Dealing with negative vibrations || Acharya Prashant, at BITS Pilani, Goa (2022)

Acharya Prashant

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Transcript

00:00 Pranam Acharya ji. My question to you is about misconceptions. So often in society we see

00:11 that there are a lot of misconceptions on religion.

00:16 So see we want to be together and since the time is limited we want it to be quite joyful.

00:25 So come up with whatever really matters to you. All right. You don't really need to keep

00:33 up to a standard. You need to come from where you are. Okay. And only then we'll have something

00:41 that keeps us spirited here. Right. All right.

00:46 So we see a lot of misconceptions in society on religion and there is a lot of stupidity

00:53 that goes on. We are taught so many things in the name of fear and we just accept it.

00:58 Like right now I'll give an example on festivals. We don't care about what the actual meaning

01:05 of the festival. All it is to youngsters is about planning this. And even when you talked

01:13 about vibrations. So I was having a conversation in which I heard if you go out during the

01:20 solar eclipse there are negative energies negative vibrations and I was like what negative

01:27 vibrations transverse vibrations what what is that scientific term you are talking about.

01:32 So there are so many misconceptions. There is so many stupidity in the society that goes

01:38 on and sometimes I hear about stories where it results in violence and I'm disturbed by

01:45 that. So I wanted to ask how do we avoid all that.

01:50 I think the first step has to be to make science compulsory till class 12th. I really cringe

02:01 when I hear somebody talking of positive negative vibrations and positive negative energies

02:07 and such things. The thing is that this fellow didn't take physics seriously even till class

02:13 10th. Otherwise how can you talk of negative vibrations. What exactly does that mean. And

02:20 from that comes the word vibes. Everybody is talking of vibrations continuously. This

02:27 fellow came in and the moment he entered the room I experienced negative vibrations. What

02:32 do you mean by that? Negative vibrations. If there are vibrations let there be an instrument

02:39 to capture them, record them and tell me the intensity. There has to be a waveform. I want

02:44 to see that waveform on paper and then I want to accord an equation to it. What vibrations?

02:54 But there is an entire cult, huge cult of vibrations. What's going on? What's going

03:00 on? The problem is illiteracy at both levels, scientific and spiritual. We do not know science.

03:09 And we do not know spirituality. So anything goes. But we have heard of these terms because

03:18 they have become commonplace. The blessing of science is that it has given even the scientifically

03:27 illiterate people the fruits of technology. You might not know science at all. Yet the

03:33 various fruits of technology like the mobile phone are easily accessible to you. In fact

03:39 you might be someone who is contemptuous towards science. So many people are. Aren't they?

03:45 For example somebody would say, "Oh, Covid is just a hoax. The virus does not exist at

03:49 all." Even if you display to him the entire structure of the virus, "This is the virus."

03:55 He'll say, "No, it does not exist." Even this kind of a person will be happily roaming

04:01 about with a mobile phone. If you have so much contempt towards science, why are you

04:07 using the products of technology? Why are you using the products of technology? So,

04:17 that's the thing you see I keep emphasizing wherever I go including in campuses. When

04:23 I came here I just said, "Please keep inner education compulsory. Have one course per

04:28 semester or at least every odd semester." Otherwise, in spite of being scientifically

04:37 literate the fellow might still turn up superstitious and that's possible. I have seen eminent scientists

04:45 deeply superstitious, not just in ISRO but even in other agencies, NASA. Very eminent

04:53 scientists often of the status of a director and the fellow is still superstitious. Why?

05:01 Because he did not have inner education. You require both in tandem. You require science

05:07 and you require spirituality. You require the outer education that Vedanta calls as

05:13 avidya and you require the inner education that Vedanta calls as vidya. If you lack in

05:19 either of them, then you will be just roaming around in ignorance of all kinds. Of these

05:27 two obviously the inner ignorance is more fatal. Sir, even not only misconceptions about

05:37 science but also misconceptions about religious concepts and spirituality. That's true. That's

05:43 very true. See, we just believe. The fundamental attitude is of belief, not inquiry. We don't

05:50 want to know. We just want to take in anything. That's inner laziness. Spirituality you call

05:57 that as a tamsa. You just want to take in anything and you don't want to go into it.

