Have you earned the right to celebrate Diwali  Acharya Prashant (2019)-1 - video Dailymotion

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/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: Advait Learning Camp, 27.10.2019, Advait BodhSthal, Greater Noida, India   Context:  Have you earned the right to celebrate Diwali? How to celebrate this Diwali? What is the real Purpose of Diwali? Who is Ram? How to celebrate Diwali without Ram?  Music Credits: Milind Date ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Transcript

00:00The last question Acharya ji. A lot of our English speaking audience wants to know that

00:14tomorrow is the festival of lights. So what should be the right way of celebrating Diwali?

00:20It's too late now. It's almost like asking that tomorrow is the UPSC exam. What is the

00:42right way of preparing for it? It's actually worse. It's almost like asking tomorrow the

00:51UPSC results would be declared. What is the right way to prepare for the exam? A festival

01:04is not a free for all. What do we think? Shri Ram is an exception. Shri Ram is a distinction

01:28He is a rarity. He is worshipped because he is special. If

01:57he is special, how does every ABCD get the right to even utter his name let alone celebrate his

02:17festival? You need to earn the rights to even utter Ram. There has to be a certain qualification

02:47Yogyata, Patrata, Arhata. That's how the scriptures call it. Otherwise it is just

03:12hypocrisy and cheap entertainment in the name of festival. I say if for 364 days you have really

03:27lived up to Ram, only then must you honestly celebrate the festival of Ramness. How is it

03:48that for 364 days your life really had nothing to do with Shri Ram and on the 365th day you jump up

04:04and join in the noisy bandwagon, the chorus of the hooligans. Just think,

04:32if Ram were there in a bodily shape, in his mortal body and were he to see you celebrating

04:45his festival, what would he say? He will call you, you come here. You just did something

05:03taking my name. All this tamasha is in my name. He would be angered. He would say you

05:18do whatever you want to do. But why are you doing it in my name? Your life has no relation

05:24to mine. There is no sameness between you and me. You do not even love me at all, let

05:43alone worship me. Had you loved me, you couldn't have lived your life the way you do. Actually,

05:58you stand in firm opposition to me, Ram would say. If I look at the 364 days of your life,

06:08you stand really in firm opposition to me. And now on this 365th day, what a pretense you are

06:17making. I am the one who never cared for any worldly thing. I just pushed aside the biggest

06:37worldly thing that one can have, an entire empire. It was there for me to take it. I could have as

06:52well told Raja Dashrath, father, not done. I deserve the crown and the entire country

07:13wants me to be the king. And Dashrath would have consented. He would have said fine. But

07:23the moment my father said, leave the throne and not merely leave the throne, be gone into

07:40the jungles for 14 years, I said fine. That's the kind of person I was. Did I care for the

07:53comforts of the palace? Did I care for power and wealth? Did I care for the so-called worldly

08:08material good life? I didn't. And look at yourself, even in the name of celebrating my festival,

08:17all you do is shop, shop and shop. In fact, Ram's festival has become the festival of shopping,

08:30shoppers and shopkeepers. Ram, who never had anything to do with shops. Ram, who was never

08:46a buyer or a seller or a consumer. Shri Ram who stands for that which can neither be bought nor

08:56be sold. His festival has been turned into an orgy of sales and discounts. How would he feel

09:19were he to reappear in a bodily form today? Just see. I have said before and I am repeating,

09:34Diwali for most people must be a festival of austerity, of repentance, prayaschit. We must

09:49on this day offer our prayers to Shri Ram and say, we are very sorry, oh holy one,

10:00we are extremely sorry. We couldn't live by your life, your message, your teachings,

10:13we are very sorry. We will observe this day as a day of repentance.

10:19We do not deserve to celebrate. What is there to celebrate in our life?

10:27Festival of lights befits those who have light first of all in their lives. If our lives are

10:42full of darkness, what right do we have to light the candles and the diyas and the Chinese bulbs?

10:57Every festival is like an examination day. Yes, certain people do have all the rights

11:23to celebrate on an examination day. But who will be those people who have prepared well

11:31for those exams, who have done justice to their preparation throughout the year?

11:38They are the ones who have the right to celebrate on that day. Others, why are they celebrating?

11:44First of all, you are dishonest enough to not do justice to the preparations.

11:56You miserably failed the exam and now you are stupid enough to celebrate your failure.

12:08No, you are not stupid. You are wicked. By celebrating, you are trying to convince

12:17yourself that you have actually passed the exam. Look at the perverse logic.

