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~~~~~
Video Information: 13.04.23, SRCC
Context:
~ What is nationalism?
~ Is nationalism good or bad?
~ What was the rise of nationalism?
~ What is nationalism in India easy?
~ What is the origin of Indian nationalism?
~ What is called nationalism?
~ Nationalism and Vedanta
~ Nationalism can be a force for good
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
#acharyaprashant #IndianConstitution #indianculture #india #vedanta
Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquiry-gita-course?cmId=m00021
📚 Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books?
Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?cmId=m00021
📝 Read 3 handpicked wisdom articles, just for you: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articles?cmId=m00021
~~~~~
Video Information: 13.04.23, SRCC
Context:
~ What is nationalism?
~ Is nationalism good or bad?
~ What was the rise of nationalism?
~ What is nationalism in India easy?
~ What is the origin of Indian nationalism?
~ What is called nationalism?
~ Nationalism and Vedanta
~ Nationalism can be a force for good
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
#acharyaprashant #IndianConstitution #indianculture #india #vedanta
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Does the person you are with encourage you to read?
00:07You have to ask, what does he bring for me? Roses or books?
00:12If someone has a stake in making you better, that person will push you towards books.
00:18Books are what we all need.
00:31Good Afternoon Sir!
00:34Sir, as you are promoting the Vedantic teachings and want people to adopt to them in their day to day lives.
00:43As per my understanding, Vedanta talks about self-awareness
00:49and the path to self-awareness can be different for different people
00:55as we are all facing different kinds of obstacles.
00:58So it will be subjective and today we live by the constitution.
01:05It has definite sets of rules and regulations which is same for all and objective in nature.
01:12So Sir, how can we adopt the Vedantic way of life working within the framework of constitution?
01:20You see, few things need to be understood. Great question, please sit.
01:29Vedanta does not impose any particular way of life.
01:38Vedanta is not commandment based. It does not give you a list of do's and don'ts.
01:46It says no. And knowing is something universal, right?
01:53You may have one path to take and he may have another path to tread.
02:00But you must know your path, right?
02:03And you will know your path only when you know who you are and what you want and where you want to reach.
02:08Equally he must know his own path, even if the paths are going to be necessarily different.
02:13See, the unity lies only at the point of the destination.
02:22That destination has been called the truth or Brahm or Atma.
02:27There is unity at the destination but no uniformity in the paths
02:34or in the travellers or in the ways that they need to take or in their conduct, no?
02:39So Vedanta is not commandment based, it's not a belief system.
02:47It does not say you must believe in something or you must follow these rules.
02:52It's not doctrine based.
02:56The beauty of it is it simply says figure out on your own.
03:01Figure out on your own and reject what you see as false.
03:05Keep rejecting what you see as false till you reach a point
03:11where you are able to see the falseness of the rejecter as well.
03:16But that's the final thing.
03:20One need not worry about that.
03:22To begin with, one just wants to know who am I, how am I operating, how are my relationships,
03:27what am I into, what are my ambitions, what am I targeting, what are my goals,
03:31what am I fond of, what do I hate.
03:33When you look at these things, you realise a lot about yourself
03:38and that itself is the very core of spirituality called self-knowledge.
03:44Self-knowledge, Atma Gyan.
03:47Now coming to the constitution of India.
03:51Please keep a slide of the preamble to the constitution ready.
03:59I'll ask for it when I come to that.
04:00Before that a few things on the constitution of India.
04:06We believe as if the constitution of India is largely an imported thing.
04:14We are made to think as if our intellectuals,
04:23the founding fathers of the constitution,
04:26they went abroad and they looked at, for example,
04:32the Irish declaration of directive principles
04:38and they said let there be directive principles in the Indian constitution as well.
04:42Or they looked at the French revolutionaries declaration of rights of man and citizen
04:52and they said let there be fundamental rights in the Indian constitution as well.
04:57Or they read the works of Rousseau or Voltaire or Locke or Diderot
05:06and they said wow, such liberal principles, such egalitarian principles,
05:12let them be incorporated in the Indian constitution as well.
05:15Or they looked at the declaration of independence by the American states
05:23and they said wow, such great things, we have never heard of these things,
05:26these are foreign concepts, these are alien concepts and they are wonderful.
05:31We are amazed, we are overawed, let them be present in the Indian constitution as well.
05:36That carries a grain of truth but that's not entirely true.
