Stop calling these as scriptures || Acharya Prashant, with Ahimsa Fellows (2023)
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Video Information: 04.04.23, with Ahimsa Fellows (Online-talk), Greater Noida
Context:
• Do scriptures hold any meaning for a modern age person, aren't scriptures outdated?
• Is spirituality not something ancient?
• Isn't a spiritual person have beard and live in hut as Rishi used to live?
• Should one follow everything said in scriptures?
• Revision of scriptures, would it not be disrespectful towards our forefathers?
• What are the two parts of scriptures?
• What is relevance of that part of scripture that is time dependent? Should we revise and follow them?
• The part of scripture that is timeless, what is it? And how can we revise them?
• How should one look and make plans for future?
• How can we unlock powers of subconscious mind?
• How to read and liberate subconscious mind?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...
Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books?
Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...
~~~~~
Video Information: 04.04.23, with Ahimsa Fellows (Online-talk), Greater Noida
Context:
• Do scriptures hold any meaning for a modern age person, aren't scriptures outdated?
• Is spirituality not something ancient?
• Isn't a spiritual person have beard and live in hut as Rishi used to live?
• Should one follow everything said in scriptures?
• Revision of scriptures, would it not be disrespectful towards our forefathers?
• What are the two parts of scriptures?
• What is relevance of that part of scripture that is time dependent? Should we revise and follow them?
• The part of scripture that is timeless, what is it? And how can we revise them?
• How should one look and make plans for future?
• How can we unlock powers of subconscious mind?
• How to read and liberate subconscious mind?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00So, we have a very interesting question from Khushboo.
00:07So, since you're very knowledgeable on ancient scriptures, ancient Hindu scriptures, so a
00:12question pertains to that.
00:14Should we let ancient scriptures influence our dietary choices, especially when they
00:19were created in a different era and the circumstances today are very different?
00:26See, where I come from, and if you say I have read scriptures, I come from the scriptures
00:33maybe.
00:35Not every book that is being today called a scripture is worth being called a scripture.
00:43We have ancient books, wonderful books, wonderful books, valuable books, but they cannot be
00:54called as scriptures.
00:55A scripture is a book that tells you about yourself.
01:00A scripture has to deal essentially with self-knowledge.
01:06A book that talks of dietary choices cannot be called a scripture.
01:14A person who talks of the kind of things you must eat to enhance your health and such things
01:19cannot be called a guru.
01:22Shastra is what deals with self-knowledge.
01:27Guru is one who encourages self-knowledge in you.
01:32This food and all is miscellaneous business.
01:38This is for those who quote so-called scriptures in favor of meat or milk.
01:47So you will have Bakri and people will say, you know, it is coming from our scripture
01:53and then Hindus will say, you know, it is coming from our Puranas and Christians will
01:59say, you know, that Turkey is a part of our tradition.
02:05All that is just nonsense.
02:06Those are not scriptures at all.
02:09Scripture is self-knowledge.
02:10Who am I and what am I supposed to do with this so-called life?
02:15That's what constitutes a scripture.
02:18Nothing else.
02:20So who am I?
02:21I am a conscious entity.
02:22What am I supposed to do in life?
02:23I am supposed to elevate consciousness, respect consciousness, love consciousness.
02:30And the moment you see that this is what scripture says, veganism just smoothly follows.
02:40Veganism is the logical result of scriptural knowledge.
02:52If someone says I am well-versed in scripture and is still not a vegan, the fellow knows
03:00no scripture.
03:03And if somebody quotes scripture against veganism, that's a dangerous fellow.
03:12So in the Hindu path, it's Vedanta and Vedanta alone that deserves to be called a scripture
03:27and that's what deals with who you are and what your relationship with the world therefore
03:33is.
03:34It's a system of enquiry.
03:37It's not a system of commandments or belief.
03:43There is no belief there.
03:45There is no morality there.
03:48You are not being enjoined to do something.
03:53You are not being allowed or disallowed from something.
03:58You are being encouraged to ask a few fundamental questions.
04:03That's Vedanta and all those questions pertain to who you are.
04:09Therefore if you have really gone into Vedanta, if self-knowledge is something you have seen
04:18as centrally important, you will naturally drop all kinds of violent behavior because
04:29your core itself will no more remain violent.
04:34Vedanta addresses who you are within and if you do not know who you are, you are violent.
04:41Violence is nothing but ignorance.
