(Gita-18) Arjuna's Struggle: A Lesson in Life Choices || Acharya Prashant, on Bhagvad Gita (2023)

Acharya Prashant

🧔🏻‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquiry-gita-course?cmId=m00051  📚 Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?cmId=m00051  📝 Read 3 handpicked wisdom articles, just for you: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articles?cmId=m00051  ➖➖➖  #AcharyaPrashant #आचार्यप्रशांत #Philosophy #BhagavadGita  ➖➖➖  Video Information: 14.06.2023, Gita Samagam, Greater Noida  Context: ~ How is Arjun's emotional state described at the beginning of the video? ~ Arjuna's struggle in Kurukshetra  ~ From where did the Gita begin?  ~ How to overcome grief and be detached? ~ What is the final goal of the entire spiritual process?  तमुवाच हृषीकेशः प्रहसन्निव भारत ।  सेनयोरुभयोर्मध्ये विषीदन्तमिदं वचः ।।  Bhagavad Gita - 2.10  श्री भगवानुवाच  अशोच्यानन्वशोचस्त्वं प्रज्ञावादांश्च भाषसे।  गतासूनगतासूंश्च नानुशोचन्ति पण्डिताः ।।  Bhagavad Gita - 2.11  Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~

Transcript

00:00:00In the Bhagavad Gita, chapter 2, verses 10 and 11, so before we come to this point, we

00:00:29can say that Arjun has drowned himself in self-pity, sorrow, and made a declaration,

00:00:55I shall not fight and Arjun has been wallowing in his own self-appointed misery since quite

00:01:10a while now. Entire chapter 1, Vishadayog, and here we just said we are upon verse 10

00:01:26of the second chapter. So, Arjun sees no end. Arjun sees no possibility of swimming through

00:01:45or cutting a cross. He has resigned. And with a thump, he collapses on the floor of the chariot.

00:02:03My arms are unable to hold the bow and my mind is unable to hold its center.

00:02:15I resign. I just do not have it in me at this moment to know what is right and act

00:02:31with resolve. So, this is the only thing I can possibly do. Collapse in rejection, in total

00:02:47disappointment. And then speaks Krishan. And it's for the first time that we'll hear Krishan

00:03:05for the duration of this course. Come forth with insight, with sharp wit. The second verse of the

00:03:31day, 11, holds a very, very important teaching. So much so that I am tempted to say that if we can

00:03:41comprehend verse 11 of chapter 2, not much is thereafter left in the Gita to further comprehend.

00:03:53So, verse 10 just prepares the stage. It says, Arjun, situated as he was in the middle of the two armies,

00:04:13in his pitiful condition, is now spoken to by Krishna. And he smiles as he speaks the words that are now to come.

00:04:33There's nothing that reveals anything in this particular verse but for the smile. The smile is a symbol of aloofness.

00:04:48Arjun has sorrow, Krishna has a gentle smile, not a raucous laughter or something. A smile that indicates

00:05:01detachment. And that's very important because the gist of Arjun's condition is misplaced association.

00:05:16Misplaced because misunderstood. Whatsoever is misunderstood shall always remain. Be with me.

00:05:28It's your response that completes the loop and energizes me.

00:05:34Whatsoever is misunderstood in life shall always remain misplaced.

00:05:41You will not be able to give stuff its proper place if you do not understand. And what is it

00:05:48to understand? To know who you are and therefore to know what that thing is.

00:05:54There is nothing in your entire field of perception that is absolutely condemnable or fit for absolute rejection.

00:06:11Never to be touched at all. It says that you need to have a proper relationship with objects.

00:06:27That's what Arjun badly lacks here. He does not know what to do with the words of Krishna,

00:06:37he does not know what to do with the memories of the past and he does not

00:06:41know what to do with his weapons and what to do with all those warriors lined up against him.

00:06:55So Krishna smiles. That smile can come only when things are in their proper place.

00:07:03A smile of assurance. A smile of recognition and realization. A smile that says well nothing is at stake.

00:07:15That which matters has already been taken care of. That which needed to be decided always stood pre-decided.

00:07:24The war might be won, the war might be lost and it's quite possible Arjun might not even fight the war.

00:07:37Nothing is certain. Krishna has been respectful of Arjun's so-called free will.

00:07:47Quite possible Arjun might have decided to quit. The war wouldn't have happened at all.

00:07:55Duryodhana gets a walkover and a throne. Quite possible. Still Krishna is okay.

00:08:06The smile that says I'm okay. Events that happen here, they cannot touch the core of something.

00:08:17Obviously it's important to fight and I'll counsel with all my advice and insight that Arjun fights.

00:08:32Irrespective of whether Arjun fights, irrespective of what happens of the fight, what comes out of it.

00:08:39That unconditional okayness is the final goal of the entire spiritual process.

00:09:00So if I ask you to give a more classical name to that fundamental

00:09:06unconditional okayness, what would it be? Atma. So that's what Atma is.

00:09:19An unconditional

00:09:25assured state of mental centeredness. That's Atma.

00:09:35A cleanliness, a purity, a fullness or an absolute vacancy within.

00:09:52That no war, no peace, no this, no that, no victory, no defeat.

00:09:59Nothing can touch, nothing can alter it, nothing can spoil it, nothing can add to it,

00:10:04nothing can reduce it.