05:41Where is the Indian constitution really coming from?
05:46Please think of it, most of those who were in the constituent assembly
05:53were also freedom fighters, were they not?
05:57Think of them, were they not freedom fighters?
06:01So it is coming from the spirit of freedom.
06:06Mind you, not even the spirit of independence but the spirit of freedom.
06:11And the spirit of freedom is over and above the spirit of independence.
06:18It was not just an Indian independence movement, it was Indian freedom movement.
06:23What is freedom? All those, all the names that you know of,
06:28if you read their works, if you get into their minds,
06:31you will find that they had defined freedom in very holistic,
06:36very deep, very comprehensive ways.
06:41Freedom was not just about replacing the union jack with the tricolour.
06:46That was independence, that was political independence.
06:50Freedom meant much more and the project of gaining freedom
06:54was to continue even after 1947.
06:59If you would ask a Bhagat Singh, he would say
07:02that the revolution must be on even in 2023.
07:09It is not supposed to come to a standstill or a conclusion at 1947 or 1950, no.
07:19Are you getting it?
07:22So if you, I ask for the preamble so that you could understand
07:26that the Indian constitution already embodies the highest spiritual principles
07:38because it is coming from people who are dedicated to something very very deep.
07:44A lot of them went to the gallows carrying the Gita in hand.
07:49Do you think they will need to turn to exclusively the west for inspiration?
07:56If you count the number of freedom fighters who took the Gita as their inspiration,
08:05you would run short of count.
08:11There are just so many.
08:15Think of Aurobindo, think of Tilak.
08:19Even if you talk of a Bhagat Singh, he was an avid reader
08:31and was he not placing the Gita in high esteem?
08:36He was, even as he declared himself an atheist.
08:40What he meant to denounce was the gods that the commons worship.
08:44He had an unflinching faith in the truth.
08:51And Gita is not about god worship, Gita is about submitting yourself to the truth.
08:58Fighting for the truth alone, even if it means fighting against everybody you have been related to in your life.
09:07Are you getting it?
09:11So, we the people of India having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic.
09:21Where do you think these words are coming from?
09:25Where do you think these ideals are coming from?
09:29It's very easy to say they are coming from France or UK or America.
09:34And I agree to this.
09:37I agree to this in a very contextual way, in the contemporary sense.
09:47They did come from Europe and the spirit of the renaissance.
09:54But when you, you know sovereign, you know what does the word sovereign mean?
10:02Sovereign, what does sovereign mean?
10:05Not ruled by somebody outside of yourself.
10:09Now come on, that's a spiritual thing, not to be ruled by somebody outside of yourself.
10:15Sovereign does not mean that you will, it does mean that, but it does not mean only that.
10:25It does mean that you will not allow China to lord over you.
10:30That there would be no hegemon that you would tolerate, obviously it does mean that.
10:34But it means something far beyond that as well.
10:37Vedanta would say, na kartasi na bhoktasi, muktasi eva.
10:54That's your identity.
10:59You are only free, muktasi eva.
11:04You are just free, that's your fundamental identity.
11:08Are you seeing that in that sovereignty?
11:15Otherwise why would, from where would words like freedom and sovereignty come?
11:21Socialist, what does socialist mean?
11:28That you want to have a society in which opportunity and resources and status are available to all.
11:40You do not want to create a society of unequals, that's socialism.
11:48And what kind of equality do you want to give?
11:51You want to give equality of opportunity, opportunity to do what?
11:55Opportunity to indulge in nonsense?
11:59Opportunity to indulge in nonsense, no.
12:03Opportunity to self-actualize, opportunity to reach the purpose of life.
12:09Opportunity to materialize your highest potential, right?
12:13And what is that highest potential?
12:15That exactly is what Vedanta aims for.
12:19Look beyond yourself, right?
12:23See, in the very material sense, socialist would mean let there be schools for all.
12:33Let there be bread for all.
12:35Let there be uniformity in income distribution.
12:38But that's the beginning, that's not the end.
12:42Just as independence is the beginning, freedom is the end.
12:45You do want people to have access to food, healthcare, education, opportunities, all these things.
12:53But these are means, what is the end?
12:56The end of the nation has to be congruous with the end of the individual, right?
13:02Because the nation is the people.
13:04What does it begin with?
13:06We the people, am I right?
13:09Yes, we the people of India.
