On life, death and celebration || Acharya Prashant, on Jesus Christ (2018)
Video Information: Shabdyog Session, 24.12.2018, Advait BodhSthal, Greater Noida, India
Context:
What is life?
How to understand death closely?
How to celebrate life?
What is spiritual death?
How to live and celebrate life without fear of death?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You will meet God, when you die.”
~ Jesus Christ .
Context:
What is life?
How to understand death closely?
How to celebrate life?
What is spiritual death?
How to live and celebrate life without fear of death?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You will meet God, when you die.”
~ Jesus Christ .
Transcript
00:00 [Music]
00:07 Upon hearing from Lokesh Ji about today's Christmas celebration,
00:12 even though we are in a Hindu surrounding,
00:15 I inquired and he said that here in the foundation,
00:20 there is no particular emphasis upon any particular organized religion.
00:28 To this, I asked, I meaning Anna, to this I asked that if this is so,
00:36 then are all the national holidays celebrated here?
00:41 He didn't reply. And when she says he didn't reply,
00:45 she ends with three dots.
00:50 And you know what these three dots mean whenever you see them?
00:54 To be continued, there is something left unsaid.
00:59 Either it is unclear or it is of a nature that cannot be discussed.
01:15 Good question and thanks. That will enrich the whole thing.
01:22 So what she is saying is that, Sirs, friends,
01:31 I'm surprised you're celebrating Christmas.
01:34 I'm glad you're celebrating Christmas, but I want to trust you.
01:39 I want to be certain that your celebration is authentic.
01:44 How do I be certain that you really have something for Jesus?
01:51 Because in general, such a thing is not seen.
01:55 She says we are in a predominantly Hindu surrounding.
01:58 And yes, of course.
02:03 And she says that the foundation prides itself on Advaith.
02:15 And Advaith is fundamentally Indian.
02:21 You could even say Hindu.
02:26 The texts that we are seeing here are mostly.
02:35 Indian and Hindu texts.
02:39 The entire ecosystem appears to be Indic and Hindic, both.
02:51 Even the language is Hindi.
02:57 So how is it so that this fellow has come over?
03:06 It doesn't happen this way in the rest of the world.
03:13 Or at most places anywhere in this world.
03:18 Then she says, fine, if it is not only with the Hindu scriptures or Hindu deities or the Hindu pantheon that you are concerned.
03:27 If you say that you have a universal outlook, that you look forward to the teachings of all religions.
03:37 Then why is it only Jesus selectively that you are celebrating?
03:44 So she asks a pointed question.
03:47 She is saying, do you celebrate all national holidays?
03:50 By national holidays, you probably mean all the holidays relating to the various organized religions of the world.
03:59 That's what you mean.
04:00 That's what she means.
04:02 Now, is the doubt clear?
04:05 The doubt is if you have so much for Jesus.
04:10 And this relates to you all because she has seen everybody in the festive spirit throughout this day.
04:18 If you have so much for Jesus, equally do you have for Moses and Mohammed and Confucius and Lao Tzu?
04:32 Are you getting it?
04:36 Do you really cherish Buddha and Mahavira in the same way?
04:44 That's the question.
04:46 What's the answer then?
04:52 You see, technically no.
05:00 Technically no.
05:02 But if the answer is no, it is not because the teachings from certain religions are valued more than or over the teachings of a few selected religions.
05:22 That is not the case here.
05:26 It is for a very simple reason.
05:30 You can celebrate somebody's birthday only if first of all you know him factually.
05:42 With all due respect to the foundation and the people present here, most of us do not even know the principal figures even in the Indic stream.
06:08 You know, we sing of a particular saint a lot.
06:14 Even as this session is going on, another parallel session is happening in Delhi where the songs of that saint are being sung.
06:28 Who is being referred to?
06:30 Kabir.
06:34 How many of us celebrate Kabir Jayanti?
06:40 But surely there would be hardly anybody here who is not in love with Kabir.
06:54 But do we celebrate any particular day in the year relating to Kabir Sahib?
07:02 That is not because of lack of love.
07:04 That is simply because of lack of knowledge.
07:09 To celebrate somebody's birthday.
07:13 First of all, you must know his birthday.
07:17 People here do not belong mostly with a few exceptions, maybe to the scholarly category.
07:31 They won't have too much knowledge.
07:38 Many of us may have depth of understanding, but if you will quiz them about facts, they will not know.
07:50 They'll just not know.
07:53 With Christmas, things are a bit more convenient.
