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Video Information: 03.09.2024, BITS, Goa
Context:
What is the purpose of life?
Why do we fantasize life?
Why is life so boring?
Creating stories and day dreaming
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~
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...
➖➖➖➖➖➖
#acharyaprashant
Video Information: 03.09.2024, BITS, Goa
Context:
What is the purpose of life?
Why do we fantasize life?
Why is life so boring?
Creating stories and day dreaming
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Hello Sir, I am Saket, I am doing Master's in CS now.
00:09So basically my question was that we generally exaggerate and romanticize many things like
00:16love in Bollywood is shown as something which is beyond human understanding etc etc.
00:21But in real life if you see hormones also play a great role in that and probability
00:26also plays a great role in that.
00:28So when you see things in a very rational way, things seem very dry and very random.
00:33Things don't seem to have a point.
00:35So how to deal with this?
00:37How can I deal with this without believing something which is deceiving?
00:43The problem is that belief and dreams and delusions are juicy but reality is dry.
00:58Is reality dry actually?
01:01I think so.
01:02I mean everything seems so random.
01:07How does randomness translate into dryness?
01:09Well, I mean the thing is if you believe in let's say God or something, you feel that
01:15right, I have some purpose, I am in this world because of some reason.
01:19So if you just question that, there is a chance that you are in this world because of some
01:25accident.
01:26May be there is no point of creation, that's a possibility.
01:30After knowing it, I mean how to come in terms with that?
01:33You don't have to come to terms with anything, that is the fact.
01:40Yes, all of us are here randomly, that's true.
01:45There is no need to come to terms with it.
01:47It's not a traumatic event.
01:50It is the fundamental reality.
01:54But how does that make things dry?
01:56I am interested in that.
01:58Well, the thing is we always think that there is some purpose, some greater purpose, X,
02:03Y, Z.
02:04Yeah, the purpose is to rid yourself of delusions.
02:07In fact, tell me, if God made you, how does that supply you with a purpose?
02:12Well, we know that somebody made us, so even if after we die, we will go to him.
02:18So there is some certainty there.
02:20You can imagine 4-5 other more juicier stories.
02:24How will that give you a purpose?
02:27Life will keep telling you that all your stories are nonsensical.
02:30Life has a way of bringing you back to reality.
02:35I can keep imagining, you know, ahead of me is a flower bed, ahead of me is a flower
02:40bed, ahead of me and then pop, the bleeding nose will tell me that I was just being stupid.
02:49So there is no point living in fantasies.
02:53Facts have to be seen and respected.
02:56But again, that dry thing, I want to just understand, you see, something happens, something
03:04happens.
03:05How is that happening really dry?
03:08What is this dryness?
03:09How do we define this dryness?
03:12Well, like if you believe in the Bollywood version or very romantic form of like love,
03:21it just feels, I mean, it sort of feels very amazing.
03:26So when you say that, no, this is…
03:28No, it doesn't feel amazing.
03:30It feels amazing only when you are unconscious, when you are conscious.
03:38It feels nauseating, feels nauseating.
03:44How do you feel today looking at the 80s and 90s mainstream Hindi flicks?
03:54I am talking of the romantic ones.
03:56How do you feel today?
04:00Cringe.
04:04Because as a generation, you are actually much more conscious today.
04:10You look at them and you say, what, what, what shit is this?
04:14Especially when the girls would look at those flicks, they would be angered by the portrayal
04:21of women.
04:25But if you have someone who is still in the 80s, 90s mindset, he might still go gooey
04:31looking at those, you know, great romance, great romance.
04:37It's not that those stories, those pictures, those movies, ideas or imaginations, they
04:43are inherently juicy.
04:47They are made juicy by your unconscious mind.
04:50The more unconscious you are, the more these things will attract you and the more liberated
04:57you are, the more open you are, the more you will say, no, there is nothing in it, keep
05:01it away.
05:03Today you use teen's parts from those movies as comic material, as memes, don't you?
05:18Don't you?
05:20In their times, those things were being taken very seriously.
05:23Oh, this is real romance.
05:26What kind of romance?
05:30It's not that certain things are inherently appealing to the mind.