00:10:08If you have that, then you can play the game as Krishna does. If you do not have that,

00:10:15then you will be lost and troubled just like Arjun. That's the difference.

00:10:26There is nothing in Arjun as yet that's not formed of the world.

00:10:39As for Krishna, the world is the periphery of his being.

00:10:44He can go to the periphery, act there and coolly retire to his base, his home, his center.

00:10:58Arjun has no such shelter.

00:11:04Arjun has the world and only the world.

00:11:09And the nature of the world is such that sometimes

00:11:14it will offer you refuge and sometimes it will offer you refuse.

00:11:23Refuse, crap.

00:11:28And Arjun has come to a point when the world is appearing very unaccommodative, very hostile,

00:11:36very unfriendly and those things can happen. If that's happening to Arjun, to some extent that's

00:11:43happening to Krishna as well. But it won't affect Krishna. Krishna is perfectly ensured

00:11:56within. That's what Arjun lacks. Arjun cannot smile at such a moment. That's the difference between

00:12:04Arjun and Krishna. Krishna can still afford the smile.

00:12:13Do you see how expensive a mere smile can be?

00:12:18Arjun cannot afford it.

00:12:25You have to pay for that smile. The price is ignorance.

00:12:34Give up your ignorance as the price, just as you give money to someone for something precious.

00:12:40Similarly, you buy that smile by paying with your ignorance.

00:12:57What is it that Arjun says next? Krishna rather.

00:13:04Very important words and very likely to be misunderstood.

00:13:08He says, Arjun, all this while you have just been mourning for those who do not deserve

00:13:19to be mourned for. Yet, look at your words. You speak as if you are a man of wisdom.

00:13:28You are a man of wisdom.

00:13:35Had you really been a wise person, you would have grieved neither for the living nor for the dead.

00:13:45That's the mark of the wise. They do not grieve for the living or the dead. And now that's

00:13:51very curious. What does it mean to not to grieve for the living, not to grieve for the dead?

00:13:57What does Krishna mean when he says, you have been grieving for, crying for,

00:14:04mourning those who do not deserve it? What's the point?

00:14:10To understand all this, as we said, is to understand the very crux of Gita.

00:14:18So, who is a wise man? Basic definitions.

00:14:27Who is a wise man?

00:14:47What is the definition of a wise man?

00:14:49The first thing is to rephrase the question

00:14:58purely in terms of the three variables.

00:15:03Any question that I ask or life poses has to be reduced to those three variables.

00:15:10Otherwise, you will never get the right answer.

00:15:13In the beginning is the end. If you can be so attentive that any situation

00:15:24shows up as constituted of only those three, then you are home. Otherwise, you have lost

00:15:34the equation, the challenge, right in the beginning.

00:15:40So, who is a wise man? What's the first thing you should think of?

00:15:46The three. So, among these three, who's going to be wise or unwise?

00:15:51Very simple. But we forget. Therefore, it does not remain simple anymore. And that is the

00:15:58definition of simplicity. What is it to be simple? To remember. To remember is to be simple.

00:16:15Once it is remembered, it looks atrociously simple.

00:16:20But only when it is remembered. Once it is in front of you, once it is in the mind,

00:16:29you will say this is ludicrous. What's there in it? It's so straightforward, so obvious.

00:16:38But it's straightforward and obvious only when?

00:16:41Close your eyes, please. All of you, please.

00:16:47Keep them closed. How many fingers?

00:16:55Keep your eyes closed. How many fingers? Look at the damn complexity of the question. Not one

00:17:05among you noble fellows has been able to answer.

00:17:14More complex than the JEE paper. Beats the rigor of rocket science. How many fingers?

00:17:24Open your eyes. Ridiculous. There's two. There's two. And you still couldn't answer it.

00:17:35It's so easy. Obviously. But only when?

00:17:40Ridiculous. There's two. There's two. And you still couldn't answer it.

00:17:49It's so easy. Obviously. But only when?

00:17:54You see. That's the definition of simplicity. The simple man just simply sees. To be simple is to

00:18:03simply see. And then it becomes very difficult to explain to someone who just

00:18:10does not simply see. You have seen and the other one has not. Now how do you explain?

00:18:18My advice. Don't explain. Encourage him to see. Your explanations will never help.

00:18:28Keep your eyes closed. I'm trying to explain the number of fingers. Does it help?

00:18:35Does it help? The only thing that can help is, you know, if I can somehow encourage you or

00:18:43attempt you or whatever. Bring you to a point of seeing. And then I don't have to assist you.

00:18:52Then your powers are good enough for you. Just see. What is the definition of the simple man?

00:19:01He simply sees. Does it require great practice to see? Great skill?

00:19:11Great distinction? Qualification? What does it require?

00:19:16What does it require?

00:19:20The absence of a stubborn refusal to open your eyes.

00:19:28Why do people not see? Do they lack eyes? No. Rather they have something

00:19:35additional to the eyes. Over and above the eyes. What is that? A certain stubbornness.

00:19:43I do have eyes but I also have eyelids. I have something additional over and above. I have eyes

00:19:53and I have eyelids. And I'm so stubborn. I'll use the eyelids to block the eyes.

00:20:07Who is a simple man?

00:20:09Who does not misuse his eyelids?

