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Video Information: 9.12.22, SPIT-College, Mumbai
Context:
~ How to overcome fear?
~ How are humans different from other animals?
~ Who am I?
~ What makes humans special?
~ How to not be scared?
~ When humans fall madly in love
~ Is falling in love important for us?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...
Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books?
Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...
~~~~~
Video Information: 9.12.22, SPIT-College, Mumbai
Context:
~ How to overcome fear?
~ How are humans different from other animals?
~ Who am I?
~ What makes humans special?
~ How to not be scared?
~ When humans fall madly in love
~ Is falling in love important for us?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Hello Sir, Today's session is on Fearless Living.
00:07So with respect to this topic, I would like to ask you, aren't we going against the
00:12nature if we try to be fearless, because in the course of evolution, the emotion of fear
00:21has never been eliminated, also it helps many species in the race of survival, also it plays
00:28a huge role in avoiding wars and conflicts, not only among humans, but also among other
00:35species.
00:37So it's the nature which favours, which has planted the emotion of fear in all of us.
00:46So it will be in some sense, we are going against the nature.
00:51Very very good question, lovely, great one to begin with.
00:58What's your name?
01:00Lokesh Choudhury.
01:02Lokesh, good.
01:04Lokesh, you said, fear is an evolutionary tool embedded within us, so you are talking
01:17about the self, you are saying, within me, nature, mother nature, prakriti, has embedded
01:26this thing called fear to help us in some way.
01:32Who are you?
01:34Who are you?
01:35Who is being talked of here?
01:39Remember you are not one but two.
01:43One of you two is the body, right, the body, and whatsoever prakriti or mother nature has
01:55given you pertains to the body.
02:02The other you is consciousness.
02:09The body, as birthed by, as controlled and programmed and conditioned by prakriti, demands
02:19survival, demands security, demands pleasure, and demands reproduction.
02:28That's what the body wants.
02:33The body of the human being as well as the body of the animal, irrespective of whose
02:38body it is, the bodily needs are the same.
02:43The animal wants sleep, you too want sleep.
02:46The animal wants food, you too want food, we are talking at the level of the body.
02:52The animal wants bodily security, comfort, you too want that.
03:00And the animal's body reproduces, your body too reproduces.
03:07So whatsoever is there as a bodily mechanism is something animalistic.
03:17It helps, but it helps only one of you two.
03:22Who are the two first of all?
03:25I said we are two.
03:27One is body, the other is…
03:31So fear helps, but helps only the body.
03:41Fear is indeed great, but for whom?
03:44For the body.
03:46So that's the reason why all these things we find shared amongst humans and the other
03:54sentient beings, animals, flies, mosquitoes, birds, fish, all experience fear.
04:03Fear is something animalistic, and that does not take away from the fact that fear helps.
04:11Fear helps, but it helps the survival of the body.
04:16But who are you?
04:18If I tell you, for example, Lokesh, if I tell you, you look ugly, and I tell you, you are
04:30simply mad, which of these two is a bigger insult?
04:35If I say you are dumb, stupid, and if I say you look ugly, which of these two is a bigger
04:43insult?
04:44Stupid, right?
04:46If I say your looks are outright bad, and I say your IQ is 8.8, which of these two is
04:57a bigger humiliation?
04:58The IQ part.
05:01So what are you, consciousness or body?
05:05Anything that relates to the body is important, but far less important than anything that
05:11relates to your consciousness.
05:14So even you make this choice, without any teaching, without any guidance, even you daily
05:20make this choice that between the body and consciousness, you are actually the consciousness,
05:24not the body.
05:26So we said, first of all, we are not one but two, the body and the consciousness.
05:33Next we have said that between the body and the consciousness, all human beings prefer
05:39to be the consciousness.
05:42What do animals prefer?
05:44Body.
05:45In animals, consciousness is not that greatly developed.
05:49And when you go down to plants, their consciousness is even more limited.
05:53Are you getting it?
05:56So who are we?
05:57We are consciousness.
05:58Of course, we are the body as well.
06:01But between these two, which one is more important?
06:05Consciousness is more important.
06:06Now, so we are two, out of these, one is higher.
06:11Now, can we allow the lower one to dominate the higher?
06:15Please tell me.
06:17If something helps the lower one, but hurts the higher one, would you allow it?
06:26Please tell me.
06:27Okay, you have exams tomorrow morning, right?
