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Video Information: 11.05.24, Vedanta Session, Greater Noida
Context:
Even as a man casts off worn-out clothes, and puts on others which are new, so the ego casts off worn-out bodies, and enters into others which are new.
Bhagavat Gita 2.22
The Truth (Self) cannot be cut by weapons; burned by fire; wetted by water and dried by wind.
Bhagavat Gita 2.23
~ How to know what to choose?
~ What should one learn from Arjun?
~ What makes Arjun worthy?
~ How to attain perfection?
~ Why is there so much difference in what we say and what we do?
~ Is visiting temples makes one religious?
~ What is the real meaning of Dharma?
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: 11.05.24, Vedanta Session, Greater Noida
Context:
Even as a man casts off worn-out clothes, and puts on others which are new, so the ego casts off worn-out bodies, and enters into others which are new.
Bhagavat Gita 2.22
The Truth (Self) cannot be cut by weapons; burned by fire; wetted by water and dried by wind.
Bhagavat Gita 2.23
~ How to know what to choose?
~ What should one learn from Arjun?
~ What makes Arjun worthy?
~ How to attain perfection?
~ Why is there so much difference in what we say and what we do?
~ Is visiting temples makes one religious?
~ What is the real meaning of Dharma?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00The verses we take up today have been considerably quoted in popular culture
00:29and equally misinterpreted and misrepresented.
00:41In Bhagavad Gita chapter 2 verse 22, it says even as a man casts off worn out clothes and
01:02puts on others that are new, so the embodied one casts off worn out bodies and enters into
01:13others that are new.
01:22Now the confusion stems from not correctly seeing who is this embodied one, who is this
01:36embodied one.
01:42The analogy goes this way, just as a man casts off his old torn or soiled clothes and puts
01:53on new ones, similarly the embodied one keeps on taking various bodily forms.
02:06Who is this embodied one?
02:10In Vedanta, the self, truth, Atma does nothing as is evident in the previous few verses
02:36and in the ensuing ones.
02:40It neither does anything nor can anything be done to it.
02:46The reason is simple.
02:50The entire field of subjects and objects and all relationships between them, all actions
03:00of the subject, all perceptions, all actions of the objects, all perceptions of the subjects,
03:11action reaction pairs, the entire flow of time, all this belongs to the field of Prakriti
03:26and Atma, self, truth.
03:32If the one that is not contained in the field of Prakriti, neither as object nor as subject,
03:56it neither moves nor sees any movement.
04:07It neither acts nor reacts and that is the reason why Shri Krishna has been emphasizing
04:22in this series of verses that Atma neither kills nor is killed.
04:32In verse 23 he says and it's a very famous verse that the truth, the self cannot be cut
04:46by weapons, burned by fire, wetted by water or dried by wind.
04:58No object can act on it nor is the self the actor.
05:13All kinds of pairs of dualities and all triads belong to Prakriti.
05:33If you see the mover, if you see the moved one and if you see movement, all three are
05:41contained in Prakriti.
05:49If there is the knower, if there is the known one and if there is knowledge, all this is
05:55within Prakriti.
06:00The killer, the killed one and the killing, all this is within Prakriti.
06:13And what is within Prakriti with respect to you, the ego, is just your bondage.
06:29To whom are these words being spoken?
06:33To the one in bondage, to Arjun, to the one who is suffering in want of liberation.
06:44What exactly is the bondage of the ego?
06:51Everything in Prakriti.
06:55You have to get the logic very neatly else you too might fall prey to the same kind of
07:06misinterpretations that have been going round and round.
07:21To the ego, Prakriti is bondage.
07:28If Prakriti is taken as an end, taken as a medium to attain liberation, Prakriti is very
07:41much alright.
07:45But to think of Prakriti as an end in itself, as the destination, as a finality, as an absolute,
07:56is a huge mistake that we are prone to make.
07:59This mistake is called avidya.
08:05This ego starts taking stuff in Prakriti as its destination.
08:15If I can get that, whatsoever is out there or in here, doesn't matter, in out everything
08:21is Prakriti.
08:24Right left everything is Prakriti.
