Over 16,000 people tuned in on May 23 to listen to a conversation between badminton champion P V Sindhu and Sadhguru.
The interaction, that now has over 1,90,000 views, was part of a long-running series called ‘In Conversation with the Mystic’. The pre-recorded video conversation premiered on the yogi’s YouTube and Facebook pages and revolved around the topics of lifestyle and sports.
Sindhu began by asking about the changes seen during the lockdown. Sadhguru prefaced the answer by likening himself to a worm in the soil which has intrinsic knowledge about the environment.
“Things will go back to the way they were as there is no fundamental change in behaviour. We must aim to reduce the population to at least four billion by 2050 for any real change,” he said.
On the topic of education, he advocated a complete overhaul, going so far as to say schools in their present form were redundant. “You don’t need a textbook for information, it can be accessed from anywhere. Formal teaching must serve as inspiration,” he explained. He proposed a two-day school week, with the other five days being reserved for other kinds of learning.
When Sindhu asked him about the dilemma of keeping one’s personality versus adapting to a situation, he said personality was just a mask. Personality should be flexible, he suggested.
“The threat comes from being stuck in one personality for too long. We must not imprison ourselves,” he explained. Personalities are masks that belong to us, and they should not become us, he advised.
Moving on to sports, Sindhu asked about the difference between confidence and overconfidence. He said anger and aggression were not necessary to succeed in sport; players should just be balanced and know how to play the game.
Sindhu then asked him if there were any mistakes in her game. He said she must improve her skills of deception. He added that she plays only with logic and must cultivate her intuition. He offered to help her develop it.
Sindhu’s last question was whether he believed in luck. “I make sure I’m lucky,” he replied with a laugh. He said those who win because of their competence don’t pay attention to such aspects. “Those who are successful by chance are the ones who follow superstitions. They are constantly paranoid and greatly fear failure,” he explained.
He said many of the stars we gaze at for luck are already dead. “We shouldn’t let stars that don’t exist decide our future,” he concluded.