06:32You set up the alarm, the alarm for 5 am.
06:36The consciousness is saying you must get up and study.
06:40And the body is saying you must keep sleeping.
06:43Which one do you prefer?
06:45Consciousness.
06:46And if you side with the body, then you regret, right?
06:50Don't you?
06:51You don't feel good.
06:52You say, oh, something bad I have done.
06:56The alarm rang and I still put it down.
07:00And then you wake up an hour later and you say, why did I do that?
07:07Something good for the body, bad for consciousness, you don't like it.
07:12Do you agree?
07:13Something good for the body and bad for the consciousness, you don't like it.
07:17Though it is good for the body.
07:19You got an extra hour of sleep, the body is happy, very happy.
07:23Had you actually woken up at 5 am, the face would have been a bit swollen and the eyes
07:29would have been a bit red.
07:32And people would have asked you, oh, are you short of sleep?
07:35It shows on the face, right?
07:36So the body would have felt bad had you woken up in time.
07:40But the consciousness would have felt great.
07:44And that would have shown up on your mark sheet.
07:50So what is good for the body, but bad for consciousness is not acceptable.
07:54Do you get this?
07:56What is good for the body, but bad for consciousness is not acceptable.
08:02Fear is that.
08:05Fear is something that is good for your physical survival.
08:09Fear is an evolutionary tool, helps you live a longer life.
08:15But it is not good for your consciousness.
08:18What's the point in living a long life if life is full of fear?
08:24Please tell me.
08:25What would you prefer?
08:27Living for 100 years, all afraid and insecure, doubtful, shivering, or living for just, just
08:42let's say, like Bhagat Singh, only 23 years, but bravely, stoutly, like a man.
08:50What would you prefer?
08:53That's what.
08:54Because we are not animals.
08:56No animal ever prefers to be martyred.
09:00No animal would ever say, I want a short, but meaningful life.
09:05For animals, body is everything.
09:06You are human beings precisely because for you, body is not everything.
09:11You can overrule your body.
09:12You can dictate your body.
09:13For you, body is just an instrument.
09:15You can use your body towards a higher purpose.
09:18That's why you're human beings.
09:20And that's why fear is such an obnoxious thing.
09:25Fear lowers consciousness and protects just the body.
09:32Fear says the body is everything.
09:33Please, please, please save yourself, save yourself.
09:38That's the reason why courage is such a high quality.
09:44Because courage enables you to go against your physical nature.
09:52Remember again and again, we are not animals.
09:55So, we should not do the stuff that Prakriti designs us to do, if that stuff lowers our
10:05consciousness.
10:09You say, you know, that we are products of nature.
10:13So, we should follow what nature tells us.
10:18Does nature tell you to wear clothes?
10:22Does nature tell you to wear clothes?
10:24Does nature tell you to wear these specs or use Twitter or use mobile phone or study
10:33engineering?
10:34Does nature tell you any of these things?
10:36Nature will be very happy.
10:38You just go and roam about in a jungle.
10:41Nature is very happy and find a mate there and procreate like animals.
10:44That's all that nature wants from you.
10:47Live and produce more beings that would live.
10:51That's all that Prakriti wants from you.
10:52Prakriti does not want you to know, be enlightened, be liberated.
10:57Prakriti has no such objective for you.
10:59In fact, when you try for realization, for knowledge, for freedom, Prakriti is not very
11:05happy then.
11:07Don't you see how your body rebels against you when you sit down to do something important?
11:14Have you seen that?
11:17You are okay.
11:18The moment you sit down to study, you start feeling drowsy.
11:21How many of you have experienced that?
11:23There was no sleepiness at all, but the moment you open the book, you feel like crashing
11:30on the bed.
11:31Experienced that?
11:34That's what Prakriti wants you to do.
11:37Just sleep and protect the body and keep the body happy.
11:43Prakriti has no intention to have you as a great one, as a realized one, as an elevated
11:53one, a free one, a liberated one.
11:55No.
11:56Prakriti does not want any of that.
11:59That does not mean that Prakriti is our enemy.
12:02That does not mean that we have to assault the body.
12:05That only means that we do not have to be ruled by our body.
12:11We cannot allow the body to dictate us, to gain control over us.
12:16We cannot allow that.
12:17And what do we mean by the body?
12:19You know, most of the emotions that you experience are simply physical.
