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Video Information: 18.10.2022, ICT - Mumbai, Mumbai
Context:
~ How does stress effect our lives?
~ How to deal with stress?
~ Why is student life so stressful?
~ What should I do in a stressful situation?
~ How to not be jealous of others?
~ Is being competitive good?
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: 18.10.2022, ICT - Mumbai, Mumbai
Context:
~ How does stress effect our lives?
~ How to deal with stress?
~ Why is student life so stressful?
~ What should I do in a stressful situation?
~ How to not be jealous of others?
~ Is being competitive good?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Acharyaji Pranams. There are two facets that I would just like to discuss regarding students.
00:10One is the increasing stress which affects their performance and we are seeing that happening
00:16over a period of years and the second is the extensive competition which affects their
00:22camaraderie which is even more dangerous because this is the period of life where they need
00:27to build up friendships and at least I have been witnessing that it affects that.
00:37What is it that gives you stress? How many of you feel stressed let's say at least a
00:41couple of times in the week? Quite a few, alright. What is it you feel stressed about?
01:00Just speak up, I am hearing, without the mic just speak up. What is it you feel stressed
01:06about? GPA, deadlines, assignments, getting jobs, placements, train travels, commuting
01:21to and from the camp and performance in terms of grades. So that's okay. Not much has changed.
01:42Just the train part was not there, but everything else we too experienced. See, it's alright
02:02to have a particular level of stress. It keeps you disciplined. The problem is when stress
02:10becomes everything for you, when you lose sight of joy, of freedom, of attainment and
02:24start feeling overwhelmed by stress. Stress is okay. You must learn to crack jokes when
02:36stressed and those jokes will have a special flavor. There is tension in the mind and I turn
02:46my own tension into a joke on myself. So right now there is so much tension within me. Some
03:06kind of sponty PJ, close to the breaking point, something on the Young's modulus, stress and
03:18strain. Turn your own situation into a joke. It's okay. There is nobody who can live without
03:30stress and it is not even desirable that one lives with zero stress. You should have however,
03:42things in life that are bigger than your stress. You must know the right and relative place of
03:52everything. There is something you feel stressed about. The stress is alright, but then there are
04:04far more important things in life. Life and existence itself is more important than anything
04:13in life. So before I came here, I was at IIT Bombay. From there I went and checked into a
04:29hotel and then came here and yes, time pressure was there definitely. And this was actually
04:43scheduled at 5 p.m. Originally the time I was supposed to be here was 5 and then I was told
04:50a little later 5.30 then 5.45 and things happened. So that stress was there. You are not the only
04:59one who feels stressed coming to your institute. Even I experienced that tension coming to your
05:07institute. There is something special here. It's just that you probably take the train and I was
05:18in another vehicle and I was wondering, will I be here in time? Will the students be kept
05:26waiting for me? Bad thing. That's okay. How did I cope with the stress? My fellow passengers will
05:38tell you, I fell asleep. And then somebody woke me up. Sir, two more minutes, we are entering the
05:49campus. I said, okay. Who wants to live with stress? There are more useful things to do.
05:58There are better ways to utilize your time. Sleeping was a good way to utilize my time.
06:04Otherwise what's the point in just staring at the bumper and the number plates of the
06:12vehicle in front of you? And that's what you do in Mumbai all the time. If the eyes are open,
06:20all they'll see is the bumpers, the number plates and the chaos on the streets. Sleep.
06:30I'm not saying you must start sleeping. I deal in a lot of symbolism, so bear with me.
06:44If you deal rightly with stress, stress is a friend. It crystallizes something within you.
06:57It makes you stronger. But if you do not know the right place of stress in life,
07:07then stress becomes threatening. It becomes anti-life to the extent that it can lead to
07:28physical diseases and it reduces your ability to work, to concentrate, to think, to be meditative.
07:40All that will suffer. Next time you are in a stressful position or period, try to take it
07:54lightly. Try to turn it into a joke. Try to laugh at yourself. Try to remember all the previous
08:03instances when you were stressed out. What happened to those instances? They passed, right?
