Forget Rituals, Embrace Wisdom: Krishna’s Powerful Words || Acharya Prashant (2024)
Video Information: 31.10. 2024, Vedanta: Basics to Classics, Greater Noida
Description:
Acharya Prashant explains verses 2.45 and 2.46 of the Bhagavad Gita highlight how Krishna rejects ritualistic religion driven by ego and desire. Most religious practices focus on fulfilling personal wishes rather than true wisdom or self-realization. Krishna urges Arjuna to rise above the three gunas (Prakriti) and let go of superficial rituals.
True spirituality is rooted in self-knowledge, leading to desireless, effortless action rather than seeking personal gains from deities. Modern religious practices often disguise ignorance and fear under the mask of faith. The Gita challenges such ego-driven rituals, promoting a life of self-awareness and genuine wisdom.
🎧 Listen to Acharya Prashant on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/2QmVEAAnsNE7Xs0MW0Li8Y?si=09fbcbc7c99c469b
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~
Video Information: 31.10. 2024, Vedanta: Basics to Classics, Greater Noida
Description:
Acharya Prashant explains verses 2.45 and 2.46 of the Bhagavad Gita highlight how Krishna rejects ritualistic religion driven by ego and desire. Most religious practices focus on fulfilling personal wishes rather than true wisdom or self-realization. Krishna urges Arjuna to rise above the three gunas (Prakriti) and let go of superficial rituals.
True spirituality is rooted in self-knowledge, leading to desireless, effortless action rather than seeking personal gains from deities. Modern religious practices often disguise ignorance and fear under the mask of faith. The Gita challenges such ego-driven rituals, promoting a life of self-awareness and genuine wisdom.
🎧 Listen to Acharya Prashant on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/2QmVEAAnsNE7Xs0MW0Li8Y?si=09fbcbc7c99c469b
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00:00He is saying two hoots, two hoots to the religion that the masses practice.
00:00:03That's Gita.
00:00:04And this ritual at some places is called Dalitdar Phekna.
00:00:07Dalitdar Phekna.
00:00:08So, all the suffering and misery of your house,
00:00:12you know, somehow you put in that diya and you keep it in the middle of the road.
00:00:16And if somebody touches it, then all that suffering goes to that person.
00:00:20So, I crushed no less than a dozen of them today.
00:00:24I said, what difference can 12 more make?
00:00:26I have already taken over the sufferings of at least the community knows the number.
00:00:33I am not following your religion because I am following Krishna's religion.
00:00:37I am following real religion.
00:00:38Therefore, I don't follow your religion.
00:00:40Now, the question is upon you.
00:00:42Why are you not following Krishna's religion?
00:00:44Why are you following the religion that Shri Krishna himself has very
00:00:48directly and loudly asked you to discard?
00:00:52You are assembled here reading the Gita on Diwali night.
00:00:55Unpardonable, is it not?
00:00:56And at this moment, if you are called up by your close ones, by your well-wishers,
00:01:02I know how you will stutter and stammer.
00:01:04No, no, no, no, no, no.
00:01:06I was not attending any session.
00:01:08No, no, no.
00:01:09Phuljhadi!
00:01:13Phuljhadi jal raha tha.
00:01:14We will be going into
00:01:28the relationship
00:01:33between the ego
00:01:38and knowledge.
00:01:45This will cover aspects of
00:01:55action, worship,
00:02:04imagination,
00:02:10prayer,
00:02:15and much more.
00:02:21Verses 45 and 46 of chapter 2 of Gita
00:02:31are revolutionary,
00:02:38unpalatable, unacceptable,
00:02:45indigestible
00:02:50to those who do not understand
00:02:58what spirituality or wisdom are all about.
00:03:06Whenever one talks of the Gita,
00:03:15rarely does it happen that
00:03:20one brings up these two verses.
00:03:26In fact,
00:03:30it is quite a miracle that these two verses and a few more, we'll come to them later,
00:03:39have survived
00:03:45the tyranny and deceit of time.
00:03:51Otherwise, what usually happens is that
00:03:56the part of
00:04:00spiritual texts
00:04:04that doesn't agree with
00:04:06or support
00:04:11the popular perceptions about religion,
00:04:17that part is
00:04:21somehow
00:04:24silently and deceitfully
00:04:31cut off, deleted,
00:04:33truncated
00:04:37from the scripture itself.
00:04:42So, given
00:04:46how very polemical these two verses are,
00:04:52I find it
00:04:56indeed a matter of
00:04:59fortune, rather grace,
00:05:03that these two verses have survived.
00:05:08Because these strike at the core of what I refer to as Lok Dharam.
00:05:17You can either have the Gita as represented by 2.45 and 46 or you can have
00:05:29the entirety of religion as it is practiced by the common man in the common culture.
00:05:40These cannot go together.
00:05:44You cannot have Gita,
00:05:46specifically the Gita that shows up in these two verses and the version of religion
00:05:57that you have been seeing today and over the centuries,
00:06:03in India and all over the world.
00:06:07Totally incompatible they are.
00:06:14Verse 45 says,
00:06:19the Karmakand
00:06:23part of the Vedas
00:06:26which is 99% of the Vedic corpus
00:06:38stems simply from the desire of the ego to consume Prakriti.
00:06:49Therefore, you need to forget that portion of religion.
00:07:02Shri Krishna is not being equivocal here. He is not mincing words.
00:07:08He is leaving nothing to doubt or chance.
00:07:12He is making things clear as daylight.
00:07:22As if the first line here is to discard the ego.
00:07:32As if the first line here is to discard the very foundation,
00:07:43the whole structure of popular culture is built on.
00:07:49What is religion?
00:07:51If not,
00:07:52what is religion?
00:07:55If not,
00:07:58a morally sanctioned way to fulfil your desires.