13:11And that's so beautiful, how did I miss that?
13:13We the people of India.
13:15So Vedanta, what does it say?
13:17Nobody else is foisting this thing on us.
13:23I am the most wonderful one.
13:25Look at my glory.
13:28I bow to myself.
13:32So nobody else can give this to me.
13:34We the people of India, we are giving to ourselves, as the last line says.
13:39And give to ourselves this constitution.
13:42Because nobody else can give this to me.
13:44No God can give this to me.
13:46I decide I'll rule myself.
13:48And that's Vedanta.
13:50Nobody outside of you can be allowed to rule you.
13:54First line, we the people of India.
13:57Last words?
13:59Last words?
14:01Give to ourselves this constitution.
14:03We, I decide, I will live the way I am.
14:08And to know who I am, and to reach the place of my purity, all this is needed.
14:15Justice is needed, liberty is needed, equality is needed, paternity is needed.
14:19All these are means so that ultimately I can be myself.
14:24This is a purely spiritual document.
14:27This is an Upanishad.
14:29Are you getting it?
14:31So there is no dissonance really.
14:37You cannot say there is the way of Vedanta.
14:40But then we have to follow the rule of law and we have to live under the constitution.
14:48So the constitution does not arise from a vacuum.
14:52You have to know where it comes from.
14:54So we have all respect for all the different places it came from.
15:03But we also know that at its core, the constitution of India is arising from the very spirit of freedom.
15:15And freedom as we all know is the very, the only goal of all spirituality, particularly Vedanta, Mukti.
15:24You look at the philosophies that India has had, and if you just ask basic question, what is the aim of this philosophy?
15:38The aim will be Mukti, Mukti, Mukti, Mukti, Mukti, Mukti, Mukti, Mukti, Mukti, Mukti, Mukti, Mukti, Mukti, Mukti.
15:43Mukti without fail, without aberration, Mukti.
15:48The means might be different.
15:50Yoga has one particular means, Nyaya, Vaiseshika, they will have other means.
15:52means, even those philosophies that do not believe in any God like Jain and Buddh philosophies,
16:01they have only Mukti as their end goal.
16:04So that's the Mukti that you see here.
16:06This is a spiritual document, Mukti and Mukti cannot come to you without the right kind
16:13of external conditions.
16:14So the constitution of India strives to give you those conditions externally in which liberation
16:22can be possible internally.
16:25Are you getting it?
16:28The constitution of India, if you look at the preamble, tries to give you those conditions
16:32externally that can make liberation possible internally.
16:40So please do not take it as a conflict between the constitution and Vedanta and this question
16:47has again and again come to me.
16:48People come and say, you are teaching Gita, you have been at the Gita since many years,
16:54but we respect only Samvedhan.
16:56It's beautiful if you respect the constitution, but if you respect the constitution, you must
17:01get close to the heart of the constitution and at the heart of the constitution is freedom
17:07and freedom in its highest way is called liberation and if you love liberation, then you will
17:12have to come to the Upanishads, you will have to come to Ashtavakra.
17:17Are you getting it?
17:18The constitution exists to provide conditions in which the vision of the founding fathers
17:26can see, meet materialization and where were those founding fathers really drawing their
17:34inspiration from?
17:37I am positing that it would be only half correct to say that their inspiration was coming only
17:47from other countries.
17:50If you really look at the spirit of this and each word is talking of just one thing, freedom,
17:59mukti, mukto mukta bhimani, the one who takes himself as free will become free, the one
18:14who takes himself as free will become free, takes himself as free, what does that mean?
18:21Behaves in the way of freedom, strives for freedom, the one whose abhiman, that is ego,
18:27that is belief is all placed in freedom itself, will become free, mukta.
18:35That itself is what the constitution is trying to bring to you.
18:38That also tells that all this thing about the constitution being a foreign document
18:48is all nonsense and we are hearing a lot of that these days, right?
18:51We say, oh the constitution is not really Indian, the word they use is indigenous, they
18:56say it does not have indigenous origins, it is inspired from outside, no sir, please
19:04read it carefully, please go close to the spirit of the constitution and you will find
19:09nothing alien in it, if anything it has, it represents the universality of human aspirations.
19:18This kind of a thing applies mind you not only to India, was also to America, also to
19:22Africa, does it not?
19:27Any people anywhere would be glad to accept this as the preamble to their constitution,
19:32correct?
