23 Sep 2012, By Sadhguru Jaggi
Architecture
is just a play of geometry. If you look at all the buildings at the Isha Yoga Center right now, they do not stand because of the strength of the material. They stand only because of perfectness of the geometry. That is the beauty of what we are doing here. If you use concrete, cement or steel, generally you can make the building any way you want because it’s the material that holds it together, not the geometry. At the Yoga Center, all we have used is brick, lime and mud. It is only the geometry that is makes the structures stand, similar to the way the globe is made.
Everything that you see around you, right from a tree to your own body is perfectly geometrical, isn’t it? If you look at it in a relaxed manner, is there any tension in this body? That means it is in perfect geometry. If the geometry is not proper, it would create tension. So if you know how to keep the body, it can exist here for a long time and very well too, because it is properly aligned and in proper geometry. If something was not fixed properly then there would naturally be some tension.
So here the buildings are relaxed. They are meditating, you can say.
Right now, modern buildings being constructed today are like this; they are held together by tension, because the material is strong and it provides support. This is not the case at the Yoga Center, it’s just the geometry at play. So here the buildings are relaxed. They are meditating, you can say. The building itself is meditating because there is no tension in it. Concrete buildings, some of which even we have built, are held together by the tension of the steel and concrete. The gravitational power of this planet is constantly trying to pull those buildings down, but not those which are in perfect harmony with the forces of the planet. This is not architecture, it’s just spirituality.
If you take a look at the Dhyanalinga Temple at the Isha Yoga Center, the uniqueness of its dome is that there is no cement steel, or concrete in it. It is only made of brick and mud. The simple technology of this is that all the bricks are trying to fall down at the same time, and hence they never can. It’s like five people trying to get into a door at once – nobody will get in unless one has a little courtesy to step back. If none of them do, they will all just keep pushing. As long as they are pushing, they remain in place for as long as the planet is on.
My estimate is such that the Temple should last a minimum of 5000 years because there is no tension in the building anywhere. It is standing because of the simple, perfect geometry of construction.
The Geometry of ExistenceSadhguru’s Talk on His Enlightenment Anniversary 2011
September 23rd – 29 years ago, it happened on Chamundi [refers to the deep spiritual experience on Chamundi Hills that changed his life completely]. This day happens to be equinox1, that means on this day, the Earth is in a certain state of balance with the rest of the solar system, particularly with the Sun. My life has been many things – peace of course, joy, blissfulness, ecstasy, madness, but above all clarity and balance have been the essential qualities. Above all for sure balance. And the day I was born was 21 days to the equinox. Within the family, there is a story how I was born 23 days later than what was estimated by the doctors. In some way, it adjusted itself that it was exactly 21 days to the equinox.
Why 21 days, or what is the significance of 21? In the yogic science, 21 is a significant number because it is a fourth of 84, which is the number of cycles that the creation has been through. Accordingly, the number of asanas is 84, and the number of years that it takes for the moon to complete 1008 cycles around the planet is 84.
There is a certain physiological significance to the numbers 84 and 21. This is why the Yoga Marga2 is 21 days and Shambhavi Mahamudra is 21 minutes. The three basic nadis multiplied by the seven chakras is 21. So there are various aspects, where the numbers 21 and 84 are very significant, physiologically.
Those of you who are given to wild imaginations, don’t become a numerologist now; don’t start calculating that every number will account for something. That is not the point. Why I am talking about this is, yoga is essentially about understanding and aligning to the geometry of the existence. The geometry of our system ultimately means, everything in this body is just a question of alignment to the geometry of the cosmos; ultimately, the stability of the cosmos is only in this geometry. The planet is going around the sun at an axial tilt of approximately 23 degrees to its orbit; today, it is the equator which is facing the sun. On other days, it will be either the northern hemisphere or the southern hemisphere which is pointing towards the sun. In Dakshinayana3 , the southern hemisphere is facing the sun more than the north; but today, it is exactly the equator which is facing the sun.
The geometry of the existence, the beauty and the magnificent nature in which it is created is such that if you align yourself to it, the whole cosmos will respond to you. When I look back at the various events in my life, how everything happened just at the right time and how the system gets aligned to everything in the existence, it is too incredible. The closer you look at how magnificently creation has been made, the more you cannot help bowing down to it because of the sheer intelligence and the perfection of creation. If you observe this, everything else, all the things that human beings are doing, just seem utterly silly and meaningless. If only human beings get to have a look at how creation is made, the dimension of intelligence, the profoundness of what it is and how it is happening without a hitch… I don’t think it can ever be articulated in words; probably the only way to articulate it is in complex geometrical forms.
By observing how the geometry of human physiology is happening, one can clearly know just everything about the existence. In recent times, modern scientists have been looking at the ancient texts of this country, particularly the Rig Veda and the Shiva Sutras. Over 12,000–15,000 years ago, people in this country already knew what the speed of light is. They calculated it to the microsecond. Today, modern science says the speed of light is 186,282 miles per second. The yogis of the past clearly calculated this, and they calculated in such a way that it is far more incredible than the way the modern science arrives at this number.
They looked at how the sphere of the Earth is; the time that it takes for one revolution [of the Earth around the Sun] – so they calculated the orbit and they arrived at 186,258 or something, the exact number. Twenty-four miles per second different from the modern science4 – and this is the more accurate calculation. The yogis of the past just divided the Earth’s orbit into 27 segments and each segment has four parts. These segments are known as the nakshatras5 and the further four parts are known as the padas. So the Earth takes 108 steps around the Sun and the distance between the planet and the Sun is 108 times the diameter of the Sun. And the diameter of the Sun is 108 times more than the diameter of the Earth.
So we included this geometry into day-to-day life. If you wear rudraksh [mala], it is 108 beads. If you count a mantra, it is 108 beads because as the planet takes its 108 steps, you take these 108 steps too. The idea is to align the system to the cosmic geometry so that this and that do not feel different. When this and that do not feel different, then we say this is yoga because a union has happened. One can attain to this out of sheer surrender. The modern mind thinks that is the hardest thing to do but that is actually the easiest thing to do. Like this, aligning the human system to the cosmic system will naturally lead to a union which we refer to as yoga. This is the basis, the fundamental on which the yogic science has grown.
To give into the conspiracy of the cosmos is a certain art. There is a science behind it, but it takes a certain level of humility, devotion, and surrender within yourself to give in to the cosmic conspiracy. You cannot think it out. Every time I tried to think it out, I always only went away from it and some life situation knocked me back into place. The compassion with which the existence has treated me is just incredible; it always got me back, no matter what.
– Excerpted from a talk by Sadhguru
1 - Occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator
2 - Intensive program offered at the Isha Rejuvenation Center to rejuvenate and revitalize the system 3 - A period of six months starting from the September equinox to the March equinox 4 - Speed of light according to modern science: 186,282 miles per second 5 - Lunar mansions |
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