Summary of Sadhguru’s Inner Engineering book

YOGA

Yoga tells us that we are actually composed of five sheaths or layers:

1. Annamayakosha -> Food body

2. Manomayakosha -> Mental body. What happens in the mind affects what happens in the body. This is because what we call “mind” is not just the brain. It is not located in any single part of the human anatomy. Instead, every cell has its own intelligence, so there is an entire mental body.

3. Pranamayakosha -> Energy body. If we keep our energy body in perfect balance, there will be no disease in our physical or mental bodies.

Above three layers are in the physical realm.

4. Vignanamayakosha -> Etheric body. This is beyond sense perception. This is a transient state. It is neither physical nor non-physical. Those who report near-death experience are those who could have slipped accidently into this state. If we learn to find conscious access to this dimension, there will be a quantum leap in our ability to know the cosmic phenomenon.

5. Anandamayakosha -> Bliss — beyond physical

Yoga is a science of aligning body, mind, and energy dimensions so that we reach the ultimate state of ecstatic union with life itself.

Ways of achieving ultimate state:

1. Karma Yoga — action -> Body

2. Gnana Yoga — knowledge -> Mind

3. Bhakti Yoga — devotion -> Emotion

4. Kriya Yoga — energy -> Energy

Every human being is a unique combination of the same ingredients. Yoga is a science of bringing body, mind, emotion, and energy together.

A physical body has five sources of senses:

1. Smelling (nose)

2. Hearing (ear)

3. Tasting (tongue)

4. Seeing (eye)

5. Touching (skin)

If we are seeking more than the survival, then these physical perceptions are not enough. Because essential nature of life doesn’t lie in the physical or psychological expressions of body and mind but in their source.

Yoga is fundamentally aimed at enhancing experience beyond five senses. There is a dimension beyond five sense perceptions. We can call it “self”, “divine”,” God” — terminology is entirely up to us.

Why people are not able to access the perception beyond these five senses — it is just a lack of attention which has denied people the possibility of discovering what lies within.

The science of using the body to hasten our evolutionary process is ‘hatha’ yoga.

Ha -> Sun

Tha -> Moon

Hatha Yoga brings a balance between these two dimensions. Hatha Yoga is not exercise. It is, instead, about understanding the mechanics of the body, creating a certain atmosphere, and then using physical postures to channel or drive our energy in specific directions. It aligns body’s inner geometry with cosmic geometry.

If we consciously get our body into different postures, we can elevate our consciousness.

Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation) is not a salutation at all. It is about organizing solar energies within us. All life on earth is solar powered. The sun is the life source for this planet. Those who do Surya Namaskar regularly find their batteries last longer. It aids the balance or re-organization of inner energies in terms of lunar (feminine) and solar dimension (masculine) and produces innate physical and psychological equilibrium.

Surya Kriya — is about connecting moon and sun dimensions for spiritual growth.

Any life has the following 5 elements:

1. Air

2. Fire

3. Water

4. Earth

5. Ether

Our body is just a loan from this planet. What we call “death” is just Mother Earth reclaiming the loan that she offered us. If all that we have known is the body and anyway we are doing to lose it, anxiety and fear will be our constant companions.

Mind

The system of Yoga is a technology to create a distinction between us and our mind. There is a space between us and what we have gathered in terms of body and mind. Becoming conscious of this space is our first and only step to freedom. Awareness of this space opens up a new dimension of limitless possibilities.

There are only two forms of suffering in this world:

- Physical (arises in body)

- Mental (arises in mind)

Once this distance becomes a constant factor in our experience, we have reached the end of suffering.

Our ability to use this immensely sophisticated body-mind phenomenon can be raised to a completely new dimension of experience and utility as we stand outside of them. As the experience of space grows, the mind is no more a mess. It is a great symphony, a tremendous possibility that can take us to great heights.

Remind every hour that our mind (manas dimension) is accumulation.

Being a Buddha means that we have become a witness to our own intellect.

Mind has 16 dimensions in the following 4 categories:

1. Discerning/Intellect -> Buddhi

2. Accumulation / Memory -> Manas

3. Awareness -> Chitta

4. Sense of Identity -> Ahankara

Learn to place our intellect in the sheath of our awareness rather than in the sack of memory and identification.

