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Video Information: 19.06.2022, conversation, Greater Noida

Context:
~ What is meditation?
~ Why are techniques of meditation only partially helpful?
~ What is meditative living?
~ Can two different ideologies prosper together?
~ How should one approach Vedanta?

Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~

Category

📚
Learning
Transcript
00:00I would like to ask you about even, you know, sort of what you've focused on when it comes
00:14to Vedant philosophy, right?
00:19Vedant having, you know, while being such a, while being so firm as a school of thought
00:26in terms of being based in Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, the Brahma Sutras, while having such
00:34distinct schools as well, it has throughout its timeline of thousands of years, gone through
00:44many people adapting it in different ways, meaning approaching it and implementing it
00:51in different ways, whether it be, say, the saints, whether it be the bhakts, whether
00:57it be the yogis, whether it be the acharyas themselves having completely different approaches
01:04of what, say, Brahman is, to even the day-to-day, I mean, the new 18th, 19th, 20th century revolutionaries
01:14and scholars and philosophers who approached it in their own light.
01:19And in one respect, that is honorable, that the Vedant philosophy has, is so, while so
01:26firm, it's also flexible.
01:29And my question to you is that, in today's light, in today's light, in today's times,
01:35how should one approach Vedanta?
01:37How should one implement it?
01:39How should one practice it?
01:42See, what is Vedanta, first of all?
01:44Vedanta is not really a philosophy in the sense, we typically use the word philosophy
01:51especially for Western thought.
01:54Vedanta is not really a philosophy.
01:58Vedanta is an inquiry.
02:02The inquiry is about one's own nature.
02:08The nature of the mind, what do I want?
02:15What do I want?
02:17Why do I never get fulfilled?
02:20What is it about me that always seeks activity and something else, the next exciting thing?
02:31Who am I to keep wanting like this and where did I come from?
02:37That's the most fundamental Vedantic inquiry.
02:41Who am I?
02:43Who am I?
02:45And one thing Vedanta is very certain about, whosoever I am, I am not really contended
02:52with that.
02:56Something about me is amiss and that's why the inquiry.
03:01Otherwise there is no need to inquire, everything is alright.
03:04Then why bother to inquire?
03:07So something is missing somewhere and it's possible nothing is missing anywhere.
03:15I am unable to grasp the perfection of things, even that is possible.
03:22But whatever be the case, one thing is certain, I am not alright with the way I am.
03:26I am not joyful with myself.
03:32Now this myself is a fluctuating entity.
03:39You are not the same person when you are, let's say in the studio as when you are on
03:43the road.
03:44It's a common everyday experience.
03:48The way we look at ourselves, the thing within us that calls out I keeps changing or identities
03:57keep fluctuating, influences make us change our very center almost.
04:09That's the reason why Vedanta will be looked at from many different angles by the various
04:18knowers, sages, rishis, pundits, saints.
04:26Because even if the destination is the same, the current location is definitely different
04:36for every person.
04:40You may realize that the welfare of the I lies in its liberation from itself.
04:50But liberation from what?
04:52The current situation of the I is unique for every individual, for every situation, for
04:59every place, for every community, every age.
05:03And that's why the thing has been presented in so many different ways.
05:08Another reason, related reason why the words of the sages etc. sound sometimes at odds
05:15with each other is because the I, the ego has a great tendency and capability to co-opt
05:25whatever has been told to it.
05:29So you tell the ego that the truth is this way and you listen to it, else you will suffer.
05:37The ego will take those words and digest them in such a way that they rather fatten
05:46the ego itself.
05:50Instead of guiding the ego, instead of liberating the ego, the words of the sages can be used
06:01by the ego to reinforce itself.
06:05And that's why the words that were uttered for the sake of salvation, education, liberation
06:15become cannon fodder.
06:20And the ego is using them as ammunition to blast the teacher itself.
06:31So then the next teacher has to step in.
06:34And the next teacher then has to elucidate in a different way, sometimes in a drastically
06:41different way.
06:43Now that is not being done to prove the previous teacher wrong.
06:48That is being done now to checkmate the ego at its own game.
06:53But the game continues, the game is eternal.
06:57The words of the next teacher too are in time distorted, manipulated, assimilated, co-opted
07:04and then the next one has to come.
07:07Just as the ego is always at work, the series, the tradition of teachers too has to be continuously
07:14at work.
07:16You cannot have one teacher whose words are eternal because no word can be eternal.
07:22Words will need reinterpretation according to the time, the situation, the people, everything.
07:32So Vedanta is just one thing, Vedanta is not too many things.
07:36But Vedanta definitely has to be looked at in context for it to be useful.
07:45And that's why the words of the different knowers were all very useful at their own
07:53time in their situations and might be useful even today.
07:57It depends on how much can you relate to the person the teachers are speaking to.
08:07For example, when I teach the Bhagavad Gita, I say that the Gita is only as useful to you
08:14as is the depth of your identification with Arjun.
08:19If you are Arjun, then Krishna is talking to you.
08:23But if you cannot see that you indeed are Arjun, how will the Gita benefit you?
08:29You have to see that you are embattled just like Arjun.
