The Power of Inclusion
Whatever I face, any kind of situation, any kind of people, the moment I sit, I just look at them and I don’t even have to think. I just see them as a part of myself and speak to them as I would speak to myself. When you speak to yourself, you can say whatever is needed. There is no difficulty in it; there is no greatness about it. You just do what needs to be done.
Once there is a sense of inclusion, awareness and consciousness comes naturally. Awareness is life. Life is awareness. There is no other way to be. So what is needed is consciousness. Consciousness is not individual, consciousness is always all- inclusive. If you are conscious, everything is included. You neither need confidence nor diffidence. You just function to the fullest of your intellectual capability without any hesitation.
It is only because of exclusion that awareness has to be practiced. People are becoming such exclusive characters in the world. Most of your exclusiveness, you have created unconsciously. A part of it, you have created consciously because you thought that this is the way to get attention from the world, by trying to be special. Especially in Western cultures, right from childhood, they are training you to be special. Trying to be special is the worst of diseases because once you get this disease, there is no salvation for you. In the old brochures, we used to say ‘ Isha Yoga – Ordinary to Extraordinary.’ People thought if they come to the program, they would become very special. After they arrived, I would tell them, “No, you will become more ordinary than others. Extraordinary!” When there is no effort to make yourself special, when you are simply ordinary, you will stand out as extra- ordinary. All- inclusiveness is extra- ordinary. It is just a way of life. When I say inclusion, it is not my philosophy, it is not something that I have made up — this is the way existence is. It is only in inclusiveness that existence is functioning.
When we talk about inclusiveness, we are not teaching you a new philosophy. We are talking about falling back into the way life is, just ordinary as it is. It is ordinary but it is magnificent.