The Heat Is On

“When everything is escalating in many ways, the most important thing in our lives is balance. We need to know how to remain well-grounded, centered, cool, and balanced, no matter what the external situations may be.”

—Sadhguru

Summer has arrived here in India. There is substantial evidence that the world is going to get hot – not just in temperature. When everything is escalating in many ways, the most important thing in our lives is balance. We need to know how to remain well-grounded, centered, cool, and balanced, no matter what the external situations may be. Through science and technology, we are empowered with the ability to create and destroy like never before. If we want this ability to become a creative possibility, what kind of human beings we build is most vital. So far, we have been busy building things around us. In the last hundred years, human beings have built on this planet what previous generations had not built in 10,000 years – all kinds of things, useful and useless ones.

When we have such capability, it is important that we do not create things that will destroy us and every other life, but create that which nurtures and enhances life. With the kind of power and capability that human beings have today, being balanced is of paramount importance. Otherwise, you are going to be super destructive. You do not need to have your own private nuclear bomb for that. But even that may not be too far away. The way things are going, how to build a nuclear bomb may be on the internet in the future. The only thing is the material is not easily available, but even that may change. Then you may want to bomb out your neighbor because his dogs are peeing in your garden, but you end up bombing out the entire city, because that is the kind of weapon you have. That is what is happening in the world today – because they want to get one person, they bomb the entire country.

Being balanced and cool does not mean being dead serious. Serious people with good intentions can become the most dangerous people. Those who believe that they are working by commands of God have always done the most horrendous things on the planet, believing they are doing the greatest service. It is very important on the spiritual path that you are not dead serious. Being intense is one thing. Being tense is another. Intensity brings focus. Tension brings distraction. When you are intense but everything within you runs cool, easy, and smooth, this life that you are can be put to best use, both for yourself and for everyone. And that is what really matters in life.

No other generation before has ever dreamed of many things that are so common for us today. For example talking to a person who is not here would have been a miraculous thing in earlier times. If a hundred years ago, you conveyed a couple of words to someone who was a hundred miles away, you would have been considered as the messenger, son, or God himself. Today, we can convey anything we want all over the world.

There is enormous power in these capabilities. In this situation, what we convey, how we convey it, what we do, what we do not do, how we conduct our lives, how we breathe, how we sit, how we manage ourselves, and above all, how we are within ourselves, is of utmost importance. If you were a little ant and you walked over people, you would not do any harm. In contrast, if you were an elephant, you would have to be careful where you set your foot, or else, you would cause destruction. Today, we as human beings have a footprint bigger than a dinosaur. Therefore, it is extremely important that we are conscious where and how we set our feet.

In this context, it is very significant that last year, the International Day of Yoga was declared. It essentially means teaching the world to be balanced and cool. If you do not get irritated, frustrated, and angry, if you do not get into a rage, we could put anything into your hands and be assured that you would put it to the best possible use for everyone. Right now, the problem is that others irritate you, agitate you, enrage you, that they make you angry, frustrated, or hateful. Once this happens, you will find a good reason to hurt and destroy. With absolute conviction and a clear conscience, you could do horrendous things. People who are doing most horrible things in the name of God are doing it with a clear conscience, because they think they are fulfilling the divine will.

Once negative emotions are a part of your system, you somehow find a reason to lend expression to this kind of negativity. How much damage you cause is only a question of capability. When you are capable of getting irritated, then being agitated, angry, hateful, or in an explosive rage are just progressions. If you feel the mildest sense of irritation about something or someone, that is what you need to work on. Do not wait until you explode into states of rage. Rage happens because you exclude others. Rage does not exist when you are inclusive.

When you are beyond rage, you are a part of me. When you are beyond rage, you are a cool life. Once you are a cool life, once you are pleasant by your own nature, you have no vested interests. You will do what is needed because you are fine by yourself. You do not have to squeeze happiness out of others. With the enormous capability that human societies have acquired today, if you are beyond rage, you are a tremendous possibility. It is my wish and my blessing that all of you become such a possibility.

Love & Grace,

Sadhguru