Yoga Veera: Becoming a Stalwart of Adiyogi

“If you want to take care of problems in the world, the first and foremost thing that you need to take care of is that you are not a problem.”

—Sadhguru

This year, Mahashivratri at Isha will be celebrated like never before! For volunteers who wish to support in making the Consecration of Adiyogi happen, Sadhguru has opened up the possibility to spend time at the Isha Yoga Center and become Yoga Veeras. Yoga Veeras will be given a certain sadhana to be done daily in front of Adiyogi and will offer themselves as volunteers for making the event happen. Sadhguru shares how this is an opportunity to dissolve ourselves and play a role in manifesting something far bigger than ourselves.

Namaskaram, Sadhguru. I have heard there is a seva and sadhana that we can do before the Adiyogi consecration, called Yoga Veera. Can you tell us about this?

Q: Namaskaram, Sadhguru. I have heard there is a seva and sadhana that we can do before the Adiyogi consecration, called Yoga Veera. Can you tell us about this?

Sadhguru: A Veera is someone who is valiant, one who has an intense sense of involvement. You can become a Yoga Veera for forty days, twenty-one days, twelve days, seven days, or three days before the consecration. For the period that you take up, you must be at the Isha Yoga Center. You will be initiated into a certain sadhana and become part of making the consecration event happen.

Not everyone will be able to participate in the consecration, simply because the hall is already full. But as a Yoga Veera, you can be part of making it happen, which is far bigger than witnessing it. This will be an opportunity for you to go beyond who you are and dissolve yourself into the process. The next two months are going to be a powerful time. This will be a once-in-a-lifetime happening. If you wish to be part of it, become a Yoga Veera and make this dimension of yoga happen to the world.

When we say “yoga,” we are not referring to a particular practice, to twisting and turning your body. Yoga means to consciously obliterate the boundaries of your individual existence, to become a stalwart of Adiyogi so that the world moves from religion to responsibility.

Right now, the biggest problem on the planet is this: if small things go wrong in your life, you think it is someone else who is responsible for your misery. If big things go wrong in your life, you think it is God who is responsible. You yourself do not seem to be responsible for anything. In the coming decade, we want to change this approach on a large scale. For all the things that go wrong with you, it is you, not someone else. To attend to the issues in the world, one fundamental is that you are not an issue. If you have to clean something, the first thing is to make sure your hands are clean. If you yourself are a big issue and you plunge into the world, trying to solve problems, the issues will only multiply.

If you want to take care of problems in the world, the first and foremost thing that you need to take care of is that you are not a problem. To move the world in this direction, we need Yoga Veeras. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you to take this up and make it happen. We want to see that the world moves in this direction – not up, not out, in. In is the only way out.

Editor’s Note: Information on Yoga Veera Sadhana starting dates is available here. For more information and to register, visit isha.sadhguru.org/yogaveera or contact your local coordinator.

A version of this article was originally published in Isha Forest Flower February 2017.