Sadhguru : Rudraksha is the seed of a particular tree species which usually grows at a certain altitude in the mountains – mainly in the Himalayan region. Unfortunately, most of these trees were used to make railway sleepers, so there are very few of them remaining in India. Today, they are mostly found in Nepal, Burma, Thailand or Indonesia. They are there in some parts of the Western Ghats in South India, but the best quality ones come from a certain altitude in Himalayas because somehow the soil, atmosphere, and everything influences it. These seeds have a very unique vibration.

Usually the beads are strung together as a mala. Traditionally, they believe the number of beads is 108 plus one. The extra bead is the bindu. There must always be a bindu to the mala, otherwise the energy becomes cyclical and people who are sensitive may become dizzy. An adult should not wear a mala with less than 84 beads plus the bindu. Any number over that is fine.

When you string them, it is best that they are strung with either a silk thread or a cotton thread. If you wear it with a thread then it is good to take care to change the thread every six months. Otherwise one day the thread may snap and your 108 beads will go all over the place. If you want to use copper, silver or gold also it is fine, but what happens most of the time is, you take it to the jeweler to do it. When the jeweler ties a knot with a gold wire or whatever, usually they tie it too tight and close and the inside of the rudraksha cracks. I have seen, despite telling people to tell the jeweler, when they bring it back to me after getting it done, about 30-40% of the time it is broken. It is very important that you make sure it is loose. It should not be tightened too close, because if the inside crumbles with the pressure, it is no good.

The mala can be worn all the time. You can even wear it when you shower. If you take cold water baths and are not using any chemical soap, it is especially good for the water to flow over it and upon your . But if you are using chemical soaps and warm water, it becomes brittle and will crack after sometime, so it is best to avoid wearing it at such times.

It is also a kind of shield against negative energies. It is possible for some people to use negative energies to cause harm to someone else. This is a whole science by itself. One Veda, the Atharvana Veda, is all about how to use energies to your advantage and to someone else’s detriment. If somebody who has mastery over this wants to use it, so many things – extreme suffering and even death can be caused.

A rudraksha is a kind of shield against this. You may think nobody will do negative things to you, but it is not necessary that it should be targeted at you. Let us say somebody did it to the person sitting next you, but he is not receptive to it. Now you may get it because you are sitting next to him. It is just like when two people are shooting at each other on the street, they do not intend to shoot you, but you may get shot. Similarly these things also can happen. It is not intended for you, but it can happen if you are in the wrong place at the wrong moment. There need not be a huge fear about such things, but a mala is a kind of protection from that.