00:20:13The eyelids are meant to wash the eyes.

00:20:18Not block the eyes.

00:20:25Are you getting it? Do you train a kid's eyes to see? Now seeing is that natural. You don't train

00:20:35a fish to swim. You don't train a kid to see. Seeing is as natural as breathing is to our organism.

00:20:46It just happens. That's the thing with entire spiritual realization. You cannot be trained for it.

00:20:54It just happens. Realization is to the mind. What breathing is to the lungs. Natural.

00:21:13Do you have super specialized lungs if you are able to breathe? Ought we congratulate you?

00:21:24She breathes. Let's felicitate her.

00:21:31Then why do you think it's a distinction if someone is able to see? There is nothing distinct

00:21:38about it. You remember what sage Ashtavakra was saying in the afternoon? Who was there?

00:21:45Oh, that's what. He's always speaking just that nobody was present.

00:21:56You're saying that that which even the gods plead for

00:22:05is so simply available to the realized man and yet he does not rejoice in it.

00:22:15The gods want it and yet do not get it. He said all the

00:22:25devatas, gods like Indra etc. Even they do not have what the liberated man has.

00:22:34The liberated person. Not man, woman, anything.

00:22:36And how does he have it? The answer is simply.

00:22:48No process, no method. It's just there. Realization is the very essence of consciousness.

00:22:58You don't have to train yourself in realization.

00:23:03You have to ask yourself why the hell are my eyelids so obdurate? That's the question you need

00:23:09to ask. In fact, even who am I might not be as useful as wonderful. Who am I not?

00:23:20Your task is not to stuff up but to clean up.

00:23:36But if you are stuffed up, the tendency is to further stuff up.

00:23:44So you have to go against the tendency.

00:23:57Right. So

00:24:02who is a wise man?

00:24:09Aham in love with Atma is wisdom.

00:24:21Aham to utilize all its relationships with Prakriti for the sake of Atma is wisdom.

00:24:32Aham might be in love with Atma.

00:24:40But where are all its relationships in the field of Prakriti? And they will remain.

00:24:50Aham is not an abstract concept. Aham is embodied. Aham is this. This is Aham.

00:24:58And if this is there, there will be relationships. You cannot be embodied and not related.

00:25:07What is wisdom? To use all your relationships for the sake of that. To realize that all

00:25:14relationships mean nothing in themselves.

00:25:23That all relationships are just means

00:25:29for a final purpose. For a high and sacred purpose. That purpose is realization, union, freedom.

00:25:43Liberation. Dissolution.

00:25:51Pick your favorite word.

00:25:56But to see that no relationship is an end in itself is very important.

00:26:02So what is it that Aham must rejoice in and who is it that Aham must grieve for?

00:26:23If that's the only relationship that must matter to the ego.

00:26:28If it has to grieve, what must it grieve for?

00:26:37If the world starts mattering too much to the ego, that's what must sadden the ego.

00:26:45Sadden the ego.

00:26:55Instead, we find reasons

00:27:04for celebration and dejection both within the world.

00:27:11We say there is something in the world which if attained

00:27:16is a matter of celebration and there are other things in the world which if occur

00:27:26are a matter of grief. That's not wisdom.

00:27:36Wisdom is to say if I lean to the left, I celebrate.

00:27:45And if I find myself

00:27:51tempted to the right, then I grieve. What is what is at the left?

00:27:59Atma. Truth. What is to the right?

00:28:03Being the ego, obviously there are things that are good for me, there is stuff that is bad for me.

00:28:22I can even say there do exist positives and negatives.

00:28:26There is something that I want to feel satisfied about.

00:28:34There is something that I want to feel worried about.

00:28:41But the distinction between what satisfies me and what worries me has to be right.

00:28:50I'll be satisfied if I have used my prakritic relationships

00:28:55for the sake of liberation from prakriti. That is a matter of satisfaction.

00:29:00And I'll be worried if I have sunk further into my relationships with prakriti, within prakriti.

00:29:12Are you getting it? If I have used my relationships well,

00:29:18the result will be that those relationships will bring me closer to liberation.

00:29:26If I'm using my relationships well, I'll be gaining progressive freedom from those relationships.

00:29:36And I'll rejoice.

00:29:38And I'll rejoice.

00:29:42And one mark that I do not understand myself or prakriti is that I will be misusing my relationships.

00:29:55I'll be sinking into them.

00:29:57It is for such a situation that King Bhartrihari said

00:30:02that you think that you are consuming the world but actually the world consumes you.

00:30:14Does the wise man have no relationships? No, he does have relationships.

00:30:23The wise man and the unwise man, they have something in common.

00:30:26They both remain related to the world.

00:30:31Then where does wisdom lie? How is the wise one different from the unwise one?

00:30:36The wise one knows that all relationships are for the sake of liberation.

00:30:42The unwise one thinks that the relationship exists for its own sake.

00:30:47If this thing is in my life, it is an end in itself. Wise or unwise?

00:30:54Quick.

00:30:57This is in my life and it is for its own sake. Wise or unwise?

00:31:01But you see I'm taking care of it. I have kept it proper.

00:31:05I have kept it proper for the sake of liberation.

00:31:07The unwise one thinks that the relationship exists for its own sake.

00:31:16Why? Only as long as it is bringing my words to you.

