Video Information: 31.10.2024, Vedanta: Basics to Classics, Greater Noida
📋 Video Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:22 Importance of rejecting attachment
4:42 Swami Vivekananda’s perspective on physical activity
6:36 Gurdjieff’s unconventional methods for self-revelation
11:25 Importance of Sat Guna as the primary path
Description:
Acharya Ji explained that the Bhagavad Gita critiques even Sattva because all three Gunas (Sat, Raj, Tam) belong to Prakriti, and liberation requires transcending them. While Sattva is usually the most helpful for liberation, Rajas and even Tamas can also serve a purpose when applied correctly. For instance, Rajas can help overcome laziness, while Tamas may expose suppressed tendencies, as seen in Gurdjieff’s methods to reveal hidden neuroses.
Acharya Ji emphasized that attachment to any Guna, including Sattva, is a trap. Liberation comes from using Prakriti wisely to transcend it, guided by self-awareness and an experienced teacher.
🎧 Listen to Acharya Prashant on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/2QmVEAAnsNE7Xs0MW0Li8Y?si=09fbcbc7c99c469b
📋 Video Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:22 Importance of rejecting attachment
4:42 Swami Vivekananda’s perspective on physical activity
6:36 Gurdjieff’s unconventional methods for self-revelation
11:25 Importance of Sat Guna as the primary path
Description:
Acharya Ji explained that the Bhagavad Gita critiques even Sattva because all three Gunas (Sat, Raj, Tam) belong to Prakriti, and liberation requires transcending them. While Sattva is usually the most helpful for liberation, Rajas and even Tamas can also serve a purpose when applied correctly. For instance, Rajas can help overcome laziness, while Tamas may expose suppressed tendencies, as seen in Gurdjieff’s methods to reveal hidden neuroses.
Acharya Ji emphasized that attachment to any Guna, including Sattva, is a trap. Liberation comes from using Prakriti wisely to transcend it, guided by self-awareness and an experienced teacher.
🎧 Listen to Acharya Prashant on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/2QmVEAAnsNE7Xs0MW0Li8Y?si=09fbcbc7c99c469b
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00We have Swamidhi here with us.
00:04He says, Acharyaji, why does Shree Krishan attack Sattvic quality?
00:09We all know that Sattva is the highest of all Prakritic qualities.
00:13All Vedantic concepts come under the domain of Sattva.
00:16Gita attacks Tamas and Rajas, which is understandable.
00:19But why does the Gita attack Sattva as well?
00:23Gita and Vedanta have nothing to do with Sattva.
00:30All this is Prakriti.
00:33At most, Sattva is useful as a means to move away from all three Gunas.
00:44It is a basic mistake to think that Gita and Vedanta have to do with Sattvikta.
00:54Not at all.
00:56Even Sattvikta is to be rejected as the destiny, while even Rajasikta is to be embraced if
01:11useful as a means.
01:15If Rajasikta is about, for example, indulging in action, as is commonly understood, then
01:24what Krishna is asking Arjuna for is Rajasikta.
01:29He is asking him to get into the war.
01:33Even Rajasikta is alright if it leads to freedom, Mukti.
01:37Ultimately, you have to move to a Gunateet state.
01:43All three Gunas, all said and done, belong to Prakriti and you have to move beyond Prakriti.
01:51Move beyond your association with Prakriti.
01:54Move beyond your consumption of Prakriti.
01:57Even Sattva can become an object of consumption.
02:02Don't we know of so many learned and knowledgeable people?
02:07Those knowledge becomes their identity, who eat their knowledge.
02:14Just as it is possible to get trapped in Tamas and Rajasikta, it is equally possible to get
02:19trapped in Sattva.
02:22Gita is about getting rid of all traps, moving beyond all ensnarements, be it Sattva, Rajasikta,
02:34anything.
02:36Anybody who told you that Upanishads or Gita are about Sattva, they are mistaken.
02:43No, they are not.
02:45Everything and anything in Prakriti is fine if it is usable in context of liberation.
02:55It just so happens that of the three Gunas, mostly it is the Sattvic Guna that is most
03:02useful and usable.
03:05But sometimes even Rajasikta might be useful.
03:10Sometimes in extreme cases, even Tamasikta might be useful in context of liberation.
03:22But that is rare.
03:24Sattvicta has to do with the right knowledge.
03:30So, in context of usefulness or liberation, 80-90% times it is the Sattvic Guna that is useful.
03:42But sometimes Rajasikta Guna is also useful and sometimes Tamasikta Guna is also useful.
03:51A fellow whose major problem is his laziness, he is tied to his laziness and he thinks of
04:05his indolence as something spiritual.
04:08You know, I don't want anything, I don't desire anything.
04:12The thing is that you do want something and that is perpetual rest.
04:16And that is what you are always craving for, couch potato.
04:22One of the ways to liberate this person might be the Rajoguna.
04:27Make him run.
04:29Make him run.
04:31Because his trap is his laziness.
04:38Make him run.
04:39So, in this context, Rajoguna might be a useful thing.
04:42It was not without reason that Vivekananda said that this country would benefit better
04:48by playing football rather than the Gita.
04:52He said that in context of one particular kid.
04:56That kid was probably quite frail and physically unseemly and weak.
05:04He said, what will you do with the Gita?
05:06You first of all go and play football.
05:10You see the usefulness of Rajoguna here, in context of liberation?
05:14Similarly, you can think of examples where even Tamoguna is useful.
05:20Those examples will be relatively difficult to think of.
05:24Because Tamoguna is the most, what should I say, not basic one, the lowest one.
05:35So it's rare that you will find this guna as useful.
