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00:00Today, on the behalf of the Literature Club of IIM Bangalore,
00:03welcome you all to Samwaad, an interactive session with Acharya Rasha.
00:12How do you know somebody is happy?
00:14What is happiness?
00:17We don't know happiness, we only know symptoms of happiness.
00:20And symptoms are easy to copy.
00:23Acharya Ji is a Vedanta exegete, a philosopher, a social reformer, a columnist,
00:27and a national best-selling author.
00:30Arms in arms, up or hands over shoulders, her shoulders, especially.
00:35What do you say immediately?
00:36Happy.
00:40He is a prolific writer with over 160 books to his name
00:44and is recognized as the world's most followed spiritual leader
00:48with over 55 million subscribers on YouTube.
00:51Happiness is not something you have to hunt for.
00:53You do not need to be happy.
00:55You are already joyful.
00:57If you do not subject yourself to your own nonsense,
01:02life by design is not meant to torture you.
01:07If life becomes cumbersome,
01:10then surely it is from my own decisions.
01:13It is my own doing.
01:14It is an absolute honor for us to welcome the profound thinker.
01:18I am from Pune, Maharashtra, Prajwal Jadav.
01:26It is often said that lack of self-knowledge leads to suffering.
01:31Yet we see that some people are happy and some of them are deeply troubled.
01:35Seeing this seemingly happy individuals,
01:38people content with worldly choice,
01:41but they distance themselves from Bhagavad Gita.
01:44Why does this happen?
01:45How do you know somebody is happy?
01:47We have fooled ourselves no end.
01:56We don't know happiness.
01:58We only know symptoms of happiness.
02:00And symptoms are easy to copy.
02:04Nobody is happy.
02:06All the exhibit is symptoms of happiness.
02:08And we have in some kind of a very shady deal among ourselves decided mutually with universal consent
02:18that these will be the accepted symptoms of happiness.
02:24Let's list down five of them.
02:26One, smiling.
02:30And the hyperlative form of that is a guffaw.
02:33Oh, so happy.
02:34Extremely happy.
02:35Second, money.
02:37Clothes.
02:41Shining face.
02:43Partner.
02:44Partner.
02:44Partner.
02:45Partner.
02:45Partner.
02:45Fine.
02:48Yeah.
02:48And?
02:50Respect.
02:51Prestige.
02:52Yeah.
02:56Gratitude.
02:57Gratitude.
03:00That's not a very common thing among happy people.
03:07You see a young man, a young woman, arms in arms, or hands over shoulders, her shoulders especially.
03:22What do you say immediately?
03:23Happy.
03:24We can conduct an experiment right now.
03:27Let's display a few pictures over here.
03:29And let's ask you, which of these indicate happiness?
03:34The answer would be almost unanimous.
03:37Now, how do you know they are happy?
03:38Those are pictures.
03:41Do you see that's our happiness?
03:43Pictures.
03:44Will it happen or not?
03:48Do we have somebody from psychology here?
03:52Or any of the behavioral sciences?
03:57Okay.
03:58Yeah.
03:58Try this out.
04:01Five picks.
04:02Tell me which of these indicate happiness.
04:06And you'll have near consensus in the responses.
04:11What does that tell?
04:12Happiness is an image.
04:20Image.
04:21Five images.
04:23And you know which of these point towards happiness.
04:26You already know.
04:27Similarly, five faces of men and women.
04:31Which of these are evil people?
04:36Nobody would say, I cannot say, sir.
04:38It's a stupid question to ask, sir.
04:42What are you asking?
04:42How do I know which of them is evil?
04:44We will.
04:45You will find somebody within.
04:47Who will say, you know, that one.
04:48Number three.
04:51He looks like Acharya Prashant.
04:56How do I change that?
04:57So many people come up with that.
04:59No, I haven't heard him.
05:00I haven't read him.
05:01But he looks like a human being.
05:03How do I change my face?
05:06But we already know.
05:08We already know.
05:19See, this is just a particular piece of three-dimensional geometry.
05:28Right?
05:29Right?
05:30It does not say good, bad, wild, virtuous.
05:34It says nothing.
05:34Then there is some kind of personal decoder here.
05:40That translates this geometry into a particular judgment.
05:46We do not realize that the judgment is not coming from the face.
05:49It is coming from our own compiler.
05:52The decoder within.
05:54We don't realize that.
05:55Anyway, that's, that's a little bit.
05:58So, happiness.
06:00Happiness.
06:01What is happiness?
06:03Behaving in a particular way?
06:06Feeling a particular way?
06:09What is happiness?
06:12Feeling a particular way.
06:13Now, feeling is totally chemical.
06:17Don't we know that?
06:19And if happiness happens to be such a big thing, then you can have that chemical put into your body very artificially and you will be happy.
06:28We now very well know the names of at least five such chemicals that can arouse you in happy and differently happy ways.
06:42A shot of dopamine, it will work in one particular way and you will be...
06:45Oestrogen, another way.
06:56Oxytocin, another way.
07:00And even these happinesses will not be all alike.
07:04Different kinds of happinesses.
07:07And all temporary nature.
