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00:00Acharya Prashant Ji is a Vedanta exegete, philosopher, a social reformer, columnist
00:05and a national best-selling author and is recognized as the world's most followed spiritual leader.
00:10Welcome you all to Samhwad, an interactive session with Acharya Ji.
00:30To go towards, you need to ask these paths, these contours, these maps that I have supposedly chosen for myself, where are they coming from?
00:42You do not need any vision of the future, you need freedom from the foolishness of the present.
00:47Most of us die physically without ever having taken birth.
00:53Please welcome Acharya Prashant.
01:12Today, I, Gaurav, on the behalf of the Literature Club of I am Bangalore, welcome you all to Samhwad, an interactive session with Acharya Ji.
01:23Acharya Ji is a Vedanta exegete, a philosopher, a social reformer, a columnist and a national best-selling author.
01:31He is a prolific writer with over 160 books to his name and is recognized as the world's most followed spiritual leader, with over 55 million subscribers on YouTube.
01:41Apart from that, he is also an alumnus of IIT Delhi and I am Ahmedabad.
01:53In addition to this, his literary contributions, Acharya Ji also conducts world's largest continuous online teaching program on the Bhagavad Gita and Vedanta.
02:03He is a prolific speaker and he has been invited to speak at major institutes in India and abroad, including University of California, Berkeley, IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, I am Ahmedabad, I am Bangalore, I am Calcutta, Ames Nagpur, among others.
02:20And today, it's an absolute honor for us to welcome the profound thinker.
02:25Now, I would request Komala Ma'am to come on the stage and receive him with a bouquet of flowers.
02:31Now, I will leave the stage to Acharya Ji to share his learnings with us.
02:51Yes, let's begin, please.
02:56We'll keep it conversational, to and fro.
03:04Namaste Acharya Ji.
03:08So my question was, when we make important life decisions, how do we distinguish between like natural thinking and conditioned thinking?
03:18So there are some things like you get some genuine wisdom and there are things like which are conditioned to us.
03:25So how to distinguish between them?
03:28Inquiry is the only route.
03:32Otherwise, there is no way you can ever detect whether your thoughts, internal processes, feelings and importantly conclusions and decisions are your own, really, original or whether they are products of an implanted process.
03:57You will never come to know.
03:59What has been implanted within, that which you are calling as conditioning, is an implanted
04:04thing.
04:05And once it has entered your insides, it will always appear innate.
04:14In the normal run of things, human beings lack the capacity to differentiate between what
04:20is original and what is borrowed.
04:23That which is borrowed very quickly, very unnoticeably starts appearing one's own, homemade, native.
04:37So, one puts the force of all his confidence behind his thoughts and feelings and decisions.
04:50One says, these are my own and I am confident.
04:54This is what I am thinking.
04:57Right?
04:58This is what I am feeling.
05:00That's what I have thought out for my future.
05:03I.
05:04The I is such a lonely thing.
05:07It just wastes no time in latching on to whatever object it can get hold of.
05:17And once it has touched something, it gets identified with that.
05:23So, a very foreign idea might enter your mind.
05:30And once you get associated with it, you will start claiming ownership.
05:35You will say, it is mine.
05:36It is mine.
05:37And if somebody then questions that idea or invites you to debate, you might even feel
05:45offended or provoked.
05:46You will say, this is my idea and you are questioning it.
05:49It is not the idea that you are questioning.
05:52It is my I-ness that you are questioning because now my I is attached rather identified
05:59with the idea.
06:00So, if you question that idea, you are questioning their I-ness.
06:04You are questioning by implication their existence itself.
06:08I is your existence.
06:10Right?
06:11So, I am identified with a particular attire, trousers, jackets, sarees, whatever.
06:21Nothing.
06:22An in-animate piece of clothing.
06:25But if that becomes a part of my identity, and we are saying that ego is such a hungry beast,
06:33it will very quickly associate itself with anything and everything it gets hold of.
06:42Because nothing satisfies it.
06:43Since nothing satisfies it, it is always eager to bite into, to pierce into, to take grip
06:53of, to clutch, whatever is the next thing subtle or gross that it comes across.
07:00So, it could be a piece of clothing, it could be an idea, thought, feeling, whatever.
07:05If it comes to the self, the self has a great tendency to get identified with it.
07:12Identification could be both in affirmation and negation.
07:17For example, I am a conservative or I am a liberal.
07:22So, I am already committed to a particular idea.
