How to watch one's tendencies? How to associate with the right objects? || Acharya Prashant (2024)
~~~~~
#acharyaprashant #tendency
Video Information: 17.03.2024, Vedanta Session, Greter Noida
Context:
~ How to watch one's tendencies?
~ What is meant by egolessness?
~ How to get rid of ego?
~ How to associate with the right objects?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
#acharyaprashant #tendency
Video Information: 17.03.2024, Vedanta Session, Greter Noida
Context:
~ How to watch one's tendencies?
~ What is meant by egolessness?
~ How to get rid of ego?
~ How to associate with the right objects?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
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00:58 (audience applauding)
01:05 - Namaste, sir.
01:07 I'm Varsha.
01:08 I live in Virginia in the United States.
01:11 And it's an honor to be able to watch you live
01:13 and learn from you today.
01:15 So thank you for the opportunity.
01:16 I have two questions.
01:20 The first one being,
01:22 you spoke about associating ourselves
01:24 with the right objects.
01:26 And I want to understand
01:28 how do I do that in my day-to-day life?
01:30 I live as most people do,
01:32 wake up, go to work, come back,
01:34 cook or order, watch TV, sleep.
01:37 How do I associate myself with the right objects
01:40 in that practical day-to-day life?
01:43 And the second one is,
01:44 you also spoke about observing your tendencies
01:49 and knowing yourself through that.
01:53 And in my experience,
01:54 that observation is also very hard.
01:57 Observing your tendencies without engaging them,
02:00 with them is also exhausting.
02:02 Because then you start noticing
02:03 that there's so much of clutter
02:05 that goes on in your mind.
02:07 And if you start paying attention to each one of those
02:10 without necessarily interacting with them
02:13 or acting upon them,
02:14 you're tired at the end of the day.
02:17 So how to keep doing that?
02:19 - The second point contains the answer
02:23 to the first one.
02:24 The first one you said,
02:28 how to enter into right relationships.
02:30 But are we starting from a point
02:34 where there is no relationship at all?
02:37 No, that's not the starting point.
02:39 The starting point,
02:41 the point of a lot of relationships.
02:44 We already are into a lot of relationships, right?
02:47 There's a relationship with the handbag.
02:51 There is a relationship with the car.
02:53 There is a relationship with that particular flower.
02:56 There's a relationship with the favorite meal.
02:58 And obviously there are relationships
03:00 with the people in life.
03:02 So they already do exist.
03:04 So one starts by asking,
03:07 what is the nature of these relationships?
03:10 One does not start by asking
03:12 how to get into the right relationship.
03:14 One starts by asking,
03:15 are the current relationships right?
03:19 Because one is not available,
03:24 one is not free to enter into anything new.
03:28 All the benches in the hall are already occupied.
03:33 There is no possibility of a new entrant.
03:37 So one begins by asking,
03:41 are these the right occupants?
03:43 Why have I accorded these places to these objects?
03:51 And those objects could be your hopes, desires,
03:56 things, memories,
03:59 money, fame, obviously people.
04:05 So those things are there.
04:09 One begins by asking,
04:10 what is it that makes me cling to them?
04:12 What is it that makes me at least retain them?
04:15 Because no object stays in your life
04:18 without the contribution of your energy.
04:21 Relationships, as you know,
04:24 require a lot of investment.
04:29 We keep expending our time,
04:34 our energy, our money
04:36 to keep the chairs occupied.
04:39 It's not that the occupants of the chair are sticky.
04:44 If we leave them, they might as well leave.
04:47 But we find that we have a stake in those relationships.
04:52 One begins by asking,
04:54 is the stake real at all?
04:56 Or am I just an illusion?
05:01 So one begins with things as they are.
05:07 One begins, and that's the only possibility.
05:09 You have to begin where you are.
05:12 So you look at your current state.
05:16 This is what I abhor so much.
05:22 This is what I like so much.
05:23 This is what I just don't want to look at.
05:26 This is what I must daily look at.
05:29 That's my favourite TV show.
05:32 That thing, that shop, that product is what I feel addicted to.
05:38 And you then ask yourself,
05:39 is all of that or is any of that doing me any good?
05:43 Because it's all about me.
05:47 All my relationships are for my own stake.
05:51 Are they not?
05:52 So I must ask, what am I getting from that?
05:55 What is that doing to me?
