Video Information: 23.01.23, DTU, Delhi
Description:
In this enlightening session, Acharya Ji emphasizes the profound impact of spiritual wisdom, particularly the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, on revolutionary figures like Subhas Chandra Bose. He argues that true revolution cannot occur without a deep understanding of spiritual texts, which serve as a guide to elevate consciousness from a state of bondage to liberation. Acharya Ji critiques the modern notion of freedom, asserting that birth itself is a form of slavery, and stresses the necessity of spiritual awakening for genuine independence. He highlights that many renowned revolutionaries, often perceived as secular or atheistic, were deeply influenced by spiritual literature, including the Gita. The discussion encourages today's youth to engage with these scriptures to foster a deeper understanding of life and to ignite their own revolutionary spirit. Acharya Ji concludes by asserting that true greatness and fulfillment come from recognizing the infinite nature of the self, rather than being confined by the limitations of the material world.
Context:
~ How can the Bhagavad Gita inspire today's youth?
~ In what ways is birth considered a form of slavery?
~ Why is liberation essential for personal growth?
~ How did Subhas Chandra Bose incorporate spiritual teachings into his revolutionary actions?
~ What do Vivekananda and Subhas Chandra Bose have in common?
~ What is the importance of the Bhagavad Gita?
~ What can we learn from the lives of historical revolutionaries about spirituality?
~ Was Subhas Chandra Bose spiritual?
~ Was Bhagat Singh an atheist?
~ How does Acharya Ji define true freedom?
🎧 Listen to Acharya Prashant on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/2QmVEAAnsNE7Xs0MW0Li8Y?si=09fbcbc7c99c469b
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~
Description:
In this enlightening session, Acharya Ji emphasizes the profound impact of spiritual wisdom, particularly the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, on revolutionary figures like Subhas Chandra Bose. He argues that true revolution cannot occur without a deep understanding of spiritual texts, which serve as a guide to elevate consciousness from a state of bondage to liberation. Acharya Ji critiques the modern notion of freedom, asserting that birth itself is a form of slavery, and stresses the necessity of spiritual awakening for genuine independence. He highlights that many renowned revolutionaries, often perceived as secular or atheistic, were deeply influenced by spiritual literature, including the Gita. The discussion encourages today's youth to engage with these scriptures to foster a deeper understanding of life and to ignite their own revolutionary spirit. Acharya Ji concludes by asserting that true greatness and fulfillment come from recognizing the infinite nature of the self, rather than being confined by the limitations of the material world.
Context:
~ How can the Bhagavad Gita inspire today's youth?
~ In what ways is birth considered a form of slavery?
~ Why is liberation essential for personal growth?
~ How did Subhas Chandra Bose incorporate spiritual teachings into his revolutionary actions?
~ What do Vivekananda and Subhas Chandra Bose have in common?
~ What is the importance of the Bhagavad Gita?
~ What can we learn from the lives of historical revolutionaries about spirituality?
~ Was Subhas Chandra Bose spiritual?
~ Was Bhagat Singh an atheist?
~ How does Acharya Ji define true freedom?
🎧 Listen to Acharya Prashant on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/2QmVEAAnsNE7Xs0MW0Li8Y?si=09fbcbc7c99c469b
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Pranam Acharyaji, my name is Ashank, I am alumnus of this college, currently studying
00:13in IIT Delhi.
00:14Sir, today is Subhash Chandra Bose's Jayanti and as we know that like at the young age
00:20of 15 only he read the biography of Swami Vivekananda and subsequently he read the teachings
00:27of Ramakrishna Paramhansa and the Upanishads also and this is like not known mostly about
00:37this part of his life is not known apart from being a revolutionary and like and we also
00:44know that Bhagavad Gita was like the teachings of Bhagavad Gita was really inspirational
00:51for him and has a special impact on his life.
00:55So sir, my question is like how the youth of today can be brought closer to the scriptures
01:00so that we can have more revolutionary like him with having deeper understanding of life.
