Sadhguru

[kray]

How do people generally feel about Sadhguru and his "inner engineering" videos? I personally find his wisdom helpful, almost on par with Leo's...but I do feel Sadhguru has a tendency to sometimes sneak in or justify Indian cultural/religious dogmas. What are your thoughts? 

[PureRogueQ]

I have no doubt that he has helped lot of people in hard times, but I  find his approach not that good, actually he aggravate me  because  of it,  he is telling to many stories and spews out to much "wisdom" that for ego is like I got it today , tomorrow it is gone, not bad for attracting people into spirituality and making people less tribal I guess, but that is just about it.

He is talking about making big moves all the time, but I just don't see it,  or maybe because his videos are just fliers and he does real work only in his community. 

 

[Ether12]

@PureRogueQ @kray Good day fellas, I am somewhat new to this blog even though I joined a while back. Interesting to hear some of your experiences with Sadhguru and Isha.

@kray, I used to feel exactly like you in that I also thought that Sadhguru would sneak in what I would consider as religious dogmas/beliefs, but I still left myself open minded enough to try out whatever was being offered. More recently it was the MahaShivRatri night (last week) and there was a strong resistance within me about why Sadhguru kept saying this was a non-religious festival. Because I've come to a point of not taking my logic too seriously, I decided to anyways tune into the program (streamed live on YouTube), and ended up staying awake till around 3:20 in the morning. I'll admit it I wasn't blown away into ecstatic states, but there was definitely an upsurge of energy I experienced the entire night and I even had to force myself to sleep at that time as I wasn't tired. I forced myself to sleep because I had work the next day and thought I should at least sleep few hours, but I didn't at all feel tired when I went to bed.

I guess what I'm getting at is whenever my logic comes in the way Sadhguru and his programs come and bash it down. This is not the only time, I've had this experience several times over the years since I've become more involved with Isha.

My personal opinion is that the Sadhguru you see on YouTube is only a sneak peek of what the man is all about. Keep in mind that he has to cater to a wide range of people so he cannot be all spirituality and intense all the time. If you want to know what Sadhguru is all about, I suggest you take a few programs at Isha, maybe Inner Engineering as that's their flagship program and see how it works for you. If it works, awesome, if not drop it and move on.

That being said, I feel like I really don't know much at all to be commenting on who to follow and not to follow. When you really get into these practices, you start to feel like a fool because all your life you've drawn so many conclusions and they've all been misguiding. Anyways, I hope this helps for what it's worth. Let me know if you have any more questions.

[Tetcher]

I think he's my best shot for ultimate well being, he invented that term too which has value in itself. I don't see anything else in the world like that currently although I got somewhat frustrated because I did all the programs and practiced and it's still not enough for a lasting breakthrough, it's more of incremental improvement here and there so far. I hope to do the Hatha Yoga program at some point and keep improving incrementally throughout my life until maybe a breakthrough or at least a good conscious death. Only if I have a messy and panicky death will I know it didn't work 

[vladorion]

Teachers who are very popular are usually not great, ironically.

Sadhguru seems to be more into improving lives of many people rather than helping a few awaken.

He's not really a teacher to go to if you wanna wake up.

[Tetcher]

42 minutes ago, vladorion said:

Teachers who are very popular are usually not great, ironically.

Sadhguru seems to be more into improving lives of many people rather than helping a few awaken.

He's not really a teacher to go to if you wanna wake up.

 

[Ether12]

@Tetcher @vladorion Nice to meet you both!

@Tetcher You've done all the programs at Isha except the Hatha programs? If that is so, man you're missing out! Surya Kriya is an amazing program and I find it does really well to complement Shambhavi. You should try it out if it's available in your area.

@vladorion I disagree. These yogic practices are intended to ignite a spark within you. Once you're well enough ignited and your intelligence has evolved, you will want nothing other than to seek truth. Everything else recedes in the background. Yes it is a slow process because many people are only willing to dedicate 1 hour (maybe 2 max) a day doing these practices. I went from doing about an hour 15 mins a day to about 3 hours a day, and I can tell you that the difference is massive. It's not like I'm blissful or more ecstatic, but there's more of a single pointed focus about my life now than there was previously. Previously it was easier to fall back into compulsive behaviors, but there's a lot more stability now. Eventually I'd like to take more programs and go from 3 hours to 4.

[Bodhitree]

@vladorion I agree. 
 

I don’t rate Sadhguru. Some of the things he says are ok, others not, and that means he can’t be trusted to guide you. 

[Gidiot]

More conscious than probably anyone on this forum and probably is enlightened I’m guessing. Doesn’t mean he will awaken you but I’m guessing if you keep digging the hole (doing the practices) long enough you will awaken.

 

most yogis say it takes about 12 years of practice to awaken  so expect it to be gradual, he’s great at what he does but you’d be right in saying his method isn’t for immediate awakening actually he explicitly states he doesn’t believe in instant enlightenment. 
 

if you want to be awake enough you’ll do al the practices and become a brahmachari, something I’ve thought a lot about myself. Each person will resonate with a certain guru and he’s not for everyone but it’s rare to have someone enlightened and making practices at all for all of humanity, it’s not a small thing. I think leo is a great teacher as well and they have a lot in common although Sadhguru is biased towards Indian culture and will not talk about the stuff Leo talks about because of his rep he thinks he will lose

[Moksha]

First impressions, I disliked Sadhguru. Sporting a beard and robe, jetting around on his egocentric motorcycle, lecturing at people rather than teaching, turned me off. I still think he has an ego. That said, after watching a few of his vids, the core message resonates. 