08:32You have to see that you are stuck in attachment and dilemma just like Arjun.
08:38And when you see that, then Krishna becomes radiant and brilliant for you.
08:44Now Krishna is definitely a teacher to you.
08:46Now Krishna is like a personal coach.
08:51Otherwise you are just witnessing something being said by one person to another person
08:58without you having any real relationship with either of the two.
09:02And that won't help.
09:05So pick up words that were uttered to somebody in your situation.
09:12And then you will benefit.
09:13Right.
09:14And you are pinpointing that really important aspect of, I guess, Bharat itself and its
09:28ages and its years and its millenniums.
09:31How different devotees or different seers of saw Vedanta or saw the truth maybe in their
09:40own light because of their own lens, the fact that they have their own lens.
09:49Whether that would be the bhakts of Maharashtra, right, where their own circumstances, their
09:59own situation, the world at their time, the Indian diaspora at their time was very, say,
10:07superstitional or blind faith based.
10:12And they saw the needs of their time and approached it differently.
10:16Or maybe Shankaracharya saw the needs of his time and he approached it differently compared
10:21to Ramanujacharya.
10:24So with that in mind, what do you think are the needs of today's time?
10:29See, you have put it so nicely.
10:32The principles of medicine remain the same.
10:37But to each patient there is a different and unique prescription.
10:45So that's how it is.
10:46The fundamentals remain the same.
10:48Now we cannot say that one doctor is quarrelling with the other because one prescription is
10:53different from the other.
10:59Now you are asking how do I see the need of this time?
11:02You see, what do the various saints anyway do in their respective ages?
11:11They demolish the popular notions of their time.
11:16They slay the gods of their time.
11:22And the ego is very fond of raising new and false gods.
11:28By gods what do I mean?
11:30Something that you venerate, something that you bow down to, something that you are so
11:34much in awe of.
11:38So today those gods have to be slayed.
11:45The ideals of the age have to be demolished.
11:48Now the gods of the age, who are they?
11:53Money is the god, knowledge is the god, consumption is a huge god, happiness is the biggest ideal.
12:08I just want to lead the good life.
12:10And what does the good life mean?
12:11I must consume a lot.
12:16So Vedanta in today's times amounts to negating the notions, the ideals that we venerate today.
12:28And that's why Vedanta is always a struggle.
12:34It does not really have any affirmative message to convey.
12:42It is a philosophy in negativa, if you can call it a philosophy that is.
12:49Because the inquiry always is, is this real?
12:54You point at something and then you say, is this real?
12:57You point at yourself and ask, is this real?
13:01And the answer inevitably is no.
13:05So the entire inquiry is about negation.
13:09You look at something and you are taking it seriously, you are falling for it, you
13:13are getting too fond of it.
13:16The thing has become truth for you.
13:18You look at the thing and you ask, is this real, is this the truth?
13:22I want to inquire, I want to know.
13:24And if your inquiry is genuine, then the answer is no.
13:29So Vedanta is definitely about negating whatever time at a particular point in history throws
13:37at you.
13:40In 18th century Vedanta will negate what people of 18th century thought.
13:46In 8th century Vedanta was used to negate what people at that time thought of as truth.
13:55In the current century, whatsoever is taken as very important will be negated by Vedanta.
14:02That's what Vedanta does.
14:04And that's why certain people are always irritated with it.
14:07Well, where is the positive message they say?
14:10There is no positive message because there is no need of any positive message.
14:13Vedanta says you do not need any positivity, reality in itself is joyful.
14:20You just uncover it.
14:24And uncovering is a process in negation.
14:29You do not need anything additionally.
14:31You do not need something to be added to your life.
14:37Life in itself is beautiful, provided you get rid of all the nonsense you have covered
14:42it up with.
14:44So that's what Vedanta does.
14:45Vedanta is a cleaning mechanism.
14:48You bring anything to Vedanta and Vedanta says let's go into it, let's inquire, let's
14:52investigate.
14:53Vedanta is a big question mark.
14:57And that is the reason why it could never become the leading thing of the day at any
15:03time in history.
15:04It is the mother of all Indian philosophies, all thought.
15:09In fact it is the mother of much of what is beautiful in the West as well.
15:15But it could never by itself gain popularity among the masses.
15:21Though derivatives from Vedanta became very popular, such as the songs of the Bhakti saints.
15:26They became extremely popular.
15:27But Vedanta, the thing in itself remained kind of marginalized.
15:40Because the ego does not like it.
15:42You bring anything to it and Vedanta says, I'll be attracted to it later.
15:47First of all I want to know what it is.
15:50I'll consume it later or I'll reject it later.
15:52First of all I want to know what the thing is about.
15:55This kind of inquiry is an obstacle to immediate gratification and the ego is very fond of
16:01gratifying itself.
16:03Think of the situations in life when an opportunity to gratify yourself is there.
16:08And in that situation, in that moment if somebody comes and says, let's inquire first thing.
16:14Something very delicious is right on your plate.
16:18And just as you are about to take it in, somebody says, why not first of all inquire the number
16:24of calories per gram and the nutritional value and other things about it.
16:29Now how pleasant would you feel?
16:31There are certain annoyance and that's the reason why Vedanta is only for those who love
16:38the truth more than sensual gratification.

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