♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant?
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?...
Read 3 handpicked wisdom articles, just for you: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articl...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Video Information: Shabdyog session, 22.07.2018, Advait Bodhsthal, Noida, India
Context:
How to understand of indifference?
What is the meaning of 'indifference to everything'?
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?...
Read 3 handpicked wisdom articles, just for you: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articl...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Video Information: Shabdyog session, 22.07.2018, Advait Bodhsthal, Noida, India
Context:
How to understand of indifference?
What is the meaning of 'indifference to everything'?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Abandoning desire, the enemy, along with gain, itself so full of loss, and the good deeds
00:15which are the cause of the other two, practice indifference to everything.
00:23Chapter 10, verse 1, Ashtavakra Gita.
00:27Then she proceeds to ask, Dear Acharyaji Pranam, Ashtavakra suggests to practice indifference
00:36to everything.
00:39Also I remember scriptures say, when there is conflict, remain indifferent and be indifferent
00:56to people who indulge in bad deeds.
01:00Will I be able to respond rightly if I am indifferent?
01:09Is practicing indifference the same as witnessing?
01:14How do I practice indifference when I see evil within me and out in the world?
01:25Acharyaji, would you please explain the concept of indifference?
01:32Ashtavakra is saying, be indifferent to desire, the enemy, all the vices, and in the same
01:48breath he says, be indifferent to good deeds, and you are asking whether that is the same
02:01as the stuff that you claim to have read in other scriptures, stuff that says, be indifferent
02:17to people who indulge in bad deeds.
02:21No, Parameswari, not at all.
02:39The mind is conditioned to choose and choose not wrongly,
03:06not merely wrongly, but in the wrong domain.
03:26You go out to buy apples and then you engage yourself in choosing the best orange.
03:49Not that you are not making a choice, not that your choice is flawed, it's just that
04:05the very domain of the choice, the very scope of the choice is invalid.
04:25What is it that you want?
04:29An apple.
04:35And what are you busy with?
04:39Oranges.
04:41And you want to make the best choice amongst the oranges.
04:50And using your intellect, you may in fact succeed in choosing the best orange for yourself.
05:01But that won't help, because the very fundamentals are wrong.
05:19You may feel puffed up on having chosen and obtained the best orange, but then oranges
05:27are not what you need.
05:34Now, if you fail in choosing the best orange, chances are you will choose again.
05:52You will at least see that you are making a mistake.
05:57You may not know what exactly is the mistake you are making, but you at least know that
06:04some mistake is being made.
06:10So if you fail in choosing the best orange, at least there is a chance that you will try
06:21again.
06:22But if you succeed in choosing the best orange, then you are victorious and this victory is
06:31the biggest defeat you can inflict upon yourself.
06:37This victory is your greatest curse.
06:49Man keeps choosing between good and bad, Parameswari.
06:55And you especially are quite conditioned to keep roaming in the world of right and
07:05wrong, correct and incorrect, good, bad, virtue, vice, bhagwan, shaitan.
07:25Man keeps wandering in this world and in this world there are always two poles.
07:31On the good pole sits bhagwan, on the bad pole sits shaitan.
07:37And man considers it a great achievement to have travelled to the right pole, the good pole.
07:49And obviously it's not easy to move to the pole of virtue.
08:05It takes a lot.
08:10And man keeps himself engaged there.
08:16Those who live in goodness look down upon those who live in vices and evil, immoral lives.
08:42What one totally misses is that the choice was not to be made between good and bad.
08:52Good and bad are the part of the same duality.
08:55They can be called as good bad.
08:59Good bad are one.
09:01There indeed was a choice to be made but the choice was to be made between good bad and
09:09dharma.
09:14The choice was to be made between good bad and dharma.
09:20So I have a sore throat, parmissory.
09:27So now here it is and this is something that I really need.
09:32Here it is.
09:36And parmissory here are these two.
09:40Now out of these two, one is delicious, one is not.
09:50One is tasteful, the other has no taste.
09:55And all my life I keep trying to choose between these two.
10:09And what is the parameter I am choosing on?
10:13The parameter I am choosing on is taste.
10:17And I may, on this flawed parameter, make a good choice.
10:27The parameter is taste.
10:29And on the parameter of taste, I choose juice over water.
10:37And I say see I made the right choice because juice is tastier than water.
10:43The fact is the very parameter, the criteria itself is flawed.
10:47The criteria should have been temperature and not taste.
10:52Given my throat, what should be the criteria?
10:58Temperature.
10:59But I totally forgot that.
11:02I forgot who I am.
11:05I forgot to look at myself and therefore I forgot what I really need.
