7 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask About Dhyanalinga!

Q: Why is there a tamarind tree in front of Dhyanalinga with black cloths tied to it?

Sadhguru: It is always said in India that ghosts hang on a tamarind tree. You might have noticed that at night, no animals or birds settle down on a tamarind tree. They will eat the tamarind fruit during the day, but at night, you will see birds sitting on other trees for their night's rest, not on the tamarind tree. This is because the level of oxygen around a tamarind tree is extremely low compared to any other vegetation. There are a few other trees like this also, but the tamarind tree is significantly so.

For disembodied beings, this lack of any life settling there combined with the very low level of oxygen, feels like death and dissolution. This is why they tend to move in the direction of these trees.

At one time, there used to be a tamarind tree in front of every Shiva temple. This is because those who established the temple do not want to deny those who have lost the body, the opportunity of being with the deity. The tree was set up as a place for these beings.

We have a tamarind tree bang in front of Dhyanalinga. In the presence of Dhyanalinga, even beings who have not worked for their mukti, attain to mukti within a short span because their structure cannot be kept. In that kind of energy, the being just collapses.

The cloths tied to the tree are because there are people who do a certain type of sadhana for forty-two days. This is called Shivanga Sadhana. They tie a cloth on their body for the entire forty-two days. A certain amount of their body, in the form of sweat, enters the cloth. Today, you can talk in terms of DNA. Using that DNA or the memory of their body, there is a certain process that happens in front of the Dhyanalinga, where we relieve them of their karmic structure.

After this process that is done after forty-two days of sadhana, people find immense relief from what they have gathered in their physical and mental systems over a period of time.

Q: Why are there so many downward flowing snake sculptures?

Sadhguru: In the yogic culture, the snake is used as a symbolic representation of higher dimensions of energy. This is because the movement of Kundalini is very similar to how a snake moves when it is provoked. This is why in many energy spaces, you will see depictions of snakes. Generally, you will see snakes depicted as moving upward because you are seeking the divine.

But in the Dhyanalinga, you will see cascading snakes coming down because it is a shower of divinity, it is not in search of divinity. There is a shaft of grace – grace is spilling down. It is to indicate this that in a subtle way, we have depicted this cascades of snakes.

Q: Why are the steps leading to Dhyanalinga so big?

Sadhguru: Dhyanalinga is not a place of worship. It is a place of meditation. Meditation is not an act, it is not something that you do. It is something that you can become. Meditation will not happen because you make an effort. If you cultivate the body, mind, emotion and energies to a certain point of maturity, you will naturally become meditative.

So, for those who are coming to the Dhyanalinga, we are setting up simple procedures. The steps are designed such that when someone presses the soles of their feet on the steps, it activates the system in a certain way. Another thing is that when you are trying to go to the next step, when you raise your leg beyond a certain point and press down and push your weight up, your muladhara opens up – it gets the necessary stimulation.

The next time you climb something high, just notice how the whole area around the muladhara gets stimulated by pressing down the feet in a particular way, which is very important if one wants to become meditative.

If you came to a yoga program, you would have done this with various practices. But most people who come to Dhyanalinga have not been instructed into any kind of meditation. But when they simply go and sit there, they think they are going to sit there for five minutes but they end up sitting there for hours.  

Dhyanalinga has the possibility that without instruction, it can make you meditative. But some preparation and receptivity is needed in the body. The whole structure of the Dhyanalinga space is made such that in many ways, it prepares your system to become meditative.

Q: Are the Patanjali & Vanashree in the parikrama also energized in some way?

Sadhguru: Patanjali and Vanashree are deities. We have said very little about these two wonderful beings because the whole focus is on Dhyanalinga. They are not as multi-dimensional, exuberant or as permanent as Dhyanalinga, but they have their own qualities. We have not glorified them much. We have just kept them like symbols, but they are alive in their own way. They have impact and influence on people’s lives.