05:41It's just that depending on the level of the mind, it is one thing that appeals versus
05:47the other thing that appeals.
05:51When you are drunk, one thing will appeal to you.
05:55You might feel like throwing the same thing away once you are sober.
06:02Don't be so drunk.
06:04Reality is very juicy, don't worry.
06:07There is nothing more fascinating than the truth.
06:12Go ask that to those who have dedicated their lives to the service of truth, exploration,
06:22discoveries.
06:25How dare we say that they had had dry lives?
06:31Go to an Einstein and hear him playing the piano.
06:36Is he a dry man?
06:39Or closer home, go to a Baba, see him painting something, see him at music.
06:49Is that really dry?
06:52It's a very very dangerous notion if you say all the fun, all the pinkiness, all the tenderness
07:02lies in stupid kind of notions.
07:07And everything that is conscious, elevated, sublime is dry.
07:14It's very dangerous and you are becoming a victim of the propaganda of the juice sellers.
07:24Ever seen how they portray teachers, especially in Indian movies?
07:31Ever seen how they portray them as caricatures, buffoons, people you can laugh at?
07:38Can you think of a few such characters?
07:43Because teachers are associated with knowledge and if you have knowledge, then you will lampoon
07:49that movie.
07:51Please, please understand the conspiracy.
07:56Teachers are associated with knowledge but that movie can gather 500 crores only when
08:02you do not have knowledge.
08:03So, knowledge is dangerous to the commercial success of that movie.
08:08If people become knowledgeable, that movie will flop.
08:13So, it's some kind of filmmaker's revenge on knowledge that he will show the scientist
08:21or the teacher in a very unfair way.
08:28The scientist for example will be shown with all his hair erect.
08:33He has been thinking so much that he has gone either bald or his hair stand erect on his head.
08:41And the teacher is always eccentric, eccentric, forgetful, idiotic actually.
08:49Doing something this way, that way and the students are smart studs because they don't
08:58have knowledge.
08:59So, if you don't have knowledge, you are a stud.
09:03If you have knowledge, you are a fool.
09:05That kind of depiction, that kind of propaganda, you have become a victim of.
09:10So, you are thinking that the life of facts, of knowing, of discovery is a dry life.
09:18No, it is not dry life.
09:20Come on.
09:21And if that is dry life, then what we are saying is that all the juice belongs to the
09:28lives of animals.
09:32Animals are all the time doing what they show in the movies.
09:38In the movies, it appears so juicy to you if someone takes off a few of her clothes.
09:43Animals never wear any clothes, constant juice, unending.
09:54In movies, you find it juicy if someone doesn't have to study.
09:58Animals never have to study, such juicy life.
10:02So, basically you are asking for an animalistic life in the name of juice.
10:09You are saying there should be no intelligence, only emotions and that is juice.
10:14Animals have no intelligence, they have only emotions.
10:18So the pigs and the crows have the juiciest lives because they have no intelligence at
10:22all, only emotions.
10:26What do animals operate on?
10:27They don't operate on IQ, they operate only on their instincts.
10:37You want that kind of life?
10:44But I am terrified by the power of propaganda.
10:49See what they have put in our minds and if this remains in our minds, it will be very
10:57difficult to develop academically, intellectually, scientifically, artistically, spiritually.
11:17Facts are fun, but we have been told stupidity is fun.
11:21No, intelligence is great fun.
11:26Intelligence is great fun.
11:29But when you want to have fun, you deliberately act stupid, don't you?
11:35And the fellow who cannot act stupid will be taken as fun hater.
11:42Why?
11:43Because he cannot act stupid.
11:44So even those who are actually not having any fun, if they want to have social acceptance,
11:56they act like clowns so that they can demonstrate that they too are having fun.
12:02Have you seen how it happens in your parties?
12:0880% of the crowd isn't drunk at all, still they are behaving as if they are drunk.
12:15Because if they show that they are neither drunk nor do they enjoy being drunk, they
12:19will be ostracized.
12:23You will say, oh my god, he is a dry fellow, he is a dry fellow.
12:33I start narrating stupid jokes to you, would that be juicy?
12:40In response to your question, I gave you some kind of an idiotic reply and said ha ha ha,
12:47you would find that juicy?
