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Video Information:
ShabdYog Satsang
17th June, 2019
Advait Bodhsthal, Greater Noida
Context:
Why we need religion?
Is religion couse of peace in humanity?
What is real meaning of religion?
What is relation between spirituality and religion?
How true religion is the only option? to fix everything?
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?...
Read 3 handpicked wisdom articles, just for you: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articl...
➖➖➖➖➖➖
Video Information:
ShabdYog Satsang
17th June, 2019
Advait Bodhsthal, Greater Noida
Context:
Why we need religion?
Is religion couse of peace in humanity?
What is real meaning of religion?
What is relation between spirituality and religion?
How true religion is the only option? to fix everything?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Think of and remember the unique service rendered by those brave Sikh men as well as women who
00:17sacrificed their heads but did not surrender their Sikh religion, who got themselves cut
00:24to pieces from each of the joints of the body, who got their scalps removed, who were tied
00:34and rotated on the wheels and broken into pieces, who were cut by saws, who were flayed
00:41alive, who sacrificed themselves to upkeep the dignity of the Gurudwaras, who did not
00:48abandon their Sikh faith, who kept their Sikh religion and saved their long hair till their
00:55last breath."
00:56Uttar Vaheguru, Wondrous God, Inspiring, Acharyaji, religious conversions and violence
01:16are ongoing nowadays and people who believe that their path is the only truth are dominating
01:26other religions.
01:29There are socio-political reasons behind these conversions.
01:33People who are fighting for their religion are looked down upon by the society.
01:38Many people take pride in calling themselves spiritual rather than religious.
01:45As we progress in spirituality and our identity with religion drops off, we don't have the
01:53urge to fight.
01:55But if this dominance continues, the sacred texts and wisdom of the saints would be lost.
02:01Acharyaji, my question is, what is the importance of religion in one's life and what is our
02:07responsibility in this situation?
02:12The Sikh Gurus gave swords to the Khalsa to protect their religion.
02:17Gandhiji used non-violence to get freedom.
02:20Jainism too gives a lot of emphasis to non-violence.
02:24I don't understand the concept of non-violence whenever freedom is at stake.
02:28Kindly show me clarity on this subject.
02:33With love and gratitude, Parameshwari from Qatar.
02:42So, two questions you have asked.
02:45One, what is the importance of religion in one's life, vis-a-vis spirituality?
02:53The second question is about non-violence.
02:58Parameshwari, it is fashionable and equally naïve to talk of spirituality,
03:20non-violence, religion.
03:31Religion is the pathway that leads to spirituality and at the center
03:56of spirituality is godliness.
04:04Ultimately, the ego needs godliness, neither religion nor spirituality.
04:17So why even talk of spirituality?
04:20Simply say, I am godly.
04:27Why say I am not religious, but I am spiritual?
04:34The fact is, it is impossible for 99.999% people to be spiritual without religion.
04:50Just as it is impossible for 99.999% people to just by grace find liberation without delving
05:07into spirituality.
05:13You cannot be accidentally spiritual.
05:20Religion is needed.
05:26If religion has been distorted or corrupted or polluted, then redeem it, refine it, liberate
05:43it of the pollution.
05:47But you cannot just drop religion as something outdated or unnecessary.
06:01What is the difference between religion and spirituality?
06:13Religion is for the one who is far away from the temple, as most people are.
06:35So they need loud and harsh, worldly reminders in their language to come to the temple.
06:57So they will need, for example, festivals.
07:03There is a thing called a spiritual festival, but there are religious festivals.
07:07Why are festivals needed?
07:10So that people who are usually far away from godliness, have no inclining of beyondness,
07:32are made to turn to beyondness.
07:39They are told today, no business, no work, no school, no usual fare at the home, today
07:52you just have to be with God.
07:54Obviously, the God that they would think of is the God of their images.
08:00But still that image is better than the usual stuff their usual day comprises of.
08:18Religion is like the call of the muezzin.
08:22It is meant to wake you up and it travels far and wide.
08:30Religion is like the temple bell, the big one.
08:37Its toll travels up to miles or the Ramcharitmanas being sung at daybreak.
09:00Who comes to hear the chaupais?
09:03Even those who have very little to do with Ram, even they come to hear of these things
09:15and they say, fine, the day has started with at least the word Ram falling in my ears.
09:25That is religion.
09:29And then a situation is created in which these millions of ordinarily irreligious people
09:46turn a little inwards, are made to believe just a little in stuff beyond the mundane.
10:10Religion is that which makes you put a Krishna idol at home.
10:20Religion is that which makes you have a copy of the Gita at home.
10:28Ordinarily why would you be interested in the Gita?
10:31It is only because of a religious compulsion that you keep a copy of Gita at home, don't you?
10:45And your home might consist of 20 people.
10:49Even of these 20 people, across several generations, in 100 years, in 200 years it happens that
11:03one boy or one girl discovers an old copy of the Gita lying covered in all due respect
11:32in the little family temple and the little one says, what is it, I want to understand.
