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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Video Information: Advait Learning Camp, 29.09.2019, Advait BodhSthal, Greater Noida, India
Context:
How to be one with the Shiva?
Where should all our attention be directed at?
What purpose should the world serve?
What should be our constant remembrance?
Why is anything attractive?
Is there anything possible without the Shiva?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...
⚡ Want Acharya Prashant’s regular updates?
Join WhatsApp Channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va6Z...
Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books?
Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...
Want to accelerate Acharya Prashant’s work?
Contribute: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/contri...
Want to work with Acharya Prashant?
Apply to the Foundation here: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/hiring...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Video Information: Advait Learning Camp, 29.09.2019, Advait BodhSthal, Greater Noida, India
Context:
How to be one with the Shiva?
Where should all our attention be directed at?
What purpose should the world serve?
What should be our constant remembrance?
Why is anything attractive?
Is there anything possible without the Shiva?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Acharya ji, in today's camp, the participants had the opportunity to go through the mystic
00:16poetess, Lalleshwari. They had this mystic as one of their activities in the camp. So
00:29Shirin has enquired, she is asking, Pranam Acharya ji, for the first time I have read
00:37Lalleshwari in the camp and I must say that all her poems have touched me deeply as once
00:47Ashtavakra Gita had touched. All she has said is very intense and coming from her life experiences.
00:59There is one poem that did touch me quite deeply and few verses from that I am writing below
01:11within quotes. Would you understand what oneness is? It has turned me into nothingness.
01:19Though he is the one alone and all yet I am caught in the war of two.
01:26Though he has neither color nor form yet I am caught in the world of forms.
01:35She is asking, Acharya ji, can you please guide me how can I understand that which is one and
01:48also be in this world of forms. When I see a cobra, I can hardly say that I am one with the
01:57cobra because there is an overpowering fear. Shall I want to be formless? Shall I wait to be formless
02:10so that I can one realize that all is one or there is another way as well?
02:18Shireen, the mathematics is direct. The equations are simple.
02:24You are taking x is equal to z. The equations are saying x is equal to y.
02:31You don't have to be one with the cobra. You have to be one with Shiva.
02:36Laldeva is saying that so great is that oneness, it turned me into nothingness.
02:46You get what she means?
02:51I had such tremendous love for the one that I got emptied of myself and this myself
03:02is the entire world. What else are we full of? What else is this false I composed of?
03:12In general, we are many, many thousands. We are composed of the thousands of influences upon us,
03:21aren't we? So who are we? The millions. Within us, there are thousands of us.
03:32Within us does not sit the single one. Within us sit the millions.
03:42This is called the mind. This is called fragmentation.
03:50In no way are we one. We are a multitude. We are a crowd
03:56and the crowd is an utterly disharmonious crowd.
03:59Every member of the crowd is at odds with the other one.
04:05So that's where we stand, full of just too much and that which we are full of is quite quarrelsome.
04:16The different bits and pieces of the world present within us
04:21just don't like each other, just can't reconcile with each other.
04:29That is what is called inner strife or conflict and man lives like that.
04:40And then comes Lalleshwari's Shiva, the one.
04:47And so great is the attraction of the ego towards that one.
04:59That the ego totally forgets the millions. The millions are gone, nothing remains.
05:06That's the relation between oneness and nothingness.
05:12If there is one and just one you fall in love with,
05:17you get emptied of the millions and nothing remains.
05:20You don't have to be one with the cobra. You have to forget the cobra.
05:27Okay, what do the other lines read?
05:34The verse says, Acharyaji,
05:38would you understand what oneness is? It has turned me into nothingness.
05:42Would you understand what oneness is? It has turned me into nothingness. Is this bit clear?
05:48It has turned me into nothingness. Though he is one, alone and all,
05:53yet I am caught in the war of two.
05:55Right. Which are these two? One and the millions. These constitute the two.
06:03One and the millions. These constitute the two.
06:08Or you could say even among these millions,
06:11there is a lot of conflict. So, every pair from this huge set of millions is at war with the other.
06:26Are you getting it? Is this clear? No? Okay.
06:36Is this clear? No? Okay. Repeat the verse.
06:44Though he is one, alone and all, yet I am caught in the war of two.
06:48The one worth loving is just one. But look at me, the silly one.
06:56There is only one who is worthy of my affections.
07:00Right? And who is that? His Lalleshwar is Shiva.
07:05My affection should be directed only towards that one.
07:09And yet, look at the little me, the stupid me. I place him against all these.
07:19And then I create two. I say, oh, there is a conflict between him and John.
07:25Him and the new car. Him and my thoughts and concepts.
07:37Though he is the only one, yet look at my stupidity, I am caught in the conflict of two.
