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Acharya Prashant
  • 3 years ago
Video Information: 24.08.2021, Shastra Kaumudi, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh

Context:
~What is meant by egolessness?
~ How to get rid of ego?
~ If there is no desire for fruit, for whom does one perform that action?
~ How to get rid of the fear of making the wrong choice?

Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Transcript
00:00 Do you see why the motivation industry is so evergreen always?
00:13 Because we don't want to give up hope.
00:18 Because we want to keep believing, we have a stubborn stake there, that we have not failed.
00:33 A particular type of attempt has failed.
00:39 If I try again in another way, with better skills, with more energy, with more knowledge,
00:52 then I am going to succeed.
00:58 And we said that's a recipe for endless continuation of failures.
01:08 Because you will never have enough.
01:13 Irrespective of how many times you have been punched in the face by life, there would always
01:20 be that one more possibility left somewhere in the corner.
01:26 Well, I have tried almost everything.
01:30 Almost.
01:33 I have tried almost everything.
01:34 But there still remains that faint glimmer of hope.
01:38 Now I will try that particular way.
01:43 You know, in all my past attempts, I did not know of these things.
01:48 I did not have the luxury of this particular instrument.
01:54 Or I was not experienced enough.
02:01 I did not have the right help.
02:05 Now things are different.
02:06 You just wait and watch.
02:09 I am going to turn the tables this time around.
02:17 Sounds familiar?
02:20 Yeah?
02:23 Why have you not been able to complete your task since the last six months?
02:32 Sir, it will be done tomorrow.
02:36 Tomorrow.
02:38 How exactly?
02:41 No, I will pull some rabbit out of my hat.
02:54 I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve.
02:58 One trick I will employ and the goal will be achieved.
03:08 Four months later.
03:11 Son, the task is pending, rather hanging fire since ten months now.
03:26 Tomorrow it will be done, sir.
03:27 Acharyaji, you just see.
03:30 Tomorrow.
03:32 The speaker is evil and does not want to realize that.
03:47 Mind you, I did not say does not realize that.
03:49 I said does not want to realize that.
03:53 He could not have said it will be done tomorrow.
03:56 What are you going to change overnight?
03:57 You are the same person.
03:58 You are the same person.
03:59 How will it be better tomorrow?
04:15 Your performance in some particular thing was pathetic today, doctor.
04:21 Sir, tomorrow is a different day.
04:28 You are the same man.
04:31 The day might be different.
04:32 The man is the same.
04:38 But such things are uttered precisely to defend the person that you are.
04:49 Sometimes you say, you know, I will watch more keenly now.
04:53 Watch not in the sense of attention, but in the sense of optical faculties.
05:01 I will use these instruments with greater application now.
05:11 I will give more time.
05:12 I will do this.
05:13 I will do that.
05:18 So the sages decide to put an end to this stupid saga.
05:25 They say it does not matter what you do.
05:29 No doing is going to succeed.
05:34 If that hurts, so be it.
05:39 You will fail because you are another name for failure.
05:51 None of your actions matter.
05:55 No improvement in your actions is going to matter.
06:07 And a fellow can indeed improve himself greatly.
06:10 Don't deny that.
06:17 It's not going to be enough.
06:21 Never.
06:25 And you can put in great sacrifice and discipline in improving yourself.
06:36 I concede it is not an easy thing.
06:39 Self-improvement takes a lot.
06:45 And when you put in a lot of effort in self-improvement, it gives you that additional layer of ego.
07:01 I have worked so hard to attain my goals.
07:05 Nobody gave it to me on a platter.
07:08 I earned it.
07:13 You know all that hard work, what it really is for, ostensibly, superficially, you are
07:24 putting in that hard work to attain your goal.
07:29 Essentially you are putting in that hard work just to remain who you are.
07:39 Therefore not all hard work is praiseworthy.
07:44 You find a fellow sweating himself out, thinning himself down, shedding not only sweat but
08:08 actually blood in pursuit of some goal.
08:17 Don't be too quick in endorsing that person.
08:25 I understand hard work, exertion, diligence.
08:37 They all have beauty.
08:40 They appear all respectable.
08:45 But just wait a moment.
08:50 Ask yourself, what is all this work for?
09:04 What is all this for?
09:08 Where is it coming from?
09:11 What does it want to achieve?
09:14 Most importantly, what is it trying to defend and secure?
09:22 Before you ask, what is this man trying to change?
09:27 You must ask, what is this man hell-bent to not allow to change?
09:47 What do you want to achieve?
09:49 Is more visible, is it not?
09:57 I want to change the face of the planet.
10:03 I want to raise new buildings.
10:12 I will bring a new government.
10:16 I will do this, I will do that.
10:20 I will upend the entire system.
10:24 And this fellow appears like a change agent.
10:31 He is here to bring about tectonic changes.
10:41 So you go gaga and rush at his feet.