12:22Look at the inversion. Those who clear the exam celebrate,

12:30so we will celebrate and convince ourselves that we have cleared the exam.

12:34That's awesome. Great are the depths of depravity possible to us.

12:48You are given an entire year to prepare for Diwali, aren't you? What does it mean to prepare

13:10for Diwali? To clean your house or to clean your life? Did we clean up our lives? And an

13:19entire year was available. Did we prepare for the festival? We didn't. And when the festival

13:33has arrived, we want to show as if we really deserve it. We don't deserve it. Excellence

13:53has always been a rarity and Sri Ramchandra is the epitome of excellence. Without bringing

14:12that excellence into our lives, what is this circus that we create? So you are asking me

14:40how to celebrate Diwali? I'll say now start preparing for the next one. This one you have

14:47already lost. I don't want to console you. This Diwali is totally lost on 99% people who will be

14:57celebrating it. But there still is time. Prepare for the next Diwali. Live your life just as Ram

15:08lived his life and then you will have the right to celebrate Diwali. What is it that Sri Ram

15:21stands for? He stands for detachment. He stands for fearlessness. He stands for compassion. He

15:31stands for dharma. Is there dharma really in your life? And by dharma I do not mean a creed or a

15:38cult or observation of certain rituals or the name written against the religion column in your

15:50various identification cards. No, that is not dharma. Dharma means doing that which you must

15:58do. That's what Sri Ram stands for. He does what he must do. Do you do what you must do?

16:09Is your touch compassionate enough to turn stone into life? His was. Bring some compassion into

16:35your life and then say that you want to celebrate Diwali. You have one year, rather one year and

16:44one day. Tomorrow is Diwali. We are talking of the next Diwali. Have you ever just let it sink

17:06into you what it means to spend 14 years in the wilderness? And try to wrap your head around the

17:17idea. You are the crown prince, Yuvraj and you have been dispatched to the damn forest. How does

17:34that even sound? It sounds unacceptable to us. He lived it and he lived it with unequaled grace.

17:47Look at his poise. Not once did he complain. In fact, he used these 14 years to the maximum and

18:01he fought the most powerful force of his times. And who was he? Somebody ostracized from his kingdom.

18:16Somebody serving a sentence almost. And he is fighting Dushanan, the one who is said to have

18:30incarcerated even the various gods and goddesses in his prison cells. That Dushanan was fought

18:46almost empty-handed by one Shri Ram. That's my Ram. One needs to have at least 1% of him in

19:06oneself in order to worship him. No? At least 1%? What's 1% of 14 years?

19:21Quick. Yes, 0.14 years. But what does that mean?

19:52How many days? Around 50 days. 51 to be precise. Would you spend 51 days just because you are

20:18randomly told to? That too on the eve of your coronation? You are about to rise to the throne

20:27and somebody tells you no. You are dispatched to the Amazon. 51 days. No gadgets, nothing.

20:38At least be 1% of Shri Ramchandra. I am not asking you to try it out. I just want you to

20:55see how unacceptable even the idea is. Right? Our securities, our comforts rebel against the

21:06very thought. He lived it out. And he lived it out in the most humane, just and compassionate

21:18way possible. Without ever cribbing. And he ended those 14 years bringing down the mightiest

21:31empire of his times. That's my superhero. And you want to reduce Diwali to a festival of

21:50Rasgulla, Rabdi, Son Papdi.

22:20Kalakand. Did Ramchandra enjoy all these things? Why the hell are you enjoying all these things

22:30on his day? Because we are very very small and little and petty people who want just an excuse

22:44to further their dirty instincts of consumption. We just want to consume on some pretext. Something.

22:59So Diwali becomes just another occasion to, it's an explosion of consumption.

23:29So next Diwali, let's emerge as

23:54deserving celebrants. Let's assert our right next Diwali. And then you will find that the festival

24:11has really invoked another dimension within you. Then that night will be special. As we are

24:25currently and as we celebrate currently, Diwali's come and go and nothing changes. Does anything

24:32really change? Does anything really change? Diwali after Diwali, we remain the same persons. Don't we?

24:39Now prepare this entire year for that one next Diwali and see how that one Diwali can do what

24:53the last 40 Diwali's have not been able to do. And then Shri Ram will smile. He will say yes,

25:04now you have celebrated.

Have you earned the right to celebrate Diwali Acharya Prashant (2019)-1

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