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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Video Information: 31.05.2019, Shastra Kaumudi - Live, Greater Noida, India
Context:
~ How to understand a teacher?
~ How to develop understanding?
~ Why we afraid to ask our deepest question?
~ Who is a real Guru?
~ How to recognize real Guru?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .
Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...
Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books?
Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Video Information: 31.05.2019, Shastra Kaumudi - Live, Greater Noida, India
Context:
~ How to understand a teacher?
~ How to develop understanding?
~ Why we afraid to ask our deepest question?
~ Who is a real Guru?
~ How to recognize real Guru?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Dear Acharyaji, Pranam.
00:11Yes Parameshwari.
00:18She is quoting me to me.
00:21Book, Book of Myths by Acharya Prashant.
00:26Chapter, Myth of Guru.
00:31And now opens the quote.
00:34Everything in life is Guru.
00:37Some get it through dancing, some get it through singing,
00:40some get it through serving somebody
00:42and some get it through listening to a man.
00:45But that does not mean that the man is somebody special.
00:50Acharyaji, I was discussing some knowledge
00:53with one of our friend who knows that I am following you.
00:58He was so stubborn that he does not need a Guru
01:02because he will learn from life directly on his own.
01:06Also, he asked if he is able to get knowledge from many people
01:11then why should he subscribe to one person.
01:14I could not convince my friend on how a Guru is essential in life
01:20even as there is a possibility to learn ourselves from life.
01:26Acharyaji, kindly guide.
01:28What kind of friends do you keep Parameshwari?
01:32The guidance is to earn a decent circle of friends.
01:40This is the guidance.
01:45If you continue to maintain
01:52the same old environment that you have been living in,
02:01inner change would remain impeded.
02:15I am not saying this because your friend is disputing the need of a Guru.
02:29In fact, factually speaking, what your friend is saying is more correct
02:36than what you are saying.
02:48The reason is different.
02:54Listening to someone is not a matter of a fashion or trend or cult or craze.
03:05It is a deep inner need and love.
03:12Otherwise really, what is the need to listen to somebody?
03:24It happens when there is a real need.
03:29Yes, obviously it is possible to learn from life.
03:33The question is not whether it is principally possible to learn from life.
03:39The question is, are you among friends who have really learned from life?
03:46So somebody says, is it not possible to learn directly from life?
03:50Yes, it is possible, but have you?
03:55Sir, is it not possible that I may learn from life directly on my own?
04:01Yes, obviously it is possible.
04:02But look at your face.
04:03Have you?
04:06Have you?
04:07If you have, then why are we even talking about all this?
04:12And if you haven't, why are we even talking about all this?
04:23Obviously, you have quoted me and I have been very assertive, eager and open.
04:39In saying that life itself is a great teacher.
04:48That the one who is eager to learn will learn from this, that and the opposite of this and the opposite of that.
04:59But are you that person who would learn from this, that and the opposite of this and the opposite of that?
05:05Are you the one?
05:07Have you done that?
05:08Look at your life.
05:09I said, look at your face.
05:12If you are indeed the one who could learn from the mosquito and the pig and the pigeon and the crow.
05:19Wonderful.
05:21But are you that person?
05:27Are your friends of that quality Parameshwari who are able to learn from the mosquito and the pig?
05:37And from the wall and the stall?
05:45And from the mountain and the river?
05:53Now, first of all, these aren't people of the kind who would learn anything from anybody.
06:05Secondly, they do not even have the basic inclination to learn.
06:25When that need, when that great love arises, only then do you approach somebody to learn.
06:36If that need or that love is not there.
06:41You will have a thousand arguments against learning.
06:45You will say, I'll be able to learn from here and there.
06:57A fellow came and he said, you know, I learn from the birds.
07:02When they are chirping, I learn so much.
07:07Now, this fellow cannot learn even when somebody is speaking in Hindi or English, the languages he knows.
07:17But the bugger says that he is able to learn when the bird is crowing.
07:30The noise of the insects teaches him so much.
07:34And he is the one who has never been able to understand something.
07:38When a man has offered advice.
07:48Or a kid has come up and said something.
