This following is an excerpt from "My Conversations with the Mystic," an interview of Sadhguru by Shekhar Kapur, the director of the Academy-Award winning film Elizabeth.
Shekhar Kapur: Many spiritual leaders are working towards creating a peaceful world and bringing down violence. What steps have you taken in that direction? Do you think you can impact the leaders of nations at war and bring about peace using your spiritual teachings or methods?
Sadhguru: There are conflicts which have been hanging upon the planet for decades for the same reasons; many different types of conflicts have happened. The spiritual process essentially focuses on bringing peacefulness and blissfulness to an individual human being. When I say an individual human being, it does not matter who he is, whether he is a leader of a nation or a business leader or just a man on the street; it works for every human being. So definitely, a spiritual process has to touch everybody, particularly people who are in positions of responsibility and power because they can make a huge difference for many people. When you are a leader of a nation or, even these days, a large business, every thought, emotion and action that you generate is impacting millions of people. Just the very thought that you generate is impacting people in so many different ways.
When such a responsibility and privilege have been placed in your hands, it is extremely important that the leaders of nations and large corporations take steps to ensure how they are within themselves, to ensure what kind of beings they are. Some work has to be done within themselves because every thought and emotion that they generate impacts so many people. When such a privilege has been given to you, that your thoughts and actions affect millions of people, it is extremely important that you conduct this privilege in a responsible manner, and you can only conduct this responsibly if there is a spiritual process within you.
When I say a "spiritual process," maybe not everybody understands this, so one way of putting it is this: it is essentially inclusiveness, that is, realizing the nature of the existence -- that you are not an exclusive entity, you are an inclusive process. And if this inclusiveness does not arise within you and you have a certain level of power in your hands, then definitely it will lead to various kinds of conflicts; there's no question about that.
So the essential aspect of the spiritual process is to raise beyond one's physical and individual identifications and into a state of all-inclusiveness. What we refer to as "spirituality" is a technology for inner well-being -- it can be imparted through simple methods which will naturally lead to a more inclusive way of experiencing life. It is not as a philosophy or a belief system. So I am striving to include all those involved in driving the economic engine into a spiritual process. Over 80 percent of the world's economy is controlled by less than 2,500 people. If even a 10 percent change happens in their hearts, the world will change.
We have worked with millions of people; we have worked in the prisons of South India and the United States. And definitely, we have worked with major leaders, and I have focused on business leaders in particular. If you look at the world 100 years ago, military leadership was the most powerful leadership. And in the last 100 years, the world has evolved into a situation where democratically-elected political leaders are the most powerful people, but even that will change. That is already beginning to change and it is going to change very rapidly in the next 10 to 15 years. You will see, in the future, the economic leaders will be the most influential people. Seeing this, I have started working with economic leaders individually on certain levels, and we have definitely made a difference in the way they make their decisions, the way they conduct their businesses.
So if we truly have to create solutions that are relevant for all, an experience of absolute inclusiveness has to happen to humanity, particularly for the leadership. And this is possible.
Isha Yoga programs are based on tested, scientific principles. They offer tools for optimal health, emotional well-being and professional excellence. To participate in Sadhguru's upcoming Leadership Retreat in Los Angeles, visit: Ishaiei.com. Sadhguru's next live webstream event will be "Life at Full Throttle" -- a Q&A with championship racer Chris Rado on Jan 30. For more information, please visit this website.
For over 25 years, Isha Yoga programs have touched and transformed the lives of millions of people around the world. To learn more, please visit Sadhguru's Huffington Post bio page.