01:07See there is no revolution possible without the Gita, we have lot of self-declared, self-appointed
01:22micro rebels these days, everybody wants to be seen as fire brand rebel in his own
01:31right but there is no revolution possible without the Gita and when I say Gita I do
01:37not mean a particular book, a particular scripture, by Gita I mean a particular class of wisdom
01:45literature, so to me the Upanishads are Gita and anyway even if you just say Gita there
01:58are at least two dozen Gitas that just I would have spoken on and most of them are truly
02:09remarkable, so when I say Gita that would also mean let's say the the words of Ramana
02:18Maharshi or the discourses of Jiddu Krishnamurthy, there is no revolution possible without the
02:30Gita right, now you know what I mean by the Gita, yes something that uplifts your consciousness
02:40that is Chetana from its prakritic slavery to liberation, our please pay attention this
02:49is very important, I am glad this question came up, your default condition at birth and
03:00in life is one of slavery, we do not realize that, in fact it took the West very long to
03:13realize that, otherwise the West kept saying man is born free but is found in chains everywhere,
03:19who was that who said this, Lord Dickens, yes, so no we are not born free, birth itself
03:31is slavery, birth itself is bondage, have you seen a stillborn baby, does it have any
03:45knowledge any realization, is it independent of its body, is it free of fear of temptation,
03:56can it control its impulses, so when you are born you are already a slave, in the moment
04:06of conception itself in the mother's womb it is slavery that is conceived, so liberation
04:14has to be attained and because that slavery is so fundamental to this body, therefore
04:22a great revolution is needed and that revolution can come only from the Gita, by implication
04:30if there is no Gita in your education, you are condemning yourself to lifelong slavery,
04:39how exciting, how exciting and that is the reason why, even those who are not remembered
04:51particularly for their spiritual inclination, people like Subhash Chandra Bose, even they
05:00founded their core on Gita, when you think of the armed revolutionaries, Rajguru, Sukhdev,
05:17even Bhagat Singh, you do not think of them as particularly spiritual people, do you?
05:25You think of them as young dashing firebrands with guns in their hand, what is not shown
05:36to you is that they also had the Gita in their hand and some part of that propaganda has
05:47been deliberate.
05:48For example, we are told that Bhagat Singh was a diehard atheist and the title of one
05:56of his books is often quoted, but if you really go into his life, oh very short life span
06:04he had, 22-23 years, you will find he was a voracious reader and he had a great love
06:10for spiritual scriptures as well, there is no revolution possible without the Gita and
06:22if you are someone who thinks of the Gita as something old-fashioned and this and that,
06:28I won't even wish luck to you, no point wishing luck to you, even luck cannot save you, finished
06:36game up, are you getting it?
06:42It's therefore very important to read on your own of the people in the world who have contributed
06:55in remarkable ways, those people can be counted on fingertips but they are the ones who have
07:04made life worth living and if you go into the details of their lives, you will invariably
07:12find very strong spiritual imprints, it is impossible to be a great person in any field
07:22without being spiritual and being spiritual is not about conforming to the images of spirituality,
07:30wearing particular colors, following traditions or superstitions or rituals, no no no, spirituality
07:38is none of that, spirituality is simply what our friend here referred to, an opening up
07:46of the mind, an awakening of consciousness, there is nothing esoteric, nothing mystical
07:53in it, what we are having here is a spiritual process, it's much the same as any other classroom
08:01lecture, there can be a textbook and there can be a syllabus and this field deserves
08:10that, it's called education of the self, knowing what your mind is like, it's close to psychology,
08:27it incorporates elements of neuroscience as well but it has one thing that sciences do
08:35not want to touch, the urge of the ego for liberation, therefore spirituality includes
08:44love, love of the highest order, the love of the ego for its liberated self, for its
08:53liberated state, that's not a state but still, are you getting it?
09:01If you are somebody who wants to really be big in life, then you must realize that bigness
09:12is the prerogative of what the Upanishads call as Atma, Atma Anant Asim, not just big
09:21but infinite, limitless, boundaryless, bigness means nothing, if it ends somewhere, if it
09:33is circumscribed by a boundary, then what is big to you will be small to someone else,
09:39right?
09:40It's just a matter of having a bigger boundary, so bigness has a meaning only when bigness
09:47means infinity and everything about your body, your mind, your thoughts and material
09:54universe is simply finite, therefore bigness lies in being untouched from that which is
10:03small meaning finite, can I just see that the hunger within me is not going to be satiated
10:15by anything that is limited, so why waste my time running after these small things?
10:24Because I have already had enough of a run, 5 years or 10 years of experimentation is
10:31sufficient, even 2 years suffices and I have seen irrespective of how much I have of what
10:40this this this this has to offer, there is an internal clamor for more, the world outside
10:51is innumerable, it can be put in numbers, right?
10:57Is there ever a number that is final, you can always add one more zero and you just
11:05have 10% of what you had, are you getting it?
11:1110% is not something you can ever be satisfied with and you were reduced to 10% just by addition
11:17of a zero to what you have, therefore the limited world is never going to satisfy you
11:25and you deserve to be satisfied, you are not born to suffer, you are not born to remain
11:32restless, you are not born to keep feeling like a slave, do you see how when you talk
11:45of S.E Bose, his quest for independence was actually a manifestation of his inner quest
12:02for liberation, externally politically what was independence from British yoke was internally
12:12spiritually liberation from the default condition of Prakritigat slavery, internally I want
12:26to be liberated and the result of that internal fire is my external action, do you see this?
12:39If you cannot have that internal fire within, your external action will just be lukewarm,
12:44there will be no fire, no dynamite in it.