07:26Right?
07:27I am already committed.
07:28So, if the opposite of that idea comes to me, I will again be identified to the opposite.
07:34Because that's my very nature, the nature of the ego to be identified.
07:38I will again be identified to that idea, but via negativa.
07:43So, I will become a sworn enemy of the liberals.
07:47That's again identification.
07:48That's again a statement of identity, is it not?
07:51Who am I?
07:52Slayer of the liberals or hater of the conservatives.
07:56That's again a statement of identity.
08:00So, one identity gives birth to several identities.
08:06There is no way the ego can let go of anything.
08:09We are saying always hungry, always lonely, always seeking company, always seeking an object
08:18that can fulfill it.
08:21So, once the ego gets associated, it starts claiming ownership.
08:25It says the thing is mine.
08:26The thing is mine.
08:28I want a fact pay package.
08:31I.
08:32How do you know?
08:33It is your own thought.
08:35How do you know?
08:37How do you know?
08:40Hmm?
08:42I think mine is the best country of all.
08:47I think my thoughts are superior to those of my neighbors.
08:53How do you know?
08:56I think my gender has a biological and historical right to dominate.
09:04I think my gender is made to provide care and emotional nourishment.
09:11How do you know?
09:13How do you know?
09:15That's the thing.
09:19The questioner is asking, how do I know?
09:23And that's what I am bouncing back to you.
09:25How do you know?
09:26How do you know?
09:28How do you know?
09:29The thing is we do not know but still we are very confident.
09:33That is the problem.
09:35And there is nothing within that's going to raise a red flag of suspicion.
09:43There is nothing within that would ever say, sir, hold, wait, watch, question.
09:50You did not always believe in these things.
09:56From where did these things come to you?
09:59Can you ask?
10:00No, I don't want to ask.
10:01Because if I ask, then it is terrible because I run the risk of making the ego lonely again.
10:07The ego is now finding some comfort associated with some idea.
10:15And if the basis of that association is questioned, and if that association happens to be ruptured, then the ego becomes, I am so lonely.
10:25Again, something is gone.
10:27So, even if the association is false, the association has to be maintained.
10:34And if the association is to be disrupted, then you will have to go through inner pain.
10:42That pain is the price for living a truthful life.
10:48Well, believe me, whatever we are associated with, there is a great chance.
10:54I dare not say 100% chance.
10:57Though the thing is, it is a 100% thing.
11:00But there is a great chance if you will question it, it will be proven to be false.
11:07That is the way of Vedanta.
11:08That is the way of honesty.
11:11To keep questioning whatever you know.
11:15The epistemological lens, that filter, that asks, how do I know?
11:21How am I sure of the validity of my knowledge, my conclusions?
11:26How do I know of anything?
11:28How do I know that even I exist?
11:30That's taking things too far, will not go that far.
11:34But how do I know that such and such thing must happen?
11:38So, there is this delimitation exercise, not the exercise really, the debate currently raging.
11:47And if you look at what people are saying on both sides of the divide, it's so interesting.
11:53And everybody is so confident.
11:55And nobody wants to ask, sir, how do you know?
11:57Sir, how do you know?
12:02You know, the North deserves to have a certain premium.
12:12Because it is the North that defended the South from all the external invasions.
12:17Sir, how do you know?
12:19How do you know?
12:21Is it coming from history or from where?
12:23How do you know?
12:24We don't ask.
12:29Well, the North has been left behind because there was the freight equalization thing that
12:35enabled South to leap ahead.
12:39You know, the South is ahead because the Chinese and Pakistani missiles were more prone to reaching
12:45the North.
12:46So, all the industries are set up in South.
12:49All this is what is going around.
12:51And we don't want to ask, how do you know?
12:54We are not saying what you are saying is false.
12:57We are just asking, how do you know?
13:00How do you know?
13:01Anybody can earn money.
13:06But it is the North that defends the frontiers.
13:09Shouldn't we subsidize them?
13:10How do you know?
13:11Are you getting it?
13:24Now, in this case, it is probably easier to know because you could consult lots of history
13:30books, you could apply your own discretion, and you could come to some sort of fair judgment
13:37as to what is really going on, what the whole thing is about, what are the political dimensions,
13:42what are the historical angles, and you can come to know.
13:45But when it comes to your insights, it becomes a little more difficult to know because now,
13:49something very personal is at stake.
13:54Something very personal, that something very personal is called the I.
