is no such thing as your

soul and my soul and somebody else's
soul.

Right now, this unboundedness is
contained in the limited karmic

So it makes you believe as if this is a
separate entity.

If you take away the keys which hold the
karmic structure, then it just

collapses.

So this afterlife, next birth,

don't believe all these nonsense.

But right now if you sit here and just
close your eyes, you can clearly

see,

More than this body you are, isn't it?