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Video Information: AIIMS, Nagpur, 08.03.2022, Nagpur, India
Context:
~ How to set priorities?
~ How to be free?
~ What is freedom?
~ How to bring woman's revolution?
~ How to bring about a Total Women's revolution?
~ Why do women want to be equal to men?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
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?
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➖➖➖➖➖➖
Video Information: AIIMS, Nagpur, 08.03.2022, Nagpur, India
Context:
~ How to set priorities?
~ How to be free?
~ What is freedom?
~ How to bring woman's revolution?
~ How to bring about a Total Women's revolution?
~ Why do women want to be equal to men?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Sir, it is often perceived that females are affected by patriarchy in society, but do
00:10you think it affects men and what according to you are the problems faced by men due to
00:15a patriarchal society?
00:18See, patriarchy is a great bondage.
00:23Patriarchy is a state of mind.
00:26And what is its state of mind?
00:28Please pay attention, patriarchy is to believe that your job in life is determined by your
00:36gender, that is patriarchy.
00:39Now, patriarchy is oppressive both ways.
00:43Men have been told that your purpose, your station, your movement, your activities, your
00:49thoughts, your emotions, everything have to be determined by your gender.
00:55And women have been told much the same thing, right?
00:59So, it's not men versus women, it's wisdom versus ignorance.
01:07We take feminism as a bit of men versus women thing, women trying to get away from oppression
01:21and being victims, victims of men.
01:24So, we take men as the victimizers, right?
01:28Well, apparently true, apparently obviously men are the one who exploit and oppress.
01:34But if you go a little deeper into it, as Vedanta encourages you to, you will say no,
01:40it's not that men are oppressing women.
01:44There is a common enemy and the name of that common enemy is ignorance.
01:51It is because of ignorance that men continue to be men and women continue to be women.
01:57The fact is that as human beings, your nature is pure consciousness.
02:04Why do you call yourself man?
02:05Why do you call yourself a woman?
02:07Why have you made the body so important for yourself?
02:10Now, you call yourself a woman and accord a man, let's say, and accord yourself some
02:15privileges.
02:16That's as debilitating as calling yourself a woman and according yourself certain duties
02:24or certain rights.
02:27The body cannot be the center of your existence.
02:31Please understand, whether you are a man or a woman, if the body is the center of your
02:37existence, then all we need is the jungle.
02:40There the body rules.
02:42Each species behaves exactly as per its genetic conditioning.
02:47That's called the jungle.
02:49Genetically we are conditioned and we behave as per our conditioning.
02:53That's what makes human beings unique.
02:56We have the potential to go beyond our genetic configuration.
03:01We have the potential to see that we do not behave exactly as per our body's mandate.
03:10You are sitting here.
03:11Let's say the five of us are here on this stage.
03:14Not all of us would be physically comfortable with everything right now.
03:20I am, for example, feeling a little cold in the feet.
03:25You might be feeling something else, you might be feeling something else.
03:28But how much importance are you giving to your physical demands right now?
03:32Please tell me.
03:34Somebody in the audience might be feeling a little sleepy post that lunch.
03:40But you are the only species that can decide to overrule the body.
03:45The body is saying sleep and you say I don't sleep.
03:48Right now is not the moment.
03:50An animal cannot make that decision.
03:52If an animal's body says eat, it will eat.
03:57You are the only one who can fight fear.
03:59You are the only one who can fight greed.
04:01If an animal feels attracted towards something, it will go towards that.
04:04And that's the reason why the entire feminist narrative needs to be cleansed of the word want and desire.
04:13Feminism cannot be about doing what you want to do.
04:17Let the girl do what she wants to do.
04:19That's not feminism.
04:20No.
04:21Just as patriarchy has said let the boy have lots of rights.
04:27Let the boy do a lot of what he wants to do.
04:30And that kind of patriarchy has been very very bad for everybody.
04:35Similarly if you let the woman have her way and say let her do what she wants to do and that's called women's emancipation.
04:42That's not taking you anywhere.
04:44That's what animals do.
04:45They just do what they want to do.
04:47Human beings are human beings because they can go beyond their wants.
04:52Because they can go deep into themselves and find out what they are here for.
04:59This power to self-respect, this power to get at the core of their identities is what makes us human beings.
05:06Otherwise there is no difference between us and animals in the jungle.
05:09Are you getting it?
05:11What was your question by the way?
05:18Obviously.
05:19Obviously.
05:20We are all on the same boat.
05:21All on the same boat.
05:23Think of a family where the wife and the girls and let's say the mother-in-law, they are all in shackles.
05:33And when you are in shackle, what do you do?
05:36You radiate joy, you make everybody blissful.
05:38What do you do when you are in a bad mood?
05:40What do you do to your friends?
05:43You give them flowers when you are in a bad mood.
05:47What do you do?