07:09So, how do we accord so much value to this feeling, particular feeling?
07:15And feelings can amount to pleasure, not happiness.
07:24Happiness that is neither temporal nor chemical has been classically called as joy.
07:30And it is not something to be obtained.
07:35It is not something to be obtained.
07:37It is nature.
07:38It is who you are.
07:39Provided, you refuse to abide by what you are not.
07:46Happiness is not something you have to hunt for.
07:50Otherwise, happiness remains eternally elusive.
07:54I heard this book, The Pursuit of Happiness.
08:04It is a futile pursuit of happiness.
08:08Unending pursuit of happiness.
08:13Getting it.
08:14And that sensation of arousal, hormonal, chemical arousal, that we call as happiness.
08:26That is needed only because our life is otherwise depressing.
08:33You do not need to be happy.
08:35You are already joyful if you do not subject yourself to your own nonsense.
08:45Happiness is not a particular state, a particular moment, a particular event or episode.
08:54Happiness is a constant thing.
08:57It is your very breath, just as the heart beats.
09:02Similarly, the nature of consciousness is to always be joyful.
09:07You are joyful already.
09:09But we burden ourselves with all kinds of needless things.
09:16And that becomes the sadness, the grief of life.
09:22Life becomes a trauma.
09:24And when life becomes that kind of a thing, then you require sensational pleasures that
09:32we mistakenly call as happiness.
09:36Again, turning it a little personal, that's another grouse people have against me.
09:41Why doesn't this man laugh?
09:42Because I don't need to.
09:45See, I am already alright.
09:48I am not depressed.
09:50Why do I need to laugh?
09:51You are so depressed, you need to laugh.
09:54You will die if you don't laugh.
09:56But I am already alright.
10:00I am vibrant within.
10:05I am not tense.
10:06I am not worried.
10:08I am okay.
10:09I am immersed.
10:11I am with you.
10:11I am enjoying being with you.
10:14This association itself is so enjoyable.
10:16Why do I need to burst out into a guffaw?
10:22And if need be, when that happens, that happens on its own.
10:27I don't have to turn that into a routine or an obligation.
10:29Happiness is the most needless thing to be pursued because it is always and already there.
10:48Why are you searching for something that is your very nature?
10:56And if the mind is heavy, if life is no more fun, then you need to ask, what have I done?
11:04Life by design is not meant to torture you.
11:12You have all that you need to live joyfully.
11:16If life becomes cumbersome, then surely it is from my own decisions.
11:24It is my own doing.
11:26I don't need to laugh.
11:28I need to fight.
11:30I need to undo what I have done.
11:33I need to see clearly where I am conditioned and enslaved.
11:38And when I see that, then I push away my grief.
11:45My grief is not something that has accidentally come upon me.
11:49My grief is something I am deliberately sticking to.
11:53My grief is something I am clutching this way, this strongly with my own fists.
12:03I have to release my grip.
12:06I have to release my grip.
12:08And that will release me of grief.
12:14Freedom from grief itself is joy.
12:17If I remain grieving, and with the grief, along with the grief, shares happiness.
12:25How smart is that?
12:28Internally, I am weeping and bleeding.
12:32And externally, I go to sit in a comic show.
12:36How will that help?
12:38But we do that too.
12:39No?
12:40I am extremely tense.
12:42Oh, I am feeling so down.
12:45I need to shop.
12:46I need to speak to you for at least 30 minutes.
12:52Why?
12:53I am not alright.
12:57Make me laugh.
13:00Or turn me on.
13:01Whatever.
13:04How will that help you?
13:05That which is inside will remain.
13:09You are just whitewashing it.
13:13You are sugarcoating it.
13:17You are denying what is there.
13:19That's what this flimsy happiness is all about.
13:22The grief is there.
13:23And you want to deny it using the concept of happiness.
13:30Why not get rid of grief itself?
13:36Instead of trying out happiness as a shady solution, why not ask what is causing the problem itself?
13:45What will help?
13:48Freedom from the problem or a shady solution?
13:52Freedom from the problem.
13:52That freedom is what we need.
13:54Not happiness.
13:57Good evening sir.
13:57My name is Tushar.
13:58I have been with Gita Samagam for the last two years.
14:00Very thankful for you.
14:01So you said continuously observe yourself.
14:03When I observe myself, I find greed, anger, all these kind of stuff.
14:08And then I hate myself that I am like that.
14:11And how to then tackle these all things?
14:13I know these are the animistic things.
14:14You don't have to tackle.
14:16If you decide to tackle, observation itself becomes purposeful.
14:22And purpose is desire.
14:24And all desire comes from the center of conditioning.
14:26So now you are not observing.
14:29Now you are playing to your conditioning.
14:31How do you know something deserves to be tackled?
14:33Explain tackling.
14:35Give me an absolute definition of tackling.
14:38By absolute I mean something that is not subjective.
14:41Because everything that is subjective arises from the ego.
14:45Give me an absolute definition of tackling.
14:50See these are very, if I may say, loose words.
14:56That we casually get away with.
14:58We should not allow the inner mischief maker
15:01to so easily get away with loose gibberish.