Awareness (Chitta) is not mental awareness. It is not something we do. Awareness is what we are. Awareness is aliveness. The dimension of the mind that modern societies have completely ignored at their own peril is awareness or Chitta. This is the deepest dimension of the mind and one that connects us with which is the very basis of creation.

Awareness is a process of inclusiveness, a way of embracing this entire universe. We can’t do it, but we can set the right conditions so that it happens. Don’t try to be aware — it won’t work. If we keep our body, thought, emotion, and energies properly aligned, awareness will blossom.

Yoga, meditation helps in making Chitta dimension of mind dominants. Buddhi, Manas, and Ahankara are important, but only for survival.

Mind State

(1) Inert –(energize)-> (2) Active/Scattered –(energize)-> (3) One-Pointed -> (4) Conscious

Today’s modern science is proving that this whole existence is just a reverberation of energy, an endless vibration. Thoughts too are a reverberation. If we generate a powerful thought and let it out, it will always manifest itself. A positive thought will manifest a positive outcome.

For this to happen, it is important that we don’t impede and weaker our thought by creating negative and self-defeating thought patter.

Emotion

Emotion is just juicier part of thought.

Thought (Sugarcane) -> Emotion (juice)

Emotion is largely the thought that leads the emotion. Emotion is less agile than thought. Emotion can’t change immediately. It struggles. If it is sweet now, it can’t turn bitter at the very next moment. It takes time to turn around. It has a wider turning arc. Depending on the strength of our emotion, may be it will take three days or three months or three years, but after sometime it will turn around.

Shi-va

That which is note. Everything ‘that is’ has come from that which is not. If we look up in the sky, there is a vast emptiness. It is in the lap of this no-thingness that the dance of creation is happening right now. This emptiness, which is the very basis of creation is referred to as “Shi-va”.

Another dimension of Shiva is Adiyogi, the first Yogi who opened up the incredible science of yoga for humanity (about 15,000 years back).

Devotion

Even if we spend a lifetime, we still won’t understand a leaf, an elephant, and ant or an atom. We are incapable of figuring out even a molecule of DNA. Everything we can’t grasp is in a high state of existential intelligence than we are. When we see this — really see this — we are a devotee.

A devotee is someone who is willing to dissolve into the object of devotion. If we are a devotee of life, we will become one with it. Don’t be an outsider to the life process. Become a devotee. Dissolve.

Energy

At present, huma beings identify with the body and the mind. But fundamentally, what we call “myself” is just a certain amount of energy. Modern science has proved beyond all doubt that all of existence is made up of the same energy, manifesting itself in millions of bewildering different ways.

Energy — Paranamayakosha is the third layer of human being.

The spiritual process means a return to life. It means following the deep intelligence of we life energies.

Karma -> literally means “action”. Action is of three kinds — Body, Mind, and Energy

Whatever we do with our body, mind, or energy, leaves a certain residue. This residual forms a pattern of its own and these resultants pattern stay with us. When we gather a huge volume of impressions slowly these shape into tendencies, and we become like an automatic toy, a slave to our patterns, a puppet of our path.

Tendencies are generated by a vast accumulation of impressions caused by our physical, mental, and energy actions. What we call personality is just an expression of these tendencies.

We call our tendencies as “our nature” — but reality is it is not our nature — we are not doing what we want. These tendencies have become compulsive.

It is important to remember that Karma is not a negative word. Karma is what gives us stability and structure to our life. There is nothing wrong with stored information. It is very useful for our survival. If we deleted all of it, we wouldn’t know how to handle even the simplest aspects of life. The spiritual process doesn’t seek to demolish this storehouse of karmic impressions, but helps us to become more conscious of it, and establish a little space, which allows us to stand outside of it.

Kriya

As we have established, the body and the mind are ours, but still external to us. We have gathered both from outside; the body is an accumulation of food, and the mind an accumulation of ideas.

Even the imprints upon the energy body are an accumulation of the impressions of five senses. When we have ability to perform action with the non-physical aspect of our energy, then it is termed as “kriya”.

