Video Information:
Myth Demolition tour, 20.2.20, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India
Context:
~ What to learn from wise one?
~ How to identify right guru?
~ What is absolute freedom?
~ Who is fake guru?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Myth Demolition tour, 20.2.20, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India
Context:
~ What to learn from wise one?
~ How to identify right guru?
~ What is absolute freedom?
~ Who is fake guru?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:07 So a question that comes up for me is
00:11 Ramana Maharshi says that one of the best ways to stabilize is to
00:17 eat more sattvic food and give up meat
00:20 and then I like his words and his teachings
00:24 and then Nisargadaraj Maharaj who also
00:27 his words penetrated me very deeply
00:30 someone asked him the question why do you eat meat
00:33 and he says my body has these habits so what of it
00:37 and I find myself for me personally
00:40 I just have no desire to eat meat anymore
00:43 I'm just curious what Nisargadaraj Maharaj meant when he said
00:47 my body has these habits so what
00:50 These are coming from two different points
00:56 two statements that you have just quoted
00:59 Ramana Maharshi is advising a seeker
01:08 Ramana Maharshi's counsel is for someone who is still on the way
01:16 so he is offering you a method to be lighter on your way
01:27 so that your journey is less loaded against yourself
01:39 Nisargadaraj Maharaj is saying from the point of one who has already reached
01:51 and he's saying I am at a point where there is complete separation between me and the body
02:02 now that kind of a separation does not exist for the one who is still on the way
02:10 so Nisargadaraj Maharaj says let the body do what it wants to do
02:17 the body is anyway a conditioned mechanism
02:21 and situated where I am
02:25 if I interfere with the body even to bring some purity
02:37 some correction some sattvic that to it
02:42 that would again be a kind of entanglement a kind of identification
02:48 so I don't want to touch the body not even to correct it
02:56 not even to bring sattvic that to it
03:00 I don't want to meddle with the body anymore
03:06 but that statement remember is possible only to someone
03:12 who has arrived at that complete distinction
03:19 therefore the statement that Nisargadaraj Maharaj is making
03:24 is wonderful but not useful
03:28 it has very little utility because all utility has to be for someone
03:37 who is still struggling still on the way
03:42 still trying to make his way through the various challenges that the body and mind offer
03:49 liquor consumption or flesh consumption
03:57 or other kinds of unwise gratifications of the body
04:07 merely increase the obstacles that one faces
04:16 so therefore those kind of things must not be practiced
04:31 even if it is observed that a realized man is practicing them
04:37 Nisargadaraj Maharaj by the way was also an avid smoker
04:48 not only would he smoke himself
04:59 he actually owned several little shops that would dispense
05:08 local handmade cigarettes called BD's
05:17 in the locality where he stayed he was famous as BD wale baba
05:25 but then does that mean that you have to smoke to be enlightened?
05:31 no, those kind of things even if they are documented, recorded, observed in a realized man
05:40 must be respectfully kept aside as the idiosyncrasies of the realized man
05:50 Ramkrishna Paramhans would run after fish
05:57 being a Bengali he found it very difficult to resist fish
06:09 Jesus seemed to have his affinity towards meat and wine
06:25 there is much else that can be learned from the wise ones
06:38 not these aspects
06:41 their inner force, their urge for liberation
06:48 surely was so strong that they could arrive at their destination
06:55 in spite of these obstacles
06:58 and for sure all these are obstacles, there is no doubt about it
07:03 but they were extraordinary people
07:08 in spite of liquor or flesh
07:13 or cigarettes
07:20 they could overcome those obstacles that only proves the strength of their love
07:33 their resolve, their determination
07:36 the common man does not have that kind of resolve
07:43 he is unable to overcome even the ordinary and commonplace obstacles that life places
07:53 why add to your challenges, why add to your troubles
07:59 by indulging in avoidable stuff
08:09 there have been all kinds of stories associated with saints
08:19 and many of those stories must be factually correct, undoubtedly
08:31 there have been saints who have been womanizers
08:40 there have been sages who have been shown to have their own fascination for their several kinds of passions
08:52 that's not something we are to learn from them or emulate from them
09:01 if anything what these stories tell us is that
09:08 there is nothing called absolute liberation
09:13 are you getting it?
09:18 that the stranglehold of maya on the body
09:22 and the mental tendencies always remains
09:27 therefore even at the so called end point
09:31 what you can have is complete separation but not complete purification
09:38 these two are very different things
09:43 liberation therefore is the word not purification
09:47 liberation implies separation
09:50 you say the I sense is now liberated from the body and mind
09:54 you do not say that the body and mind are liberated
09:57 do you say that?
10:01 so when you say liberation, who is liberated from whom?
10:05 we must go into that
10:08 and the very emphasis on the word liberation
10:12 proves that ultimately you have no option
10:18 but to distance yourself
10:23 that alone is liberation
10:26 but in the process of liberation
10:29 purification is important
10:33 and that is what is satvikta
10:36 so Ramana Maharishi is talking of purification
10:41 he is talking as a counselor to someone who is on his way
10:47 and therefore his words are useful here
10:52 Nisargadatta Maharaj is truthful here
10:58 but not useful
11:01 the seeker must look for that which is useful
11:06 even if it is not absolutely truthful
11:12 getting it?
11:16 and that is also the reason why
11:20 one must avoid
11:23 peeping too much
11:29 into personal lives of people like Nisargadatta Maharaj
11:34 or for that matter any sage
11:38 they can afford what they do
11:42 we will probably not be able to afford what they do
11:49 and the knowledge, the undue information that we will gain
11:55 by looking into their personal life
11:58 will only prove to be our own detriment
12:06 far better to go by their advice
12:15 Acharyaji, I have something more on this
12:20 you mentioned useful even if not truthful
12:24 and that a seeker should look for
12:27 can you elaborate please?
