Sadhguru wants to be a “dispeller of darkness.”  He believes that living joyfully is not “magical” but can be done systematically, like an engineering problem.  He has written the book in two parts–first he describes the landscape and then he lays out a route on how to get there.

The description of the landscape is from a perspective of personal experience.  He describes how he developed as a highly curious and observant person.  The first step is to know that you know nothing or very little.  That opens the door to really knowing anything.  He was not a disciplined student, except towards his yoga routine.  He did well in a couple of businesses he started and was feeling quite confident and successful.  Then one day when he was twenty five, he was heart broken, and went up on a hill to contemplate. There he was enlightened in an afternoon of reverie and dropped all that was “me and mine.”   He saw all boundaries melt away.  This experience transformed him physically–even the shape of his eyes, his gait.  People started getting cured just by seeing him. He himself felt that he had supernatural powers. He gained many lifetimes of memory and became aware of a “million things.” He decided to go beyond the rational and logical and embrace the “intelligence of life itself.”

He realized that goal of all human endeavor is to liberate itself of boundaries. We all want to be in a state of pleasantness.  Pleasantness comes from whatever we lack at that time.  If you are hungry, food is what you need, if you are tired, then a comfortable bed is what you need.  When we are love lorn, we need our beloved to be with us.  But after all these needs are met, we still need to expand ourselves more.  Therefore, the ultimate goal is to transcend all boundaries.  And this feeling can only come from how we experience the world around us, not only from how comfortable is the physical world.  All experience is ultimately inside of us.

Sadhguru wants people to not take refuge in destiny or karma.  He wants people to have “responsibility–ability to respond to situations.”  Not react compulsively, but to respond consciously. And your ability to respond is limitless.  Your ability to act is limited by resources and capability, but not the ability to respond.

And how should one respond? By being in total sync with existence. Align your physical body, your mind and your energies totally to existence and that will lead to liberation and pure joy.

In the second part of the book, Sadhguru lays out a path to improve the body, mind and our energies.  Body is improved by doing the physical asanas, keeping our spine erect, and slowing down our breath.  Body is nourished by food, which he recommends should be vegetarian or at most fish, no higher animals.  Sleep and sex are basic needs of the body and should be met so the body is at peace.  It creates problems when you deny or moralize basic human drives.

When it comes to mind, the essential step is realizing the difference between you and what you have accumulated.  Sadhguru recommends to learn to keep your intellect in awareness, not in memory.

There is one energy which manifests itself as everything. Kriya is the way to channel energies. But this can only happen when you are initiated by someone.  This is where he talks about his Shambhavi Mahamudra which is taught in the Inner Engineering courses.

Overall, the book is an easy read, filled with entertaining anecdotes which begin “Once it happened….”  Those of you who have watched him live or seen his YouTube videos know that he has an easy conversational style which is engaging and refreshing.  This comes through in the book as well.

While the thoughts and discussion he presents are mostly in line with “Analytical Faith”, there are a few areas where he strains belief.  For example, where he describes the power of breath. He says, “Slow it down to nine breaths–we know the language of all creatures, slow it to six you know the language of earth, reduce it to three and you know the language of creation.”  He also claims power to heal himself and others.  If is through a better understanding of your body and mind, it makes sense, but if it is through some deep kriya beyond the operation of body and mind, then it is “magic” and not engineering.