08:28If I can get something from here or something from there or everything out there, then I
08:34will be at peace or I will be joyful.
08:39This is a cardinal mistake called avidya.
08:43Also, to the ego, Prakriti represents bondage.
08:48That does not mean that Vedanta repudiates Prakriti or relegates it to an inferior position
09:06or talks of it in pejorative terms, no.
09:17It just says that Prakriti cannot be the goal of your life, that's all.
09:27It does not say Prakriti is something worthless or that Prakriti being the bondage is an enemy,
09:35no, no, not at all.
09:39Prakriti is neither worthless nor an enemy.
09:52It is rather the only means available to you to achieve your destination and since it is
10:00the only means possible to you, therefore, you have to respect it.
10:05Therefore, in Vedanta, Prakriti has a very special place.
10:10On one hand, it is called maya, that which limits you and confounds you, troubles you.
10:28On the other hand, it being the only means for your salvation, it is also worshipped.
10:39If you take Prakriti as your destination, then you have been charmed by maya, trapped, ensnared.
10:55On the other hand, if you are respectful towards Prakriti, if you can just watch Prakriti and
11:05her ways without interference, without the intention to exploit, having the most respectful
11:17attitude, then Prakriti is a great help and therefore, it is worshipped.
11:25It is worshipped as Devi, Shakti.
11:30That does not mean that Prakriti has two faces.
11:35It only means that you can have two possible attitudes.
11:40If your attitude is stupid, then Prakriti to you is the greatest trap possible.
11:51Then to you, Prakriti will be called as maya.
11:57But if you have some restraint and respect, then to you, Prakriti is a blessing, a great
12:07help, an uplifting hand, a beneficial resource.
12:19Resource is too little a word to be used.
12:23Hence we said blessing.
12:31Prakriti to you then is Devi Shakti.
12:36So let's be very clear, Vedanta does not condemn Prakriti.
12:41Vedanta is not disrespectful towards Prakriti.
12:46In fact, Vedanta is concerned with the liberation of the ego.
12:53Therefore, whatever is to be said is said to the ego.
13:00There is nothing in Prakriti as such that can be even addressed.
13:04So no point being respectful or disrespectful.
13:10It is the ego that is being taught to look at things rightly and things denote Prakriti.
13:19Are you getting it?
13:22Also to the common man, to the ego, Prakriti is a charm, a trap, a snare, a noose.
13:44And what is the characteristic of Prakriti?
13:48Anything that ever took birth, took shape, took form is Prakriti.
13:58Anything that is perceptible through senses is Prakriti.
14:07And even the senses are Prakriti.
14:10So we said all subject-object pairs are Prakriti.
14:21Having seen that, you are said that now you must realize that your bondage is improper
14:31association with Prakriti.
14:35Prakriti is not the bondage.
14:41The cause of bondage is your own false perception, your own clouded vision.
14:51You could not see what the world inside and outside is all about and therefore, you got into false relationships,
15:00improper association.
15:05That is at the heart of all your troubles, improper association.
15:11That object in itself is neither good nor bad.
15:16It is the nature of relationship that you have with that object that renders that object
15:24either useful or harmful to you.
15:29In itself, the object means nothing.
15:32There has to be somebody to whom the meaning holds good.
15:37Otherwise, the object cannot have any meaning.
15:40The moment you say that object has a meaning, good, bad, pretty, ugly, the Vedanti will ask,
15:48to whom?
15:50To whom?
15:52Useful, useless?
15:55To whom?
15:57So objects do not carry meanings.
15:59It is the ego that is vested with the responsibility to find the right meanings in objects
16:09and we fail to do that.
16:11We fail to do that.
16:17We load objects with meanings that they cannot carry.
16:22All objects are finite.
16:26No object is capable of carrying the burden of infinite meaning on itself.
16:38But we look at an object, are charmed by it
16:48and start projecting the infinite on it.
16:53The object would crumble.
16:55The object cannot stand infinite load.
17:00When the object crumbles, the ego blames the object.
17:09Are you getting it?
17:11Therefore, it is very important to see things as they are
17:21which basically means that when something starts appearing very important,
17:30you must make sure to know its exact location.
