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00:00Firstly, thank you for the Sathrae. You mentioned that if you exist, you have to fret about the future, and you often also mention Thartre who talks of existential philosophy, which put radical emphasis on personal freedom, and is assuming that is in the context of the present moment.
00:25And his words are, man is condemned to be free. And I think with that, that brings an existential angst. While on the other hand, you know, Srimad Bhagavad Gita talks about liberation of the ego, and unity with the nature. I mean, I don't have a clear sense of how these are exactly complementing each other, and how they contradict each other.
00:51They don't contradict each other. You see, what the existentialists, including Sathrae, were saying was, the nature of the human being is such that, even if you want to suppress or disown consciousness, you will not succeed.
01:13So, man is condemned to be free. And in that sense, Sathrae would often quote a chair. He would take the example of a chair. He would say, the chair's existence, its purpose, they are all determined by somebody else.
01:30The chair exists for the sake of others. The chair has no volition over its present condition. And the chair will also not mind. Or if any of it does not mind, we do not know.
01:48Whereas human beings, they are born without a predetermined purpose. So, existentialism says, that existence precedes essence.
02:05What does that mean? You exist, and then you have to discover your essence.
02:12Which means, essentially, in the language of Neti Neti, that nobody outside of you can supply you with your essence.
02:21Right? You are born as a baby, and that's just existence. And then, it is part of your freedom to consciously determine what life is for.
02:40What life is for. Now, the nihilist would step in and say, life is for nothing.
02:48The absurdist would come and say, it is impossible to reconcile a purposeful human being with a purposeless universe.
02:59Which is fine. Even these three can be shown to be consistent with each other. That is alright.
03:05But, what you have to take from the existentialists, is that they are very fiercely refusing any external dictation of human life and life's purpose.
03:26You are saying, you and only you, go and find out what this life is for.
03:38Your essence has to come from you, not from an external source.
03:45You can ask a small clarification. So, I think there is mention of existential angst in his writings.
03:58And so that, I guess, I mean, can come from even choosing to operate from an internal campus.
04:05But, I guess from what I understood in the words today, otherwise also, that there is less or almost no existential angst, I think, when you choose to submit.
04:23You, your nature is to be free. And the society you are born in, the family, the education system, the economic system, they are commanding you all the time to follow, to serve, to just beat the common path.
04:51That's angst. In general, there is nothing around you to whisper in your ears that liberation is possible and that's angst.
05:06Our external situations are never in sync with our inner natural demand.
05:16The society, the society that, that, that, that, Saratr is coming from, France, you know, of the last century.
05:23You see, they were still not really so much, uh, uh, attuned to Vedantic philosophy that they could, uh, declare right at the outset.
05:38That mukti is swabhav. Right. And because, uh, um, France was recovering from, uh, the travails of the Second World War.
05:50It had become all the more important, uh, to rebuild, construct, give a structure to the nation and the economy and everything.
06:00Therefore, there has to be followership. Therefore, patterns have to be adhered to.
06:07And none of that can ever be in harmony with your inner nature to never follow any pattern or any dictum.
06:22And that's angst. Something within me is not prepared to take lessons from anywhere.
06:30And yet the world is hell-bent on doling lessons at every steps.
06:37This one doles out lessons. That one does. And, you know, my grandmother, my teacher, my boss, uh, my prime minister, my priest.
06:48All of them want to shape me in their predetermined ways.
06:55And they also show me benefits.
07:00And yet there is something within that just won't agree.
07:05That's angst. That's angst.
07:09Out of this angst, uh, you, you got that cultural revolution.
07:14Um, of the sixties and seventies. So much happened in Europe at that time.
07:21And that was definitely a revolution because we don't want to, you remember, we know, we don't need no education.
07:37Teacher, leave them kids alone.
07:41Because everybody was trying to cast the newcomer in his own desire and image.
07:46And that's all.
07:47That's that.
07:48All in all.
07:49And the brick in the wall.
07:50I don't want to just follow that same pattern.
07:52We don't need no education.
07:53Teacher, leave them kids alone.
07:56Yeah.
07:57Yeah.
07:58Yeah.
07:59I think this makes a lot of sense.
08:01So, uh, well, I, I have a related, uh, question, but I, I don't want to take time from other people.
08:22You may continue, please.
08:24Everybody will benefit.
08:25So I think there's an idea from, uh, 10 years or maybe 20 years ago from, uh, simulated reality, uh, that we are living in a simulated reality by Nick Bostrom.
08:37And he, I guess, I mean, he proposes three, uh, uh, options in his paper.
08:47I don't exactly remember the option, but the, uh, but the conclusion was that we, uh, there's an external agent that is controlling us.
08:56And I mean, that could be, uh, seen analogous to us submitting to, you know, truth in some way and liberation of the ego.
09:05But I don't know if there's any value in actually having all these different ways of thinking, uh, us being in a simulation, uh, and, and it challenges the, uh, the concept of free will in some way.
09:20So I guess, I mean, I, the, the, the question really is, is there value in trying to, you know, uh, meld all these theories into one theory, uh, or, you know, treat them as a very separate, uh.
09:37The system is not really about sifting through the various theories or even trying to regularize or harmonize them.
09:46All spirituality begins from a single point, the point of suffering.
09:54If I am alright, joyful, uh, being in a simulated world, then I don't need to challenge it.
10:04Problem is not whether or not all this is virtual, simulated, real, fake, uh, determined by somebody else.
10:11Uh, is it a proxy life I'm living?
10:13All that is not really the central question.
10:15The central question is, am I alright?
10:18Yeah, I think so.
10:20The reason I said it is because you, you mentioned, um, to see, uh, uh, sabko ek dekho.
10:26I think, you know, I think in other words, let's try to see things as, as unity, uh, see diversity as, as a common expression of something more, uh, more beautiful, more common.
10:39So I think in that spirit, I try to put this forward, but yes, I think I totally hear what you're saying.
10:47You're welcome.
10:48You're welcome.