Sadhguru & Rakul Singh: The Truth About Happiness

Learn English with Sadhguru & Rakul Singh. Join actor Rakul Preet Singh in a thought-provoking conversation with Sadhguru about the complexities of the law of attraction, destiny, and the power of being blissful. Discover Sadhguru’s insights on how individuals can take charge of their own lives and the importance of conducting thoughts and emotions consciously.

Sadhguru: Situations are happening around us. Not all situations will ever happen the way we want it because situation is not just me. Situation is so many people involved, so many forces involved. All of them need not happen my way. But if I’m happening my way, I’m blissful, okay?

Rakul Preet Singh: Now coming to intention, you know, like you say that your thought is something that when you give it out to the universe, like the law of attraction, the ask…

Sadhguru: You’ve been reading all these American books.

Rakul Preet Singh: I’ve been… I’ve read Inner Engineering as well, but… so, so, so, it just makes me curious about these things. When you say the law of attraction, where you ask, believe and receive, anything that is sent out to the universe in a positive direction or in a constant direction rather, happens, you know, because they say that you design your destiny, you design your life, like you just happen to say that, you know, you… you… your conscious efforts, you can have control over your life. Now, coming to intentions, now what if someone’s… I mean, you’re sending out a positive signal, great. What if someone is…

Sadhguru: No, I did not agree with that. You made a theory. There are lots of hoes.

Rakul Preet Singh: Okay, okay, so well, my question, you did not agree to it. So my question is, if someone is sending out… okay, you want your life to be a certain way, you send out positive signals, which is great, but…

Sadhguru: To whom?

Rakul Preet Singh: To the universe, to the universe.

Sadhguru: Which direction, up or down?

Rakul Preet Singh: That’s what I’m asking, how does the law of attraction work? Does it really work?

Sadhguru: It doesn’t work.

Rakul Preet Singh: It doesn’t work? So what works? How do you design your destiny?

Sadhguru: Law of attraction is something that happens between opposites. Yes? Whether two magnets or to, you know, two opposites, male and female or whichever way, law of attraction is always between opposites, isn’t it? From North Pole to South Pole to this and that, it is working like that. Now you’re talking about the universe. So that means you are an alien to this universe?

Rakul Preet Singh: Part of the universe.

Sadhguru: If it’s part of the universe, what is there to be attracted about?

Rakul Preet Singh: Well, how… Why do they say that you can design your own destiny?

Sadhguru: You can. You can determine your destiny, you should. That’s what being human means. See, if you had come here like any other creature on this planet, they have compulsive cycles. They live by that, it’s okay for them because that’s all they’re capable of. Once you have come as a human being, everything that you can do… Actually, if you look at your life, you’re not doing anything very greatly different from what the other creatures are doing. They are born, you are born, you grow up, they grow up, they reproduce, you reproduce, they die, you die. Nothing very different. But these same simple things, we can conduct them consciously. That is the significant thing about being human. The moment you conduct it, let’s say you conduct your hand consciously, now this hand will do what you want, isn’t it? You won’t simply sit here and do like this. Now this will… hand will do what you want. Suppose you conduct your thought consciously, now your thought will do what you want. If your thought was doing what you want, how would you keep yourself blissful or miserable?

Rakul Preet Singh: Blissful.

Sadhguru: If you are blissful, would you go in search of happiness? So these things that people think are the greatest things in their life, to be peaceful, joyful, nonsense, wouldn’t mean a thing to you because you are blissful. But you can’t say that to them, they’ll feel insulted. You have to…

Rakul Preet Singh: You have to play with humans.

Sadhguru: But essentially, if your thought and emotion was taking instructions from you, you would keep yourself in the highest level of pleasantness, whatever that is, isn’t it?

Rakul Preet Singh: Correct.

Sadhguru: Yes. If that happened, if that happened, your entire life process will come to an ease, total ease. Right now, this is because you have to… you are a crouching tiger. You have to go get something, always. There is nothing to get. If you sit here, your life is complete. Now it’s at ease, total ease. When it’s in this kind of ease, it will become perceptive. Now, just pursuing a profession, making money or even being joyful or being loving or falling in love, nothing means anything to you because just sitting here, the highest level of pleasantness is happening to you. So what would you do with that life? Naturally, you would explore something that is not in your perception right now. This is how spiritual process begins. This is how you take charge of your life. Now you wish for something, it happened.

