Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

What is it like to work for an enlightened being? Few of us will become Realized Masters this time around, but some, like Sheela Rajdev, have the chance to work with one. Sheela works closely with one of this era’s gurus, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev.

Sadhguru’s talks and sathsangs routinely draw more than 300,000 people to his home in the Coimbatore district of India, and he has been called to share his wisdom at places like the World Economic Forum and the United Nations. In addition to teaching, his foundation works on a number of humanitarian efforts like providing free health care in southern India (and now in Tennessee) and funding reforestation projects and village schools in India.

When I ask somebody about her work and what she likes to do with her free time and she answers, “I don’t really consider it like free time or work. I don’t go out looking for entertainment – I don’t have to – everything I do is entertaining,” my B.S. detector starts flashing red. I’ve heard that song and dance before and it has always let me down.

So I asked Sheela to explain herself.

“It’s so hard to explain…” she replied. “Maybe it’s that I don’t have to go through what everybody lives – the typical life that everyone’s going through. I don’t have to try everything to see that nothing will satisfy me. I found something that’s so satisfying and so fulfilling that I can’t even contain it. I don’t know…call it blissfulness or a certain sweetness. But every moment, if you can live like this or experience life like this, you cannot exchange that for anything in the world. You know? What I thought I am and who I thought I am is just completely transformed.”

And, as I spent more time talking with Sheela and the people who know her, I was amazed to discover she was for real. She had found her way to the oasis many people search in vain for their whole lives.

Sheela is one of only four teachers approved to transmit his Kriya to students here in the United States after undergoing years of training by Sadhguru. She returns to Minneapolis in May to teach an Isha Yoga program called Inner Engineering – the same program that altered her path from pre-med to Isha teacher many years ago.

Participants practice Sukha Kriya during an Isha Foundation event.

Why is the program you teach called Inner Engineering?
Inner Engineering means to create the inner situation the way we want it. It is not a teaching. It is not a philosophy or a belief system. It’s just a method of creating the right kind of inner climate. Isha Yoga is part of this.

Any engineering is to create the situation or atmosphere the way we want it. We’re really good at engineering our exterior the way we want it – at great cost to all other species and the Earth itself. External engineering has brought us a lot of comfort and convenience. We can say we are the most comfortable generation ever on this planet. At the same time can we claim to be the most peaceful generation? Most loving? Most happy? Anything like that? After all, with everything we do in our life we are only seeking to be happy. But that’s not happening simply because we don’t handle our body, mind, emotions and energies properly.

We’re not so great at engineering our interiority. This is simply because we haven’t paid any attention towards this. We always believe that if we fix the outside, the inside will be fixed. But it never happens. So inner engineering means to have the technology to make the interiority happen the way you want it. The Inner Engineering program teaches us how to do that.

When people hear Yoga, they think of contortions and postures, which is Hatha Yoga. Many of us haven’t heard of the type of Yoga that you teach through Inner Engineering – Isha Yoga. Why?
Hatha or Hata Yoga appeals more to the Western mind because it’s very physical and people can easily relate to that, but hata yoga itself is actually a very deep science. It’s not just bending your body.

You may have observed that for each mental state you go through, your body takes on a different posture. If you are happy, you sit one way. If you are unhappy, you sit another way. If you are angry, you sit another way. For different experiences you go through, your body takes on a certain posture. Conversely, assuming certain postures with your body, you can elevate the level of your consciousness. That is the science behind hata yoga. People generally misunderstand this and get too caught up in the few physical and health benefits that come along with it. All kinds of fancy teachings are going on in the name of hata yoga without much understanding of what it actually does.

Isha Yoga energizes the system, but it is also a meditative process. Your body, mind, emotions and energies are like four wheels of a car. Unless you align all four wheels, your ride will not be enjoyable. Isha Yoga is a perfect tool where you can take all the four aspects into your hands so that they go where you want them to go.

A lot of the self-proclaimed masters teaching self-awareness fall back on “just be here now” or “get out of your left-brain” explanations of their method. This leaves people frustrated because they can’t repeat the classroom experience in the real world. How is Isha different?
I’ve spent time in places like India, the U.K., Singapore, and I’ve met spiritual masters, but I’ve never met anyone with Sadhguru’s depth and understanding of life. He has developed a certain practice with this understanding as to how to create a person to be naturally joyful and peaceful. He’s been able to develop the step-by-step process into a method for the modern mind that can be incorporated into your daily life.

