Why didn't the saints fight for the country's freedom_ (1080p_25fps_H264-128kbit_AAC)
Video Information:
Month of Awakening, 13.10.2019, Advait Bodhsthal, Greater Noida, India
Context:
The only useful purpose of the present birth is to turn within and realize it. There is nothing else to do.
~ Ramana Maharshi
~ How do one know if one is suited for Karm or Gyan?
~ Why didn't saints fight for the country's freedom?
~ How did political freedom is related to inner freedom?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Month of Awakening, 13.10.2019, Advait Bodhsthal, Greater Noida, India
Context:
The only useful purpose of the present birth is to turn within and realize it. There is nothing else to do.
~ Ramana Maharshi
~ How do one know if one is suited for Karm or Gyan?
~ Why didn't saints fight for the country's freedom?
~ How did political freedom is related to inner freedom?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Category
ЁЯЫая╕П
LifestyleTranscript
00:00 Acharya ji, Pranam.
00:13 Ramana Maharishi says, "The only useful purpose of the present birth is to turn within and
00:24 realize it.
00:27 There is nothing else to do."
00:35 Then comes the question, "Acharya ji, during Ramana Maharishi's lifetime, there were people
00:48 who were sincerely engaged in spiritual pursuits and yet there were many others who dedicated
00:56 their life for the country's freedom struggle.
01:05 Even some saints chose not to take part in the affairs of the country and remain as they
01:13 are and some saints chose to fight against the discrete manifestation of evil in the
01:21 society.
01:24 How do we know that we have to be active participants in the affairs of the world or we have to
01:36 turn inwards and realize?
01:39 How do I know if one is suited for karma or gyan?
02:00 These are not really different.
02:13 When you say that the country needed to be liberated, what is it that you exactly mean?
02:32 Those who were deeply into the freedom struggle never said that their objective is merely
02:46 the change of political leadership at the center.
02:58 They were very clear that the country is an organic entity and
03:16 is represented by people and it represents a mass of people.
03:28 The country is the people.
03:33 So the liberation of the country is just another name for the liberation of the people.
03:45 When you say I am fighting for my country's independence, you are actually fighting for
03:54 the people's freedom and if one says that one is fighting for the people's freedom,
04:02 it is obvious that mere political freedom would be a very nominal freedom.
04:17 Things have to really change from a state of bondage to a state of liberation for the
04:27 common man.
04:32 That is what is meant by freedom.
04:35 So when you say that you want the country's freedom, you actually want the state of the
04:42 country's residents to change from one of bondage to one of freedom.
04:52 Now in what all forms does the common person in the country suffer bondage?
05:11 Look at his life.
05:15 Look at your own life.
05:23 Is the bondage merely political?
05:29 Is bondage or slavery or dependence merely political?
05:35 In fact, political subjugation is a small part of the total set of dependencies that
05:55 one lives in.
06:06 It is just that political subjugation is often the most visible and one of the loudest elements
06:28 in the overall set of forces that dominate and enslave us.
06:48 Look at Mahatma Gandhi or look at Bheem Rao Ambedkar or look at Bhagat Singh or look at
06:58 Subhash Chandra Bose or look at Jawaharlal Nehru or look at Madan Mohan Malviya.
07:13 Go and talk to them, read them.
07:22 Surely their agenda was not at all limited to driving the British away.
07:36 Driving the British away might have been their immediate objective but it was not the only
07:44 or the final objective.
07:48 There were a lot of things to be done once the Brits were gone.
07:58 In fact, Mahatma Gandhi resigned from the membership of the political party congress
08:08 two decades before independence and he said that his work would now be about emancipating
08:25 the masses from their inner bondages.
08:32 So he took up programs against the caste system, towards empowerment of the village unit, towards
08:44 communal enmity, towards cleanliness, towards a self-sufficient village economy and such
09:04 things.
09:11 Anybody who will go deep into the minds of the freedom fighters will discover that gaining
09:20 independence from Britain was just the starting point in their agenda and then there was a
09:35 lot more to be done.
09:41 That lot more was already being done by Ramana Maharshi.
09:56 So Ramana Maharshi is actively contributing to inner freedom and passively contributing
10:09 to political freedom and the active political freedom fighters are immediately and actively
10:25 contributing to political freedom and potentially contributing to inner freedom because once
10:36 political freedom is achieved, it becomes easier to bring about other freedom-centric
10:52 changes in the society.
10:57 So both were doing the same thing, be it Ramana Maharshi or be it Mahatma Gandhi or Chandrashekhar
11:05 Azad or Bhagat Singh.
11:10 It's just that the means were different.
11:13 When Ramana Maharshi liberates you from within, then how will you support outer subjugation?
11:28 The one who has come to see himself as the ever free Atma, how will he now bow his head
11:41 down to an external master?
11:47 Therefore it is no surprise that many of the freedom fighters were deeply spiritual in
11:56 their approach.
11:59 When you are spiritual, then you know inner freedom.
12:02 When you know inner freedom, then you give no importance to external bondages, doesn't
12:10 matter how lucrative they are or how overpowering they are.
12:18 Are you getting it?
12:26 So Ramana Maharshi is liberating you from within.
12:33 The political activists, the known freedom fighters, they are liberating you from without.
12:45 Both are actually attempting the same thing towards the same end, which is complete liberation
12:54 of the individual.
13:00 So do not try to see a division or a dichotomy here.
13:08 You have asked which path do I take, Karma or Gyan?
13:21 It almost sounds like Karma is the path of Agyan.
13:27 The moment you say that should I take the path of Karma or Gyan, you have made Karma
13:36 sound like Agyan and Gyan sound like Akarmanyata.
