From a Piece of Flesh to a Divine Force

The body itself is considered divine as far as yoga is concerned, Sadhguru explains. He discusses bringing consciousness into every activity and the possibility of transforming an unconscious mass of flesh into a divine body.

Sadhguru: One aspect of yoga is to take all those things which are involuntary, into our conscious or voluntary action. Your breath, your heart beat, your liver function – these are involuntary or compulsive actions. Everything that is vital to the system is compulsive or involuntary because nature did not trust you. If any of the organs that are vital to your system were a voluntary process, you might do something crazy!

Have you seen people who are in a state of compulsive mental activity? Even their fingers and hands move involuntarily. This is happening in a big way in the younger generation. Their hands start moving by themselves without asking permission.

However, as you become more aware, those aspects of the body that are right now involuntary, naturally come into your voluntary control because if you become more conscious, nature trusts you: “He is conscious enough. We can give him a little more responsibility.” Once something is voluntary, you can run it the way you want it.

From Involuntary to Voluntary

Involuntary activity is in some way a helpless level of activity. Your body and particularly your brain should become largely voluntary. If it becomes voluntary, your life is made. This is the journey from being involuntary to voluntary.

Are you a volunteer? That is what it means – you do everything consciously, by choice, not compulsively. You just do what is needed. You have no particular way to sit. You have no particular way to do things. In every aspect of life, internal or external, you will do it the way it needs to be done right now. That is effective activity. The rest is wasteful activity.

Let’s say I am climbing a mountain. My heart has to beat in a certain way. If I am just sitting, it has to beat in a different way. But if I sit here and it is beating like I am climbing a mountain, this is wasteful activity. Once you start doing wasteful activity in your brain, your heart, your body and everything else, you are a wasteful human being.

The reason why people cannot notice anything about themselves is simply because there is too much excessive wasteful activity, too much involuntary activity within the system. If you do not notice anything with your system, there is no yoga. The whole of yoga has come not from heaven, nor from a scripture or some religious teaching. It has come with a very deep understanding and observation of the human system.   

King of Limbs

The very body is divine as far as yoga is concerned. One aspect of Shiva is that he is Angaraj. Angaraj means the king of limbs. You may be doing Angamardana, which is a process of gaining mastery over the limbs. Shiva is the king of limbs because he has completely mastered them, and now the very body has become divine. If the system, which is moving from unconsciousness to consciousness, becomes 100% conscious, if even the physical body becomes utterly conscious, then this is a divine body. That is what it means when we say Shiva is Angaraj. These limbs can be an unconscious mass of flesh, or they can become so conscious that they are like a divine body. This is about transforming a piece of flesh into a deity.

This is the science through which deities are made. By creating a certain yantra, or form, and by injecting energy into a particular form, a stone can be made into a divine force. If a stone can be transformed into a divine force, why can't flesh be transformed into a divine force? It can definitely be done.

Editor’s Note: Hatha Yoga is the science of shaping the body into a receptacle for the divine. Isha Hatha Yoga programs are offered regularly in various locations around the globe. Find a program near you.