07:58 Even if you do not know, the market tells you.
08:07 You don't need to even remember.
08:09 In fact, if you will know a lot, if you will gain in knowledge, then it will become difficult for you to celebrate Christmas.
08:17 Because this day, 25th of December every year is not at all the day of birth of Jesus Christ.
08:29 Those who have a background in history know of this.
08:40 If you will know about Santa Claus, from where did the figure come and how exactly did he become popular,
08:50 it will become difficult for you to look at him the same way as you usually do.
09:00 So that's how Christmas is being celebrated.
09:04 It is incidental that on this day, people are displaying their festive spirit.
09:20 What is essential is that people have love and regard for anyone, be it Jesus Christ or anybody else.
09:34 Anyone who loves the truth declares himself to be the son of truth and with compassion works for the liberation of the world.
09:52 Are we loving, respecting, celebrating a particular person called Jesus Christ?
10:04 Not at all.
10:09 If you are looking at these festivities, they are dedicated to anyone who says that I come directly from there.
10:24 And coming directly from there, he works hard and pays with his life to pull people up to there.
10:45 The name of such an agency, the name of such a person, such a force, such a manifestation could be Jesus Christ, could be Krishna, could be Ram, or could be anybody.
11:03 We are just celebrating divinity.
11:09 We are just celebrating avatarhood.
11:17 It is incidental that it is being celebrated in the name of Jesus.
11:22 And it is being celebrated in the name of Jesus.
11:25 Because Jesus is easy to remember in this age of Santa Claus.
11:34 Are you getting it?
11:36 Obviously, this gathering will not be able to celebrate the birth, the life, the deeds of each and every saint that has been,
11:56 that is for the simple reason of lack of knowledge.
12:06 We do not know.
12:10 If we are not celebrating them, it is just because we do not know of them.
12:15 And if we are celebrating this, you should know that this celebration is dedicated not to one person, but to all saints of the world.
12:27 It is dedicated to sainthood itself.
12:31 It is dedicated to spirituality itself.
12:35 This celebration is dedicated not to the Christian Jesus Christ, not the Jesus Christ of the Christians.
12:47 This celebration is dedicated to that within man that aims to be one with the truth.
12:58 So, kindly drop the notion that these are Hindus here who are surprisingly celebrating a Christian festival.
13:11 That seems to be your assumption.
13:13 And that is why you are perplexed.
13:16 What are these Hindus doing?
13:19 They are celebrating a Christian festival.
13:21 That's too good to believe.
13:24 So, the mind feels like doubting it.
13:28 Maybe there is something fishy somewhere.
13:30 Are these people really genuine?
13:32 I have anyway always doubted the wisdom of this chap, Sandeep.
13:39 And if he is connected to these people, that is all the more reason all of them should be doubted.
13:48 Had they been really admirers of Jesus, then they should have admired all the other prophets as well.
14:00 You know what, if you ask them that in the tradition of Abraham, what are the prophets that have been?
14:12 They will not be able to tell.
14:14 How will they celebrate?
14:16 And nobody out here is even interested in knowing the names of prophets.
14:21 Are you interested?
14:23 To us, spirituality is going beyond the load of name, time, date and form.
14:30 Who wants to remember dates?
14:32 Time is the load of the head.
14:36 Names are what keep us in bondage.
14:40 Today was easy.
14:43 We did not need to remember anything.
14:46 I remind you today was easy.
14:48 We did not need to remember anything.
14:51 It was shouted in our ears.
14:55 That Jesus is coming.
14:59 The market was the alarm.
15:01 The Jesus, Jesus is coming.
15:04 You know what?
15:06 My hotel charged me thousands extra.
15:12 Right at the time of chicken, they said the duration of your stay includes the Christmas Eve.
15:21 I said, yes, probably it does.
15:23 So what?
15:24 You have to pay up.
15:26 There would be a gala dinner.
15:30 And for that, they really squeezed out hard earned money from my pocket.
15:43 How will I ever forget this day?
15:55 Having lost so many thousands, I'm not going to forget this day for another century.
16:04 So I'm relieved of the load to remember.
16:07 I don't have to remember.
16:09 The market is making me remember.
16:12 But if I ask you to celebrate Sant Rai Das Jayanti, it will be difficult for you, though.
16:19 I know that many of you would be greatly in love with Sant Rai Das.
16:28 Rohit with us here sings beautifully of one, at least one particular verse from Rai Das.
16:38 But ask him, when is Rai Das Jayanti?