00:08:11It has been so boldly put by Shri Krishna here.
00:08:15That the Vedas and when he is saying Vedas, he is referring not to Vedanta but to
00:08:29the Karmakand part.
00:08:32I have often asked you to read a lot.
00:08:38It would be obviously the right thing if each of us has a copy of the Vedas with us.
00:08:49That will help you better understand what Shri Krishna is saying.
00:08:56So, the first line, if you see, is about rejecting the Karmakand part of the Vedas.
00:09:07Rejecting Karmakand.
00:09:12The Vedas deal just with your desire towards Trigunatmak Prakriti.
00:09:22The Vedas at their centre have Prakriti.
00:09:26That is desire for Prakriti.
00:09:29At their centre, Vishay, is not the desire for liberation.
00:09:34Their Vishay is Trigunatmak Prakriti, not Mukti.
00:09:44Therefore, Arjun, you need to be Nishtraya Gunya.
00:09:47What does Nishtraya Gunya mean?
00:09:49Free of the three Gunas, which means free of Prakriti.
00:09:53Whereas, Vedas are dealing only with Prakriti.
00:09:57Vedas are dealing only with Prakriti.
00:09:58And what is Prakriti?
00:09:59The ego itself is Prakriti.
00:10:01The ego and its observed objects are all Prakriti.
00:10:07And that's what the subject matter of the Vedas is.
00:10:12You keep all that aside, Arjun, if you are to fight this right war.
00:10:21You cannot be one of those who go to their favourite deities to ask for their favourite objects.
00:10:27Is that not what most of religion is about?
00:10:32You choose your favourite deity, your favourite method of worship, your favourite prayer
00:10:42and your favourite place.
00:10:46It could be whatever, temple, mosque, church or a place of pilgrimage.
00:10:53It could be a hill or a river.
00:10:55It could be a hill or a river.
00:11:00And then you go to it and ask for your favourite thing.
00:11:09Can I have a new car, my favourite girl or boy, a son, whatever, more money.
00:11:25Can I have all that?
00:11:28There is somebody in the family, sick and diseased.
00:11:32Can he be please cured, sir?
00:11:35Raghunya Vishaya.
00:11:39Reject all that.
00:11:40All that is for those who just want to wallow at the gate of religion.
00:11:55Or maximum, at the porch.
00:12:01Not being allowed entry into the centre.
00:12:10Those who are serious about life, those who love themselves, those who want to make the best of the limited opportunity available,
00:12:20all those things are not for them.
00:12:24O Lord, we worship Thee. Kindly grant us our desire.
00:12:32What kind of religion is this?
00:12:38And if you are still in doubt whether Krishna really means what I am presenting to you, comes the next verse.
00:12:46And it says that if the entire surface of the earth were to have just water,
00:13:00then tell me Arjun, what kind of desire or relationship would a wise man have for a limited body of water
00:13:15if the entire earth were to be a giant sea?
00:13:21Then how much value would you have left for a small pond?
00:13:27Please tell me Arjun.
00:13:30Only that value, only that much value does a wise man accord to the Vedas.
00:13:45And what does he mean by the Vedas here?
00:13:47Obviously, not the Upanishads because the ritualistic part, the ritualistic part, the part full of desire.
00:13:57See, at the centre of the Gita is Nishkamana, desireless action, desireless action stemming from self-knowledge.
00:14:09That's what the message of Gita is.
00:14:11Self-knowledge leading to desireless action also leading to freedom from useless relationships and affiliations.
00:14:23Atma Gyan leading to Karma Yog and also Karma Sannyas.
00:14:29That's what the Gita is.
00:14:31Whereas, popular religion is all about Kamana and Gita is about Nishkamana.
00:14:38How can these two go together?
00:14:40So, Gita is a dynamite.
00:14:42The entire structure of popular religion is blown up.
00:14:49That's what Shri Krishna is doing.
00:14:51And that's why, the entire structure of popular religion is blown up.
00:14:59And that's why, Krishna can be accepted very smoothly as a cowherd.
00:15:09But the Krishna of Gita is very difficult to accept and that's why most religious people avoid the Krishna of Gita.
00:15:22They would rather have the Krishna of Mathura and Vrindaban.
00:15:29But they avoid like death the Krishna of Kurukshetra.
00:15:37I often wonder, why do all these Babas and Saints sit only at Mathura and Vrindaban? Why not at Kurukshetra?
00:15:49That's the real place. That's where the Gita came from.
00:15:53You should have lot of options there.
00:15:55But they will never go to Kurukshetra
00:15:57Because Kurukshetra is about Nishkamana.
00:15:59Whereas, popular religion is all about fulfilling your desires.
00:16:05Are you getting it?
00:16:09Trayagunya Vishaya Veda.
00:16:13Popular religion is just about consuming Prakriti.
00:16:19Prakriti appearing in its three gunas.
00:16:21Trayagunya Vishaya Veda.
00:16:24And therefore, you drop the Vedas, Arjun.
00:16:26By dropping the Vedas, Shri Krishna is talking about dropping the rituals.
00:16:30These rituals are of no use at all.
00:16:36These rituals are of no use at all. Drop them.
00:16:42How much value should you give to the rituals?
00:16:46As much value as you give to the pond when the ocean is available to you.
00:16:53Which means practically zero value.
00:16:59How much values are to be given to all kinds of rituals?
00:17:03Mind you, every single ritual is associated with fulfillment of desire.
00:17:07Is it not?
00:17:09If you have some ritual and ask for the reason or if you can call that as logic.
00:17:15It's an abuse of the word logic but whatever.
00:17:17If you ask, what does this ritual stand for?
00:17:22Then something.
00:17:24And that something pertains to desire.
00:17:30And that and the Gita cannot go together.
00:17:34Gita is about seeing and letting action happen from the seeing.