07:55But it's a great defense against learning.
08:00It's a great defiance of truth.
08:05It is a great way to remain secure in your ignorance.
08:19When Ganga is flowing in front of you, you may say, oh, there is enough moisture in the air.
08:26I will condense the moisture from the air.
08:33Collect a few drops and drink.
08:35Why do I need to go to the Ganga?
08:37The air is all around me and the air has moisture.
08:42So I drink directly from the air.
08:48You drink through your throat, I drink through my lungs.
08:51I breathe in and that is drinking.
08:58This man is just afraid of water.
09:02He has become so insensitive to his own parched throat that all he knows is to make stories.
09:21Acharyaji, I was discussing some knowledge with one of our friend.
09:26This is extremely mediocre, Parameshwari.
09:30This is the typical middle class drawing room story.
09:37Discussing some knowledge.
09:39Where did you get it from?
09:41I never doled out knowledge to you, Parameshwari.
09:47What I have told you is something very sacred and more importantly, very, very intimate.
09:57It is something between you and me.
09:59You turned it into marketable knowledge and you started discussing it with all and sundry in your drawing rooms and that too with unworthy people.
10:12When I speak to you, it's a love affair.
10:17And you exposed the affair to strangers.
10:22Can there be a greater crime?
10:27You will go around tomtoming in the world.
10:30I am having an affair with Acharyaji.
10:35This is what you have done.
10:38And I never pardon this thing.
10:49When it is between me and you, how did you reveal it?
10:57I was discussing some knowledge with one of our friend.
11:02Whenever these friends come in, then there is a big problem.
11:15Who knows that I am following you?
11:20Now, what do you want to do?
11:22You want to create a long tail?
11:28A long tail of 40 people of which the first is Parameshwari.
11:32And then the next one is Parameshwari's friend.
11:35And the next one is the friend of friend.
11:38Essentially, you want to retain the old extended family.
11:46And you just want to add Acharyaji to that family, right?
11:49Your old circle of friends should remain and Acharyaji should get added to it.
12:05You know the tradition in your country, Parameshwari.
12:10The woman leaves her family when she finds the Lord.
12:21Then she goes to his place.
12:24Or does she carry her brother and servant and dog along?
12:36Would you go to the Lord with your entire village?
12:44I am the bride and this is the dowry.
13:00Why are you so insistent on retaining these friends?
13:04And not only are you insistent on retaining these friends,
13:07you are also exposing me in front of them.
13:10Do I speak to everybody in MAG?
13:13No, I speak only to those who pay up.
13:22Am I talking to all and sundry on the road?
13:25No, those are other occasions.
13:36I was discussing some knowledge with one of our friends.
13:44Who knows that I am following you?
13:53Like girls, teenage girls gossiping about their latest affairs with each other.
14:00You know she knows I am doing this these days.
14:03She knows my things, I know her things and we share a little bit.
14:18He was so stubborn that he does not need a Guru.
14:23Why were you convincing him that he needs a Guru?
14:25Am I running some kind of cult?
14:33You are convincing him that he needs me.
14:36Now you come and convince me as well that I need him.
14:41How are you so sure that I will admit him?
14:47Do I admit everybody who comes knocking?
14:52Do I?
14:56Because he will learn from life directly on his own.
15:00Had he learned from life directly on his own,
15:03would he have befriended you Parameshwari?
15:20Now after this I know what you are going to do.
15:23Anushka is already smiling.
15:25You will write a long message and you will say,
15:27No Acharya ji, this is not what I meant.
15:30And you are unnecessarily scolding me all the time.
15:32But what are you doing all the time behind my back?
15:38I said these are intimate things Parameshwari.
15:40They are not to be revealed to strangers.
15:53At least they are not to be revealed to
15:56stubborn, indifferent and foolish strangers.
16:06You know in the Srimad Bhagavad Gita,
16:08Krishna warns Arjun very very clearly.
16:11He says if you utter even a word of this Gita
16:16to someone who does not have faith in me Arjun,
16:20then a curse will fall upon you.
16:26This is what Krishna says to Arjun.
16:31In the final stages of Gita, this is the advice and the warning.
