Sadhguru and Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, founder of the Lok Satta Party, look at how power is not a bad thing. The problem arises only when they fall into bad hands.
Full Transcript:
Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan: No, no he wanted an answer from you. Answers are from you, questions are from us. (Sadhguru laughs) This is an often asked question; it’s not about this party or that, that ethical politics is not sustainable in India. That what we all desire or we claim to desire is not winnable in India is a prevailed proposition, I can now say with some degree of confidence across the country. The challenge is how to reserve that. That’s the anguish of that young man, if I may call you that. Sadhguru, you already mentioned the answer, you gave the answer earlier. We all forget the initial conditions of our democracy because we take the normative democratic institutions and the constitution. We think it should operate the way it operates in other countries, after certain degree of maturity. We have not created the initial conditions and Sadhguru is repeatedly emphasizing that.
Even today the voters have no notion that they’re electing a representative. They think they’re electing a monarch. And once elected he somehow will deliver, we don’t care how. No rules, no laws, no procedure, get it done somehow or other. And that’s not merely the failing of the poor people, it is the failing of our class, Sadhguru. It is the failing of the middle classes, it’s the failing of the educated. That’s the general perception. The second is,. Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan: Sadhguru, I agree with the broader point that all of us are political. Politics is not a dirty thing and I’m glad you’re making that point as a spiritual leader. Unless we recognize that we’re all in politics, you like it or not, in some form or the other, doesn’t mean you contest, doesn’t mean you’re a member of a political party, doesn’t mean you aspire for power, but actually aspire change…
Sadhguru: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no… you must aspire for power because if you don’t aspire for power, I understand that you have no intention of doing anything for this country.
Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan: Oh, that I agree. That’s even more music to my ears. But I’m now I’m trying to…
Sadhguru: No, because… why I’m speaking like this is, in Indian minds, particularly middle class minds, people who can read newspapers and watch televisions, in these people minds, business is a bad word, power is a bad word. No, these are not bad words. These have gotten into bad hands, that is the problem. These are good things. (Applause)