00:17:40Desire is about not seeing at all.
00:17:44Remaining blind and therefore following desire.
00:17:49Gita's action stems from seeing.
00:17:57The action in popular religion stems from wanting.
00:18:03Popular religion is I want, therefore I act.
00:18:09And that act is somehow called as praying or worship or whatever, adulation.
00:18:13Gita is I see, therefore I act.
00:18:17Popular religion is I desire, therefore I act.
00:18:23Gita and popular religion just cannot go together.
00:18:27I said Gita is a dynamite.
00:18:31A dynamite that first of all blasts away the religious ones.
00:18:38So, if you call yourself religious and want to sustain your version of religion,
00:18:44then you should not come to Gita.
00:18:48If you come to Gita, then whatever religion you subscribe to,
00:18:52you will have to fall off.
00:18:56You cannot continue to be the old religious self
00:19:00and do whatever you want to do.
00:19:05You cannot continue to be the old religious self and yet know the Gita.
00:19:09For the Gita, there is only one religion.
00:19:17Know who you are and then simply let things happen.
00:19:25That's all. Full stop.
00:19:29That itself has been elaborated.
00:19:34Elaborated over the 700 verses.
00:19:38And the entire corpus of Vedantic literature.
00:19:42Know who you are
00:19:46and from that realization, let things happen.
00:19:50Let things happen.
00:19:54Don't make things happen. You don't have to make things happen.
00:19:58Things will happen. Just don't obstruct.
00:20:03Just don't obstruct. Your job is to see.
00:20:07Your job is not to act. Action will happen.
00:20:15In matter of action, your job is at most to not to obstruct.
00:20:19That's all.
00:20:23You don't have to be effortful.
00:20:27Therefore, mind you, desireless action is also effortless action.
00:20:33Action will happen effortlessly.
00:20:37Nishkamna is also
00:20:41nishprayas.
00:20:45To make it sound better,
00:20:49I will say nishprayojan is also nishprayas.
00:20:53Nishprayojan and nishkam are the same thing.
00:20:57If you are desireless, you will also be effortless.
00:21:01Which means there can be nothing called tiredness.
00:21:05Inward tiredness.
00:21:09Obviously, the instrument can get heated up.
00:21:13But you will not get heated up.
00:21:17The car, which is the body,
00:21:21can start
00:21:25showing signs of fatigue.
00:21:30The tank can
00:21:34start running out of fuel. But you will never be tired because you have
00:21:38not been making any effort in the first place.
00:21:42It's all happening on its own very smoothly.
00:21:46There is no question of tiredness.
00:21:50It's like a driverless car.
00:21:54The car obviously can run out of fuel.
00:21:59Why didn't the driver get tired?
00:22:03Why didn't the driver get tired?
00:22:07Even when the car ran out of fuel?
00:22:11Because there was no driver at all.
00:22:15The Gita is about
00:22:19being a driverless car.
00:22:23If you look at verse 46,
00:22:28the way it's crafted, it's quite interesting
00:22:32and revealing.
00:22:36First line is an exercise in negation.
00:22:40Vishaya Veda, Nishtra Gunya Bhav Arjun.
00:22:44And then the second line is Vedanta itself.
00:22:48First line says, alright,
00:22:52enough of the ritualistic and desire-fulfilling religion.
00:22:57I am done with that. And then you come to the real religion.
00:23:01As if you have moved beyond the Karmakant part and entered Gyankant.
00:23:05Look at what the second line says.
00:23:09Nir-dwandvo. So now that is religion.
00:23:13Being free of the strife that
00:23:17arises between two ends of duality, necessarily.
00:23:21Dwand. Where there is Dwayat, there is
00:23:25Dwand. Because now there are two. And these two are never
00:23:29in harmony with each other. One is the consumer, the other is the
00:23:33consumed. They will always fight. There will always be strife.
00:23:37And that strife itself is the suffering of humankind.
00:23:41Then, Nitya-sattva-stho.
00:23:45Timeless.
00:23:49True.
00:23:53The ego abiding in timelessness and truth.
00:23:57First line,
00:24:01what does it do? It negates the foolish kind of religion.
00:24:05The religion in which your purpose is just to somehow
00:24:09get your desires sanctioned by a deity
00:24:13that you think of as higher than yourself.
00:24:17The same foolishness that
00:24:21gives rise to desires.
00:24:25The same foolishness also gives rise
00:24:29to the imagination that there is a higher power somewhere who can
00:24:33grant you your desires. These two stupidities go together obviously.
00:24:37Do you see that?
00:24:41There is somebody very stupid sitting within who first of all
00:24:45raises desires
00:24:49and then says, you know, there must be
00:24:53somebody out there or up there who can fulfill these desires.
00:24:57So, what do I do? I carry my basket of desires and I go to
00:25:01that supernatural power and I beg him to please
00:25:05grant my desires. That's what popular religion is.
00:25:09You have great diversity. If you go
00:25:13to Africa or if you go to Europe, you
00:25:17go to America, you go to China
00:25:21or you come to India, the kind of religion that you find
00:25:25will be
00:25:29studded with diversity. You'll say, this is different than
00:25:33this. Such diversity is in the field of religion.
00:25:37Behind the apparent
00:25:41diversities, there is a very
00:25:45basic, very primitive,
00:25:49a very shameful
00:25:53commonality, desire.
00:25:57In all its diverse
00:26:01forms and appearances and differences, religion
00:26:05always and everywhere has been about
00:26:09self-appeasement. How can I
00:26:13appease myself? How can I gratify myself?
00:26:17Can you give me one more cow, please?
00:26:21My favorite God?
00:26:25Or if I do not please my favorite
00:26:29God, then something bad will happen.
00:26:33Something bad will happen.
00:26:37And what
00:26:41defines bad? That which goes contrary
00:26:45to my desires is called bad. That itself is the
00:26:49definition of bad. Nothing else is bad.
