Your hero is a scoundrel || Acharya Prashant, at IIT-Bombay (2022)

Acharya Prashant

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Transcript

00:00My question is, there is enough evidence these days that the people who are unhappy with

00:11their jobs are having more carbon footprint in the nature.

00:16And I have also been listening to you for over a year and I have listened to your videos

00:19on climate change, where you said that the only solution to climate change is spirituality

00:23alone.

00:24I have been reading books on climate change and one such book is Less is More, where they

00:29talk about de-growth to be the solution and in the book they also talk about dualism being

00:37the reason why we exploit nature and why we take nature for granted.

00:43The solutions of climate change also being animal exploitation, less population.

00:48But we also have influential leaders like Elon Musk who talk about, who ask us to increase

00:54population without caring about this.

00:58So my question to you is about this de-growth and non-dualism, like whatever the actions

01:06that we do is we are using the resources of nature and they will have carbon footprint.

01:14So what is it meant to be non-dualistic in that aspect and how can the society be non-dualistic

01:21with all these influential leaders talking to you, otherwise the science is talking to

01:25you and in this capitalist world what is it meant to be de-growth, this is what is

01:31my question.

01:32See what is duality in the first place?

01:36The feeling that there are two truths, this and the world and both these truths are incomplete

01:50and dependent on each other, that's duality.

01:55That there definitely exist two and of the two I am one and I am incomplete.

02:04How do I become complete?

02:08By feasting on the world, by exploiting the world, that's the reason the book you have

02:14read says that duality is one of the reasons behind climate change.

02:25Climate change is nothing but a crisis of consumption, we are so terribly incomplete

02:35and hurt and restless that we want happiness at any cost and to get happiness we exploit

02:47everything around us, we exploit our own bodies, we exploit the ones we are related to and

02:54obviously we will exploit the animals, the birds, the trees, the forest, the rivers,

03:00the atmosphere, we exploit everything, we are so crazy and so deeply in pain.

03:13Think of a person who is both in agony and in illusion, suffering deeply and also crazy,

03:34what will he do?

03:35He will do anything to get rid of his pain and that's what mankind is doing.

03:42All kinds of unthinkable stuff so that we can somehow feel happy, kill, eat, exploit,

03:54plunder, rape, do whatever can be done just so that you can have a fleeting glimpse of

04:01happiness and because that is fleeting, so you have to do more and more of it to sustain

04:12even the semblance of being all right, are you getting it?

04:20So you said anything that we do has a footprint, see climate change is not caused by all the

04:29little things that you do, you can relieve yourself of that guilt, it's not you and me

04:39who are responsible for climate change.

04:44If just to exist is to contribute to the climate crisis then we would all be guilty but that's

04:51not really the case, there is a perfect balance that nature provides, you have agents that

05:03emit carbon and equally you have agents that absorb carbon, what are those agents known

05:12as?

05:14Trees and the oceans, they absorb these gases, what's happening is that you have crossed

05:25all limits by a long distance, 280 ppm to 440 ppm and increasing and increasing at an

05:39accelerating rate, who's doing that?

05:43Not the common man, though there are vested interests that are trying to put the guilt

05:52of climate change on the common man, the common man is not really responsible, the common

05:57man is responsible but in some other way, indirectly, we'll come to that.

06:04The richest 10% of the world's population is causing 90% of the carbon emissions and

06:20if you bring that down to the richest 1% that still remains close to 30-40%, it's so skewed.

06:34The per capita emissions of an Indian are only a small fraction of those of an American

06:43or a Briton, it's coming from there, there is enough allowance for everybody to peacefully

06:54survive, what we do not have is the allowance to consume endlessly, so it's not as if doing

07:09anything contributes to carbon emission, no, not that way and if it does, then there

07:14is stuff to take care of that, trees and other physical mechanisms, natural mechanisms.

07:22But when you are burning oil endlessly so that you can have physical comforts and all

07:35kinds of vanities, then there is obviously no solution, how do you take care of that?

07:47Now here comes the role of the common man, this has to be turned into an electoral issue,

07:55you have to elect governments that are prepared to tax vulgar consumption, you have to have

08:07governments that are prepared to tax the ultra-rich, you cannot let them go scot-free with all

08:19the damage they are causing to the environment, to the planet itself, we were talking of the

08:256th mass extinction, that 6th mass extinction is not being brought about by the lower middle

08:35income countries and the middle income countries, that is being brought about by the first world,

08:41the developed world, they are the culprits and they will have to bear the burden and

08:48even in countries like India, if the per capita emissions are rising, the responsibility

09:00lies with only a handful of people compared to our population, they are the ones who have

09:06to be singled out and taxed, are you getting it?

