Video Information: Shastra Kaumudi, 20.12.2021, Rishikesh, India
Context:
~ Why an IITian loses focus - and what's the purpose of life?
~ Why there is so much suffering in life?
~ Do we suffer by our own choice?
~ How to avoid pain and suffering?
~ How to avoid to be socializing?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#acharyaprashant #IIT-KGP #suffering #socialising
Context:
~ Why an IITian loses focus - and what's the purpose of life?
~ Why there is so much suffering in life?
~ Do we suffer by our own choice?
~ How to avoid pain and suffering?
~ How to avoid to be socializing?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#acharyaprashant #IIT-KGP #suffering #socialising
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Namaskar Acharyaji. Namaste. My name is Rashi Goyal. I am a second year undergraduate student
00:08of the Department of Geology and Geophysics at IIT Kharagpur. So, my question to you is
00:15when we as an IITian, we had to pass through a phase where we have to be away from being
00:23socializing to in order to succeed, in order to clear our JEE advance, we need to be more
00:29focused towards our studies. But as soon as we enter college, we had a scenario in which
00:35we need to be a social person, we need friends, we need people to communicate or express our
00:40thoughts. But due to being a learner from a long time, it puts a lot of stress to adapt
00:47that habit of being a social person again. So, that affects our mental health. So, how
00:54to overcome this habit of not expressing oneself? So, Rashi, what you are saying is
01:01when you were preparing for the JEE, at that time, you didn't really socialize, you kept
01:08studying and now when you have entered, yes? Like when during the JEE times, what actually
01:17happens is we avoid attending marriage and parties. We avoid talking like we spend most
01:26of the time studying. Like when we wake up, we study, we go to coaching class, we do have
01:33some exams or tests and then we came home, we study again, then we sleep. This is whatever
01:40schedule is, but as soon as we enter college, we tend to have other things to do, like we
01:47need to make friends, we need to have someone to listen to our problems.
01:52Now, didn't you have problems when you were preparing for the JEE? What happened then?
01:58Who did you go to speak to? Like generally, we used to go to our teachers,
02:04we don't, we, because it was a competitive environment. So, we used to feel like to talk
02:11to a teacher is the best thing. But right now, we talk mostly to first towards with our friends and
02:19then we go to a teacher if it's a major issue. Okay, let me ask you something. How driven and
02:26focused did you feel at the time of JEE preparation? Now that you have cleared the JEE,
02:33you are in a good position to say, how driven were you?
02:39Like I mentioned, I was like completely into studies.
02:42Completely into studies, right? Yeah.
02:46And now after entering IIT? Like I am now bit relaxed that I had at least…
02:54Which semester are you from, Rashmi? Right now, I am in my second year. I will
03:00be having my fourth semester from January. If it's not very personal, may I ask your CGPA?
03:07Yeah, it's right now, it's near about 8.5. And 8.5 means what? DR 5, 10, 15?
03:19Sir, I am not sure about that.
03:27You would have been very sure of your percentile and rank when you were preparing for the JEE,
03:32right? What do they call it in IIT Kharagpur? They do not call it DR,
03:35departmental rank? What is it called there? We call it DR.
03:38You call it DR, right? So, the tradition continues.
03:43See, the thing is you had a purpose then. So, you did not need to socialize.
03:50And that purpose is bigger than the company of any of these friends and all.
03:59Now, you are in IIT and there are so many other things to do, we all know of them.
04:04So, you are saying, oh my God, I just kept studying, I did not develop my so-called soft
04:09skills. I am not very good at communication. I must talk a lot. I must be attractive to others.
04:20I must get the best company possible. And by best, what we mean is the most glamorous.
04:28What do you mean by social skills? You are a human being, right? You are a human being.
04:37If somebody is worth it, there would be a relationship. What do you mean by social skills?
04:46It is just the absence of a purpose now. Give yourself a purpose. You do not need to be great
04:55at socializing. Let the purpose decide the kind of company you are to get. And if you have a great
05:05purpose, you will get just the right company. What happens is once you enter IIT,
05:11what happens is once you enter IIT, placement is almost guaranteed.
05:21So, that bogey is off your mind. You do not have to clear the JEE once again.
05:31And because everybody gets into a relaxed mode once you enter the campus, therefore,
05:43even with very modest kind of effort, you can have a decent CGPA and a decent rank, right?
05:53That has been happening since ages. That has been happening across all IITs. So,
05:57you will have to agree to what I am saying.
06:04What you lack now is the same fire that you had at the time of JEE preparation.
06:12At that time, it was like, I have to get in and if I do not get in, I am losing on something very,
06:17very important. In contrast, right now, your statement is I already have what is important.
06:24Therefore, let me get into other things that offer pleasure and fun and excitement and the
06:32rest of it. No, you have not attained anything yet. Let that be very clear to you. Clearing the
06:40JEE is nothing. Clearing the JEE at best guarantees you bread and butter and an
06:48upper middle class kind of life. Does not mean much. There is a long distance to cover.
