Exploring the Universal Ego: Insights from the Bhagavad Gita || Acharya Prashant (2024)

Acharya Prashant

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Transcript

00:00Namaste Acharya ji. I have a two-part question. I understood that from the verse 222 we are

00:11talking about ego and 223 we are talking about Atma. So my first question is, is ego universal

00:19and can it be explained similar to Atma's example of ocean that was given earlier in

00:24some sessions or is it like and what does 222 mean like when ego is moving from one

00:31body to another body, is it like an ego from a single person when it's dead moves to some

00:37other person or is it some or is it ego is universal, the tendency of ego is universal

00:45that's my first question. The universe is to the ego. So what do you mean by the ego

00:52is universal? There is no universe but to the ego. The universe is the object to the

01:03eternal subject called the ego. It is only to the ego that the universe exists. Okay,

01:13so when we talk about ego moving from one body to another body, how can we relate that?

01:22It basically means that body is changed. That does not mean that the ego is hopping from

01:27this place to that place. It simply means that bodies keep changing. Bodies keep changing

01:37and particular constitutions of bodies say I. You could even proceed to say as we said

01:49that even a molecule does say I. Bodies keep changing and all bodies are to the ego. The

02:02ego associates itself with certain bodies. You could say it associates itself with everything.

02:12Depending on the body the ego is right now in association with, the sentence I am X is

02:21completed. Okay, I will elaborate. What is Prakriti? Prakriti is a duality. The universe

02:32that we call it is a duality. It is a duality. What does duality mean? On…

03:02This is just a model but a helpful model would help you understand.

03:32So, the truth has been talked of as nothingness. It is nothing or it has been talked of as

04:00a bindu, point. The word bindu denotes the truth and a bindu has no spatial existence.

04:10It really does not exist. If you say a point exists, that doesn't mean anything. For something

04:17to exist, it must have some… it must occupy some space or say something. So, the truth

04:27is binduvat, point like, non-existent and from it and now from here begins maya because

04:38the truth really does not change forms or do anything. But to us there is so much. So,

04:45from here we begin, maya begins. What happens in the sway of maya? There is duality. What

04:54kind of duality? There is this point and the rest of the universe. This point is the mother

05:01I tendency, aham vritti, I am. And then there are these infinite number of bodies that together

05:12comprise the object, the object called the universe. So, that is the first division.

05:19That is the first duality that springs from non-duality. What was the name of the non-duality?

05:24Bindu or atma or that which really does not spatially exist. So, from that comes this

05:34and this entire universe. This entire universe is one object. This is one object to this

05:41one subject. One subject, one object. One object is the is the superset of everything

05:47here. Now within this universe there are these infinite particles. This thing, that thing,

05:55that thing. So, when the ego tendency combines with this, the universe that itself has projected,

06:07when it combines with this, it says I am A. Combines with this says I am B. With this

06:13I am C. With this I am D. With this I am E. So, this is what Shri Krishna means. This

06:22arises and this combines because this is eternally present. And here it's a stream in which objects

06:34are appearing and disappearing, rising and falling, forming and deforming. The moment

06:41something forms, this attaches to that and says I am F. Even deformation is attached

06:50to. Don't we say, I am dead. Oh, I am dead. Look at the construction. I am dead. Even

06:59deformation is something that we attach to. Or I am absent. I am absent. Or I am gone.

07:09Coming is an object. Going is also an object. So, this eternal I am. Now the stream is flowing

07:19here. Things are coming and going, rising and falling. This is constantly there. I am.

07:24It is in the field of objects of I am that everything is rising and falling, rising and

07:31falling. Now something rises, it is present, already present to attach to it and say I

07:37am H. Now that thing is gone. Something else rises here. It is already present to say I

07:44am T. This is the broad model. So, ego is going to be present. Come what may. The ego is the

07:59eternal presence. In the field of space and time, the ego is the eternal presence. The ego

08:06tendency that is. The ego tendency. There will be no place, no time when the ego tendency itself is

08:17gone. It is possible that right now the object that it attaches itself to does not say, I am

08:26somebody in the way we know it. But the tendency will always be there. To give you an example,

08:37there is nuclear annihilation, let's say, and everything is flattened.

