♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant?
Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...
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~~~~~
Video Information: with IIT Delhi, 24.07.22, Delhi
Context:
~ What is reason of human miseries ?
~ What is capitalism and how it is affecting our climate ?
~ Will consumption satisfy me ?
~ How we can stop climate change ?
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: with IIT Delhi, 24.07.22, Delhi
Context:
~ What is reason of human miseries ?
~ What is capitalism and how it is affecting our climate ?
~ Will consumption satisfy me ?
~ How we can stop climate change ?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Hello, everyone. I would like to welcome you all on behalf of IIT Delhi Alumni Association.
00:09My name is Gaurav Goyal, class of 2009, Aravalli Hostel, IIT Delhi. I am currently convener
00:16of Arugyam Healthcare Initiative of IIT Delhi Alumni Association. IIT Delhi is an institute
00:23of eminence as declared by the government of India. IIT Delhi Alumni Association represents
00:2957,000 IIT Delhi alumni globally who have contributed significantly to various social
00:37and economic development for the nation. Arugyam, a healthcare and wellness initiative was started
00:45last year by IIT Delhi Alumni Association. Sometimes in corporate world, in our busy
00:52schedule, we give less importance to health and overall wellness, and which has long-term
00:59ill effects. To bring unique knowledge about healthcare and wellness to our alumni, we
01:06are organizing various such events in Arugyam initiative. So far, three events have been
01:12organized in Arugyam series, and we have received wonderful feedback from our alumni across
01:18the globe. In future also, we aspire to invite various healthcare and spiritual leaders from
01:26across the world to Arugyam platform. And now, I would like to invite our today's speaker,
01:33Acharya Prashanth. Acharya Prashanth is an acclaimed authority on Vedanta, and author
01:41of over 80 books, including the bestseller Karma and Ananda, and a powerful voice of
01:47social spiritual awakening in the today's world. After graduating from IIT Delhi, Acharya Prashanth
01:55went on to qualify both UPSC and CAT in the same year. After two years at IIM Ahmedabad,
02:02and a few years at corporate, he found himself a higher calling of spreading the ancient wisdom
02:10of Vedanta among the masses. And for the same purpose, he founded his mission, which is at
02:18the forefront of creating of a new humanity through intelligence spirituality. Today,
02:26this movement has touched the life of tens of millions of individuals. Through his direct
02:32contact with people and through various books and internet based channels, he continues to
02:37bring clarity to all. So, I'll not take much of the time and I would invite Acharya Prashanth
02:43among all of us. Good afternoon. Thank you for having me here and for the kind introduction,
02:55and I'm really looking forward to this interaction. Thank you so much. I would
03:02like to invite Mr. Pankaj for the first question to Acharya.
03:05Namaskar Acharya ji, I am Pankaj Kapadia, B.Tech 2011 batch. I wanted to ask you a question. Do you
03:18believe capitalism is at the core of many problems we face today? If yes, what can individuals do
03:27about it? For example, at society level, income inequality has kept on increasing. At economic
03:37level, greed drives many business decisions as well as government decisions at times. At individual
03:45level, it puts us into a constant race for many more things to achieve in terms of monetary gains.
03:53And this is how we take education, housing, travel, healthcare, and they have been very
03:59expensive nowadays. So, I want your opinion on this. Do you believe that this is the core issue
04:05to address and how to go about it? Acharya sir. Thank you for the question, Pankaj. It's not as
04:16if human beings are alright within themselves and pure of intention, simple and innocent beings.
04:32And then somehow an alien system called capitalism invades them and victimizes them. But that's how
04:46somehow a lot of us would like to think because this line of thought places the blame of our
04:57present condition on something alien to us. So, we are then happily able to justify being what we
05:11are and claim innocence. Where does capitalism come from? If we say capitalism is to be blamed
05:20for our situation as it is, where does this economic and social system come from? It comes
05:29from the mind of man. It comes from our own tendencies. Capitalism is just a way of
05:39organization of the economy. What does it say? It says that private individuals will have the
05:47right to function economically as they please and that they'll have the freedom to earn profits and
05:57supply and demand will determine the market prices, right? And government would not interfere
06:05in such matters. Now, you are giving somebody the right to do economic activity as per his
06:16choice. Per se, how can this be blamed for the mess we are in? Let's say you give the right of
06:28production and the right of ownership of capital and resources to some other entity like the
06:35government, which we think of as an alternate system. You give the ownership of resources not
06:42to private entities but to the collective entity called government. Will that really change things?
