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Video Information: 03.09.2024, BITS Pilani Goa

Context:
How did you discover what to do in life?
How to discover our calling?
How to meet our highest potential?
How to be successful in life and achieve excellence?

Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~

Category

📚
Learning
Transcript
00:00Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests and esteemed colleagues, good evening.
00:10It is my honor and privilege to welcome you all here today.
00:14We are gathered to engage in what promises to be a deeply enriching session, one that
00:19will explore the profound wisdom and teachings of one of the most influential spiritual leaders
00:25of our time.
00:26Before we proceed, it gives me great pleasure to introduce our distinguished speaker, Acharya
00:32Prashant.
00:33Acharya Prashant is not just a name but a movement, a movement towards deeper understanding,
00:39personal transformation and global awareness.
00:43An alumnus of prestigious institutions like IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad, Acharya Prashant's
00:49journey is as remarkable as it is inspiring.
00:53His early career saw him serving as a civil services officer but it is in his role as
00:58a spiritual teacher, philosopher and author that he has truly made his mark on the world.
01:04With over 150 books to his name, Acharya Prashant has touched countless lives with his writings
01:10on topics such as love, marriage and parenting.
01:14His best-selling titles like Karma, Ananda and Maya are not just books but gateways to
01:20deeper understanding.
01:22His expertise in Advaita Vedanta philosophy has earned him a massive following with over
01:2850 million subscribers on YouTube, making him the world's most followed spiritual leader.
01:34His videos which have amassed an astounding 2.5 billion views speak to the universal resonance
01:41of his message.
01:43But Acharya Prashant is not just a spiritual guide, he is also a passionate advocate for
01:49causes that impact our world today.
01:52As a staunch supporter of veganism and environmentalism, he has been recognised as the most influential
01:58vegan of India by PETA in 2022.
02:01His advocacy is not limited to words, it extends into actionable programs and teachings.
02:08His highly regarded online courses on Bhagavad Gita and Vedanta have attracted over 30,000
02:14students further solidifying his role as a beacon of knowledge and change.
02:20Without further ado, it is with great respect and admiration that I invite Acharya Prashant
02:25and DM Kulkarni Sir to felicitate him with a sapling.
02:32First of all, I regret being late for the assembly today.
02:52I respect your time.
02:54It was an unforeseen kind of thing, 15-20 minutes taken by a particular crossing near
02:59Pajolda village.
03:01It does not happen in Goa, even with me it's happening for the first time.
03:05But anyway, we'll try to make up for that, won't we?
03:11Good.
03:12So let's begin.
03:15I want to ask about the process and what were the things that led you to discover what it
03:19is that you want to do in life?
03:25One never discovers as such.
03:31That sounds like some kind of end point or full stop.
03:38You keep discovering, it's a process, not a particular event.
03:46So I'm still discovering.
03:50As long as you are not dead, there is a life to live.
03:55So you must keep finding out what the whole game is about and you must never allow yourself
04:01to feel too confident that you know it all.
04:05So be it at your age or my age or for somebody who is 70 or 80, it's all much the same.
04:18You have to keep asking questions, you have to look at yourself and you have to ask what
04:24is it all about?
04:26What am I doing?
04:27Who am I here?
04:30What is my purpose?
04:32What is it giving me?
04:34Am I repeating my old actions and decisions in some new form?
04:42And if I'm just repeating, will that give me some kind of new results?
04:48Am I really sure I know the direction that I'm taking or am I just following the crowd?
04:57These questions must always be alive.
05:05The brain has a tendency to settle down quickly.
05:12It does not want to remain in a state of ambiguity.
05:17It does not want to feel that the matter, the question is still hanging in balance.
05:28We want to just settle things quickly and say, you know, this is the issue and this
05:35is the decision.
05:36Don't let that happen.
05:38Let things remain open.
05:40That is a bit uncomfortable to live with, but being uncomfortable is much better than
05:47being deceived.
05:49A lot of us who are well settled with their answers in life about academics, about career,
05:58about personal things, might be feeling comfortable that the thing is done, dusted, sealed.
06:11But what if the answer sheet that you are submitting does not contain the right answers?
06:19It's better to stay with the questions for a bit longer.
06:23Is it not?
06:24Than to just write some answer and assure yourself that you have done it and the examination
06:30or assignment is, and you dispose of the whole thing.