13:57And there is no way of knowing whether you are conditioned or not, except going through
14:04the process of inner pain.
14:09Inner pain.
14:12You will have to question a lot of things.
14:14You will have to question everything.
14:18It requires a lot of inner boldness.
14:21It requires a commitment towards honesty.
14:25That's what is called really being spiritual.
14:34Are you getting it?
14:37Otherwise, it's a very easy, quick and cheap way to just assert anything.
14:50I am the best.
14:51My wife is the best.
14:52My kids are the best.
14:55My choices are the best.
14:57My marks are the best.
14:58My job is the best.
14:59My neighborhood is the best.
15:01My gods are the best.
15:03Everything that's related to me is the best because I am the best.
15:08Fine.
15:12Very easy to claim all that.
15:18What's the real meaning of the term integrity?
15:21It is not to have a dissonance between truth and your truth.
15:36And there is nothing that's further away from the truth than one's own truth.
15:43Personal truth, that's the enemy of truth.
15:51One requires, we all know our track records, no?
16:01The kind of inner achievers we are.
16:04We might put things on our CV.
16:06I understand that.
16:08I come from a similar campus.
16:11I know how we build up and decorate our CV.
16:16So that's one thing.
16:17But we know internally who we are.
16:20We know our track record.
16:22Then how do we manage to back ourselves so strongly, so unflinchingly?
16:29One should have some suspicion, if not cynicism, no?
16:33If I know who I am and what I have been, I also know that I can't change overnight.
16:39I won't trust myself too easily.
16:41Or would I?
16:42In fact, I would say, if it's appearing to me, then it ought to be false.
16:51That's the mantra I sometimes give to some of my selected most loved people.
16:56See, just do the opposite of what you feel like and there is a 90% chance you'll get it right.
17:07When I have to take a decision, sometimes I call in people to consult them.
17:11And I want to hear their opinion just so that I do the opposite of it.
17:21We all should have this kind of attitude towards ourselves.
17:25We love slippery slopes, no?
17:29So if that's the direction our being is feeling impelled to, then we must know that the heights,
17:41the tops, the mountains, lie in the opposite direction.
17:48If I feel impelled towards that direction, then there is a 90% chance that that's the direction of the bottom.
17:58The right side would be there, probably exactly to the opposite.
18:06You can't slippery slopes always inviting.
18:08You don't have to do anything.
18:10Just slip.
18:15You couldn't even slip sleeping.
18:19Comfortably you are sleeping and yet so much movement is happening.
18:22Like sometimes in two years in the campus, you don't even know when you have graduated.
18:30That internal sleep is a very typical thing, keeps happening.
18:37Externally we might feel our eyes are open.
18:43The way of inquiry.
18:45The more confident you feel about something, the more suspicion it should arouse.
18:55The more sure you feel of something, the more you must realize that Maya is trying to shut the doors to inquiry.
19:02Confidence is your enemy.
19:04Catch the inner thief red handed.
19:16Look at its functioning.
19:19See how it manipulates and distorts.
19:23See how it has preset conclusions and then it fabricates arguments in favour of the conclusions.
19:33That's such a bad way of arguing and concluding.
19:39No?
19:40If you do that in any of the sciences or in economics, statistics, commerce, accounting anywhere, even in humanities, if you have a ready-made conclusion and then you manufacture arguments to support that conclusion, you would be called a third-rate philosopher.
20:08No?
20:09A third-rate arguer.
20:14But that's what we all do internally.
20:17My kid is the best.
20:20My choices are alright.
20:22That's something already proven well in advance.
20:26And then you have to come up with arguments to somehow justify your choice.
20:31And we do not even know why we have already concluded in a particular way.
20:37But that's something we need to know.
20:41Because the one sitting inside is not your friend, please.
20:47The one who sits inside of us is not our friend.
20:51It's the false I.
20:52It's the false I.
20:54It's a usurper.
20:56It has taken over, stolen somebody else's name.
21:02The real I is something else, somebody else.
21:06The one who sits inside us has stolen the name.
21:14How can this thief be our friend?
21:19Where is this thief coming from?
21:23It's not homegrown.
21:24It's not arising from inside.
21:29It is coming from here and there.
21:32It's not our innate sense of self.
21:36It's a biological and social sense of self.
21:41Mostly random.
21:43Time bound.
21:45Conditioned.
21:47Influences of family, culture, religion, education, media and the rest of it.
21:55When it's coming from all these external places, how do we call it I?