You don’t have to believe anything. That’s the beauty of it. That’s the whole science of pranayama or Kriya – notice that whatever kind of mental or emotional state you are in, your breath takes a certain pattern. If you just sit this way, breathe this way, do this, this, and this, then this will elevate your consciousness. Once you start experiencing the benefits, your perception will change and slowly your understanding will come along with it.

We teach Isha Yoga to villagers whose scope of experience and perception of the world are very limited. The steps are very clear and presented in such a way that anybody can understand it.

It seems too good to be true. Why does Isha Yoga work where other methods don’t?
We have understood this much in life – in the external world, unless you do the right thing, right things will not happen. Similarly unless you do the right things inside, right things will not happen. Simply doing something doesn’t lead to well being.

You have to cultivate yourself in such a way that it can happen. You can’t just go and do something – meditation, for instance. If you want to make a flower bloom, you have to have the right conditions.

There is a very old, very deep spiritual tradition in India. Yoga was approached so scientifically – not based on any belief. In India, just the way you sit, for example, was very deeply looked at in the culture and, you may not believe it now, but even that has an effect that can lead you toward your growth.

The whole process with Isha is to set those conditions, really. Flowering for each individual will be different depending on the way they are.

Can everybody be “naturally joyful and peaceful”?
Everybody is capable of achieving this. Being peaceful and happy is not the ultimate achievement in our life. It’s the fundamental requirement in life. If you are not even happy, you can’t even enjoy the dinner you eat or the time you spend with your child.

Every human being is capable of keeping himself peaceful and happy. If you lose peace of mind, you go to the doctor and he gives you a pill. When you put this pill into you, your system does become peaceful. The pill is nothing but a little bit of a chemical, isn’t it? So what you call as peace is one kind of chemistry. Your anger is another kind of chemistry. For every kind of human experience, there is a different chemical basis to it. So Inner Engineering creates the right kind of chemistry in you so that being peaceful and joyful is natural to you.

Why doesn’t it work for some people?
People that I thought would never be able to approach this in their life or never even be open enough to see it, they’ve turned around 180 degrees and become fully involved with the process. But, there are some who still firmly believe that they can fix their lives by fixing their external circumstances, or sometimes someone is not sincere enough to look within himself and experiment with the tools offered in the program.

Do people need to come to Isha with any skills or experiences to make it work?
In fact, it’s better if they don’t come in with all these kinds of background and baggage about what they think meditation is and what they think spirituality is and whatever. They tend to limit themselves from looking at themselves fresh. Being able to see the difference between yourself and your mind – very rarely do people come to class with that understanding.

Do you have a way to find out how many people are still doing Isha Yoga after some time passes?
Yes. In Southern California, we have four cities where we do the programs and, because I’m often here, I coordinate monthly meetings where students can get together, for free, and do our practice. Also, students can come to future programs as volunteers – they don’t have to pay – and they can go through the whole thing in a deeper way. Because of both of these things, I’m constantly in touch with past students here and a very, very large percentage of them are still doing the practice. The other teachers see similar results. Nobody’s going to come and check on a person, though.

We reach to provide the necessary experience and inspiration during the class so that they will continue. And that’s why so many people are continuing. It’s because they know what it’s doing for them.

Does anything upset you anymore?
If someone did something in such a way that I didn’t prefer or didn’t think was the right thing to do, maybe I would have acted in anger at some point, but now I’m not getting angry. There may be some reaction within me – it happens less and less, but I can actually feel a chemical reaction happening within me – there’s a certain inkling towards that reaction, but I’m able to control that. It’s not even control, because I’m so aware of it it’s like it doesn’t exist. It just dissolved at that moment. So, yes, anger largely doesn’t exist. I don’t even remember the last time I was angry.

It’s not like I’ve been controlling it, but I’m so free from it. This is very subtle…but whenever I do any activity or anything, even just moment to moment in my day, I’m so aware of what’s happening within me that if there’s even a little bit of reaction within me, I’ll look at it very consciously, and I can see how to go beyond it.