08:42Everything is absolutely flattened. No species at all remains on this earth anymore.

08:50Nothing remains. There exists now nobody to say I am or I am Mohan, I am Daniel, I am Radha. Nobody

09:01exists to say this way. Still the ego tendency will remain. Everything is gone. Even the last

09:10bacteria and the last virus have disappeared under the nuclear influence. Everything is gone. Still

09:17the ego tendency will remain. Think of the time when there were no organisms on this planet or

09:24anywhere in the universe. Where did they come from? The ego tendency was always there.

09:32The ego tendency was always there. It is there in the particle itself. It is there in the material

09:37itself. Everything in the universe carries the ego tendency.

09:46Okay. So, for example, let's say, take a stone. I am saying it is a stone. Stone doesn't know

09:54it is a stone. So, is it that with respect to me, there is an ego tendency for the stone? Like,

10:01I am saying it is a stone. But for the stone, there is no ego tendency.

10:05You too were a stone. See, how today you say, I am Varsha. Let's say, your name is Varsha. Let's

10:13say. Were we not all stones once? How did we assume what we call as life?

10:23Where did this life come from? There is no God that injected life into the stone.

10:29The stone itself took on life. The stone always had the ego tendency. Therefore,

10:37given the right time, the opportune circumstances, the stone became Varsha.

10:43Yeah. Yeah, because even I was an embryo in the beginning.

10:54In the beginning. And before the embryo, what were we? Just material. Just material. How does

11:00life get into a fetus? It never gets into a fetus. It was always there. Every sand particle in that

11:08sense is waiting to come alive. That's what we are calling as the ego tendency.

11:17My second question was related to truth being nothing. But while explaining,

11:22you already mentioned that truth is nothingness. So, my question is clear.

11:27Welcome. Thank you.

11:29Achyutji, my question is, what I understand life is, it is experiencing things around you

11:39and then understanding the futility of it and then moving towards liberation.

11:44As a part of moving towards liberation, from one of your analogy, examples what you provided that

11:51a person can be somewhere on the XY coordinates, say 1000, 1000 X and Y. And when he starts his

11:57journey towards liberation, maybe he moves to somewhere 950, 950 from his readings. Maybe I

12:07take an example of Yoga Sutras by Patanjali over here. If the seeker follows yam-nyam and has

12:13progressed towards 950, 950. And if unfortunately the seeker's journey ends in death, is his journey

12:23towards liberation incomplete? Or is there something like 00 that the seeker's journey

12:31is only complete when he goes to 00, the origin? It's not about X and Y. It's about dx by dt and

12:43dy by dt. You're talking of coordinates. It's not about the coordinates. It's about the velocity,

12:51the direction and the speed. You have to keep moving.

12:57You have to keep moving. You might never actually reach 00.

13:03Love is about movement in the face of adversity.

13:16And love towards liberation.

13:2100 is something that is just like a pole star, dhruvtara, a guiding light.

13:29The horizon, you might never actually reach it.

13:35Liberation lies in the movement, not in the achievement.

13:39Not in the achievement.

13:481000, 950, they all mean nothing. It has to be a blind, heartful tumble.

14:03One is tumbling towards his dissolution.

14:09In a blind way, in a way that intellect can never comprehend.

14:19One cannot calculate so precisely. From 1000, I have come to 950 and I have burnt

14:273 liters of petrol. Even the mileage is nice. And I have done record time.

14:33So, I'm doing well. And how do I compare with the others?

14:38Well, I stand at the 96th percentile. Not too bad. That's not the way of the lover.

14:45Huh?

15:02Singing and music and melody, that's why I have so much importance in spirituality.

15:12There are certain things that are so difficult to express in prose.

15:23That madness.

15:29It's not mathematical.

15:35Though, you must begin with mathematics.

15:38But then, very soon,

15:44something beyond mathematics takes over.

15:48You forget your calculations.

15:521000, 950, 0, X, Y, all the models, all the intelligent things like this one, so smart, so nice.

16:04He made a sleek model of everything. Subject, object, entire universe, including the self.

16:15All this is, as they say, blowing with the wind.

16:23Blowing in the wind.

16:35Yes.

16:41Thanks. Thanks.

17:04you

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