06:56And especially as a woman in Indian conditions, you have to keep sprinting.
07:03You cannot reduce your pace. You cannot let your guard down.
07:07You cannot start seeking company and socialization and relationships.
07:12Because, all of this ultimately leads to that one thing that we can call as the final bondage.
07:24Why do you want to go towards that? Be a scholar rather than the sensation on the campus.
07:34But that is what we want to be called, right?
07:35Mr. campus or Miss campus rather than the best scholar out there.
07:44And if you have to do something apart from your studies,
07:48there are so many co-curriculars to choose from. I am sure KGP campus offers at least
07:5810 different kinds of sports and great infrastructure, debating, dramatics.
08:08That is one good thing about being in an IIT campus. You get exposure to
08:15so many things that are usually not available to the common student.
08:20Excel in them, socialization, etc., carry next to zero value. And as I said, if what you are doing
08:31carries value and importance, socialization, the right kind of socialization will happen on its
08:37own. You will get the right kind of company, be totally devoted to your work and to your purpose.
08:44And some person or a group of persons cannot be the purpose in your life.
08:52I say that to everybody and when I am addressing a girl, I say that with heightened emphasis.
09:03Forget all this, please. I have seen
09:08what now an entire generation of IITians pass through in front of my eyes.
09:22Do not get into that same old kind of trap. It firstly leads to mediocrity
09:29and then it leads to bondages. Learn to excel, keep the fire burning.
09:37If you are in IIT, I am pretty sure your rank would have been in the top one percentile.
09:43Obviously, it has to be top one percentile or 1.5 or 0.5, whatever.
09:50So that benchmark has to be maintained. Tell me, since the last two years,
09:58what is it that you belong to the top one percentile of?
10:05JEE was the last thing you excelled at. Tell me, what is it that you have added to your KTE post
10:13the JEE? Are you one percent, top one percent in swimming, one percent in debating, in dramatics,
10:24in tennis, in what? And that which you are seeking now will push you, I said deeper into mediocrity.
10:43Do you want to be among those students of your class who used to obtain 50, 60, 70 percent or
10:5175, 80 percent and were satisfied with that? Do you want to be counted among them, please?
11:01No, sir. Yes. So, maintain the JEE like spirit throughout your life.
11:07You have to excel. Relationships and such thing,
11:13let the mediocre ones count them as their priority. Read, read a lot.
11:24You would have poured into the books and burned the midnight oil.
11:35And since entering the campus, how much have you really read? And even if you have read,
11:42I am sure it mostly belongs to the technical genre. Yes, sir.
11:49And the entire world's literature is waiting for you. When will you read that?
11:57When will you read that? And if you do not read that, do not you see,
12:01you will be missing out on so much?
12:03What can the company of a common second or third year student give you?
12:16Do not you want to learn from the great philosophers, the great writers?
12:23Do not you want to be with them? But you see, it is the body, we want a living being,
12:28the warmth of another living body, that is what this body craves for. So, even if
12:39you must have that, then let that be secondary to your purpose, goal and work.
12:50Choose the company of those who assist in your work.
12:54Choose the company of those who are aligned with your work.
13:01Persons must be way down in your priority.
13:09Remember who you are.
13:13You are someone who must excel. You are someone who must know, learn, realize and ultimately be
13:21liberated. And this fact of central identity of yours must govern all your life decisions.
13:38Acharya ji, as you said that we have to explore more on other fronts.
13:50I went through one of your videos wherein you mentioned that the two years of IIM achievement
13:56is you did not let the system get inside your head. How did you go about doing that? Because
14:04as you shared right now, as you answered Rashi's question, you mentioned that we have to keep the
14:10fire burning. We have to move forward in our 20s and the rest of our life. We should just keep
14:17learning. But the core idea or the core basis that we have got is the capitalistic basis,
14:24that everything has to have a capitalistic purpose and not just out of curiosity.
14:34See, most people excel only when that excellence leads to capital gains, only when that excellence
14:45leads to monetary benefits. You are right. And that is why so many people stop studying
14:51the moment they enter NIT or NIM or they at least are not at their best.
15:03That is because it is not studies fundamentally or books fundamentally or knowledge fundamentally
15:10that attracted them. What attracted them was the prospect of plum placements.
15:17The moment that placement is assured or obtained, the fire dies down, that should not be there.
15:26Remain the same person throughout your life, the same person that had not yet cleared the JEE,
15:34but was raring to clear the JEE. The same person who was sprinting and putting in 10, 12, 16 hours
15:46a day, that you cannot do if you are studying for the sake of money, because money will come.
15:55And once money comes, then you will be easily satisfied.