06:48Because if the mind of the human being is corrupted, then so will be the mind of the
07:02government, no? I am someone who has been given the right to operate freely and produce and sell
07:12as I please. What will I produce? How will I sell? How will I entice my prospective consumer to buy?
07:22That depends on the direction of my mind and the center I am operating from. If the center I am
07:32operating from is itself animalistic, then I'll want to earn profits for myself whatever be the
07:41social cost. I'll say I might be selling something very useless and also quite dangerous and if I
07:53have to manipulate the customer's mind to get my thing sold, I'll do that. You let the government
08:05control of goods and services and the corrupt mind is found there as well. There the corrupt
08:12mind will manifest itself in some other form. We know the kind of corruption that prevailed in the
08:19erstwhile USSR. We know what went behind the Iron Curtain. We know why economic activity had to
08:29collapse and why the collapse of economic activity was one of the reasons behind the
08:34disintegration of that country. So, if we are rotten from within, that rottenness will show
08:45up irrespective of the economic system, philosophical system, political system,
08:51social system we choose for ourselves. No system will have the power to redeem us because we are
08:59the fathers of all our systems. Systems come from us. We don't come from our systems. So,
09:07the point the systems come from, the source that has to be cleansed but that involves something
09:18very challenging. That involves challenging the very ego of the human being and all that we see
09:29around ourselves is nothing but the game of the ego, the fundamental existential self.
09:37The game is on for the sustenance, the furtherance and the protection of the ego. The ego will not
09:50want the game to shape up in a way that challenges the player itself, the challenges the existence of
10:00the player itself. The game exists for the pleasure of the player. The player is the ego.
10:05But if you want to play the game in a way that the player runs the risk of annihilation,
10:11then the player refuses to play the game. But that is what we need today. Otherwise,
10:18all that we are staring at is a massive destruction of the kind we have never
10:26historically witnessed. So, it's not about a debate between philosophies. It's not capitalism
10:37versus socialism. It's not any ism versus any other ism. It's fundamentally about self-knowledge.
10:46Do we know who we are? Once we realize who we are, our trust on the products of our thought
10:55will reduce. And then we will be a little cautious of seeking solutions in systems of
11:08thought. You can come up with newer and newer systems of thought. Place your faith in them
11:17and hope that the new system, the seemingly innovative system will redeem you. Unfortunately,
11:28it won't. Because of the simple reason that we are reiterating. It is all coming from the same
11:37center. It is all coming from the same place. So, a new system may offer a glimpse of redemption.
11:49It may entertain us and make us optimistic for a while. But these are all false beginnings.
12:02They offer a promise that does not last. The change that we need is inward. And it
12:18sounds cliched. I know it's been repeated so many times. It's been repeated so many times,
12:25but it has never been executed. So, let's not just dismiss it as another cliche. We need an
12:35education system in which the child is very clearly, openly, rather ruthlessly helped to
12:48face his, her animalistic, prakritic nature. When we realize that our fundamental tendencies
12:59are all very gross, very primitive. And therefore, we are not to place our deepest confidence on
13:12ourselves. Then we'll develop a certain humility and try to look for solutions beyond what our
13:24animalistic tendencies and subsequent thoughts propose to us. Without that, I don't really see
13:34a solution. All that we think of as solutions are nothing but extensions of systems that are
13:44already prevalent in the jungle. It's just that we have the added power of intellect as a privileged
13:53species. So, the same things that operate in the jungle get ornamented with intellect and operate
14:07in our cities and countries. That does not make them any fundamentally different from what we see
14:18out there in the jungle. And if we want really something that is subtle, nuanced, sophisticated,
14:29sublime, then we'll have to look at another source within us that will give rise to something else.
14:38Operating from the same source, we cannot get a different output, a different result.
14:43Thank you, Acharya ji.