Can an egoless one engage in a war? || Acharya Prashant, on Bhagavad Gita (2020)

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: Shastra Kaumudi Live, 31.05.2020, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India  Context:  यस्य नाहंकृतो भावो बुद्धिर्यस्य न लिप्यते । हत्वापि स इमाँल्लोकान्न हन्ति न निबध्यते ॥  He who is free from the notion of egoism, whose intelligence is not affected (by good or evil), though he kills these people, he kills not, nor is bound (by the action). ~Shrimad Bhagavad Gita (Chapter-18, Verse-17)  ~ What is non-violence?  ~ How to decide right action? ~ How to live a free life?  ~ What is real freedom? ~ Can anybody act without the ego?  Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~

Transcript

00:00Shreemad Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18, Verse 17.

00:14He who is free from the notion of egoism, whose intelligence is not affected by good

00:22or evil, though he kills these people, he kills not, nor is bound by the action.

00:34Question, please help me understand this.

00:40If one does not have the feeling of egoism, then how can he even perform the very act

00:47of killing or not killing?

00:51And if he does act, for whom does he perform that action?

00:59See, the question is based on an assumption.

01:13What does the question say?

01:16If someone does not have egoism, how can he perform the act of killing or not killing?

01:26The questioner says, if someone does not have egoism, how can he perform the act of killing

01:36or not killing?

01:37Now, take killing and not killing together and you have the universal set of all actions

01:47that can be performed by anybody ever, right?

01:54You have the set A and then you add to it A complement and what do you get?

02:01The universal set.

02:04Take any person ever and you can categorize his actions in one of these two categories.

02:12He is either killing or not killing.

02:17What is the questioner saying?

02:19If one does not have the feeling of egoism, then how can he perform the very act of killing

02:25or not killing?

02:26In other words, what he is saying is, if one does not have egoism, then how can he act

02:31at all?

02:34Because killing and not killing together is the universal set of all actions.

02:39So the questioner is saying, if one does not have egoism, how can he perform any action?

02:45Right?

02:46That's the question.

02:48The question is, if one does not have egoism, how can he perform any action, A or A complement?

02:53He can do nothing.

02:54That's the assumption behind the question.

02:57What's the assumption?

03:00Without ego, you cannot act at all.

03:03You can neither go left nor right.

03:07You can neither eat nor not eat.

03:12You can neither live nor die.

03:17In other words, the only way to act is to act via the ego.

03:25In other words, only the ego acts.

03:27And if the ego feeling is not there, then no action is possible at all.

03:35That's the assumption on which this question is based.

03:41Are we able to peel off the layers?

03:45Do you see the solution now?

03:52The question is uncovered.

04:02That's how we live.

04:06That's how we believe.

04:10Only the ego is and hence only the ego acts.

04:17This is atheism in its staunchest form.

04:24Only the ego is.

04:27It is a complete denial of anything transcendental.

04:33Only the ego is.

04:34Nothing beyond the ego exists.

04:35What else is nastikta?

04:39What else is gross materialism?

04:42Only the ego is.

04:47And therefore, if the ego is not there, how will one go left or right?

04:52How will one kill or not kill?

04:56How will one read or not read?

04:59The ego is the only doer according to the questioner.

05:02No, sir.

05:04All spirituality is about testing the limits of the ego, letting those limits and the testing

05:18of those limits consume away whatever they can and then still survive to enjoy the beyond.

05:33Now, what is it that survives those limits?

05:37Not you, not you.

05:41But you, but you.

05:45Yes, of course, as we currently live, the ego is the only doer.

05:54But that should not fool you into believing that how you currently live is the only way

06:06possible to live.

06:09You are right to the extent that given the contours of your current life, nothing can

06:18happen sans the ego.

06:21The ego is the mover and shaker, the soul doer.

06:25Yes, that's true.

06:28But how does that imply that yours is the only way of life possible?

06:37Yes, that's your chosen way of life currently.

06:43But how does that necessitate sticking to that one particular chosen way of life?

06:55What makes you believe that the way of life you currently adhere to is the only option

07:03available to you or to anybody else?

07:08What makes you so servile that you cannot even dream of other options?

