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Video Information: Shastra Kaumudi, 20.12.2021, Rishikesh, India
Context:
~ Why there is so much suffering in life?
~ Do we suffer by our own choice?
~ How to avoid pain and suffering?
¬ What distinguishes us from other living things?
¬ Is there anything that is essentially unique?
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: Shastra Kaumudi, 20.12.2021, Rishikesh, India
Context:
~ Why there is so much suffering in life?
~ Do we suffer by our own choice?
~ How to avoid pain and suffering?
¬ What distinguishes us from other living things?
¬ Is there anything that is essentially unique?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00We talked of, we said that nothing has inwardly changed, so we are essentially inwardly the
00:11same people who are roaming the jungle, so but a question comes in that definitely somewhere
00:23during the course of evolution we became this human species, so there has, so somewhere
00:30there has been inward evolution also or has there been no inward evolution?
00:36There has been no inward evolution, let's discuss that, look at an amoeba or a paramecium,
00:52don't you see that it's basic instinct is just the same as that of the most evolved
01:02human being, it wants to exist, you want to exist, what has changed?
01:17You are still the amoeba or you can contradict me in a thousand ways possible, what I am
01:25saying is so vulnerable to arguments that you can trash it in no time, but with some
01:42empathy and understanding try to get into the truth of it, with all our evolutionary
01:55gifts intellect, memory, muscle, the subsequent development of a suitable and comfortable
02:11ecosystem aided by technology, are we still fundamentally different from any other kind
02:22of conscious life form on the planet anywhere else, tell me please, an amoeba reproduces,
02:35so do we, an amoeba eats, so do we, no sir, but you know there is so much that we do not
02:50share with amoebas, let's see please, is there anything that you do that is fundamentally
02:59not centered on stuff that amoeba does, an amoeba wants its space, its territory, even
03:15a little plant does, a blade of grass does, the most primitive being does, see what do
03:28you use your knowledge and your skills for, aren't your resources, your money going so
03:40much towards acquiring space and territory, both physical and psychological, tell me please,
03:51an amoeba wants to have personal space, space that it can declare as its own, territory that
04:01it can monopolize, that's what even an amoeba wants, you could say we do so much, but aren't
04:15we doing so much just to do what the amoeba does, the amoeba obviously doesn't go to the office
04:24every day, you do go to the office, but you go to the office to do what the amoeba does,
04:29the amoeba has no laboratories, it does not develop technologies, but we have laboratories
04:44and we have developed technologies to do what the amoeba does, the amoeba does not
04:53have language, we have language, what do we use language for, to do what amoeba does,
05:07what do you speak for, please tell me, we said the session today started late because
05:13the people around were playing loud music and such stuff, what were all those songs about,
05:21they were about reproduction, let's put it bluntly, the fellow wants to mate, he is using
05:37words to invite the other human, the other human of the opposite gender to mate and that's
05:46what we call as songs, at least that's the kind of songs we use on celebratory new year
05:56eves, so you have language, what do you use language for, you use language to mate, that's
06:06also what the amoeba does without using language, in fact the amoeba is more efficient, you
06:17use so many words just because you are wooing a female, words and instruments and loudspeakers.
06:35You know amoeba is so efficient that not only does it not need words, it does not even
06:41need a female, it just multiplies on its own, it's both a male and a female, it's neither
06:54a male nor a female, is there anything that you do that is fundamentally different from
07:03what an amoeba does, so where is evolution, please tell me, whatever we do, we do for
07:13the sake of existence, we want to remain, we want to remain as we are, that's also exactly
07:21what the amoeba wants, how are you different, now today we have taken the amoeba, at other
07:41times I have taken up the dog, we will find that offensive, so I said fine amoeba, but
07:52I still maintain that the dog is more handy, if you look at all that a dog does and you
08:00look at all that you do, it would be so easy to establish a clear mapping, a very direct
08:15correlation, there is not a single thing that you do and a dog doesn't, where is your evolutionary
08:25superiority, tell me please, but we read, for what do you read, you read to feed yourself,
08:43you read to clothe yourself, you read to acquire physical psychological space, a dog manages
08:54all of that, even without reading, you need to draw international boundaries, the dog
09:05just has to lift his leg, the dog doesn't have to appoint a commission MacMohan or something
09:17to draw a meticulate international boundary, this is my territory, how do I mark it, by peeing,
09:33you know that's the truth of all territorial occupation, all territorial obsession, you want
09:44territory so that you can pee and shit over it, irrespective of whether that territory is physical,
09:52mental or bodily, why do you want to acquire territory in the form of a human body, I own you,
10:02you are mine, you're my territory, just as that's my scooter, that's my car, that's my bungalow,
10:08that's my wife or husband, what do I do once I acquire the territory, I'll pee over it,
10:20now that's already offensive, but can't help it, what else do you do once you have acquired a man
10:35or a woman, think of it please, there was one thing that you could not do without acquiring
10:41that person, spoil his or her body, once you have acquired him, then literal shit.
