Video Information: 25.01.23, IIT-Ropar, Greater Noida
Context:
~ Why don't Indians go after excellence?
~ Why are Indians so eager to settle?
~ Is ambition childish?
~ How important is philosophy or thought?
~ Why are Indians so emotional?
~ What happens when a commoner emulates a sage?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
#acharyaprashant #excellence #thoughts #philosophy #interview belief
Context:
~ Why don't Indians go after excellence?
~ Why are Indians so eager to settle?
~ Is ambition childish?
~ How important is philosophy or thought?
~ Why are Indians so emotional?
~ What happens when a commoner emulates a sage?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
#acharyaprashant #excellence #thoughts #philosophy #interview belief
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Good evening, sir. My name is Vishal Tiwari. I'm a PhD student here in IIT, Rupert.
00:11So generally, I see that in Western countries, people chase excellence, whether it is in sports or science or technology,
00:23or whether it is in like social reforms or like inculcation of democratic values.
00:30On the contrary to this, it is a general mindset that I see in our country,
00:37like masses of the youth running after securing a job and after that by marrying a boy or girl to further settle.
00:51Sir, why do we Indians fear to chase excellence?
00:56Why don't we have an appetite to create or discover something new in the field of science and technology?
01:11See, all search for excellence involves the use of thought.
01:30Science, technology, this, that, whatever it is,
01:35it involves thought.
01:43India was extremely fortunate.
01:52It discovered something beyond thought.
02:04And because it was beyond thought, it could not be verified or examined.
02:18It could only be surrendered to.
02:23So India got something that put thought in its place,
02:38that demonstrated that thought is not the highest thing,
02:43that there is truth beyond human action,
02:55that there is something higher beyond human action,
03:08human achievement, human thought, human imagination, human creation.
03:18And this thing was discovered by a select few.
03:25India was greatly fortunate.
03:31And those who discovered it, they, in their compassion, in their empathy,
03:37displayed it, handed it over, relayed it to the masses.
03:44And the masses said, now we have something that is beyond our action, our aspiration.
04:01We have it.
04:04And since you have it, there is no need to aspire anymore.
04:11Ambition starts looking childish.
04:17Attempts to rise higher start looking futile.
04:27So the West had questions that it wanted to settle through thought.
04:35The West went into questions of identities and existence and wanted to know what is going on
04:42and could never come to a final answer.
04:45So it kept on moving.
04:49If you look at Western science, it emerges from philosophy.
04:55Not too many centuries ago, philosophy and science were inseparable.
05:05It's only recently that science has emerged as a separate discipline.
05:16And philosophers are fond of saying that the settled and demonstrated and verified part
05:24of material philosophy is called science.
05:28So while philosophy is at the front of the battle against ignorance,
05:41science is the harvest that philosophy has already cultivated.
05:53Or the bounties that philosophy has already won in the battle.
05:59You understand? A battle is going on and in that battle,
06:03there is stuff that you have already won, that is already yours.
06:07That becomes science.
06:09And the questions that are still unexplored, the battles that still continue to be raging, to be live,
06:18those constitute philosophy.
06:22So the West had philosophy and the West used thought to settle philosophical questions.
06:34And that gave them science, that gave them progress.
06:37India, rather unfortunately, got the final solution way too early.
06:45And the final solution was that the world does not exist at all.
06:51What is the point in thinking, even the thinker does not exist at all.
06:56And where there is no thought, there is no progress.
07:02Indians do not rely on thought.
07:06We have been cultured to rather rely on belief.
07:11That has become rather stupid today.
07:21But it originated from a higher place.
07:26India actually had people who had discovered that which is beyond thought.
07:39And because they had discovered that, the discovery showed in their life, in their eyes,
07:49in their face, in their actions and people grew fond of them.
07:56India has loved its sages.
08:00And they could see that the sage does not think too much now.
08:09And the sage is no more ambitious.
08:12And the sage is not asking questions anymore.
08:16And when you respect and love someone so much, when you admire him so much,
08:21without even knowing, you begin to emulate him.
08:25So even the commoners began to emulate the sages.
08:30And India has been such a spiritual place.
08:33There have been roaming medicants in almost every street.
08:38Monks and sadhus, you would find every village has a few of them.
08:47And the commoners would look at them and say,
08:51this man has certainly achieved something extraordinary.
08:55His being is the proof of that achievement.
08:58His love is the proof of that achievement.
09:00His selflessness, his fearlessness is the proof of that achievement.