19:33So this is something very very universal, you cannot say the Indian constitution is
19:38an important thing.
19:40If you will say the Indian constitution is an important thing, then the result will be
19:45that you will try to somehow subvert the constitution and there is a certain group of people who
19:52are trying even that, they are saying no, this constitution is not good, it does not
19:57nearly need amendments, it needs replacement.
20:00But why does it need replacement?
20:02It is already the Bhagavad Gita, it is already the Upanishads, why do you want to replace it?
20:10Instead of respecting it as something, if not religious, then next to religious, instead
20:17of respecting it, you are talking of replacing it, what's the point, why?
20:23Look at the fundamental rights and the directive principles, you know of the fundamental rights,
20:34right?
20:35Those are the rights that allow the individual to blossom fully, those are the rights, if
20:44you have them, only then can you actualize your full potential, otherwise your life will
20:50be spent just fighting all kinds of bondages and superficial battles.
20:58Those rights have been given to you, so that there is a secured ecosystem, an assured environment
21:05in which you can work towards the real purpose of your life, are you getting it?
21:12But what is the real purpose of life?
21:13That again is not something being imposed on you by Vedanta, that's something that
21:19your heart beat itself cries for, who does not want to be liberated, hello, how many
21:24of you want to spend your life in various kind of bondages?
21:29So liberation is something that is at the core of existence of every human being, man
21:35or woman, young or old, Indian or American, rich or poor, how does it matter?
21:46Are you getting it?
21:49So this is a very fine document and there is no way, this is at odds with Vedanta.
21:58If you love Vedanta, you will find yourself respecting the Indian constitution as well.
22:08Additionally you cannot modify the sacred texts, here sometimes with 1 by 2 majority,
22:16sometimes with 2 by 3, sometimes with other kinds of majorities, you can make suitable
22:23timely modifications as well.
22:26Similarly you cannot play around with the basic structure of the constitution, that
22:31has been forbidden, but otherwise, and look at the practicality, there are directive principles,
22:43stuff that you know cannot be immediately implemented, has been given to you as a vision
22:53for the future.
22:56The directive principles are not justiciable, you cannot drag government to a court of law
23:01by saying that they have not enforced the directive principles, but they have been given
23:05as a road map and if you look at them, they are all talking of very high stuff, they are
23:14not talking of day to day affairs, they are not saying this, that, the language approaches
23:27that of spirituality.
23:30If you look at the fundamental rights starting from article 14, if you go close to them,
23:39you might be excused for thinking that this is some kind of a treatise on wisdom.
23:47If you do not know that this is the constitution of a particular country, that it's a legal
23:50document, you will be pardoned for assuming that it's a spiritual thing.
24:05Was this clear or again too convoluted?
24:18Good afternoon sir, my name is Vishal, student, sir as you said, it's a very beautiful document
24:26and it's beautifully designed, I agree with your point, but what about the points where
24:32the India being a diversified country, point of conflict occurs in the constitution, sometime
24:40it happens.
24:41There is nothing in the constitution that gives rise to conflict.
24:46Conflict is the very prakriti of the ego, that's how human beings behave.
24:54If you and I fight, that's not the Gita's fault.
25:03So, the question is, is the constitution encouraging people to fight among each other?
25:12Is that what is happening?
25:14Is the constitution encouraging people to fight?
25:19People fight in spite of all the guidance, right?
25:25Students fail in spite of having the best teachers.
25:29Do we then fire the teachers?
25:32But that's what we have been doing.
25:35If you find Hindus in a fallen condition, you start blaming the Gita or the Upanishads.
25:42If you find other religious people behaving in fallen ways, you start blaming their texts.
25:51The question is, are we even following the religious texts?
25:56If we are not, then how are the religious texts to be blamed?
26:02Did the student fail because he listened to the teacher?
26:08Did the student fail because he listened to the teacher?
26:12No.
26:15But then the student says, oh, I failed.
26:19This teacher should be sacked.
26:23That's what we Indians have also learned to do in the religious sphere.
26:28We say, see, all these so-called great books have been there and yet our condition is so bad.
26:38So surely these books are no good.
26:41Let's dump them.
26:42Let's burn them.
26:45The question is, when did you read those books?
26:48When did you live by those books?
26:51And today, do you understand those books?
26:54If you have no relationship with those books, then what right do you have to blame those
27:01books for your failures and sufferings?