Video Information: Delhi University, 15.01.2022, Rishikesh, India
Context:
~ What work to choose in life?
~ Should one seek social validation while choosing work?
~ How important is money while choosing work?
~ Why do we often underestimate the circumstances?
Music Credits: Milind Date
#AcharyaPrashant #आचार्यप्रशांत #Philosophy #BhagavadGita #DU
Context:
~ What work to choose in life?
~ Should one seek social validation while choosing work?
~ How important is money while choosing work?
~ Why do we often underestimate the circumstances?
Music Credits: Milind Date
#AcharyaPrashant #आचार्यप्रशांत #Philosophy #BhagavadGita #DU
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Namaskar, Acharya ji. My question to you is, why is it and how is it that the purpose of
00:14life is to get Moksha, which is basically, ki hum maut ke aur jeevan ke bandhan se hum
00:23door bhaag jaye. Why isn't that knowledge of power is the purpose of life? Like, I am
00:29studying philosophy from Hansraj College. So, I have read that Hegel's philosophy was
00:34that from, if you look at the history of human beings, what we have been doing is, we have
00:39been increasing our knowledge about ourselves and about our surroundings. And hence, we
00:43are increasing our power. So, our projected purpose of life might be that we become the
00:50most powerful being or the most knowledgeable being. So, why is it that according to spirituality,
00:57the purpose of life is Moksha? So, it is not about your opinion versus somebody else's
01:05opinion. It is not about Hegel versus Vedanta or something. It's about reality. If knowledge
01:18or power can give you fulfillment, by all means, go for knowledge and power. Purpose
01:28of life is a very, very subjective thing. And when I say subjective, I do not mean variable
01:37as per the subject. I mean, it is something that's intimately got to do with the subject
01:44and you are the subject. You are the subject. Because we are talking of your life, we are
01:50talking about the purpose of your life. Why do we need to talk of purpose of life? Because
01:59we do not feel alright as we are and where we are. Because we do not feel alright where
02:10we are. Therefore, we need to be somewhere else. Because we do not feel good the way
02:18our self-concept, our self-image is. Therefore, there is the need for change. So, it all starts
02:25from you. It does not start from the Upanishads or Hegel or Kant or Voltaire. No, not from
02:30there. It starts from you. What is it that would fulfill you? Because you are the one
02:37who is restless. Over the millennia, countless people have tried power and countless have
02:47tried money and knowledge and prestige and adventure and you name it, sex. Man has tried
02:57all kinds of possible means to come to a certain fulfillment because there is a gaping hole
03:02within. We are not at rest. We are not alright. The child is born crying. Human beings are
03:13always running hither thither to gain some satisfaction which is even, which in itself
03:19a far cry from fulfillment. But we all are looking for something. The eyes are continuously
03:26wandering in search of something. The ear wants to hear some special kind of news. The
03:32mind is continuously restless. And that is why there is the question, what do we want?
03:42What is all this desire for? We are desiring all the time. And then there were those who
03:49realized that we want an end to all wants. We desire the end of desires and that is called
03:56liberation and that is Moksha. Coming to the end of desire itself, that's what desire
04:02wants. Now, power or knowledge do not bring you to the end of desire because after power
04:11you can want more power and there is nothing called absolute power because the hunger for
04:17power will still remain. There is no end to knowledge because the one who is seeking fulfillment
04:25through knowledge will never be satiated through knowledge.
04:32Sir, according to spirituality like there is God who is all-powerful. So, there is,
04:39according to Christianity, I mean, so there is a kind of power, a kind of person who is
04:45all-powerful and all-knowledgeable. None of that. Vedanta does not admit any God.
04:53Brahm or truth or Atma are not God. In fact, Vedanta categorically dismisses
05:01all Devi, Devata and Ishwar. Brahm is not God. Brahm is not Ishwar.
05:08The truth is devoid of everything that you can think of.
05:18We want to know who we are and why are we so restless and so confused.
05:28We want to come to terms with our own existence. That's what Vedanta is all about
05:33and when we come to who we really are, we discover that the reality that we perceive
05:42outside of ourselves is identical with the reality within.
05:48That is Vedanta. So, Vedanta is not about believing in some creator God and his created universe.
05:57Vedanta says who is the perceiver of the universe? I am that and who am I?
06:03Somebody who is half mad. This kind of honesty Vedanta begins with. Who am I?
06:09Someone who is utterly confused. Somebody whose perceptions and conclusions are heavily unreliable
06:18and if the world is my own perception, how do I begin with the world?
06:23I do not know whether even the world exists. All I can say is that I am not all right. This
06:30much I can say. So, Vedanta begins with this simple observation. All that I see
06:39around me is my own perception, my own experience and I am not all right. So,
06:44I will not talk of my experience. I am the kind of person who can say these are 24 fingers.
06:50So, how do I go about finding out who made these 24 fingers when they don't even exist?
06:56How can I talk of a creator God when the creation itself is still not something to be certain of?
07:08You know, before I say who was the God who made the mountains and the trees, I have to ask myself,
07:14do the mountains and the trees even exist at all? And who am I to say they exist? I am saying they
07:21exist based on my own experience, but I am a lunatic. I am very humbly, I admit I am a lunatic
07:30and if I am a lunatic, how do I ever, that the mountains do definitely exist? They probably
07:36don't. So, I will not talk of the mountains. I will talk of myself and I will ask myself,
07:42why am I so restless? Why don't I see things as they really are? Why do I project my desires
07:49upon everything? That's what Vedanta does. And Vedanta keeps peeling off layers after layers
07:57of impurity and conditioning and comes to the pure mind or no mind or the core mind and that is the
08:05Atma, the pure self, also called as the truth. And when you are there,
08:12then what you see through your senses gains an immense clarity and then you do not see distinctions
08:19outside of you. Not that the eyes do not see distinctions and black and white appear as one,
08:25but the meanings that those distinctions use to carry, they are no more there and then you say
08:33all is Brahm, all is Brahm. That's what Vedanta is about. Vedanta is not about worshipping a God
08:39or worshipping this or that or believing in a certain creator. Vedanta believes in nothing.
08:45Vedanta is ruthless inquiry, no belief, no superstitions, no mandates, no commandments,
08:54nothing of that kind. Very, very pure and solid and ruthless inquiry, that's all.
09:03Train yourself.