The Vanashree was essentially set up as a small feminine counter for Dhyanalinga. But for a man like Him, that is a very poor wife. Dhyanalinga needs something more than that. When we consecrated Dhyanalinga, the southwestern corner becoming Linga Bhairavi was always on my mind. But during the Dhyanalinga construction, we did not have the means or the time on our hands to do it.

Dhyanalinga is complete by himself, but as a whole, the space was slightly incomplete. So, once we lived on, this was on my mind continuously. Now that Linga Bhairavi is in the southwest corner, this is a complete system.

Q: Why is there a Nada Aradhana every day?

Sadhguru: The energy of Dhyanalinga can become like a solid wall because the field of energy that gathers around the linga is so intense. For those who penetrate through it, it will be wonderful. Others will sit in the space but will sit outside the energy simply because of its intensity. If it was of a weaker intensity then a lot more people could enter.   

So, twice a day, we are sort of cracking this wall by using certain sounds – sometimes melodious sounds, sometimes discordant sounds! The melody of the music that they produce is only socially relevant for the people who are sitting there. But the purpose of making the sounds is fulfilled even if they are discordant, because the idea is to disturb something there which is manifesting itself into something very intense – almost like a solidified presence – so that it becomes a little more accessible to all the people who enter.

You could just do it with a few shouts or even make noises with some kitchen utensils, if you do it intensely enough. It may not serve the social purpose, but the spiritual purpose is being served. However, we want to make use of this as an offering, because in a state of offering a human being is most receptive.  

Always in the Indian way of life, if you go to the temple you must offer something. This is not because God wants to eat your banana or coconut. If you do not have bananas or coconuts, you are supposed to at least offer a leaf. The idea is that you go with an intention of offering. You go as an offering. When you go as an offering, you are most receptive to what is available there.   

So the times of Nada Aradhana are the most receptive for people because they are a time of an offering.

Q: Can a human being become like Dhyanalinga?

Sadhguru: Every human being can walk on the street like a Dhyanalinga, with each of the seven chakras vibrant and at their peak. It would be wonderful to see a day where lots of people are like this.

Dhyanalinga is a living being because it has come with all the seven chakras. It is just that there is no physical body. Dhyanalinga is like the energy body of the highest kind of being possible, like a yogi sitting there. Or to put it in traditional terms, we created Shiva himself. The idea is that people have a live guru forever.

To do your sadhana in the intimacy of a guru is very different from doing your sadhana by yourself. Very few people get that opportunity because it is physically impossible to provide that all the time. But with Dhyanalinga, everyone has that opportunity. Even if you don’t know anything about meditation, if you just sit there for a few minutes, you will become meditative without a single instruction because the very nature of the energy is such.  

Skeptics will suffer this idea, but in theory, it is possible to create a physical body over this subtle body. We can create a huge, fantastic human being. But it is too elaborate a process to attempt. Right now he is fine without the physical body – he reverberates very powerfully. Once you build a physical body, he comes with all the limitations of the physical body. If there is no physical body, there is no problem of time span. A nonphysical super human being is better than a physical super human being because he stays for thousands of years.

Q: If we visit Dhyanalinga once, can we access Dhyanalinga wherever we are?

Sadhguru: You need to understand, time and space is a limitation only as long as you are entrapped in your mind – specifically the conscious mind. Even if you just go to deeper levels of the mind, there is no time and space.

Dhyanalinga is not a particular physical form, it is an energy form that defies time and space. Even people who have not seen or known about Dhyanalinga feel it the moment they become receptive. Wherever you are, even if you have never been to this place, if you are willing to be open in a certain way, Dhyanalinga always is.

This may sound very abstract for many people, so it is best to make at least one visit. If you have beheld Dhyanalinga, if you have sat there, the sowing of the spiritual seed through the Dhyanalinga will anyway happen within you. If you keep a space in your house and fix a certain time for yourself, in the morning or evening, and simply sit quietly, the energy of Dhyanalinga will envelop you from within.

If you need some visual help, you can always have an image, which will give you the necessary support. A support is only because one is psychologically distracted. Otherwise, no support is needed. The sowing of the spiritual seed that happens by having been in the presence of Dhyanalinga will anyway take care of this.