Is the guy for real, or an Indian Tony Robbins? I don't really care. As long as his teachings convey wisdom to my soul, I am thankful.

[Dan502]

What I like about Sadhguru is how rarely I can predict what he's going to say next.

[Bojan V]

To many of you guys in the West are focused on the well known gurus, Eastern or Western. There are other authentic spiritual teachers around the world. I knew one person from the Balkan area who was enlightened, but of course unknown to the world. In some way that was a good thing becose he was more available to people who really needed his help.

What i am trying to say learn some other language other then english and search for authentic spiritual teachers in other areas of the world.

Edited March 18, 2021 by Bojan V

[a_viral]

Sadhguru has a lot of biases like cultural bias & also he is biased towards the current government (BJP) although the government wants to make INDIA a Hindu country and it really doesn't care about the poor or Middle class people sadhguru still support BJP so although he is enlightened he can't see the biases within himself. 

Edited March 28, 2021 by a_viral

[Breakingthewall]

imagine that a smart guy wants to become a star. You can set up a music group, or perhaps, if you are an Indian and you know that enlightened people are idolized in your country, choose this route. It is not difficult to learn in depth the theory of spirituality, surround yourself with advisers for costumes, appointments, practices, erc. they can be authentic practices and wise quotes. With money you have the best creatives, plus you are smart and creative too!. a beard, a turban, gestures of grim condescension ... and the world is yours!

[Seeker531]

On 28.3.2021 at 9:34 PM, a_viral said:

Sadhguru has a lot of biases like cultural bias & also he is biased towards the current government (BJP) although the government wants to make INDIA a Hindu country and it really doesn't care about the poor or Middle class people sadhguru still support BJP so although he is enlightened he can't see the biases within himself. 

Maybe Sadhguru just does what he needs to do to maneuver between the mighty in his country because without being supportive to some powerfull people he would have accomplished less. This might be one reason out of many

[Bojan V]

36 minutes ago, Seeker531 said:

Maybe Sadhguru just does what he needs to do to maneuver between the mighty in his country because without being supportive to some powerfull people he would have accomplished less. This might be one reason out of many

@Seeker531 So what did Sadguru actually accomplished?

Edited March 29, 2021 by Bojan V

[Chris365]

On 3/18/2021 at 0:17 AM, Bojan V said:

To many of you guys in the West are focused on the well known gurus, Eastern or Western. There are other authentic spiritual teachers around the world. I knew one person from the Balkan area who was enlightened, but of course unknown to the world. In some way that was a good thing becose he was more available to people who really needed his help.

What i am trying to say learn some other language other then english and search for authentic spiritual teachers in other areas of the world.

I'll learn Albanian on the off chance I get to meet the one and only Albanian enlightened master 

[Bojan V]

@Chris365 Maybe you should.

[Tetcher]

19 minutes ago, Bojan V said:

@Seeker531 So what did Sadguru actually accomplished?

He has dispatched yogic practices to millions of people, he built the infrastructure to actually keep the support to those people, no doubt many of those people were miserable and saw some light thanks to him, he's doing the mahashivatri festival which attracts millions of viewers every year and again, he produced a huge amount of spiritual content offering a holistic view on a huge range of topics, all this keeps the spiritual process alive for millions. Spiritual process is important for many people to live a meaningful life. He built an ashram which gives employment to many local people and contractors, a place to volunteer for those who wish. He has many social programs to rejuvenate indian countryside, he made 3 different schools : one for the rich people, one for the poor people in countryside and one spiritual (Isha Samskriti). He's dispatching his programs in jails both in India and the US. He initiated few social programs such as operation greenhand which resulted in millions of trees planted and going, Cauvery program which is a comprehensive plan for farmers to switch to tree based agriculture which should increase the green coverage and save the dying river of Cauvery, the goal is to make a proof of concept. When asked how many people he managed to enlighten during his career he says many, I'd tend to believe it. He made the Dhyanalinga which he describes as the goal of his life, I'm not sensible enough to understand its worth, it's supposed to liberate you automatically, so I'll see about that when I die.

He made a lot more than that on various scales he has an holistic approach to life, he's just trying to align the whole thing starting from people innermost center to society at large, very impressive. To me it's clear he's the most advanced person on the planet, I don't even understand people in this thread stating that he has ego or that he rubs them the wrong way, that makes zero sense to me.

[Bojan V]

@Tetcher @Tetcher Thank you for your reply, but i am still not convinced. I don't  believe him just like i didn't believe in Sai Baba ( to be honest decades ago i DID believe Sai Baba was an avatar, but i was young and stupid). I will not repeat the same mistake again.

The other thing is his view on gays. He was ok with the decision of the India's supreme court which decriminalized homosexuality, but after that he said don't PROMOTE homosexuality. This is the typical style of the homophobes and i reject that! I am gay and i don't "promote" homosexuality. I am just being me. In fact i still didn't came out to all people. So this is one of the reasons why i think he has an ego. The other reasons are his support of the right wing government in India and his claims about his paranormal abilities.