07:18In other words, that you cannot even conceptualize freedom?

07:25Have you surrendered so abjectly to your bondages that you have lost even the concept of freedom?

07:38And you are saying, but if the ego is not there, how will I act?

07:43That's not very different from a prisoner saying, but if the jail is not there, where

07:51will I live?

07:53Hello, there is an entire big wide world out there to live in.

08:00But what's the prisoner saying?

08:03If the jail is not there, where will I live?

08:06Because the jail is the universe.

08:09It's a pretty sad state to be in.

08:14It's a pretty sad state when a prisoner starts believing that the jail is the entire universe.

08:21And if the jail disappears, then there will be no ground beneath my feet.

08:30That's how most worldly people live.

08:34They believe that their prison is their entire universe.

08:42So they start shuddering that even the mention of the prison disappearing or the gates opening

08:50up, it is possible to not operate from your personal center, sir.

09:02It is immensely possible.

09:04It is not only possible, it is a possibility that deserves to be materialized.

09:11That is the sole purpose of life.

09:15To keep striving to come to a point where you don't have to depend on your personal

09:21self for your existence.

09:25Your personal self guarantees you some kind of continuous existence or the appearance

09:31of it.

09:33But it's a very shallow and a sham appearance.

09:38It's a very unworthy existence.

09:44There is another center to live by.

09:48You could call it another center or you could simply call it freedom from your current centers.

09:54It's your choice.

09:56Same thing.

10:02You come from the line of Buddha, you will say, no, I just want to say freedom from my

10:08existing centers.

10:11You come from Vedanta, you will say, I want to live from a higher center.

10:20It's wordplay.

10:26One thing is certain.

10:28It is possible to transcend your existing multiple accidental and unworthy centers.

10:44Those multiple accidental unworthy centers together constitute the ego.

10:50The ego is not one thing.

10:52It's an amorphous accumulation of a thousand things.

10:57It's a powder.

11:04A thousand things put together, given the collective name of the ego.

11:13The ego is not one thing.

11:14The day it becomes one thing, it is no more the ego.

11:18What we call as the aham vritti is actually related to and dependent upon the entire universe,

11:27a million things.

11:28It's not one thing at all.

11:41It is possible to not to live such a fractured and fragmented and helpless and accidental

11:49life.

11:50Kindly don't be so certain that if there is no egoism, no action is possible, please.

11:59But certainty will leave you with only frustration.

12:18How do I convince you that life beyond the personal is possible?

12:24You cannot be convinced of that.

12:26Even where you are currently, your convictions will carry the stamp of your current state

12:34of existence.

12:36Can one's convictions be separate from his center?

12:45If someone is operating from the center of ego, can he be convinced of egolessness?

12:53If one is operating from the center of personal certainty, can he be convinced that he is

13:01personally very misplaced?

13:09So I cannot convince you that there is something beyond the ego.

13:15But I can draw your attention to your current state, that is possible.

13:20And it is upon that possibility that the entire spiritual process really rests.

13:28You cannot be convinced that it is possible to lead a better life if you change or improve

13:38or drop the ego.

13:40But it is very much possible to ask you, are you really alright as you are?

13:47I do not want to tempt you by selling the idea of some imaginary heaven to you.

13:57Even if I do manage to sell you some utopia, it would be again your personal utopia, otherwise

14:04you will not buy it.

14:07And a personal utopia you buy into would in no way be able to shatter your personal self.

14:16In fact, it will be co-opted by your personal self, no?

14:25Drunkards too have their ideas of heaven, right?

14:32The idea of heaven that a drunkard has will not be able to stop the drunkard from drinking,

14:40or would it?

14:43In fact, the drunkard's idea of heaven would be, one progresses to heaven after having

14:53drunk a lot.

14:56So the heaven is indeed a transcendental place.

15:00Yes, the heaven is an alternate reality for the drunkard.

15:03But is that alternate reality, is that concept of alternate reality helping the drunkard

15:10to get rid of his current personal egoistic reality?

15:15No.

15:16It is rather a product of his current reality and therefore that alternate reality that

15:24he dreams of, envisions or imagines is just going to reinforce his current reality.

