India is world’s most vibrant nation: Sadhguru at ET GBS

Going onstage after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s keynote address is hard. But not if you are Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. A much sought-after speaker, Vasudev was at his best, peppering his 20-minute speech on February 23 at the fifth edition of the ET Global Business Summit with humour and wisdom. He said India might look like “impossible chaos” to outsiders, but it is in fact a resilient organisation. He quickly added, “We enjoy some chaos. We feel lost if there is no chaos.”

He said India has in the past three decades understood what makes a country work. “To make a nation successful, what is required is not successful politics or successful armies, but successful businesses.” For the Indian economy to advance, he stressed, some drastic policy decisions like the goods and services tax (GST) need to be taken even though they may be painful and laws and policies from the colonial era need to be overhauled. He added that politicians only make agendas or policies, but crucial to building a nation is its businesses.

Vasudev also underscored the importance of the idea of a nation in the minds of its people. “When we invest our thought and emotion in it, it becomes a wonderful idea. Otherwise it becomes a nasty idea.”


He said India needs to harvest the potential of its people. “We have a phenomenal level of intellect in our country…In many ways, this is the most vibrant nation in the world in terms of what can happen in the 5-10 years.” For that to happen, he called for focussed, high-quality education, which goes beyond the concept of mere literacy. “A great nation is not going to happen because we have written a great book called the constitution. It’s only going to happen if you build great human beings."