Life is uncertain, but that uncertainty is not to be shunned. In an op-ed for the Economic Times newspaper, Sadhguru looks at how uncertainty is not to be shunned. When you walk into new terrain, there is uncertainty, but also many possibilities.

Sadhguru: Nothing in the outside world is certain, that's a fact. It’s uncertain and that’s what makes it challenging. Uncertainty means things are changing; in other words there is no limbo. If you are walking fast, every step is new terrain. This new terrain is what you are calling “uncertainty” right now.

Uncertainty Means Possibilities in Life

For those seeking opportunity, uncertainty is the best time. Those who have a vision will make it a possibility; those who don't, will look at it as a problem. But, because you are in a constant state of compulsive reaction in your mind, you are seeking certainty.

Certainty is a state of limbo. If there is certainty there is status quo, isn't it? Status quo in a business, political or social situation means nothing changes; nothing evolves. By seeking certainty, ultimately, you are pitching for stagnation. If things are stagnant, you will get bored. If things are happening rapidly, then you don't have the balance to handle it. So, the problem is not with uncertainty; the problem is your interiority has become uncertain. If we have to fix the whole world for you to be peaceful, that's never going to happen. What we have to do instead is fix your interiority. What do we mean by that? It means, if your interiority is not compulsive, you will handle every situation to the best of your ability. Maybe you can't handle it like someone else, but you will handle it to the best of your ability, that's about it. You won't suffer every situation you come across simply because you are in a compulsive state of reaction.

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Freedom From Certainty & Uncertainty

Interiority is a dimension by itself. It cannot be crafted according to external situations – “there is certainty in life right now, so I will have one kind of interiority.” “Now there is uncertainty, so I will have another kind of interiority.” “When people around me are sweet, I'll have one kind of interiority. When people are nasty, I will have another kind of interiority.” It doesn't work that way. It is not something you determine; it is something that is. So, how to keep it? Well, there is no way to keep it. If it is conscious, it won't be compulsive.

You came here without any investment. And you will leave without any capital in your hand. Whatever happens in-between, you are anyway on the profit side, because all that you have is the experience of life. The important thing is how you experience it. So, if your interiority is in a non-compulsive, conscious state, then you determine your experience. With situations, you determine only part of them, the world determines a part of them. But how you experience life is one hundred percent in your hands.

The Formula for Blissful Chemistry Within

If you think your work is important, the first thing you should do is work upon yourself, so that internally you are a stable being, no matter what the situation is externally. When you are running a large business or enterprise, it's not just about you. Often, there are another thousand people involved with you. So how you handle a situation not only impacts your life, but another thousand lives. Once you grow, the challenges will naturally grow; there's no question about it. But if you want to get into a jockey's place where you want to handle the horse, if you want to handle a situation, no matter how large, the first thing you have to do is equip yourself. I can teach you a way with which you can create a stable and blissful chemistry within yourself, your ability to deal with all the variety of ups and downs in life can be greatly, greatly enhanced. How? With yoga.

Yoga gives you this possibility that if you simply sit here, there is a little space between you and your body, there is a little space between you and your mind, and there is a little space between you and the world. Once you create this space within you, once you know what is you and what isn't, that is the end of suffering. When there is no fear of suffering, you will be able to look at everything with utmost clarity and address every issue to the best of your intelligence and capability. Situations will never overwhelm you.

112 Ways to Immediate and Ultimate Wellbeing

When I say yoga, I don't mean yoga in a studio in Mumbai or LA or on television. Yoga has to be approached in a comprehensive way. Yoga offers a systematic way of working upon your interiority by showing you 112 ways in which you can address your immediate and ultimate wellbeing. It is an entire science and technology. If you invest 30-40 minutes a day, we can ensure that in terms of vitality in your body and mind, you will be at least 10 years younger in the next six months. And your ability to create and manage things will be such that what you can do right now in 8 hours, you will very easily do it in 4-5 hours. If you are sleeping 8 hours a day, very easily you can bring it down to 5-6 hours a day without stressing the body. So, 40 minutes of investment will give you extra time, extra clarity, extra possibility, and definitely extra money!

In other words, yoga is the technology that lets you read the user's manual of the most sophisticated gadget – the human mechanism. If you know how to handle the human mechanism, then what about external situations? Well, some you can handle, some you can't. But as long as you know how to handle yourself, it is not really a problem. It may be a challenge, but it's not a problem. There are only situations and situations and situations in life. Only those who don't know how to handle them label them as a “problem.”

You Need Clarity not Certainty in Life

Don't think in terms of how to turn everything into something else. Learn how to see everything for what it is. For this you need clarity. If you need clarity, you need an unclouded and unprejudiced mind, a mind which is not in a state of confusion, but in the lap of consciousness. That mind will see everything as it is. Once it is like this, if you want to turn everything into an opportunity it's up to you, or you can enjoy it as it is. The greatest possibilities in life are its uncertainties.

Editor’s Note: Inner Engineering is offered as an intensive program for personal growth. The program and its environment establish the possibility to explore the higher dimensions of life and offers tools to engineer one's self through the inner science of yoga. Inner Engineering is available online, and in a variety of in-person formats around the world.