It looks it needed a virus to turn you spiritual: Jaggi Vasudev

New Delhi, April 8

Stressing that right now, peoples fear of the Coronavirus was essentially because mortality was staring them in the face and they were realising how fragile human life is, Jaggi Vasudev, popularly known as Sadhguru, adds, “Because people believe they are immortal, once in a while, when something reminds them of their mortality, they become tortured. But if you are consciously reminded every moment that you are mortal, if every cell in the body is constantly aware that it is going to be terminated, then life is a total ease.

“Only because we are mortal, the spiritual process, a dimension beyond mortality, means something to us. If it is guaranteed that tomorrow you are going to die, what would you do? It would become immensely important to know something beyond your physicality. Only then sitting here and turning inward becomes meaningful. So this time is a reminder of your mortality. Well, I have been trying to turn you spiritual for a long time now. It looks like it needed a virus to do it! We are offering some simple practices online that will help people to boost their immunity and give them the mental stability to go through this time.”

The founder of Isha Foundation, who was at the receiving end of much criticism for his statements on CAA recently, and earlier the Shiva bust at his Coimbatore aashram blames anonymous and “yellow journalism” for the noise in social media and certain sections of the press. “You can sit at home, start a fake account on social media and say whatever you want. They are making so much noise because they have no substance. All they have is a full-time job on social media platforms, particularly Twitter. They have no other employment, so they are self-employed in abuse. Everything that a man can be accused of – things he can do and cannot do – I have been accused of. One thing is, anyone can file a PIL with just a few hundred rupees. I can file ten cases on you by the evening. The onus is on you to prove them wrong. In the last twenty-five years, I do not know how many cases have been filed against us. They say I have stolen 7,000 kidneys and killed hundreds of people, destroyed an entire rainforest. And a certain segment of press in Tamil Nadu has taken to yellow journalism, picking up all this and writing about it. Most of the responsible media is not doing anything of this kind, but this trash is doing this. These are people who live in filth and sell filth. They have realised that once in three months if they put my photograph on their cover page, their rag sells a bit.”

Ask him about the allegations of being pro-BJP from different quarters, and he maintains that never has he identified with any political ideology or party. “People think I am supporting one party. No, I am working with AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, the communist government in Kerala, and the Telangana government. Whoever people elect, I am willing to work with them. After that, if the people choose somebody else, I will support them for the next five years. It is just that I value democracy.

You should not have a pet politician of your own. Is the politician working for the nation, or is he working for himself? This is the first thing that needs to be seen. Secondly, does he have the breadth of mind, intelligence, and competence to create what the nation needs? And does he understand the heartbeat of this nation? If these things are present in a politician, it is our business to support him. Otherwise, it is our business to replace him. To do this, there are different instruments in a democracy which we, as responsible citizens, should utilize.” The spiritual guru, who has a major following among youngsters insists that he does not try to teach them philosophy but give a better alternative. Stressing that Yoga is powerful tool which can help the contemporary youth immensely, he adds,  “They have been inviting me to all these conferences meant only for those under twenty-five, but somehow I am eligible!  There are many ways to approach them. I am using a simple way. If you just look at my eyes, I am always stoned. I tell them, “No need to buy anything, no negative effects. You can simply sit here and get knocked out because the greatest chemical phenomenon on the planet is the human body. Thirty-seven followed by twenty-one zeros – that is how many chemical reactions are happening per second in this body. To be healthful, peaceful, joyful or ecstatic, you need chemicals. If you are a good manager, you could make whatever you want out of it. Ask the youth, would they be interested in simply sitting here and getting stoned-out without going to the back streets and buying stuff?” Talking about his latest book ‘Death: An Inside Story’, published by Penguin Ananda recently, Vasudev says that of all the events in one’s life that may or may not happen, death will certainly do. “Everything else in your life may happen many times over, but the final moment when you transcend the limitations of your physical body will happen only once in your lifetime. It is the last thing that you will do, so is it not very important that you make it happen most gracefully and wonderfully?”   –IANS