‘Good That The Education System Is Being Overhauled'

SADHGURU JAGGI MAHARAJ is a spiritual guru who is also known for making social interventions. In an interview with BW Businessworld’s Suman K Jha, he answers questions ranging from spirituality to education to democracy. Excerpts:

- Suman K Jha

Who is a seeker?

When you identify yourself as a seeker, its basic qualification is that you are humble. Believing means you made up things you don’t know. You also need 100 people to believe the same thing. But a seeker is always alone. For variety of issues in the universe, whether it is religious or otherwise, the most fundamental problem is you believe something and I believe something else, and we are bound to clash somewhere.

Spirituality is the way forward for wellbeing?

It’s always been the way forward, when human beings seek. In any aspect, human beings go way forward when only they seek. The greatest disaster is that people with no clarity have great confidence. People with no clarity become super confident because they believe something.

Why is there so much violence, despair and misery all around us?

It is only because you people write about the same people. If I have to be on front page I have to do miserable acts. You don’t write about joyful things. If you get on top-of-the-world headlines you just have to kill 50 people in some terrible way. You can’t be on the front pages if you save 50 lives? I believe problems need to be attended to, but it is solutions that need to be promoted, not the problems.

How do you look at the democratic process the world over and in India? Are you satisfied with the outcomes?

You can’t actually compare India with the world. See, democracy is not the best way we create the world. But the most beautiful thing about democracy is change of power happens without blood shedding. Because everybody’s voices are heard. It is a cacophony. Sometimes even for simple things 10 years are needed. Still it is worthwhile because ultimately it is the people, who have to live; it’s the people who have to decide.