17:37It is appearing so important.
17:41Is it really the sky or is this something in the field of the earth?
17:49Where is it really located?
17:55If you can see something in its right location,
18:01you will cease to be enamoured.
18:08It is only when you forget the right address of something,
18:13do you start thinking of it as something from the skies.
18:19Shri Krishna is telling Arjun the right address of things.
18:25Arjun, all these that you are looking at,
18:32they are just the ego and its objects.
18:38None of them is the truth.
18:41None of them is the self, the Atma.
18:44And if they are the ego and its objects, they belong to Prakriti.
18:48How have you forgotten that Prakriti is your bondage?
18:53You are giving so much consideration to your bondage.
18:56Are you such a fool?
19:03What is the body? An object to the ego.
19:13The ego is the subject, the body is the object.
19:16Just as everything else is an object to the ego,
19:19the body too is an object to the ego.
19:23There is nothing,
19:26neither in the body nor in the ego,
19:29that is to be valued so much.
19:32But Sir, what is to be valued then?
19:35To you, only your liberation is valuable.
19:39But instead of your liberation,
19:42you are taking all these people standing in front of you
19:47as holding infinite value.
19:52Great value, infinite value belongs only to your own liberation.
19:56It does not belong to those bodies out there.
20:01If those bodies have value,
20:05then even the clothes that you are wearing, Arjun,
20:08they have great value.
20:12Those bodies are objects to the ego
20:16in just the same way as your clothes are objects to you.
20:25How much importance do you want to give to your clothes?
20:32But you are treating these clothes as the absolute
20:38and hence you are forgetting your duty towards the absolute.
20:46You are mislocating the absolute.
20:51You are seeing the absolute where it is not.
20:56You are seeing the absolute in the bodies
20:59of those who stand out there to fight you.
21:04The absolute does not belong there
21:07and of value is only the absolute.
21:10Therefore, you should not hesitate in fighting them.
21:14There is no value,
21:16not in their body, not in your body,
21:19not in the preservation of their ego,
21:22not in the preservation of your ego.
21:25The value lies only in liberation.
21:28Do what is needed for your liberation.
21:32Getting it?
21:40The self is too big to wear any clothes,
21:44let alone cast them aside and put on new ones.
21:48So let nobody say that the verse
21:53talks of the Atma
21:59taking on bodies and then discarding them in due course
22:02and then entering new bodies.
22:04How can the infinite enter a finite body?
22:11If the great self is infinite,
22:13how will it enter a puny body?
22:18But that's the way the verse has been interpreted.
22:21The great self lives inside the body
22:24and then it keeps on changing bodies.
22:27The body is a thing in Prakriti
22:30and the great self by definition
22:33has nothing to do with Prakriti.
22:35How will it ever enter an object in Prakriti?
22:37This body is Panch Bhoot,
22:40just material, physical elements.
22:45How can the infinite,
22:48the untouchable, the unthinkable,
22:51the unimaginable
22:54enter water,
22:57fire,
23:00sand,
23:03such things?
23:08So there is no way that Atma,
23:13which is the highest truth in Vedanta,
23:16takes on bodies or discards them.
23:24No, that's not the meaning here.
23:27Subject-object pairs are all located within Prakriti.
23:33Who is the eternal subject?
23:36The ego.
23:39The ego tendency is the eternal subject
23:43and on coming in touch with different objects,
23:52it takes different names, different forms.
24:00Whatsoever you call as sentient
24:03is nothing but a form
24:06taken on by the ego tendency.
24:11And depending on the form,
24:13the sentient being
24:16thinks of an identity for itself.
24:22So the goat will say, I am a goat.
24:26The tiger will say, I am a tiger.
24:28The man will say, I am a man.
24:30I am a woman. I am old. I am sick.
24:32I am hungry. I am rich.
24:35What is common in all these? I am.
24:38This I am is the eternal ego tendency.
24:42It is the eternal subject in Prakriti.
24:46The eternal subject in Prakriti,
24:49not to the Prakriti, within Prakriti,
24:51is the ego tendency, I am.
24:56I am.
