Your liberation depends on you, just as your bondages do||Acharya Prashant,on Ashtavakra Gita (2019)

Acharya Prashant

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Transcript

00:00Subhankar Majumdar from Patna, quoting from Ashtavakra Gita, Chapter 18, verse 46.

00:24Seeing the desireless lion, the elephants of the senses silently run away.

00:36And if that is impossible, serve him like courtiers.

00:44Acharyaji, it is said in the verse that if it is impossible to run away, then the elephant

00:58of the senses serve as courtiers.

01:01Acharyaji, I feel distraction and these distractions are not always pleasurable, but it is that

01:12now it takes lesser time for peace to restore.

01:19What is it that makes the elephants of the senses impossible to run away?

01:35Pranam.

01:50Subhankar, these two are in relation to each other, the lion and the elephant.

02:02They really do not have any objective strength.

02:10Their respective strengths are decided by their seer, by their experiencer.

02:21It is the experiencer that breathes life into them.

02:31It is the experiencer that you could say conjures them up.

02:39Otherwise they don't really exist.

02:42Whenever two are being talked of, take this as a sutra.

02:56Neither of the two really exists.

03:06Because the two would always be in relation to each other, the classical dualistic paradigm.

03:15You favor the lion, the lion is a lion then.

03:32You do not favor the lion, the lion is a squeaking puppy.

03:42Your proximity to the lion renders the lion its lionness.

03:51Your proximity to the elephant gives the elephant its magnitude and power.

04:04You tilt towards the lion.

04:07You abandon the elephant and the elephant would be reduced to a mere calf of a deer.

04:21What resilience would it then have in front of a roaring lion?

04:36If you find that the elephants of the senses are really too big upon you,

04:58they are trampling your resistance under their feet,

05:08then just see who is riding those elephants.

05:17It's you who is the mahout, the trainer, the controller, the rider.

05:35Are you getting it?

05:38You remember the Trojan horse looked so big but was its power rendered to it by its bigness?

05:55The deadliness of the Trojan horse did not come from its size but from the ones who were inside it.

06:16Similarly, the deadliness of the sense elephant does not come from its size

06:35but from the one who is at its center, in its interior.

06:51And in the interior of both the elephant and the lion sits Shubhankar.

07:10Who is the lion?

07:13Shubhankar choosing to be a lion.

07:17Who is the elephant?

07:19Shubhankar deserting the lion and favoring the elephant.

07:27These are not two distinct entities.

07:35We talked of the dualistic paradigm.

07:38The two poles of duality, are they ever distinct?

07:43They are just the two faces of maya and maya emanates from the truth.

08:01You go this side, this side becomes powerful, you go that side, that side becomes powerful.

08:11It's like the seesaw.

08:16Even the kids know the secret.

08:21You sit at one end of the seesaw and then you wonder, why the hell is this end so heavy?

08:34Why the hell is this end dominating the other one?

08:42Why is this end gravitating?

08:44Why is the other one leviating?

08:48Does the answer lie outside of your intention?

08:53It's your intention that is determining the shape of the seesaw.

09:01It is your intention that is determining the geometry and the winner.

09:10You sit this side and the other side would be hanging in the sky helplessly.

09:23Just get up, but get up carefully.

09:27If you are not careful, it would hurt your butt.

09:33Get up carefully and go to the other side.

09:38And the entire scenario would change, in fact reverse.

09:48The one who appeared so confident in his weight and victory would now be hanging listlessly in space.

10:11And his erstwhile position would have been usurped by the one who looked equally helpless just a moment back.

10:25You are the king, you are the decision maker.

10:38In mathematical terms, you could say L plus E is equal to K.

10:55Or L multiplied by E is equal to K, where K is a constant.

11:05L is the strength of the lion, E is the strength of the elephant.

11:18Forget K, because we are talking of something that is constant.

11:24Why not call it I?

11:27L plus E is equal to I.

11:34L and E represent the respective strengths of the lion and the elephant.

11:41And I is a constant.

11:46So, where does the strength of the lion come from?

11:51No, it does not really come from the lion.

11:53It comes from the reduced strength of the elephant.

12:02I is the decision maker, I can decide to invest itself fully in the lion.

