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Shanzay Salman reviews the conversation between mystic Sadh Guru and Kangana Ranaut
Kangana Ranaut has been entertaining us all with her sharp acting skills and reckless attitude, since a while now. This time she appeared as interviewer in an explosive conversation with the iconic Indian yogi, mystic and New York Times bestselling author, Sadhguru.
The ‘Queen’ actor raises some very important questions that speak out to the entire youth of India, as the country races through the 21st century as a developing global and neoliberal force trying to reckon itself with age-old spiritual ideals of inclusivity, passive resistance and awareness through practicing stillness.
Right at the start Kangana eagerly charges at the guru with a question as saada (simple) as Jaggi Vasudev’s title of Sadh-guru – “Why not imitate the West?” What have our roots in yoga and our spiritual process given to us as a nation, as a land, as a culture? Even if we are to agree that historically our spiritual practice has prevented us from going to invade different parts of the world, it has only landed us into conquest after conquest. So what is the use of this ‘spirituality’?
In response, the realized guru calls to attention the present need of the hour for the Eastern world: the ability and systems to organize effectively. The subcontinent has suffered from over 200 years of economic and social exploitation at the hands of the British and that is the cause of our suffering today. On a personal level however, somewhere deep down Indians more than the West have come to the realization that the cause of their joy, sorrow and other emotions springs from somewhere inside of them. Outside arrangements can still be dealt with. India’s multifaceted culture and practices, were in fact its cause of survival through colonialism, and the reason why the British failed to ever fully understand India’s complexity, finally having to exit it.
From here the conversation spirals into what Kangana claims is the guru’s favorite topic- the mystery of “Shiva”. Sadhguru explains it as that which cannot be perceived by our five senses. The two eyes can only see that which blocks light. “Shi- va”, is that which does not exist. Today science is talking about no-things, the nonphysical dimension of existence. But this no-thing has to be something. This he says is a constant reminder that you need to look beyond that which appears to be. All those who have experienced this dimension are Shiva, even those who have not experienced it are Shiva.
Light-heartedly brushing off jokes about “all guru types” as well as frequently pulling his interviewer’s leg calling her ‘mental’, Sadhguru kept the audiences engaged with witty anecdotes and lucid explanations. He emphasized the need for yogic practice to access ‘Shiva’, as the dimensions of our mind are only a fraction of the truth, and cannot allow us to access the whole.
Far from being an isolated sermon on spirituality, the interview heavily converses with current political dynamics, with the guru giving his two cents on the refugee issue, cow lynchings, the padmavati issue and the ideology of ‘nationalism’.
So, if you too like Kangana are a spiritual newbee, mostly caught up with Bollywood dreams knowing very little about yoga but eager to show and know some more, binge on this two- hour long episode of “Kangana Ranaut with Sadhguru”.