22:06How do you feel if I say you, sir, you are sitting there, you are there, you are there,
22:11you are there, you are there, you are there, you are there, you are all over the place.
22:15Does it make sense?
22:18So physically, we want to be a unit, right?
22:28An integrated unit.
22:30There has to be a certain oneness.
22:32No?
22:33This is me and if this is me, that is, please tell me, that is not me.
22:39And if this is me, then that's not me, that's not me.
22:42Look at how it operates internally, psychologically.
22:46Here.
22:47Here.
22:48When it comes to your arm, your arm is at one place and it cannot be coming from 5 other places.
22:54But look at what you have here.
22:56It's coming from 5,000 different places and the flux is continuous.
23:07The tragedy is unmitigated.
23:11Continuous movement of influences and these are coming from everywhere.
23:15Here.
23:16Here.
23:17And yet we manage to call the content here as my own.
23:22How is it my own?
23:24How do I say I am thinking?
23:28You are hurting my feelings.
23:30Are your feelings your own?
23:31Really?
23:32Are any of your concepts your own?
23:37A little hit on the head and if you lose your memory, would these concepts stay with you?
23:45How are they your own?
23:47They are things stored in your memory.
23:50Stored in memory and picked up by the ego to associate with.
23:57How is this anything here?
23:59How is it your own?
24:01My caste, my geography, my nationality, my aims, targets, hopes, dreams.
24:12Are they our own?
24:15If we ask a set of people like we have here to write down their dreams, please enumerate
24:27five top dreams you have.
24:32I guess there would be a 50 to 80% commonality.
24:38And I might be underestimating.
24:43How is it possible?
24:45If we are individuals, how is it possible that we all have so very common dreams?
24:52How is it possible?
24:57Does that not trigger suspicion?
25:03Prima facie, does that not point towards a need for inquiry?
25:10Something very dangerous is happening inside.
25:14And what's the danger?
25:15I am not at all there inside.
25:19I am calling it my insights.
25:22The fact is, inside of me, there is very little of me.
25:28How big a danger is that?
25:31That's a danger that the learned ones have called a danger bigger than death.
25:42Bigger than death, to the extent that they say that you are not even alive.
25:49They say you need to take birth.
25:52This that emerges from the mother's womb is just a thing of flesh.
25:58You cannot call that thing as living, alive or conscious.
26:04Life is for the sake of actually attaining birth.
26:12And you attain birth when you are able, via the process of self-inquiry, to cleanse yourself of all that is not you.
26:27When only that remains, that's just me, pure me, that's when you can claim that you are now alive.
26:37And that's the point referred to as Jeevan Mukti.
26:46So how big a danger is it to lead a conditioned life?
26:50A danger bigger than death.
26:56Death is something we see as coming in the future.
27:03Whereas, this is a danger about not even being born.
27:11Not even being born.
27:13Not even being born is said to be a danger bigger than death.
27:19Most of us, that's the way of those who know.
27:28They don't mince words.
27:30They say most of us die physically without ever having taken birth.
27:40So here's the dead body.
27:44The tragedy is the fellow was never even born.
27:48He died without taking birth.
27:51He was eating, breathing, all that was happening, walking, talking, mating, reproducing, making a CV, getting a job, that's fine.
28:03The little problem is that he was never alive.
28:06All that was so conditioned, so mechanical, and we don't call machines as sentient beings, do we?
28:15So even a machine can do most of the stuff that we do.
28:19And with AI, it has become even clearer.
28:25Everything that we do, including emoting, can be done by a machine.
28:32So how do we say that we are even born?
28:36We don't call machines as born, we call them manufactured.
28:41So we are manufactured beings, right?
28:43D-O-M, date of manufacturing, not D-O-B.
28:49Don't be sure of yourself.
29:00They say only 1 by 9 of the iceberg is exposed above the surface.
29:10When it comes to the human mind, it is probably 1 by 90.
29:14That's the extent of our self-awareness.
29:17You will have to watch yourself continuously, dispassionately, ruthlessly.
29:26Your words, your thoughts, your feelings, your associations, desires, hopes, heartbreaks.
29:31You will have to observe them.
29:35Like in a case study.
29:40The most intimate case study.
29:42Our own life, our own movements.
29:44And when I say life, I don't mean historical life.
29:47I don't mean what you were doing between the age of 8 and 18.
29:51By life, I mean that which is happening.
29:54The dynamic process itself.
