The Impact of Indian Civilization - Sanjeev Sanyal with Sadhguru
- 4 years ago
In this episode of "In Conversation With the Mystic", writer and economist Sanjeev Sanyal and Sadhguru discuss India, its history and contribution to the world, and what lies ahead for the nation.
Sanjeev Sanyal: Good evening. Let me begin by welcoming you to Singapore on behalf of all the people here. It is a real pleasure, it’s a real honor to speak to you. Of course many of us have already seen many of your videos online and today of course another one just before this. Now, as you know the topic for today is: The impact of Indian civilization on the world.
Sanjeev Sanyal: Ah yes I’m going to put you on the spot for it (Both laugh). And before we go beyond that, I’m going to put you on the… try and get you to… try and define what we mean by Indian civilization in the sense that… and particularly… what I… what I’m not trying to get into is of course this impact of Indian civilization on mathematics in ancient times, of software and today, but really the impact of Indian philosophy, our way of life on… on the world. And I’m going to start with asking you, how is the backbone of this civilization, whether you call it Hinduism or the Dharmic tradition, how is that fundamentally different from other ways of thinking about civilization?
Sadhguru: (Laughs) You use the word ‘backbone’ – that is the essence of Indian civilization. It doesn’t have a backbone, because what a backbone means is – the form is determined, your body takes on this form because the skeletal system is a fixed thing. You can change a little bit, you can make it big or small but the skeletal system is a fixed thing. Nobody has changed the shape of their bones out here. They only can put on some flesh or reduce some flesh. So backbone essentially means that you become a vertebrate. Vertebrate means you can only change your form marginally, not completely, ever. But the ethos of Indian civilization is it’s like an amebae. It can change, it can integrate, it can drop with impunity. So the essence of Indian culture is it doesn’t have… it is not a vertebrate, it’s an invertebrate.
Yogi, mystic and visionary, Sadhguru is a spiritual master with a difference. An arresting blend of profundity and pragmatism, his life and work serves as a reminder that yoga is a contemporary science, vitally relevant to our times.
Sanjeev Sanyal: Good evening. Let me begin by welcoming you to Singapore on behalf of all the people here. It is a real pleasure, it’s a real honor to speak to you. Of course many of us have already seen many of your videos online and today of course another one just before this. Now, as you know the topic for today is: The impact of Indian civilization on the world.
Sanjeev Sanyal: Ah yes I’m going to put you on the spot for it (Both laugh). And before we go beyond that, I’m going to put you on the… try and get you to… try and define what we mean by Indian civilization in the sense that… and particularly… what I… what I’m not trying to get into is of course this impact of Indian civilization on mathematics in ancient times, of software and today, but really the impact of Indian philosophy, our way of life on… on the world. And I’m going to start with asking you, how is the backbone of this civilization, whether you call it Hinduism or the Dharmic tradition, how is that fundamentally different from other ways of thinking about civilization?
Sadhguru: (Laughs) You use the word ‘backbone’ – that is the essence of Indian civilization. It doesn’t have a backbone, because what a backbone means is – the form is determined, your body takes on this form because the skeletal system is a fixed thing. You can change a little bit, you can make it big or small but the skeletal system is a fixed thing. Nobody has changed the shape of their bones out here. They only can put on some flesh or reduce some flesh. So backbone essentially means that you become a vertebrate. Vertebrate means you can only change your form marginally, not completely, ever. But the ethos of Indian civilization is it’s like an amebae. It can change, it can integrate, it can drop with impunity. So the essence of Indian culture is it doesn’t have… it is not a vertebrate, it’s an invertebrate.
Yogi, mystic and visionary, Sadhguru is a spiritual master with a difference. An arresting blend of profundity and pragmatism, his life and work serves as a reminder that yoga is a contemporary science, vitally relevant to our times.