Elephant and Donkey Tribes of Politics

The Motorcycle Guru Speaks.

- Supriya Venkatesan

Recently, I interviewed the New York Times bestselling writer and mystic, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Would being in the presence of a realized soul awaken my own intelligence, and would I be able to impart that experience to my readers?

I waited in a hotel that bordered Central Park in New York. He walked in wearing a kurta, a draped shawl with a massive turban looking just like his pictures on the Internet, many of which depict him flying on a motorcycle giving him the name “motorcycle guru.” Aside from the attire, he seemed like other mortals: I sensed no halo or special vibes. He touched my arm and asked me to move closer, an invitation to intimacy that I was unprepared for. Mildly taken aback, I suddenly remembered the fresh flowers and the woolen shawl that I had brought as gifts. My cousin-in-law who is a devotee had advised that I take these to show my respect.

The movement of rustling plastic shook me back into the present and I remembered my list of prepared questions. I told Sadhguru of my own background. I served six years in the United States Army, 15 months of which were spent deployed to Iraq. I began asking him a few questions and very quickly the conversation turned to politics. He said, “I am amazed to see people committed as Democrats or Republicans. They are two tribes, which will invariably fight. How they fight may not be with guns, but they