00:31:30So you are the end.

00:31:34One thing is I'm keeping it close to my chest even if it does not function.

00:31:41That's surely unwise.

00:31:44The next thing is this is bringing my words to you all so I'm keeping it close to myself.

00:31:53Wise or unwise? Still not wise.

00:31:59If I accept the second statement then this does not remain the end but you become the end.

00:32:05Even you are not the end.

00:32:06Just as this can be thrown away if it does not bring my words to you.

00:32:11Even you are not the end.

00:32:14If my words come to you and you decide not to engage with them

00:32:23then you should meet the same fate as a dysfunctional mic.

00:32:31Are you getting it?

00:32:32This is not an end. Nothing in the entire world is an end.

00:32:35Only liberation is the end. That's the mark of wisdom.

00:32:41What will I grieve over? I'll be grieved if I realize that this brings me

00:32:51no closer to my destiny than the end of the world.

00:32:56This brings me no closer to my destiny and still I have been forced to carry it on my head

00:33:07or on my chest. That's something that will concern me.

00:33:16Are you getting it?

00:33:20Tell me what does Krishna mean when he says,

00:33:22Arjun, you have been mourning for those who do not deserve to be mourned for.

00:33:27What does he mean?

00:33:34Tell me Arjun, how were these people

00:33:39assisting you in your quest for liberation? Please tell me.

00:33:44Yes, obviously, the wise man does weep.

00:33:51It's found melancholy often. But for what? For the truth. Not for the world itself.

00:34:04And even if the wise man is sad for another person,

00:34:11his statement of sadness will be, I am sad that this person has no love for the truth.

00:34:19I am sad that this person is not at all moving towards the truth.

00:34:24Are you getting it? So, even in his sadness, there shines love for the truth.

00:34:33He will be impatient. Yes. Can he be angry? Yes. Can he be envious? Even that is possible.

00:34:42But at the centre, he will be sad.

00:34:45Yes. Can he be angry? Yes. Can he be envious? Even that is possible.

00:34:53But at the centre of all this would remain the truth.

00:35:03He is present in the domain of Prakriti like anybody else.

00:35:08Any embodied being, he too is present there.

00:35:11So, all those relationships are there. Everything is there.

00:35:14But at the centre remains the truth. Now tell me, please Arjun,

00:35:19was truth at the centre of your relationship with those people that you grieve so much for?

00:35:33If you have to be sad, you have to be sad at your own condition.

00:35:37Your condition is of deep ignorance. Such deep ignorance

00:35:44that you are not able to benefit even from my presence.

00:35:50Instead, in your own little and funny way, you are trying to convince me of your stand.

00:36:00That's what you should be feeling sad about.

00:36:07I, as a teacher, stand right next to you and yet you have failed the opportunity.

00:36:18That's what you should be beating your chest for.

00:36:22Instead, you are sad about this and that, that will happen, this will happen,

00:36:26that person will be lost, that person will feel bad.

00:36:37It's like your house.

00:36:43With all the valuables, with all the money, with all the wealth,

00:36:48with all the valuables that you can have in life, has been set on fire.

00:36:58And you stand outside weeping and somebody asks you, what do you say?

00:37:02You say, oh, the paint will come undone.

00:37:12The problem is not that you are weeping. The problem is that you are not weeping.

00:37:17The problem is that you are weeping for something so petty.

00:37:21The problem is that you are so stupid that you do not even know what you have really lost out on.

00:37:37Anybody here who has not experienced sorrow today, to whatever degree?

00:37:45All of you experienced sorrow? Okay.

00:37:49Anybody who has not experienced anger, to whatever degree?

00:37:59All that is very okay.

00:38:01The problem is in the object of the sorrow.

00:38:08What are you grieving for, Arjun?

00:38:17You must have argued or quarreled with someone today.

00:38:23A low intensity quarrel maybe, but that happens, right?

00:38:26Anybody who didn't argue with anybody at all today?

00:38:32Not possible. The problem is not that you quarreled.

00:38:38The problem lies in what you quarreled for.

00:38:56What are you quarreling for?

00:39:12Missing something? Missing someone? Raise your hands, please. Honestly.

00:39:22Front bench, last bench. The movement too. Good.

00:39:27The problem lies in being forlorn, or feeling empty, missing something, somebody.

00:39:42The statement of problem is, what is it that I am missing?

00:39:50The path of bhakti, devotion is so much about just missing constantly.

00:39:57Missing, or virah, or vyog becomes a virtue there.

00:40:06The saints are constantly peeved by their separation.

00:40:15Oh, I am missing you. When will you come to me?

00:40:18Now that you have come to me, why are our meeting hours so limited?

00:40:25What does this remind you of?

00:40:30Which one?

00:40:34I am missing you so much and you have come only for a couple of hours and the day is about to break.

00:40:43What are you missing?

00:40:44Does Krishna say here, it's a bad thing, immoral thing to feel sad and grieve someone?

00:40:54Does he say this? What is it that he exactly says?

00:41:00Who does not deserve? That's what.

00:41:04Everything is alright in its proper place.

00:41:09Nothing is prohibited.

00:41:12You had good fun.

00:41:21You had good fun.

00:41:29Does that indict you? Must you be scolded for just that?

00:41:36But if you find Krishna scolding you for having fun,

00:41:40what's the probable reason?