12:51What is this terrible definition of juice?
12:56Let me take you back to the classics, the Upanishads, they say raso vaisah, when they
13:00refer to the truth, they say the truth is juice itself.
13:07All the juice lies in the truth.
13:10Juice does not lie in stupidity or in falseness or in delusions, juice lies in truth.
13:20I am all for fun, avoid cheap fun, pay the maximum price and then you will know what
13:28fun or pleasure are.
13:34Exert yourself to the maximum.
13:36If you can run for 5 kilometers, run for 8 kilometers and then when you will sit down,
13:42you will say good fun, now that's fun.
13:46You could run only for 5 kilometers, you ran for 8 and then you say, yes, good fun, drenched
13:54in sweat, possibly even in a bit of blood, you say good fun, now that's fun, fun that
14:03you have paid the price for.
14:17Every cell of your body is saying, come on, let's go to sleep, come on, let's go to sleep.
14:22You don't want to go to sleep, you have something to do, something, anything, you want to complete
14:28a book, you have an assignment, you have an exam or you just want to be awake, no reason at all.
14:40And then after long hours, you find the twilight breaking and suddenly some birds are chirping
14:49and then with your body breaking down, you say good fun, now that's fun, fun that you
14:57have paid for, fun that is legitimate, fun that you are not stealing, fun that you own.
15:08Doesn't sound juicy?
15:15I speak on behalf of all those who have been the jewels of humanity and yet have been terribly
15:24wronged by us.
15:34We might respect them but we never love them.
15:40Our love is something that belongs to all the idiots, necessarily.
15:54I love the scientist, I respect the scientist, I respect the scientist but love the dog.
16:02What is this dichotomy between respect and love?
16:05Why can't you love the one you respect?
16:09And if you can't love the one you respect, what does that tell you about your love and your respect?
16:17I'll share one anecdote, maybe my choice of wording was wrong.
16:22So my Jeeja unfortunately passed away, so my mama and mami, they both were of course
16:26very sad.
16:27My mami believes in God, my mama doesn't.
16:30So the time which my mami took to recover from that was way faster.
16:35She felt randomly that maybe God has took him from me because he would be in a better
16:40place.
16:41My mama doesn't believe.
16:42So in this aspect what I have seen is that she believed a story, she believed a romantic
16:47version of God and she came out of it quite quicker than my mama.
16:52So my main point was that.
16:56This is the floor, literally the bottom, actually the rock bottom, there are some rock pieces here.
17:06If the gentleman here falls, how long will it take to recover?
17:14And compared to him if I fall, I'll take longer to recover.
17:21But to ensure this quick recovery, he will always have to sit right at the bottom.
17:34If you are anyway always living in a state of consciousness that's full of suffering,
17:51then more suffering doesn't hurt you that much.
18:02Even suffering is some kind of displacement.
18:05You have to be first of all joyful in the initial sense to suffer later on.
18:15If I am never joyful, how can I suffer?
18:20If I am never joyful, how can I suffer?
18:24If I am sitting so low, it will take me no time to recover.
18:30Are you getting it?
18:35But that's too big a price to pay.
18:44It's a very very known thing, please understand.
18:53If you want to avoid suffering, stay in imaginations.
18:59That is when, that is why exploration of truth is such a difficult thing.
19:10If this be the axis of consciousness, you know, you know where the minimum suffering
19:17is?
19:18Let's say there is this vertical y axis of consciousness.
19:24How much I understand?
19:25How much I really see?
19:27How much am I in touch with the truth?
19:30That's consciousness.
19:31Where on this axis is the minimum suffering?
19:36Right at the bottom.
19:38Therefore, people in order to avoid suffering, they stay right at the bottom of consciousness.
19:43But I am saying that's too big a price to pay.
19:48That's why people avoid facts.
19:50That's why when you start talking reality to people, they quickly say, let's change the topic.
19:56Have you seen that?
19:57You start talking real to people and they get afraid.
20:01They say, please please change the topic.
20:03Because they exist at the bottom most level of consciousness and there is very little
20:08suffering there.
20:11When you are exactly at the zero level, there is no consciousness.