12:26Most of the thoughts that we have are just biochemical things.
12:34If some additional chemical is injected in your body, your thoughts will change.
12:39Angry people will get placated.
12:43Peaceful people will suddenly erupt in anger.
12:49One injection and you can suddenly start feeling extremely violent or lustful.
12:55But you will say, oh, these are my emotions.
12:56No, these are not your emotions.
12:58These are things of the body.
13:02And we are not supposed to be slaves of the body.
13:06So we are not supposed to be slaves of our foolish emotions and desires.
13:15Because they are all bodily.
13:17Remember that which appears as desire or emotion is just a bodily thing.
13:25It is arising from your body.
13:28Certain emotions, for example, do not arise in you before the age of 12 or 14.
13:34Don't you know that?
13:35Where do they come from?
13:36They're coming from chemicals.
13:39And if there is an under secretion or overproduction of those chemicals, then your emotions will
13:46change accordingly.
13:49You can be made to fall in love just using one injection or one pill.
13:56You will be head over heels in love, madly in love.
14:00Why?
14:01Because of the chemical affecting the body, body, body.
14:05So these are all bodily things.
14:07We are not supposed to give them too much importance.
14:10Because for us, among the two things, which one is more important?
14:13Consciousness.
14:14Remember, remember, you are born to be liberated.
14:18You're not born to follow the commands of the body.
14:22That's not the purpose.
14:24The body will tell you, get a lot of money, earn security, a bigger house.
14:32Don't you know what a bigger house in the city corresponds to in the jungle?
14:37In the jungle, all animals, what do they build, what do they build?
14:43They have territorial occupation, they occupy dens, they build nests.
14:51And the equivalent of that is that you spend all your life trying to get a good bigger
14:57home for yourself.
14:59That is just bodily.
15:00That is not the purpose of life, to have a great house.
15:05Look at all the animals in the jungle, they are all running after mates.
15:11And males are fighting for the female and females are fighting for the male.
15:14The same thing is happening among human beings also.
15:17What is this?
15:18Does this relate to consciousness or just the body?
15:22The body.
15:23Are we supposed to do that?
15:24No, that's not the purpose of life.
15:25That's not the purpose of life.
15:27You have to be very cautious.
15:29Never defend your attitudes or behaviors by saying, oh, these are natural.
15:34You are not supposed to be natural.
15:37Animals are supposed to be natural.
15:39You're not supposed to be natural.
15:41Is this auditorium a natural place?
15:43Is this a cave?
15:45Is this a treetop?
15:48What is it then?
15:51It is a product of human consciousness.
15:53So don't keep parroting the argument, but this is not natural.
15:58If this is not natural, nothing is natural.
16:00Animals don't get haircuts, do they?
16:03Pedicure, manicure, saloons, airports.
16:06Do animals have any of these?
16:08Language.
16:09Do animals have language?
16:10Do animals brush their teeth?
16:12Then why do you keep repeating the natural argument?
16:15No, this is natural.
16:18Animals do this, so we will also do this.
16:19This is natural.
16:22Animals do this.
16:25No animal ever washed his face.
16:33Why do?
16:34No animal ever cared for a degree.
16:37No animal ever cleared an entrance examination.
16:45Why do you keep saying I have to do what is natural?
16:47Are you an animal or what?
16:51I repeat, that does not mean that you have to be anti-natural.
16:55Be careful.
16:56We are not saying we have to be anti-natural.
16:59We are saying we have to rise above our physical nature.
17:04We have to utilize our thoughts and emotions and body in a way that is conducive to consciousness.
17:13The body is not something to be beaten down.
17:16You don't have to exploit your body or torture it.
17:19That's not what we are saying.
17:21We are saying let consciousness decide the purpose, the destination.
17:25Let the body be the tool or the vehicle.
17:30That's what we are saying.
17:31Is that clear?
17:32Lokesh, where are you?
17:33Is that clear?
17:34We are not animals.
17:36So the nature argument does not work with us.
17:39We are, remember, you are always two.
17:44Whenever you are behaving in a certain way, ask yourself, is it the animal within me or
17:48is it my consciousness?
17:50Ask.
17:51Whenever you are to make a major decision, ask, what am I deciding as?
17:57As the animal or as a conscious entity?
18:02Who am I?
18:03That's the most fundamental question.
18:05Am I the animal or am I consciousness?
18:08Did you remember this?
18:10Good.