The Play of the Elements

A unexpected Darshan with Sadhguru in the Theerthakund.

September 10, 2010. 5:15 PM. Isha Yoga Center prepares for Sadhguru Darshan.

The front rows are already filled with eager devotees, awaiting Sadhguru Darshan at 6:20 PM in the lawn between the Theerthakund and Dhyanalinga. The audio setup is going on at full speed as Sounds of Isha begins their soundcheck with a few tentative plucks of the guitar string and muffled beats of the drum.

5.50 PM

The lawn is almost full. Meditators, with eyes closed, soak in the vibrant energies of this powerful space. Nadha Aradhana begins within the Dhyanalinga Temple.

Powerful drumbeats and Nirvana Shatakam chants fill the air. After Nadha Aradhana, people file out of the Dhyanalinga, and make for the lawn. 10 minutes remain before Sadhguru arrives to grace the gathering with his Presence. Waiting for a glimpse of the Master, seated devotees cover the lawn, leaving hardly a blade of glass uncovered.

6.15 PM

Thunder. Lightning. One drop... two drops... brief sprinkle.... the rain begins to fall in seemingly solid sheets. The audio team runs to save the speakers and Sounds of Isha struggle to save their precious instruments from the wind-blown mist. Among the devotees, some run for shelter, some enjoy the downpour. The group begins to settle on the steps of the Theerthakund. Brahmacharies continue their chant, accompanied by the raindrops beating their own rhythm on the Theerthakund roof.

Sadhguru arrives and bounds down the steps with a Namaskar. Chuckling, he begins to talk about the water that fills the space with its rejuvenating energies.

Theerth is another kind of language, another way of speaking. People speak to convey life in some way. Theerth is another way of conveying life, a certain language of delivering life. You can make any of the five elements – to speak modern language – change their molecular structure without changing their chemical composition. You can make the same water, the same air, the same earth, the same fire and the same space behave in a completely different way without changing the chemistry of the substance.

In fact, that is what makes this place (referring to the ashram in India) different. If you can change the molecular behavior of the very space, the very air that you breathe, you can make the five elements behave in a certain way that is conducive to life. You can also make them behave in a way that is not conducive to life.

This is the difference between wellness and illness, peace and turmoil, joy and misery, agony and ecstasy; this is all it is. The elements – the air that you breathe, the water that you drink, the food that you eat, the very planet that you walk upon behaves differently with you. By breathing the same air, by drinking the same water, some people are creating illness, some are creating wellness. If you handle the elements accidentally or unconsciously, they could behave any way. There are conscious ways of handling it.

So theerth is just a language that speaks from the core. The same water which is here (referring to the Theerthakund) – test it and see. Chemically, it is 100% the same water as what comes in, no additions made, but feel it and see – it is very different.

Now, the whole work is to make this one (referring to the body) into an embodiment of that, to make this like the prasad, to make this like the theerth, to make this like a consecrated form. What is just flesh and bone can become Divine. This is the dream - to make bodies of flesh and bone into walking temples."