24:58And it is the eternal subject,
25:00so it relates to different objects.
25:03When it relates to different objects,
25:08it attaches a predicate to I am.
25:11So, I am goat.
25:15I am sand.
25:18In its own way, the sand particle is conscious.
25:21I am sand.
25:24I am the tiger. I am the bacteria.
25:27I am the insect.
25:33Getting it?
25:34What does Prakriti comprise of?
25:37The eternal ego tendency and
25:40an eternal, infinite
25:44number of objects.
25:48That's Prakriti.
25:50Dualistic.
25:51Subject and object.
25:55That ego tendency,
25:57in combination with different objects,
26:01takes on different names.
26:06All the objects are
26:09in the field of, in the sway of time.
26:13Therefore, they rise in time
26:16and they fall in time.
26:19This, in common parlance, is called birth and death.
26:26Irrespective of the object that the ego tendency
26:29has attached itself to,
26:31there would be a dissociation in time.
26:37And then there is some other object
26:40that the tendency attaches itself to.
26:42The process is obviously not linear.
26:45At any given moment,
26:47the tendency is attaching itself to billions of objects
26:51and at the same time there are
26:53billions and trillions of dissociations called deaths.
26:57It's all happening concurrently.
27:00It's not as if it's one thing
27:02that is sequentially attaching and detaching itself
27:06to a chain of objects.
27:14Are you getting it?
27:17So, Shri Krishna is saying all this is in the purview of Prakriti.
27:22And Prakriti is not your destination, Arjun.
27:27Your destination is up there.
27:29Why are you so besotted with something that is happening down here?
27:35And Arjun would say, but Sir,
27:37I too am down here.
27:39So, why should I not be concerned with what is happening here?
27:43Krishna would say, you are here,
27:45but you are not to remain here.
27:49Therefore, you should relate
27:52with this dimension in a way
27:55that liberates you from this dimension.
28:00It's a beautiful thing that he is saying.
28:03He is saying, relate to be liberated.
28:11Or relate to liberate.
28:15Or put completely,
28:17relate to liberate and be liberated.
28:25Are you getting it?
28:40What is to be done with this universe around us?
28:44Despise it, loathe it, condemn it, spit at it
28:48and say, oh, this is such a despicable thing.
28:55This has put me in chains and enslaved me.
28:58Do this.
29:02Wallow in it, chew it, munch it,
29:05embrace it.
29:15Be all over it.
29:18Let it be all within you.
29:21What? Neither of these.
29:24Know that you are stuck here.
29:27At the same time, only this will take you out.
29:32You are stuck here.
29:34You are stuck within it.
29:36But the way out
29:40is through the maze.
29:43Like being lost in a jungle.
29:48You are lost in the jungle,
29:50but the way out is through the jungle.
29:56Nobody is going to airlift you.
30:01You have to befriend the jungle,
30:07the woods, the animals, the birds, the grass,
30:11the terrain, the winds.
30:17You must befriend all of them.
30:19And when you befriend them,
30:21they show you the way out.
30:28Equally, you must neither resign to your fate and say,
30:32now that I am inexorably trapped,
30:37let me just build a little hut here.
30:43Getting out is out of question.
30:46Therefore, just let me settle down peacefully.
30:51Nor are you to get angry at the jungle
30:56and burn it down or hack it down.
31:01You are not to be enchanted.
31:08You are not to settle down.
31:10You are also not to burn it down.
31:14You are to befriend it.
31:19You have to ask the leaves and the twigs,
31:28the rabbits and the wolves,
31:34what is the secret?
31:37Where does all this come from?
31:40And how does one get out of here?
31:44That's the way of Vedanta.
31:48That's what Shri Krishna is trying to teach Arjun
31:51in his own way.
31:55Arjun is bewitched.
32:05Arjun is under a spell.
32:09The spell comes from the body,
32:14the experiences, the society,
32:18the whole game of upbringing,
32:23the panorama of experiences, relationships.
32:28Shri Krishna is saying,
32:31all of that is within the jungle
32:37and your home is in the sky.
32:44Where you stand, Arjun, at this moment in time,
32:50this is your home.