05:58 And then things get dropped.
06:03 And then the right things happen on its own.
06:09 Please remember this.
06:10 The right thing will always happen on its own.
06:13 The wrong thing often has to be forcefully done.
06:18 The right thing.
06:24 That does not mean that everything that happens on its own is the right thing.
06:27 A lot of unconscious things also seem to happen on their own.
06:32 One slips.
06:33 As they say, one falls in love.
06:35 And love at first sight and all those things, they also seem to happen on their own.
06:39 We are not aware of that.
06:41 We are talking of a point of clear consciousness.
06:46 From there, things just spontaneously happen.
06:49 And the right things will happen.
06:51 Whatever will happen will be right.
06:53 One need not even think about that.
06:55 One has to rather think about the status quo.
06:59 Things as they are right now.
07:01 Why are these chairs occupied by these objects?
07:06 It's my mind.
07:07 My sanctum sanctorum.
07:10 Why must these things, these thoughts, these people, these objects, these events, these
07:13 memories, these whatever feelings, emotions, why must they be present here?
07:18 This is my fiefdom.
07:20 This is my sacred zone.
07:23 What right do these things have to be present here?
07:30 That's how one proceeds.
07:31 The second thing that you ask, it's difficult to observe oneself.
07:36 You see, there are rabbits in the lawn.
07:40 It's a large, wide lawn.
07:44 It is not at all exhausting to observe the rabbits.
07:48 But if you chase the rabbits, obviously you will be exhausted.
07:54 Observe things as they are.
07:55 Don't chase them.
07:56 Don't desire anything from them.
07:58 But if you desire to catch a rabbit and hold it in your lap, then obviously you will be
08:03 exhausted.
08:04 So, thoughts, feelings and all these things are these rabbits.
08:09 They keep operating in that wide expanse, that lawn of the mind.
08:15 Observation takes no energy.
08:16 All it takes is attention.
08:19 But if you want to have a relationship with the objects that you are observing, obviously
08:25 that will sap you out.
08:30 When we observe, we don't observe without motive.
08:35 When we observe, we become policemen.
08:39 This thing must be, "Oh, I just observed a bad thought".
08:42 So it must be suppressed.
08:43 Now that suppression will require energy.
08:48 You don't need to suppress it.
08:50 It's just a rabbit.
08:51 Let the rabbit do its own thing in the lawn.
08:56 You're there to observe, not to catch it.
08:59 Yeah.
09:00 Thank you.
09:02 Appreciate it.
09:05 Wonderful.
09:06 Essentially, thank you so much Acharyaji for doing this.
09:16 I've been waiting for the privilege and the honor of being able to interact with you and
09:23 to listen to you in English.
09:26 I keep looking for English content.
09:28 Hard for me to understand Hindi.
09:30 My question was essentially the same as what Varsha just asked in terms of what are the
09:36 things, for example, you said there could be something like a small tumor growing in
09:40 your stomach and that's external.
09:42 But a thought like that terrifies me.
09:45 So what are some of the things that we can do to sort of get to that point was my first
09:49 question and then just observe is your answer.
09:51 You don't have to do anything, but just observe.
09:54 And that is how you get start to know yourself.
09:57 But the additional question that comes to my mind then is, in a world where we only
10:10 know and we're only able to comprehend relative truth, you know, if everything that I'm thinking,
10:16 the opposite of that is also is true.
10:19 And there is no clear way to define what knowledge is, you know, Bertrand Russell's paradox,
10:26 for example, right?
10:27 If a universal set contains all sets, does it contain itself?
10:32 In a world like that, when we're dealing with that as a limitation, how do we even begin
10:36 to start thinking about ourselves and thinking about, you know, observing ourselves because
10:40 those observations are fundamentally false.
10:45 The observation becomes false when there is a motive behind the observation.
10:55 It is difficult to explain what motive-less, desire-less observation is like.
11:04 You talked, for example, of being frightened by the thought of the tumor in the stomach.
11:16 Think of that.
11:17 There has to be a motive.
11:21 What can the tumor do?
11:22 It can destroy the body, right?
11:25 Now, the body is something that I have and I have a motive.
11:31 I have a motive.
11:33 My motive is that I must live freely and joyfully.
11:40 That's the fundamental motive of every human being.
11:46 And the body is a means, a vehicle through which much can be done to move into that freedom
11:56 and joy.
