Video Information: 10.10.22 , Greater Noida.
Shivi Verma of Life Positive magazine interviews Acharya Prashant on the curse of India.
Context:
~ Can the youth take on the challenges of coming times?
~ What is Prashant Advait Mission about?
~ Where is our Youth heading?
~ What is India's rich heritage?
~ Why is there so much spiritual misinformation in India?
~ What is freedom?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Shivi Verma of Life Positive magazine interviews Acharya Prashant on the curse of India.
Context:
~ Can the youth take on the challenges of coming times?
~ What is Prashant Advait Mission about?
~ Where is our Youth heading?
~ What is India's rich heritage?
~ Why is there so much spiritual misinformation in India?
~ What is freedom?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Category
ЁЯУЪ
LearningTranscript
00:00You have been guiding the youth of this country for the longest time.
00:07So what has been your observation about the youth of India?
00:11How willing are they to embrace their roots?
00:14They are quite willing in the sense that they appear less prejudiced and encumbered with
00:32the ideologies and moorings of the past.
00:44They are also more straightforward, display lesser duplicity probably compared to the
00:56previous generations.
01:00They do not hesitate to speak their mind.
01:06So it becomes easier to have a dialogue and where a dialogue is possible, their solutions
01:18emerge more easily.
01:24So that's the thing that gives me hope with respect to the youth of today.
01:30However, there is one aspect of their value system that makes it a bit problematic and
01:39that is that they have been taught to back themselves, believe in themselves, have self-confidence
01:54no matter what and that sometimes becomes an obstacle in the path of open and honest
02:07inquiry.
02:09If you believe that you already know a lot, then the urge to inquire diminishes and if
02:22you feel too confident of your views and opinions, then your ability to listen suffers.
02:34So that's the problem that we face but all in all, it's always a pleasure speaking
02:42to the youth.
02:44In fact, given a chance, I would probably prefer the youth over the aged and the middle-aged.
03:01So the kind of energy that a young person carries and the fact that he or she has a
03:10life to live and the spark in their eyes when they come upon something new, that always
03:19makes it a delight to converse with them.
03:24So you do feel that they are well-prepared to take on the challenges of the coming times?
03:31That's a very general statement, I can't say they are well-prepared, can't say they are
03:36not well-prepared.
03:37It will vary from person to person.
03:43So some of them will meet life and rise to its challenges very nicely, very competently.
03:59Unfortunately there would be some who would fall by the wayside, the mission that we have
04:09espoused aims to have more individuals who can live life freely, boldly, delightfully.
04:23What do you mean when you say live life more freely, more delightfully, more unencumbered?
04:31You have to see what is the nature of our bondages, because the word freedom has any
04:37meaning only in context of bondages.
04:42Mostly we do not realize that we are in a shackled state of bondage, even if we do begin
04:52to realize that we are living a limited and circumscribed life.
05:01The first instinct is to feel that the bondages and the oppressor exist in the world, outside
05:09of us.
05:11It is only when there is careful inquiry and a lot of attention towards the self that one
05:20realizes that the bondages are within, the concepts that one is carrying, the beliefs
05:28that one might be holding very close to his core, these are the real bondages.
05:38And if these are the bondages, then we know what is freedom, examining what you live by,
05:47examining what your value system is like, seeing where it comes from, seeing whether
05:54it really helps you navigate through life, and therefore dropping what is necessary,
06:04that is freedom.
06:05Indians today, especially Hindus, are mostly clueless about their rich spiritual heritage.
06:13And why do you think that we have come so far and we have become so distant from the
06:20stream of spiritual knowledge which has nourished our generations, we just don't, we have to
06:26be reintroduced to all that which has been our heritage.
06:32Because there is just too much of it.
06:35You see, when I go to, let's say, Lucknow via the Muradabad route, there are these eateries,
06:46wayside eateries.
06:49So 10-12 years back when I used to go, there used to be one Shiva Dhaba, and it got very
06:57famous.
06:58It got very famous and it was very successful because the food quality was good, the ambience
07:03was wonderful and there were lush green fields behind it and one could be there and have
07:10some tourist food and enjoy all this, especially during winters.
07:14So then another one came up, new Shiva Dhaba.
07:21Then one more came up and I have been an experiencer to all that, real Shiva Dhaba, then Asli Shiva
07:28Dhaba and now there are just so many of them that neither the food is delectable nor the
07:40ambience or anything else about it.
07:45Why did that proliferation happen?
07:48Exactly because the original one was wonderful.
07:53When the original one is great, all kinds of duplicate ones start mushrooming and that
07:59is what has happened in India and the duplicate ones assume so much abundance and visibility
08:09and power and popularity that the original one is lost.
08:14I won't be surprised if the mother Shiva Dhaba does not exist anymore.
08:21You get what I am saying?
08:23Exactly because our original scriptures are very powerful, therefore based on their strength
08:31and to encash on their popularity, all kinds of charlatans came up, all kinds of fraudsters
08:39in the name of spirituality and they said, Bhai tera dhyan ki dhar hai, Asli Shiva Dhaba
08:45idhar hai, gone.
08:48Now why read the Bhagavad Gita?
08:51Somebody else is posing as Krishna, some other scripture, some other Guru is there
08:55and the original one is gone and could this charlatan, this fraudster have gained popularity
09:03on his own?
09:05No.
09:06All those miscellaneous, half a dozen or two dozen Shiva Dhaba's, they could gain popularity
09:15only on the back of the original one.
09:20Had the original one not existed, these would have cut no ice, they would have met no success.
09:28But they have been very parasitic and that's what has happened in India.
09:33Exactly because our foundational scriptures were so strong and so pure, they attracted
09:41a lot of parasites.
09:42Those parasites came to the scriptures, bit into them, extracted their little pounds or
09:52pounds or ounce of flesh and started their own shop.
09:57The result, nobody is now caring for the central scriptures, the original Shiva Dhaba.
10:05Nobody is caring for that and there are thousands of other books and thousands of traditions
10:10and thousands of communities and lakhs of Gurus.
10:16Every place has its own local Guru and every Guru is saying, I am the real one.
10:20Asli Shiva Dhaba idhar hai.
10:23Are you getting it?
10:25And that has been the curse of India.
10:27The success of the real fathers has become the curse of the descendants.
10:37So, what do we need to do now?
10:40Go to the original Dhaba, go to the original ones and keep everything else aside.
10:47Right, right, right.