06:01 The spirit of exploration, inquiry, investigation is not there. It's not a part of our culture

06:07 as such. It's not a part of most of the cultures. Even in the West it is not really very prominent.

06:12 So, when it comes to science, we believe in anything and when it comes to spirituality,

06:20 there also we believe in anything. We do not know a thing about the objective world. We

06:24 also do not know a thing about our religions. So, we do not know why festivals exist. There

06:30 might be a very important reason why the institution of a festival has been wisely constructed

06:37 but that reason is lost on us. We have no idea at all. We just celebrate. So, Diwali

06:42 is just about crackers and lights and sweets and gifts and such things. What actually does

06:49 Diwali stand for? Very few people know. When you do not know, how can you celebrate Diwali

06:54 in its true spirit? The spirit is also gone. Any festival. You just had Bakrid and it has

07:02 become to the vast majority of Muslims a day of slaughter. What is this? Are festivals

07:10 about such things? What is Holi? The day when you throw balloons at all kinds of people,

07:18 especially girls. That's Holi. What are we doing? Christmas is all about consumerism,

07:27 shopping. You go shop, that's Christmas. You shop right till the New Year, Eve. These two

07:38 are one. Just as we do not know what's going on in the universe, we also do not know what

07:44 is going on within us. So, somebody comes up and says, "Oh, you see, this particular

07:53 pic has been taken by NASA on the Diwali night. It's a pic showing the map of India on Diwali

08:04 night and it goes viral on WhatsApp. Everybody is sharing it. And India is resplendent in

08:13 that pic. Lightened up. And those lights are visible 6000 km up in the space. And we are

08:23 so proud. We are so proud. See, NASA has sent us this pic. Entire India is illuminated.

08:31 And you have pics of Ram Setu. See, NASA has again sent this pic. And Ram Setu is visible

08:36 between India and Lanka. The level of scientific literacy is so low, we tend to believe in

08:45 just about anything. We believe in anything in the world and we believe in anything in

08:52 the inner world. So, somebody tells you inside there are waves, positive vibrations. You

08:59 will believe it. Somebody tells you inside there is some kind of a roof or a soul. And

09:07 if you sleep with your mouth open, it's likely to escape. So, you better keep things locked

09:15 and tight over here. And you will believe it. Take it from me, there are 40 times more

09:28 ridiculous kinds of beliefs circulating and people are damn serious about them. And I

09:35 won't be amazed, unfortunately, if even a few in the audience here subscribe to those

09:41 beliefs. Sir, I think a major reason for all of this

09:47 is our media and what we are shown. So, I was hearing about…

09:52 There was no media a thousand years back. But you still thought that eclipses can mean

10:03 evil to you. Was it the media's doing? No. Who did it then? You go to tribal societies

10:12 and they are mired in superstition. Are they victims of media work? They don't have any

10:20 access to media. Why are they still so terribly superstitious? Please tell me then where does

10:28 it come from? Where does it come from? Where does it come from? The real culprit is so

10:49 close to you, you can't put a finger on it. Where does it come from? Superstition existed

11:03 then, superstition exists now. Superstition exists in illiterate people, superstition

11:08 exists in PhDs and scientists. Where does then superstition really come from? Superstition

11:17 exists in the field of religion, superstition exists even in science. Superstition percolates

11:28 every dimension of our being, our thought. Where does it come from?

11:34 What do you mean by us? Deeper, deeper, deeper, deeper. You are close. No, no. Where does

11:51 it come from? What do you mean by the mind? It comes from this, the body. That's the way

11:58 our bodies are. It comes from our tissues, our cells, our DNA. That's the way human beings

12:05 genetically are. That's where superstition comes from. Biologically, we are not created

12:14 to really know. We are created to believe. Knowing is dangerous for the biological self.