04:43Lack of self-knowledge is violence.
04:45Once you know who you are, you cannot remain violent.
04:49So that's what.
04:53In vegan circles, it is quite common, I find this attitude, they abhor religion.
05:00They feel that religion is an enemy and I understand the place they are coming from.
05:07They have often seen people quote religion against veganism.
05:13So they think religion is a problem.
05:15No, religion is not a problem.
05:18Religion, true religion, true religiosity is in fact the very root of veganism.
05:23You cannot have veganism without compassion and who will teach you compassion if not the
05:28real scripture.
05:32So Vedanta and veganism go hand in hand.
05:37Thank you so much for answering that delicate question.
05:43One last question we received from Shalini that how do we communicate the message of
05:48veganism with neutrality that is caste and religion-based neutrality that gets very dirty
05:57in when people are not sensitive.
06:00So how do we do that?
06:04Everybody loves a little pup, right, irrespective of your caste or creed or gender or age.
06:10Who does not love a kitten?
06:12Who does not enjoy playing with a calf?
06:18So that's where we want to work on.
06:21The fact that we are humans irrespective of whatever else we are and to be human is to
06:28be conscious and that consciousness wants to play with the pup rather than butcher and
06:36eat it.
06:40You take a Muslim kid, a Christian kid, a Hindu kid, a Buddhist kid, an upper caste
06:47kid, a so-called lower caste kid, you take these kids, a baby boy, a baby girl, you take
06:54all of them and you give them ten rabbits.
07:01There is a large lawn where rabbits play and you send these kids there.
07:07These kids are not going to pick up the rabbits and eat them alive, irrespective of where
07:12the kids come from, they'll be delighted looking at the rabbits, they'll run after the rabbits,
07:18they'll play with the rabbits, that's what.
07:22So it doesn't matter who I am, don't I love the rabbit?
07:26And the discussion begins from there.
07:28And if the discussion starts diverting from the real thing, if religion or other persuasions
07:35start creeping in, then you again revert to the kid, you point back again to the fact
07:43of one's essential humanness, don't you love the rabbit?
07:47And if you do, why do you want to rob the rabbit of its hair, why do you want to brutally
07:54pluck its fur away?
07:57How can you do that?
07:58Don't you love the rabbit?
07:59You might be a Brahmin or a Christian, a protestant, I don't care, there is a rabbit in front of
08:06you and you are looking at the rabbit and what's your relationship with the rabbit,
08:09come on.
08:10So that's how we talk of it.
08:12Right, that's very well said and I would like to thank you for answering all our questions.
08:22The answers provided us a new direction and thank you so much for sharing your knowledge
08:26with us.
08:28With that, I'd like to hand it over to Gauri ma'am.
08:31Thank you, I thoroughly enjoyed all this.
08:34Thank you Acharya ji, I think you enriched our consciousness with a lot of wisdom today.
08:42I completely agreed with so many of your answers about the system of inquiry also, that is,
08:51you can call it scripture, the literal English translation could be anything, but there's
08:57a system of inquiry that was a bedrock of our civilization and I think rather than being
09:03told stories, we should inquire and introspect and each one can have their own little religions
09:10but we will know ourselves so much better and we'll be so much better connected with
09:14each other and with all other forms of consciousness that are around us and that I think is more
09:21important than any, you know, group of people who call themselves anything but ourselves
09:29connected with the whole world, that's probably so important and that's the spirit of, that's
09:34the ethics of veganism that I see.
09:37Wonderful, very well, very well put.
09:40So thank you so much, we are totally enriched today and we will look forward to many more
09:46sessions with you like this and I'm sure I speak on behalf of you.
09:51I'll be glad and in fact, I thank the entire team to make it an enriching evening for me
09:58as well and I just hope I was not too boring or too heavy or something.
10:07I enjoyed it and I hope all of us did.
10:10Totally, in fact, there was so many things that are kind of conflicting within us and
10:16we don't find the courage to, you know, articulate them so well but I think a battle of compassion
10:26requires courage and to actually speak our minds and it's great that we have somebody
10:33like you doing that as a mission.
10:38We are partners in this.
10:39Thank you, Gauri ji, you are an inspirational figure, believe me and I really wish you all
10:46the best and all the courage and all the success, really from my heart and may your
10:54team do well and prosper.
10:57Thank you.
10:58Thank you.
10:59Thank you.