...Sadhguru at the City National Civic in San Jose. I have a natural skepticism toward god men and enlightened souls, but I thought that I should at least listen to what Sadhguru has to say, before forming an opinion.
Sadhguru says he was a skeptic in his youth. He had millions of questions swirling in his mind, but could not find anybody who could provide answers. He built a fairly successful business in his younger days. One day he went to the top of Chamundi Hill in Mysore, sat on a rock and started to meditate. He had a spiritual experience which set him down the path he has traversed all these years.
His main message was that we should all strive for joy in our life. As human beings, we come up with a thousand different reasons to be unhappy. He called that the "but" syndrome. I could be happy, but for my wife or I could be happy but for my boss. Kick the "but" was the core message of his lecture.
I found his setup for why he wrote the book quite interesting. He talked about how the rest of the world looks up to America and wants to copy everything that we do. His book, he said is an attempt to provide Americans with the tools to live a life that would be worthy of emulation by the rest of the world.
An audience member asked Sadhguru for advice on the upcoming election. It was a topic that I wished he had avoided. He talked about how America should embrace the world and spread joy, love and in return can expect the world to reciprocate. He berated past policies that led to war and instead asked voters to ask their politicians to promise not to open a new theatre of war.
In my view, America can embrace the world, but the world needs to be ready to let America embrace it. It takes two to tango and not even a Sadhguru can help cut through decades of distrust and hostility that exist between America and its enemies.