12:00 So, if I have a car and the car is to be used for a decent purpose and if I find that the
12:09 car is developing snag in the engine, why must I not be worried?
12:16 It's alright to be worried.
12:19 But it's alright to be worried only when I know who I am and where I am to go.
12:26 Else, why must the state of the car worry me?
12:34 Why must the state of the car worry me?
12:39 If the car is to just remain parked or if the car exists just for the purpose of getting
12:46 fuelled and serviced of what use is the car to me, are you getting it?
12:58 Then the thing that opposite of one thing or opposite of one truth is another truth,
13:14 all that is valid in the domain of concepts and ideas.
13:23 But when we are talking of the truth in Vedanta, it is something beyond me.
13:32 That which is beyond me is the truth because whatsoever is in my domain carries the same
13:41 limitations as I do and since I am not okay with my limitations, I dare not call myself
13:51 as the truth because the truth by definition has to be the final thing.
13:58 If I am the final thing, then my limitations are the final thing.
14:04 That would mean that I am condemned to bear my limitations and suffering.
14:11 Therefore, I will never never want to call myself as the truth.
14:19 How will I proceed to call one thought as the truth and the opposite of that, two as
14:26 the truth?
14:27 No, no, no.
14:28 That's not how one has to wisely look at it.
14:32 This thought, that thought, they are all my thoughts and no thought is the truth because
14:41 all thoughts are to me.
14:46 All thoughts are to me.
14:50 Who am I?
14:51 I am my own suffering.
14:52 What do I want to do?
14:54 I want to get rid of my suffering.
14:57 Therefore, I have to go beyond my little self and that which is beyond my little self is
15:07 the truth.
15:08 I cannot even name it.
15:10 So I just point at it by saying that which is beyond me.
15:16 All that I can know is myself.
15:19 So I use myself as the center of reference and say that which is beyond me because I
15:27 know myself and I also know that as far as I am concerned, as far as the domain of my
15:33 thoughts, feelings, existence, opinions is concerned, none of that manages to satisfy
15:40 me.
15:43 So I know that I don't have to take them seriously.
15:47 I don't have to take myself seriously.
15:50 I am not the truth.
15:52 I am not the truth.
15:54 I am not the truth.
15:55 How can my thought be the truth?
16:03 I don't think the place you are coming from has been fully addressed.
16:08 So please counter question.
16:12 So my question would be, I understand actually that was, you know, I actually clarified a
16:21 lot, Acharya Ji, in the sense that the truth is not something that I am generating.
16:27 It is something that is outside and that, so then is that an article of faith then to
16:30 some extent?
16:31 It's just a humble admission that as far as I am concerned and the domain of my thoughts
16:39 and experiences is concerned, there is no peace there.
16:43 That's a humble admission.
16:46 I identify falseness.
16:49 That's the maximum I can do.
16:54 My job is to identify all that is false.
16:56 I will not utter a word about the truth.
17:02 And in other words, all that I can identify is by the virtue of identification to be considered
17:08 as false.
17:09 If I can identify it, it is false because it's being identified by me.
17:29 Thank you, Acharya Ji.
17:30 That is a lot of perspective.
17:31 Thank you.
17:32 Welcome.
17:33 Namaste, my name is Saloni.
17:46 I live in the States and I work for a bank.
17:49 I started listening to Acharya Ji two years ago.
17:52 I started on YouTube and then one year later, I started connecting with all these sessions.
18:00 So now I'm connected to all of the sessions, Gita Samagam, Bodh Pratyusha, Sansarita and
18:07 Vedanta Samhita.
18:09 And ever since I started listening to Acharya Ji, I really understood my speciesist mindset
18:17 that humans, we think that we are above all animals and we are above nature and that everything
18:26 in nature exists so we can exploit it and consume it for our selfish desires.
18:34 And Acharya Ji also helped me understand that real peace and joy comes from increasing our
18:44 self-awareness and really understanding our emotions, where they come from, our sense
18:51 of ego and elevating our consciousness on a daily basis.
18:59 And I've also become less body oriented ever since I started listening to him.
19:05 And I think one thing I really like about these sessions is that he talks to grown-ups
19:14 like us, like we are little children, and he really simplifies all the complex ideas
19:22 and makes them easy to understand.
19:24 Thank you.