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What is Unique About Indian

Culture: A Consciously Crafted

Ethos

07 Jan 2014 9 Comments

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LIFESTYLE

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Noted fashion designer Tarun Tahiliani

seeks Sadhguru’s insights about Indian
culture, its fundamental basis and its
original nature. Sadhguru elaborates on
how the most unique facet about Indian
culture is that it was crafted to support and
nurture every human being’s ultimate
aspiration.

Tarun Tahiliani: What is this essence

that has kept us together as Hindustan or
Bharat? What has made it special?

Sadhguru: Let’s say you are alone in this

room. Would your intelligence work better if
I told you everything about this room, how it
is, how it should be, how it can never be
because it’s all God ordained, or would it
work better if I don’t tell you anything about
the room, I just leave you here for three
days so you can explore everything and
find out for yourself? Which way would
your intelligence work better?

Tarun Tahiliani: The second.

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India – A Consciously
Crafted Ethos
Sadhguru: Definitely. If you are in a state
of exploration and seeking, your intelligence
would work better. The sages of the past
who consciously crafted this culture saw
that human ingenuity and human
intelligence will always be perky and sharp
only if you are a seeker. If you become a
believer, it will get blunted.

This is something the world could never

understand, that these people say “yes”
and “no” to the same thing.

Tarun Tahiliani: That’s what we do. We

are not sure if it’s “yes” or “no.”

Sadhguru: It is not that we are not sure.

We know it is “yes” and “no.” Right now, I
will ask you a simple question. You must
tell me the answer.

Tarun Tahiliani: Oh my god! I am on the

spot.

Sadhguru: You are. Are you a man or a

woman?

Tarun Tahiliani: I have to think about it. I

think I am a man. I am conditioned as a
man.

Sadhguru: No. I am asking you a direct

question. Are you a man?

Tarun Tahiliani: A man, yes.

Sadhguru: Yes. Now, the fact of the

matter is you are a man, but the truth of the
matter is you exist here because a man
and a woman came together. You being a
man does not mean your mother is absent
in you. She is very much present. Similarly,
just because somebody is a woman, the
father is not absent; he is very much
present. In India, we said “yes” to both.
People may think we are confused, but
actually, we are looking at it more
profoundly. If you only look at the surface,
you may see someone as a good guy or a
bad guy. We never saw it that way. We
know no human being is 100%, 24 hours
good, or 24 hours bad. People vary.

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Your focus should be how to get the best
out of everyone who is with you. If you
create the wrong situations, the best
people will turn out to be the worst. If you
create the right situations, the so-called
worst will turn out to be fantastic human
beings. If you say this guy is a good guy or
a bad guy, you are looking at life as if it is a
commodity. That is not how life is. When
we say “yes” and “yes,” it is not out of
confusion – it is out of a certain
profoundness.

Tarun Tahiliani: I can see that. To go

back to what I was asking you about – what
defines the spiritual space that people
recognize as Hindustan or India?

A Godless Country
Sadhguru: This is a godless country. Tell
me, who is the god in this country?

Tarun Tahiliani: There are millions of

gods.

Sadhguru: Yeah. Those millions of gods

happened when our population was that
much.

Tarun Tahiliani: Each one had their own.

So it is up to 1.3 billion gods now?

Sadhguru: No, we lost our imagination

somewhere on the way. We became shy
of creating gods because other people
laughed at us for having so many gods.
This is again an inferiority complex. We
should have been proud. “Yes, we have 33
million. What’s the problem? We are very
rich.” I am one of the few who is continuing
to create gods. This idea in other cultures
that there is one god, looking like one big
human being (of course a man, not a
woman!) sitting up there and controlling the
whole universe, came up because they
thought existence is human-centric. We
have never seen it that way. We know we
are just a small speck in the universe, and
tomorrow morning, if we disappear,
everything will be just as fine.

External and Self-

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nurture
This is not a land that was based on
morality. This is the most beautiful way to
live because morality means persecution;
morality means right and wrong. Once we
think in terms of right and wrong, it is
always I who is right and you who is wrong.
With right and wrong, you create a
prejudiced world. We never looked at life in
terms of right and wrong. We always saw it
in terms of every life having to find full
expression. That needs nurture. Like every
plant, like every animal, a human being
also needs nurture – both external nurture
and also self-nurture.

This goes for every life on the planet – how

great or how puny it becomes does not
depend upon whether it is good or bad. It
depends upon how much nurture it finds
from outside and from within. Because we
recognized this, no good and bad, no right
and wrong, no high and low were fixed.
Everything was left open. This is
spirituality.

Editor’s Note: For more of Sadhguru’s

articles about Indian culture and the
various customs associated with it, check
out the Why We Do What We Do
series. For more insights from Sadhguru,
follow him on twitter and facebook.

This article is an excerpt from the

Jan 2014 issue of Forest Flower, which is
available at the Isha Download Store as a
“name your price” download. Annual print
subscriptions are also available.

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Join the discussion…

SURYA • 2 years ago

I am PROUD to be part of
that...
2 • Reply • Share ›

SURYA • 2 years ago

YES...We have not MILLIONS
but BILLIONS and BILLIONS of
GODS as we see GOD in
EVERYTHING in this
EXISTENCE...
2 • Reply • Share ›

Kushal Mohta
• 21 hours ago
Yes indian culture is very rich
but
Once ur set of belief books are
changed or u r converted u
start hating this culture.
U start feeling ashamed of ur
own culture ..
• Reply • Share ›

NagBelad
• 4 months ago
Sadhguru explained very well.
Yes, why poverty is having
God(s)? Srimad Bhagavatam
also explains about 24 Gurus,
coming from all species and
professions for realization.
Thank you Guruji.
• Reply • Share ›

Vidhyashankar
• 4 months ago
Wow!! No words to describe
the article. I don't think I have
ever met a more clear person
than Sadhguru
• Reply • Share ›

Jaya • 4 months ago

"The pain of ignorance should
tear you apart
when that happens the
seeking will flare up in such a
way,
knowing is just one moment
away" - Sadhguru
• Reply • Share ›

Jeanette • a year ago

This is exactly where I find the
most peace in.

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 • Reply • Share ›

Jaya • a year ago

If you become a believer, it will
get blunted.
• Reply • Share ›

Ramesh Shivanga
• 2 years ago
Indian culture is the unique and
rich culture in this world...
• Reply • Share ›

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