During this conversation with actress Manisha Koirala, Sadhguru answers a question on health disorders which threaten the productivity and future of the nation. Sadhguru explains that historically we have known how to be healthy, but the knowledge is being lost in today’s world.

Full Transcript:

Questioner: So, my question is, India is a young nation and one of the biggest problem, which we are facing today, is the health disorders, which the young nation is actually going through. The lifestyle disorders are increasing by the day and this is actually going to affect the productivity of the nation as we go forward. So my question to you is that in spirituality and according to you, what can we do to manage the stress and manage these lifestyle disorders and lifestyle issues as we go forward, because that’s the least time which we give to ourselves? Thank you very much.

Sadhguru: I would like to correct the question. We are not an (a?) young nation. We are the oldest nation on the planet, okay (Applause), because if you are only looking at India’s Constitution or a political setup as nationhood, yes, we are a young nation. But even 10,000 years ago, people outside this country though inside the country, we had over two hundred political entities people from outside called the entire nation as Hindustan, or Bharat, or whatever. People recognized, both inside and outside, this is one nation, though it was ruled by many political heads or systems as such, because we became a nation not because of our political bosses, not because of a certain Constitution. We became a nation because we never had a belief in anything. We have always been seekers, we always wondered about life, we sought what is the truth. Every generation has to seek what is the truth about my life. Well, Krishna has already said it. Maybe what he said is true for him. With all due respect, we have to explore for ourselves, what is the nature of the truth of our life. This is the freedom that this nation offered to us, so we were bound by these strings of seeking, not believing. Usually, most nations are made out of sameness. We did not fall for that mediocrity, that we have to be all same to be one. Each one can be different. Within the same family, five people worship five different gods, but no problem with us. So, this is a unique nation. This should not be destroyed – its ethos of everybody can be whatever the hell they want to be and still we are one nation. This nation has existed for the longest period of time simply because of this lack of rigidity within itself. Now we are trying to r… put rigid lines. If you do that, it won't last long. It's very important to know this. About health, we’ve always known how to be healthy. If you believe for these 1.2 billion people, you are going to create a healthcare system like United States has (Laughs), you… you don’t know what you’re talking about. You’ve just not seen the country, nor have you seen United States, nor have you looked at the systems that United States has. In spite of that, three-trillion-dollar bill of their healthcare is going to sink that nation if they continue the same way for another few years. Yes. It's going to sink that nation because three trillion dollars, it's bigger than our budget. So if you think you’re going to create a healthcare system like that, it's going to be a disaster. I think the present government has done one significant thing, that is the AYUSH (Referring to the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy, abbreviated as AYUSH ministry) ministry. It is still not well-funded but once it is well-funded and if we manage to roll it out the way we should… because Isha Foundation was the first pilot project of our AYUSH (Someone’s cellphone beeps) about eight years ago in the Namakkal district in Tamil Nadu. It produced phenomenal results for one district, just teaching people how to be healthy in rural India. And we started hundreds of herbal gardens, with which people are taught. In public places, these gardens were raised, where people can go and make use of the herbs for different day-to-day ailments that they come to. Something very serious happens, they can go to the hospital. I want you to know (Someone’s cellphone beeps), just one or two generations ago, when your grandmothers were alive, if a child got a stomachache, nobody went to the doctor. Child got little fever, nobody went to the doctor. They knew what to do. Today, for everything, you’re going to the doctor because it's become an industry. As you say, it is not health, it is medicine, okay? It is about fuelling pharma… pharmaceutical industries. I’m not against pharmaceuticals When it is necessary… Pharmaceuticals means you’re chemically bombing the system, okay? It's chemical bombing. When it's really drastic and it's necessary, we must do it. But if we do every day, we know today what is the harm we’re causing to the system by doing that. If you want to bring health to this nation, you must bring back ancient systems, yoga on all levels… On this International Yoga Day, we are taking yoga to over 10,000 schools in India. Manisha is saying that she will take me to Nepal and (Laughs)…

Manisha Koirala: I will…

Sadhguru: In all the schools in Nepal (Laughs)…

Manisha Koirala: It's my honor, Guruji (Applause).

Sadhguru: So because this has to come at an early age. Your health should be your responsibility, not your doctor’s responsibility, isn't it? To stay healthy, is it your business or somebody else’s business? Government’s business to keep you healthy? No, it's my business to keep myself healthy. How… What should I eat, how should I live, how should I sit, how should I breathe, what should I do with myself, is something that I must be concerned about.