Is Vedanta only for Hindus? || Acharya Prashant (2024)

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: 17.03.2024, Vedanta Session, Greter Noida  Context: ~ Is Vedanta only for Hindus?  ~ 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 My name is Grant Holly. I live in Virginia in the United States. It's an honor to speak

00:14 with you today and I've watched many of your videos in the last few months.

00:22 Welcome.

00:23 Very good. Very good. My question is, Vedant is from the Hindu religion and I myself grew

00:37 up in a different faith, different religion. How can the teachings of Vedant help me in

00:49 my life is my question.

00:53 First of all, please see that Vedant is a philosophy and as far as the usually prevalent

01:07 and practiced Hindu religion is concerned, it actually draws very little from Vedant,

01:14 unfortunately. So, there is the philosophy and then there is the religion. What we usually

01:23 call as religion has a God, has a messenger or a prophet, has a holy book, has a canon,

01:33 has a set of commandments. Now, none of that applies to Vedant. Vedant is simple darshan,

01:41 it's a philosophy. So, in that sense, it is universal. How can a philosophy be exclusive

01:51 to a religion? It's almost like saying that because Nietzsche was a European and a German,

02:02 therefore Indians cannot take from him. Or because Chopin or Sartre, they were Christians,

02:14 even if not practicing Christians, therefore a Hindu cannot learn from them. Philosophy

02:20 is just exploration into the truth. Even religion must have a philosophical base. The problem

02:32 is that religions assume a baseless life of their own without being rooted in philosophy.

02:43 The philosophy is something that must give nourishment, rather survival, very survival

02:53 to religion. But religions usually don't take anything from philosophy. If you look at the

03:01 way most major religions of the world are practiced, you would be at loss to find any

03:15 philosophical foundation. A person is doing such and such things, you ask him why are

03:19 you doing that thing, he will say, "Oh, because I am a Christian or a Muslim or a Buddhist

03:24 or a Hindu or something." And you say, "No, that is alright. That's a part of your tradition

03:31 or your religious identity. But what really is the thought or understanding or philosophy

03:38 beneath your action?" And he'll have usually no answer. So, Vedanta is a philosophy and

03:49 philosophy is for everybody. So, Marx had a philosophy. One did not say that he was

04:00 born a Jew, therefore the others will not look at that philosophy. Or that he lived

04:10 a religionless life, therefore those who practice religion cannot admire Marx.

04:26 It begins with "I" and it does not matter whether I am an agnostic, an atheist, a Hindu,

04:37 a Christian, how does it matter? Don't I say "I" if I am an atheist? I am an atheist, even

04:46 that begins with "I". I hate Vedanta, even that begins with "I". I am a Hindu, I am a

04:54 Christian, that begins with "I". Vedanta explores that very "I". So, all that is okay. It does

05:04 not have anything that one must believe in. Vedanta is not a belief system at all. Vedanta

05:14 wants the truth, not imaginations, not beliefs. In fact, you'd be curiously happy to know

05:28 that God as such has no place in Vedanta. Even if you want to say there is God in Vedanta,

05:38 you'll simply have to say that which is the truth has to be called as God. So, Vedanta

05:47 says there is me, there is the world. I find that I keep getting deceived and wounded so

05:54 frequently and I have a proof. My inner situation is the proof that there is something wrong

06:02 with my existence and my relationship with the world. So, I want to understand who I

06:07 am, what this world is all about and what is the relationship between two of us and

06:12 how can I get rid of my suffering. That's Vedanta. What does that have to do with any

06:17 kind of theology? It is not a belief system. It does not say you have to follow these rules

06:22 or commandments. It does not say that you have to celebrate these festivals. It does

06:26 not say you have to marry like that or you have to be committed like that. There is nothing

06:32 of that kind here. People often come and say, you know, does Vedanta allow this? Well, Vedanta

06:38 does not allow anything. It does not disallow anything. All it says is look into yourself.

06:44 Now look into yourself is valid for the man, for the woman, for the white, for the black,

06:49 for the young, for the elderly, for the Indian, for the American, for the Chinese, for the

06:54 African because we all exist as human beings. Vedanta is saying you are a human being and

07:00 you are not well. Can you please inquire into why you are not well? Vedanta does not say

07:06 you have to keep a beard or you have to shave your head or you have to treat women this

07:12 way. No, none of that. You decide these things on your own. Vedanta has absolutely nothing

07:17 at all to say on these matters. Do I go to a church? Do I go to a temple? Do I not go

07:24 to any place at all? Should I have kids? Should I marry? Vedanta has no advice to offer on

07:32 these things. It addresses only the core question of existence. Who am I? And why am I the way

07:44 I am? And how do I get rid of my miserable state? Simple. What do I wear? When do I fast?

07:54 How do I celebrate my festivals? Not interested. I do have one more question. I am a referee

08:18 of sports, an umpire. How not focusing on winning the game, the making of the goals

08:32 will help a player to play his best? Because according to the Gita, don't you focus your

08:44 attention on the results and not focus your attention on the actions to get to that goal,

08:51 get to that result? What the Gita is saying is, do not focus on what the result has for

09:03 you. You can focus on the result. But the Gita advises you to not focus on what the

09:12 result has for you. These are two very different things. The Gita is usually misinterpreted.

09:21 The Gita says desireless action and all desires are for oneself. I desire for myself. So what

09:28 the Gita is saying is, yes, you can look at the score line and looking at the score line

09:34 you can decide your next move, be it tennis or soccer or whatever. But you need not think

09:41 about what the result would do to you. Obviously, in tennis, if I am two sets behind, I have

09:51 to calibrate my strategy accordingly. If I have already faulted on the first serve, I

10:01 cannot forget that. The second serve has to be different from the first serve. So I can

10:11 think of the result, but I need not think of what would happen to me in case of a particular

10:19 result. So what the Gita is saying is, you should be so strong within that the result

10:25 should have no impact on you. That's very different from saying do not think of the

10:30 result. You can think of the result and then you say, whatever the result is, I don't mind.

10:39 I am able to take everything. But yes, I am striving for a win, definitely. But irrespective

10:48 of whether I win or lose, something within me will remain untouched and unmoved. That's

10:55 the message of the Gita. Go fight! Fight as hard as you must. If you are playing, play

11:01 to win. But the core of your existence must not be touched by the win. And if the core

11:13 of your existence remains untouched by the win, it will also remain untouched by the

11:17 defeat. Give everything that you have to the game. Obviously, you must want to win. But

11:26 just the center, just the center, that one little untouchable point must be there. And

11:33 if that is there, you will never be afraid. Are you getting it? It's not that you must

11:40 not focus on the result. Do not focus on what the result will do to you. Yes, I want to

11:46 win. Yes, yes. The game must be won. But that will not make me a winner. I will remain who

11:53 I am. I am already a winner in some sense. Irrespective of the result of the game, I

11:57 am already a winner. Yet, I am fighting to win the game. I am fighting to win the game.

12:01 I am not fighting to be a winner. The winner I already am. That's the Gita.

12:07 Thank you, sir.

12:09 Welcome. Most welcome.

12:12 Thank you, sir.

12:13 Welcome. Most welcome.

12:15 Thank you.

12:18 [Music]

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