Consumption, Contentment, and Climate Crisis || Acharya Prashant, IIT Bhubaneswar (2021)

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?...   Read 3 handpicked wisdom articles, just for you: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articl...  ~~~~~  Video Information: 29.03.2021, IIT BBS (online session), Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India  Context: • What is real meaning of renunciation and sacrifice? • What to consume and how much? • Isn't it foolishness to renounce and sacrifice in this consumption centric world? • What is meant by asceticism and is it practical in today's modern time? • Can climate catastrophe be solved by more carbon efficient technology and keeping our current levels of consumption unchanged? • What if mankind discovers another planet with ample of resources than earth then would consumption be justified? • What is right consumption? • Most important thing - Measuring our inner welfare in economics. • What's the point of having a country which is a great consumer of military hardware? • When consumption is primary then why ban and tax heavily on certain products and services in society? • Is Spirituality not anti-economics? • How Vedanta looks at production and responsible consumption? •  What is the fundamental question of Vedanta? •  What is meant by true responsibility? •  What are the real and authentic indicators of growth? •  How is United Nations policies to reduce climate change and Vedanta are interlinked? •  What is cause behind failure of most United Nation's and other organization's policies in tackling climate change? • How to make right resolutions?  Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~

Transcript

00:00I am glad to be here with you all and I straight away come to the questions I have received.

00:16The first one says, spiritual wisdom has traditionally talked of sacrificing material desires and

00:25living an ascetic life, but most people are habituated towards consumption.

00:37Consumption is like a pandemic.

00:41Most people do not connect with talks of sacrifice and renunciation and hence avoid spirituality

00:49altogether.

00:51What is the solution?

00:57You have talked of these words here, renunciation, sacrifice, asceticism, what do they mean?

01:19They do not mean that you have to give up on what is really useful to you for your wellness

01:31and upliftment.

01:34Obviously, if you have something that is doing you good, it makes no sense to drop it.

01:47Renunciation, therefore, is about not clinging to that which is doing you no good.

01:58I don't suppose anybody would argue with that.

02:01If something is not helping you, why would you continue to be with it, that is renunciation.

02:12What is sacrifice?

02:16Sacrifice is to give up the lower for the higher.

02:19You are sacrificing the lower in service of the higher or you could even say for the attainment

02:25of the higher.

02:26Again, I don't suppose anybody can quarrel with this.

02:36So, when you say most people are habituated towards consumption, it is not consumption

02:46per se that is the problem.

02:49It is mad and blind consumption of stuff that is anyway not going to do you any good, that's

02:57the problem.

02:59So, wisdom or spiritual wisdom is not about the renunciation of consumption altogether.

03:11As long as your material body is there, you will continue to consume, you will have to

03:16consume.

03:19The question is what to consume and how much.

03:24That is a burning question of this day as well.

03:27It is a spiritual question as well as a most contemporary question.

03:32In fact, currently there is hardly any other question that is really more important in

03:40our material lives as well than this one.

03:44So, how much to consume, what to consume, that's where spiritual wisdom comes handy.

03:53Do not consume that which will poison you, even if it appears attractive, that is spirituality

04:04and if you will pay some attention, it is common sense.

04:09You could say it is elevated common sense, common sense of a higher order.

04:16So, once we know what these words really mean, then they do not look all that threatening.

04:30They almost look tempting, inviting.

04:35It is great to renounce.

04:40It is smart to renounce and sacrifice is in a higher sense, a very good investment of

04:50the highest order, that is sacrifice.

04:52So, when we talk of investment, we feel excited, but when we talk of sacrifice, then it appears

05:01so forbidding.

05:03It need not be so.

05:06Think of sacrifice as, we said, giving up the lower for the higher, similarly asceticism.

05:15What does that mean?

05:17That means not having that which is not going to be useful for you.

05:26Even if you have to consume, consume that which will take you towards your goal.

05:34Take the example of a vehicle, if it is a petrol vehicle, will it consume diesel?

05:42It won't.

05:44It won't consume diesel because if it takes in diesel, it won't be able to go towards

05:50its goal.