12:27 Tell me why? Because a lot of things that please the biological self show up their real

12:42 and ugly face when you know. So your prakritic nature, your biological nature is to not to

12:52 know and just to believe. Knowing is dangerous. Knowing is dangerous. Have you experienced

13:02 that? How dangerous knowledge can be? It can shatter your entire identity. Therefore, people

13:09 prefer to live in ignorance. Even if the option to really know and understand and realize

13:16 is available, they would rather not exercise that option. Once you know of your inner darkness,

13:24 it is terrible and humiliating and also then it puts a responsibility on you. If you know

13:29 there is a lot of dirt inside, then you have to become responsible to clean it up. Who

13:35 wants to own that responsibility? Who wants to put in that effort? It is far more easier,

13:43 comfortable to just let the dirt and the darkness remain and you can comfortably sleep. Are

13:54 you getting it? So we are not designed to know. We are designed to remain ignorant and

14:02 belief assists ignorance. Just believe. Somebody has told you something. Trust. Believe. Do

14:13 not know. Now you know why knowing requires so much effort whereas believing comes so

14:22 easy. Would you voluntarily want to do something that requires effort? Difficult. Right? What

14:33 would happen? There is an option to go for something that is so easy. You can sleep and

14:39 it still gets done and then there is something that requires continuous work, diligence.

14:48 How many people choose the latter option? That is the reason why knowledge is precious

14:55 but difficult and wisdom is even rarer. Knowledge is about knowing this, wisdom is about knowing

15:04 this plus this. So we have to be very cautious of ourselves. A real enemy sits within here

15:18 in the body itself, in the DNA itself. We do not need external enemies. We already have

15:27 an in-house one and you can't really get rid of it. It will continue to sit next to you

15:36 as long as you are embodied. You see we are in a difficult position to be born, is to

15:49 be born in a difficult state. To be born is to be born along with an enemy. The two of

15:58 you are born together, you and your enemy. You are consciousness and the very old primitive

16:06 tendencies are your enemy, the body. But these two have to co-exist. So they are tied together,

16:14 they are wedded together. It's a difficult marriage that has to last the entire life.

16:21 A difficult marriage where the two are antagonists. In spirituality you call consciousness as

16:32 Purush, the body as Prakriti. The task of the Purush is to be with Prakriti and yet

16:44 not get allured. Be with her and yet not allow her to dominate you.

16:54 So following up a question to what you just answered, let's get an example. Let's say

16:59 I am a 7 year old kid who goes to school and learns something that is non-superstitious.

17:03 Let's say my parents are superstitious and when I come back home they say what you learned

17:09 at school was wrong and you have to learn this superstitious thing. Now according to

17:13 me my parents are more important to me because they have given me birth and all those things.

17:18 So while getting these two conflict ideas, I may go to the wrong idea because that person

17:25 was important to me. So how do you remove this factor of importance of people and getting

17:31 into the importance of idea? You should utter the word I or me with great

17:37 care because it's quite possible that something alien that you have absorbed within is speaking

17:49 as I. It is not really I, it is not internal, it is actually external, alien. But in your

17:57 subconscious state, in your sleep, you just happened to take it in and now it has come

18:04 in and is masquerading as, pretending to be the I. So when you say I believe that my parents

18:15 are more, what my parents say is more education, is more important than what my teachers say,

18:22 that's not what you believe in. That's what you have been taught to believe in. So don't

18:27 say it is my belief that parents' word is more important. Even this belief that parents

18:35 are more important than let's say books is coming from the parents. What else would they

18:41 tell you? What else would they tell you? So it's not your belief. Even the belief that

18:48 parents are sacrosanct is a belief given to you by parents. What else do you expect them

18:54 to do? So be very careful what is really your own. That's not your own. That's a cultural

19:01 belief. That's a familial thing and those cultural beliefs vary from land to land and

19:06 time to time, don't they? The kind of importance you give to parents in India is very different

19:11 from what you give to them in the US, let's say. The kind of importance you give to marriage

19:18 is very difficult, is very different from country to country, even community to community,

19:25 age to age. Then how can it be something internal to you? It's a function of time, culture,

19:31 society, norms, it's not yours and that's the freedom a young man should seek. To not

19:38 to be a victim of cultural norms, of what goes around and that is true religiosity.

19:48 That is true spirituality. True spirituality is not about beliefs. Beliefs are bondages.