00:26:53Goes for my desires? Good.
00:26:57Goes against my desires? Bad.
00:27:01I was
00:27:05just coming to Bodhisattva and all over the place
00:27:09some really religious
00:27:13person, rather an entire community of persons
00:27:17have placed these diyas in the middle of the road.
00:27:21The
00:27:25PSO is off today. He is a very religious man.
00:27:29I was driving. I had good fun like
00:27:33a little kid, crushing all the diyas.
00:27:37Apparently, that's supposed to bring
00:27:47very very bad luck to you.
00:27:51I love to invite that.
00:27:55I want to see what can be worse than the situation I am in.
00:27:59But that's
00:28:03what religion is, you see.
00:28:07They say this is Tantra. And this ritual
00:28:11at some places is called Dalitdar Phekna.
00:28:15Dalitdar Phekna.
00:28:19So all the suffering and misery of your house
00:28:23somehow you put in that diya and you keep it
00:28:27in the middle of the road. And if somebody touches it, then all that
00:28:31suffering goes to that person.
00:28:35So I crushed no less than a dozen of them today.
00:28:39I said what difference can 12 more make?
00:28:43I have already taken over the suffering of at least
00:28:47the community knows the number.
00:28:51Plus 12 means nothing.
00:28:55If you still go this side to the icon apartment
00:28:59that entire road will have crushed diyas.
00:29:03I did that.
00:29:07That's religion.
00:29:11That's religion.
00:29:15You look at the violence implicit in that.
00:29:19First of all, the foolishness. All the suffering can be put in the diya
00:29:23and then you put the diya in the middle of the road and then it goes to somebody else's house.
00:29:27You look at the ignorance and the violence
00:29:31both. Do you see that? That's religion.
00:29:35Isn't it just befitting that Shri Krishna is totally
00:29:39discarding that religion?
00:29:43Totally discarding with no care, regards,
00:29:47concern, not even the
00:29:51appearance of respect.
00:29:55He is saying two hoots.
00:29:59Two hoots to the religion that the masses practice.
00:30:03That's Gita. Two hoots to the religion that the masses practice.
00:30:07Look at this.
00:30:19This is the teaching in
00:30:23affirmative. This is what you must learn.
00:30:27First of all, he told you what you should reject. What should you reject?
00:30:31All the rituals and nonsensical practices that have desire at their
00:30:35center. If you do this, this is what you will get.
00:30:39If you do this, this is what you will get.
00:30:43There is no ritual, I challenge you, that does not have desire at its center.
00:30:47And what is the desire about?
00:30:51Consumption. No other desire. Had the desire been one of liberation,
00:30:55we could have understood. But the desire is always
00:30:59of consumption. Always.
00:31:03How do I consume more?
00:31:07The Vedas are imploring
00:31:11Indra, how can you make our cows more fertile?
00:31:15No. This is obviously not a religion that Krishna
00:31:19is going to teach.
00:31:23How do you make our cows yield more milk?
00:31:27This is not a religion that Krishna is going to teach. Krishna is telling Arjun,
00:31:31you keep all that aside. Even if all that is there in the Vedas, you keep all that
00:31:35aside. The Vedas
00:31:39are to be known by
00:31:43Upanishads. The immortal part
00:31:47of Vedas is Vedanta.
00:31:51The other part is just historical
00:31:55or literary. You can read that as
00:31:59ancient literature. You can
00:32:03go into that if you want to know how historically
00:32:07a religious scripture evolves.
00:32:11That's the utility of the Karmakand part.
00:32:15Just historical or scholarly. Academic utility
00:32:19that is there. That will always be there. Academically you study museums.
00:32:23Why don't you? You do all those things. There is archaeology.
00:32:31You want to go into old things.
00:32:35You get something. You get a bone and then you say fine, let's do some
00:32:39radiocarbon dating and figure out what's going on. That's the maximum use that is
00:32:43there. You get a historical perspective.
00:32:47So the bulk of the Vedic
00:32:51corpus that has only historical utility,
00:32:55historical in the sense of academic, but
00:32:59the part of Vedas that is timeless and would always be useful
00:33:03in a contemporary sense is
00:33:07Vedanta, Upanishads.
00:33:11Vedas are to be remembered as Vedanta.
00:33:15And that's what Shri Krishna is saying. Don't abuse me for that.
00:33:19I don't care anyway.
00:33:23You may, but the credit goes to Shri Krishna.
00:33:27Kindly direct whatever you have towards him.
00:33:35Are you getting it?
00:33:39Sometimes somebody says, why are you not following religion?
00:33:43Just quote 2.45 and 2.46.
00:33:47I am not following your religion because I am following Krishna's religion.
00:33:51I am following real religion. Therefore, I don't follow your religion.
00:33:55Now the question is upon you.
00:33:59Why are you not following Krishna's religion? Why are you following fake religion
00:34:03and not real religion? Why are you following
00:34:07religion that Shri Krishna himself has very directly and
00:34:11loudly asked you to discard?
00:34:15When Shri Krishna himself has said that you discard all these desire based
00:34:19rituals, why are you still following them?
00:34:21Why are you so contemptuous towards Shri Krishna? That's the question you should ask.
00:34:25Instead of being on the defensive, you should be the one
00:34:29asking questions. You should be the one probing
00:34:33all these people following Lok Dharam.
00:34:37On one hand, you say you worship Krishna. On the other hand, you are doing things
00:34:41that Shri Krishna has prescribed.
00:34:45Shri Krishna is categorically saying, do not get into
00:34:49desire based rituals. Just discard them. Can you be clearer than this?
00:34:53Can you be clearer than this?
00:34:57There is no ambiguity left.
00:35:01You must go and ask. You must be on the front foot.
