Inner Engineering - A Yogi's Guide To Joy

'Inner Engineering - A Yogi's Guide To Joy', by Sadhguru

Having done the three day 'Inner Engineering Course' of Isha Yoga, I thought the book would largely consist of what was spoken off in the course. 

In fact you'd think he'd have someone write the book out of his sermons and talks, but you open the first page, and you know it's all him. Not just in terms of the depth and clarity, but the wit and paradoxically, irreverance too, (the very first chapter is titled 'The four lettered word') and the energy of the book itself. 

Though he says it's not a self help book, it's a book filled with insights and awareness, including the sadhna (practice) needed to gently get you onto a path of conscious evolution, and one that is based on the premise that it is possible for the human being to consciously evolve.

He says, unlike biological evolution, which happens without your conscious participation, spiritual evolution can happen consciously. All it takes is willingness.

It's structured and scientific in approach, he breaks it down into the physical body, the mind, the energy body and the spirit, and talks of what it takes to align and find synergy to evolve on the spiritual path.

The quality of our lives is determined by our ability to respond to the varied complex situations that we encounter. If the ability to respond with intelligence, competence, and sensitivity is compromised by a compulsive or reactive approach, we are enslaved by the situation. It means we have allowed the nature of our life experience to be determined by our circumstances, not by us.

The walls of self-preservation that you build for today are the walls of self-imprisonment for tomorrow. Boundaries that you establish in your life as a protection for yourself today will feel like constraints tomorrow.

In that sense it's also a book of psychology, as it talks of turning inward, rather than outward.

Yoga is not about being superhuman; it is about realizing that being human is super, says he.

Deepak Chopra says it nicely - ‘Inner Engineering is a fascinating read, rich with Sadhguru’s insights and his teachings. If you are ready, it is a tool to help awaken your own inner intelligence, the ultimate and supreme genius that mirrors the wisdom of the cosmos’

I recall one meditation workshop of Sadhguru's I'd attended years ago, and one of the things that stayed, is the simple analogy he used to talk of the relevance of a tool. He said, if you want to open a box that is screwed shut, you need the right tool. If you decided your hands are enough, or use the wrong tools, you will not only spend much longer at it, you will likely damage both your hands and the box in the process. The most efficient way is to use a screw driver. With a screw driver, it will seem like magic. 

While in the workshop he was talking of meditation as the tool to turn inward, I'd say this book offers several insights and tools, should we be willing,  to walk the path of conscious evolution, and walk the path in exuberance and joy.