08:10So as the Sufis say, this too shall pass. I was stressed out for exactly the same reason last
08:22Sunday. What happened to all that stress? What happened to that episode? It passed. So this
08:31period too should not be too big on me. This too shall pass. Right? Competitiveness too is the same
08:44thing, much the same thing. Even I have been highly competitive. I think I still am. When I'm
08:54playing with someone, I do keep an eye on the scoreboard. When I'm playing with someone and
09:04I'm lagging, trailing, being defeated, I want to win. Right? Competitiveness should be used to bring
09:16out the best in you. The problem is when competitiveness brings out the worst in you.
09:25If you find yourself lagging behind someone, ask yourself, is it the best that I can be or is there
09:40hidden potential that I am not choosing to reveal, to manifest, to dig out? And let me assure each one
09:54of you, you are more powerful, beautiful and greater than you can ever imagine. But all that
10:08remains hidden within just as an unexpressed potential. You know what, most people die
10:19carrying that potential within without ever seeing it expressed. They do not even know
10:31what they were capable of and they die. Don't let that happen to you. When challenged,
10:46when defeated, when cornered, just remember that whatever is the level of your work,
10:56your performance, you can be far better than that. It depends on how much you want to put
11:03into it. It depends on your choice to commit yourself more to the thing you want to excel in.
11:12It depends on your choice to withdraw your inner resources from all the wasteful miscellaneous
11:20places and concentrate those resources on the one thing that matters. Are you getting it?
11:31This might cost me 200 rupees. And I might have 2000 rupees. But what if I have committed 500 to
11:47this, 1000 to that, 100 to this, 50 to that, this, this, this and I am left with just 10 rupees. And
11:52when this comes up as a challenge, as an opportunity, requiring rupees 200,
12:01what do I have to offer? Rupees? Rupees? We have inert guesses here or what? No reaction. How much
12:16do I have to offer? 10 rupees. How much do I have? 2000. What have I done with the 2000 that I have?
12:27I have squandered it here and there. I have so much. I have 10 times more than what it requires
12:37to win this one. But still I am being defeated. Why am I being defeated? Am I really so poor? No,
12:45I am not poor. I am just unwise. I am making bad choices. I am putting my money where it
12:53not really is needed or useful. How do I win this challenge? Withdraw my resources from the
13:05various places. Withdraw and concentrate. Or I could just get into a wild and petty negotiation
13:18with this one. You are not worth 200. Or I could say I want to break this into 20 pieces. You say
13:30this is 200. Out of the 20 pieces, each one would be rupees 10. And then I will be victorious because
13:4010 is what I have. And that's the worst that comes out of you when you are competitive. Instead of
13:50remembering your potential and concentrating your resources, you start destroying the challenger,
14:03the opponent, the competitor. That's what most people do usually. They don't want to remember
14:11that their worth is far greater than 10 rupees, that they can rise to 200 or 2000 from their
14:18current level of 10. They don't want to do that because that would involve making choices, that
14:25would involve withdrawing effort and attention from useless places. They don't do that. Instead
14:33they pull the competitor down. They say this one is competing with me. I will destroy it into 10
14:39pieces. Is that worth it? How has that helped you? You began at 10 and you remained at 10. Have you
14:53risen? Have you become richer? Have you become better? No. Instead you have consoled yourself
15:00with a petty victory. How has the victory come about? By attacking your opponent. Don't attack
15:14your opponent. Become greater than your opponent. And you can become greater than everything and
15:23everybody possible. It is in you. You just have to forget, you have to un-remember that you are
15:37small and petty and helpless and powerless. This feeling has gotten too deeply into us. Oh but I
15:48am a little person. But sir how will I fight the world? All I am is a little girl. How is it
15:55possible for me to tackle challenges? I was never very brilliant academically. I never secured even
16:0580% and here again I am trailing in my class and I am 5 feet 3 and you are telling me I am a world
16:16beater? Yes you are. Potentially. That potential in Vedanta is referred to as Anantata. What does
16:32that mean? Infinity. Your potential stops nowhere. At no point can a limit be set to your potential.