10:49 Ask yourself, what is it that he is working so hard to defend from changing, to prevent
11:02 from changing?
11:03 What is it that he wants to keep very very secure?
11:13 And often the thing that we want to keep very secure by its very nature is indefensible,
11:22 very brittle, very unstable.
11:31 Therefore it takes a lot of hard work to keep it secured.
11:37 That if you understand, will explain to you why so many people work so very hard.
11:48 Because they are trying to achieve the impossible.
11:51 Not externally, internally.
11:54 There is something inside that by its nature, I said, is indefensible, insecure, unstable,
12:08 ready to expire any moment.
12:19 Secure as a spy in a hostile country whose cover is about to be blown up any moment.
12:32 So it requires a lot of energy and constant exertion to save this thing from collapsing.
12:58 You are walking with a living man, how much support do you have to provide to that person?
13:04 No support.
13:05 You are walking with the cops, how will it be to walk even 200 meters?
13:17 It will require a lot of hard work.
13:21 Most of that which we call as hard work is this exactly.
13:28 You are walking with the cops, not only next to you but actually within you.
13:37 It takes a lot to prevent it from collapsing.
13:48 So you are working hard, hard, hard and patting yourself in the back, you see I have done
13:59 the impossible and surely you are doing something that is tremendously difficult.
14:03 But why?
14:09 We don't deny that what you are doing is not easy to do.
14:14 Why must one do that?
14:19 Are we together?
14:32 And the more impossible the task is, the more ingenious you have to be.
14:38 Is that not obvious?
14:42 So very clever systems you will come up with.
14:46 You will need innovations, you will need bleeding-ish technology.
14:54 You see how the dots are now connecting?
15:00 If you are walking with a living person, what kind of technology do you need to keep walking
15:10 with him?
15:11 Nothing.
15:16 But if you are stubbornly committed to walking with the cops and that too for long distances,
15:28 then you will need a lot of R&D.
15:38 Unfortunately a lot of R&D is about walking with cops.
15:51 It's about doing stuff that should anyway not be done at all.
15:58 And that's why it is so difficult.
16:25 So what is it that needs to be done then?
16:30 If no doing is going to succeed, what to do?
16:38 If nothing that you do is going to suffice, you are still left with the question, what
16:45 to do?
16:49 Even if you can see the illogic in the face, "Well, nothing that I am going to do is
16:54 going to suffice", still you are constrained by your constitution and your language to
17:03 still ask the question, so what to do?
17:11 The sage acknowledges your predicament and comes up with this response.
17:23 Only when the inner being is purified by a glad serenity of knowledge, then indeed meditating,
17:30 one beholds the spirit indivisible.
17:38 Does not matter what you do, what matters is the extent to which the doer has been purified.
17:53 By the doer, and you won't have to worry about the deeds anymore.
18:11 At the same time, I keep saying, watch your deeds, watch your deeds, watch your deeds.
18:16 Not because deeds are of primary importance, but because deeds are a method to reach the
18:25 doer.
18:26 Otherwise, how will you know the state of the doer?
18:32 The doer is a subtle entity.
18:37 Deeds are visible, gross.
18:46 You can sense them, map them, record them, talk of them.
19:00 So you want to reach the doer through the deeds.
19:10 Watching the deeds is therefore important.
19:12 But once the doer is purified, you need not watch the deeds at all.
19:24 There is no need.
19:31 Everything that you do now will just be the right thing because you are alright now.
19:51 In fact, what is alright can now be ascertained looking at your deeds.
20:17 You are now the sun.
20:22 You will not move according to the clocks.
20:27 The clocks will be set according to you.
20:34 When you are overhead, that's noon.
20:41 Let no clock have the audacity to challenge your position.
20:50 You are now sovereign, ultimate, independent.
21:04 The clocks will follow you.
21:06 Similarly, when the inner self is purified, then you don't need to work according to laws.
21:17 The laws will follow you.
21:20 What you do becomes the law.
21:27 But that is only when the inner being is fully purified.
21:32 Before that, you need to follow the laws.
21:38 As long as you are not the sun, you need to move by the clock.
21:44 When you are the sun, then the clocks will move by you.
21:59 In fact, that's your punishment.
22:03 As long as you are not aligned with the ultimate, that is the ultimate law into itself, you
22:13 will remain condemned to follow the various small laws.
22:25 Shri Krishna at a point in the Bhagavad Gita puts it beautifully.
22:33 He says, duties, responsibilities are all actually for the ignorant and that's the price
22:44 you pay for your ignorance.
22:46 That's the punishment for ignorance.
22:48 You will have to follow laws.
22:57 The day your ignorance is gone, you become a law unto yourself.
23:17 How is the inner being purified?
23:19 Not through any actions, mind you.
23:23 The inner being is purified only through knowledge.
23:27 Only through knowledge.
23:29 Not by doing this or that.
