This week, I was reviewing my notes from a transformative weekend crash course in Inner Engineering, a system of yogic meditation, conducted by Sadhguru. One key idea stuck out to me. Too much attention is given to areas of focus that we have little or no control over, such as global politics, professional sports, or the social lives of celebrities. Not enough attention is placed upon the one area that we truly control and that makes all the difference in our experience of life; our internal being.
We too often focus on fixing the outer world, while neglecting the potency of engineering our inner world. If someone obtains all the comforts and luxuries they desire in this world, but still lacks the internal experiences of joy, peace, and compassion, would we call this a true success? Today’s generation may have the greatest degree of comfort and convenience in all of history, but they also have the greatest degree of sickness and neuroticism.
“Everything that you do on the outside is worthwhile only if you can fix your inner experience.” – Sadhguru
Much everything we do in our lives is in pursuit of increased pleasantness, from getting married to buying a new car, to drinking a beer, to going for a run, to seeking a promotion. Yet all of these avenues only serve as temporary “hits” of joy, peace, or pleasure. If we want a lasting experience of joy, pleasure, and compassion, we must work on our very being. We must engineer our inner experience of the world.
“How many times have you pursued something you are deprived of thinking “This is IT, my life will be settled” Only to find that it isn’t the answer to Life?”
Thankfully, only the external comforts and successes depend upon outside cooperation. The things that matter most to us; health, pleasure, peace, joy, love, compassion, and bliss are almost entirely within our control. We can make our lives dramatically better simply by committing to working on our body, mind, emotions, and energy on the deeper levels. For me, this means taking the time to eat properly, move properly, and practice yoga/meditation.
Hence, Patanjali‘s yogic sutras begin with the line, “And now, yoga.” For once we have realized that money, power, success, etc does not bring lasting happiness, we are then ready for the internal work of learning to become better aligned with existence. We are ready for yoga.