16:47You insult yourself, you degrade yourself when you limit yourself in any way. And one sure shot
17:05way of limiting yourself is by thinking of the opponent as great or very superior. That's the
17:17wrong kind of competitiveness. When your opponent beats you, ask yourself, how did I play so badly?
17:28When he hits a great shot, my coach once told me, when your opponent hits a great shot, that
17:37wasn't squash. Ask yourself, how did I allow him a loose ball? It's not that he has played a great
17:45shot. I gave him the opportunity to play a great shot. Had I not given him a loose ball, he wouldn't
17:52have been able to play a great shot. Don't tell yourself, oh my god, I have a ferocious opponent.
17:59I am surely going to be defeated. That's not the thing to be said. Yes, your shot is indeed great.
18:08Alright. I admire that. I concede you played a wonderful shot. But before you played that great
18:18shot, something else happened. What was that? I offered you an easy ball. I'm not going to do that.
18:27I'm not going to do that. That's real competitiveness. Real competitiveness introspects.
18:38Real competitiveness looks at oneself and tries to raise the bar within.
18:47Getting it?
18:51Pranam Acharya. Myself Snehal Kadam and I'm pursuing M.Tech at ICT Mumbai.
18:56And I'm very much thankful to you that you joined us. And already we have sorted so many questions.
19:03And that's based on the stress level. And I have the same question based on the stress level.
19:11That we are at the student level. We are facing educational problems. And at the same time,
19:18we have to deal with our personal stress. And at the moment, sometimes we can't deal with it
19:25very confidently. This tackles very badly on us. And we don't have to share our solid very
19:34sincerely or nicely. And at the moment, we are feeling like we can't do it after this. We can't
19:41forward it properly. And it will tackle our potential even though you have that much of
19:48strength. But it will affect very badly. So how can we deal with that?
19:55How is this question different from the previous one about stress?
20:04Yes. Because sometimes some situations come at the same time. Like overcome at the same time
20:11everywhere. Like the educational stress, personal stress. And like for example, some people are
20:18attempting suicides. And even though they have so much potential in that and they are
20:24leading their life. It might be happening in some people, very rare people or almost mostly.
20:31We can consider it like that. There are two things in it. One,
20:37prioritize. Second, disregard. All the material things that come to you,
20:46they are to be kept in one bracket. Within that bracket, you must prioritize.
20:56You must know that not all things are equally important. So if too many things
21:00are upon you in one particular instance, you can't tackle, you can't deal with all of them at once.
21:11Right? Keep a few things for tomorrow. This can wait. And before that can wait, try not
21:22to be in that situation where you have to suddenly deal with four deadlines at once.
21:32If you know that you have four assignments in the academic field plus two personal
21:39commitments all on the same date, why must you wait till that date?
21:50And if by chance it so happens that everything comes together,
21:53then prioritize. You'll have to leave something behind. That's the first thing. When I said
21:58prioritize, the second thing is all of these are all within one bracket. There is something
22:06far more important outside that bracket. One has to learn to have a healthy disregard for
22:15everything worldly. When worldly affairs and commitments and obligations start getting too
22:24much on you, then you have to suddenly snap your cord with the world and say, all right,
22:33no more stress beyond this point. Till this point it is okay. I'm trying, I'm fighting,
22:42but I cannot give all these things more importance than they really deserve.
22:51The greatest importance must be for your existence itself. If something becomes so important to you
23:01that it starts demeaning your existence, then how can that thing be good and important?
23:09Something is important only if it adds value to you. If these things that are important,
23:16that you call as important, instead of adding value to you are actually becoming a burden on you
23:22and causing you to get shattered internally, then they are certainly not important.
23:29So you have to draw a boundary somewhere and say, stress is good, giving importance to something is
23:37good, running after deadlines is good, but nothing beyond this point. Beyond this point, if I take
23:44the world too seriously, then I'm compromising on my own self. So that is what I'm calling as
23:51a healthy disregard. One, prioritize. Second, learn to disregard.