Lessons in wellbeing: Creating a conscious planet with Sadhguru

Today, almost everywhere in the world, we as a generation of people are far more comfortable and have more conveniences than anyone could imagine even 50 years ago. For example, compared to how the UAE was 50 years ago – a tiny little desert land – look at the way you are today. Your grandparents and great-grandparents lived in the harshest possible conditions. This does not mean they were miserable. But physical comfort was at another level altogether.

In the past, if you wanted a bucket of water, you had to walk two miles down to the river or pond to get it. Today, most people are not fit enough to carry a bucket of water for two miles.

Every day, people had to strive to get their food. But today, you can go to a superstore and buy everything you need for the next six months and not step out of your house. So, our survival issues are largely handled.

Once our survival is taken care of, we must address our inner wellbeing. Earlier, because basic survival was such a challenge, it kept everyone focused. There was not much struggle in the mind because when getting daily bread is a struggle, you do not have much time to drive yourself crazy. But as the survival issue is settled, you will see more and more struggles on the psychological level.

Today, the World Health Organization is talking about a mental health pandemic. In the US, the Surgeon General is saying one out of two people is lonely. This is not just in the US. It is starting to happen across the world.

Loneliness is the incubation period for psychological illnesses. Every neurologist and scientist studying the gut biome within our body is saying that in the next 10 to 15 years, the biggest challenge will be to stay psychologically healthy.

Regarding physical health, we understand that we are healthy today but something could strike us tomorrow. We don’t wish it, but it can happen, and it is happening to millions of people every day. Just thinking, “It will never happen to me,” is a foolish way to live. We take care so that physical illness does not come our way, but there is no guarantee. Similarly, with mental health, we may be perfectly fine today, but we could step onto the other side tomorrow.

Do not think mental illness happens only to a certain type of people. It could happen to anyone. Ensuring that you don’t go there is important because human experience – pain and pleasure, joy and misery, agony and ecstasy – is determined from within. What happens around us, whether it is on the street, in the country or the world, or even between two members of a family, never happens a hundred percent your way. It happens a little bit my way, a little bit your way, a little bit someone else’s way. But what happens within you must be determined by you.

Read: Gaining ground: Sadhguru and his global mission to save soil

Sadhguru to launch global movement to teach yoga and meditation

Towards this, in 2024, we will be launching a global movement called Conscious Planet.

It aims to ensure that at least three billion people have a 12-15-minute practice that they can do every day for their inner wellbeing. Along with meditation and yoga, we will offer a variety of things such as music and martial arts. People can choose based on their inclination but the idea is human beings should start working for their wellbeing.

Let us invest in inner transformation as that is the only solution for all that we see as problematic or troublesome. If the world has to change, we need to understand that individual transformation is the most crucial thing. If every one of us strives, we can create a world full of love, light and laughter. Its time has come. Let us make it happen.

Ranked among the fifty most influential people in India, Sadhguru is a yogi, mystic, visionary, and a New York Times bestselling author. He was conferred the Padma Vibhushan by the government of India in 2017, the highest annual civilian award, accorded for exceptional and distinguished service. 

He is also the founder of the world’s largest people’s movement, Conscious Planet – Save Soil, which has touched over four billion people.