19:54 True spirituality is about freedom. Freedom from all beliefs, your commitment, your allegiance

19:58 has to be solely to the truth, nothing else. I am not obliged to honour anything except

20:06 the truth. You get this? You are not obliged. Rid yourself of all other obligations and

20:16 promises. No, you are not obliged. Your only responsibility, your only commitment is towards

20:22 the truth. All else is dispensable. All else can be given up if it's proven to be untrue,

20:32 including the things that you are taught to hold as sacred. Sacredness is not higher than

20:42 truthfulness because only the truth is sacred. If something that you hold as sacred is not

20:51 the truth or truthful, how exactly is it sacred in the first place? Only, am I making sense?

21:02 Convince me you are with me. Am I making sense? Alright. Only the truth is sacred. What is

21:09 sacred? Something that you unconditionally honour. Something that you never want to breach

21:17 or violate or disrespect. Right? That's sacredness. Something that you take as beyond yourself.

21:26 Something that you take as transcending yourself. So you always bow down to it. That's sacredness.

21:33 Only the truth is sacred. No belief, no relationship, no experience. Nothing in life is sacred except

21:42 the one. And if you can see that and if you can practice that, then you will experience

21:49 a great freedom in life, which actually is a birthright. A birthright that is denied

21:56 to most of us unfortunately. Getting it. So like when we say that we are free to believe

22:07 what we want to believe, no like from our side, we have to believe the truth and we

22:13 are not obliged to anything. Wait, wait, wait. There is a problem here. When you say you

22:20 are free to want anything or believe in anything, that's not freedom at all. Freedom does not

22:27 rush after wants or desires or beliefs. They are all one. They come from your darkness.

22:33 Freedom questions everything because freedom wants to accept only the real. Freedom has

22:40 a great distaste for fakeness. Do you want or like fake stuff? How many of you? To not

22:49 to like fakeness is freedom. What if your desires themselves are fake? What is fake?

22:55 That which is second-handed. Somebody installs a desire inside you. Why do you want to call

23:03 it your desire? Please tell me. Please tell me. A clever marketer comes here for example

23:15 and in some cunning way starts advertising, let's say a new mobile phone to you without

23:26 even explicitly saying that he is here to advertise. And because he is advertising his

23:33 stuff, you develop a desire for it. That's what advertising does. Does it not? What happens

23:40 when you watch an ad? You become desirous and then you call that desire as your desire.

23:51 How is it your desire? Please tell me. So how is it freedom then to rush after an imported

23:57 desire? Somebody has installed a desire in you and now you are investing your time and

24:06 energy and life in fulfilling that desire. Is that a wise thing to do? So that's not

24:12 freedom. That's bondage. Freedom is not about doing what you want to do. As young people,

24:20 please get that right out of your mind. Because that's the popular notion of freedom young

24:27 people love to have. I am free to do whatever I want to do. If you are free to do whatever

24:32 you want to do, then you are a terrible slave, not a free man. Because all desires, all desires,

24:43 remember this, are external impositions that you take in, in your ignorance, you do not

24:51 realize they are external things. Desires come either from your body or from your sensual

25:02 experience or a combination of the two. Are you getting it? Food for example. The fundamental

25:10 urge arises from the body but you might not be according it much weightage and then somebody

25:20 brings a platter of something delicious in front of you and there is the tempting aroma

25:25 and what do you find? You find desire rising with all its force. The two have combined.

25:32 The basic urge was bodily, the body was saying I am hungry and then there was an external

25:39 stimulus, the sight and the smell and the result was deep desire. That's the anatomy

25:48 of desire. That's how it arises. Now do you want to really call it your own? And food

25:54 is a fundamental bodily thing. So it's alright if you have that desire. Think of the several

26:00 other things. I said desire makes you a terrible slave. Why? Because everybody knows how to

26:11 excite you. If you have some money in your pocket and if I come and snatch it, I would

26:19 be called a thief and a robber. You would launch an FIR, right? What if I just tempt

26:26 you and you give that money to me? Now the transaction is legal and acceptable but the

26:33 same thing has happened. The robber has just grown clever. Instead of snatching it from

26:39 you, he advertised something useless to you and you bought it and you gave the money.

