I still have not watched the entire thing but I have watched this podcast enough to believe it’s worthy of discussion here. Why it is worthy of discussion is interesting. The point of view that one should take when discussing someone who is literally, an icon to a great percentage of the society. In India for sure. He is what he is and to try and wrap your head around it is something we all need to come to grips with. You do understand that I’m talking about both of them, right? Both of these people are wealthy celebrities who have made a following from talking.
To begin with, I don’t believe in either of them. I would listen to Joe Rogan’s podcast when he was on YouTube and he had someone interesting to listen to. Not him but the guest. You don’t get that every show. He and I are similar in this way and that sometimes you get something personal and sometimes you get something really interesting for the general public. We know he is a fighter and he’s interested in fighting but he does do quite a few of these fight content shows and frankly, if you don’t pay to watch the fight, it’s a complete waste of time. It’s not even alternative talking or different announcers, they are just talking in thin air. It’s like trying to watch Japanese baseball without any video. You get to listen to some teenager talk in Japanese for two and a half hours while you watch the scoreboard change.
In this broadcast, he was definitely not his usual self. He was on his best behavior. Or, he was just very gentle but not really. The point of his side of the table was that he did not believe there was any particular spirituality for him from sadguru. He is aware of the man’s popularity and how many followers he has and I am sure he is jealous. I’m sure he is jealous of the influence. But how he fought was interesting. He would not agree that there was anything spiritual in the room even when they were talking about soil simply because it was sadguru. In fact he kept saying the same thing. He kept saying what about those people who have this thing in their head that makes them do things. It’s the point. It’s the conservatives if you think like I do. He says it’s the liberals who are all so crazy. Let’s just put me with the ecologists for a moment. I like being with the ecologists and the scientists more than the spiritual crowd.
But his inference was that it was never going to happen with an American audience. To Joe Rogan, his audience is his audience and good luck. He just kept saying over and over some people won’t believe this. Some people will never believe this. Some people will not buy what you’re saying. Something negative will happen. And as a result of all of this negativity, and probably because he does this all the time anyway, sadguru just kept talking and running the conversation. It is his specialty, probably Rogan knew this and this is what happened.
As for sadguru, I have never been able to find anything mystical about him. I have always been a cynic. Obviously, he makes his living by talking to non cynical people. There’s not a lot of editing I think in his audience. And aside from this, I found so many red flags when listening to him talk and listening to the manner in which he controls the conversation. He’s a very manipulative fellow. I guess that is the point of what he does. He is a manipulator. You might as well say it except that word has a different connotation than guru. He will tell you all about the history of what a guru is and he will tell you that people should not take everything he says. You must think for yourself and to be an individual. It’s wonderful cyclical logic but there he is telling you about it as if it was something new.
When I was hunting for a cover picture, I ran into this analysis of the broadcast by a science-based local who is well aware who sadhguru is in India.
He basically said all of the negatives I wanted to say and a few more that I didn’t know about. If you wish to know more, here is the wiki for Sadguru and Joe Rogan.
The reason I’m posting this is the soil program. Again, you can be cynical about it but in essence, it is really true. The idea of growing things. The idea of bringing fertility back to the soil for the long term. For making it a very important thing for people to think about.
It is as imperfect as all public offerings are. Most probably it is as corrupt as most public offerings are. Certainly there will be a percentage of people who appreciate the finer things in life. I don’t need to go into this. But the point is that it is the idea that has merit and value. The idea that we are all one with the soil and how important topsoil maintenance and proper care of our planet going forward into the future is. The idea that makes this organization happen and allow sadguru to travel around and be on popular podcasts and use his great celebrity for this great cause is what is important. That he can explain it with his usual eloquence, is a part of it. They are asking us to be a spiritual thing. They are asking this to be without opposition. They are asking for this to be a thing that is really important.
I completely agree. This thing that they do has echoes and overtones of extremely important points. We need to grow things and we can’t grow in the short term. We have to grow things in the long term. Even if we have other plans, we build for the long term. And that means good soil health. If you have no other choice, you have to take care of your land. You don’t get to run away and we need the connection.
As one small addition, I do want to say that actually using your garden to grow food is an interesting thing. If you are used to buying all of your food based on whatever is available at the supermarket, you are a million miles away from life. Even if you have great holdings and lots of people to help, you don’t really understand what food is until you grow it. There are so many things we take for granted that never be taken for granted because of the period of time necessary for this fruit to live to maturity. I have a garden big enough to feed me. I am growing my own beans this year and I might have enough for the whole winter. Maybe. But it is only dependent on how much life is in the soil below. If you have good soil health, your food will grow. That we no longer have good soil is a direct product of the lifestyle that we lead that says going to the supermarket is how we get our food.