11:12I did make a choice but the choice was between these two.
11:16Whereas the choice should have been between these two.
11:19These two are one.
11:21On the criteria of temperature, these two are one because they both are at the same
11:26temperature.
11:27They both are a bit cold.
11:30And this is different from them.
11:35But instead of choosing between this and this, instead of choosing between these two
11:42which are a pair and hence one and this which is not a part of that pair, I started choosing
11:51between the two elements of the pair itself.
11:59And I succeeded.
12:00I chose juice.
12:06It's a foregone conclusion what happens to my throat now.
12:13And I am so involved with these two that I totally forget this.
12:20And a lot of work needs to be done here because even to make a choice here, one needs to exercise
12:26intelligence, conduct tests, seek opinions and do a lot.
12:31So one thinks that he is gainfully employed.
12:36One thinks that he is investing himself in some productive project.
12:41So what am I doing these days?
12:43I'm trying to figure out which one of these do I choose.
12:50It doesn't matter whether you choose this or you choose this.
12:53You will end up with a very bad throat.
13:00Instead of choosing between these two, you should have come here.
13:04But the very fundamental is flawed.
13:07You do not know the criteria on which to choose.
13:15You just don't know.
13:20Choosing between these two is called morality.
13:24And you have been confined for a long time between water and juice.
13:35Rejecting water and juice and choosing tea is called spirituality.
13:41Come have tea with me.
13:50With a sore throat, if you are busy choosing between water and juice, this is called morality.
14:01A choice is being made, a decision is being made, but that decision won't help.
14:06On either side of the decision, on either side of the divide, you are equally defeated.
14:21Your victory lies here.
14:23You have to reject both limbs of the duality.
14:27You have to reject both the choices that duality offers you.
14:32Morality does not do that.
14:34Morality keeps you confined to duality and says choose good over bad.
14:40Choose virtue over vice, which is alright if taste is the criteria.
14:47But not alright if the welfare of the throat, which is the welfare of the self, is the criteria.
14:58Those who do not know themselves, they can choose on any criteria.
15:02But if you know yourself, you very well know that right now, you need not choose for taste.
15:07You need to choose for temperature.
15:09Are you getting it?
15:12So when Ashtavakra says, be indifferent to everything, he is talking of things, Parameshwari.
15:32All the things are here.
15:35Juice is a thing.
15:38Water is a thing.
15:39Tea is not a thing.
15:42That's the new sutra for you.
15:48Write it down carefully.
15:50Juice is a thing.
15:52Water is a thing.
15:54Tea is not a thing.
15:58So when you have to be indifferent to everything, what is it that you can reject?
16:03Juice and water.
16:05Reject both of them for both of them are just things.
16:10And if you can have a thing, you can have another thing as the opposite of that thing.
16:15Of nothing, there can be no opposite.
16:18Equally, of everything, there can be no opposite.
16:23Yes, Parameshwari?
16:28So when it is said, reject everything, that means reject the world of duality and select dharma.
16:38In strong indifference is a strong decision, a strong choice.
16:48In deep negation is great devotion and affirmation.
16:56When you are deeply negating water and juice, you are strongly affirming tea.
17:08But tea is not a thing.
17:10So the wise ones have preferred not to talk of tea because only things can be talked of.
17:17And tea is not a thing.
17:19They don't tell you what to go with, what to choose.
17:26They resist that.
17:27They avoid telling you what to choose.
17:30But they strongly tell you what to reject.
17:34So they tell you as Ashtavakra does, reject, reject, reject.
17:39Be indifferent.
17:41But please see that when you are rejecting, then you are selecting the pure consciousness, the awareness that rejects.
17:51Aren't you selecting it?
17:54After all, who is rejecting?
17:58There is somebody who is rejecting, right?
18:01And by rejecting strongly, you are selecting the one who is rejecting.
18:06Aren't you?
18:08If you not had faith in the one who rejects, could you have proceeded to decisively reject?
18:17So only the one who has faith in the rejecting entity can reject with composure and totality.
18:27Others will reject in a very lukewarm way.
18:32Their rejection will be 50-50.
18:36For three months there was rejection.
18:39Now there is selection again.
18:53And remember that unless you have a strong devotion to the rejecting awareness,
19:03And why does the pure consciousness or awareness reject?
19:08Because it can select only itself.
19:14It is infinite and pure.
19:16Therefore, it has to reject all things finite and impure.
19:23Which all things are finite and impure?
19:26Well, all things.
19:31So awareness tells you to not to be attached to or obsessed with anything.
19:42Awareness cannot select anything.