20:16You are inanimate.
20:18You are material.
20:20Do you suffer then?
20:22Do you suffer?
20:23When you fall, do your shoes suffer?
20:26No, because they are inanimate.
20:29They have zero consciousness.
20:30If you have zero consciousness, you will not suffer.
20:32And some people are so afraid of suffering that they reduce their consciousness to zero.
20:39But if you reduce your consciousness to zero, you have also reduced your life to zero because
20:42life is consciousness.
20:48Are you seeing this?
20:51So I can live in all kinds of fantasies and the more you live in fantasies and stories
20:55and imaginations, the lower your consciousness is.
20:59So your suffering might actually be lower.
21:03But that would also mean that you are not alive at all.
21:08So students like you, you know like 12 years back, I once delivered a lecture and it was
21:24titled Awakening Begins with Suffering.
21:29Might be there on YouTube.
21:31Awakening Begins with Suffering.
21:34And therefore most people do not want to awaken because if you awaken, you will suffer more.
21:41Lying at the bottom here, there is very little suffering.
21:44The more you awaken, the more you rise, the more you suffer.
21:47Greatness lies in willingly embracing this suffering.
21:52It is for cowards and idiots to say, I don't want to suffer, therefore I don't want to
21:56be conscious.
21:57I willingly want to embrace suffering.
22:03Good evening sir.
22:08Sir my question is a follow up to this question.
22:11You said that as consciousness rises, more and more suffering also rises.
22:16So would not there be a limit to this, like when you would be at the highest conscious?
22:25The curve has an inflection point.
22:29It's not as if suffering would keep rising infinitely, rises and then falls, peaks and
22:37then subsides.
22:45And what is that highest consciousness when there is an inflection point and beyond which
22:52it begins to fall down and at what point does it fall down to completely zero?
22:58The point of inflection also and also at what point it completely falls down to zero but
23:04the consciousness…
23:05That you don't have to think of, the final point.
23:08But the point of inflection is when you stop resisting the suffering, it's in your hands.
23:15It's not an objective coordinate, it is a choice that you make.
23:21When you start feeling comfortable with your suffering, your suffering starts to drop.
23:28That's the point of inflection.
23:33The more you keep thinking, oh you know I don't like this, why do I have to pay such
23:38a high price for living honestly, no, no, no, when will this end, it is just an examination,
23:47when will the vacations begin, fall in love with the examinations, the examinations will
23:52no more be a big deal.
23:56You have to allow yourself to embrace anything for the sake of honesty and then it's your
24:08resistance that becomes your suffering.
24:11When you are no more resisting it, it's no more suffering.
24:17Acknowledge it, accept it, surrender to it as early as possible and you get the inflection.
24:27Also if the point of inflection doesn't come, then the suffering will keep rising which
24:34means you will crack.
24:38You are not built to take infinite suffering.
24:42At some point you will simply crumble.
24:46Therefore the point when you say this is my life, I have chosen it, I am alright with
24:51it, that point should come as early as possible.
24:55It's like this, one gets fat, one decides to start running in the morning and that's
25:02painful, the body is not designed for that or the body has come to a point where it cannot
25:11take that.
25:15The more you keep telling yourself, oh this is paining, this is aching, my knees, what
25:22do I do with it, everything, I don't want to get up and you know entire day I feel sleepy.
25:28The more you keep telling yourself these things, the more difficult it will be the next morning
25:33for you.
25:36Simply tell yourself this is life, this is life and I have chosen it.
25:40Now there is no looking back, there is no other world, there is no other life, this
25:44is my life, I have consciously chosen it and I am not going back.
25:51Once you acknowledge it fully, the suffering drops, complete admission, jab select kari
26:05liya hai toh ab rona kya hai, is there a point, will those tears help you now, simply get
26:19on with it, the game is on.
26:29What we are saying actually is, all suffering is more or less about cribbing, stop cribbing,
26:34the suffering drops.
26:37The more you crib, the more the suffering continues, just stop cribbing.
26:45Make the right choice and then be settled with it.
26:53Keep paying the price, the choice has been made, the price will have to be paid.
26:58I can't crib now, cribbing is dishonesty.