07:44As if the other ones matter. As if the other ones have any existence.
07:50As if the other ones are worth looking at.
07:55And yet, all my attention must be directed only towards the one.
08:09But I don't have that kind of love, neither discipline.
08:17And when neither love nor discipline are there, then there is just scattering.
08:25Sometimes you belong to this, sometimes you belong to that.
08:30But you never belong to the one. And if you do not belong to the one,
08:35then there is a continuous, perpetual, and always hungry need to belong to this,
08:51that, or that, that.
09:03Though he has neither color nor form, yet I am caught in the world of forms.
09:10I ought to love the one who is formless, nameless.
09:15I, in fact, do truly love the one who is formless, nameless.
09:21And yet, my forgetfulness is such that I get entangled with names and forms.
09:30And thereby I bring suffering upon myself.
09:38It has to be remembered, that all is due to him, but none of this is him.
09:53And we make this stupid mistake again and again, over and over.
09:57All is from him, but none of this is him.
10:03He is the foundation of these many, but these many are not him.
10:16Are you getting it?
10:17If to you, one or a few of these many can become a gateway to him, then they are useful.
10:30Otherwise, they are not useful.
10:34If to you, one or a few of these many can become a gateway to him, then they are useful.
10:45Otherwise, they are no substitute for him.
10:54Truth is many, but the many are not truth.
11:02In other words, truth is many, but there are not many truths.
11:10Are there many truths?
11:13Are there many truths?
11:16No, but truth is many.
11:20The ego, the foolish eye forgets this distinction and therefore gets lost in the many.
11:30It gets entangled in samsara.
11:35And samsara has a certain attraction because samsara is coming from him.
11:41Because the world is coming from him, so the world has a rub of him.
11:46The world has a little bit of a fragrance of him.
11:51The world is able to sometimes offer a glimpse of him.
11:58But that is the utmost that the world can give you, a glimpse.
12:03A faint smell, a faint reverberation, the world cannot be the real thing.
12:16The world can at most be a reminder of the real thing.
12:23We confuse the inspiration of the world with the inspiration of the world.
12:33The world is to be used as an instrument, the world is not the end.
12:44The world is used to be the vehicle that will carry you to your love, your beloved.
12:56The world is to be used as the vehicle that will carry you to your beloved.
13:01The world cannot become the beloved.
13:06It's almost like fixing up a date,
13:15calling up an Ola and then making out with the Ola driver.
13:24How neat does this sound?
13:31You don't have Ola in France, right? Uber. Uber you have.
13:36So you set up a date for 5 p.m.
13:41And the Uber arrives at 4.30.
13:46And then you enter the Uber and the damn driver is so hot
13:54that you forget the beloved and start making out with the driver, that too.
14:02In the cab.
14:04That's how we live.
14:06We just forget that the world is the vehicle meant to carry us to the beloved.
14:15We get infatuated with the Uber drivers.
14:21No offense meant to Ola or Uber, I mean.
14:24We have an Ola chap sitting here.
14:32And you know, when you are going to meet your beloved,
14:35then the world appears beautiful, does it not?
14:38The entire mood is bright and colourful, right?
14:46You have set up a date.
14:50You are so cheerful.
14:54You are so happy.
14:55You are so cheerful.
15:00The entire inner chemistry is on a high.
15:03And when the entire inner chemistry is on a high,
15:07then the Uber driver will appear uber attractive.
15:13You forget that the driver is appearing attractive
15:16only because your mood is good,
15:19only because you have decided to meet the beloved.
15:23Are you getting it?
15:24So the Ola driver is basking in the brightness of the beloved.
15:29That you totally forget.
15:32If you are to go for a funeral,
15:36would you get similarly attracted to the driver?
15:41Why?
15:42Because your mood is sombre.
15:47You won't even look at the driver, right?
15:49You won't even look at the driver, right?
15:51Because you are almost in tears.
15:57The cab is gloomy.
16:02But when the beloved's presence is around,
16:07then even the Ola driver starts appearing attractive.
16:10And we forget that.
16:11We think that it is something about the Uber driver
16:14that makes him attractive.
16:16There is nothing in the Uber driver.
16:17Even the Uber driver is appearing attractive
16:21because of the reflected glory
16:26that he is receiving from the beloved.
16:34He is shining in second-hand light.
16:38Is he not?
16:40Would you like the same person
16:44if you meet him at another place on another occasion?
16:47No, you would not.
16:50You would not.
16:54I am explaining how the world manages to cheat you.
16:57How the world manages to appear so attractive
17:01that it presents itself as a substitute for the one.
17:10Okay, take another example.
17:14You go to a hotel, a five-star hotel, right?