11:11No, but we keep our houses clean, why are you saying that we acquire territory, to spoil it,
11:27once we acquire territory, in fact, we make additional efforts to keep it clean, that's what,
11:34the cleanliness that you are talking of is shit, you acquire territory to use it to maintain yourself,
11:49the dog uses territory to suit its own personal purpose, that's what we are calling as spoiling or dirtying.
12:03So, it might appear that you are keeping your place very clean,
12:07but still the purpose is very dirty, the purpose is continuation of my existence as I am,
12:16my place will be used to provide me comfort and security, that's a very dirty purpose.
12:33Evolution will not take you beyond the body or the self,
12:43wisdom would, that's why I keep hopping, don't attach too much significance to age,
12:54no age is small enough to prevent you from moving into wisdom
13:17and no age is advanced enough
13:20to prevent you from moving into wisdom.
13:25Evolution will not help, experience will not help, age will not help,
13:31only wisdom would help, if you think that experience will deliver wisdom to you, you are badly mistaken,
13:41you are badly mistaken, if you think being called a senior citizen will deliver you from maya,
13:53you are in a fool's paradise.
13:55So, we as human beings do have the possibility of going beyond what is fundamentally the same
14:15with all other animals, because if we as human beings, we can let's say perform this
14:21five steps and move towards, go towards liberation, which an animal cannot do.
14:29An animal does not want to do, that's not how it is biologically constituted.
14:34So, this quest is, this potential, is this also biological?
14:39Yes, this potential is the potential of your body.
14:49Only your body is designed in a way that the consciousness attached to it can seek freedom from it.
15:04You could even say that only man is unfortunate enough to not remain contended with the body.
15:21All other life forms are contended with the body, only man is born with a special urge,
15:35this you could take as his superiority or his misfortune.
15:44No animal experiences the angst that a human being does.
15:54Animals don't have to go through so much tension and inner strife.
16:05They don't turn depressed, neurotic, suicidal so easily.
16:14We do, because we are special.
16:20We are special animals.
16:22Hello!
16:24Not that we are absolutely special, we are just special animals.
16:34H.R.ji, previously in the answer you specified that there is nothing evolutionary which is in us.
16:44But in our Vedas and scriptures, in the 10 avatars, we were marine first,
16:54and then gradually the last stage is the meditative man, that has been described.
17:00So, and meditative as in the current state, which has the potential of, which is able to discuss this.
17:12And while we see that this is the potential which has come through the evolution, which we just came to,
17:18but you also straight away disagree that there is anything biologically evolutionary that is going to come, which will uplift us.
17:34How to reconcile?
17:36The problem is, potential is a very deceptive word.
17:40You use the word potential to defend your notion that man is special.
17:58You say man has the potential for liberation, therefore man is special.
18:04You say man has the potential for liberation, therefore man is better than animals.
18:11I take potential as a phantom, as maya, myth.
18:25Potentially we are all divine, potentially we are all the true self, atma.
18:30So what?
18:34Where is that potential expressing itself in your life?
18:40The only use you have for that potential is that you use it to defend your unreasonable sense of grandeur and superiority.
18:54We are potentially great.
18:58Two hoots to your potential.
19:01What are you really?
19:03What are you living as?
19:04Potentially, yes, you could be sage Angiras.