29:56Here, now.
29:57One will have to very dispassionately, very objectively, look at oneself like one looks at a case study.
30:06And see what is really happening.
30:10We say facts are the door to truth.
30:13One will have to have a fact-oriented attitude towards oneself.
30:23I say I am this, but is that borne out by how I behave, how I relate, how I desire?
30:30Desires are wonderful things to observe.
30:32They are more honest than actions.
30:38Because actions are very fearful things.
30:42You might desire something, but never act on it because of fear of consequences.
30:48But look at your desires.
30:50They will tell you a lot about what you have become.
30:55When you look at all that, then there is a cleansing thing that happens inside.
31:03That's called revelation of the real self.
31:07It comes via the false self.
31:10Look at the false self.
31:12Look at it without attachment, without association, as if you are looking at somebody else.
31:20When the falseness loses your own support, it falls.
31:26What's left behind is who you really are.
31:33So, my follow-up question is that you've always said that you must find what you must do.
31:43And you've talked a lot about finding that must-do thing.
31:46And it's clear from this conversation also that you need a lot of self-knowledge to even find that thing.
31:53You're just finding it from some conditioning.
31:56And that conditioned thought is telling you that it's the must-do thing.
31:59But how do you know that? Because the conditioning is saying.
32:02Yes, yes, yes.
32:03All certainities, you know, they arise only from conditioning.
32:07And that certainty is never the certainty about rightness of the action.
32:21It is always an assumed, imagined certainty about the fruits of the action.
32:39Conditioning and desire are very intimately related.
32:46Right?
32:47So, I want something.
32:48I want something.
32:49And never do anything except for the role it has in serving my desire.
33:00Desire comes first.
33:01Action comes later.
33:02Is that not so?
33:04You want something.
33:05Hence, you act.
33:08You want something.
33:09Hence, you act.
33:10Now, in this, what is certain?
33:13What is certain for you?
33:15Fixed.
33:16Dreaming.
33:17The desire.
33:18I want it.
33:20I want it.
33:21And I won't budge.
33:23So, all certainty is conditioned.
33:29Truth never gives you any kind of certainty.
33:34The redeeming thing is, which truth?
33:38You do not require any assurance of certainty.
33:45Only when you are clamouring for a particular thing, do you want to be sure that you will
33:51attain that thing.
33:52I want that thing.
33:54Please, please come and assure me that I will definitely get that thing.
33:59Now, that's why we say that hopes make the world go round.
34:02Hmm?
34:03Yes.
34:04Five years later, I will get that thing.
34:06Why do I enter the campus?
34:08I am assured in whatever way I could be.
34:11The two years later, such and such package is guaranteed.
34:14Right?
34:15So, the admissions office means a lot and the placement office means a lot.
34:20Everything in between is, let me just go through the motion.
34:24Hmm?
34:25Happens in every campus.
34:28So, desire is what affords us certainty.
34:31Hmm?
34:32And all desire, as we experience it, is a product of conditioning.
34:41Conditioning.
34:42So, conditioning and certainty, they always go together.
34:47Hence, how do we come to that which is real?
34:52Question everything.
34:55Question everything that you take as certain.
34:59Our friend here asked us, how do I know what I must do in life?
35:05The thing is, you already know so much that you must do in life.
35:12And how do you know that?
35:14Through very, very flimsy processes and routes.
35:19Somebody told you.
35:20You gathered it from somewhere.
35:22That's the cultural norm of the era.
35:25So, we already know all these things.
35:27You must do this.
35:28You must do this.
35:29You must do this.
35:30You must do this.
35:31You must do this.
35:32Hmm?
35:33You must get educated.
35:34And education, if you are from the global south.
35:39It generally does not mean getting educated in philosophy or psychology or sociology.
35:45Education to us means vocational education.
35:49Education that opens the doors of a particular profession to us.
35:54STEM.
35:55Right?
35:56So, highly educated would usually mean manager, doctor, engineer, lawyer.
36:00And what's common between the four?
36:03Vocational degrees.
36:05You could add accountancy, CA and the rest.
36:08But what's common between all these?
36:11Vocational degrees.
36:12Right?
36:13So, that's education.
36:14But you already know that you must do all these things.
36:18That's the trick.
36:20Don't find out what you must do.
36:24See what you already know as must do's in life.
36:31And ask, where did I get them from?
36:34Where did I get them from?
36:38And you could afford a certain awkwardness in this.