15:35So the drunkard is quite unhappy with his current reality, let's say.

15:39So he envisions a heaven.

15:41He says, I want to go to heaven.

15:45That's my concept of the ultimate place.

15:49That's my concept of liberation.

15:51How will I go to heaven?

15:54By drinking.

15:56That's how the ego's concept of the transcendental truth or God or liberation are.

16:06Therefore it is totally futile to sell the truth to ego.

16:13It would be an egoistic truth.

16:17It would be a co-opted and deeply contaminated truth.

16:24It would be the drunkard's heaven.

16:29A far better option is there.

16:31What's that option?

16:34To sit with the drunkard with some love, some care, some honesty, and gently nudge him

16:50and ask, are you really happy with yourself?

17:02He does not need an alternate universe.

17:07He needs to be shaken up to the ugliness of his current universe.

17:15He needs to admit that his current world is not worth living in.

17:22That's what all of us need.

17:26Not great, handsome, bombastic ideas of the beyond, but an honest, sharp, and brutal look

17:40at our current circumstances, at our current centers.

17:45We don't need to be tempted about liberation.

17:54We need to be shown our bondages, but that's a bitter thing to do, is it not?

18:09You sell liberation to someone, he'll feel pleased.

18:15You expose somebody's bondages, you put up a mirror to him, he'll be displeased.

18:29But that's the only way.

18:37Getting it?

18:40You say, without the ego, no action is possible.

18:47So your actions are coming from the ego.

18:49Fine.

18:50Now what's the quality of those actions?

18:51What do you get from those actions?

18:54What's your state of mind while performing those actions?

18:57Are you okay with all that?

18:59And if you are, then the story stops here.

19:03Then we'll talk at a later time.

19:07Then we'll wait for the situations to get more opportune, more favorable towards spiritual

19:15initiation.

19:16If you honestly want to ever, that you are alright as you are, then I have no business

19:30and no right pushing you in a needless direction.

19:46You are asking, without the ego, if one does act, for whom does he perform that action?

19:54Again it is coming from an assumption.

20:00What's the assumption?

20:03The questioner is saying, if without the ego a person indeed does act, for whom does he

20:09act?

20:10What's the assumption?

20:13There always has to be a purpose, a motivation, an end result in sight, some kind of desired

20:27output, some kind of mental target when you act.

20:35That's the assumption.

20:36Therefore, he is asking, if there is no ego, why would one act at all?

20:42Well, sir, purposeless action is possible.

20:51It is possible to act vigorously and yet not let the result be too much for you.

21:03You'll not be able to imagine it.

21:06It is something to be lived.

21:10It's not for the sake of armchair visualization.

21:20It is possible to give yourself completely to something, knowing fully well that there

21:28is nothing in that work, in that something, in that project or mission, personally for

21:35you.

21:37What will you get from it?

21:43I was once asked.

21:44I said, nothing personal.

21:48Well, I'll indeed get a lot, but nothing personal.

21:59What will you get from it?

22:03Nothing personal.

22:08This entire business called life is itself not to be taken personally.

22:14How does one take his actions personally?

22:24Personally, well, everything ends in the morgue, in the cremation ground.

22:41If I say I am working for personal ends, then I am just preparing for my cremation, right?

22:48Because the entire personal self is hurtling towards that shabby ground or maybe it's an

23:07electric one.

23:08How does it matter?

23:09Ashes are ashes.

23:10It's a beautiful way to live.

23:25That's what all the scriptures keenly want to teach.

23:34It is possible to live, act, love, work and die, all quite impersonally.

23:48Wait, what did you just say?

23:52It's possible to love impersonally?

23:58That's what someone called Krishna says.

24:04What is it to love impersonally?

24:07I understand there can be something called impersonal work because we have anyway been

24:12sold the virtues of professionalism and professionalism in some sense means impersonal work, right?

24:18We say there is the personal world and there is the professional world and this distinction

24:24itself in some way means the professional world is impersonal.

24:29But what is it to love impersonally?

24:35You love for a reason, right?

24:40And the reason is the pleasure of your personal self, right?

24:45If I love, my personal self is pleased.

