Quote Collections: 5 Sadghuru Quotes + Commentary
All five quotes below are all from Sadghuru's recent appearance on the Theo Von Podcast (November 2024) along with my commentary on each.
Subjectivity determines everything
-Sadghuru
Thoughts: In my piece on wisdom, I said, "Wisdom crystallizes experience. It compresses lifetimes, generations, even millennia of living and learning into deeply resonant insight, foresight, intuition, even common sense. It clarifies priorities and speaks truth." This living, learning, and experiencing I speak of is, at its core, profoundly subjective. Sadhguru's idea that subjectivity determines everything reminds me of the extraordinary power—and the peril—of how we choose to perceive our lives. It strikes me that while we may have little control over objective realities, we do have immense power in shaping our subjective experience.
Subjectivity is about choice — what we choose to prioritize, what stories we tell ourselves, and ultimately, how we frame our reality. Though by no means easy, this framing, in many ways, influences our well-being, even our happiness, more than most external circumstances.
But Sadhguru's quote also leaves me wary. It risks simplifying the complex far too much. Yes, perspective is powerful, but we cannot deny the structures, systems, and forces outside our control that deeply shape our experience. Social, economic, and political systems, cultural norms, and even the very environments we are born into — all play significant roles. Sometimes, insisting on pure subjectivity in a world teeming with injustices and inequalities can feel a bit like gaslighting ourselves into believing we are responsible for things beyond our influence.
Despite these concerns, there is strength in embracing subjective agency. Subjectivity is not a cure-all, but a tool to enrich our experience, even while recognizing what lies beyond our control.
Brilliance can’t do anything without balance
-Sadghuru
Thoughts: Brilliance without balance can resemble a raging fire — powerful, mesmerizing, but ultimately all-consuming and unsustainable. I've seen this reflected in countless stories of burnout, especially in the tech and startup worlds, where we worship brilliance and dismiss balance. Yet, balance keeps brilliance purposeful, sustainable, and impactful. Balance is also wisdom's steady hand allowing us to apply insight with grace and empathy, rather than recklessly or with ego.
Do you want solace or do you want a solution?
-Sadghuru
Thoughts: This quote sharply articulates a conflict we all face — choosing between the comfort of acceptance and the challenge of change. When life is messy and chaotic, when answers feel impossibly distant, or when we’re exhausted by the relentlessness of modern existence, solace can feel tempting and soothing. But solace is also temporary and rarely curative.
If what we really want are answers or solutions, we need to be willing to step onto the rough terrain of discomfort. Finding answers or solutions necessarily requires effort, honesty, agency, and courage. I've tried every other possible way. They don't work. The only way though to the other side of any difficulty, challenge, or significant goal is to walk back in through the out door.
There are only two kinds of suffering: physical suffering and mental suffering. When you put distance between you and your physical suffering — your body — and you and your mental suffering — your mind.
This is the end of suffering.
-Sadghuru
Thoughts: When I heard Sadhguru say this to Von, it sounded so obvious. Less so upon reflection. Though I do appreciate the concept, I'm grappling with its practicality. The idea of "putting distance" between oneself and suffering sounds almost like a superpower. For us mere mortals, there’s a tension here that’s difficult to navigate.
Physical suffering can often be addressed through medical interventions, and we can learn to accept certain levels of discomfort. But mental suffering is an entirely different beast. As our minds churn with memories, fears, and imagined futures, things get sticky, amorphous, and incredibly difficult to distance ourselves from. Sadhguru’s idea here is certainly a worthy goal — to practice becoming a witness to rather than a captive of our suffering, but this takes immense practice and patience.
I have a lot more to say on this in several upcoming pieces on meditation.
You will do the best that you can do in everything that you do well. Your best may not be the best, but it's the best that you can do in your life. If you do not do what you cannot do, there's no problem, but if you do not do what you can do you're a disaster. Ah, but those moments your thoughts or your emotions are tripping you up all the time, you will not even do what you can do. The question we must ask ourselves: how do we get ourselves in the best situation to be able to do those things we can do?
-Sadghuru
Thoughts: This quote's circular logic touches on a core human struggle — potential versus action. So often, we get in our own way, allowing fear, anxiety, or complacency to hold us back. It's not about being the best, but about being our best — a distinction that's easy to understand, but often brutally hard to accept.
I've fought many battles throughout my life when my own self-doubt prevented me from even attempting to do things I knew I could do. Sadhguru reminds us that the real problem isn’t failing; it’s not trying when we have the ability to act. Again, doable, but easier said than done. Perhaps, ultimately, this is about radical self-honesty — being realistic about our limits, but ruthless about pushing the edges of what we know we’re capable of.