16:43 We don't love to remember dates.
16:46 We don't.
16:48 This date we remember because of the gala dinner.
16:55 Getting it.
16:57 But at the same time, we love the manifestation of truth whenever it happens, wherever it happens, in whatever name it happens.
17:16 We needed a reason to celebrate.
17:18 We got the reason.
17:19 The reason is incidental.
17:24 If you'll come to the place where the foundation is, there is one chap whose birthday is celebrated at least half a dozen times every year.
17:36 We just need a reason to kick his butt.
17:43 That's it. When you really want to do something, does it matter what the day or time is?
17:49 Does it matter?
17:52 He deserves to be kicked.
17:54 So every second month he gets a birthday.
17:59 Counting the number of birthdays, he must be centuries old now.
18:09 I know this is a very incapable answer.
18:13 Does it assuage your doubt a bit?
18:25 When we say we are alive, we mean our typical ways of living.
18:36 That's what is meant by being alive.
18:43 So when Jesus says that you will meet me when you die or when you'll meet God when you die,
18:50 what he means is that unless you die to your existing ways of living, there is no possibility of Godliness for you.
19:09 For us, life is not physical.
19:14 It is much more psychological.
19:19 Life is much more psychological.
19:28 That's why you talk of a good life and a bad life.
19:36 Does your elbow get better when you are living a good life?
19:43 Does your knee get worse when you are living a bad life?
19:53 Today you say you are having a bad life.
19:57 Tomorrow you say you are having a good life.
20:00 Your body has remained much the same.
20:05 What has changed?
20:10 The inner life. And when I say inner life, I do not mean the soul or the Atma.
20:19 By inner life, I mean the mental life.
20:37 By dying then is meant the discontinuation of the mental life, the beliefs of the mind.
20:50 The very basis on which the mind is operating.
20:56 The core principles that you have taken as the truth.
21:04 Unless they are challenged and defeated, there is no possibility of something new coming to you.
21:25 The core principles have to be challenged. They have to be defeated. They have to be questioned.
21:37 You said you want to introduce this to your friends from the West.
21:45 You want to explain this to them.
21:53 Explain to them that there are things that are far more valuable than the material.
22:09 Tell them that they must learn to really value.
22:22 Redoing their calculation mathematics would be the same as the expiry of the old life and the initiation of a new life.
22:40 Because calculations we anyway do.
22:45 Valuations we anyway attach to things.
22:49 But unfortunately we attach valuations only to things.
22:56 At best thoughts and ideas.
23:00 You pay for tea.
23:08 Because it satisfies your palate, your stomach.
23:16 You can probably also pay for a book because it gives you thoughts.
23:26 When you value tea, you value a thing.
23:31 When you value a book, you value a thought.
23:39 But there is something far more valuable than these.
23:44 Far more valuable.
23:47 And if they don't agree, then ask them, is love a thing?
23:55 Surely they'll say no, it is not.
23:57 Then ask them, is it a thought?
23:59 Now there would be a debate.
24:03 They'll say no, love is a feeling.
24:05 Here science will come to help you.
24:10 Because if love is a feeling, then science has conclusively proven that all feelings are merely the action of chemicals in the brain.
24:26 So if they insist that love is not a thing, but nevertheless it is a feeling or a thought, then say, do you mean that love is merely a chemical?
24:39 They would want to say yes for the sake of defending their argument.
24:45 But it would be such an indignified yes that they would refrain from saying it.
24:54 To say that love is dopamine or some other chemical sounds very abusive.
25:08 Is it not?
25:09 So what is love then?
25:15 What is love then?
25:18 I'm talking specifically of love.
25:21 Because if I say joy, they will confuse, conflate joy with happiness.
25:26 And happiness is surely linked to the secretion of hormones, chemicals.
25:32 So they'll say, of course, joy is happiness and happiness is hormones.
25:37 But love is accorded a sacred status in our culture, in all cultures.
25:45 So it becomes a little difficult to hold the position that love is merely a hormone.
25:57 They'll say, no, it is not a hormone, because if love is merely a hormone, then your relationship with your wife is merely hormonish.
26:07 Then do not say that you love your kids.
26:10 Your kids are nothing but products of hormones.
26:13 Ask them what is love.
26:16 And if they really abide by the truth, if they are really interested in an honest discussion, they'll come to admit that yes, love is something.
26:27 Neither a thing nor a thought yet very valuable.
26:33 Challenge the valuation.
26:37 Challenge it. If somebody can admit that even one valuable word is not a thing, then he has admitted God.
