Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev in conversation with Kavita Chhibber:
Economic activity in the world is as old as humanity. Beginning as a rudimentary activity, it has become more and more efficient, complex and finally disastrous to the planet today.
Until the inner well being is in place, organization of the outer world will continue to be haphazard. We must remember that we are spiritual well beings first and indulge in economic activity to exist in this world. As long as we force our will, instead of doing what is really needed, we will not prosper. In the coming years, economic leaders will be even more influential than the political leaders. It is important that they too work towards the inner well being of humanity-only then can we take control of our outer well being.
Spirituality too has been in the world as long as humanity has existed and the process too has evolved. While spirituality is about organizing your inner being, economics is about organizing your external situation. Cultures that created a balance between their inner well being and outer world did well during their times.
Today the constant buzzword heard is “sustainability”. True spirituality will only happen when people are peaceful and happy and you would think that would be a state in all affluent nations, but that is not so. Instead all economic activity you see in the world is desperate action. People have no concept of what they really need-from a simple matter like how much food they should put in their mouths to how much money or property do they really need. People just do not seem to know when to stop. They are running endlessly in pursuit of happiness.
Only when you are at peace within yourself will you handle economic activity in the way that is good not just for you but for everybody else.
Spirituality has never been as organized as economic activity. Whenever the spiritual processes have been organized it has ended up as religion. All religions on this planet have started as spiritual processes but in the form of religion spirituality has created more trouble.
Economics today is also in a state of dysfunction. Organized economics is supposed to create big opportunities and well being for everyone but the disparity between the rich and the poor is so huge today that it seems as if they are living on different planets.
So both spirituality and economics today do not have the right focus. Today we are not human beings with limitations. Technological advances have greatly empowered all of us, but has it made us happy? It doesn’t seem so.
There seems to be a renewed interest in spirituality, because while economically people have made such huge strides, the inner well being and happiness hasn’t followed. So suddenly there is a great interest in yoga. I hear about 200 million people are practicing yoga in India today and about 25 million people are doing so in the US. This kind of phenomenon hasn’t happened before, and that is because the economic progress has not brought inner well being with it.
Click here for a direct link to Sadhguru’s Keynote Address at TiEcon2007.
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