32:52Where you stand, Arjun, at this moment in time,
32:57this battle is your only way to meet the sky.
33:14Providence has brought you to a point
33:19where if you now refuse to fight,
33:22you are refusing to be liberated.
33:33The importance that you are giving to your relatives
33:37and to your relationships is misplaced.
33:41That importance duly belongs
33:45to right action,
33:48not deep emotion.
34:01Getting it?
34:03You are bemoaning death as a great tragedy.
34:10No, death is not a great tragedy, Arjun.
34:14The great tragedy is life in bondage.
34:22But you are acting as if
34:26you are living a life in bondage.
34:29But you are acting as if
34:36these bodies falling
34:40would be the greatest sorrow possible.
34:45No!
34:46The greatest sorrow
34:49is when the body keeps upright and acting and walking
34:59in chains.
35:08In the effort to be free,
35:13if the body falls,
35:16that can hardly be called as a tragedy.
35:24Tragic is when
35:27the fettered body
35:33makes peace
35:37with the chains
35:42and makes no attempt
35:46to be free
35:49in the fear that an attempt to be free
35:54might bring about
35:58pain or destruction to the body.
36:03You are making a very fundamental mistake, Arjun.
36:08You are treating
36:11the field of Prakriti as more important
36:17than the truth, the sky,
36:21the joy of liberation.
36:26Your emotions are Prakriti, their bodies are Prakriti,
36:30your memories are Prakriti, your relationships are Prakriti.
36:35You cannot care for them beyond a point.
36:38You cannot think of them as the maximum.
36:44The maximum is none of these.
36:59But
37:02look at the fantastic irony.
37:07The verse that was meant
37:11to emphasize to Arjun
37:14that the Atma, the truth
37:19is beyond everything material including the material body.
37:23The same verse has been repeatedly used to prove
37:30that the Atma is beyond everything material
37:35that the Atma wears the body.
37:46Can irony get more delicious than this?
37:57Since centuries and today, everywhere this verse is quoted to prove
38:04that the Atma is eternal and it keeps
38:09taking on and discarding bodies.
38:13When one body is done, the Atma enters some other body.
38:17That's the way this verse has been used.
38:19Whereas, this verse is intended to show exactly the opposite
38:25that the Atma will remain always untouched by bodies.
38:29The entity that is in play with bodies is the Jeevatma, the ego,
38:36the embodied one.
38:39Shri Krishna uses the word Dehi.
38:46Even etymologically means limitation
38:52and the great self is unlimited.
38:55How can
38:59Dehi be used to mean Atma?
39:03There is no way.
39:05But that's the way of popular culture.
39:08It appropriates even the highest of texts
39:12to uphold its own assumptions, beliefs, traditions,
39:20biases.
39:25I have a bias.
39:27Therefore, I look at a sacred text
39:32and deliberately misinterpret it in a way that upholds my bias.
39:37Is the text really sacred? No.
39:41The fact is my bias is sacred to me.
39:44That is the way of the ego.
39:46For the ego, nothing is more important or sacred than itself.
39:54Hmm.
40:10So, the bodies are burnt.
40:13The truth is not.
40:15That's the next verse.
40:18You can neither dismember the truth nor burn it, wet it or dry it.
40:25All these things happen to objects in Prakriti.
40:31So, if something can be killed,
40:36it is anyway not the truth.
40:42If something can be done to something,
40:46that something is anyway not the absolute.
40:49The absolute is absolutely impregnable.
40:55Nothing in Prakriti has any command over the absolute.
41:02These arrows
41:07are not even pinpricks to the Atma.
41:12And you are so mournful
41:14and you are so mournful that with these arrows you will be able
41:21to cut a great thing apart. No.
41:25The thing that will be cut apart by your arrows
41:30is anyway just some material object in the Prakritic field.
41:39Not worth grieving for.
41:45The real is not vulnerable to your arrows, Arjun.
41:58When you say, oh I don't want to kill, you are pretending as if you can kill.
42:04The thing is, you cannot kill.
42:08That which you are calling as killing
42:11is nothing but a child's play
42:18happening since aeons in the Prakritic field.