00:41:49What was your fun made of?

00:41:54Who were you having fun with?

00:41:59He would say the same thing.

00:42:01Oh Arjun, you are having fun with those who do not deserve.

00:42:12Spirituality does not teach you to not to have fun and it does not teach you to not to shed tears.

00:42:19Shed tears for the?

00:42:21It does not teach you to not to shed tears.

00:42:24Shed tears for the right reason.

00:42:30Have fun with the right person.

00:42:36That's really inviting. Fun that liberates.

00:42:41Fun that liberates.

00:42:46That could be a byline for the last two SS sessions of the month.

00:42:51Fun that liberates.

00:43:00Fun that liberates.

00:43:02So the problem is not that you let your hair down and had fun on the beach or whatever.

00:43:15The question is what did that episode of fun making do to you?

00:43:25If that elevates you, go and have more fun.

00:43:34What is it doing to you? That's what matters.

00:43:45What's your relationship with all that?

00:43:50That's what matters.

00:43:52Be honest.

00:43:54For most of us, the world or relationships are similar to the ones that we have with fast food.

00:44:09You can have a fast food.

00:44:12You can have a drink.

00:44:14You can have fun.

00:44:16You can have fun.

00:44:18You can have fun.

00:44:20You order some fast food.

00:44:23How is the packet when it arrives to you?

00:44:29Neat.

00:44:31Tempting.

00:44:33Colorful.

00:44:37Everything in place, right?

00:44:41And then is a relationship of consumption.

00:44:4530 minutes later.

00:44:46What's the state of the consumed object?

00:44:50How does it look?

00:44:52The whole thing.

00:44:54Messy.

00:44:58The ketchup sachet.

00:45:02See how it looks once you have opened it.

00:45:07A few dots of red hair.

00:45:11A few dots of red hair.

00:45:16A little oregano sprinkled there.

00:45:27A few crumbs of bread.

00:45:33Left from the ravaged piece.

00:45:39Can you visualize?

00:45:42So that's what has happened to the object of consumption.

00:45:46And what has that consumption done to the subject?

00:45:54What has the relationship done to both the parties?

00:46:02Worsened them, right? Yes.

00:46:09Have you been bettered? No.

00:46:13You have been dragged down.

00:46:16That's the problem.

00:46:19Has the burger been bettered?

00:46:22No.

00:46:24It stands ravaged.

00:46:29Even the burger might have had some possibility in life.

00:46:33That possibility is gone.

00:46:36The highlighted word is

00:46:39deserve.

00:46:44Weep for the one who deserves to be weeped for.

00:46:52Have fun with the deserving one.

00:46:57Ignore the one who deserves to be.

00:47:03And fight with the one who deserves to be.

00:47:06What against?

00:47:08Deserved.

00:47:10Figure out.

00:47:12What is it that the different objects of consumption have done to the subject?

00:47:19What is it that the different objects of consumption have done to the subject?

00:47:24What is it that the different objects in Prakriti deserve for themselves?

00:47:30And what will be the criteria that will decide the deservedness?

00:47:37Wonderful.

00:47:39The criteria is liberation.

00:47:42Something will lead you to liberation if you fight against it.

00:47:47So does Prakriti assist you or not?

00:47:50But all objects lead you to liberation in their own respective ways.

00:47:58And you should know that way. That's wisdom.

00:48:04In the gym, there is the water bottle and there are the weights.

00:48:11And everything in the...

00:48:13Swami Vivekananda used to say the world is a big gymnasium.

00:48:18So everything in the world can possibly take you to liberation.

00:48:23You get the metaphor?

00:48:25But you are not supposed to eat the weights.

00:48:29You must have the right relationship.

00:48:32And you are not supposed to use the water bottle as dumbbells.

00:48:36That won't help you.

00:48:39It's a 200 ml water bottle.

00:48:42Won't build any muscles.

00:48:45Are you getting it?

00:48:47So something will lead you to liberation

00:48:53by

00:48:57exciting you to fight it.

00:49:00How do the weights help you?

00:49:02You actually fight the weights.

00:49:05You don't do what the weights want to be done.

00:49:09The weights are under gravity.

00:49:13What do they want, if anything?

00:49:16They want to be on the floor.

00:49:18You fight the weights, right?

00:49:21And the weights help you.

00:49:24Give everything what it deserves.

00:49:30There is nothing that does not have the potential to assist you.

00:49:36Everything is a friend.

00:49:41If you know yourself and if you know the relationship you need to have with it.

00:49:50Even ignoring something is a form of relationship.

00:49:54Something will assist you

00:49:58through the process of

00:50:01through the process of

00:50:06Kopeksha.

00:50:12I don't let it blip on my radar.

00:50:20Something assists you

00:50:27by coming close to you.

00:50:31Bring that stuff close to yourself and you will be helped.

00:50:37There is something else that helps you when you

00:50:41push it away from yourself.

00:50:50How does the chest press help you?

00:50:57When you push the bar

00:51:00away from your chest, right? That's when you are helped.

00:51:04If you say, I have fallen in love with it

00:51:08and I will keep it right on my chest.

00:51:12She is my darling.

00:51:15She must rest on my chest.

00:51:21All you will get is a broken heart.

00:51:23Instead you are helped when you

00:51:29and she does not want to go away.