15:06What do you mean by tackle?
15:09I need to put down something.
15:11What do you mean by that?
15:12These are metaphors.
15:15They are so cunning.
15:16Aren't they?
15:17They hide so much.
15:21You don't need to tackle anything.
15:23You don't need to have pre-set conclusions about what is right and what is wrong.
15:30If, let's say you observe greed.
15:32How do you know greed is bad?
15:34Badness is a concept.
15:37What is bad?
15:39Badness is a concept.
15:40Badness is a man-made concept.
15:42What is bad in one culture is great in another.
15:53Is it not?
15:54So how do you know badness is something absolute?
15:57And we are looking for the absolute.
15:59Because only that would give us peace.
16:03things that are temporal, spatial, cultural.
16:12Let's not respect them too much.
16:16We are looking for something that is beyond the mind of man.
16:21We are looking for something that we have ourselves not constructed.
16:26Because we know who we are.
16:28And therefore we know the quality of our construction.
16:30We don't want to depend too much on it.
16:31Are you getting it?
16:36Observation has to be purposeless.
16:39Don't ask what will happen if I see greed or envy or whatever inside me.
16:46Anger or lust inside me.
16:49If you have seen them, you have seen them.
16:51Fine.
16:51They are there.
16:53You don't need to be judgmental.
16:55You don't need to be your own inner police.
16:57You don't need to be your own inner police.
17:01Seen.
17:02So seen.
17:05What's the big scandal?
17:08There is that fat python sitting inside.
17:12The lazy one.
17:13Doesn't want to do anything.
17:14Just wants to eat.
17:16Doesn't that one sit inside all of us?
17:17If you are assured, you could get all the results that you want without working.
17:22Would you ever work?
17:26That's the python I'm talking of.
17:30So you see, it's there.
17:32The entire fat coil sits there.
17:37Fine.
17:40I don't have the obligation to deal with it or tackle.
17:46No.
17:46You don't have that responsibility.
17:48So abhav is not tackling.
17:51So abhav is knowing.
17:53You have to know.
17:54And from that knowing, what follows, follows.
17:59I don't bother.
18:01My job, my responsibility, my sabhav, my dharma is to just know.
18:09The Upanishads say, I am.
18:11They don't even say, I must know.
18:13They say, I am knowing.
18:15Bodho aham.
18:17I am knowing.
18:18I don't realize.
18:22I am realization itself.
18:24That's sabhav.
18:27I am not my opinions, thoughts, feelings, my body, my word, my age, my anything.
18:34I am pure realization.
18:36Nothing less, nothing more.
18:39Yeah.
18:42Aham nirvikalpo, nirakara rupo, chidananda rupah, shivoham, shivoham.
18:46There is no action contained in this.
18:50It's not my job to act.
18:53It's not my job to impede action either.
18:58If action has to happen, it will happen.
19:01I will submit myself to the action.
19:03And from this realization, vigorous action results.
19:08Vigorous.
19:09The ego, when it acts, it acts only for its petty purposes.
19:12And for petty purposes, only petty action can happen.
19:15How big are your desires?
19:17Look at the size of the universe.
19:18What do you desire?
19:19A grain of sand?
19:22Petty desires.
19:24So when the action emanates from the center of ego, it is always petty.
19:28But when action comes from nothing but realization, then it's unstoppable.
19:33The body can fall.
19:35The person can die.
19:36But that action cannot be stopped.
19:42I think it came from the conditioning where we trained from our childhood.
19:46To tackle.
19:46Yes.
19:47To feel in that thing.
19:48You don't need to tackle.
19:48Thank you so much.
19:50Thank you so, so much, sir.
19:52So thanks a lot for coming, actually.
19:55So just one sentence I wanted to say first before asking the question is that you are doing the
19:59service to the Vedanta, what Feynman has done to physics.
20:02So it's like your lectures on the Vedantic philosophy.
20:06So I have actually one question but I will subdivide it into three parts based on today's sessions.
20:13So when you said at the very first like how do you know that you think you am?
20:20So is it similar to what the French philosopher Descartes had said?
20:26No, no, no.
20:27He was giving supremacy to thought.
20:29This is not that.
20:30This is not that.
20:31He said you are by virtue of your thinking.
20:36No, no.
20:37Being comes first.
20:38Thinking is a much later thing.
20:40Yes.
20:40Next.
20:41You said like if the right desire is there, then there is no need to think about the fulfillment.
20:48Yes.
20:49It is very similar to one Gita shlok.
20:52Yeah, right.
20:53That is correct.
20:54And the last one actually regarding AI.
20:59So like everyone is fearing that it will bring about, I mean the super intelligence, it will
21:05bring about maybe the destruction.
21:07But since this spiritual process, this enlightenment, it is actually nothing but a sequence of chemical
21:14reactions in the proper order.
21:16So like is it possible that sometime in the future, there will be a super enlightenment
21:31instead of super intelligence?
21:33There is nothing like that.
21:36Not even enlightenment is there.
21:37You are talking of super enlightenment?
21:39Fine.
21:42Thank you so much.