05:49So how can the man prosper or flourish if the women in his life or the women around him,
05:56they constitute half the world's population, if they are not doing well.
06:00So obviously it's bad for the man, not only because it is bad for the woman,
06:04but because the principle that oppresses women, we are talking of the principle,
06:08also oppresses men equally.
06:11And that principle continues because we do not see that the principle is the oppressor.
06:18We think that the man is the oppressor.
06:20No, it's not the man that's the oppressor.
06:22The principle of ignorance, Vedanta calls it Maya.
06:26That principle is the oppressor.
06:29Are you getting it?
06:31I am not trying to absolve men.
06:33I am not speaking as a man on women's day.
06:36Please.
06:40I think I will have to clarify that again and again.
06:42Because a lot of what I am going to say would not sit well with the existing definitions of feminism.
06:52You see, I get bashed from both sides.
06:55Men think that I lean just too much towards women.
06:59And women say, but you are not directly trying to give us rights.
07:04Instead you tell us about our real identity and such things.
07:08So, a lot of women do not quite like what I say.
07:13But since you have been courageous or adventurous enough to have me here, I will do what I do.
07:23As you stated that feminism is often misunderstood as battle of sexes.
07:28However, it is not.
07:30It aims to understand why there is gender inequality in the society.
07:36It is the idea that the fight for equality that exists in our society
07:44would somehow erase the masculinity or disempowerment
07:48that strangely is inserting to some men
07:54who do not identify themselves as offensive to women.
08:02So, my question is how would deconstructing the contemporary masculinity
08:07would help the movement and what meant it to contribute to achieve the equality in the society and women empowerment.
08:17See, men are doing exactly what the apes and the chimpanzees and the gorillas have been doing
08:24right since the first day.
08:26What are men doing?
08:29Men are running around, trying to grab this, gobble that, eat, consume, make merry,
08:36have sex with as many women as possible, accumulate a lot of territory.
08:41That's what men have been doing all throughout history.
08:44What else are the men doing?
08:47What does a typical man do that is very distinct from what a chimpanzee does?
08:52Please tell me.
08:56We glorify mankind as if it is some divine thing,
09:00but that which we call as mankind, fundamentally what is it?
09:04How is it different from what happens in the jungle every day?
09:07What's happening in Europe between Russia and Ukraine,
09:12is it not happening in the jungle all the time?
09:16You know what dogs do.
09:18You must be having maybe a few dogs in your campus.
09:21You know what dogs do, right?
09:23They mark their territory.
09:25Wherever they go, they raise their leg and they mark their territory.
09:29Is that fundamentally different from what those world leaders are doing?
09:33It's just that given the power of intellect,
09:38you just don't raise legs, you raise nukes.
09:42And you threaten the other, I'll nuke you, I'll finish you, I'll obliterate you.
09:48That's what men have been doing all the while.
09:52Why do women want to be equal to men?
09:55What's so praiseworthy in men that you want to be equal to men?
10:02Men are captives to their biological role.
10:06Men are in bondage of their bodies, right?
10:11When a man runs after a woman in a sexual way,
10:14is the man really running after the woman or is it the biological mandate?
10:17Please tell me.
10:20And if you take away the biological mandate,
10:22will the man still run after the woman?
10:25You are medical practitioners and students of medicine here,
10:28you very well know what a single shot can do.
10:32A few mg's of a particular hormone, this way or that way,
10:37inject it or take it away.
10:39And you very well know that the entire masculine behavior will change, right?
10:43You want to make someone angry, what do you do?
10:47You just feed him a pill and he can become angry.
10:49You want to placate someone, what do you do?
10:52What are all these anti-anxiety pills?
10:55So our behavior is determined by our biology.
10:58Our behavior is very much chemical, biological.
11:02The man is the gorilla.
11:05Why does the woman want to become a female gorilla?
11:08There is no glory in that.
11:10Therefore equality is a misplaced ideal.
11:13What we need is liberation and liberation is not liberty.
11:17Liberation is not liberty.
11:19Liberation is something very very different.
11:22To be liberated is to exceed both manhood and womanhood.
11:29As long as the woman says, I am the woman and I want liberty.
11:34I repeat, it would be the liberty that you can get within confinement, within a jail.
11:41We have very liberal jails these days, don't we?
11:44So the inmates, the prisoners, they have a lot of rights within the jail.
11:48Do you want that kind of a situation?
11:51I have a lot of rights within the jail.
11:53Your fundamental jail is the body itself.
11:56Why do you want to live as per the instructions of your body?
12:03When we say, let me do what I want to do.
12:08Let me live my life as per my desire.
12:11Is your desire really your desire?
12:13Just as the man's desire is the hormone's desire,
12:16the woman's desire is equally the hormone's desire.
12:19Where is your desire really? Please tell me.
12:22Liberation is about knowing who you really are
12:25and therefore what your fundamental desire is.