06:38That doesn't work in our favor.
06:42I'm still discovering as I speak to somebody like you, as I go through the normal events
06:51of daily life, I still want to keep learning.
06:57I'm a student much like you.
06:59Thank you sir.
07:03Similarly, even when I have entered some kind of response to a question, that does
07:14not mean that the matter is settled or the issue is now closed.
07:22I'm very prepared and I eagerly welcome any kind of counter questions, even rebuttals.
07:29Hello Acharya Prashant, so I have a follow up question which is, so this ability that
07:42you spoke of for somebody to have a question and then to hold on to it, there might be
07:49some discomfort, there usually is, but this ability to hold on to the question and to
07:55keep seeking for answers and to be okay with only getting partial answers or even wrong
08:02answers, the ability to keep an open mind, do you believe it is something that is innate
08:10in a person or can it be learnt?
08:14Two things regarding your statement, one, it is not an ability and two, it is not about
08:23looking for answers because the moment you say it's an ability, some part of it would
08:31be definitely attributable to innate factors and the moment you say that something is innate,
08:39you have gone into genetics straight away, have you not?
08:44The old nature versus nurture thing.
08:47So nothing is innate, it's a matter of choice, it's not an ability, it's a decision.
08:54You have to decide to be alright with discomfort, it's a decision that you make.
09:01It's not that you are born with a certain ability or that you are even taught to have
09:06that ability, no, you decide, you could say a matter of love.
09:16I love the truth so much or I love myself so much that I cannot allow myself to be settled
09:24with something deceptive or half-truth, no, that won't do, it's a decision that you actively
09:34make for yourself, over time making that decision does become easier because the decision as
09:43you rightly said involves discomfort, discomfort a bit of the same type as you experienced
09:50when you first hit the gym, but over time, gyming not only becomes easier but probably
09:57becomes pleasurable, does it not?
10:01You also become more confident of your stand as you start seeing the results, as you start
10:06seeing that your approach, your attitude is building you into something formidable, you
10:12become more assured of the attitude that you have towards life, you say fine, I am alright
10:19with ambiguity, I am alright with uncertainty and that does not seem to be harming me.
10:27So I can proceed on this way with more confidence.
10:32So that was the first thing that we said that it's not an ability, it's a choice, it's a
10:38decision that you actively make, it's similar to love.
10:44The second thing, it's not really about always looking for answers, it's about staying with
10:49the question.
10:50These two are different things.
10:54Looking for an answer indicates a discomfort with the question because what is the answer
11:04supposed to do?
11:05The answer is supposed to bring death to the question, no?
11:10Once the answer is there, the question can be disposed off, thrown into the waste bin.
11:16The question is no more once the answer is there.
11:19You have to start loving the questions and then slowly, I don't know whether this would
11:29make sense right now to some of us, but let this stay with you, as you start feeling more
11:36comfortable living with questions themselves, you find that the solution, not the answer,
11:46but the solution to the question lies within the question itself, not that you get an answer.
11:57You become so comfortable with the question that the question disappears.
12:04You get right to the root of the question because you have not been running away from
12:08the question.
12:09See, demanding answers, it will sound strange, but stay with this.
12:16Demanding answers, does it not indicate that you are not alright with the question?
12:24Questions can be beautiful, they are not always to be returned with answers.
12:34Staying with the question, going right till the root of the question takes you closer
12:40to yourself and you will not go so deeply into the question if you do not like the question
12:46itself.
12:48Most of us like to have answers.
12:52We do not like questions so much, do we?
12:56We like to have good answers.
12:59We do not care so much for great questions.
13:05Have great questions and learn to live with them without bothering whether you have an
13:10answer or not.
13:11Answers are small things.
13:13We said you have to go right to the root of the question.
13:17Do you know what lies at the root of the question?
13:20Yes, tell me, sir.
13:22I have no idea what lies at the root.
13:26The root is the place the thing comes from, right?
13:28By definition.
13:30So where does the question come from?
13:32Where does the question come from?
13:35The root of anything is the place that thing comes from.
13:40So what will be at the root of a question?
13:51Not too early.
13:52Yes, who will be at the root of the question?
