During a conversation with Ruskin Bond at the Dehradun Lit Fest, Sadhguru and the beloved author reminisce about their youth, and their connections to the mountains that played a formative role in each of their lives. 

Sadhguru: Right from my infancy, I had an image of a mountain peak in my mind. Eyes open or eyes closed, it was always there. Till I was sixteen years of age, I thought there were mountain peaks in everyone’s eyes. It was only when I was sixteen that I spoke to some of my friends, and they thought I was crazy. That is when my search for that particular peak that I was seeing started.

I am not a fan of mountains, I am a slave of mountains. There is no way I can exist without them.

I trekked for months on end in the Karnataka and Kerala part of the Western Ghats. Later on, I motorcycled from Karwar to Kanyakumari eleven times looking at every peak possible. When I did not find it, I started coming to the Himalayas when I was nineteen. But the moment I saw these mountains, I knew this is not where it is because the nature of what I was seeing was different. 

It was only many years later that I saw the mountain in southern India for the first time, and that is where the Isha Yoga Center is today. So, I am not a fan of mountains, I am a slave of mountains. There is no way I can exist without them.

Ruskin Bond: Well, we are both slaves to mountains. Whenever I go away, even if it is for just a week, I feel the pull. I am always wanting to come back because once the mountains get into your blood, they do not get out again.

My great-grandsons at home, they knew about Sadhguru long before I did. I thought, these two boys are not very spiritual, so what is it about him that attracts them? And they said, “Well, he rides a motorcycle.”  So, perhaps you can tell us about your motorcycle days.

Sadhguru: Some time ago, someone told me that the Czech motorcycle, Jawa, will once again be coming to India. I used the Jawa motorcycle like nobody at one time. Every year, I did something like 55 to 60,000 kilometers. I literally lived on a motorcycle for almost seven years.