Is Vedanta only for Hindus? || Acharya Prashant (2024)

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? 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?...  ~~~~~  #acharyaprashant #vedanta   Video Information: 17.03.2024, Vedanta Session, Greter Noida  Context: ~ Is Vedanta only for Hindus?  ~ What is meant by egolessness?  ~ How to get rid of ego?  ~ If there is no desire for fruit, for whom does one perform that action? ~ How to get rid of the fear of making the wrong choice?   Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~

Transcript

00:00My name is Grant Holley. I live in Virginia in the United States. It's an honor to speak

00:14with you today and I've watched many of your videos in the last few months.

00:22Welcome.

00:23Very good, very good. My question is, Vedant is from the Hindu religion and I myself grew

00:37up in a different faith, different religion. How can the teachings of Vedant help me in

00:49my life is my question.

00:53First of all, please see that Vedant is a philosophy and as far as the usually prevalent

01:07and practiced Hindu religion is concerned, it actually draws very little from Vedant,

01:14unfortunately. So, there is the philosophy and then there is the religion. What we usually

01:23call as religion has a God, has a messenger or a prophet, has a holy book, has a canon,

01:33has a set of commandments. Now none of that applies to Vedant. Vedant is simple darshan,

01:41a philosophy. So, in that sense, it is universal. How can a philosophy be exclusive to a religion?

01:53It's almost like saying that because Nietzsche was a European and a German, therefore Indians

02:03cannot take from him. Or because Chopin or Sartre, they were Christians, even if not practicing Christians,

02:16therefore a Hindu cannot learn from them. Philosophy is just exploration into the truth.

02:23Even religion must have a philosophical base. The problem is that religions assume a baseless life of their own

02:39without being rooted in philosophy. Philosophy is something that must give nourishment, rather survival,

02:52very survival to religion. But religions usually don't take anything from philosophy.

02:57If you look at the way most major religions of the world are practiced, you would be at loss to find

03:12any philosophical foundation. A person is doing such and such things, you ask him,

03:19why are you doing that thing? He'll say, because I'm a Christian, or a Muslim, or a Buddhist, or a Hindu,

03:25or something. And you say, no, that is alright. That's a part of your tradition or your religious identity.

03:33But what really is the thought or understanding or philosophy beneath your action?

03:40And he'll have usually no answer. So, Vedanta is a philosophy and philosophy is for everybody.

03:51So, Marx had a philosophy. One did not say that he was born a Jew, therefore the others will not look at that philosophy.

04:07Or that he lived a religionless life, therefore those who practice religion cannot admire Marx.

04:17It begins with I. And it does not matter whether I am an agnostic, an atheist, a Hindu, a Christian.

04:39How does it matter? Don't I say I if I am an atheist? I am an atheist, even that begins with I.

04:47I hate Vedanta, even that begins with I. I am a Hindu, I am a Christian, that begins with I.

04:57Vedanta explores that very I. So, all that is okay. It does not have anything that one must believe in.

05:09Vedanta is not a belief system at all. Vedanta wants the truth, not imaginations, not beliefs.

05:20In fact, you'd be curiously happy to know that God as such has no place in Vedanta.

05:35Even if you want to say there is God in Vedanta, you'll simply have to say that which is the truth has to be called as God.

05:43So, Vedanta says, there is me, there is the world. And I find that I keep getting deceived and wounded so frequently.

05:55And I have a proof. My inner situation is the proof that there is something wrong with my existence and my relationship with the world.

06:04So, I want to understand who I am, what this world is all about and what is the relationship between two of us

06:11and how can I get rid of my suffering. That's Vedanta. What does that have to do with any kind of theology?

06:18It is not a belief system. It does not say you have to follow these rules or commandments.

06:23It does not say that you have to celebrate these festivals. It does not say you have to marry like that or you have to be committed like that.

06:30There is nothing of that kind here. People often come and say, you know, does Vedanta allow this?

06:36Well, Vedanta does not allow anything. It does not disallow anything. All it says is look into yourself.

06:42Now, look into yourself is valid for the man, for the woman, for the white, for the black, for the young, for the elderly,

06:51for the Indian, for the American, for the Chinese, for the African because we all exist as human beings.

06:57Vedanta is saying you are a human being and you are not well. Can you please inquire into why you are not well?

07:04Vedanta does not say you have to keep a beard or you have to shave your head or you have to treat women this way.

07:12No, none of that. You decide these things on your own. Vedanta has absolutely nothing at all to say on these matters.

07:19Do I go to a church? Do I go to a temple? Do I not go to any place at all?

07:26Should I have kids? Should I marry? Vedanta has no advice to offer on these things.

07:34It addresses only the core question of existence. Who am I? And why am I the way I am?

07:44And how do I get rid of my miserable state? Simple.

07:49What do I wear? When do I fast? How do I celebrate my festivals?

07:56Not interested.

08:11I do have one more question. I'm a referee of sports, an umpire.

08:22How not focusing on winning the game, the making of the goals, will help a player to play his best?

08:33Because according to the Gita, don't you focus your attention on the results and not focus your attention on the actions to get to that goal?

08:48Get to that result?

08:53What the Gita is saying is, do not focus on what the result has for you.

09:04You can focus on the result. But the Gita advises you to not focus on what the result has for you.

09:13These are two very different things. The Gita is usually misinterpreted.

09:19The Gita says desireless action and all desires are for oneself. I desire for myself.

09:27So what the Gita is saying is, yes, you can look at the score line and looking at the score line you can decide your next move.

09:36Be it tennis or soccer or whatever. But you need not think about what the result would do to you.

09:44Obviously, in tennis, if I am two sets behind, I have to calibrate my strategy accordingly.

09:52Right? If I have already faulted on the first serve, I cannot forget that.

10:02The second serve has to be different from the first serve.

10:07So I can think of the result. But I need not think of what would happen to me in case of a particular result.

10:20So what the Gita is saying is, you should be so strong within that the result should have no impact on you.

10:27That's very different from saying do not think of the result.

10:30You can think of the result and then you say, whatever the result is, I don't mind.

10:38I am able to take everything. But yes, I am striving for a win, definitely.

10:46But irrespective of whether I win or lose, something within me will remain untouched and unmoved.

10:53That's the message of the Gita. Go fight! Fight as hard as you must.

10:59If you are playing, play to win. But the core of your existence must not be touched by the win.

11:11And if the core of your existence remains untouched by the win, it will also remain untouched by the defeat.

11:18Give everything that you have to the game. Obviously, you must want to win.

11:25But just the center, just the center, that one little untouchable point must be there.

11:32And if that is there, you will never be afraid. Are you getting it?

11:39It's not that you must not focus on the result. Do not focus on what the result will do to you.

11:44Yes, I want to win. Yes, yes. The game must be won.

11:49But that will not make me a winner. I will remain who I am. I am already a winner in some sense.

11:55Irrespective of the result of the game, I am already a winner.

11:58Yet, I am fighting to win the game. I am fighting to win the game.

12:01I am not fighting to be a winner. The winner I already am. That's the Gita.

12:08Thank you, sir.

12:10Welcome. Most welcome.

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