Acquire consciously: Make conscious choices when it comes to acquisition.
Put people over property: Don’t acquire material things at the cost of others.
Heed your instincts: Trust in your instincts. Our instincts are our best guides.
When I have too much of anything in my life, I am not happy. It takes away time from living, and I ended up spending a lot of hours managing too many material things. Less is more and we must walk our purest path—even when we are not sure. The fifteenth-century poet Rumi says, ‘When you start walking in earnest, the path appears...’
In 2016, I was invited to attend my first Sadhguru weekend. I had hosted Sadhguru in my Manhattan home for two Diwalis in a row—in 2015 and 2016. It’s only now in retrospect that I understand the enormity of this as even I, like most people, struggle to realize the profoundness of experiences that I am fortunate to have. I usually go along with things without too much fuss or second-guessing. However, the real impact was in 2017, when I attended his weekend Inner Engineering training in Palisades, New Jersey, with a hundred other people. Again, thinking back, it was a very small group. Sadhguru usually has a minimum of five thousand people or more in his live sessions!
That weekend, I learnt the Shambhavi technique of meditation, which has helped me quiet my mind and soul, no matter what is going on. I was also present to hear a question addressed to Sadhguru from an Indian doctor living in Florida.
He asked, ‘Sadhguru, no matter how hard I work, I am always afraid we will not have enough for our old age and our children’s needs. This has me kept awake with worry every night. Why?’
Sadhguru, having heard him patiently, smiled and answered, ‘If I told you that I would take care of you and your wife and your needs if you come and live and work in my ashram, would you feel less anxious?’
The doctor answered, ‘Yes, but that would mean giving up my practice in America, and my home, and my cars, and my retirement fund and my lake house...’
Sadhguru stopped him and said, ‘Yes, all of it…to have some simple peace of mind. Would you do it?’
The doctor paused, looked at his wife and then said, ‘Yes, actually we would. This way of life is making us so anxious.’
Sadhguru heard him and kept looking without speaking. Then the doctor stopped and said, ‘But our children live here and it might be too much to leave and uproot; and go and live and work in your ashram. But we will give it a serious thought.’
I kept thinking, ‘Aha! Here is my first lesson on aparigraha or non-greed.’
Don’t be attached to anything. Leave the fruits of your good action to the universal force. Don’t desire more than you need. As one practises this, it becomes a part of our natural thought process.
This is something I have tried to incorporate into my business affairs as well, especially while I considered the prices of the Giving line of products, which were to ultimately benefit the Giving Back Foundation. I have also used these principles as guides in life.