36:46You could ask certain very basic questions without hiding behind words like common sense and obviousness.
36:53People will say, you know, but it is obvious.
36:57It's commonsensical.
36:58Don't hide behind those words.
37:01Ask, why must I get educated at all?
37:04Forget about vocational education.
37:06Why must I have any education?
37:08Why must I have any education?
37:12And let the answer be original.
37:14Because if the answer is original, you will not find it so troublesome to attend classes and maintain attendance.
37:21If the answer is really original, why I must get educated?
37:27You must earn so much.
37:29So, where did that figure come from?
37:31Please tell me.
37:3222 years back when I appeared for my placements, 5 to 10 lakhs per annum, that kind of CTC, was taken to be honourable.
37:51Good.
37:52Good.
37:53You exceed 10, then you say, Lottery lakhs per annum.
38:00And if you are stuck at 3 or 4, people will say, don't worry.
38:03Within 3 months, you jump to some other place.
38:08For now, just take the offer.
38:10So, 5 to 10 was a decent package.
38:13The median would lie somewhere between 6 and 8.
38:19Today, how much?
38:2233, 35, 40, 25.
38:24Sir, how do you know?
38:26These are random numbers.
38:27Where did this number come from?
38:30Is it just an inflation adjusted thing for 6 lakhs LPA?
38:36Is it coming from there?
38:38Where is it coming from?
38:39How do you know?
38:41How did this random thing become so sacred?
38:46How?
38:47Is it coming from the cost of living?
38:51We calculate the poverty line.
38:54And that's not a random number.
38:56Right?
38:57How do we calculate the poverty line?
38:59We look at the basic metabolic requirements of a man and a woman.
39:06In urban areas, we say he does not engage in physical labor.
39:09So, he needs to expend only these many calories.
39:12In rural areas, we assume he works on the farms and travels by feet.
39:19So, a little more calorie expenditure is happening.
39:24So, we come to that number.
39:25Then we say, if this much calorie intake has to happen, then the fellow must consume this
39:35quantity of grains and this much fruit and this much veggies.
39:39And then we say, this is the going rate of these edibles.
39:44And from there, we come to the definition of poverty line approximately.
39:49So, there is a logic.
39:52There is a rationale.
39:56If we say you are not earning this much, then you deserve to be called poor.
40:00Then there is a logic to it.
40:03Now, tell me what is the logic behind 33 LPA?
40:07There is no logic and we don't ask.
40:12There is no calculation that can ever lead to the 33 figure.
40:17Where is it coming from?
40:24But you must do it.
40:27And if you don't do it, shame, ostracization.
40:34Somebody might just throw you out of a WhatsApp group.
40:37Bloody loser, just 25 LPA.
40:47Why must I get that package?
40:51It's a must do.
40:52Right?
40:53It's a must do.
40:54Why?
40:55Why must I?
40:56I am not saying you should not.
40:58Should and must have no place in inquiry.
41:02It's a question.
41:04It's a very innocent question to ask.
41:06Why must I go after that package?
41:09And I'm not saying you must have only instead of 33 only 25.
41:15Why should I not target 63?
41:18If 33 randomly can become so important, then I could as well randomly say 63.
41:28And train myself to feel disappointed on not getting 63.
41:34Because it's your own internal training, sir.
41:36It's not coming from anywhere else.
41:41Are you getting it?
41:46Now you must have that bigger car.
41:49I understand.
41:50It's a four wheeler.
41:51It has a certain utility.
41:52I too own one.
41:53It's required.
41:54But the question is, is there a relationship between my real needs and the vehicle I am
42:02desiring?
42:03Or is it coming from a must do kind of dictum?
42:08Where is it coming from?
42:12Where is it coming from?
42:17You are asking, how do I figure out what I must do?
42:24In the clutter of all the false must do's.
42:27Where is the space for the thing that must really be done?
42:32Please tell me.
42:33So the first thing is to question and cut the clutter.
42:38If all your little life, and even in that little life, there is approximately only two-third
42:45period when you are neither infantile nor senile.
42:52And then of that period, you spend approximately one-third sleeping.
42:57So how much time do we really have available for meaningful action?
43:02Very little.
43:04And even that very little time is spent in pursuing false must do's.
43:10So should I ask, what is the real must do?
43:15Or should I first of all disown all the false ones?
43:18Please tell me.
43:19Disown the false things.
43:21But we are not prepared to disown.
43:22We say all the false things.
