Love is often described as the most powerful force in the universe, but what does that really mean? And if love is so powerful, what kind of power does it wield? And what about the other emotions? Do they carry potential power as well? These days, it seems that many of us have come to think of emotions as a kind of weakness or as something to be avoided. We’re often taught that emotions are unpredictable, and if we want to really succeed in life, we need to come to rely on our intellects, our rational minds. But are any of these ideas really helpful? How reliable is the intellect as a means of growth? Might a heavier focus on emotion be more beneficial? If so, how?
Sadhguru: “When we talk about devotion being the way, people think devotion means going to the temple, going to church, or mosque, people think devotion means religion. No, no, no. Devotion means you’re organizing your emotion in such a way that it works for you, absolutely. Because it is only in emotion, it is only in moments of emotion have you touched the sweetest part of who you are, isn’t it so? Have you intellectually touched that? Very few in the world, believe me. Very few in the world intellectually touch a sweet spot. Most of you have touched the sweet spot of your life only in emotion, isn’t it? Most beautiful moments of your life are moments of emotion, isn’t it? Well, it might not have lasted – that’s another problem. That may be lack of management. You’re not able to manage the situation the way you want, because your emotions… your subjectivity is enslaved to the objectivity of the world.”
“And I want you to understand, nobody in this world ever manages their objective world absolutely. We can manage it to some extent. Sometimes it works for us, sometimes it doesn’t work for us, isn’t it so? Sometimes it works for us, we want it to work for us, but not always it works for us. But our subjectivity should work for us always, because this is ours. These people may work for you sometimes, sometimes they’ll turn against you, sometimes they’ll ignore you. Is this so? Even if you are having a grand love affair? Even if you’re having a grand love affair, sometimes they are wonderful to you, sometimes they ignore you, sometimes they trouble you seriously. Yes, or no? So, devotion means organizing your subjectivity in such a way, the emotional dimension of who you are is always for you, never against you. For this, you need to hitch it there and leave it. Destiny is fixed.”
“I must have told you this story. An old yogi came to Velliangiri Hills. Velliangiri hills means it’s at the foothills of Velliangiri that Isha Yoga Center is. It’s a hard climb, about 5,800 feet, but steep climb. Over 80 years of age, slowly he was wanting to climb the hill to go up, because there is a sacred space up there. The shopkeepers who are sitting there, the idiots never went up the mountain, they sit at the foothills and do business. So, they are selling this and that, some eatables, and beedi, you know, tobacco, and this kind of stuff. Sitting there, smoking, they look at this yogi and say, “Hey, old man! Do you know how high this hill is? Even we have not gone there. You think you, old coot, can go up this mountain?” The yogi looked at them and smiled, and said, “See, I have already put my heart up there. The rest of the body anyway will follow. You don’t worry about me. My heart is up there already. I will anyway go.” Where your heart is, anyway you will go there, isn’t it? So, this is what using your emotion to handle your subjectivity means: that you fix your heart there, no change about it, it’s already there. If you look this way, if you look that way, do whatever, this just keeps pulling you in the same direction.”
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