A few years ago, a lady I knew was preparing for an important business meeting. In Tamil Nadu, many people believe that when you start your car in the morning, you should not start in reverse gear. Otherwise your whole life will go into reverse gear. So, in the morning they always move it a little forward first. So this lady wanted to move the car forward before reversing it out of the garage. In all her anxiety and fear, while trying to move it a few inches forward, she jerked the clutch and drove the car straight into the wall!
Instead of creating the necessary internal and external atmosphere so that the right kind of situation can happen, we always look for something else to make things happen. How you experienced today within yourself is definitely yours. It is not decided by the superstitions you believe in. It simply depends on how sensibly, intelligently, and with awareness you live life.
So, is there no truth to superstitions? Not necessarily. Most of them have some scientific basis, but they have been badly distorted over time. Over generations, the science component has gotten lost and become something else. Moreover, today, because of political and other kinds of dominance, we have come to the conclusion that if something comes from the West it is science, if it comes from the East it is superstition.
For example, in the last few years, a phenomenal amount of research has gone into water. Scientists are saying that water has memory. It remembers whatever it comes in touch with. Suppose I take a glass of water in my hand, look at it in a certain way and give it to you, wellbeing will come to you. If I look at it another way and give it to you, you will fall sick. Our grandmothers always told us we must receive food and water only from people who love and care for us. When your grandmother tells you this, it is superstition; if you hear it from a western scientist, you take it seriously.
Many of the things we have always said in this culture are being discovered today through modern scientific research. We have known these things because this is not a culture which evolved out of compulsions of living. This is a culture which was evolved consciously by sages and saints. There is immense scientific value in it. Everything – from how you should sit, stand and eat – was designed according to what is best for human wellbeing. Unfortunately, the spiritual culture we see today has, in many ways, been broken and distorted by long spells of poverty, ignorance and lack of contextual understanding. Still, the basic ethos of the spiritual process is not destroyed, nor can it be destroyed. It is time we reap the benefits of this profound tradition.
~ Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