00:35:05You must be, if I could say, aggressive.
00:35:09But you never are. You are always found
00:35:13somehow shielding yourself, shrinking to a corner
00:35:17very defensively, very apologetically
00:35:21and saying, no, you know that
00:35:25bum, that brat called
00:35:29Acharya has been feeding us all kinds of rebellious nonsense.
00:35:33So that's why
00:35:37I got carried away. But I am so apologetic.
00:35:41Now I will come after you and
00:35:45follow rituals as you order me.
00:35:49That is mostly your
00:35:53response. You are defensive.
00:35:57You are kind of ashamed.
00:36:05What are you ashamed of? Following Shri Krishna?
00:36:09Understanding the Gita? Is that something
00:36:13you ought to hang your head in shame about?
00:36:17But that's what is practically
00:36:21happening. All the stupid ones are
00:36:25so loud,
00:36:29so vocal and so dominant.
00:36:33And I find my people just
00:36:37shivering, shrinking, apologizing.
00:36:55It's tremendous disrespect.
00:36:59If you stand for somebody great
00:37:03and yet behave like a loser,
00:37:07that's tremendous disrespect
00:37:11to the great one.
00:37:15You are not blowing your own trumpet.
00:37:19You are carrying the flag of greatness.
00:37:25It's not your
00:37:29self-respect at stake.
00:37:33You stand for something
00:37:37much bigger than you, much bigger than anybody.
00:37:45And if you can't be proud of it,
00:37:49then it's not the other who is disrespecting
00:37:53Krishna or Gita. The first disrespect
00:37:57is coming from you.
00:38:11It would have happened today. Many of you would have received calls
00:38:15from your friends, relatives
00:38:19and you would have
00:38:23stammered, telling them
00:38:27the facts. Has that not happened?
00:38:31This is the moment you should be
00:38:35out in the open
00:38:43doing crackers and stuff
00:38:47Instead of that, you are assembled here
00:38:51reading the Gita on Diwali night.
00:38:55Unpardonable! Is it not?
00:38:59And at this moment, if you are called up
00:39:07by your close ones, by your well-wishers,
00:39:11I know how
00:39:15you will stutter and stammer.
00:39:19No, no, no, no, no.
00:39:23I was not attending any session.
00:39:27Phuljhadi!
00:39:31Phuljhadi!
00:39:35Phuljhadi!
00:39:39Phuljhadi!
00:39:43The attendance tonight online
00:40:03would be one of the lowest we have had across the whole year.
00:40:07Not that
00:40:11our dear participants would have forgotten that we have
00:40:15a session tonight. It's just that it is beyond
00:40:19their courage to attend.
00:40:23It is unthinkable for them
00:40:27to switch on
00:40:31the screen and login and connect
00:40:35on the night of a religious festival.
00:40:39After all, religiosity is about Phuljhadi,
00:40:43not about the Gita.
00:40:57What does Niryogashe means?
00:41:01Yoga is to attain.
00:41:09Yoga is to go and become one.
00:41:13And shame is to remain in that state.
00:41:17Because just attaining is not sufficient.
00:41:21Even after attaining, something remains
00:41:25within that does not like the attainment.
00:41:29Yoga is great, but you talk of yoga
00:41:33as shame. That's more complete.
00:41:41Krishna says, get rid of the
00:41:45one that does not allow you to remain in yoga
00:41:49even after attaining yoga. So you become Niryogashe.
00:41:53Wow!
00:41:57In Krishna's presence, for example,
00:42:01Arjuna does attain to yoga, obviously.
00:42:05It is Krishna's field. When he is in the
00:42:09physical presence of Krishna,
00:42:13Arjuna's internal turmoil
00:42:17at some point, at many points, comes to
00:42:21a knot. He becomes restful,
00:42:25empty, silent. But still
00:42:29he retains the seed
00:42:33of turbulence, of separation.
00:42:39That seed is the ego.
00:42:43Just as you say that when the session is on,
00:42:47then you feel that you have understood everything.
00:42:51But when you write the exam,
00:42:55then your old self comes back to life
00:42:59and you mess up.
00:43:03And when the results are declared, then you wonder how could you
00:43:07choose such an obviously stupid option.
00:43:11That's because it is not necessary that
00:43:15yoga will be followed by shame.
00:43:21It is very much possible
00:43:25that in the powerful field
00:43:29of a Guru or a Granth,
00:43:33the ego just recedes
00:43:37into dormancy, into hibernation.
00:43:41Because that's what is best for it.
00:43:45It pretends to be dead.
00:43:49In the presence of the Guru or Granth,
00:43:53the ego pretends to be dead
00:43:57so that it is not beaten up anymore.
00:44:01So that you take some pity and leave it to its own fate. It's gone. It's dead.
00:44:05But the moment
00:44:09the field is withdrawn or the moment you skip out of the field,
00:44:13the ego jumps back to life.
00:44:21Kabir Saheb has put it very beautifully.
00:44:25He says,
00:44:33not sure I will be able to recall his exact words, but what he intends is
00:44:37that even if you find Maya as dead, do not believe it.
00:44:41Even
00:44:45in a dead body, it still carries life.
00:44:49Maya is
00:44:53an expert at faking death.
00:45:01In front of the Gita, Maya, your internal Maya, which is ego,
00:45:05will pretend to be dead so that you gain confidence and you say,
00:45:09I have learned everything now.
00:45:13Krishna has taught me desirelessness and I see that I am totally desireless.
00:45:17Krishna has taught me fearlessness and I see I have no fear.
00:45:21And then the session gets over
00:45:25and you move out and some
00:45:29half-dead dog chases you and you are
00:45:33sweating and yelling, save me.
00:45:37Save me.
00:45:41And you are absolutely fearless inside.
00:45:45The ego was dead.
00:45:49That's what Shri Krishna is saying.
