Being energetic and alive
‘IT IS ABOUT GOING BEYOND PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS AND ACHIEVING ONENESS’
SADHGURU: Being energetic means different things to different people.
For a school kid, being energetic means being able to go to school, play games, come back home and fall asleep. For a labourer on the street, it means to be able to perform his activity all day. For an executive, it may mean to sleep less, travel more, or be more productive. For a yogi, he doesn’t want to sleep or eat. He wants to be that way for many days – just being alive by his own contact with existence, not by putting something into him.
One level of energy is the food that you eat, the water that you drink, the air that you breathe and the sunlight that you receive. These things become the day-today energy that you experience. Another way of looking at it is that what you call “life” or what you call “myself” is energy. If you want to function on a higher plane of life, you need a higher level or quality of energy. There are many methods to do this. There are dramatic ways to energise a person, but such methods need proper preparation, balance and control over life. That requires much more awareness from a person, to know what he is doing and not doing with himself. Most people, even the so-called “spiritual” people, do not know what is happening within themselves 98 per cent of the time, especially when it comes to their body or their energy. And when it comes to their mind and emotions, they usually do not know until it becomes acute.
So, when you say “energetic,” if it is just about being a little more energetic in performing your dayto-day activities in the world, there are many simple practices that will definitely take care of it. But for me, being truly energetic means that when you just sit, the physical body is no more a limitation for you. If your energies are really active, the physical body is no longer a limitation; energy becomes the main contact. Right now, your body, mind and emotions are the main contact that you have with the rest of the world. That is how you communicate and reach out. You can touch someone physically. Or, you can communicate with your thoughts, or emotionally convey something. But once you are truly energetic, you can communicate with everything in the existence energy-wise. When you start communicating energy-wise, there is no distinction between this and that. Once the barrier is broken, that is ultimate nature.
When you start a spiritual process, being energetic means going beyond all limitations, because in energy there is oneness. In the physical body, there can never be oneness. In mental thought, there can never be oneness. We may talk about oneness, but it is never going to happen. With our emotions, we may think we are one, but we are still separate. No two people can feel exactly the same way. You may believe so, but if you have any sense, you will realise within a short time that it is not so. Some people may take years to realise; a few people will realise quickly, but everyone will realise. No two people are exactly alike physically, mentally, emotionally; it’s not possible. But when you become truly energetic, oneness is just natural. That is the way it is.
■ Ranked among the 50 most influential people in India, Sadhguru is a yogi, mystic, visionary and bestselling author. He was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan, India’s highest civilian award, in 2017, for exceptional and distinguished service.