00:51:32She has gravity on her side.

00:51:35She wants to come right to your chest and your job is to

00:51:43I will do exactly opposite of what

00:51:47and that's when you will be a friend to her.

00:51:51And that's when you will be a friend to me.

00:51:54Is the bar or the weights a friend or not?

00:52:00Depends on your relationship with them.

00:52:06You can use the bar to break your head

00:52:10or you can use the bar to build your muscles.

00:52:13That entire army arranged in front of you, Arjun.

00:52:20If you can have the right relationship there

00:52:23that will be good for you

00:52:26and surprisingly good also for them.

00:52:30Instead if you have a relationship of illusion and attachment

00:52:34it's going to be bad for both the sides.

00:52:37If you have a relationship of illusion and attachment

00:52:41it's going to be bad for both the sides.

00:52:44And that's another rule of life.

00:52:48If it's bad for you, it's bad for the other party as well.

00:52:53We want to believe otherwise.

00:52:56We want to think in terms of zero-sum relationships.

00:53:02We want to believe in the exploiter-exploited model.

00:53:06It does not work that way.

00:53:08If a relationship is bad, it's bad for both the sides.

00:53:15It's not possible that one party can enjoy at the expense of the other.

00:53:21No, not possible.

00:53:24Temporally it might appear that one party has gained at the expense of the other.

00:53:31But that's a temporal illusion.

00:53:34Soon you will discover that in hurting or harming the other

00:53:40you two have gone down.

00:53:43You two have gone down.

00:53:46You two have gone down.

00:53:49Arjun, you have been grieving for those who do not deserve to be mourned for.

00:53:59Yet, you speak as if you are a wise one.

00:54:04This is not wisdom.

00:54:07This is not wisdom.

00:54:10This is not wisdom.

00:54:13This is not wisdom.

00:54:16This is not wisdom.

00:54:19Wisdom lies in seeing that the entire field of Prakriti is just one.

00:54:27Within Prakriti there can be no favourites.

00:54:31Because within Prakriti there can be no Atma or salvation.

00:54:38Equally within Prakriti there can be nothing absolutely repugnant or abhorable.

00:54:45Prakriti is neither good nor bad.

00:54:58Goodness lies in?

00:55:05Badness lies in?

00:55:09Your separation from Atma.

00:55:11And if you are separated from Atma, does that make Prakriti bad?

00:55:17It's your own bad choice.

00:55:21Prakriti can be a valuable assistant, a nice friend.

00:55:31That's what makes life beautiful.

00:55:34When you can have healthy relationships

00:55:38with the world.

00:55:42But you can have healthy relationships with the world only when your fundamental relationship is with.

00:55:50The problem is when

00:55:54you become infidel to the extent

00:55:59that you compromise on your fundamental relationship

00:56:03to strike a superficial relationship with some object in Prakriti.

00:56:17Atma is your home. Prakriti is your playground.

00:56:21Simple.

00:56:26If things are not good at home,

00:56:30will you feel free on the playground?

00:56:34Or relaxed on the playground? Will that happen?

00:56:37The first thing is sort out your home.

00:56:42Atma is your home.

00:56:44And when things are cool at home,

00:56:48then you can emerge out of your home

00:56:52and have a great time

00:56:57in the playground.

00:57:00Think of a homeless person on the playground.

00:57:05Do you see him enjoying?

00:57:08The fellow is homeless, destitute.

00:57:12No home.

00:57:14Only the large playground. An entire golf course or something.

00:57:18Can you visualize him enjoying?

00:57:21Possible?

00:57:23First thing is the home.

00:57:27Center. Atma.

00:57:30And then the world is your playground.

00:57:34Or as Shakespeare said, the world is your pit.

00:57:48The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead.

00:57:53So,

00:57:57how are the wise?

00:58:00Cruel,

00:58:02insensitive,

00:58:04emotionless,

00:58:06hard,

00:58:20feelingless,

00:58:22craggy.

00:58:29And then people get afraid of the Gita.

00:58:32Alright, enough for the day.

00:58:36The wise ones grieve neither for the living nor for the dead.

00:58:40No.

00:58:42If I follow this,

00:58:44what do I become?

00:58:46I grieve neither for the living nor for the dead.

00:58:50Huh?

00:58:53This is not a statement of insensitivity.

00:58:57It is a declaration of absolute love.

00:59:07Just that the

00:59:10part on love

00:59:14is unwritten and silent.

00:59:17How can I grieve for this or that?

00:59:22I am in love.

00:59:25I am in love with the real thing.

00:59:32If I grieve, it is for that.

00:59:42And if the real thing is that,

00:59:46then that will mean that I can grieve

00:59:50indeed for an object in Prakriti as well.

00:59:53But only if

00:59:55and only because

01:00:06I was to meet my sweetheart.

01:00:09Hmm?

01:00:13Eleventh hour, my bike broke down.

01:00:20I find no other means of transport.

01:00:23And I am crying over my bike.

01:00:28Is the bike my sweetheart?

01:00:34You get this.

01:00:36So you could be found crying over an object in Prakriti,

01:00:41but only if

01:00:44your relationship with that object

01:00:47is of the right nature.

01:00:50I am crying over my bike because my bike was to take me to my beloved.