42:25Shri Krishna is not saying kill.
42:28On the contrary, He is telling Arjun, you cannot kill.
42:32Therefore, shoot the arrow.
42:35Anyway, nobody is going to be killed.
42:38Those who will be killed are unreal and the real cannot be killed.
42:44Therefore, why do you blame yourself?
42:47Why do you grieve and repent and hesitate?
42:51Just shoot the arrow.
42:54No killing is possible at all.
43:03Are you getting it?
43:08Do it because it is needed, Arjun.
43:12Do it selflessly, Arjun.
43:15Do it as the highest service.
43:24Do it as an absolute joy.
43:27Come on, do it for fun, Arjun.
43:29You are not playing.
43:39You are playing.
43:42Not playing is the mistake that you are making.
43:54Right now, you are suffering, Arjun, and the reason is not that you are committing a sin.
44:00The reason is that you are taking this little sport, this momentary drama, too seriously.
44:15That is the reason you are suffering.
44:17Your understanding of your suffering is flawed.
44:30You are thinking that it is the horrible load of the moment that is crushing you down.
44:44There is nothing momentous happening right now.
44:49What is happening right now has been happening since eternity and even at this moment it is happening everywhere.
44:56Things are rising, things are falling.
44:59Nothing unique, nothing special is happening on this battlefield.
45:03But you are suffering and the reason is incorrect interpretation.
45:08You are assuming something extremely significant is happening here.
45:13Nothing of any significance is happening here.
45:16Just play.
45:18You are not supposed to fight.
45:23Just play.
45:26The real is anyway beyond your comprehension, beyond your reach and beyond your arrows.
45:34So then what are you to do?
45:37Just play with these little toys that you have. Come on!
45:43And you are suffering just as a kid suffers when he doesn't get to play.
45:56You are being too serious a kid, Arjun.
46:07Are you getting it?
46:13Irrespective of how important something appears, its importance is always limited.
46:21Of unlimited importance is only that, the one, the destination.
46:29Therefore, never hesitate.
46:33Never hesitate.
46:37Even the object that carries the greatest importance in this entire universe
46:48has the value of a particle of sand in front of the infinite.
47:07When you understand, then you don't dimmer.
47:17Getting it?
47:22What is the value of the highest number in front of infinity?
47:26A upon B. B is infinity. A is open to your imagination.
47:39Give the highest number possible to A.
47:44What is the value of this fraction?
47:50Zero. Always zero.
47:52Always zero. Irrespective of how big your A is, A by B is always zero.
48:04There are only two kinds of people. Remember, those who look at A
48:12and those whose vision is a little broader, they look at A upon B.
48:18Whenever A starts appearing too big, open your eyes a little wider
48:31and look at A upon B. You will be saved.
48:35Else the moment will eat you up.
48:38In any moment, when any object in the entire universe starts appearing too big,
48:49its importance starts growing on you,
48:56then just ask, what is the value of A by B?
49:02The answer will save you.
49:08Otherwise, A can take colossal proportions.
49:20A trillion. A trillion. That's too much.
49:30It grows big on you. A trillion.
49:34Now just divide that trillion by infinity.
49:42The resultant, we said, will save you.
49:49Otherwise, there is so much in this universe that is so capable of swelling you alive.
50:04You will be gone in a blink.
50:13Don't you see how we refer to the universe? Oh, the eternal universe!
50:20How do you feel when confronted with a number like 10 to the power 44?
50:25I say, you know, this is the size of the universe in meters.
50:34And you are not even 2 meters.
50:3910 to the power 44.
50:42Or that famous Avogadro thing, 10 to the power 23.
50:46How do you feel?
50:49You have to count the zeros twice to be accurate.
50:54You feel so little, so small in front of so much in the universe.
51:03What will come to save you then? B.
51:07Now, A is something you cannot escape or avoid.
51:11A comes to you via all your senses.
51:15All your senses are bringing A to you all the time. They are not.
51:23B is something that you have to effortfully, with great love, remember.
51:32And that is what is called as constant remembrance.
51:37A need not be remembered.