43:24I will gladly keep with me.
43:26Now on top of this falseness, can you put some cherry on the cake please?
43:32Will that help?
43:37Will that help?
43:39And if you are a woman, if you are a lady, you must have kids.
43:46And that is the age when you are building your career.
43:50Right?
43:51And you will have to make a choice.
43:53But you already know what you must do.
43:55So the other thing will definitely take a backseat.
44:00You don't get pregnant after 60.
44:04It's not something that mother nature wants you to do after your retirement.
44:08It coincides with your peak time in career building.
44:16And when all your batch mates would be surging ahead, you would be doing what you must do.
44:25And one of those batch mates might as well be the father of the kid that you must carry.
44:34And when in campus, you are an active competitor.
44:37Right?
44:38You didn't like it when that batch mate would get half a grade higher than you.
44:43But now you are doing what you must do and he is doing what he must do.
44:47So where is the question of the real must do?
44:52Where is the question of that?
44:56You see, we are so enveloped in a thick cloud of falseness that it is absurd for us to question about the truth.
45:15We need to first of all cut through this envelope.
45:20Otherwise, it is just so awkward.
45:24Makes no sense.
45:28It's like sitting in a burning house and asking, how do the Himalayan glaciers feel?
45:36Ma'am, you first of all quickly need to come out, run away.
45:42Instead, we say, you know, please, please tell me.
45:45Please tell me.
45:47And then you have people who tell you to meditate for five minutes, 10 minutes.
45:50And they say experience internally experience the freshness.
45:58The coolness of the Himalayas, even as you are sitting in a burning house.
46:07What kind of self-deception is this?
46:10And where will it take you?
46:13Once all that which does not need to be done, once all that which does not deserve to be committed to is gone,
46:21you are left with no need for certainities.
46:26Then you can plunge into into purposeless action and play joyfully because now you're not clamoring for a particular result.
46:38It's fine.
46:40All the falseness is gone.
46:43And what am I left with?
46:44Just a playground to enjoy myself.
46:47I don't care what happens in the future.
46:53I'm alright right now.
47:00The funny thing is, those who stop caring about the future are presented with surprise gifts in the future.
47:12You must please understand that the future you envisage is a product of your conditioning.
47:25Why can't we see this simple thing?
47:28If you close your eyes and dream of the best future you can have five years down the line.
47:34Please see where that dream, that vision, that image is coming from.
47:38Please see.
47:39It's coming from the movies.
47:40It's coming from folk culture.
47:42It's coming from parents.
47:43It's coming from tradition.
47:45It's not yours.
47:47Your dreams are not yours.
47:49Your targets are not yours.
47:51What's the point in chasing them?
47:55What's the point in investing your life on them?
47:57And then we start feeling suffocated.
48:05We say okay fine.
48:07Suppose I drop all this.
48:10Suppose I drop all this.
48:12Please give me something worthier to chase.
48:15Please.
48:16Now with self-awareness I would know what the intent of the question is.
48:22Why am I asking this question?
48:25So that I may get some answer.
48:28Okay.
48:29You drop all these must-dos, MDs.
48:31You drop these five MDs.
48:33You give me something in return please.
48:35Alright.
48:36Here is something in return.
48:37This is what you must chase.
48:38Ah, show me.
48:39Ah, I don't like this.
48:41And if I don't like this, what will I continue chasing?
48:44My pre-existing five MDs.
48:46And that's the reason why we ask for an alternate vision of the future.
48:51You do not need any vision of the future is dangerous.
48:54You need freedom from the foolishness of the present.
48:58You do not need visions of the future.
49:00The future will take care of itself.
49:02That's called faith.
49:03But we don't want to give up on the foolishness here right now.
49:09Instead, we ask for either borrowed visions of the future or alright.
49:16Ah, you are acting so smart.
49:18So wise.
49:19You tell me.
49:20You tell me.
49:21What should I do five years down the line?
49:26I don't know what I will be doing five months.
49:29I don't know and I don't want to know.
49:33Why should I play this joke on you?
49:36Are you getting it?
49:41There is nothing specific that you must do in life.
49:45If there is something that happens to be your absolute responsibility, it is to live without bondages.
49:57That's what you must do.
49:59If it can be called doing at all.
50:02I do not prefer to call it a doing because it happens.
50:06Happens on its soul.
50:07When you realize what you are encumbered with.
50:13When you realize what is it that chains you, then the realization itself splits the chains open.