16:35Arjun, if you utter even a word of this Gita
16:40to someone who does not have faith in me,
16:43then you will stand cursed.
16:45And here you say I was discussing some knowledge with one of our friend.
16:57Also he asked that if he is able to get knowledge from many people,
17:01then why should he subscribe to one person?
17:03If is a big if.
17:05If he is indeed able to get it from here or there,
17:09without or within,
17:11then obviously there is no need to listen to anybody.
17:15But it's a huge if.
17:19Has he been able to get it?
17:22And if he indeed has been able to get it,
17:24then congratulate him.
17:26And you too learn from him.
17:34I am fully in support of learning in all ways from everywhere and everybody.
17:43But I am not at all in support of foolishness and hypocrisy.
17:48Get the difference please.
17:51I am absolutely in support of learning from wherever it is possible to learn.
17:57But I am not at all in support of using the various avenues to learn to not to learn.
18:10Picking up one book and saying, you know,
18:13I would rather learn from the other book.
18:15And then picking up the other book and saying, you know,
18:17I would rather learn from the other book.
18:19What are you using all the books for?
18:23You are using each of the book to not to learn.
18:26Now this is what I strongly dislike.
18:42I could not convince him on how Guru is essential in life.
18:49You could not convince him, but you spilled the beans.
19:01Even though there is a possibility to learn ourselves from life.
19:05Guru is essential in life.
19:08So that this possibility may materialize.
19:16These are not contradictory statements.
19:20You are saying how is Guru essential in life?
19:23Even as there is a possibility to learn ourselves from life.
19:26But have you learned yourself from life?
19:30Possibility to learn by yourself remains merely a possibility.
19:41For most people, except if you are one in a million.
19:48A Guru is needed so that the possibility may gain fructification.
19:57Otherwise, at the level of possibility, we all are perfect.
20:02Potentially, we are all truth.
20:05Are we not?
20:07Potentially, we are all nothing short of the great Brahm.
20:12Just potentially.
20:16You won't live and eat and die in your potential.
20:20You live and eat and breathe and die in your practical reality.
20:24So don't talk of possibilities and potentialities.
20:28Talk of the fact of the practical life.
20:40Not everybody is to come to the Guru.
20:43Only those are to come to the Guru who first of all want liberation.
20:48And therefore, I'm asking you, why are you friends with those who do not want liberation?
20:54Liberation means flying away.
20:59But if you are friends with those who do not want to fly away, they will arrest your flight.
21:05Not only are they not liberated, they will prevent you to from being liberated.
21:11And when their time will come, they will find some teacher on their own.
21:20The teacher could be within, without. The teacher could be a man, a woman.
21:23The teacher could be living or dead.
21:25The teacher could be a book or an audio or a video.
21:28The teacher could be an insect or a bird.
21:30There could be one teacher.
21:33There could be one million teachers.
21:36Let them find on their own.
21:42Teachers appear immediately, very easily.
21:49It is the appearance of the student that is very, very difficult.
21:54And what is the point in parading the teacher to a non-student?
22:03If the teacher is there and the student is not there, it is an insult to the teacher, is it not?
22:12When I speak, I come in, I appear after all the students have assembled.
22:22So the student has to appear first and then the teacher appears.
22:27And it has never happened that the students have appeared and I have not appeared.
22:31Has it ever happened?
22:35So two things are there.
22:37One, the student has to appear first.
22:39And second, if the student has appeared, then the teacher will compulsorily appear.
22:47You are trying the opposite.
22:50The student is not at all there.
22:54And you are holding Acharya ji's hand and parading him in front of an indifferent crowd.
23:03By doing this, are you offering me respect, Parameshwari?
23:13I would be glad to appear not only in front of one or two or five people,
23:18but in front of thousands of people.
23:21When they are ready as students, then I'll appear in front of all of them and address them.
23:30So if you want me to appear in front of them, first of all, let them be ready as students.
23:38And not everybody would be a student.
23:41It requires a very high qualification.
23:44It requires a really loving mind to be a student.
23:48Mind your friend circle.
24:01And what I have said is not to be taken emotionally.
24:06Are you getting it?
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