Should You Pray To God? Sadhguru’s Eye-opening Answer
Sadhguru: Prayer means you are telling God what to do.
You think you are God’s consultant. Meditation means you just shut up. If you just shut up everything that
needs to happen to you will happen to you. So touching that dimension which
is beyond the physical means you want to touch that dimension which
is the basis of the physical. When you say that which is the basis of the
physical, what you are talking about is that you are not interested in creation but you are
interested in the source of creation. There, if you go and stand in front of the Creator, at
least there you must keep your ideas down, isn’t it? Your ideas must be kept down for some time
when the Creator is here. Isn’t it so? Isn’t he the biggest idea? It’s like, there was a man in Pennsylvania;
where are you from? Participant: Seattle. Sadhguru: Ah, it rains,
it doesn’t flood there. That’s why we could put Seattle on the coast. Otherwise, it would flood, you know, that place.
So Pennsylvania, there was a man in Pennsylvania. Once there was a big flood and… Are you okay if there’s a joke inside a joke?
Are you all right? The flood was beginning to happen, the water was filling
up and there was a very enthusiastic young journalist who is reporting stage by stage, hour by hour as to
how the flood is progressing, you know? Because that is journalism; somebody is drowning,
report to the world, ‘This man is drowning, look at him drowning’, take it on the video and show it to everybody
how a man drowns.
You don’t throw the goddamn camera and
get the man, no, you show the whole world
how a man can drown in a flood. So these are not the days of video cameras. Only, you know,
Morse code is how the report is filed. So he filed a report, very eloquently he said,
‘As God sits and watches, the water is filling up in this part of Pennsylvania
and houses are going down and this and that’ and described it in very eloquent terms. Then immediately he got a
response from his editor, ‘Leave the flood, interview God’ (Laugh). God is sitting and watching,
he thought he is somewhere here. ‘Forget about the flood, interview God.’ They didn’t get to interview him,
it continued. Many homes drowned, and many people died,
but one man survived. This man who survived went to New York City
and shared among people how he survived a Pennsylvania flood
where so many people died. People gathered. Then he went to Boston and talked about
how he survived a Pennsylvania flood and more people gathered. Then he came to Seattle and
he shared, and more people gathered.
Then he started his road show, city to city talking and
talking about how he survived a Pennsylvania flood. He became a famous speaker in America
and then naturally, you know, every American has to write a book within their lifespan. So he wrote a book,
about how he survived a Pennsylvania flood. They became famous, he spoke everywhere
and his engagements become international. He became a millionaire and sold millions of books All his life he only spoke about
how he survived a Pennsylvania flood. And one day he died, not in a flood,
he died and they had an assembly. He went through the Pearly Gates and
there was an assembly of people and there was an opportunity to speak, a few people
could speak. So he told his neighbors, ‘I will share my experience about
how I survived the Pennsylvania flood.’ Somebody nudged him and said,
‘There is Noah in the audience.’ Okay? So now you don’t go stand in front of that which
is the basis of the creation and throw your ideas at him. You are his idea.
Yes?
You are just a figment of his idea. If he withdraws his idea you’re gone.
So you don’t put your ideas. So this is the essence of meditativeness. Prayer means you are telling God what to do.
You think you are God’s consultant. Meditation means you have understood your limitations,
now you just shut up. If you just shut up, just shut up on all levels,
everything that needs to happen to you will happen to you.
All the training is just to help them to shut up, that you don’t throw your silly ideas at the Creator,
you just shut up.
