Video Information: 11.05.2022, VBC, Greater Noida
Context:
How to develop strength in life?
How to overcome depression and stop overthinking?
How to come out of a slum?
How to take on challenges in life and excel?
How can we know whether a situation is good or bad?
Where does our concept of goodness come from?
When we are stuck, what do we need to ask ourselves?
What do we need to know when we are stuck?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Context:
How to develop strength in life?
How to overcome depression and stop overthinking?
How to come out of a slum?
How to take on challenges in life and excel?
How can we know whether a situation is good or bad?
Where does our concept of goodness come from?
When we are stuck, what do we need to ask ourselves?
What do we need to know when we are stuck?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Namaste Acharyaji. Acharyaji, I've been listening to you more than a year now and my life has
00:12been upside down because I was in a depression and then I recovered it and I'm with peace
00:20because things which were destroyed they must have been destroyed even before. But I'm now
00:28trying to rebuild myself and come back. But I'm so consumed and overthinking and
00:36I have a lot of inertia. So I just wanted your point of view to help me unstuck or go faster.
00:46See, if you are stuck that is the situation. One can only know the situation one is in
01:00and there is no definite rule that going faster is definitely better than being stuck.
01:12If I'm rushing, I must know the whole equation around it, the entire process of rushing
01:25and if I'm stuck I must also know the two sides that are evenly balanced
01:34and I'm unable to take a decision.
01:35Being stuck in itself is not a problem. No situation in itself is a problem.
01:47The problem lies not in any specific kind of situation but in not knowing the situation.
01:56What we call as a bad situation is bad only if we do not really know what the situation is.
02:05If what we call as a good situation is a very bad situation,
02:10if we do not understand where our concept of goodness is coming from.
02:15So, when you are stuck, ask yourself, what are the tensions playing on my mind?
02:23This tug of war. Which are these two parties? Can I name them? Can I see their faces?
02:31Something is pulling me to the left. Somebody is pulling me to the right.
02:37Who are they? Can I unmask them? That's what you need to know.
02:43That's what you need to know. You don't need to feel hurried.
02:48You don't need to feel bad that you are stuck. There is no need to be always in movement.
02:57In fact, right movement comes not from the desire to move but from an understanding of what is.
03:09So, just try to see what's going on.
03:12What is going on? And it's both relieving and amusing.
03:19And it cannot be relieving unless it is amusing.
03:23You will be entertained when you will see what is it that holds you, arrests you, confines you or pressurises you.
03:33And one is never pressurised from one side alone. There is somebody here saying, come on, do this.
03:38Some other vector is acting on you from somewhere else. No, no, no, don't you dare try that.
03:45Somebody is from behind whispering into your ear. See, both of these are idiots. Come my way.
03:53So, find these chaps out. Who are they? Where did they come from? Were they always there?
03:59When were they introduced to your mind? The more you know them, the more you become free.
04:08Actually, I took on a challenge. It was, I think, going on for three years or more.
04:19And it was much bigger than what I had anticipated at the start. But it was the right challenge.
04:28And it broke me into many, many pieces. And that's when I started Bhagavad Gita with you.
04:36Otherwise, I would have died. This was sure. So, I think this really helped.
04:46I understood that that path was wrong. So, now it doesn't hurt because I've left the path.
04:53But where I feel hurt is because I think that I have a lot of potential.
05:00And I don't know why I'm waiting to get it to be manifested. And there were a lot of fears
05:10I had, which I dissolved. But I think that there is still a layer of fears
05:17or inhibitions. Because I also failed along the way. The challenge I was standing up was
05:26almost quite big. So, I did fail. And that also is giving me inertia sometimes, I feel.
05:40Taking up great challenges is always a great thing. I always say that unless you have a
05:44great war to fight, you will never come to the Gita. That's why it's very important
05:53to play true to your conviction.
05:59The really shrewd ones are those who stand in opposition to the truth,
06:08but never disclose their stand. I say, even if you are opposed to the truth, now come on,
06:17come on, enact and live out the consequences of your position and that will bring you to the Gita.
06:30So, it has been always seen. It's a historical fact that those who have made
06:38great attempts, heartful attempts, even if in, let's say, unwise directions,
06:51have been
06:56relatively
06:57quicker in coming to the truth because they at least tested their hypothesis out.
07:15They said, there is this that I want to do and that which you want to do might not make sense.
07:21But you realise that in retrospect. At that time, it made all the sense.
07:27But you tried it out and that's called living up to your convictions.
07:33You tried it out and that will bring you to the Gita. That's the first part.
07:40The second thing that you said that still prevents you from doing the right thing, you are still waiting.
07:52The memory of the loss or the failure is still a kind of deterrent.
08:04You probably might have had personal experiences with such people. If not, then you would have
08:11seen them somewhere in literature or fiction.
08:13There are people you argue with and when their argument is totally defeated, they still don't give up.
08:24They just keep murmuring something. Do you know of such people? Do you know of them?
08:33The person is totally gone. His argument is shedded.
