Becoming Truly Energetic and Alive
“Another way of looking at it is that what you call ‘like’ or what you call ‘myself’ is energy. How alive and wakeful you are is how energetic you are.”
—Sadhguru
Q: Sadhguru, sometimes I feel dull and sluggish. Can you tell me how to become more energetic and alive?
Sadhguru: 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-to-day energy that you experience. Another way of looking at it is that what you call “life” or what you call “myself” is energy. How alive and wakeful you are is how energetic you are. The ability to convert food, water, air and whatever other inputs go into your system will be different in different people.
It is not just about digestion and assimilation. The conversion of energy happens in different states, depending on how alive or how awake your energies are. Once you start certain spiritual practices, you might have seen that your level of energy is totally different. Your ability to stay awake, not be tired and to go on with life is so much better once you start these practices. If you practice these kriyas daily, you can see that if you don’t do them for one day, there is a distinct difference. In a way, all spiritual practices – the kriyas and meditation – are fundamentally to make your energies more awake than what they are right now.
Whether we are talking about kundalini or, as they say in English, “plain, simple energy,” it is basically about raising ourselves to a higher level of energy. What you call “life” itself 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 energize 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 percent 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.
Right now, a certain emotion may be building up within you in a very small way, and you may not even be aware of it. For example, if someone suddenly calls you an idiot, you will explode. You think you are getting angry only now, but actually, it has been building up for days, weeks, or even months. It was not in your awareness because of your state of energy. When this is the case, the whole process of life is accidental, and your energy is accidental. When it is accidental, you will see that one day you are energetic, the next day you are not.
You will definitely notice that on a certain day, if you are very happy, you seem to be very energetic. Another day, when you are not so happy, you have no energy. One reason we are always talking about being peaceful and happy is not for the sake of peace and happiness, but only because if a person is peaceful and happy, his energies begin to come alive in a certain way. Otherwise, the system is simply blocked up. Only if these energies are alive can you activate them towards a higher possibility.
Being Truly Energetic
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 laborer 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.
So, when you say “energetic,” if it is just about being a little more energetic in performing your day-to-day activities in the world, there are many simple practices that will definitely take care of it. If that is not enough, there are ways to upgrade that a little bit so that it can be taken care of. 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 realize within a short time that it is not so. Some people may take years to realize; a few people will realize quickly, but everyone will realize. 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.
Editor’s Note: Excerpted from Mystic’s Musings. Not for the faint-hearted, this book deftly guides us with answers about reality that transcend our fears, angers, hopes, and struggles. Sadhguru keeps us teetering on the edge of logic and captivates us with his answers to questions relating to life, death, rebirth, suffering, karma, and the journey of the Self. Download the sample pdf or purchase the ebook.