09:05So India began emulating those people and that happens.
09:09That happens in admiration.
09:12But emulation can never give you the real thing.
09:16So those who had not even started thinking, they absorbed thinking.
09:23India bypassed thought.
09:27India said, what is the point in living by the mind?
09:32The mind cannot give you much.
09:37And monks will come and declare, the mind is your enemy.
09:45Thoughts are its weapons.
09:49Do not go by the mind.
09:51The mind has to be silenced.
09:53The mind has to be in fact killed.
09:55You would have read all these things in typical spiritual literature.
10:01So India just dropped the mind.
10:03And by dropping the mind, Indians became not sages but savages.
10:11Because it is savages that don't use the mind.
10:20These are three levels of consciousness.
10:23The savage, the beast.
10:25Then the simpleton, the commoner.
10:28And then the sage, the liberated one.
10:32There is something common between the final level and the initial level.
10:40In both the levels, there is no mind.
10:43The savage does not use his mind.
10:47And the sage has gone beyond the mind.
10:53Are you getting it?
10:54In your attempt to become the sage, it is very easy to become the savage.
11:00And that's what happens to Indians.
11:03We dropped the mind even without using the mind to its full potential.
11:08Even without reaching the limits of mind.
11:11We didn't follow the process of the sages.
11:15We just emulated their results.
11:20What was the process of the sages?
11:22They used their mind to the fullest extent.
11:24And then they reached the boundary of the mind.
11:29They went through the entire journey.
11:31It was an arduous painstaking journey.
11:33They paid every bit of the price.
11:37The commoners thought they can have it easily and cheaply.
11:41So they said, fine.
11:43If the final thing is that the mind is to be dropped,
11:46we will drop the mind.
11:48We will stop using the mind.
11:49So India stopped thinking.
11:52India stopped thinking.
11:55India started scoffing at logic.
12:00India made the intellect a dirty word.
12:08What is better?
12:11Emotions are better.
12:13Blind belief is better.
12:15Superstitions are better.
12:16Thought is not good.
12:17Logic is not good.
12:18Rationality is not good.
12:20Because these are things of the mind.
12:23Rather I will go by my gut feeling.
12:27Now the one who goes by his gut feeling is a savage.
12:32Now you see where all these centuries of slavery came from.
12:40When you don't have technology.
12:42When you don't have knowledge.
12:45Obviously you will fall prey to the marauders.
12:48How will you manage the aggressor?
12:58He has the power of thought and weapons and technology.
13:01He has been thinking.
13:04And you have been just breeding and believing.
13:09And you are smug in your belief that you are meditative and liberated people.
13:14Because you don't think.
13:16Even today Indians relatively do not think.
13:24We do not use our minds to the fullest extent.
13:28We rely on trust.
13:31We rely on copying and emulation.
13:34We are afraid to dare and venture out.
13:39Our movies copy from Hollywood.
13:41Even our YouTubers copy from American YouTubers.
13:52Our social influencers copy from them.
13:56Our podcasters copy from Joe Rogan.
14:12Our constitution has picked up bits and pieces from several constitutions of the world.
14:25At IIM Ahmedabad we had Harvard steps.
14:32There was a particular flight of steps called the Harvard steps.
14:36I found it very interesting.
14:42So that was the time when the movie Lagaan was released.
14:48And it started having some connection with the Oscars.
14:52And everybody got very excited.
14:56So one of our professors, he said, what's the great deal?
14:58Why are you always looking for western appreciation?
15:022002 that's when Lagaan was released.
15:04The Hindi movie Lagaan.
15:07And it was probably nominated for the Oscars.
15:09Something happened in relation to the Oscars.
15:12And people were talking.
15:13The whole thing was abuzz.
15:15The professor came and scolded.
15:17He said, you slaves of the west, always looking for western appreciation.
15:22So I said, sir, one little thing.
15:27More than half the cases you teach here are from Harvard and Stanford.
15:35And what is that thing called the Harvard stairs?
15:41And then you say that we should not be looking at the west.
15:48India just stopped thinking.
15:49India stopped being original.
15:54We bypassed the mind.
15:56The thing is, please appreciate the cardinal mistake.
16:03Even to go beyond the mind, you have to first of all use the mind to the fullest.
16:08There is no other way.
16:10You cannot just arbitrarily drop the mind.
16:17To go beyond life, first of all, you have to go fully through life.
16:23As they say, the way through is the way out.
16:32We don't think.
16:33We believe.