05:51So, in that sense, even an unconscious motor car knows the basics of asceticism.

06:04So, it is doubly unfortunate and ironical that man does not understand this.

06:10You must know your goal.

06:13You must have an inner system that keeps reminding you of what you really need and

06:24where you really must be.

06:26Secondly, you must consume only the stuff that takes you towards your goal and that

06:33is right consumption.

06:35Set your goal with great attention, great peace, great consideration and then give up

06:42all that which is not useful in taking you towards your goal.

06:47That's what an ascetic does.

06:51So, you say that the only solution to climate change is to arrest man's tendency to consume.

07:00Tomorrow, if science comes up with a way to let current levels of consumption sustain,

07:08along with also reducing carbon emission, what is wrong in that?

07:18What the questioner is saying is that you speak against consumption because it leads

07:29to climate change.

07:31Now, if we can have superior technology, more efficient technology, which offers us sustenance

07:41of our current levels of consumption, along with carbon footprint reduction, would that

07:50be acceptable?

07:52That's being asked.

07:53You see, first of all, yes, we do need such technology.

07:59I wish the question materializes beyond its hypothesis.

08:07We do need technology that offers at least same level of production with lower carbon

08:18footprints.

08:19So, that is welcome.

08:21Next thing, when I say that you must look very carefully at your levels of consumption,

08:32it is for two reasons.

08:33Your question addresses just one of them.

08:37Why must man consume with careful consideration?

08:46Firstly, it destroys your inner world.

08:51Inwardly, it pushes you deeper into the belief that by means of more and more increased and

09:00increased consumption, you will be able to get rid of your inner disquiet.

09:06So, it is not good for you inwardly.

09:11That's the first reason.

09:13The second reason is all consumption comes from this ecosystem, this planet, and in the

09:23lust of our blind consumption, we destroy life for everybody.

09:34That is very loveless, there is no compassion in that, that is inhuman.

09:42And that is also not sensible for our own continuation, when we have destroyed the whole

09:50thing so badly, then you know the implications it has posed on us.

09:59Man himself is not probably going to continue on this planet beyond at most 50 or 100 years

10:12if the current crisis continues to amplify.

10:20In your question, you have addressed only the second reason, not the first one.

10:27Even if there is technology that allows you consumption without carbon, still the first

10:36reason is important enough for me to ask you to lower your consumption levels, optimize

10:49them for your own welfare.

10:53You could hypothetically argue, that's how you talked of depletion of natural resources.

10:58What if mankind discovers another planet with ample resources or resources far greater

11:08in quantity than those found on earth, then would consumption be justified?

11:13No, still not, even if there is great technology or even if man succeeds in colonizing some

11:19other planet, still one thing would remain very vicious about consumption, which is that

11:28you consume for a very horrible and false reason.

11:36There is a consumption that is needed for basic physical sustenance and comfort, alright.

11:45And then there is a consumption that happens for entirely different psychological reasons.

11:52It is the second type of consumption that I am always worried about.

11:59And that worry would continue to have relevance, more and more relevance, as technology progresses.

12:11As technology progresses, you will be probably able to consume more with impunity.

12:20And that would give you the license to totally forget the real cause of your troubles.

12:27You would attribute your problems to low levels of consumption, which are low only in your

12:34own personal and misplaced estimate.

12:39And then you will say, because I do not consume as much as my neighbor or as much as my cousins,

12:45that's why I don't feel well.

12:50And this kind of false diagnosis and false treatment would keep you sick within, even

12:57if everything else outside is somehow managed through science and technology.

13:05The exteriors would probably be then alright, it would be green and the carbon levels would

13:09be manageable and all those things would appear externally alright.

13:13But your internal world would continue to be in shambles, a shattered mass of glass.

13:25Would you want that?

13:27Also, those who can have concerns beyond their well-being, to them I say, please look carefully

13:41at your consumption levels for the sake of everybody.

13:48And to those who would rather firstly think of their own self-interest, to them I find

13:55it more profitable to say, well, your own inner wellness does not lie in consuming more.

14:04It rather lies in consuming just the right thing and giving up on renouncing all the rest.