Increasing order of consciousness in the following four dimensions of physicality:

- Bodily actions

- Mental

- Emotional

- Energetic

The moment we learn to perform action with the non-physical aspect of our life energy, we suddenly move to a new level of freedom within and outside of ourself.

The Yogic practices, which involve postures, breath, attitudes of the mind, and energy activation are essentially oriented toward aligning the first three layers of the body

- The physical

- The mental

- The energetic body

It is only in the aligning them that we find access to dimensions beyond the physical — to the fundamental life energy itself.

Kriya Yoga

Is arduous and inhuman.

Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya

Sadhguru spent 20 years in transforming this kriya so this could be made available widely.

If we follow the path of kriya very intensely without guidance, it may take few lifetimes to bear fruit. If we have someone to actively guide the process, kriya can be most powerful and magnificent way to explore the inner nature and mystical phenomena.

The Energy Labyrinth

The yogic system offers a comprehensive view of the anatomy of the human energy body. It has mapped:

72,000

channels (nadis) in the energy system. The prana or energy moves through these channels.

72,000 channels spring from 3 basic channels:

1. Pingla — on the right

2. Ida — on the left

3. Sushumna — central

Pingla is symbolized as the masculine.

Ida is symbolized as the feminine.

Masculine and feminine don’t refer to biological differences, but to certain qualities in nature that have been identified as such.

Pingla -> Outgoing / exploratory qualities

Ida -> Receptive / reflective

The pingla and ida are also symbolized as the sun and the moon

The sun representing the masculine/aggressive and outgoing.

The moon — calm

On the level of mind, Pingla represents the logical dimension; Ida represents the intuitive dimension.

These two qualities are the fundamentals of the physical sphere of life. A human being is complete only when both masculine and the feminine function at full force and are in proper balance.

Sushumna, the central nadi, is the most significant aspect of our physiology, yet it generally goes unexplored. It is independent of the 72,000 nadis, but it is the fulcrum of the whole system.

The nadis don’t have a physical manifestation. If we cut the body and look inside, we will not find them.

The chakras are powerful centers in the physiology where nadis meet in a particular way to create an energy vortex. Like the nadis, the chakras are of a subtle nature and don’t have a physical existence. They always meet in the form of a triangle.

There are 114 chakras in the body. Two are outside the body and 112 are within the body. Among these 112, seven are major chakras. For most people, 3 of these are active; the remaining are either dormant or mildly active. We can live quite a complete life with just a few of them. If we were to activate all 114 chakras, e would have no sense of body at all.

The purpose of yoga is to active our energy system in such a way that our body consciousness is constantly being lowered, so we can sit here in the body, but are no longer the body.

7 Chakras:

Sahasrara -> Crown chakra

Ajna -> Third eye chakra

Vishuddhi -> Throat chakra

Anahata -> Heart chakra

Manipuraka -> Solar plexus chakra

Swadhishthana -> Sacral chakra

Muladhara -> Root chakra

Muladhara -> located at perineum (space between anal outlet and genital organ)

Swadhishthana -> just above the genital organ

Manipuraka -> ¾ inch below the naval

Anahata -> Below the point where ribcage meets the diaphragm

Vishuddhi -> at the put of the throat

Ajna -> between eyebrows

Sahasrara -> also known as brahmarandra — front panel on the top of the head (where newborn infants have a soft spot)

Energies find expression through these chakras. Experience that happens withing us — anger, misery, peace, joy, and ecstasy are different levels of expressions of our life energies.

Dominant energies in different chakras result in different life aspects.

Muladhara -> Food and sleep

Swadhishthana -> pleasure (this means we enjoy physical reality in many ways)

Manipuraka -> Doer, we accomplish many things in the world

Anahata -> Creative person

Vishuddhi -> Power presence

Ajna -> Intellectually realized

Sahasrara -> Unexplained ecstasies

Life intensity increases as we go from Muladhara to up. It is misleading to speak of lower and higher chakras. It is like comparing the foundation of the building to the roof. The roof is not superior; the foundation is not inferior. In the physical body, our energies need to be in the muladhara to some extent.