08:39But he is still just randomly blabbering something.
08:45Not prepared to give up. What do you do? You wait for him to surrender or do you move on?
08:51You move on. That's it.
08:55You must know that his argument is totally defeated.
09:00You must know that his argument holds no merit anymore.
09:07It's just that the fellow is too obstinate to accept his defeat.
09:13So he will keep saying no, no, no. Like a batsman whose middle stump has been uprooted.
09:21But he says, yeah, I still need to face at least 10 more deliveries. How can you just
09:25ask me to walk back? He won't walk back. He will be carried back.
09:34I know of many such people. Irrespective of how clearly you prove to them that they are losers,
09:42they are still very confident within themselves. What do you do? You stop proving anything to them
09:48anymore. You just walk past them. You say, sir, I am done with you. Nothing can be proven to you.
09:56Such people do not live merely outside of us. They also live within us in our own name, face and form.
10:07And they keep presenting. You might have the noblest intention. But this doppelganger within you
10:16will keep murmuring something as if he still has a valid point,
10:20as if he still deserves to be heard.
10:27Hear him out as long as there is some weight in her arguments.
10:34If there is some weight in the arguments of this inner lady, hear her out. But once you
10:41are reasonably certain that there is no more weight in what she is saying and now she is just
10:46muttering something for the sake of it, it's time to stop listening. It's time to just do what you
10:54need to do. It's like standing on the edge of a cliff, ready to dive into the beautiful stream
11:03flowing underneath. You are standing there ready to dive and what is the inner lady still muttering?
11:12Everything is done. To come to that place, you have travelled as much as you needed to.
11:22You are wearing the right outfit. You have made all the preparations. Everything has been done.
11:26The temperatures are right. There is no obvious danger. The stream is beautiful
11:33and you know how to swim. Still the inner lady is saying,
11:37it is not good. But why are you saying it is not good? No, it is just not good.
11:47I don't like this. This is not good. This is not fair. Something. What do you do with this inner one?
11:56Let her keep saying what she has to. You close your eyes and just jump.
12:07This is the worst thing that we can do to ourselves.
12:16To be that lady. The next worst thing is to listen to that lady. Unfortunately, we are both.
12:26We are the ones who utter nonsense knowing fully well that the nonsense carries no merit.
12:33That the nonsense is emanating only from fear, inhibition, greed.
12:40Still we stick to our guns.
12:45Still we don't give up. Still we don't honestly surrender and say, I am wrong.
12:53And we said, the next worst thing is to listen to such a person.
12:58Don't listen. Do what you have to. They will never stop barking.
13:06If you will wait for complete inner silence, you will have to infinitely wait.
13:13And that is one mistake that most of us make. We say, you know, I am not yet 100% certain.
13:18You will never be 100% certain.
13:20If you are 99% certain, 1% uncertain and you decide not to move, whom are you favoring? The 99% or the 1%?
13:31Why are you so biased? Why do you favor the 1%?
13:35If you are 99% certain, 1% not certain, then move.
13:42That 1% cannot be allowed to cast a veto on the rights of the 99%.
13:47Can you give 1% the veto to stop the 99% from doing what they want to?
13:57That veto cannot be given. But we give that veto. We say, you know, there are still some doubts.
14:03Why don't we instead say, you know, there is a lot of clarity and only some doubts.
14:10Why don't we instead say, you know, there is a lot of clarity and only some doubts.
14:18There is a lot of clarity and only some doubts.
14:21If you will say, I will wait for the sky to be absolutely cloudless
14:28before I fly, you will never fly.
14:33Obviously, you don't want to fly in turbulent weather.
14:36You don't want to fly when the clouds are thick and heavy
14:42and lightning rages around. You don't want to fly then.
14:45Also, you cannot impose this very tight condition that you will fly only when there are absolutely no clouds.
14:53You will never fly. So, let there be that slight inhibition or resentment within.
15:00You proceed to do what you must.
15:03Don't listen to the naysayers. Don't listen to the cynics within or without. Doesn't matter.
15:16There is this beautiful excerpt.
15:22It's either from Lust for Life or the Agony and the Ecstasy.
15:27One of his two works, Irving Stone.
15:32No, I am sure it's from Lust for Life.
15:42So, the young Vincent asks Rembrandt,
15:45How is a young man to be sure, sir?
15:49This one is coming up as a painter.
15:52So, he asks him. I might be missing the context or the characters.
15:57You fill in the blanks wherever I am missing them.
16:00But this is the theme of what I very impactfully remember.
16:08So, this one asks him, How is a young man to be sure in life?
16:16And the teacher or the advisor or the senior friend, he responds,
16:21You can never be fully sure.
16:27There would always be an iota of doubt.
16:31But you have to proceed to do what you believe to be right.
16:40If you wait for absolute clarity, you are just denying your own potential.
16:47Never wait for absolute clarity. It is never going to come.
16:51What in life can be absolute? Nothing!
17:01Thank you, sir.
17:14Welcome.