14:14If something is indeed useful in your personal internal welfare, who can sensibly say that

14:24you must not take it in, fine, go ahead, achieve it, get for yourself more and more of it.

14:34But that's not the case.

14:36The stuff that we take in, honestly ask yourself, how much of it is really doing you any inner good?

14:46They're not even neutral in that sense.

14:49If you will closely investigate, you will find that they are doing you inner harm.

14:54Therefore, for this purely personal reason too, one must consume in an optimal way.

15:04Without consumption, how will the economies and the systems run?

15:15What will people do if industries are not there?

15:20How will they get work?

15:23We are not talking of that extreme case.

15:33We are not saying that consumption has to be reduced to zero or that consumption has

15:40to be necessarily reduced to even half.

15:44That's not what we are saying.

15:47It is obvious that as long as man exists, man will consume.

15:55That's the lot of mankind, even before we consume anything man-made, we continue to

16:05consume, for example, air every minute.

16:10You take it in and then you consume some part of it and you then let the rest of it come

16:17out.

16:18You consume water, you consume sunlight, so it's not as if consumption can be brought

16:28to zero or that it is something evil that needs to be totally eliminated.

16:34That's not anybody's position.

16:39We are talking of the right kind of consumption because ultimately, you see, you would agree

16:46that all consumption is for your own welfare.

16:50And if consumption is for your own welfare, it is not the consumption that the end, it

16:54is the welfare that's the end.

16:57What should we then really measure?

17:00Our levels of consumption or our levels of welfare?

17:05Even if you say that we must measure consumption, you measure consumption assuming that it will

17:09lead to welfare.

17:12And if even consumption holds value because it possibly contributes to welfare, then why

17:18not directly measure welfare itself?

17:24And that's what we often forget to do.

17:26We start counting the items we have consumed, the quantities we have consumed, rather than

17:44what those items and quantities have really given us.

17:49We start feeling as if consumption itself is the final thing, as if you have consumed

17:55something that itself means that you have gained in value from that thing.

18:03It's not really necessary.

18:05There is food that you take in that contributes to your physical well-being and there is food

18:11that you take in that totally breaks you down, destroys you, whereas the consumed quantities

18:20might be the same, no?

18:23You take in 50 grams of food items and food items of a kind that build you up and you

18:35take an equal quantity, 50 grams of food items that will destroy you, poison you.

18:44The consumption purely in terms of quantity has remained the same, but the final effect

18:52on your welfare has been drastically different.

18:57So that's what to be measured.

19:01And if you are talking of right consumption, obviously there will be things to produce,

19:05so obviously there would be industries and employment and then people would have a higher

19:12purpose to be employed for, no?

19:14If you have an industry that is very carefully, with love and wisdom, manufacturing stuff

19:22or providing services that are really useful to everybody, then won't people be eager to

19:31work there and obviously it's not that such an industry will not make profits.

19:37If it is providing you something that you really need, why won't it make profits?

19:41It would make profits first thing and secondly people who are working there would have something

19:48real to work for, otherwise you know how the normal employee feels in the average firm.

19:56So that's the thing we are asking for, we are not saying that the economy is evil and

20:02it needs to be destroyed.

20:05We are saying we need economics from a different center, because all economics is ultimately

20:12for the welfare of human being.

20:17Therefore we need to measure our inner welfare as a very important, the most important thing

20:25in economics, we are talking of that kind of economics, we are talking of sensible economics.

20:34You see, look at, there are several countries that are for example, military countries,

20:51they operate from a center of national security, their overarching narrative is, it's a social

21:02national security paradigm.

21:05They are great consumers often of military hardware, what's the point, what's the point?

21:26And you also have countries that benefit a lot from defense exports, what's the point?

21:46If all that you have to measure is consumption, then why do we ban cigarettes or tax them

21:59so heavily, why?

22:02If consumption is all that counts, then why do you not allow certain things to be manufactured

22:11or certain services to be provided?

22:16Let everything happen freely and you can count everything as consumption.

22:23I'm again asking you, why are cigarettes taxed so heavily?