13:54I have already answered in a way by using who, not what.
13:59Yes, the questioner.
14:03You are at the root of all your questions and if you can probe deeply into your questions,
14:09you will come to yourself.
14:14You are at the origin of all your questions.
14:17Just as the dancer is at the origin of the dance.
14:22The questioner is at the origin of the question.
14:27Doesn't the dance tell something about the dancer?
14:30Similarly, the question tells you a lot about yourself.
14:37If you want to know about yourself, you will have to embrace the questions you have in life.
14:44You will have to see where exactly do they spring from and that is self-knowledge.
14:51That is self-knowledge.
14:52Now how will you get to the root of your questions if you swat them away too quickly?
15:00Like things undesirable, like pestering flies, who they came to you and what did you do?
15:08Like a mosquito buzzing at your ears, what do you do?
15:10Go away.
15:11Will you ever know the mosquito?
15:15No.
15:16The questions are not always as buzzy as the mosquito.
15:22Just an example, getting it?
15:29Questions are great things.
15:32In the world of inner questions, it is not really answers that matter so much.
15:40It is the question itself that matters and when you start understanding your questions,
15:48when you start understanding yourself, secondly, now the question has done its duty, fulfilled
15:56its purpose and the question just disappears.
16:03Now the question is no more meaningful.
16:04Not that the question has received an answer.
16:07The question itself has been understood.
16:11So the question is no more meaningful or important to you anymore.
16:15So you just let it go.
16:17It goes away, it disappears.
16:21Is it too abstract, too abstract?
16:29Am I making sense or am I nonsensical as always?
16:36Yes, yes, follow up, follow up.
16:44I kind of get what you're saying, but let me rephrase the question in a more practical
16:50view.
16:54I know I can sit with the question better than say, you know, somebody in my family.
17:00And sometimes it might frustrate me that, you know, in an interaction, it might frustrate
17:05me for a while that, you know, that they can't see the question itself for what it is.
17:11So the question I'm asking is, is there any practical advice you have, you know, to interact
17:17with, say, people in your own family?
17:22In what kind of situation, when they are not ready to see where you're coming from?
17:27Yes, I mean, it can be for something even, you know, very trivial.
17:32So I'll just give you a recent example.
17:36I joined here recently.
17:37I work as a research fellow.
17:39And my mother, you know, just, you know, normal interaction asked me, like, do you have a
17:44lunch timing?
17:45Right, you know, fixed time to have lunch.
17:48I found the question very odd.
17:50So I asked her, what is a lunch timing?
17:53You know, why does it exist?
17:55She used to be a school teacher, she worked in a school.
17:59So I pointed out to her, you know, that lunch break happens, it is there for a certain time,
18:03so that, you know, everybody can be synchronized.
18:07The classes get over at a fixed time, though, you know, the mess or whatever is open at
18:11a certain time.
18:12So you have to be there for that certain time.
18:15So I asked her, what kind of work do you think that I do, that I would be required, you know,
18:21by the organization to have a fixed lunch period.
18:25And she seemed very confused by that.
18:27So then I had to explain it further.
18:30Right, so just little interactions like this, where basically nobody questions the frame
18:36in which they are asking the question.
18:37To everybody, their universe is the universe.
18:41Right.
18:42Yeah, so I am asking for practical advice, you know.
18:45What you did was absolutely practical.
18:47Right, so this is an example where I think I handled it okay, but I don't always…
18:52You don't have to handle it, you just have to be spontaneous.
18:55Right, right, right, I mean, that's a choice of…
18:57It's a beautiful way, the way you said that, you know, fixed lunch timings must be an organizational
19:05construct for a certain purpose.
19:07Yes.
19:08Now, does my life belong to the domain of that purpose and that would pose something
19:15unfamiliar to her.
19:17It's something that she might not have thought of before.
19:21It's a great way of interacting and letting the doors will be open.
19:26Right, right, so okay, there's no general, you know, tips and tricks that you have.
19:31Okay, cool.
19:32Thanks.
19:33One just has to ensure that one is not, one is not bitter, because bitterness finds it
19:42very easy to creep in, in these kinds of interactions.
19:48You think you know and you think that the other one does not know and you also find
19:53that the other one is probably not as willing to know.
19:58So that lends you a bit bitter or caustic, so one has to ensure that one remains mindful
20:07of the point the other is coming from and this is the kind of conversation you'll always
20:14need to have.

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