26:52 Because what does godlessness say?
26:54 Godlessness says there are only things and thoughts.
27:00 If you can admit of even one bit outside the province of things and thoughts, then you have effectively accepted the transcendental.
27:15 You have effectively admitted that which is beyond.
27:21 Are you getting it?
27:24 Valuation has to be challenged.
27:27 All life is nothing but the art of valuation.
27:30 You see.
27:33 Just the art of valuation.
27:36 We don't know how to value.
27:45 Because we are terribly body identified and body is material.
27:48 So we value only the material.
27:51 Whereas the fact is that our heart is all the time yearning for that which is beyond material.
27:58 And it is so strange.
28:01 You want that which is beyond material and yet you are valuing only the material.
28:09 Rohit would probably be remembering this.
28:13 We were at a particular college, 5-6 years back.
28:21 And this girl gets up and says, I was holding a seminar with the students.
28:27 And so she is like this and she says, Sir, we are paying 800 rupees for a semester long program.
28:38 Is it not too much?
28:41 I said, first of all, you are not paying 800, you are paying 1100.
28:48 Secondly, when was the last time you had a pizza?
28:52 Pretty recently.
28:55 How much did it cost?
28:57 400, 500.
28:59 How many times a semester do you have a pizza?
29:03 How many times a semester?
29:05 Sir, you should ask how many times a week?
29:08 So you think that this self-development program is not worth two helpings of the pizza?
29:22 That's our valuation.
29:24 Pizza is valuable because you can feel it in your hands and you have identified with your hands.
29:34 Because you are bodily identified, so a thing is valuable.
29:38 Even a thought is valuable.
29:42 But that is not valuable.
29:45 So it's okay.
29:48 If it's in the name of Christmas Gala dinner, that hotel charges me thousands extra for food because food can be
30:03 a very valuable thing.
30:06 So, when I said enough of observation,
30:32 I clearly meant act now.
30:39 Act now.
30:44 I said, the bird has been observing the spikes of its cage since too long now.
30:57 No more observation is needed.
30:58 What is it that you do not know of?
31:05 Act.
31:09 Now you're asking, how about Jap?
31:12 How about reciting the name of God?
31:14 How about reciting the various mantras and verses and shlokas?
31:20 How will it help the bird to keep reciting the name of the sky?
31:30 Earlier she was busy observing the spikes.
31:40 Nice.
31:41 I'm in the cage and this is what keeps me caged.
31:44 One, two, three, four. And I'm observing them. Yes, observing.
31:50 And now she is busy reciting and singing the name of the sky.
31:59 Akash Sahasranam.
32:04 The hundred names of the glorious sky.
32:08 And who is reciting them?
32:11 The caged bird. How will it help?
32:16 Junk, all junk.
32:20 Work.
32:22 Jyoti, what do you find me doing?
32:30 I'm working.
32:33 And in the process of working, the name of God is getting recited an infinite number of times.
32:40 I'm working, not merely reciting.
32:43 This is work.
32:47 And when I say work, I mean action that intends change.
32:56 Action that intends change.
33:01 Solid action.
33:11 Ultimately, you want change, don't you?
33:16 All the stuff that you do in the name of spirituality is just a means, is it not?
33:25 A means to attain some change.
33:35 Or do you want to stick to the means?
33:39 What is jap for?
33:42 What is observation for?
33:45 Now let that happen.
33:48 Make that happen.
33:52 The bird cannot wait for the cage to dissolve.
33:56 And the cage would never just dissolve on its own.
34:03 One has to fight.
34:06 One has to fight.
34:10 One has to fight with all her might.
34:14 Knowing fully well that her wings are no match for the strength of the cage.
34:24 She should still fight and say, I am fighting.
34:28 This is my decision with complete onus upon herself with a total sense of doership.
34:33 She should fight knowing fully well that it is a doomed fight.
34:41 Such doership is called non doership.
34:52 Are you getting it?
34:56 When you fight with the intention to win or gain, then it is doership.
35:04 When you fight with the intention to perish in the battle, it is non doership.
35:17 Work with this intention. Act with this intention.
35:23 Work is needed now.
35:26 There have been waves after waves of people, Chhoti,
35:35 who have kept sitting comfortably in their warm corners,
35:45 reciting the various names of the Lord, the Truth, a million times.
35:55 They are still found in the merry-go-round of Chaurasi.
36:16 Show with your life what you want life to be.
36:26 Show with your action the depth of your love.