I want you to know this, for most people, at least fifty percent of what they wish happens. It is just that they are focusing on a few things that did not happen. If you want to be fair, in a reasonably well-settled society, ninety percent of what they wish happens. It is the ten percent they’re complaining about. Hello? Isn’t it so? Ninety percent of your life is happening the way you want it. The ten percent you’re cribbing, you’re never enjoying the ninety percent because this ten percent did not happen the way you want it. So already, to a large extent, you’re in control of your destiny. A little is going off, but that little can bother you. It’s like you drove hundred kilometers properly. Let’s say you have to drive hundred kilometers. Ninety kilometers you went properly where you want to go. At the ninety-first kilometer you crashed. Still it’s not good, isn’t it? So that’s why they’re complaining. I’m not saying they’re complaining for nothing. Because ninety kilometers everything went well, just before reaching something crashed. So they still suffer for that. Now, right now this is because situations are happening around us. Not all situations will ever happen the way we want it because situation is not just me. Situation is so many people involved, so many forces involved. All of them need not happen my way. But if I’m happening my way, I’m blissful, okay? Whether the golf ball flies straight or goes into the mountains, I’m still blissful.

Rakul Preet Singh: As long as you’re playing golf.

Sadhguru: Even if I’m not playing.

Rakul Preet Singh: Right. So… So now coming to this, now as long as things happen your way and you’re on your own path and you’re blissful and you know, positive…

Sadhguru: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I’m not saying as long as things happen your way, you will be blissful. If you’re blissful, it doesn’t matter which way it happens. Whichever way it happens, you’re blissful. See, this is essentially the world has put cart before the horse. You tell me, it is easier to take charge of yourself or it’s easier to take charge of all these people?

Rakul Preet Singh: Of… I mean it’s tougher to take charge of yourself, you know.

Sadhguru: Oh, you can take charge of these people? Try.

Rakul Preet Singh: No, no, no, because I… Why I’m saying that is because people don’t realize that they need to take charge of themselves and are out there to take charge of societies and communities and people and trying to change others.

Sadhguru: No, right now, you’re sitting here. Is it easier to take charge of yourself or take charge of all these people?

Rakul Preet Singh: Myself.

Sadhguru: Yourself. You must first do that, no? What is simple and easy? If you take charge of yourself, let us see how much we can get cooperation from these people. Now, when you say you’re in pursuit of happiness, what this means is you want all of them to function the way you want. Then you will be happy… No, when we say, “If this happens, I will be happy. If that happens, I will be happy,” what it means is the world should function, the universe should respond your way.

Rakul Preet Singh: That’s not what I’m saying. No. I don’t believe in that because that’s trying to put conditionality into everything that, you know, this is how it should function according to me. What I… What I was saying was that, say, okay, for example, a very basic example of somebody wants to be an actor or somebody wants to be a cricketer and I’m taking a very basic example of what you want to do in life and you work…

Sadhguru: Let’s say it did not happen. It did not happen means what? People did not like your acting or the selectors did not like your cricket, something happened. So what you want did not happen. Can you still sit here blissfully, that’s a question. That is why I’m saying what you’re trying to do is when you say, “Everybody should like what I’m doing,” in some way you have to take charge of their minds, that’s what you’re doing. In some way through your cinema or whatever, in some way you’re taking charge of their mind and doing what appeals to them and that’s why it’s working, isn’t it? Otherwise it won’t be working.

So which is easier, taking charge of this or taking charge of them? This. If you take charge of this, now you are not in pursuit of your happiness, you are not tense about anything, there is no, you know, sword hanging on your head, you will do everything to the fullest to the hilt because you don’t care what happens. Whatever happens, you’ll be still fine, this much you know. Now you will naturally do everything wonderfully well because there is absolutely no concern because you are not a vested interest anymore. You will do what is needed without any effort. So what somebody thinks is a great circus and a feat, you will do it joyfully, playfully.