23:30 Not by going here or there.
23:33 Not by rituals, not by sacrifices, not by austerities.
23:40 Not by following any particular methods of worship or chanting or meditation.
23:47 None of that.
23:48 The Upanishads are very clear.
23:53 Knowledge alone liberates.
23:57 Not that knowledge liberates.
24:02 Knowledge alone liberates.
24:05 So Swachhaji, when you were explaining about inner being and that inner being can be purified
24:14 by knowledge and only knowledge.
24:17 I think probably this may give up an image that when you are, when knowledge, by having
24:24 knowledge you will be able to liberate.
24:27 Then it gives an image that you have left doing anything and you are probably reading
24:32 or doing something.
24:34 So I thought it can be more elaborated that probably knowledge is not only when you are
24:39 just reading or it probably would be more of an action.
24:41 No, see this is not knowledge that comes to you gift-wrapped as a bundle.
24:55 This is not static knowledge.
25:01 This is a constant dynamic flux of knowledge.
25:13 Because it is constant and it's dynamic, you could call it as knowing.
25:22 It's happening.
25:23 When is it happening?
25:26 It is happening when you are going through your various activities in life.
25:36 You get the difference?
25:39 The traditional kind of knowledge, the false knowledge is an activity in itself.
25:45 You say you know, I was swimming, then I was eating, then I was sleeping and now I am reading.
25:55 So in the first three cases I was not gaining knowledge of the traditional kind.
26:01 Now that I am with this book, I am gaining knowledge.
26:07 This is the usual kind of knowledge.
26:12 It exists in a slot, in a module, in a packet.
26:19 It's an event.
26:21 It's static.
26:26 Real knowledge that the seers are talking of is very different.
26:32 So it's this way.
26:35 I am eating.
26:42 I am watchful.
26:47 I am running.
26:50 I am watchful.
26:55 I am swimming.
26:57 I am watchful.
27:00 I am reading.
27:02 I am watchful.
27:05 So never am I allotting a specific slot to real knowledge.
27:17 Traditional knowledge is not a specific activity.
27:20 It is something that is happening in the background of all my other activities.
27:29 I am running.
27:30 I am knowing.
27:33 I am talking.
27:35 I am knowing.
27:38 I am watching.
27:39 I am knowing.
27:40 I am listening.
27:41 I am knowing.
27:42 I am shopping.
27:43 I am knowing.
27:44 I am reading.
27:45 I am watching.
27:46 I am knowing.
27:47 I am knowing.
27:48 Do you get this?
27:52 So if somebody will look at your 24-hour schedule, they will say, but you have not allotted any
27:59 slot or time to real knowledge.
28:05 Because you would have written eating, sleeping, running, working, shopping, whatever.
28:10 And that would fill up your 24 hours.
28:13 So where at no time, in no slot would you write knowing?
28:21 And the questioner would be puzzled.
28:26 He will say, but where is knowing in all this?
28:29 And you will smile.
28:33 What would be your response?
28:37 Knowing is continuous, irrespective of what I am doing in the foreground, knowing is happening
28:46 in the background.
28:49 That is real knowledge.
28:55 However, that is not a license to keep doing anything in the foreground.
29:09 The ego is a very devious thing.
29:13 The moment you say, irrespective of what is happening in the foreground, knowing is happening
29:18 in the background.
29:19 So you say, right.
29:21 Now what is happening in the foreground that everybody can watch?
29:24 What is happening in the background?
29:26 Only I can watch, so I can claim anything.
29:30 So I will say I am doing any kind of debauchery in the foreground, but really in the background
29:36 I am knowing.
29:37 And nobody can counter that, nobody can verify that.
29:41 Only you know.
29:42 Or only you do not know.
29:47 So avoid all that.
29:51 There is no need to fool yourself.
29:55 In the beginning you said that Prakriti is which continues and that thing about action
30:06 and self-improvement and everything that continues.
30:10 But there is something that, but this contradicts this thing that continues.
30:18 That is knowing, that is continuous.
30:22 So that gives me an impression that it will be a sort of, as you said, bombardment or
30:31 explosion or something that gives an impression that it hits you.
30:36 No, the river is flowing continuously and you are watching the continuous flow.
30:45 And the flow has several distinct kinds of ripples and waves and there are stones and
30:50 pebbles and fish and you know, people in the river, reflections and streaks.
31:00 So much is there.
31:04 River is an entire ecosystem and you are watching all of it.
31:21 The river will keep flowing.
31:44 You can know what the river is all about.
31:56 In knowing the river, you come to who you really are.
32:18 One thing is certain, you are not what you take yourself to be.
32:39 And there is no other method because there is no other thing available.
32:59 All that you have is the river.
33:01 All that you can see is the river.
33:06 So the river is the trap and the river is the way to freedom.
33:27 You have a choice here.
33:37 You can choose the river as bondage or you can choose the river as your own.

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