17:20It's a five-star hotel, you know that.
17:25And there, if you meet even a 20-year-old,
17:3222-year-old or 25-year-old on the hotel floor,
17:38the fellow is working as a hotel staff.
17:43Do you see that you are respectful to him?
17:46Why are you respectful to him?
17:48Because of some of his personal qualities?
17:51No, because he is basking in the glory of the five-star hotel.
17:59But we forget that this fellow
18:02is a five-star hotel, right?
18:04But we forget that this fellow holds any importance
18:09because he is present in the hotel.
18:12Remove the hotel, meet that fellow
18:17on the street or on the railway station.
18:20Would you care two hoots about him?
18:23Would you?
18:24No.
18:26But then it might happen that one of these young chaps
18:30might take you aside and say,
18:32you know this hotel is not quite a good place.
18:36And you believe him.
18:36Why do you believe him?
18:37Because he appears quite credible.
18:40Why does he appear credible?
18:41Because the hotel is a good place.
18:46Wait, wait, wait.
18:47Let's revisit the logic.
18:50The fellow is telling you the hotel is not a good place.
18:54And you believe him.
18:55Why do you believe him?
18:56Because he appears credible, believable.
19:00Why does he appear believable?
19:02Because he is in the hotel.
19:03So what?
19:04The hotel is a good place.
19:06But just now he told you that the hotel is not a good place
19:09and you believed him.
19:12From where is he drawing his credentials?
19:14From the goodness of the hotel.
19:20From where is the fellow drawing his qualification?
19:25How is he even eligible to talk to you?
19:27Because he is present in the hotel.
19:30But you totally forget that.
19:33We forget that because the fellow is present as a person in front of us
19:37and the hotel is an abstraction.
19:40Correct?
19:41The hotel is not a person.
19:42The hotel is an abstraction.
19:45This fellow who is talking to you is in flesh and blood.
19:48And we are very, very identified with flesh and blood.
19:51So the entire creditworthiness that the hotel has
19:57gets transferred to the representative of the hotel.
20:03And the representative of the hotel becomes very attractive,
20:07very creditworthy.
20:11And using his creditworthiness,
20:12he can convince you that the hotel is a bad place.
20:16That's what the sansara does.
20:17That's how it takes you away from Shiva.
20:21Are you seeing the entire process?
20:23Are you seeing the entire process?
20:26Are you seeing the entire process?
20:30You know, once Keshav Chandra Sen met Ramakrishan.
20:38And Keshav Chandra Sen was an atheist.
20:44He did not believe in the scriptures or even in God.
20:48Obviously not in Kali.
20:53Now, Keshav Chandra Sen is a great orator,
21:00a debater par excellence.
21:01And he is convincing Ramakrishan, there is no God.
21:06And Ramakrishan is saying,
21:09Ramakrishan is no orator.
21:11He's a simple man.
21:14And then a crowd gathers around.
21:17It's an occasion.
21:19Two prominent personalities of Calcutta are meeting.
21:23And now Sen is delivering argument after argument,
21:31matchless argument,
21:36proving that God does not exist.
21:39And every time Sen comes up with a brilliant argument,
21:45Ramakrishan starts clapping.
21:48And not only that, he starts dancing.
21:50He says, wow, fantastic, fantastic.
21:54And the crowd is getting both convinced and desperate.
22:00The crowd is getting convinced that probably Keshav is right.
22:04There is no God.
22:05And also getting desperate because Ramakrishan
22:08is almost acting like a clown.
22:11He is not refuting.
22:14And after Sen has exhausted all his ammunition,
22:19Ramakrishan says, you know,
22:21he is the one who enabled you to give so many arguments.
22:25So every time you give a brilliant argument,
22:27you are just proving he is.
22:30Now, come on, give a few more arguments.
22:34That's it.
22:35We forget that all the arguments against God are coming from God.
22:43We forget that even all the arguments against God,
22:47all the arguments against Laleshwari's Shiva
22:49are coming from Shiva.
22:51Without Shiva, will you have the capacity to argue?
22:55Without Shiva, will you have the capacity to argue?
22:58How will you argue?
23:02How will you argue?
23:07We forget to ask the hotel chap, without the hotel,
23:11would you be in a position to talk to me?
23:14Who are you?
23:14Who would listen to you?
23:19What's your qualification?
23:20What's your eligibility?
23:21What's your worth in life?
23:29We totally forget that.
23:30Why?
23:32Because Shiva is formless
23:35and the world
23:38enchants us
23:40with his formlessness.
23:42Enchants us with shapes and forms and colours.
23:46Because the hotel is an abstraction
23:49and the hotel chap stands in front of us
23:53as a fellow in flesh and blood.