24:50It is possible to not to love for this reason.

24:54Impersonal love is possible.

24:56It is possible to not to love for your own little sake and it is possible to die impersonally.

25:15But all those possibilities will open up for you only when you have a deep dissatisfaction

25:20with your personal way of living.

25:24Unless you are totally fed up of yourself, I am never fed up of saying this, you will

25:31continue as you are.

25:34That's the thing that never ceases to amaze me.

25:40How is it that the most wretched people are most satisfied with themselves?

25:47And obviously that's what keeps them wretched.

25:52How is it possible?

25:55I mean, a fellow living the ugliest kind of life, the weakest kind of life, the most abominable

26:07life, he is continuing to live as he is, he has no intentions to change.

26:18In fact, he resists change.

26:24How is he so settled in his ways?

26:30It is a great wonder.

26:35That's why it is said that no one can comprehend Maya.

26:39This is Maya.

26:40You are not alright and you want to continue as you are.

26:48You want to run away from change.

26:49You want to run away from all forces, all possibilities that will compel you to change.

27:04And you devise arguments, you dream up some excuses, your only objective is to continue

27:16in your wretched ways.

27:22Great amazement.

27:32In an ideal sense, the deeper you are in doldrums, the more you should be desperate to get out

27:45of them, right?

27:49But that's an ideal.

27:53In an ideal sense, the deeper you are in doldrums, the more you should be desperate to get out

28:05of them, right?

28:06But that's an ideal.

28:11Quite the contrary is seen practically.

28:16The fellow who is already liberated, the fellow who is already on the path to liberation

28:28is keen to shed even the last vestiges of any residual bondages.

28:37He has already obtained liberation to a great extent.

28:42Some little bit of some vestigial bondages remain.

28:54And he is rigorously targeting the remains.

28:56He is saying, no, no, I will not let even this remaining 5% to continue.

29:04And then there is another person who is 95% in bondage.

29:10I know it's a very crude and mathematical way of expressing it, but then probably that's

29:17how the point can be driven home.

29:25This fellow is 95% drenched or deep in bondages.

29:41He's marinating in bondages.

29:51And he has no desire, let alone desperation.

30:04How?

30:16Before the board examinations, we were given almost a month's off.

30:27That was quite a long break.

30:29So there were the pre-boards, the results were declared and then the board exams were

30:35scheduled in March or some month.

30:39And there was a longish break, 20-30 days or something.

30:44So in between, a day was appointed when the students could come to the school and discuss

30:57their queries and doubts.

31:03So incidentally, I had topped the pre-boards.

31:11I had topped all the other comparative examinations that were there among the various branches

31:18of my school and all that.

31:23So in that period of self-study, when I got that opportunity to visit the school on that

31:29appointed day, I went to the school, I had my doubts, I needed clarification.

31:36And what do I find there?

31:40I find that all the toppers are there with their doubts.

31:47All the toppers are there.

31:48They are very keen to clear their doubts.

31:53They are anyway toppers.

31:59Even if they don't come on that day to the teachers, probably they won't lose much, probably

32:04they won't lose anything.

32:07Maybe they'll manage to clear those doubts by themselves.

32:13Who are missing from the scene?

32:17All the leggards and backbenchers, the ones who need the maximum support and guidance.

32:23They are the ones avoiding the teachers.

32:30This never ceases to puzzle me.

32:34How does it happen?

32:48In fact, you can know the state of a person's progress and desire to progress, both.

32:58How far has he progressed and how much desire does he have to progress by seeing whether

33:05he is missing from the scene or not.

33:11The ones who ask the most questions, the ones who are most eager to learn from the teacher

33:16are also the ones who have already learnt a lot.

33:19How do you know that a person does not know anything in spirituality?

33:26He'll be avoiding the teacher.

33:28That's exactly why he wants to avoid the teacher.

33:30His inner ego is extremely monstrous.

33:33It's a demonic ego he has.

33:37That ego has now realised that the teacher is dangerous.

33:42If you go close to the teacher, you'll be burnt down.

33:46So totally avoids.

33:52The ones who need the most to ask the questions are the ones never found asking the questions,

33:59even if they have to repeat class 10th.

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