15:59Therefore, you must have a very, very high purpose in life, the kind of purpose that can never
16:04actually be fully attained. If it can never be fully attained, you will be working towards it
16:10all your life without ever having a final satisfaction that you have arrived.
16:17That dissatisfaction is extremely important. What is that final purpose I am referring to?
16:23What is that final purpose I am referring to? It is called realization or liberation.
16:28It is called annihilation of the ego. Now, annihilation of the ego just cannot happen
16:33directly. It has to happen through your life work. You have to choose your work
16:40in a way that it keeps diminishing your ego. And because the ego can never be fully,
16:46absolutely diminished, reduced to zero, therefore, you will have to keep the fire burning throughout
16:52your life. That is the method. Choose such a mammoth goal that you always have to be on your
17:02toes, that you never fall complacent, that you can never give yourself the liberty to say,
17:09now I am done and I can retire. I am getting it. This must be sounding a bit different from
17:20the usual things you hear. I understand that, but we are trying to keep it as lucid as possible.
17:28Keep coming, keep coming. So, you said that we have to take up a goal
17:37that we may never achieve. Yes. Isn't that something which, you know,
17:45if we are not here for, if we are not there to see our life's work, how will that keep the fire
17:54burning? Because ultimately we are a species that looks towards feedbacks. That's what your body
18:02does. And that's why I said it's important to not to listen too much to your body. The body wants
18:11attainable goals. The consciousness is in need of a goal that is extremely worthy, extremely lovable,
18:21even though unattainable. Consciousness has a deep need. Therefore, this is where love comes in.
18:34You must fall in love with what you do. More accurately, you must do something worth falling
18:44in love with. The final goal is within. The final goal is annihilation of the darkness and bondage
19:00within. But because it is within, it cannot happen directly, we said. So, you have to choose
19:10a series of projects so challenging that they keep resulting in your betterment.
19:22Externally, obviously, you cannot just choose a project that will never be finished.
19:27So, external projects, they will keep coming and going. And may you be successful at all the
19:33external challenges you pick up. But once a challenge is overcome, pick the next one. And
19:44what will be the next one? It will be decided by the previous one that you have just overcome.
19:50So, may you have a great series of successes in the external world. And all those successes
19:59lead to your final victory within. What is that final victory within? You must be just preparing
20:06to ask your next question. Sir, but you said that the internal goal can never be fully achieved.
20:11The internal victory is about continuously having worked in the right direction,
20:23in the inward direction. If you can manage to do that your entire life, you are a winner.
20:31And the direction is towards liberation of consciousness. Towards liberation of consciousness.
20:36Being hell bent, I want to see what all remains as a bondage in my life.
20:45I want to identify my hidden masters one after the other and keep negating them continuously.
20:53And there are just so many of them. There are just so many of them because internally,
20:59there sits someone who is very prepared to be a slave.
21:07Because here somebody is prepared to be a slave. So, masters come in great abundance.
21:15I will keep negating all those masters. I will keep negating the slavery within.
21:21I will keep reducing my tendency to be dependent, to be lazy, to be hungry.
21:29To be afraid, to be greedy. I'll keep identifying where my weaknesses lie. I'll
21:35keep challenging overcoming them. That's the great purpose one must have in life.
21:43Acharya ji, I have a follow-up question. Our great purpose is liberation. But how do we
21:51choose our own path? Or we can say, how to not be influenced by our surrounding, the bonds,
22:00our relationship with others, not just family, friends, the society we live in,
22:07our surrounding. How to identify who I am without getting influenced by others, external factors?
22:17When you say you want to identify who you are, if you are honest, you will realize you are the one
22:24who is already influenced by everybody. Influenced by everybody and driven by the body. So,
22:31enslaved doubly, driven by the body and influenced by all and sundry. That's who we are. So,
22:38identifying who we are is not very difficult. We are social creatures, we are physical creatures.
22:45And being either of them is no good at all. That's what. Now, you said, how do we identify
22:51the right work? You have to start from where you are. Your goal is liberation. But you are where
22:59you are. And whatever the destination might be, the first step has to be taken from your current
23:06location. Knowing your current location, honestly, accurately is very important.
23:14Do not keep yourself in delusion. And there will be a tendency to self-delude,
23:20because it hurts to know where you really are. We might think that we are in an amusement park,
23:29hmm, enjoying ourselves. And when you want to be a bit honest for a change,
23:40you realize you are in a prison cell. So, knowing where you really are is the first thing.
23:53And a very difficult thing, not because it is difficult to know where you are,
23:59but because it is difficult to acknowledge where you are, it hurts.
24:06So, acknowledge where you are, you will see how badly enslaved you might be.
24:13And then immediately you will know what to do. That is your work.
24:17If I know I am sitting on this sofa, and my leg has been chained to the leg of the sofa,
24:33do not I know what to do? So, my situation decides my immediate work.
24:41And the situation is invariably of bondage. We all are in bondage.
24:54So, that answers my question very rightly.