22:27Why are they not, for example, be allowed to sold to miners?

22:33There has to be a reason, right?

22:36And the reason is again twofold, one, yes, when a pack of cigarettes is purchased, there

22:47is economic activity, money changes hands, a transaction takes place and it contributes

22:53to the GDP.

22:54On the other hand, the same person, if he continues to consume this stuff, would become

22:59totally incapable of any economic activity.

23:05A large number of them would just become liabilities upon the economic system because they are

23:14now sapped of their power to work, meaningfully think, the very physical infrastructure is

23:26lost for them now.

23:31So that is the economic reason.

23:32And then secondly, there is the inner reason, why consume something that does not contribute

23:39to your inner wellness?

23:43And that is the reason why these things, all the intoxicants are so very discouraged and

23:49banned or taxed.

23:54Because even though they will have great sales and all that will contribute to GDP, but in

24:04the medium term itself, they are contributing to both economic decline and personal internal

24:10decline and because welfare is what we need, therefore, we do not need that kind of consumption.

24:16We need a different kind of consumption, don't you see several goods, several services are

24:21subsidized by the government, why?

24:24Because that's good consumption that needs to be promoted.

24:29For example, solar panels, I suppose if you are an entrepreneurship firm into solar energy,

24:38you will get rebates and subsidies from the government.

24:41Even the IT industry was benefiting from tax rebates for a long time.

24:50If there is wellness seen in a particular economic activity, it is to be promoted.

24:57Spirituality is not anti-economics.

25:00Spirituality is pro-good economics.

25:02Spirituality says if there is something that deserves to be consumed more, you promote

25:06its consumption.

25:07You promote its consumption in whatever way possible, subsidize it or advertise it, but

25:15promote its consumption.

25:16So, in that sense, spirituality is actually pro-consumption, consumption of the right thing.

25:25United Nations has laid out 17 sustainable development goals, one of them being responsible

25:33consumption and production.

25:37What is responsible consumption and production and what role does Vedanta play in the whole process?

25:46Vedanta asks a very fundamental question, for whom?

25:59The fundamental question in Vedanta is not about a transcendental truth or liberation

26:07or any such thing.

26:10You would be surprised that the fundamental question in Vedanta is for whom?

26:16So, for example, you say, I am watching a bird.

26:34When you say I am watching a bird, it is the bird that you are talking of.

26:39Vedanta says the bird exists for whom?

26:43The bird exists for whom?

26:53Science would say there is this fan and there is this cathode ray tube.

27:02Spirituality would ask for whom?

27:08So, what are responsible consumption and production?

27:16The question is for whom is consumption?

27:20For whom is consumption?

27:23In other words, why do you consume, for whose sake is the consumption made, who is the consumer?

27:33That's the question in Vedanta.

27:36Equally, who is the producer?

27:41And you could broaden it to say, who is the worker or the actor?

27:47Who is the worker or the actor?

27:48That's the question to be asked and if you can answer that question, you will know what

27:52is responsible production, responsible consumption.

27:58You have to know that consumption is for the sake of the one you call as I.

28:09Everything that you do is for the sake of the I.

28:13It is done by the I, I am stating the Vedantic position, it is done by the I for the sake

28:21of the I.

28:25If it is done for the I, then it is extremely important to keep asking, has consumption

28:35really benefited the I?

28:40But that does not happen because the thing to be consumed is so alluring, so lucrative,

28:49so bewitching, that it totally possesses you and then in the relationship between you

28:55and that thing, all you are looking at is that thing, are you getting it?

29:03The process of consumption is a relationship between you and the consumed object.

29:08What happens if the consumed object is extremely enchanting?

29:13In this relationship, who is the one you are constantly looking at?

29:19You are looking at the object because the object is so captivating and consequently

29:28what do you forget to look at?

29:31You forget to look at the other end of the relationship which is yourself.

29:40To be responsible is to know that your first responsibility is towards your welfare, you

29:50are not responsible to provide yourself with ample consumption, but you are surely responsible

29:58to do your own welfare.

30:04Same with production, it is not X level of production that we need, we need production

30:11of the right stuff in the right quantity.