00:45:53Come to a real closure. When you come to a real closure,
00:45:57then the problem
00:46:01of retaining
00:46:05what the Guru or the Granth give you
00:46:09no more exists
00:46:13because the problem is solved. There is no need for retention anymore.
00:46:17The Yogakshem is wonderful
00:46:21but Niryogakshem is
00:46:25even more praiseworthy.
00:46:29And Niryogakshem goes well with
00:46:33nishkam, nishprayujan, nishprayatna.
00:46:41Atmavan.
00:46:45First line we said was about what is to be discarded. The second line is about
00:46:49what is to be accepted, what is to be lived.
00:46:53This is what you must come to.
00:46:57What does Atmavan mean? Simply
00:47:01that the ego has to be seen
00:47:05for what it is, an emptiness, a vacuum,
00:47:09a void.
00:47:13Atma is not the attainment of something wonderful.
00:47:17It is the disappearance of rubbish.
00:47:21Atma is not about
00:47:25coming to a beautiful place.
00:47:29Atma is about waking up from a nightmare.
00:47:51Do you understand this?
00:47:55At the bottom most level, even Yoga is impossible.
00:48:03First thing, if you have said you will be brought to Yoga,
00:48:07that itself is a wow.
00:48:11Then after that comes Yogakshem.
00:48:15Your
00:48:19chakrathic state is of Vyog.
00:48:23You are separated from the truth.
00:48:27Vyog, then Yog, then Yogakshem
00:48:31and then the highest is of Niryogakshem.
00:48:35Separation is now not possible at all.
00:48:47There is no need to guard
00:48:51the union anymore.
00:48:55Our union is a very fragile one.
00:48:59Even if we get united, there is always a sword hanging over
00:49:03the head, always a lingering possibility of separation.
00:49:07So, it's a very tenuous
00:49:11Milan or Yog, a union.
00:49:19Tenuous and tentative.
00:49:21Niryogakshem means now the possibility of separation itself
00:49:25is finished.
00:49:29Higher than even Yogakshem.
00:49:33You have heard of it.
00:49:37Higher than that, Niryogakshem.
00:49:45Getting it?
00:49:59Niryogakshem.
00:50:07Getting it?
00:50:11But this comes later.
00:50:15What comes before this?
00:50:23That comes first.
00:50:27Many of this, if you continue to retain your old ways,
00:50:31you continue to be full of desires,
00:50:35then your religion will just be a way to fulfil your desires
00:50:39and mind you, for all the respect that you grant to religion, religion is
00:50:43nothing more than that.
00:50:47A place of worship and a shopping mall,
00:50:51essentially they are the same.
00:50:55Centres where you can get what pleases you.
00:51:01A place of worship and a shopping mall.
00:51:05And you can add to that list.
00:51:09You can add to that list in a very grotesque way,
00:51:13in a very blunt, very challenging
00:51:17and very offensive way.
00:51:21You know of places that please you, right?
00:51:25Just as you can equate a place of worship to a shopping mall, you can also
00:51:29equate a place of worship to all
00:51:33those obnoxious places people go to for pleasing themselves.
00:51:37There is no fundamental difference.
00:51:41You have gone to the place of worship to please yourself.
00:51:45You have also gone to that forbidden place just to please yourself.
00:51:49So, what is the difference?
00:51:57Desire rooted in ignorance
00:52:01is making you talk, making you walk.
00:52:05If anything, when you go
00:52:09to a place where you pay the price to appease
00:52:13yourself, at least the transaction is honest.
00:52:17At least things are factual.
00:52:25I am offering you some money. You are delivering some goods in return.
00:52:29The fundamental
00:52:33is crooked, obviously, because you are buying that thing
00:52:37in the hope that the thing will ingratiate you,
00:52:41will fulfil you. It will not. So, to that extent, the transaction
00:52:45is meaningless. But at least there is some honesty.
00:52:49If you are paying money, you are at least getting something.
00:52:53But when you go to a place of worship,
00:52:57even that kind of skeletal honesty is not there.
00:53:01You pay money
00:53:05and what you get is some sounds, some vague
00:53:09assurances, some ideas,
00:53:13some beliefs.
00:53:17Look at the profit margin.
00:53:23Cost of operations, zero.
00:53:27Cost of goods sold, COGS, zero.
00:53:35And that's why religion has been one of the most profitable
00:53:39businesses ever.
00:53:43COGS is because you are not selling a good.
00:53:47You are selling hope.
00:53:51You are selling beliefs. Selling goods is expensive.
00:53:55There is some cost associated with that.
00:53:59Selling beliefs, selling dreams, selling ideas,
00:54:03selling stories. No cost at all.
00:54:09Why don't you say,
00:54:13just as you are offering me
00:54:17subtle assurances, similarly I will offer
00:54:21subtle money to the place of worship.
00:54:25Why do you offer
00:54:29hard cash? Why don't you offer something
00:54:33as subtle as the belief system that you are supposed
00:54:37to espouse?
00:54:41Just as you enter that place of worship, any place
00:54:45of worship, I am saying, not just Hindus, not just Muslims, not only
00:54:49in India, everywhere. Just as you enter the place of worship, you are supposed to
00:54:53feel the vibrations.
00:54:57Similarly, when you are asked to pay up, why don't you say, I have paid you. Feel
00:55:01the money. Why does the money
00:55:05have to be hard cash? Why can't it be a feeling?
00:55:09Because the entire field of religion is just about feeling.
00:55:13So the money should also be about the feeling.
00:55:17Feel it. Yes, 100. 400.
00:55:21Feel it. And the priest should say, yeah, yeah, man,
00:55:25I feel you, man. I feel you, man. He reached a lakh, man.
00:55:35Such deceit.
00:55:43Such deceit.