51:42A is indispensable irrespective of where you go, whether you close your eyes, open your eyes,
51:50you look this way, you look that way.
51:53A will keep pouring in. That's the function of the senses.
51:57And if all the senses are closed, the mind will generate colossal A's through memory.
52:09So, A is a given. It will always be there.
52:13In the field of consciousness, A is always present as an object.
52:19B is not.
52:20A is not.
52:24B is not.
52:26So, we said there are only two kinds of people.
52:31Both the kinds have A, but only one of them have B.
52:40A is a compulsion. B is a choice.
52:46As long as the body is there, multiple A's will be there every moment.
52:57B is not compulsory.
53:04B is not automatic.
53:07B is a matter of love.
53:11B is a matter of paying the price.
53:17B is a matter of remembering that which you can so easily forget.
53:25B is a matter of not yielding to the fear or temptation of A's.
53:32B is the antidote to all kinds of A's.
53:40If you don't have B in your life, we said A's will swallow you alive.
53:50If you don't have B in your life, we said A's will swallow you alive.
54:03Right now, Arjun is in the process of being gobbled up
54:09by memories, emotions, social conditioning, fear.
54:19All these are swallowing him.
54:26And this is when he has someone standing right next to him
54:34who is the very incarnation of B,
54:38who is so much capable of bringing B to Arjun.
54:42And still you see, this is Maya,
54:45still you see Arjun is being forgetful.
54:49Arjun cannot look at the complete picture. He is looking at just the numerator.
55:19Therefore says, the self cannot be cut, burnt, wetted or dried.
55:24It is changeless, all pervading, unmoving, immovable and eternal.
55:29How to read it? Arjun, all that you are seeing in front of you,
55:34is there anything in it that cannot be cut, cannot be burnt, cannot be wetted, cannot be dried?
55:41Is there anything out there? No, nothing.
55:44Therefore, none of that is the self.
55:49The self cannot be cut, but whatsoever you are seeing Arjun in front of you, that can be cut.
55:55Therefore, it is not the self. Hence, it is not to be taken seriously.
56:01Come on kid! Pick up your toys and play.
56:05What are you being so serious about?
56:07See,
56:15the truth is attributeless, nirguna.
56:23But it becomes very useful when you say that all the attributes belong to the false.
56:32If you say the self cannot be cut,
56:35to you it does not hold any meaning because you have never seen anything that cannot be cut.
56:40Have you ever seen anything that cannot be cut? No.
56:43So, if you say the self cannot be cut, it is a beautiful statement.
56:46But to the ego, it is relatively less useful.
56:51It becomes far more useful when you just invert the whole thing.
56:56And you say, this means that everything that can be cut is just an object to the ego.
57:03Now I am liberated.
57:05I look at stuff that can be wetted or dried or created or destroyed
57:11and I will say, I am not going to take you seriously dude.
57:14Because you are not the self.
57:16Had you been the self,
57:20had you been the self, you could not have been cut or dried
57:25or picked or dropped or made or unmade.
57:34Since you can be made and unmade,
57:39remembered and forgotten, therefore you are not the self.
57:43Hence, I am not going to give you the maximum place possible.
57:48I will give you the right place.
57:50But the highest chair is reserved for somebody else.
57:55Not that I am going to throw my boot at you.
58:01Not that I am going to kick you away from my presence.
58:05But I am not going to give you the highest chair.
58:11I will befriend you.
58:15I will help you.
58:18Or I will seek help from you.
58:20That is the only light relationship possible between the two of us.
58:24Let me be of use in the process of your liberation
58:30and let you teach me something with respect to liberation.
58:34That is the only right relationship.
58:37So, that relationship the two of us can have.
58:41But I will not accord you the highest chair
58:45that belongs to somebody else.
58:50That's the way to read the Gita or the Upanishads
58:59or anything in the corpus of Vedanta
59:05or anything in the corpus of any philosophy that aims at liberation,
59:13which effectively means much of the Shraddha Darshan.
59:20The six classical philosophies,
59:25even Buddhism, even Jainism because they too aim at mukti or liberation.
59:29That is the way you read the verses, the sutras.
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