19:08What are you living your life as?
19:10Tell me that.
19:12You are living your life as the amoeba, therefore I will call you the amoeba.
19:16I won't call you Angiras.
19:22You might be born with so much potential.
19:27That's actually unfortunate because you will die with so much potential.
19:31Would have been better had you been born with no potential because that potential is never going to fructify.
19:41You will just die with it.
19:44With you it would be turned to ashes.
19:47What's the point in talking of that mythical potential and singing and dancing around it?
20:06You know our possible glory.
20:13Possible glory?
20:18Or current debauchery?
20:24I want to talk of the latter.
20:30Because without talking of your current debauchery, your possible glory is anyway always going to remain just myth.
20:47A utopia.
20:50A chimera.
21:08Like people talk of their great ancestors.
21:12You know, I come from the line of the great king who once used to rule Delhi.
21:21How does that help you?
21:22Look at your life.
21:27How does that help you?
21:30I come from the line of the Buddha or Mahavir.
21:33Who are you?
21:36Who are you?
21:38Look at your life.
21:42All the time you are violent and you are talking of Buddha and Mahavir.
21:50But you know, I am a Bharadwaj Brahmin or some other Brahmin.
21:58I come from the line of sage Agastya.
22:02Agastya.
22:07And even as you say this, you are spitting chicken bone out from your mouth.
22:20Steeped in ignorance, you are talking of this glory, that glory, this highness, that beauty.
22:33Potentially, you could have been the topper of your class.
22:44No?
22:47I want to know what you actually did.
22:55Potentially, you could have won 8 Nobel Prizes by now.
23:03But I know you couldn't have graduated without cheating.
23:07That's your reality.
23:08That's your reality.
23:21Isn't it actually a disgrace that in spite of having a potential, we live the life of an amoeba?
23:33Doesn't that not only make us equal to but rather worse than the amoeba?
23:43The amoeba never had the potential of being anything beyond the amoeba.
23:48You had the potential and you still lived as the amoeba.
23:52Now tell me, are you better or worse than the amoeba?
23:56Worse than the amoeba.
23:57That's the reason I keep saying the dogs are better than us.
24:03They are at least performing to their average.
24:07You know, there is a tail ender.
24:09I am talking of cricket.
24:14His average is 10, batting average 10.
24:18He has no more potential.
24:20His batting average is 10.
24:24And he comes to bat and gets out at 10.
24:29Is that bad performance?
24:30Not at all.
24:31He is performing to his average.
24:34Now you are a top order batsman.
24:37Your average is 58.
24:40That's your potential, right?
24:41You would have made 58 or more.
24:45And you come and you get out at 10.
24:50Who's better?
24:51The tail ender or you?
24:54So the dogs are better than us.
25:02Happened with me, you know.
25:05I stood third in my class.
25:08Class four or five.
25:12And got bashed up at home.
25:21Wasn't a bad performance by any means.
25:25Thought I was better.
25:27Wasn't a bad performance by any means.
25:31Third in a class of 40 or 50.
25:36Got beaten up.
25:42And then,
25:47I rebelled.
25:50I said this, my sister.
25:56She never even manages a single digit rank.
26:01But happily she carries her report card.
26:05Comes in, throws it away.
26:08And starts rolling on the bed.
26:12And nobody utters a word to her.
26:17All the time she is just happy.
26:23I burn the midnight oil.
26:26She keeps snoring.
26:31She comes 13th in her class.
26:32I came third.
26:38She is still happy.
26:43I have been bashed up.
26:44This won't do.
26:46My mother said,
26:47you have done far worse than her.
26:51I couldn't really grasp.
26:54Now I think I do.
27:05If you have potential
27:07and you don't try hard enough,
27:09you will never get it.
27:11You will never get it.
27:12If you have potential
27:14and you don't
27:16live up to it,
27:20life will offer you
27:23the harshest punishment.
27:30Because you have failed
27:31in your one duty as a human being
27:35to materialize your potential.
27:38That's your only dharma.
27:40Your potential,
27:42the Upanishads call as Atma.
27:48You have it
27:49and yet you do not have it.