12:29 you see the absolute truth is not useful
12:33 in fact the more you want utility
12:39 the more you will have to dilute the truth
12:46 absolute truth in a sense is absolutely useless
12:50 because absolute truth is nothing, silence, avoid
12:54 it doesn't speak to you
12:57 are you getting it?
13:02 it has no value, no purpose, no utility whatsoever
13:08 therefore
13:13 when the liberated ones have spoken
13:21 they have been forced to
13:25 say things
13:29 that have an iota
13:33 of falseness in them
13:36 so if you detect falseness in the words of a liberated one
13:44 kindly do not take it to mean that the liberated one
13:49 could not tell truth apart from the false
13:57 it merely means that he wanted to be of help
14:01 the brahma sutras are quite truthful
14:13 though not absolutely because the moment
14:15 something is expressed in words
14:17 it ceases to have any
14:21 absolute truthfulness to it
14:27 but still brahma sutras they come as close
14:31 to truth as words can possibly come
14:36 but then very few people find them of any use
14:43 very very few people
14:45 of far greater use are
14:52 let's say the parables of Ram Krishna Paramhans
14:57 simple stories
15:05 for the common people
15:09 and far greater number of people have
15:16 benefited from these stories
15:19 than have benefited from the brahma sutras
15:26 are you getting it
15:37 but there is a
15:39 there is an amusing
15:41 ironical part to it
15:46 if the one who knows want to be of use to you
15:52 you will have to mix it up a little
16:00 dilute his teaching a little
16:05 in fact to teach is to dilute
16:10 there can be no teaching without dilution
16:14 but the moment there is dilution
16:18 the teacher becomes vulnerable
16:24 against charges
16:32 of falseness
16:35 you can now indict him
16:39 you can say here this is what you have said
16:42 this is what you have done
16:44 and I can conclusively prove that a lot of it is false
16:50 yes of course a lot of that is false
16:53 for your sake
16:55 had it not been false
16:58 would you have been able to make any sense out of it
17:06 all these prayers
17:23 you hear these mantras being recited
17:26 somewhere in the city
17:28 they take you towards the truth
17:31 but they are not the truth
17:33 get the distinction straight
17:36 they are very useful assistants
17:41 but they are not the real thing itself
17:44 you could say they are the secretaries
17:50 that would take you to the bosses cabin
17:53 but they are not the boss
17:55 and do not confuse the secretary for the boss
18:02 so then the concept of fake guru is invalid
18:12 there is nothing like fake guru by the same logic
18:17 a fake guru is someone who can't even be of help
18:22 there are three categories
18:28 there is the realized one
18:32 who will not budge from his absolute heights
18:39 he is sitting right atop mount Everest
18:43 the highest peak possible to consciousness
18:49 and he won't move an inch
18:52 and since he won't move an inch
18:55 you have no access to him
18:58 he is absolute and therefore absolutely unreachable
19:04 there, up there
19:07 so he is great, you can worship him
19:09 but you cannot benefit from him
19:13 keep worshipping him
19:15 and he does not bother even for your worship
19:19 he does not care for anything because he is beyond all care now
19:22 there is that one
19:25 then there is the one
19:28 who has been to the mountain top
19:34 and for some unknown reason
19:38 decided not to stay there
19:42 having known what that absolute height is like
19:47 he has still descended to the ground
19:52 to the valleys
19:55 to the cities and villages
19:59 and he brings to you something
20:05 of that absolute height
20:08 and narrates that to you in your language
20:12 and obviously your language is the language of the false
20:16 therefore when the truth is expressed in your language
20:21 for your sake, for your benefit
20:24 it does not retain its absolute purity anymore
20:27 it cannot, but it becomes
20:30 but it becomes
20:33 to you it becomes useful
20:36 it becomes useful to you
20:39 so this fellow takes the blame upon himself
20:44 there is no doubt that first of all
20:47 he has
20:50 disrespected
20:55 the invitation of the absolute
21:00 by being there and yet not
21:03 staying there, lodging there
21:06 and secondly
21:09 he is bringing to you something
21:12 that does not quite belong to your world
21:16 that cannot quite be expressed in your language
21:20 but is being
21:28 somehow
21:31 perforce
21:36 made to be expressed in your language
21:43 this is the second category that we have talked of
21:47 then you used the term fake guru
21:51 this is the fellow who has never been to the mountain top
21:55 he belongs to the
22:00 lanes and the crossings
22:07 maybe he has seen some
22:14 photo or two
22:19 or has heard some description from someone
22:23 who has gone up some distance
22:27 and is using all that to
22:31 further his own
22:39 ego and little self-interest
22:42 this third chap is the fake one
22:45 the third chap is
22:48 necessarily harmful
22:51 the first fellow is not useful
22:54 it is the second one
22:57 who proves useful
23:01 but is also the one who has been
23:06 blamed, insulted and derided
23:11 the most in the history
23:14 often he earns
23:19 flack from both sides
23:24 the ones who
23:27 care only for the absolute
23:30 they blame him
23:33 for mingling too much with the masses
23:39 and the masses
23:43 after they have learnt a bit from him
23:46 start using
23:49 the teaching given by him
23:52 against him
23:55 and then they tell him you know
23:58 what you are doing goes against your own teaching
24:01 so he receives it from both sides
24:06 but this second fellow is the one
24:11 who proves useful
24:14 incidentally
24:22 the really fake guru is quite unlikely to be
24:26 detected as a fake guru
24:29 the title of fake guru is usually
24:33 reserved for the
24:37 fellow of the second type
24:42 Thank you
24:45 [Music]