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Inner Engineering by Sadhguru Book Review

This book is full of interesting stories. For example, there’s the story of an 83-year-old yogi who is also an Ayurvedic doctor. Every Monday at his ashram, he sees patients from 4 am to 7 or 8 pm. One of the times when he happened to be travelling, he was at the railway station 75 kilometres away from his ashram.

He had two companions with him. They learned that there was a railway strike happening, so there would be no trains going and there was no other means of transport.

So, the yogi left his companions on the platform and he ran 75 kilometres to the ashram on the railway tracks! Such was his commitment to work! And then he arrived at the ashram and started seeing patients just like usual, and nobody had any idea that he had come running.

It’s only when his two companions arrived at the ashram and told everyone else that anyone learned about what had actually happened. This is how incredibly he lived! He lived up to the age of 106 and taught yoga until his dying day.

And then there’s a story where Birbal proves to Akbar that the greatest pleasure is shitting.

The second reason why I like this book is that it offers very interesting reasons behind things. For example, and I’m quoting this directly from the book:

“The tilt of the earth at 11 degrees latitude impels centrifugal forces in a nearly vertical direction, which in turn pushes energy upward through the human psychological system.”

This means that the ascent of human energy, which is the aim of the spiritual process, is actually assisted by nature. And that is the reason why the Isha Yoga Centre in South India is located bang on 11 degrees.

Now, a part of me looks at this sceptically and thinks that maybe this is just Sadhguru’s way of attracting people to the Isha Yoga Centre. But a part of me also thinks that maybe this is true. Either way, it is very interesting.

The next thing I liked about the book is that it offers very good philosophical and life advice, and I’m going to share three examples which are again quoted directly from the book.

Number one:

“When pain, misery, or anger happens, it is time to look within you, not around you. To achieve well-being, the only one who needs to be fixed is you. What you forget is that when you’re sick, it is you who needs the medication. When you’re hungry, it is you who needs the food. The only one that needs to be fixed is you, but just to understand this simple fact people take lifetimes.”

So true! We would rather blame others and our life circumstances than look inside.

Excerpt number two:

“If you still believe that everything will be okay once you find a new girlfriend or boyfriend, get a raise, buy a new house or car, then it is not time yet for yoga. And here yoga doesn’t just mean the physical postures, it means union. Once you’ve tried all those things and more and clearly know that none of it will ever be enough, then you’re ready for yoga.”

And example number three:

“There is substantial medical and scientific evidence to prove that in a state of anger you are literally poisoning your system. This can be verified with something as simple as a blood test.”

I love it when he uses logic like this! The next thing I really liked is that I gained some of Sadhguru’s knowledge about various things. For example, I learned that there are four types of yoga, and the goal of all these kinds of yoga is to reach the ultimate union.

In Karma Yoga, we use our bodies to reach the ultimate union. In Gyan Yoga, we use our mind. In Bhakti Yoga, we use our emotions. And in Kriya Yoga, we use our energies. Further, for most people these four dimensions—body, mind, emotions, and energy—are aligned in different directions and being pulled in different directions. Sadhguru says it is time now to plunge into the adventure of self-alignment, into the remarkable system that is yoga.

The second piece of knowledge I want to share with you is that Sadhguru says your destiny is written by you unconsciously. If you have mastery over your physical body, fifteen to twenty per cent of your life and destiny will be in your hands.

If you have mastery over your mind, fifty to sixty per cent of your life and destiny will be in your hands. And if you have mastery over your life energies, a hundred per cent of your life and destiny will be in your hands.

In addition to these bits of knowledge, wisdom, and advice, the book is also full of very practical exercises called sadhanas. These sadhanas are either meditative exercises, or—I remember—there was also one which is an experiment that you can do with your food and your diet. These sadhanas, I believe, might be the reason you want to buy this book, because the other stuff you can also find in Sadhguru’s YouTube videos, but the sadhanas I don’t believe are on YouTube. You can correct me if I’m wrong.

One of my favorite sadhanas is one where you sit under a tree, you remind yourself that you are breathing what the tree is exhaling, and the tree is breathing what you are exhaling. You try to establish a connection with the tree—not just the physical connection because of the breathing, but also a psychological connection.

Then there’s another sadhana in which you watch the tap water drip slowly, drop by drop. Some of the sadhanas I found to be too hard for me to do. For example, there’s one where he says to sit with your spine straight for a few hours every day. A few hours at this point seems out of the question for me. If I can sit like that for 10 minutes, that’s an achievement.

Then there were some sadhanas which I found that maybe I could do once or twice, but then I would just get bored and give up. And then there were some sadhanas where I found that I didn’t have the time to do them—or rather, I didn’t want to take the time to do them.

For example, there’s one sadhana where you become mindful of any one thing in your body. It could be your heartbeat, your breath, or a finger. You become very mindful of that body part for 11 minutes, and he recommends to get benefit from this, to do this three times a day.

So even if I didn’t do all the sadhanas, or want to do all of them, or found them boring, that is okay because Sadhguru did mention in the book that you’re not supposed to do all of them. Some of them will resonate with you and some of them won’t, so just pick the ones that feel right and appeal to you and do those.

There are lots of jokes in the book, including Shankara Pillai jokes which, if you’ve watched Sadhguru’s videos, you may have heard already. And if you like, in general, Sadhguru’s sense of humour and his logic—which is the reason why I enjoy listening to him—you will find that same humour and the same logic throughout this book as well.

So overall, would I recommend this book? Yes. Was it life-changing for me? No. And that is probably because I wasn’t able to practically apply the sadhanas on a consistent basis. But we’re all different—maybe you were able to apply some of them, and if that’s the case, and if you found this book to be life-changing for you, I would love to hear your experience.

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