What was your first experience of Isha Yoga like?
The first time, I was pressured into going to an introductory talk and I left half-way through. A year later, I was bribed into going to the actual program. I started out the first day in the back row. By the last day, I was sitting in the front row and I remember feeling like I’d never felt so alive. I’d never had a problem being happy, I’d just never felt so alive. I walked outside and looked at the sky and the trees and something was brighter, crisper, more vibrant.

What happened after the class was over and you returned to the real world?
Something sweet just started happening inside of me and I wanted more of it. So, I kept doing the practice and it became more and more. I started to see there’s something you can invest in within yourself and experience, and that all these things you’ve been told all your life about experiencing life in a deeper way and what the religions and scriptures have been saying – there’s a reality to it. There’s actual reality to that.

The essence of Isha Yoga is not to make you feel peaceful for twenty minutes. That quality should be embedded in every aspect of your life. Otherwise, what’s the point, really?

Inner Engineering: Isha Foundation will present its “Inner Engineering” program May 6-12 at The Park Plaza Hotel, 1500 Park Place Blvd., Minneapolis. A free introductory talk will be from 7-8 p.m. Wednesday, May 6. The program will be presented May 6-12 – weekdays: 7-10 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-1 p.m.; and Sunday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information and registration, call 612.325.6350, email minneapolis@ishafoundation.org or visit www.IshaFoundation.org

Read Personal Experiences with “Inner Engineering”

Read Inner Well-being by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

I’m thinking of our addiction to money – and society’s definition of success. More and more of us find our faces pressed into the reality that, no matter how hard we work, we’ll never have “enough” money. We realize and accept that the things we have to give up for more money – our time, our health, lost opportunities, not to mention the national and global trade-offs – end up being worth more to us than the money itself.

What do we do, then? Getting rid of a money addiction is a lot like getting rid of head lice. It’s best not to acquire either problem in the first place. And, nobody takes the problem seriously until they get the itch, so you can’t force the issue. But, once a certain number of people get the itch and cure the problem, we reach a tipping point. From there, it will become much easier to recognize and treat – beneficial peer pressure and time-tested solutions will exist to make the withdrawal easier on the remaining addicts. The ongoing battle against the smoking addiction serves as an illustrative example.

What holistic tools exist for those who already have the itch? One important tool is a more accurate understanding of how the money addiction starts and perpetuates itself. Recognizing that money and our definition of success have become two sides of the same coin helps. The latest research pokes holes in the money-addicted success dogma promulgated since the mid-1700s. These days, if somebody asks what it takes to be successful (not the same as what it means to be successful), I’ll tell them to ignore their copy of The Autobiography of Ben Franklin and direct them to Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers.

Gladwell uses the latest research to X-ray the commonly held beliefs about how the big success stories of our culture got that way and discovers the “hidden” drivers. In his words, “The people who stand before kings may look like they did it all by themselves. But, in fact, they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot.” This may sound like he’s going to advocate some new type of communism, but don’t worry. His analysis of everybody from Canadian hockey stars to the Beatles, from Bill Gates to Christopher Langan (the man with the highest-known IQ) entertains, inspires and enlightens. After reading his book, you’ll still believe in the American Dream, but will no longer kid yourself about the how and the why.

To cure the addiction, we also need tools and processes uncorrupted by the cultural myths surrounding money and success. As a start, locate a copy of Your Money or Your Life, by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. The authors debunk and replace just enough theory and provide the motivating real-life stories to create that “aha moment.” Then they move into sharing practical, proven processes and strategies that hold your hand as you travel from your current, money-addicted status to a life where money no longer directs your focus. Books on money get published each week, but none like this one.

Many readers of The Edge also explore the metaphysical, so I’ll suggest one more resource for those who find themselves wondering why the universe appears to be set up in such a screwy manner and what to do about it. Pick up a copy of Busting Loose from The Money Game, by Robert Scheinfeld. Interestingly, his non-spiritual paradigm overlaps the teachings and methods of spiritual teachers and entities I’ve studied. A word of caution: his explanation of how and why an eternal, enlightened spirit would willingly choose to design and live out a life like mine and yours on a place like Earth will both repel and attract you.