01:00:56Otherwise, the bike is of no use.

01:00:59The bike in itself means nothing.

01:01:09It is neither good nor bad.

01:01:14And I will celebrate

01:01:18another day.

01:01:19I might be found celebrating

01:01:23the loss of my bike.

01:01:26If somehow that loss

01:01:31enables my union

01:01:34with my darling,

01:01:37then I will celebrate the loss of that same bike.

01:01:43Has the bike turned a villain overnight?

01:01:48What has happened?

01:01:50Has the bike turned a villain overnight?

01:01:53What has happened?

01:01:55Nothing.

01:01:56The bike was just a medium.

01:01:59Let everything in Prakriti just be a medium.

01:02:06Remember your love.

01:02:07All else is just

01:02:10a medium.

01:02:13Prakriti

01:02:15can be a wonderful mediator

01:02:18for you.

01:02:22That's what her right place is.

01:02:29Born in her, housed in her,

01:02:34located in her,

01:02:37use her

01:02:39to go

01:02:41beyond.

01:02:44And you cannot go beyond her if you do not know how to

01:02:48use her.

01:02:50Learn to use her rightly.

01:02:53That's the right relationship.

01:02:58And now you know why

01:03:01the spiritual man has often been found

01:03:03very unreliable and untrustworthy by the world.

01:03:08Because the world wants

01:03:11itself to be

01:03:13the end

01:03:16of your relationship. Right?

01:03:19And you are telling the world, no, you are not the end.

01:03:22You exist just to be used.

01:03:25And the world says, what indignity?

01:03:30I feel so used.

01:03:33And the wise one says, but that's what your place is.

01:03:36You exist to be used.

01:03:40Your problem is not that I used you.

01:03:42Your problem is that you assumed

01:03:45that you can be

01:03:48something or somebody

01:03:51beyond usage.

01:03:54How presumptuous.

01:03:56You thought you could be an end.

01:03:59You thought you could be the destination.

01:04:03That's what your problem is. So your problem lies in your own

01:04:06assumption.

01:04:08No, you exist to be

01:04:10used.

01:04:12I exist to be

01:04:16used.

01:04:18I have been constantly saying, use me.

01:04:23You exist to be.

01:04:26This exists to be.

01:04:39I'll be

01:04:42very delighted to wear

01:04:48one of those casings

01:04:54that are found on

01:04:58dustbins.

01:05:02Use me.

01:05:12Use me. What else?

01:05:16I cannot be your destiny. You cannot be my destiny.

01:05:23We both have our

01:05:26separate and respective love affairs.

01:05:32What is the maximum then that we can mean to each other?

01:05:37You use me and I use you.

01:05:40Ultimately anyway,

01:05:42we both have our own

01:05:46our own respective love affairs.

01:05:55You cannot be my beloved. I cannot be your beloved.

01:06:02You are in love with that. I am in love with that.

01:06:10The best thing is that we both

01:06:13just rightly use each other.

01:06:21That's wisdom.

01:06:23That's also love.

01:06:36How to determine whether a relationship is right?

01:06:40Have you been of right use to that person?

01:06:43Has that person been of right use to you?

01:06:52How to know

01:06:56that you have a lover?

01:07:00Somebody is proving useful to you.

01:07:07That's a lover.

01:07:10Acknowledge.

01:07:14Acknowledge. You may not.

01:07:19But that's a veritable lover.

01:07:22The condition is met.

01:07:25The name might be withheld and that does not matter.

01:07:30If someone is of use to you,

01:07:32that's what love is.

01:07:40What kind of use are we talking of?

01:07:43Not friends with benefits kind of use.

01:07:46What kind of use are we talking of?

01:07:50That use.

01:07:55That one particular central distinct use.

01:07:58No other use.

01:08:01Are you getting it?

01:08:13If you want to weep

01:08:17for your relatives Arjun, convince me

01:08:20they were taking you to liberation.

01:08:23If they were indeed taking you to liberation,

01:08:25they deserve to be

01:08:27mourned.

01:08:29But honestly tell me Arjun,

01:08:31which among those gentlemen

01:08:35was actually leading you to realization?

01:08:37Come on. Be honest and let me know.

01:08:39Which one among

01:08:41or which all among them?

01:08:46There is nobody there.

01:08:48There is just nobody there who was of any

01:08:50real use to you.

01:08:52And yet you are shedding tears for them.

01:08:56Is that wise of you?

01:08:59That's what.

01:09:02This is what is called Nirmanta.

01:09:06The world is terrified

01:09:08of this approach.

01:09:10The world takes this as

01:09:12cruelty, insensitivity.

01:09:26The only right relationship Arjun you can have

01:09:29with them is that you

01:09:31use them.

01:09:33And you can use them only by

01:09:35fighting against them.

01:09:41Be just to them.

01:09:43Why?

01:09:49That's the only service you can render them.

01:09:53Fight them.

01:09:59Fight them.

01:10:07I am being good to you.

01:10:09I am shooting at you.

01:10:15Because that's the only right relationship

01:10:17possible

01:10:19between the two of us.

01:10:23So this is Dharma.

01:10:25To have the right relationship with

01:10:28whatever.

01:10:32With you.

01:10:36Dharma demands that

01:10:38the right relationship has to be of war.

01:10:41So this is a Dharmic act.