16:34We are one of the most superstitious people.
16:37Look at the number of gurus and babas proliferating and prospering.
16:48Think of India's share in intellectual property generation.
16:54How much original work is happening here?
16:56But we love to copy.
16:59When it comes to plagiarism, we are second to none.
17:08Think of your car models.
17:13Visit Europe or US and you will be surprised.
17:16This one looks so much like the one I see on Indian roads.
17:21But the logo is different.
17:23How did that happen?
17:28Even think of the weapons that Indian army is using.
17:33How many of them are there?
17:36Even to manufacture weapons, you require thought.
17:42Where is thought?
17:43Where is logic?
17:44Where is rationality?
17:45Where is reason?
17:46Where is critical thinking?
17:50We just love to think of how we worship our leaders, political leaders.
17:56And if you want to critically analyze a particular leader,
18:00especially if he happens to be a darling of the masses,
18:03they won't listen.
18:06Because they don't want to think.
18:08They just believe.
18:23Our education must prepare the kid to question everything.
18:29To dare to inquire into everything.
18:32There should be no holy cows.
18:35There should be nothing so sacred that it cannot be questioned.
18:48People who hide their ignorance behind shallow questions irritate me.
18:57But there is another category of people who irritate me even more.
19:01Those who ask no questions at all.
19:12Those who just take life.
19:15It is hot?
19:16Yes.
19:19It is cold?
19:20Maybe.
19:22Who are you?
19:23Do you exist?
19:25Are you alive?
19:26Are you an alien?
19:27A zombie?
19:28Who are you?
19:31There is no individuality.
19:32You don't have a mind.
19:34You can't think.
19:37You can't question.
19:38You can't analyze.
19:40You can't reason.
19:41You can't compare.
19:50Dead.
19:55So two bits of literature from the Hindi world are occurring to me at this moment.
20:07One is,
20:16So the fellow wanted to be bigger.
20:20You see this is a progression.
20:21We talked of three levels.
20:22Two, four and six.
20:24Two is
20:27And six is
20:30So we were at the middle level.
20:33The level of the simpleton.
20:34The level of the commoner.
20:35We wanted to be the sage.
20:38And what did we instead become?
20:40The savage.
20:42Now I am not offending all the Dubeys.
20:45Apologies in advance.
20:46It's just a metaphor.
20:53And the other one is
20:58A popular song from one of the movies.
21:05Pahadi can never be far behind me.
21:17India's greatest fortune became its misfortune.
21:23Our philosophers, our sages, our gems and jewels.
21:34We turned them into our misfortune.
21:42That's what ails India.
21:45Similarly, the body is not real.
21:50Now go and win medals in Olympics.
21:56The body is to be dropped.
21:57I am not the body.
22:04Nice.
22:05So you are a good eight inches shorter than the body.
22:12Eight inches shorter than the average Swede.
22:19Am I right?
22:22The Scandinavian country, if the average height there I suppose is
22:26in excess of six feet.
22:31And here five six or something five five.
22:34That's how tall the average Indian is.
22:36How tall or how short?
22:42Half a foot.
22:43Because I am not the body.
22:45You see we are spiritual people.
22:47We are not supposed to be the body.
22:51So we top the charts when it comes to malnutrition.
22:54Because we are not the body.
23:01Heart attacks, India.
23:02I am not the body.
23:03Diabetes, India.
23:04I am not the body.
23:11In Denmark, it's five eleven.
23:18India five five.
23:27The Chinese used to be shorter than us at the time of independence.
23:31Even they have grown longer.
23:35But we are not the body.
23:38So why take care of the body?
23:41All the women are suffering from anemia.
23:43But they are not the body.
23:55Indian women are especially not the body.
23:58It's just that they keep on producing more and more bodies.
24:04142 crore bodies.
24:06But we are not the body you see.
24:09Average Indian is five five, five six.
24:15Not the body.
24:21These are the two things that we have been taught to stay clear of, right?
24:25Tan and man.
24:26I am not the mind and I am not the body.
24:30I am Atma.
24:31I am the Supreme Self.
24:33Instead of becoming the Supreme Self, you became the beast.
24:38That's what we did to our sages.
24:43And they are looking at us.
24:46And beating their heads.
24:57Thank you so much Acharyaji for this thought provoking session.
25:02Thank you for answering so many questions by the participants.
25:06It was very insightful and we are all very grateful for the session.
25:10And we all hope to have the chance to have another session with you in the near future.
25:18Thank you so much sir.
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