11:44And this happens, not every day, this happens once in 100 years.
11:54Maybe 200 members of the extended family over several successive generations would have
12:01seen that copy of the Gita lying in the temple, but nobody cared to approach it with love,
12:13with interest, with curiosity.
12:20They just said, oh it's a holy book, it's a religious requirement, it is a religious
12:26requirement that the Krishna idol is there and a copy of the Gita is there.
12:30It's a religious requirement, it's kept there.
12:35That little boy or that little girl went to the Gita actually, picked it up and was enthralled.
12:51Krishna cast his spell, possessed greed and fear
13:17and desire and future started vanishing from the mind of the little one.
13:23When I say little one, I don't mean someone 6 months old, little one compared to the old
13:30family grandfathers, so let's say 15 years old, 15 years old.
13:46And Krishna takes over, now this is spirituality, Krishna has taken over.
13:55Now Krishna is not merely in the house, when it comes to that boy, Krishna is now in the
14:03heart, this is spirituality.
14:07But for Krishna to be in the heart, it is required that Krishna should first of all
14:12have been in the house, that is religion.
14:17Without religion, how will you get spirituality, tell me?
14:28Magically it is possible, but you are unnecessarily raising the odds.
14:42Without the myth of Krishna, why would somebody be interested in the Gita, please?
14:52Without the beautiful panorama that has been woven and visualized around Krishna, why would
15:00somebody go to the Gita?
15:05Do people have so much discretion on their own that they would go to somebody who is
15:14not equalized, not famed, not fabled, not deitied?
15:28Do we have that kind of discretion?
15:36If Krishna were not a popular God, I am asking you how many people would go to the Gita?
15:52That's a good comparison.
15:55How many people go to Ashtavakra with the kind of reputation or the lack of it that
16:01he has?
16:03And the Gita of Ashtavakra is as deep as the Gita of Krishna, but how many people go to
16:12Ashtavakra?
16:13Ashtavakra carries no special place in religion.
16:23So his Gita has not succeeded in being useful.
16:43And the Gita is not an easy read.
16:47It is counter intuitive.
16:49It asks you not to expect results from your actions.
16:56It tells you that even if you kill someone, there is something that does not die.
17:02The mind does not want to accept these things.
17:05The mind is not conditioned in the physical sense to accept these things.
17:10If Krishna were not a God, would you continue reading Gita even after Krishna said that
17:22he has been present since eternity and Arjun too has been present since eternity?
17:26You would say what nonsense.
17:35Maybe this book was written under the influence of alcohol.
17:42What is this fellow saying?
17:47And is he not promoting violence?
17:49You would come up with a thousand intellectual arguments against Krishna.
17:54And intellectually most of those arguments would actually be valid.
18:01It is only the hallow around Krishna that enables you to gain value from the Gita.
18:12And that hallow is not spiritual, it is religious.
18:21Without Krishna being who he is, would the Gita be what it is?
18:27The spiritual ones say we like the Gita, but we do not like the myths associated with Krishna.
18:38Fair enough, but tell me how long would the Gita survive sans Krishna?
18:50In fact, the purely spiritual ones go one step further.
18:57They say it's not even the totality of Gita that we admire.
19:02There are a few parts, portions, verses of Gita that we pick up and like so much.
19:07The rest we can keep aside.
19:15If you have so much of discretion that you can pick stuff from spiritual texts, then
19:24why do you need spiritual texts at all?
19:26Your own discretion is good enough, capable enough to carry you through life.
19:45Spirituality would not be able to survive the loss of religion.
19:53Man needs religion.
19:54I do not know whether man is physical, I do not know whether man is social, but man has
19:59to be religious and that does not mean that one has to be dogmatic.
20:12Religions in general themselves have been a flux, especially in India, there has been
20:20all liberty to let religion evolve.
20:30Religions have responded to the changing times.
20:39Religions have branched out and they have branched out so much.
20:45For example, that today you do not know what to really call as the Hindu religion.
20:51It's a vast banyan tree and you do not even know where the so-called original roots are
21:02and all that is wonderful and beautiful and alright.
21:05Let religion grow, spread, branch out, let the useless, outdated or harmful parts die
21:15down.
21:16In other words, let there be a renaissance, let there be a renovated religion, but do
21:31not say that man does not need religion.
21:39We live in stories, we need religious stories as well, otherwise the worldly stories will
21:47just sit upon the mind, occupy it and become so heavy that man will crush under their burden.
22:01Are you getting it?
22:09I am not saying that it is impossible to be spiritual without being religious, but that
22:14is the prerogative of one in a million people and Ashtavakra can say that he does not follow
22:25any religious rituals and is yet deeply spiritual, but look at the common man, look at the ones
22:31who are boasting that they are spiritual but not religious, do they have the grace of an
22:37Ashtavakra?
