How does the wise one perceive the world? || Acharya Prashant, on Ashthavakra Gita (2018)

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...  ⚡ Want Acharya Prashant’s regular updates? Join WhatsApp Channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va6Z...   Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...   Want to accelerate Acharya Prashant’s work? Contribute: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/contri...   Want to work with Acharya Prashant? Apply to the Foundation here: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/hiring...  ➖➖➖➖➖➖  Video Information:  Shabdyog session, 29.07.2018, Mount Abu, Rajasthan, India   Context:   निराधारा ग्रहव्यग्रा मूढाः संसारपोषकाः। एतस्यानर्थमूलस्य मूलच्छेदः कृतो बुधैः॥ ~ (अष्टावक्र गीता, अध्याय १८, श्लोक ३८)  Meaning: Without any support and eager for the attainment of freedom, the fools only keep up the world! The wise cut at the very root of this world, which is the source of all misery. ~ (Asthavakra Gita, Chapter 18, Verse 38)  ~ How does the wise one perceive the world? ~ Is it good to perceive the world? ~ What is the source of all misery? ~ Do we really see things? ~ How do objects get their meanings?  Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .

Transcript

00:00Chapter 18, verse 38

00:10Without any support and eager for the attainment of freedom, the fools only keep up the world.

00:23The wise cut at the very root of this world, which is the source of all misery.

00:32She says, can you please explain, Acharya ji, what Ashtavakya says?

00:38The wise cut at the very root of this world. Thank you very much.

00:51Ashtavakya says, the fools are without any support and yet eager to attain freedom.

01:11And in this pursuit, they only keep up the world.

01:19The wise, on the other hand, cut at the very root of this world.

01:27What is this world?

01:45The world that you perceive around yourself is very little of a fact.

02:16You perceive it and that's what mostly it is.

02:27A perception raised by the perceiver.

02:48It would be a fallacy to think that if you are looking at the green here or the blue up there,

03:02the tree, the building, the motor car, then you are just seeing the green or the blue or the tree or the motor car.

03:22We do not see things.

03:28We see meanings.

03:37And why do we see meanings?

03:43Because we sense a certain meaninglessness about ourselves.

04:03We want to fill it up.

04:09We do not like the meaninglessness.

04:17So we want to fill up the meaninglessness with meanings coming from the entire world.

04:26Now the world as such has no meaning whatsoever.

04:35The grass is just grass.

04:40The sky is just the sky.

04:46But we imbue, load it, superimpose on it a meaning.

05:05That meaning is not an inherent property of the object itself.

05:26That meaning, as we said, is superimposed on the object by us, the perceiver.

05:44But if we admit that, then the object will cease to have any attraction for us, any sense for us, any importance for us.

06:04Because to admit that the object has no meaning is to admit that the object is useless for us.

06:13Useless not in the physical sense, but in the psychological sense.

06:20If the object has no meaning, then how will it fill up our meaninglessness?

06:25So it becomes useless.

06:30So it becomes critical for us to keep assuming that a meaning vests in the object itself.

06:51It is a self-hatched conspiracy against the self.

06:59Are you getting it?

07:09Now the world as such being meaningless can be a cause of neither pleasure nor pain.

07:32But a lot of suffering is created by us when we load objects with meanings.

07:49The world is not the cause of misery.

07:54Our perception of the world is.

08:03What we think of the world is the cause of our misery.

08:12How we interpret the world is a cause of our misery.

08:19Does that mean that one interpretation is better than the other?

08:25No, that's not what Ashtavakra is saying.

08:29Ashtavakra is simply saying any interpretation will be self-serving.

08:38Because you would have burdened the object, the world with that interpretation.

08:52You would have wanted to supply that meaning, that interpretation to that particular object.

09:02So the very fact that you are interpreting something in a particular way

09:09immediately means that your interpretation will be harmful to you.

09:19This has to be understood.

09:22We sometimes do admit that our interpretations are off the mark.

09:28But that only impels us to look for a better interpretation of events, happenings, world, objects.

09:40We never really lose hope in interpretations.

09:47If one doesn't suffice, then we look for the other.

10:00Your interpretation arises from your need to seek fulfillment through an object.

10:11Why does one interpret at all?

10:13Why is one not content just looking around things as if they can supply no psychological fulfillment?

10:32Because we need psychological fulfillment.

10:38And why do we need psychological fulfillment?

10:40Because at the root of the person lies an assumption rather than a delusion.

10:55And what does that assumption or delusion say?

11:01I am incomplete.

11:07This statement lies at the root of our personhood.

11:14This statement lies at the root of our jiva nature.

11:21I am incomplete. Something is missing.

11:25So one looks at something, rather anything, always in a motivated way, always with an intention.