19:44Awareness can only reject because the selection has been made.
19:49The selection has been made long back.
19:52Awareness has selected right in the beginning.
20:03Who has been selected?
20:06Awareness has selected itself.
20:10Therefore, there is no possibility of positive selection anymore.
20:17Because the one who had to be selected has already been selected.
20:22The selector is the selection.
20:27Now what is left for awareness to do?
20:32Reject.
20:34So whenever you would be devoted or wise enough to consult awareness,
20:42She would say reject.
20:45Doesn't matter what your proposal is.
20:47The answer is one.
20:49Reject.
20:50And that is called indifference.
20:53That is called Udashinta, Anasakti, Virakti, Vairagya, Sanyas.
21:02Remember that awareness cannot select.
21:07Awareness would just reject.
21:09And that makes it so easy for you.
21:12Doesn't matter what the question is.
21:13The answer is one.
21:15So you need no preparation.
21:17Now you know how I am able to answer your questions.
21:20Doesn't matter what you say.
21:22I just have to reject it.
21:26Because you never come up with tea.
21:28All you come up with is juice and water.
21:31And I know that's what you would do.
21:34Whenever you would come to me with tea,
21:37I would have no option but to select.
21:45But you won't do that as long as you are you.
21:50You would have no respect for warmth.
21:55You will always come up with something cold.
22:01And that would definitely be rejected.
22:06This thing about indifference, Nirpekshata, Udashinta,
22:19has been the bane of all spiritual seeking.
22:25People have just not understood what it means.
22:30You can be indifferent only to the little.
22:34You cannot be indifferent to the immensity that you yourself are.
22:45When you are indifferent to the little,
22:48then you are vigorously with the great, the lovable.
22:58In the name of indifference, do not start ignoring dharma.
23:09Dharma involves strong affirmative action as well.
23:20In dharma, both the possibilities are there.
23:24Move forward, move backward.
23:33Stay where you are.
23:36Move forward with great speed.
23:38Move forward slowly.
23:40Go left, go right.
23:41Fly, dive.
23:49Like an amphibian vehicle that flies as well.
24:02A flying crocodile.
24:05Now what do you have?
24:07All three dimensions covered.
24:09Water, terrain, and the sky.
24:14So dharma gives you all the options.
24:20The option of acting vigorously in life is very much available
24:26when you are on the path of dharma.
24:30What is dharma, Parameshwari?
24:32Tea.
24:34Dharma is not morality.
24:36Dharma is not netikta.
24:39When you have rejected all dualities,
24:42then you have come to the default state.
24:48And the default state is dharma.
24:54Ashtavakra gives it a beautiful name.
24:57He just says dhi.
24:59That's your default state, dhi.
25:05And your homework is to discover that particular sutra where he talks of dhi.
25:16I hope it's not getting complicated for you.
25:18I try to keep it as simple as possible.
25:22So you reject the world of morality and the world of morality is this.
25:27It is now rejected.
25:29The world of duality, the world of good versus bad.
25:32That is rejected.
25:34And when it is rejected, then by implication you have selected the world of dharma.
25:40And this is dharma.
25:42A great attraction towards the truth.
25:46Devotion towards only the truth.
25:48That is dharma.
25:50Now this has been selected.
25:52And selecting this means selecting the world of great possibilities.
25:59How is selecting this?
26:01The same as selecting infinite possibilities.
26:05We said dharma is devotion to truth.
26:08So when you select this, actually you are selecting slavery.
26:16Now you are a slave to the truth.
26:23Let's promote the slave a little.
26:25Let's now designate him the driver of truth's car.
26:33Now does this driver have a personal destination to go to?
26:40What is the driver going to do?
26:45So truth says go left.
26:47The driver?
26:49Truth says drive slowly.
26:50The driver?
26:52Truth says accelerate.
26:53The driver?
26:54Truth says fly.
26:55It's an amphibian vehicle.
26:57Truth says take off.
27:00The driver?
27:01Truth says dive.
27:03The driver?
27:04All the possibilities are open.
27:06Because the slave has no compunctions.
27:12For the slave nothing is prohibited except disobedience to the master.
27:18That is the only thing prohibited to a slave.
27:21All else can be done and must be done.
27:25If the master says keep driving straight 60 miles per hour,
27:31the slave will keep driving at 60 miles per hour.
27:36So dharma cannot be about a particular conduct.
27:41Please see this.
27:43When you choose the world of duality,
27:46then you confine yourself to either this or that.
27:52Either this or that.
27:55In dharma, this, that, both are possible.
28:01What?
28:07Only this and that are possible?
28:08No.