22:38Their ego is making them attempt to match Ashtavakra.
22:55It is a self-destructive urge of the ego, like all its other urges.
23:21The essence of Kabir Sahab's teachings is spiritual, but today is Kabir Jayanti and
23:44if you really have love, then you would remember the man as well, no?
23:58That is religion.
24:07Religion is honesty, honestly we are all body identified, are we not?
24:17We are body identified, but we do not want to care for the body of the one who gave us
24:22so much and is giving us so much.
24:26Is that not hypocrisy?
24:30Religion says do not care merely for the teachings of Krishna, care also for his body,
24:37so celebrate Janmashtami, the day he was born, is that not honest?
24:43If you are associated so much with your own body and are you not?
24:50Then why don't you want to give value to the body of Krishna?
24:54Religion is the body of spirituality and godliness is the heart of spirituality.
25:00Are you getting it?
25:09Would you just say that we bother only about Sant Kabir's essential message?
25:20Actually there isn't any message, if you go into the pure essence, is there a message?
25:28There is no message, there is just the vast open sky, does the sky have any message?
25:33No, none at all.
25:45Religion is practical, religion is honest, religion is earthly, religion is beautiful.
26:10We will talk about the toxic effects of religion on contemporary life, truly there are toxic
26:24effects of misplaced and blinded religiosity on the world, but do you want to throw the
26:34baby out with the bath water?
26:40The toxic effects of dogmatic religion are all visible, but why do you forget that the
26:54deep teachings of the religions are all that is ensuring order in this world, otherwise
27:05what would man be?
27:10Just another animal.
27:23Muslims are placing bombs in churches, Christians are killing Muslims.
27:27You say see, religion is the evil's agent, man does not need religion, why does somebody
27:36need to be a Muslim, why does somebody need to be a Christian?
27:40Religion only makes people fight against each other.
27:46But I am asking you, where does all the love and compassion in the world come from?
27:50Please tell me, were you born with love and compassion?
27:56Have you emerged from your mother's womb?
27:59You will say no, but I was born in an agnostic family, we did not even discuss religion.
28:06Sir, religion is in the air, your family might not have supplied religion to you, but still
28:15this entire world is running on a religious order.
28:19You absorbed religion from everywhere, otherwise why should one man not cut the throat of another man?
28:36Do you think it is a scientific value to help others and help others without any corresponding
28:46benefit to yourself, help others with zero expectation of gain to yourself?
28:53Do you think such a value is secular or scientific or modern or intellectual or logical?
29:01No sir, it's a religious value and we have been ungrateful that we have not acknowledged
29:10the central, very pivotal contribution of religion to the development of mankind.
29:22Scientists are working in a laboratory, it's a cutting-edge laboratory, state-of-the-art
29:29facility.
29:34What makes the scientists cooperate with each other?
29:36Merely expectations of gain?
29:44Will you be able to rule jealousy out, when I say rule jealousy out, I mean will you be
29:53able to banish jealousy by ruling against it?
30:01Will you say jealousy is not admissible in this scientific facility?
30:08Will science be able to take care of jealousy?
30:11Even in the most advanced scientific laboratory, what is it that prevents the scientists from
30:18being jealous of each other?
30:21Is it science?
30:23Would nuclear physics empower the nuclear physicist to shun jealousy?
30:31No, it is religion.
30:34It is not common sense.
30:35Please do not say, oh but these are universal human values.
30:38No, there is nothing called universal human values.
30:43In fact there is nothing called human value either.
30:47Man is made human by religion.
30:54Today if you find that almost one-fifth of the world's population has turned irreligious,
31:00they declare themselves atheists or agnostics and they are still prospering.
31:05It is because man has been for so long religious that as I said religion is in the air.
31:17Just as the catastrophic effects of climate change take a few decades or a couple of centuries
31:25to show up, similarly just like deforestation, the effects of dereligiousization will take
31:36a couple of centuries to probably show up, that is if we survive for that long.
31:46If you find religion bad, then just honestly consider a world totally without religion,
32:01then probably you will not find religion so bad.
32:08I assure you, there is nothing in man's physical constitution that prevents him from
32:20being envious or lustful or tense or attached.
32:32In fact man is designed to be attached and ignorant and violent.
32:42It is only religion that tells him, you are not an animal, you are the son of God.
32:54Without religion who will whisper this in man's ears?
33:00Man will just remain an intellectual chimpanzee, intellectual nevertheless a chimpanzee.
33:17A gorilla is a gorilla even if he is the head of department in a prestigious intellectual
33:25university.
33:30Intellectual gorilla, what do I mean by that?
33:34That the basic physical instincts remain gorilla-like, on top of those instincts sits the intellect.
33:45But the basic gorilla instincts are very much there, that's what is an intellectual gorilla.
33:54Intellect can at most bring you to that point, it cannot make you human.
34:00What do you want to be?
34:01An intellectual gorilla or a simple human being?