00:55:47Trading words. Words that will never, never
00:55:51translate into anything earthly.
00:55:55Words that will never have any
00:55:59uplifting effect on the life that you lead.
00:56:03You will remain the same man, full of desire, full of ignorance.
00:56:07You will repeat all the great
00:56:11mantras that have been handed over to you.
00:56:15You will go to the same shop, carry out the same
00:56:19transactions, being the same self,
00:56:23sell the same goods,
00:56:27loot your customers in the same way
00:56:31and return home with the same kind of
00:56:35surplus. What has changed?
00:56:43You are ignorant in the morning.
00:56:47You are ignorant in the night.
00:56:51Before you became religious, you were just ignorant.
00:56:55Now you are religiously ignorant.
00:56:59But ignorance has remained.
00:57:03On top of ignorance,
00:57:07you have donned religiosity.
00:57:11Like our great
00:57:15ass, I mean, that Gadahawa friend.
00:57:19No pun intended.
00:57:23People anyway take me as some
00:57:27luridly vulgar fellow.
00:57:31Then you talk of ass in a spiritual session.
00:57:37You take that Gadahawa
00:57:41and you put religious clothing on it.
00:57:45That's what the common religious man is like.
00:57:57He has just become badass now.
00:58:05The clothing is wonderfully religious.
00:58:09White, saffron, green, red.
00:58:13The entire rainbow.
00:58:17But you remove the clothing
00:58:21and what you see is the ass.
00:58:25The same old ass.
00:58:33And because it is now all the time covered, so it stinks.
00:58:37Becomes badass.
00:58:41That's what the religious man is like.
00:58:45Many of you are
00:58:49hesitating even to laugh.
00:58:53That's what religiosity is about.
00:58:57You are so afraid.
00:59:01Common religion is just about fear. Instilling fear into your mind.
00:59:05And that's why it was so necessary
00:59:09to drive my vehicle over those diyas.
00:59:13Do you understand?
00:59:25Religion is not
00:59:29just a part of your life.
00:59:33Since common religion, Lok Dharm,
00:59:37stems from ignorance.
00:59:41It is the very center of our life.
00:59:45Therefore, what you call as common religion, that is your entire life.
00:59:49Unless you take care of that, your life itself will not change.
00:59:53Everything about us
00:59:57in some sense is determined by religion.
01:00:01Even those who claim to be atheists,
01:00:05they too are driven by religion.
01:00:09As we all know, 90% of our mind is
01:00:13unconscious or subconscious.
01:00:17And fake religion sits there
01:00:21in the form of suppressed desires.
01:00:25Therefore, even if you claim to have nothing to do
01:00:29with religion,
01:00:33religion is still your master.
01:00:37False religion, Lok Dharm is still your master.
01:00:41It dictates your day-to-day activities.
01:00:45It informs your life decisions, big and small.
01:00:53Man is condemned to be a religious animal.
01:00:57Therefore, the only option is to have the right kind of religion.
01:01:01Because religious, you would anyway and always be.
01:01:05Even if you claim to be irreligious,
01:01:09you would still be religious.
01:01:13Not being concerned with religion is not an option at all.
01:01:19If religion is
01:01:23indispensable, then the only option
01:01:27is to have the right religion.
01:01:35Are you getting it?
01:01:47Why do you have wars all over the world?
01:01:51Now you are saying
01:01:55today, for example,
01:01:59first of all it was Hamas from Palestine that attacked Israel.
01:02:03Same month last year.
01:02:07So it was between Israel and
01:02:11Hamas.
01:02:15Then Lebanon got in through the Hezbollah.
01:02:19And you very well know who pulls the strings there.
01:02:23So when the leaders of these
01:02:27organizations were killed by Israel,
01:02:31Iran got into the mix and they
01:02:35fired some hundred or thousand missiles
01:02:39at Israel and then Israel has recently bombed Iran.
01:02:43What is going on?
01:02:47What is happening is religion.
01:02:55The wider Muslim world does not want to accept Iran
01:02:59because their religions are mostly Shia.
01:03:07This is one of the ways Iran wants to
01:03:11buy acceptability and leadership in the Muslim world.
01:03:15Because they are otherwise not accepting
01:03:19Iran as one of them.
01:03:23And if
01:03:27an all out Israel-Iran thing breaks out,
01:03:31then the
01:03:35axis of
01:03:39Russia, China and North Korea,
01:03:43that too will be set in motion.
01:03:47Now why can't
01:03:51the Sunnis accept Shias? Because we don't know what
01:03:55real religion is about. Such a small thing.
01:03:59You think you are discriminating against your neighbour.
01:04:03You are a Sunni, the neighbour is a Shia and you are saying you are not a proper Muslim.
01:04:07I am a proper Muslim. You are some
01:04:11kind of second grade Muslim.
01:04:15You think it is between you and your neighbour? No.
01:04:19It is the same thing that becomes World War 3.
01:04:23It is not just between you and your neighbour.
01:04:27Religion is everything. You think your relationship with your wife
01:04:31is between a free man and a free woman? No, not at all.
01:04:39It is a relationship dictated by religion.
01:04:43Even in your bedroom, it is religion in action.
01:04:53The way a Sunni couple behaves
01:04:57in bedroom versus the way a Vaishnav couple behaves
01:05:01in bedroom versus the way a Catholic couple behaves
01:05:05in bedroom is going to be greatly different.
01:05:09They belong to the same place, same culture.
01:05:13Religion is everything.
01:05:17If religion is everything,
01:05:21why to have religion that is nothing but dogma
01:05:25and desire and rituals? Why not have the right religion?
01:05:39Entire India rushes to Goa.
01:05:43Is it just because of the beaches?
01:05:47Similar beaches
01:05:51are available at many other points
01:05:55in the Konkan coast.
01:05:59The western Ghats too are not limited to Goa.