13:48 As if the Gyan Yogi is the one who does nothing and the Karma Yogi is the one who knows nothing.
13:56 What kind of an impossible division is this?
14:03 Gyan leads to the right Karma and often that right Karma is very vigorous, very energetic,
14:13 very explosive.
14:17 At the same time, the right Karma Yogi cannot proceed with his Karma without realizing what
14:30 Karma is and to what end must Karma action be made.
14:37 These two are one.
14:38 It's just that one starts from this place, the other starts from this place.
14:46 But they meet in the same place.
14:47 They are attempting the same thing.
14:52 In fact, they are walking down the same road.
14:54 It's just that one starts off keeping his left foot ahead and the other starts off keeping
15:09 his right foot ahead.
15:14 So that is the great difference that you can find between these two.
15:24 Both are walking down the same road towards the same destination.
15:29 One is walking left right left right left.
15:34 The other is walking right left right left right.
15:39 And you are saying see they are different.
15:42 How different are they?
15:45 How different are they?
15:52 Never say that the presence of somebody like Raman Maharshi does not contribute to the
16:07 welfare of the country including the political welfare of the country.
16:15 Even if he does not directly jump into the freedom struggle, he has his own ways.
16:22 In fact, he used to say, how do you know that I am not bringing about a great social change
16:29 by just sitting here.
16:32 It's a question of means.
16:34 There are those who roam about the entire country.
16:38 There are those who bring about a revolution by using bombs and grenades and guns and pistols.
16:47 And then there is the way of Raman Maharshi.
16:49 He too is bringing about a revolution in his own way of silence.
16:54 That was his way, the way of silence.
16:57 But do not think that his way was any less effective.
17:00 It was actually more effective, it always has been more effective.
17:05 Revolutions that start from inside, revolution that affect the very core of man are always
17:14 more successful than revolutions that seem to change merely the political order.
17:23 After all, if the political order changes, then you just change your master, your political
17:30 master.
17:31 Your slavery remains the same and how does it help you if you just switch from one master
17:41 to the other, if you are to continue as a slave.
17:49 The white Sahib went away, we rejoiced and his place was taken by the brown Sahib.
17:58 What kind of freedom is this if we are not gaining internal freedom?
18:09 It saddens me to say that Indians are still one of the psychologically most subjugated
18:19 and most subdued people in the world.
18:26 The imprint of years of slavery is still too thick on us.
18:37 Internally and externally we might have gained freedom but internally we are far from free.
18:44 That doesn't mean that the rest of world is very free.
18:47 The rest of the world too lives in inner subjugations.
18:52 But we Indians seem to be a step ahead of them as far as choosing slavery is concerned.
19:01 That is the concern of a saint.
19:02 A saint says of what use is political freedom if internally you still choose to be a slave
19:11 of somebody versus still of what use is external freedom if internally you are a slave to yourself.
19:22 The worst slavery is when you are your own slave, when you are a slave to your own ego,
19:29 when you are a slave to your own vrittis, carnal tendencies, hormonal upsurges, social
19:38 conditioning, physical compulsiveness.
19:43 When you are a slave to all these of what use is external freedom.
19:48 Of course it is of some use but very limited use.
19:53 Much more important is inner freedom.
19:57 So when you have somebody like Ramana Maharshi, kindly do not try to draw a distinction.
20:04 Do not say Ramana Maharshi did not do anything for the country's freedom.
20:08 There were others who were doing a lot.
20:11 Not true.
20:13 It is impossible that you have somebody like Ramana Maharshi and he does not bring you
20:22 to the truest of freedoms.
20:26 At the same time, great respect is deserved by those who fought for freedom from the yoke
20:38 of alien masters for an occupation.
20:51 Because an external climate of political freedom enables inner freedom as well.
21:01 So these two go hand in hand.
21:03 It's just that even though these two go hand in hand, among these two, among inner freedom
21:11 and outer freedom, the more important one is inner freedom.
21:17 Both are important.
21:19 Inner freedom and outer freedom, both are two sides of the same coin.
21:23 But if one has to choose between the two, the more important one is inner freedom.
21:28 Why is inner freedom more important?
21:30 The reason is very obvious.
21:32 Please understand.
21:35 The world is a great system that you really cannot affect or control or determine.
21:44 You do not know what would happen next.
21:46 As we sit here, an earthquake may strike us right now.
21:50 We have no control over that and there is very little predictability in life.
21:57 So external situations and circumstances and events cannot even be predicted, let alone
22:04 controlled.
22:05 However, there is one thing that you can always be a master of.
22:10 What?
22:11 Your inner self.
22:12 Therefore, those who have known the external world and the inner world have said both freedoms
22:17 are important.
22:18 External freedom and inner freedom.
22:19 But external freedom would always remain a thing of chance, a little dicey.
22:27 Inner freedom is guaranteed.
22:29 You are your own master.
22:32 Outside things can change by way of accident or coincidence.
22:38 Inside, no accident is possible without your permission.
22:42 Inside you are the only one.
22:44 Inside you are the ruler.
22:46 Therefore, if you have to choose between these two, inner freedom and outer freedom, choose
22:52 inner freedom.
22:54 And if possible, have both, inner and outer.
22:58 Both are important.
22:59 Among these two, the more important one is the inner one.
23:04 So Prabhupada Maharishi is every bit as much of a freedom fighter as the greatest name
23:14 we can take in the glorious list of freedom fighters we have had.
23:27 But in his own way, in his way of silence, in his way of inwardness.
23:34 Do you understand?
23:37 [Music]