05:39But sometimes it can be.
05:44In a very approximate sense, you could say that freedom from Prakriti is attained only
05:51via Prakriti.
05:54And Prakriti means these three roots.
05:57Satarajatam.
05:5880% of the times, it is the Sat root that will be useful.
06:02Which means you have to listen and read and think and meditate and understand and reflect.
06:08All those things.
06:09All those come under Satoguna.
06:1219% of times, Rajoguna might be useful.
06:18So that's why you are advised to go to the gym and take up sports and remain physically
06:23active and strong.
06:25But 1% of times, it is also possible that Tamas is useful.
06:32An example has come.
06:36Have you heard of Gurjeev?
06:40One of the spiritual teachers of the last century.
06:47One of the things that he used to do was, that was the century you see, when you had
06:52great advances in psychoanalysis.
06:56So we were learning of the subconscious.
06:58There was also the time of Gurjeev.
07:02This time coincides, in a very broad sense, with that of Freud, Jung, etc.
07:11So we are learning that most of our mind is below eye level, below sea level, just as
07:17the iceberg is below sea level.
07:20Similarly, most of our mind is below eye level, which means, in a metaphorical sense, that
07:25we cannot see it.
07:29So our bondages too are at a place where they cannot be seen.
07:33So even if you clean up the conscious mind, the bondages still remain.
07:39And what is there in the unconscious mind, that is not visible, because it is not on
07:44the surface.
07:45So the fellow will not talk of it.
07:47Fellow will not admit it.
07:49It will never come to the surface.
07:52So Freud said, fine, we will look at dreams.
07:55Freud also said, we will use hypnosis to make this fellow speak out things that are usually
08:02hidden.
08:03Gurjeev said, we will get him drunk.
08:08Otherwise he will not reveal what is there in the depths of his mind.
08:15Drinking is usually associated with tamas.
08:19But Gurjeev is using tamas for a beneficial purpose.
08:25So a fellow will come and say, you know, I am such a great person, I never get angry.
08:29I never do any such thing, this, that.
08:33Then you know, because I am a religious man, so I have never taken even a drop of wine.
08:37Gurjeev will say, okay, bring 40 bottles.
08:44And that fellow would either have to run away or keep taking in one bottle after the other.
08:51And soon he would be so abusive and so angry.
08:55And Gurjeev would say, watch this.
08:57This is who you are.
08:59This is where your disease lies.
09:01And all your life you have just been pretending.
09:04You have been pretending to be a sage.
09:06You have been pretending to be a well-tempered person.
09:12And all the anger is just hidden.
09:15And you have been pretending all kinds of continence and abstinence.
09:24And now look at the eruption of sexuality from your unconscious.
09:30The fellow was such a very mild-natured one, a perfect gentleman, pour bottles down.
09:41He is erupting, yelling, bellowing, where are the prostitutes?
09:48I need them.
09:50And Gurjeev would say, this, this, watch this.
09:54This is who you are.
09:56And you have kept it hidden all the time.
10:02And all this is rotting in your mind.
10:04And this is the neurosis that you are carrying within.
10:09How will you ever get healthy?
10:12Either the fellow at that point would feel so embarrassed and ashamed that he would run away.
10:18Some of them actually attacked Gurjeev.
10:20They said, you have shown us that we never wanted to see.
10:25And now we will never be able to respect ourselves.
10:31Some of them actually attacked Gurjeev.
10:33Some of them ran away.
10:34Some of them actually ran away and calumnized him.
10:40They would go out and then spread all kinds of canards and stories and say Gurjeev is
10:45doing this, that and evil fellow.
10:50He was a very controversial teacher.
10:54But those who remained, they got free.
11:00Those who had the honesty and the guts to stay, they experienced liberation.
11:07If it can be experienced in that sense.
11:10Are you getting it?
11:13So even tamas is not something that is necessarily to be rejected.
11:19But I am not asking you to get drunk and do all kinds of things from the rooftop.
11:27We said only in 1 out of 100 cases can tamas be useful.
11:32Otherwise, most of the times, the guna that takes you out of all gunas, the guna that
11:41leads you to gunatit freedom is sattva guna.
11:46So you limit yourself to sattva.
11:49I have not said anything beyond that.
11:52And beyond sattva, I have only said you must go and exercise.
11:55So a little bit of raj is what you need.
11:58What do we say?
12:00Adhyatma and yaya.
12:04So that is sat and raj.
12:07We don't go beyond that.
12:10Can you just un-hear everything?
12:15Is there a button like that?
12:17Un-hear, un-see, un-watch?
12:26Delete it from your history.
12:38Look at my tendencies.
12:40On one hand, I am asking you to un-watch it.
12:43On the other hand, something in me wants to elaborate on it.
12:45The entire field of tantra is based on these makars.
12:49They say that which is forbidden becomes entrenched.
12:56So we will go exactly into that which is forbidden.
13:01So there are these makars, mad, maithun, maas, that is the path of tantra.
13:08These are the things that will typically take you down and they are also socially prohibited.
13:15And because they are socially prohibited, they become the deep disease of suppression inside you.
13:23So we will take that route.
13:26And because it is the unconventional route, hence it is called the vama-marga.
13:33Vama-marga.
13:37It is for those who cannot give up their habits.
13:43They are fine.
13:47If you cannot give up your habits, let's go into your habits and explore them.
13:50That's another example of how even tamas can be useful in the process of liberation.
13:56But that's only 1%.
13:591%.
14:01And that too under the careful supervision of somebody who knows how to deliver the dose.
14:10None of you is getting any ideas, right?
14:14Okay. Fine.