30:18It is not just consumption that we need, it makes no sense to say that that particular

30:24nation consumes so much of electricity per year, per capita, therefore that country is

30:31a developed one.

30:33What do you use that electricity for?

30:35For whom is the electricity used?

30:40What does the consumer of electricity do with that electricity?

30:43That's the indicator of wellness, growth, everything.

30:52That particular country consumes so much of coal, what do you use the coal for?

31:02That's the Vedantic question and has that kind of usage benefited you?

31:07If not then why do you keep quoting coal consumption, cement consumption, fuel consumption, electricity

31:14consumption as important indicators of growth?

31:21Has any growth really happened?

31:25All that has happened is that you have taken in a lot of coal and this and that and cement

31:31and raised this building, done that, burnt fuel here, cut forests there.

31:37How has any of that benefited you really?

31:42That's the Vedantic question to ask.

31:44So you see in fact what the United Nations is asking for can be achieved only through

31:49the Vedantic route and now you will also know why most of the United Nations goals are never

31:57really achieved because that central question for whom is not given the respect, the importance

32:06that it deserves.

32:08It is the question that should be right at the center or at the top of the pile.

32:14United Nations or for that matter most other organizations and individuals fail to realize

32:22that and therefore they are falling very short of their responsibilities and targets.

32:36How much has the UN really succeeded when it comes to climate change?

32:46Because it is a question of consumption at its core and you cannot address the question

32:52of consumption without talking of the consumer who he really is and that is a spiritual question

32:59more importantly and more embarrassingly for the UN that's a Vedantic question.

33:11We do not want to touch Vedanta with a barge pole, do not give Vedanta the respect it deserves

33:23and all you will have is this.

33:25You keep passing resolutions year after year and the world keeps hurtling towards the final

33:31disaster and what are you doing?

33:35Passing this resolution, calling that convention, organizing that meet, seminar and all that

33:41gets you lot of eyeballs and nothing else.

33:49Specifically when it comes to climate change, what has all the UN's work really amounted

33:59to over the last three decades?

34:04We keep talking of responsibility without ever asking ourselves responsibility towards

34:10whom?

34:11They will say responsibility towards ourselves, but who is this me?

34:14That's a question you don't want to go into because the ego is just too afraid of being

34:19called out.

34:21The moment you ask who am I, Koham, that's Vedanta, the ego starts trembling including

34:31the ego of the United Nations.

34:37So they don't ask this question, we just say be responsible, don't consume that much.

34:42You have sermonized, but why will that fellow heed and why will that fellow vote in favor

34:52of responsible governments?

34:53He does not even know the meaning of the word responsibility.

35:00Responsibility towards whom and who is going to be the responsible one?

35:04We don't want to talk of that, that's Atma Gyan, we don't like that.

35:12So for any real work to succeed, that's the question you all always need to ask.

35:24For whom is my success?

35:27This that I call as my success, who is really going to be benefited by it?

35:32Which part of me, where does that part of me come from?

35:38It's quite likely that the part I'm talking of is really an inorganic imposition upon

35:46me.

35:47It's not even me.

35:48So why should I work for its welfare?

35:52It's something alien.

35:53Will I discover the real me and know my real interests?

36:00Will I ever ask what I am really hungry for?

36:05The moment I do that, my life choices will change and the moment I do that, my choices

36:09will gain a lot of power.

36:12Then my resolutions will not keep falling flat like the UN resolutions.

36:18Once I resolve, I accomplish.

36:26You see the power in that?

36:27I resolve, I accomplish.

36:30Because my resolutions are right.

36:34It's not that I'm a superman.

36:35It's because I'm resolving in favor of, in the service of the right thing.

36:43So I accomplish.

36:44How?

36:45First resolve rightly, then ask.

36:48That's what Vedanta teaches.

36:50Don't just ask a question.

36:53First be very careful about the questioner.

36:57The moment you'll ask how, I'll say who's asking?

37:00Who is asking?

37:02From where does that one come?

37:05Why must you cling to that one?

37:06Or even why must you hate that one, whatever, right?

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