12:28Only that can help us and save us.
12:30Otherwise you see, we know of climate change.
12:33We know of the atomic arsenals that the superpowers hold.
12:39Even India has like 100 or 200 nukes.
12:43It's all because we have been acting as per our desires.
12:49Every country is territorial, just as every dog is territorial.
12:53We want to encroach upon the other.
12:56We want to covet other's resources.
12:59We want to have more and more to feed our bodies and our senses
13:04so that we can feel happy.
13:06The world is on the edge of obliteration
13:10exactly because we have been living as per our desires.
13:14And our desires, mind you, are the desires of the jungle.
13:17They won't take us anywhere.
13:21Acharya ji, you talked about liberation.
13:23I think that liberation can't be done by a woman.
13:26So what can be the role of a man or a woman in the liberation of a woman?
13:33Let me get it right.
13:34You said what can be the role of man in the liberation of a woman?
13:38As long as the man is a man, he cannot help any woman.
13:41If a man continues to be a man, he can only be a predator towards the woman.
13:46If I am speaking here, I am not speaking as a man.
13:51I have to keep my gender and sexual identity aside.
13:54Please remember, biologically there can be only one relationship between man and woman.
13:59All your civilizational values aside, there can be only one relationship.
14:04The man hunts, the woman is the hunted.
14:08And in being hunted, the woman hunts back the man in a passive way.
14:13That's the biological thing.
14:15At an active level, the man is the hunter and the woman is the hunted.
14:20Inwardly, the woman is the hunter, the man is the hunted.
14:23Irrespective of which level we are talking of, there is just violence.
14:28Somebody is hunting, somebody is being hunted.
14:31So, a man really cannot help woman.
14:34A woman really cannot help man.
14:37You have to be a human being to help another human being.
14:40And that's a very different way of looking at yourself.
14:48And when, mind you, you are a human being, it is not only the man or the woman that you help.
14:53Then you help entire existence.
14:55Then you care for the birds, the bees, the dogs, the squirrel, the fish.
15:00Then you cannot say, oh, I am a participant in the women's liberation movement.
15:07Now, where is my mutton chaap?
15:10How is it possible that you have so much empathy towards woman, but not the goat?
15:15How is it possible?
15:18When you are really awake, then it is not only the gender that you care towards.
15:26Then you care towards all consciousness because you realize that consciousness is the goal of life.
15:32Then you cannot be violent towards anybody, not even towards a blade of grass.
15:36You will try your best to minimize violence or eradicate it in whichever way possible.
15:43I want to ask that, with respect to the permissions, with respect to the judgments and everything that me compared to my sister is getting,
15:52I am allowed those freedoms more compared to her.
15:56So, is it wrong for me to enjoy them?
16:01You see, you and your sister are there.
16:04And you are given two apples and she is given none.
16:10Now answer me.
16:12Can you enjoy?
16:14That's it.
16:18How can you really enjoy if your sister is being denied the basic freedoms and such things?
16:26That's all.
16:27We all are greatly interlinked.
16:35Deep spirituality would say we are all one.
16:37Let's not go to that extent.
16:39But at least see that we all lead a very interlinked existence.
16:49It is not possible for one man to be joyful with others around him being in misery.
16:56Especially if the other you are talking of is your own sister.
17:00How will you go out for example and watch a cricket match in the stadium or have a night out?
17:08When you know that your sister too is a cricket lover and is not being allowed to come.
17:15Won't every bit of joy pain you further?
17:20You know that you are having it and somebody is not having it.
17:24And the one who is not having it, you love her.
17:27Now, is that then enjoyment or suffering for you?
17:33You are being kept hungry and I am being given a lot of food.
17:38And the food is delicious and nutritious.
17:40Every morsel of food now, is it enjoyable to me or is it further suffering?
17:49Yes?
17:54So, I can understand.
17:57I really understand what you are saying and I totally understand that.
18:01So, I am also asking with respect to the opportunities that this world provides me.
18:07I know, my sister herself is telling me that I can't do it.
18:12But if nobody is stopping you, then you go and do it.
18:15With respect to the opportunities.
18:17But me myself as a person, because I know that I like her.
18:21So, should I not take advantage of those opportunities?
18:25First of all, it is very generous of your sister and very loving of your sister.
18:33To ask you to proceed with the opportunities you have and all the freedoms that you can get.
18:41Even as she is being denied those opportunities and freedoms.
18:46That's very generous of her.
18:48Now, that's her side of the story.
18:51She is being generous.
18:52What are you being?
18:54What are you being?
18:57She is being good.
18:59Alright, brother, I am not being given the good things in life, but if you are being offered them, accept them.
19:06Right?
19:07That's her heart.
19:09Now, where is your heart?
19:11I think the greatest enjoyment in such a situation would be to ensure that she does get a bit of what you get.
19:34Hmm?