If you can’t stand the thought of spending the rest of your life scratching the itch of more dollars and “success,” then use these resources to start a treatment plan and let me know when you come across other solutions that work.

Now, I’m also finding out that re-building the connection is easier said than done – and that’s the point of this article. Those of us who would trade our left arm to be able to see, do, hear and feel some of the psychic things we witness and read about need to find introductory tools that provide personal, verifiable feedback all along the path from tin cans back to the equivalent of speed dialing.

As I searched for and tried different ways to reconnect, I discovered that being able to see, hear and/or feel my inner psychic (a.k.a. my intuition and my higher self) amounts to the ante into the poker game of the spiritual side of life. Seeing auras, feeling and adjusting energy blockages and flows, hearing or sensing our guides, receiving messages in our dreams, traveling out of our bodies, using a pendulum or dowsing rod, etc., all depend on a strong intuitive connection. Until we have that, the rest is just interesting reading.

So, how does a newbie learn to "hear" his or her inner psychic again? Well, I’m doing a number of things that are helping:

Use a set of oracle cards.

I bought the Ask Your Guides card deck. Sometimes the messages seem off-target, but their usefulness and accuracy amaze me often enough to confirm there’s something real going on. Using the cards reminds me that I can personally connect with my inner psychic, even at this stage, and even though it’s not a two-way conversation yet.

Meditate using Hemi-Sync Metamusic CDs.

I’ve practiced a few different approaches to sitting meditation. On occasion, I’ve sunk deep enough to feel a shift and a bit of quiet space open up. Then, during a session, a medium suggested I look into The Monroe Institute. I overcame my reluctance and purchased one of their Hemi-Sync CDs at an Edge Life Expo. Listening to it while meditating takes me to that "deep space" every time! I now own several CDs and seldom meditate without them. It’s great to feel the shift and that peace daily, and I hope that repeated visits to that deep space will make it easier and easier to connect with my inner psychic.

Talk to your guides.

A medium told me my guides are glad to solve mundane problems so that I have more time to work on the important stuff and fewer irritations to mess up my vibration. Ask for help avoiding traffic, finding a good parking spot, getting errands done quickly, whatever. For example, I used to work outdoors and avoiding rain was a big plus. So, I asked for the rain to stop before I arrived at a job site – and it did more times than coincidence would explain. I don’t get consistent results yet, but at this point, I’m settling for tools that provide just enough proof and feedback to keep me on the path and this tool serves that purpose.

Study the book The Astonishing Power of Emotions.

I have come to believe that the biggest hurdle to accessing my innate psychic abilities is my learned habit of not living in the present. I spend a lot of time worrying about the future. I spend just as much time analyzing the past. All that thinking stirs up emotions, mostly negative, and it doesn’t leave much time for living in the present. And I understand that the present is where my higher self lives all the time. This book provided a useful mental framework that explained why I was feeling so bad so often and how those feelings are really just a message from my higher self to guide me back to the present and keep me on my path. The best part is that Abraham gives us practical tools to strengthen this emotional guidance system. Also read Ask And It Is Given for even more tools (called "processes"). More often than not, the tools actually work in the real world – a very rare occurrence in my experience so far.

Get your aura photo taken.

A local psychic named Bobby Sullivan has the knowledge and the equipment to take aura photos. He includes a short reading of the aura, too, for $20 – it’s a bargain. You get a bit of insight and a bit of inspiration, and you come away with an amazing photo you can pin up to remind yourself of your true nature. I’ve crossed paths with him twice so far at a psychic fair and the Edge Life Expo and the photos and my aura changed in interesting ways each time. I’m waiting for the next time!

Visit a psychic or a medium.

This helps me in a few different ways. First, it’s like the difference between going to see a master pianist play Beethoven and just listening to a CD. The live experience inspires and amazes while the CD entertains. Second, my guides typically provide some useful insights and advice. Lastly, I’m reminded that I’m not alone in my quest; I have a lot of friends and family keeping an eye on me from the other side and helping whenever possible.

Be ready to talk yourself out of feelings of envy and frustration that will creep in if you compare your talents to the professional’s. And take the pro’s advice (whatever’s not directly from your guides or loved ones) with a grain of salt – most pros can no longer identify with where beginners are at, so their suggestions often end up more advanced than we can handle.