28:09Cat, bat, hat and rat are also possible.
28:12Nothing I said is impossible in dharma except disobedience to the master.
28:23Therefore, those who proceed on the way,
28:32gain great liberation in terms of action.
28:36The action of the common man is very constrained action.
28:43Tremendous limits are imposed on him.
28:46Do this, do that.
28:49The man of dharma knows no such limits.
28:54He fights no holds barred.
28:57The rules of the world do not apply to him.
29:01He gives them no respect.
29:03For his respect is reserved only for the one.
29:09To him nothing is prohibited except we said disobedience.
29:17He sees nobody else.
29:19His eyes are firmly set on the master.
29:23He knows nobody else.
29:25One truth, one master.
29:29I know nobody else.
29:33He doesn't even say my master is one of the best.
29:38He says there is only one master and no, no one but him.
29:45He will not put any qualifying or limiting conditions on the master,
29:54on the center of his movement, on his very heart and soul.
30:02He says only one is known.
30:04Who are all the others?
30:07They may have been greats.
30:10I do not deny that.
30:12But pardon me, I do not know them.
30:15I know only the one and if that one tells me to do a somersault,
30:22here is a somersault.
30:26And look, the vehicle has somersaulted.
30:33That a moral man cannot do.
30:42How do you know a moral man?
30:44His car won't somersault.
30:48Simple.
30:54That's why on the way, the greatest of adventures welcome you
31:00and equally the greatest of tragedies await you.
31:13The way is not a passage through the neighborhood orchard
31:22where only nice shady fruit trees are there.
31:28Little kids are playing.
31:32Some dry leaves are falling on the path
31:36and occasionally a cherry or an apple also drops down
31:47and it's also picturesque and romantic.
31:51No, that's not the way.
32:00The way is a jungle in which there is no way.
32:06Make your way so all the possibilities are there.
32:08You see, in the orchard, you are limited
32:14because the path, the pavement has already been set and decided.
32:20In the jungle, all the possibilities are there.
32:27Run straight, climb up a tree, take a bath.
32:38It's great freedom.
32:44Are you getting it?
32:48I'm not sure.
32:50The way of morality is very neat.
32:54It is the way of the householder who gets up every day at 5 a.m. and takes a bath.
33:02That's the way of morality.
33:09Get up at the right time, take a bath and be called the ideal householder.
33:19Celebrate all the festivals, worship all the gurus,
33:27salute all the gods and goddesses and be called the ideal lady.
33:36That's not the way, permission me.
33:43Is the opposite of that the way?
33:46Not even that either.
33:48You cannot get up at 5 a.m.
33:51Who said that you cannot worship?
33:57Tea is not the opposite of water or is it?
34:01Tea is what you need.
34:03Tea is not the opposite of anything.
34:05Please, tea is not defined by water.
34:09When you say tea is the opposite of water, what is the center of definition?
34:14Water.
34:15You have taken water and now you are saying I want something opposite to it.
34:21Tea is not the opposite of water.
34:23When you are looking at tea, then you are looking at yourself.
34:27Your thirst, your need defines tea.
34:33Spirituality therefore is not the opposite of morality.
34:38Spirituality is when you transcend morality.
34:43Morality is when you look at mores, the norms, the morals.
34:49Spirituality is when you look at yourself.
34:52You get the difference.
34:56Morality is when you have been told of this and that either by others or by your senses.
35:08Morality is when you are giving yourself gratiation.
35:17You are saying I will do that which is acceptable to most people
35:24and that will bring me security and pleasure and respect.
35:30Spirituality is when you are giving yourself peace.
35:40Are you getting it?
35:50Will I be able to respond rightly if I am indifferent?
35:55Only if you are indifferent to all kinds of rubbish will you be able to respond rightly.
36:12Tell me, will you be able to run if your right hand is tied to a pole, Parameswari?
36:25Okay, let's do the opposite now.
36:27Now maybe you will be able to run.
36:29Let's tie your left hand to a pole.
36:31How fast are you running now?
36:36So morality is about tying your right hand to the pole.
36:41In morality everything that you do is right.
36:46So morality is about not tying the wrong hand to the pole but tying the right hand to the pole.
36:53Now tell me, how is the flight?
36:56How well, how smoothly and how high are you flying?
37:02Spirituality is about liberating yourself totally from the pole.
37:17The evil man has the wrong hand, the bad hand and the left hand has been conventionally called as the bad hand.
37:31You can't do any good deeds with the left hand.
37:38With the left hand you can't even shake hands.
37:44If kids start using their left hand, there are many mothers who would scold them.