01:10:45I will take off your head.

01:10:48That's my love for you.

01:10:55Sounds simply absurd. Right?

01:10:58Poor Arjun.

01:11:05Think of his condition.

01:11:07For you it's just a case study.

01:11:09For him

01:11:11it was brothers

01:11:13and relatives in flesh and blood.

01:11:23And he is a man of social

01:11:25upbringing and common morality.

01:11:27And he is being told kill.

01:11:29That's love.

01:11:31Kill.

01:11:33How unwise of you

01:11:35to shed tears for them.

01:11:37Just kill.

01:11:41The philosophy has to be understood.

01:11:43This is not rhetoric.

01:11:45This is based on

01:11:47very sound

01:11:49firm unyielding

01:11:51principles.

01:11:53This is not just Krishna's

01:11:56fleeting opinion.

01:11:58This is coming from

01:12:00deep underlying principles

01:12:02of Vedanta.

01:12:04This is coming from

01:12:06the three.

01:12:10And only if you are established

01:12:14in the rule of the three

01:12:16will you be able to

01:12:18appreciate what this verse

01:12:20really implies.

01:12:23If you do not

01:12:25remember or appreciate

01:12:27this rule

01:12:29you will never be able to understand

01:12:31the import of this verse.

01:12:33You will miss out.

01:12:35Or you will come to some

01:12:37roundabout kind of interpretation

01:12:39which does not really help.

01:12:47If you want to be helped

01:12:49you have to hit the

01:12:52bull's eye.

01:12:54And that can happen only by the

01:12:56rule of the three.

01:13:08The wise man will never be found weeping.

01:13:10Yes. No.

01:13:12Quick.

01:13:14If he is found weeping

01:13:16and he is indeed wise

01:13:18what's the likely reason?

01:13:22But then

01:13:24Atma is not an object.

01:13:26So Atma does not really exist

01:13:28in the sense of objects.

01:13:30If the wise man is found weeping

01:13:32what is he possibly weeping for?

01:13:36Or

01:13:38more concretely

01:13:42the loss of something

01:13:44that was useful.

01:13:48The loss of something

01:13:50that was useful.

01:13:56The wise man has thrown a grand party.

01:14:00Is the wise man,

01:14:02the spiritual man, the man of Gita

01:14:04not entitled to celebrate? Yes or no?

01:14:08He is entitled to celebrate.

01:14:10Alright. So he is entitled.

01:14:12Now he has thrown a grand party.

01:14:14What's the likely reason?

01:14:17Has been helped.

01:14:19Or he has found

01:14:23something useful.

01:14:25He has struck the right

01:14:27relationship

01:14:29with something that he sees

01:14:31will lead him to

01:14:33liberation.

01:14:40Let there be

01:14:42lights and music and what not.

01:14:45Is the wise man

01:14:47never found anxious?

01:14:51He might be found anxious.

01:14:53If he is indeed anxious

01:14:55what's the likely reason?

01:15:01Forget Atma.

01:15:03Atma is not

01:15:05something that

01:15:07he has found

01:15:09useful.

01:15:12Forget Atma. Atma

01:15:14is not something you can think of

01:15:16or hold in your hand.

01:15:18So all the reasons are concerned with

01:15:20Prakriti.

01:15:22The wise man has been seen anxious.

01:15:28He has come to something

01:15:30and he is not able to figure out

01:15:32the right

01:15:34you, the right relationship.

01:15:36Or he thought of

01:15:38something as useful

01:15:41but it's turning out to be

01:15:43not useful.

01:15:49Is the wise man

01:15:51never found hopeful?

01:15:55He can be found hopeful.

01:15:57And if he is found hopeful

01:15:59what's the reason?

01:16:03He is seeing something

01:16:05that might emerge

01:16:07as useful.

01:16:11So the entire

01:16:13spectrum of human

01:16:15associations and

01:16:17emotions is

01:16:19experienced by him

01:16:21and exhibited by him

01:16:23just that the

01:16:25objective always

01:16:27is

01:16:31Do I weep? Yes, for that.

01:16:33Do I laugh?

01:16:35Yes, for that.

01:16:37Do I run?

01:16:39Do I halt?

01:16:41Do I jump?

01:16:43Do I dive?

01:16:45I do everything that anybody else does.

01:16:47The difference

01:16:49does not lie

01:16:51in the action.

01:16:53All the actions

01:16:57that are displayed by

01:16:59the common public are displayed

01:17:01by the wise man as well.

01:17:03The difference lies

01:17:05in the center, in the actor.

01:17:09When

01:17:11people laugh

01:17:13it is because they are pleased.

01:17:15When the wise

01:17:17one laughs

01:17:19it is because he has seen.

01:17:27There is a

01:17:29laughter that arises

01:17:31from being pleased.

01:17:35And there is a smile

01:17:38that arises from

01:17:40having seen.

01:17:52There is a satisfaction that arises

01:17:54from consuming

01:17:56something. There is a satisfaction that

01:17:58arises from liberating someone

01:18:00of being used to someone.

01:18:08You

01:18:10You

01:18:12You

01:18:14You

01:18:16You

01:18:18You

01:18:20You

01:18:22You

01:18:24You

01:18:26You

01:18:28You

01:18:30You

01:18:32You

01:18:34You

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