Video Information: 15.04.2022, IIT-Delhi, Delhi
Context:
~ How to be free from problems?
~ How to drop fear?
~ How to deal with difficult situations?
~ What is the fundamental solution to our everyday problems?
~ How to get rid of sorrow?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#acharyaprashant #IIT-Delhi #IIT-D
Context:
~ How to be free from problems?
~ How to drop fear?
~ How to deal with difficult situations?
~ What is the fundamental solution to our everyday problems?
~ How to get rid of sorrow?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#acharyaprashant #IIT-Delhi #IIT-D
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00A very good afternoon to all attendees in this August gathering. I am Rohit, and I will
00:14be moderating the session for today. Today we have with us Acharya Prasad, acclaimed
00:19Vedanta exegete, author of over 80 books including the national bestseller, Karma, and of course
00:25last but not the least, an alumnus of this Ved Institute. After graduating from IIT Delhi,
00:31Acharya Prasad went on to qualify both UKC and CAD on the same year. After two years
00:37at IIM Ahmedabad and a few years at corporate, he found himself a higher calling of spreading
00:43the ancient wisdom of Vedas among the masses, and for that very purpose founded this mission
00:49which is at the forefront of creation of new humanity through intelligent spirituality.
00:55Today his movement has touched the lives of tens of millions of individuals through his
01:00direct contact with people and through various internet based channels. Sir, it is our honour
01:05to welcome you, and on behalf of Prasad Delhi, we welcome you all.
01:10Thank you so much.
01:18Since it is an interactive session, so we will move with Q&A from audience.
01:24Good afternoon sir. Sir, my question is, does Vedanta offer any fundamental solution to
01:32the problems that we face in daily life such as languishing, sorrow or other emotional
01:40stresses that we experience in our daily personal and professional lives?
01:45Right. What is your name please? Tirthesh.
01:49Tirthesh. The question is, does Vedanta or wisdom literature in general offer any solutions
02:00to the day to day problems that mankind faces, that a normal individual faces?
02:11Vedanta does not go at all into the specifics of the problems we face.
02:21If it does that, it would become very limited, temporal and even regimentary.
02:32Because the problems faced by people in one age vary greatly from the problems in another age.
02:46Problems faced by one community or one gender or one economic class are not the same as faced by others.
02:56So if we try template based solutions, they would never suffice.
03:03Vedanta directly goes into the one who is facing the problem.
03:10Problems are multifarious. Problems are so diverse.
03:18But the one who is facing the problem has remained much the same since the advent of time.
03:29Man's insides have not changed. The exteriors have changed majestically.
03:44If you look at the way we live today and our civilization and the technology available to us,
03:55it is very different from the exteriors we had, the resources we had, the technologies at our disposal,
04:05let's say 5000 years back. Everything has changed.
04:09If someone were to videograph a place or let's say a university campus, Nalanda,
04:17several years back and he were to compare it with a video clip of let's say our campus today,
04:30he'll hardly find anything in common. There has been so much change.
04:35But there is one thing that has not changed at all.
04:39That is the self. The one that we fundamentally are.
04:44And I am talking here of the ego. I am talking here of man's mind.
04:51When I say man, I mean humans. That includes both the genders.
04:56That has not changed. We were insecure then, we are insecure today.
05:03We were ignorant then, we are ignorant today.
05:07We wanted to be better then, we want to be better today.
05:10We were never satisfied then, we aren't satisfied today either.
05:16Greed, fear, jealousy, possessiveness ruled the day then.
05:27They abound equally today as well.
05:31That is what Vedanta addresses and that's why Vedanta is of such timeless value.
05:37Because time will change everything on the outside.
05:43What is not changing is the one we are on inside and that is our very problem.
05:49Externally, we are able to change everything.
05:53Internally, so little has changed.
05:57In fact, every new kid that is born is born at point zero.
06:07Irrespective of how much progress mankind has made,
06:14every new kid is a new challenge.
06:19So that's where Vedanta becomes perennially useful.
06:24It says, why are you troubled first of all?
06:28Who is the one so much in need of trouble that he can give up everything except his problems?
06:37Today you are worried about this thing, tomorrow you are worried about that thing.
06:41Things that you are worried about keep changing.
06:44Your state of being worried does not change.
06:49What does that tell?
06:50Does the problem lie with the situations or the problem lies in the one who is situated in the problems?
06:59Let's say we take away all the problems that each of us face today here.
07:06What do you think? We won't be then worried tomorrow and day after tomorrow?
07:12No. Very quickly, just for the sake of our psychological existence,
07:17we'll dig up problems, we'll rather invent problems without problems.
07:24There is something within that cannot survive and it's a very fragile, very insecure thing.
07:31Problems are its very nutrition.
07:34That's what Vedanta digs deep into.
07:37Who is the one sitting inside so much in need of problems?
07:41And what is the point in striving so much on the outside?
07:44If this mischievous one, the real culprit sitting within is anyway never going to feel contended,
07:54I may explore and win the entire world and keep at its feet.
08:02It is still going to keep cribbing.
08:07Oh, this is not sufficient, that is not proper.
08:09And if there is no problem, that itself becomes a problem.
08:15As if problem itself is born from the mother's womb.
08:22That's what Vedanta goes into.
08:26It is not a belief system.
08:28It does not ask you to believe in mythological stories or gods and goddesses.
08:35There is no belief involved.
08:38In some sense, entire Vedanta can be condensed into this one question.
08:46Who is the one talking?
08:49Who is the one experiencing?
08:51Who is the one searching for happiness?
08:54Who is the one always dissatisfied?
08:56Who is the one competing and hustling so hard?
08:58And when you start knowing that as a result of your investigation, as a result of your enquiry,
09:10then you find you have power, you have choice.
09:18What is the choice?
09:20Do I want to remain that one?
09:22And it is a very powerful choice to have.
09:25If you don't have that choice, there is so much helplessness.
09:28I can change everything outside. I can't change the one who I am.
09:34It's a situation of miserable helplessness. Is it not?
09:40Vedanta gives you with great power because it blesses you with that choice.
09:46You need not compulsorily be internally the one you have been so far.
09:54You can be totally different.
09:56You can be entirely better.
09:59And the transformation need not be just superficial.
10:04The very essence can change as if a new individual can take birth.
10:13Are you getting it?
10:15Remember, it somehow suits us to play the victim.
10:23We want to act as if life has been hard on us.
10:28We want to give too much importance to our circumstances.
10:34Vedanta says, let circumstances remain where they are.
10:42Your entire domain is your own kingdom.
10:49I mean the internal one.
10:53Outside things can happen in their own random way.
10:59Internally you can be the master irrespective of how things are outside.
11:05Internally you can remain untouched, undisturbed.
11:11And that's a very powerful state to be in.
11:17Otherwise there is no dearth of problems.
11:19When one is not alright inside,
11:24then problems appear from all possible directions outside.
11:31It is not that those directions are to be blamed.
11:35It is the lack of inner health, inner wellness that's the culprit.
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