37:48How are you eating using your left hand?
38:00So the bad man has his bad hand tied to the pole.
38:13The good man, the pious man has the right hand, the good hand tied to the pole.
38:26What does Ashtavakra mean when he says be indifferent?
38:29He means be totally free of the pole.
38:39Neither the right hand nor the left hand should be attached to the pole.
38:59Is practicing indifference and witnessing the same?
39:03Forget about indifference and witnessing, Parameshwari.
39:11You are the driver.
39:14What do words like indifference and witnessing mean to the driver?
39:21The driver should be attending to the master's call and in this attention lies indifference.
39:31And in this attention lies witnessing.
39:40If the beloved is near to you, would you listen to the beloved or would you try to be indifferent to the world?
39:48Please, what comes first?
39:51So you are the driver.
39:53Just listen to the master.
39:55Don't try practicing indifference to the crowd around the car.
39:59Or would you rather do that?
40:01The master is with you, sitting next to you.
40:05And you are saying I want to practice indifference to the world.
40:09Even if you want to practice indifference, who has become the center of your concentration?
40:15If you say I am trying to practice indifference to the world, who has become the center of your mind?
40:24The world.
40:26That is not dharma, Parameshwari.
40:37No.
40:43Follow the command.
40:45Do the right thing.
40:46There is a lot to be done.
40:49The car has to be driven.
40:51What do you mean by indifference?
40:53What do you mean by witnessing?
40:56Love is enough.
41:00When you love the truth, then you are obviously indifferent to the false.
41:06That is indifference.
41:08You cannot practice indifference.
41:10You can only love the truth.
41:16Indifference happens as a byproduct.
41:20You are not trying and practicing indifference.
41:24Indifference has just happened on its own.
41:28Why has indifference happened?
41:30Because you were attending exclusively to the master.
41:38And when you are attending exclusively to the master, how can anyone else come to your mind?
41:43That is indifference.
41:51The same applies to witnessing.
42:00A lot of things are there by the wayside.
42:07There are men, women, trees, vehicles, hoardings.
42:15And the driver is just driving the car.
42:20Do all the happenings on the road mean anything to the driver?
42:28No.
42:29They don't mean anything to him.
42:31All that which holds a meaning is the command of the master.
42:38All else is to be seen, responded to and ignored.
42:45There are 40 people carrying out a procession and they are raising slogans.
42:59The driver sees all that.
43:01Those people are on the road.
43:03Does that procession or those slogans mean anything to the driver?
43:07No.
43:08To him, that crowd is just an obstacle to be dealt with.
43:21He weaves his way around the crowd.
43:25That's all that the crowd means to him.
43:28This is witnessing.
43:29I don't have anything to do with you.
43:31I am a non-participant.
43:33Or would he stop the car and join the procession?
43:37Or would he stop the car and start beating up people for obstructing the road?
43:41No.
43:42He doesn't have anything to do with them.
43:44This is called witnessing.
43:46I am a non-participant because I am attending exclusively to my lord.
43:53And he has told me to speed up.
43:57And I am rushing.
43:59There is a lot of work to be done.
44:02The one who is obeying the master would seldom be found lazing around.
44:11He is a busy bee.
44:14Lord is a tough taskmaster.
44:18He doesn't leave you free.
44:20Look at the lives of those who devoted themselves.
44:25They were extremely busy people.
44:28Look at a Sant Fareed or Guru Nanak or Kabir Sahib.
44:34See how hard they worked through the span of their lives.
44:43Internally they were always free.
44:48But their hands, body, the entire system was always occupied.
44:54Look at the life of Jesus.
44:57Look at the life of Krishna.
45:02Look at the life of Prophet Muhammad.
45:04Do you find them just relaxing on a beach?
45:09By the way, none of them visited Goa or any such place.
45:19On foot.
45:23Guru Nanak Dev made very long journeys.
45:29One to the south, one to the east, one to deep in the west.
45:37And he was just travelling on foot.
45:42Ditto with Vardhaman Mahavir and Siddharth Gautam.
45:48They were extremely busy people.
45:52You wouldn't have been able to have them spare their time.
45:57The Lord, I said, is a tough taskmaster.
46:03So get this notion out of your head.
46:08That indifference means that now you have nothing to do in this world.
46:13Indifference to the world means that now you are an activist.
46:16Now you are a missionary.
46:22We said now you are a busy bee.
46:27You would work and work very hard.
46:29And if you are not working hard, then it means that you are not heeding the command.
46:52Copyright © 2020 Mooji Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
46:56No part of this recording may be reproduced
46:59without Mooji Media Ltd.'s express consent.