12:09And then what happens to the elephant?

12:11It gets totally enfeebled.

12:15The elephant is now starved.

12:21It is now merely hollow bones and loose skin.

12:33Or the I can invest itself fully in the elephant.

12:39Or the I may decide to split itself 50-50.

12:49And then there would be a war raging between the lion and the elephant.

12:53And you would say, Oh my God!

12:56Maya is as powerful as the truth.

12:58No, Maya is only as powerful as you want it to be.

13:06You are not being puppeted by Maya.

13:11Maya depends totally on you for her sustenance.

13:19If you ever find her dominating you, you must know that this is what you have wanted.

13:31Are you getting it?

13:33Never forget your essential reality beyond your immediate fact.

13:45You are really, really all-powerful.

13:52Though that is not testified by the way you live, eat, breathe, act, decide, think.

14:05We live lives of helpless compulsiveness.

14:14Looking at the way we exist, it becomes impossible to believe that we are omnipotent.

14:26But that indeed is our essential reality.

14:30Which means we really can never be puppets.

14:37Which means whatever is happening to us is with our due consent.

14:48And unless you acknowledge this, there can be no remembrance of your true self.

15:04If you will remain insistent that you are struggling, defeated, limited, forced,

15:25then your belief will become your false destiny.

15:44Spirituality consists of no instrument for your welfare other than your own realization.

15:59Does spirituality involve the use of muscles or machines?

16:12Often the use of intellect is useful only till a point in the spiritual process.

16:21Finally, the only instrument that helps and works is your acknowledgement, your own power.

16:52The fellow is sitting in the car, on the driver's seat, having pulled the handbrake

17:16with the maximum power he can.

17:25And he is begging all and sundry to push the car from behind.

17:35So one fellow comes and is asked, Sir, who are you?

17:45He says, My name is Yoga.

17:50Sir, my car is stuck.

17:54Can you push it a little?

18:01So Yoga goes and starts trying.

18:04A lady arrives.

18:08Quite devoted she appears.

18:11Beautiful and athletic.

18:14Ma'am, who are you?

18:17I am Bhakti.

18:20Can you assist a little?

18:23Just lend a hand.

18:27A wrestler comes over, having built himself through sustained action over maybe many decades.

18:37All muscles.

18:40A hundred kilograms.

18:43Six and a half feet.

18:46What's your name, Sir?

18:48I am Karma.

18:51Sir, you are most well placed to help me out.

18:59Kindly push this car.

19:04Then a sober looking meditative fellow comes over.

19:06What's your name?

19:07I am Gyan Prasad.

19:10Prasad Sir, can you join the other three?

19:18One fellow comes madly dancing.

19:21What's your name?

19:23I am Tantra Singh.

19:28Sir, can you just put your clothes together for a while?

19:36And help those gentle souls in the behind.

19:44Remember you have to push the car.

19:50He too joins them.

19:52And all this while, our man on the driver's seat is doing just one thing.

20:01What?

20:03Ensuring that the handbrake remains firm and tight.

20:13Spirituality, therefore, is about addressing your intention.

20:23At least, that's how I have always looked at spirituality.

20:31Bhakti, Karma, Gyan, Yoga, Tantra, Mantra, Jap.

20:37Who will help you when you are on the driver's seat?

20:43When the handbrake is in your hand, who will help you?

20:48Do you want to be helped?

20:52They all made together.

20:56Keep pushing, but the vehicle won't move an inch.

21:03Not only that, if one of them starts to succeed,

21:08you may get anxious and angry and decide to run the vehicle in the reverse gear.

21:18And you will find all four or five of them running helter-skelter.

21:22They were pushing you forward and you actually decided to run in the reverse.

21:32Who can help you? Who can save you? Who can push you?

21:37You are the driver. You are the master.

21:44You hold the gear. You hold the brake.

21:48You hold the key.

21:50You are the key, Shubhankar.

22:01Bhakti is of great help. So is Gyan. So is Karma.

22:07Provided you really want to be helped.

22:20What is lion-ness then?

22:25Lion-ness is your decision to be helped.

22:35What is elephant-ness then?

22:39Elephant-ness is your decision to stay as you are.

22:53Are you getting it?

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