At the same time, chakras have a spiritual dimension, not just a physical one. If we bring right amount of awareness to it, the same muladhara can be transformed to a point where we become absolutely free of the compulsive need for food and sleep.

Muladhara/Swadhishthana/Manipuraka => For keeping the body stable and rooted / associated with earth / self preservation

Vishuddhi / Ajna / Sahasrara => energies that draw us away from the pull of the earth / concerned with the longing for the infinite

Anahata -> Middle chakra is a balance between the two.

Anahata is symbolized by the two interlocking triangles, one pointing downward and another upward, forming a six-pointed star.

The vishuddhi chakra, located in the pit of our throat, literally means filters. If we vishuddhi becomes powerful, we have the ability to filter everything that enters us. Indian iconography depicts Adiyogi, or Shiva, with a blue throat, because he is capable of filtering all the poisons of the outside world and preventing them from entering his system by stalling them in his throat.

The seventh chakra, sahasrara, is actually located just outside the body. For most people, it is dormant. Through spiritual practice or a very intense way of living, we can activate this. This experience is no longer intellectual, it is experiential. There is a wide spectrum of spiritual practices in the yogic system that enables one to move one’s energies from chakra to another. However, from ajna to sahasrara, there is no path.

Sacred Science — Consecration (Sanskrit word: Pratishtha)

If we transform mud into food, we call this agriculture. If we make food into flesh and bone, we call this digestion. If we make flesh into mud, we call this cremation. If we make this flesh, or even a stone or empty space, into a higher possibility, this is consecration.

Modern science today tells us that everything is the same energy manifesting itself in a million ways. If that is so, what we call divine, what we call a stone, what we call a man or a woman or a demon, are all the same energy functioning in different ways. If we have the necessary technology, we can make the simple space around into a divine exuberance.

An enormous amount of knowledge about consecration has been perpetuated across generations since ancient times. This is because regardless of how good our life is, or how long we live, at some point the fundamental human longing to get in touch with source of creation will invariably assert itself. It is because of this awareness that Indian culture built numerous temples on every street. The idea was simply that no one should live in a space that is not consecrated.

All spiritual initiations have been aimed at consecrating this very flesh into a temple like space. After that, all that is needed is maintenance. To consecrate an inanimate object — a rock, for example, costs an enormous amount of life. Making huma beings into living temples is much more inexpensive and eco-friendly.

When people in the world are too distracted and unwilling to make themselves into living temples, building stone temples become necessary. The basic purpose of building a temple is to benefit the majority of people who have no spiritual practice in their lives.

Constant maintenance of consecrated stone, temple, deity is required.

Deity: Yantra (working energy form)

Traditional wisdom has always advised people against keeping stone idols at home. If we keep them, we must maintain them every day with the right kind of process. If a deity is consecrated through mantras and if the necessary maintenance doesn’t happen on a daily basis, then deity becomes a withdrawing energy and can cause immense hard to people who live in the vicinity.

Prana Pratishtha

Prana Pratishtha is different in that it uses our own life energies to consecrate something. This is the process Sadhguru used to consecrate Dhyanalinga with a subtle energy form with all chakras operating at their optimal capacity, at the Isha Yoga Center in Coimbatore.

The Indian temples were never places of prayer. This tradition that we had a shower first thing in the morning and went directly to the temple, sat there for a while, and then began our day. Temple was like a public battery charging space. Most people have forgotten this nowadays. They just go to temples, ask for something, bum-bounce on the temple floor and then leave. This is quite pointless. The idea is to sit and imbibe the energies of the temple.

All the space where we spend time should be consecrated. When we live in such a space, our evolution need not stick to the Darwinian scale; we can simply leapfrog ahead to a state of ultimate well-being and freedom.

In India, most ancient temples were built for Shiva or “that which is not”. Most of the temples don’t have any idol as such. They generally have a representative form, a longa.

The word linga means “the form”. When creation began to happen or when unmanifest became manifest, the first form that it assumed was an ellipsoid — which is what we call a linga. Modern cosmologists have identified that the core of energy galaxy is always an ellipsoid.