26:48 It's just robbery and you are very happy that you have fulfilled your desire. No, it's

26:56 not your desire you have fulfilled. If anything it was probably the robber's desire you have

27:02 fulfilled. Have you not? It's not your desire. Whenever desire arises, ask yourself, how

27:11 is it mine? How really is it mine? It is either the body's thing or the senses thing. When

27:18 you are in a state to discount these two kinds of desires, the bodily one and the external

27:26 social one, then you will be faced with something very very important. Once these two desires

27:35 are discounted, then you are left with your deepest pure original desire. And the wise

27:46 ones have told us that the purpose of life is to fulfill that one deepest desire, not

27:53 the thousand shallow miscellaneous ones. If you spend your life fulfilling the various

28:02 miscellaneous desires, that's just wastage of life. But beneath the thousand shallow

28:09 desires, the real one deep desire remains hidden. You never come to know of it. When

28:16 you don't come to know of it, there is no possibility of fulfilling it. First of all,

28:23 keep the false desires aside so that you can see the real desire. And once you see the

28:29 real desire, it's so fascinating to try to fulfill it. That real desire is denoted by

28:38 a better word. It's called love. It's no more a desire then. It's love. And then what you

28:45 get is a life spent in love. Not love of the kind you watch on the screens. Real love.

28:53 Not love of the kind that necessarily includes a person mostly of the other gender. No. Love

29:01 of the real kind. Love that brings life to life. That's the kind of life you all deserve

29:12 to live. But you'll squander the opportunity if you think that you want to buy a t-shirt

29:20 and that's what you want. Or you want to attend a rock concert and that's what you want. All

29:26 these are little things, petty desires. You can't invest too much in them.

29:37 Sir, I want to know that how do we explore what's inside of us? Like in the starting

29:45 of the session you said that what sees through our eyes or what listens through these ears.

29:50 So how do we explore what that is? Or if we Google this out, so there's so many religions,

29:56 they all have different methods of doing that. So how do I know what's right for me?

30:02 Start by discounting. That's the way. You will probably never come to know the perfect

30:09 answer. But I said that you should be grateful if you can discount the gross imperfections.

30:18 That's the way. If you keep waiting for the perfect one or perfect thing or perfect answer,

30:25 you'll keep waiting. Don't wait. Start by rejecting, negating, discounting. Have the

30:34 heart to disown and be detached. Keep things aside. The moment you honestly know that they

30:42 are not what you must value, keep them aside. Is all this sounding very dry? No, it is not.

31:01 It's just that we have been trained in the wrong kind of juices. What I am talking of

31:10 is actually something very lively, very exciting. It's just that you need to experiment a bit,

31:22 need to try it out and you need to hold on for a while. There would be the initial resistance.

31:33 Don't go down to it. Stand firm for a while and then you'll start seeing that this way

31:43 of living in true freedom is actually very enticing. And once you get the taste of it,

31:54 the hang of it, you'll forget all about the usual juvenile stuff. You'll laugh at it,

32:01 you'll not look at it, you'll discard it. This is so enticing. You'll need to begin,

32:08 you'll need to try things out.

32:10 You said two things, one is body and other is consciousness. Body has a shape and we

32:19 can feel it. What about consciousness? How do you…

32:24 Pure consciousness is formless, attributeless, nameless. The senses cannot perceive it, the

32:30 mind cannot think of it. But our consciousness definitely has a shape. For example, if you

32:36 are body identified, then your consciousness has the shape of the body. If I am greatly

32:43 enamoured by this mug, then my consciousness takes almost the shape of this mug. I become

32:50 this. Have you seen? When you are very fascinated by something, you lose sense of everything

32:58 else and your entire mind is focused on that one thing itself. So consciousness as we have

33:05 it is an adulterated thing and is intertwined with one object or the other. But pure consciousness,

33:15 no shape, nothing. And that's what its purity is all about. To be free of everything that

33:20 has shape and form and name. That's why it is called pure. Pure of shapes, norms.

33:33 [MUSIC PLAYING]

33:37 [music]

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