“All Human Experience is Generated From Within” — 10 of Sadhguru’s Greatest Quotes
Profound quotes from an Indian mystic and yogi and what it means for our daily lives.
Spirituality is a deeply personal experience. In my search for more spiritual insight beyond the tradition I was raised in, I came across Indian yogi and mystic, Sadhguru on YouTube. He is a relaxed, open, and peaceful man with a hefty sense of humor and deep insights on all life’s greatest questions.
I’ve binged watched Sadhguru’s videos over the years and here are 10 quotes that resonated with me and my short explanation of them. These quotes span topics of emotion, God, love, and identity. Maybe something here will resonate with you.
1. “All human experience is generated from within.”
I would say that this is the core philosophy of his teachings. Sadhguru says that our experience of the external world drives our internal state. Our thoughts about the present moment, past, and future lead to positive or negative emotions about life. By working to improving our internal life, we will improve our human experience. We can begin working on our internal life by noticing our thoughts and choosing a different thought that would lead to a positive emotion.
2. “The nature of being human is such that no matter where you are or what kind of achievements you have behind you, you are still wanting to be something more.”
We are always seeking something more — more money, love, knowledge, wisdom, or friends. It doesn’t matter where we set the boundary, once we can see it, we want to expand past it. We are always seeking more to enhance our lives. Sadhguru says that there is something within us that doesn’t like boundaries and will never be satisfied by the limits of physical life. Expanding beyond the boundaries of our identity and physical desires is necessary for fulfillment. To do these, we must first recognize the boundlessness within us.
3. “Out of profoundness of experience, you can know life. By turning inwards, you can know life.”
We must raise our consciousness beyond what we perceive through our human senses to what is within us. This is the fundamental activity of life. What is happening within us is far greater than anything outside of us. We are more than our wants, thoughts, and emotions. It is time we pay attention to who we are.
4. “The only reason why we are talking about a God is because we have no explanation for the Creation. There is such a phenomenal creation and we don’t know how.”
Sadhguru posits that God for humanity is a conceptual phenomenon. We created God to explain the universe around us because we cannot say that we do not know. Our ideas of God are cultural. We try to limit and explain the boundless within the boundaries of the mind. We cannot put a definition on the Source of Creation. We cannot define it or know it through knowledge, we can only experience it.
5. “What you call a body is just an accumulation. Whatever we accumulate we can say it’s ours but we cannot say it is me.”
Our dominant way of thinking about life is through the psychological and physical dimensions. Sadhguru says that we differentiate your life from my life when there is no such thing. Our lives are different from the physical and psychological identities we have developed. When we move past these limited dimensions to where we really exist, we see the significance of our individual life.
6. “What looks like self-preservation today is imprisonment tomorrow.”
Whatever we want, once we get it it can be a source of great suffering. Have you ever wanted a job, got it, and then after a couple of months you want to leave? I have. Sadhguru proposes that suffering arises not because of the job but because we do not know how to manage our thought processes. We falsely believe our external accomplishments will satisfy the longing within us. When it inevitably doesn’t, pain arises.
7. “Love is not an instrument of convenience. Love is a process of self-annihilation.”
Through self-annihilation, we destroy the boundaries and identity of self in our minds. Plainly, this means we drop our restricted ideas of “me” and “you”. We notice that we are the same and that the life of creation is within us all. It is from this state of union that true love flows. Love flows from a state of union with all that exists.
8. “Most people think — other people die. No, you and me will die. If you understand that this is a limited amount of time and energy you would see how to master this is in some way.”
We forget that our lives are limited. Every minute that passes is one minute we are closer to death. Death is the only sure thing in life, yet we are afraid of it. Pondering the end of our life will bring deeper appreciation for every moment. When we appreciate the limits of life, we focus less on the trivialities.
9. “Mind is not in any one place. Every cell in this body has its own intelligence. The brain is sitting in your head, but mind is all over the place.”
It is hard to sit quietly as our minds aimlessly cycle through the past and the future. We ruminate on what we should have said or done in the past or what we want in the future. Our minds go on without awareness or control and it has turned against us.
10. “Man needs entertainment simply to hide his madness. If he was perfectly sane, he would not need entertainment.”
The wave of loneliness and incessant attention to media arose because of our inability to be still within ourselves. Our mind needs to be constantly occupied to stop it from making its own drama about our present reality or future. Our mind does not want to be alone with itself. What happens when we let go of the entertainment? Will we miss out on life? No, it is then that we experience it.
Tying it all together
Our life — who we fundamentally are— is not defined by or limited to the physical or psychological dimensions of life. When we let go of our external identities and quiet the mind, we identify with the boundless life force within us and it is from here that love and joy flows.
Thanks for reading!
Kim