11:43And the intention is to seek fulfillment.

11:46When your defining statement is that I am unfulfilled, then what would you use the word for?

11:58Fulfillment. So you look at anything and your purpose is just one.

12:05How do I get fulfillment using that thing?

12:10So you supply that thing with a particular meaning.

12:16I reemphasize that the meaning has very little to do with the object itself.

12:24The meaning has much more to do with our inherent emptiness.

12:34Emptiness not in the Buddhist sense, but in the sense of misery.

12:42An inner vacancy.

12:53An inner loneliness.

13:03So all interpretations arise from there.

13:06Now how does it matter which particular interpretation you come up with?

13:11After all, it's your own personal interpretation, is it not?

13:15Or at least it's an interpretation that you like.

13:18And if you like it, it would surely be serving just one purpose.

13:21What is the purpose?

13:23Please fill up my inner vacuum.

13:26That's what the ego is crying out.

13:37Now Ashtavakra is saying,

13:41The wise cut at the very root of this world.

13:46Mark the word this.

13:51Ashtavakra is not saying that for the wise the world does not exist at all.

14:01The world does exist even for the wise.

14:05But not this world.

14:07What is this world?

14:09This is a world of meanings, promises, superimpositions, projections, assumptions, imaginations, hopes, and therefore despair.

14:26This world doesn't exist for the wise.

14:32For them only the world exists.

14:35Make it simple and innocent.

14:38Our world is a heavily decorated world.

14:42And all decoration as we know covers up the essence.

14:50In fact, that's the very purpose of decoration.

14:54You want to hide something, don't you?

14:57We often claim that we decorate to embellish, to express, to bring out.

15:13We don't decorate really to bring something out.

15:18We rather decorate to conceal.

15:21Don't we?

15:25Do you need to decorate a flower?

15:27No.

15:28You use the flower to decorate something else.

15:34Do you ever decorate a flower?

15:36No.

15:37But you use the flower to decorate your hair.

15:39That only shows how poor your hair are in front of the rose.

15:46Do you ever use your hair to decorate the rose?

15:55That's not needed.

15:57That could be stupid.

15:58That which is real and genuine needs no decoration.

16:08That around which a lot of inferiority exists,

16:15that which is perceived as lacking something,

16:23needs to be ornamented, embellished.

16:31It ain't.

16:36It ain't.

16:38For the wise, the world does exist.

16:41The grass is grass, the sky is sky.

16:44Birth is birth, death is death.

16:47They have meanings in a physical sense.

16:54But they have no meaning in a psychological sense.

17:03Yes, certain gain may happen.

17:07You may gain a million dollars.

17:15And loss may happen.

17:17You may lose a million dollars.

17:20All that has only a physical context, a material context.

17:27A thousand dollars came to me.

17:31A thousand dollars went away from me.

17:37But for the wise, this event would have no impact on his psychological being,

17:44on his core.

17:45He would not say that the arrival of the million dollars made him bigger.

17:54And he would not say that the loss of a million dollars turned him smaller.

18:02He remains who he is.

18:09Yes, something materially came,

18:12then something materially went away.

18:17But I neither gained nor lost.

18:30For the wise, there is no inner vacuum to be filled.

18:36The wise has no existential agenda.

18:42All others do have.

18:46The wise doesn't want to use this world to become somebody else.

18:58The wise is already alright.

19:09So what is his relationship with the world then?

19:13Playfulness.

19:17That is there, that is there.

19:20Nice.

19:21They don't have any meaning.

19:23They are just playthings.

19:30For the wise, nothing has any meaning.

19:33All things are just playthings.

19:35And for the fool, even playthings become very serious.

19:49Have you not seen kids, adolescents getting into a brawl over a game of soccer?

20:11That's how the worldly mind is.

20:13For him, everything is important.

20:16Everything has a meaning.

20:17Everything is to be taken seriously.

20:19Because something big is always at stake for the fool.

20:23Pride, prestige, advancement, achievement, security.

20:31Something is always at stake.

20:35He is always in the danger of getting belittled.

20:39The foolish one is always under attack.

20:47In his own perception, the wise one is fully secure.

20:52He is not being attacked.

21:03The wise man therefore has not really cut at the root of this world.

21:08He has firstly cut at his own insecurity.

21:14When you have cut down your insecurity, then you are no more a slave of the world.

21:21You are no more standing in front of the world with the hope of fulfillment.

21:26Do not ask, how must one look at the world?

21:34Ask, how does one look at himself?

21:38Does one look at himself as an impoverished being always in need?

21:44Or does one look at himself as healthy, alright, inwardly full and secure?

21:58That must be asked.

22:11No part of this recording may be reproduced

22:13without Mooji Media Ltd.'s express consent.

Category

Transcript

Recommended