09:13It is a very clever ploy to make the common man feel responsible, so what does the common

09:24man start doing to alleviate his guilt, he feels fine, I am recycling, I am not using

09:34plastic that much now or I am turning organic or I am reducing my electricity consumption

09:42by 15%, the question is dear, how much electricity does the common man anyway consume, it is

09:53not the common man who is causing all this, I will tell you who is causing it, your role

09:57models are causing all this, the influential fellow you referred to is causing all this

10:07and it is a great tragedy when the ones who are influential are neither intellectual nor

10:12spiritual, think of it, a brain dead fellow is so influential just because he has so much

10:20money and you can have a lot of money without being intellectual at all, it is possible,

10:26it is happening, your role models are very unworthy people and they are role models exactly

10:34because you find them consuming a lot and you all aspire to consume that much,

10:39so they become your role models, you say wow, somebody asked a famous soccer player and he

10:47says I have 20 cars, all luxury ones and that simply charms you so much, wins you over, 20

10:57cars, 5 Rolls Royce, he does not even want to own a cheap thing like Mercedes, not one but

11:15multiple private planes, super expensive yachts, yachts to take care of yachts and that is what

11:26we all aspire for, why? That brings us to the point we started from, our dualistic philosophy

11:34of life, we all have been taught wrongly, we have been trained wrongly, life education we

11:44have been deprived of, so all that you want through all that you do is consumption, what do

11:54you live for? Consumption, how do you know a fellow is doing well in life, he is able to

11:58consume a lot, when consumption is the ideal, climate change is the result and all these role

12:07models, people you follow, the ones who have 50 million on Instagram and places, what are they

12:16displaying to you except their ability to consume, either they display their own ability to consume

12:25or they present themselves in certain cases as tough to be consumed. For example, a voluptuous

12:36female model, why does she command that kind of a following? She is saying I am available to be

12:44consumed, at least optically, consume me or you will follow a billionaire, a millionaire or somebody.

12:54We have been taught the wrong purpose of life and the results are catastrophic, we do not know why

13:04we exist and climate change therefore is a result of a totally wrong kind of education, the wrong

13:13fundamental philosophy of life. Is all this coming together and making sense or is it appearing too

13:21scattered? Do you see how it is all integrated? Do you see how the one you follow on Instagram

13:29and the rising PPM levels are directly correlated? Do you see all these things? In general they will

13:41appear different issues, not related but they are very much related. The very concept of good

13:50life is a carbon-intensive one. The very concept of happiness is carbon-intensive. When you become

14:04richer, you typically become a meat-eater. Do you know how much does animal agriculture

14:11contribute to climate change? Just as much as fossil fuels do. Everything that makes

14:22you happy is actually something that is destroying the earth. The saving grace is as Indians,

14:31as middle-class Indians, you still are not in a position to consume too much,

14:35therefore you are still not directly responsible for destroying the earth.

14:39But there is an indirect culpability which is that you are following and

14:47admiring the ones who are in fact destroying the earth. And if you keep following them,

14:56you will become like them. That's the whole purpose of being an admirer. I want to be

15:02like him. You want to be a murderer? You want to be like someone responsible for genocide?

15:12You want to be like someone responsible for wiping out hundreds of species of organisms

15:24per day? It's a sad commentary on our times that people who should be behind bars are

15:32actually hemming top positions in industry, in government, everywhere.

15:43Choose your role models very carefully. It's got something to do with love. Be very careful

16:00about the ones who appeal to you. Don't be just driven to anything that appears attractive.

16:10We do not know whether much can be done to save the planet. Probably we all are inexorably on

16:27our way to extinction. But still you have a life to live. Be very careful. Most people we follow,

16:43we admire, we respect are terribly unworthy. Don't fall for the gloss. Are you getting it?

16:56Even if you find you are being left alone, that aloneness has a dignity. Learn to enjoy that dignity.

17:08This brings us to the end of the Tiwandi session. Thank you Acharya ji for patiently answering all

17:19the questions and I am sure students are enlightened after this session or at least

17:25started the process. I request Professor Bapat to present a vote of thanks.

17:30For the last three and a half hours we are really mesmerized. I know big big speakers

17:40come to IIT and we have just audience of 20-25. This goes to Shri Acharya ji. We do not have

17:49exposure to such knowledge and I think that we are experiencing something. In Upanishads it is

17:56the same. As Acharya ji said, questions and answers. We might have got answers to a lot of questions

18:03but we might not have got answers to a lot of questions. Because this is just the beginning.

18:09I think we need to go much further than this. But we must have got the inspiration and

18:17we should continue in this diet and continue on this journey. Namaste.

18:52www.OSHO.com

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