24:00It is very easy to miss the ubiquitous.
24:06God you cannot see because he is everywhere.
24:12In the hotel lobby, you are being convinced that the hotel is terrible.
24:17Hello.
24:19In the hotel lobby,
24:25in the pleasurable environment
24:27of the hotel sofa,
24:30in the silent premises using
24:34the nice air conditioning and everything,
24:36you are being convinced that the hotel is a
24:39terrible place.
24:42But because you are totally surrounded by the hotel,
24:45so you cannot see the hotel.
24:48Just as God is ubiquitous,
24:50so you totally miss him.
24:58Are you getting it?
25:03We are clever people.
25:05We search for that
25:09which is to be found only somewhere.
25:12If something is too easily available to us, we miss its worth.
25:18That's the thing with truth or Shiva.
25:23Too easily available.
25:25In fact, not only too easily available, impossible to miss.
25:30If something is impossible to miss, how will you ever get it?
25:33How will you ever get it?
25:41If something is difficult to get,
25:43chances are bright that you will somehow obtain it.
25:52In fact, the best way to make something inaccessible to you
25:56is to make it omnipresent, ubiquitous.
26:00If you hide it somewhere, it would be dug out.
26:07You see, something is written on a piece of paper.
26:09It can be read.
26:11Burn the piece of paper.
26:12Let each molecule be dispersed into the atmosphere.
26:18Now, where are the paper molecules?
26:21Where are they?
26:23They are all around you.
26:24But now you will totally miss them.
26:30That's how the technique of burning works, does it not?
26:35It doesn't really take anything away from you.
26:38It just makes everything available to you in a very wide way.
26:42Miss it.
26:46What all is there in this room?
26:49You will talk of the camera.
26:50You will talk of the pots and the plants.
26:53You will talk of the gadgets and the machinery and the people and the clothes.
27:00And the mattress and all these things.
27:04Only way later will you bother to say space.
27:12What is there in this room?
27:17Who would want to say space?
27:20Because it is just too freely available.
27:22And it is not only within this room.
27:23It is also outside this room.
27:25In fact, space is not within this room.
27:29This room is within space.
27:31So you will miss space.
27:33God is like space.
27:36Terribly easy to miss.
27:39Tremendously difficult to love.
27:44Who wants to love space?
27:45What do you love within this room?
27:48Who would say space?
27:51Who would say space?
27:53But you don't see that without space,
27:56not only will nothing exist inside this room,
27:59even this room would not exist.
28:04Who wants to be grateful to empty space?
28:09Anybody?
28:19Who wants to carry empty space back home?
28:21Nobody.
28:22Why?
28:22Because there is no need.
28:26Because space cannot be missed.
28:29If it is here, it is there as well.
28:37That's the God problem.
28:39That's what Laleshwari is addressing here.
28:42Remember, Shirin, anything that appears attractive to you in the world
28:48is attractive only by grace of God.
28:52If the thing is so attractive, how attractive would be the one
28:59who makes it so attractive to you?
29:02Now, can the thing be superior to the one the thing comes from?
29:12Can you remember this?
29:18No thing is superior to the one the thing comes from.
29:24No thing is superior to the one the thing comes from.
29:29No thing can be superior to the one the thing comes from.
29:41But things, especially if they are conscious creatures,
29:45have their own minds, their own agendas,
29:50the thing itself might start convincing you
29:54that I am superior to the one the thing comes from.
29:58Than the one I am coming from.
30:00And that is not done very explicitly.
30:04That is done very implicitly.
30:07You make yourself attractive to the other.
30:09What are you doing?
30:11You are telling the other, look at me, right?
30:14When you make yourself attractive to the other,
30:17you will not explicitly, loudly, in words, say, forget God.
30:24When you make yourself attractive to the other,
30:26are you openly saying to the other, forget God?
30:31You are not.
30:32But by presenting yourself as very attractive,
30:35please see what is it that you are doing.
30:39You are indirectly telling him, I am the one.
30:41If you are the one, what is the need to remember the one?
30:47But that's what we do.
30:49We indirectly present ourselves as substitute to God.
30:53And obviously, we'll never be grateful enough to say that,
30:56if I can open my mouth today, it is by grace of God.
30:59Had he not been there, who was I to even open my mouth?
31:24The gist of the story is, when you are going to the temple,
31:29avoid Ubers.
31:32And even if you have to ring up an Uber,
31:38avoid looking too much at the drivers.
31:42And even if you have to somehow look at the drivers,
31:47avoid making out with them.
31:48Avoid making out with them.
31:54Many of us are infested with this terrible
32:03syndrome
32:08of driver affection.
32:14The temple is gone.
32:18The driver is on.