50:25That's the only must do in life.
50:28That's your only goal.
50:31To be yourself.
50:32Sobhav.
50:33Sobhav.
50:34And your Sobhav is freedom.
50:36Freedom.
50:37Freedom absolute.
50:38That's the only thing that you cannot, must not compromise on.
50:43And if you compromise on it, then as we said, we are not even born.
50:47You are missing out on the only thing that you have.
50:50This single one priceless life.
50:54What is it that I must do?
51:00Know.
51:01Please know.
51:02Please know.
51:03Please see.
51:06You don't need a new direction to go towards.
51:09You need to ask, these paths, these contours, these maps that I have supposedly chosen for myself.
51:19Where are they coming from?
51:21Why must I commit to them?
51:22How is it my obligation or responsibility to walk these paths?
51:35I hope I'm not being too abstract.
51:36Huh?
51:37Yes.
51:38So, I hear what you're saying.
51:51One thing that catches me off guard always is that when I'm looking at why I'm trying to do something or why I'm deciding that, hey, I should do this, I can, it's endless.
52:04It's layers and layers and layers.
52:05I find something and then I say, okay, what's the next thing?
52:08Why is that coming?
52:09Why is that coming?
52:10And at some point, I don't want to be paralyzed.
52:13There is an obligation to act.
52:15Even if I don't act, that is an act of, right?
52:18So, what do you suggest is the point at which we act?
52:23Wonderful, wonderful.
52:25You see, there is an assumption inherent here.
52:29The assumption is action and observation are distinct things, they are not.
52:37You don't pause to observe.
52:39That's a traditional model.
52:41That's not what I'm talking of.
52:43What you're saying is, if I just keep observing, when do I act?
52:48Or what is the point at which observation assumes gains so much certainty that I can now commit myself to some action?
52:57That's the question.
52:58Am I right?
52:59Yes, that's the question.
53:00No, you never have to stop because you cannot stop.
53:04You cannot stop.
53:06You are acting.
53:08We all are acting in our particular conditioned ways.
53:12It is this movement that needs to be observed.
53:16Hence movement and observation are concurrent.
53:20They are not episodic.
53:23They don't follow each other.
53:27Are you getting it?
53:29If you pause to observe, what will you observe?
53:34What will you observe?
53:35How will you observe the flow of the Ganga in a picture?
53:41Can you?
53:43Can you?
53:44So, there is the flow and the flow itself is being observed.
53:50The flow itself is being observed.
53:52Which means you cannot have the luxury of observation-less movement.
53:58And that's the luxury traditional spirituality provides you.
54:02So, there is a particular time slot for observation.
54:06Morning 6.30 to 7 in my meditation room.
54:11And then the entire day you don't need to be observant.
54:15I'm talking of observation 24-7.
54:22I'm saying, even as I stand here and we sit here, we should know what's going on.
54:32As I speak, how many of us found something, somebody within us coming up with replies or resistance?
54:44Yeah.
54:45Yeah.
54:46So, that's what needs to be observed.
54:48Now, the one who came up with those reberts or resistances, does that person really understand
54:56what is being said?
54:57Honestly, it isn't.
54:59But the reaction is instantaneous.
55:02Even without understanding, it is prepared to counter.
55:06No.
55:07No.
55:08No.
55:09No.
55:10That's what needs to be observed.
55:11That's what observation is all about.
55:14We are sitting the window side of the bus.
55:17Right?
55:18And you are continuously seeing things.
55:21The bus is moving.
55:23Do you see how something within keeps reacting?
55:26Even though you might not speak.
55:27You might not move.
55:29But there is a continuous something happening.
55:32That's what needs to be observed.
55:35Huh?
55:36You watch a long car.
55:39You watch a fat man.
55:41You watch a sexy woman.
55:43You see somebody wearing a skill cap.
55:46You happen to watch a dead body.
55:51An ambulance.
55:52A police van.
55:56Aren't these common occurrences?
56:01We see these things.
56:03Do you see how there is something within that keeps reacting to them?
56:07Yeah?
56:08So observation and movement are simultaneous.
56:11Simultaneous.
56:12Don't do this.
56:13That if I have to make a great decision, then I'll stop doing everything else.
56:21Enclose myself in my room for two days and then come up with a great decision.
56:28That's stupid.
56:30It is in the flow of things that the facts will emerge.
56:35If you stop the flow, what will you see?
56:39Where will the facts come from?
56:41No.
56:43No.