How to have clarity in life? || Acharya Prashant, with Delhi University (2022)
Video Information: Delhi University, 15.01.2022, Rishikesh, India
Context:
~ What work to choose in life?
~ Should one seek social validation while choosing work?
~ How important is money while choosing work?
~ Why do we often underestimate the circumstances?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Context:
~ What work to choose in life?
~ Should one seek social validation while choosing work?
~ How important is money while choosing work?
~ Why do we often underestimate the circumstances?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Transcript
00:00 Pranam Ajay Rajee. I'm Shashank Kashyap from Atmaram Sanatan Dharam College, University
00:07 of Delhi. And my question is, I have like a vision about I'm more inclined towards research
00:14 and entrepreneurship like stuff. But whenever I discuss with people, they usually tell me
00:19 that you first seek for a job and get the job, get some money. And after that you can
00:25 go for these things because these are the things that involve risk. So in your video,
00:31 I have seen that you're telling that one needs clarity in life. So living in between these
00:37 people who have a hard mentality following what rest of the people are doing. So in between
00:44 these people, how to get that clarity in life? See, clarity in the inner sense is attained
00:57 by observing fog and haze. All that obfuscates your clarity is to be known. This is the process
01:10 of attaining clarity. So if these people are around you, first of all, see they are around
01:16 you there because they are within you. Otherwise, they couldn't have been around you. Right?
01:24 People who discourage you or people who want you to be risk averse, people who want you
01:31 to avoid obstacles and go for a pleasure filled and easy, comfortable life. If they surround
01:39 you from outside, it is because they occupy you from within. And they have to be observed
01:47 because observing them is in some way self-observation. When you observe these people outside of you,
01:54 you are observing your face in their faces. Listen to their arguments. Their arguments
02:01 are your own arguments against yourself. Their arguments couldn't have affected you had they
02:08 not resonated with something inside of you. Right? So listen to what they are saying.
02:15 See where they are coming from. See how their lives are. And then ask yourself, is that
02:20 where I want to spend my life? Is that how I want to live? Because their arguments aren't
02:27 in a vacuum. Everything is connected to everything else. The way, for example, their personal
02:33 life is, is very much related to how their professional choices are. The way their eyes
02:41 look, the way their faces look, the kind of political opinions that they hold, they are
02:48 all integrated and they are coming from the same center. Do you want to live that way?
02:56 It's a choice you have to make. And remember, it's a very important choice because something
03:01 within you definitely wants to live that way. Something within you definitely wants to emulate
03:08 them. You must know what you are going to get into if you emulate. They are all following
03:15 a pattern. They are all part of a certain crowd. You must know where that pattern is
03:20 coming from. You must know whose desires they are fulfilling. You must ask what is the purpose
03:28 of such a life? And you must ask whether life must have a purpose at all? And you must ask
03:36 what does it feel like to live without a purpose? And sir, how to counter their arguments? Their
03:48 arguments are not their arguments. Had their arguments just been their own, you wouldn't
03:52 have needed to counter them. What is the need to counter their arguments, first of all,
03:57 please tell me? It seems you want to borrow a phrase or argument from me so that you can
04:04 use it as ammunition against them. But first of all, why is there a need to counter them
04:09 at all? Let them say what they want to say. Sir, because sometimes I feel that if I am
04:16 surrounded by such kind of people, then somewhere my mentality is getting contaminated by their
04:21 thoughts. But why are you surrounded by such people? Sir, because everyone is like that
04:28 only, everyone wants to live a particular life. No, no, not everyone is like that. Everyone
04:33 around you is probably like that. Now that's the question you need to answer. Why have
04:40 you in particular surrounded yourself with such people? That's what I am saying. Shashank,
04:48 something within you is very comfortable with what they are saying. Something within you
04:54 resonates and rhymes with their opinions. They are representing your own face to you.
05:04 That's why they have such power over you. Else you would have just dismissed them with
05:10 indifference. Right now you find it difficult to be indifferent to their opinions. Because
05:18 they are reaching out to their ally within you. Something within you is allying with
05:29 them very intimately and that's a bigger problem. People outside of you can change. Maybe you
05:38 go some other place and you will find a different set of people, right? At least physically.
05:45 But how will you get rid of that same person within you? And if that same person within
05:52 you remains the way it is, it will again find and attract its own buddies, its own type.
06:01 And you will say, oh, but you know such people are everywhere. They are not everywhere. They
06:06 come to places where they have a conducive environment. They speak to people who lend
06:16 their ears to them. Why are you so open to them? Are flies found at all places? Tell
06:27 me. Where are they found? Where there is a dirt. Exactly. Name the dirt. Like dung or
06:40 like a garbage or gutter. Right, right, right. Clean that up. So, how to counter that like
06:48 inner part of that consciousness and lift up the consciousness so that those people
06:53 can go away. Those who wanted to help you made themselves available in various ways
07:03 so that you may have their company, so that you are not forced to dwell in bad company,
07:11 so that freedom means more to you than security. Why not be with them? They left their books
07:19 behind. Why else did they write books? They were not suckers for popularity or respect.
07:34 They had gone far beyond that. They left their words behind so that you may find good company
07:42 in them. So, and this is the age of technology. Not only books, you also have various other
07:53 forms and media. You have audios, you have videos, you have many other things. So, be
08:02 with them, be with them. As you find your internal world changing, you will find you
08:09 need to associate with the cowardly kind of people is reducing. Equally your reverence
08:22 for the right kind of people will increase. These two go in tandem.