01:06:03But there is something
01:06:07very specific about Goa, religion.
01:06:11And that's why the whole country flocks to Goa.
01:06:25Are you getting it?
01:06:29We talk of India and China.
01:06:33Till the mid 80s, India's per capita income
01:06:37was much the same as that of China.
01:06:41In fact, higher than that of China.
01:06:45And then China just
01:06:49sped ahead.
01:06:53Zoomed past us.
01:06:57How did that happen?
01:07:01The fact is that the foolish kind of religion
01:07:05is totally prohibited in China.
01:07:13It's an official thing.
01:07:17You cannot ask for a week's off
01:07:21to go to your place and say,
01:07:25I have come to my place to celebrate my favourite festival.
01:07:29There is no God up there to change your life.
01:07:33Your life is in your own hands.
01:07:37You think hard, you work hard, you party hard.
01:07:41No God, no religion.
01:07:45That's not going to help you.
01:07:49Today, China's per capita income stands at 5 or 6 times
01:07:53that of India. And that has happened in a matter of just 3 or 4 decades.
01:07:57Religion is everything.
01:08:01If today we are in a miserable state,
01:08:05a lot of that has to do with the
01:08:09miserable state of our religion.
01:08:13And we very well know that
01:08:17even in India, the most
01:08:21religious states are the most miserable
01:08:25in terms of income, in terms of education,
01:08:29in terms of equity, in terms of
01:08:33gender specific indices, in terms of child mortality,
01:08:37in terms of sex ratio, in terms of
01:08:41everything that constitutes human development.
01:08:45Had the Chinese been as religious as Indians are,
01:08:49China's growth and development would have been impossible.
01:09:03Because common religion is centrally about
01:09:07having a wish-fulfilling, supernatural
01:09:11power up in the skies.
01:09:15Some supernatural power is up in the skies and he
01:09:19controls my destiny.
01:09:23He plays me like the puppeteer plays the puppet.
01:09:35The CCP said, nothing doing.
01:09:39Their nation's growth is going to be
01:09:43about human volition, human decision, human
01:09:47discretion and human effort.
01:09:51It's not going to be about some God's divine grace.
01:09:55We are there and this
01:09:59earth is there and we have intelligence
01:10:03and discretion and we will figure out what to do with it.
01:10:07My destiny,
01:10:11my decision.
01:10:15No supernatural being is needed.
01:10:27And today, even when you have
01:10:31parlays and negotiations over the boundary dispute, the fact is
01:10:35that you have to negotiate
01:10:39from a position of weakness.
01:10:43The fact is that the Chinese always have an upper hand.
01:10:47Because religion is everything.
01:10:51If you are stuck with the wrong kind of religion,
01:10:55you always find yourself in a compromised position.
01:10:59And if you
01:11:03find yourself in a compromised position, look within, look hard
01:11:07and look honestly. Surely, somewhere you are a follower
01:11:11of the wrong kind of religion.
01:11:15Prove out the wrong kind of religion.
01:11:19Make space for Krishna.
01:11:23Nishtra Gunya Bhava Arjun.
01:11:27That's a clarion call.
01:11:32You are being
01:11:36invited to war.
01:11:40Tear away all nonsense
01:11:44and throw it out.
01:11:48And then you will rise in life.
01:11:52You cannot have the stupid kind of religion
01:11:56and the religion of Gita. These two cannot coexist.
01:12:00You remember Kathopanishad?
01:12:04Shreya and Preya, they cannot coexist.
01:12:08You cannot say, I will continue to partake
01:12:12in all the stupid rituals and all the nonsense.
01:12:16And I will also be a student of the Gita. These two can't go together.
01:12:20Pick one.
01:12:31Are you getting it?
01:12:39The mistake that many of us are making is
01:12:43we want the goodies that the second line here offers.
01:12:47Without paying the price
01:12:51that the first line here demands.
01:12:55You want the offering without fulfilling the demand.
01:12:59The first line says, first stop your nonsense.
01:13:03First put paid to your old self.
01:13:07First of all, throw out your beliefs and superstitions.
01:13:11And then
01:13:15you will gain the worth,
01:13:19the credentials
01:13:23to avail
01:13:27what the second line offers.
01:13:37Pay the price.
01:13:41You can't just pick up something and start using it.
01:13:45What do you do first? You go to the showroom and drive the car home?
01:13:49First of all, you pay the price.
01:13:53That's the first line. Enjoy the ride. That's the second line.
01:14:03And if you want to enjoy the ride without paying the price,
01:14:07look at the rear view mirror.
01:14:11Do you hear the siren?
01:14:15As they say,
01:14:19things in the rear view mirror are closer than they appear.
01:14:25Do you see somebody chasing you
01:14:29on a buffalo?
01:14:33And we have many stalwarts here who complain,
01:14:47you know, we are so dedicated, but the Gita is not really benefiting us.
01:14:51Here is the bill, sir.
01:14:57Pay the price first. Not paid the price
01:15:01and yet want to enjoy the ride.
01:15:05That's not happening.
01:15:09Anybody, that's a talisman for you.
01:15:13Anybody who comes to you and says, I am not benefiting from the Gita.
01:15:17Just know immediately the fellow is a thief.
01:15:25You call somebody up and he says,
01:15:29Sure.
01:15:33That's too much of respect.
01:15:37Without paying the price,
01:15:41you can hang about in the showroom even for a decade
01:15:45and you will not be entitled to touch the car.
01:15:49You can be in the company of the Guru for an entire decade
01:15:53or 5 years or 8 years and you may say, you know, I have been there for so long and I am not benefiting.
01:15:57The reason is, you are just squatting in the showroom.
01:16:01You are not paying the price, sir.
01:16:05Just squatting here will not...
01:16:09Will that help you?
01:16:13When you visit a showroom, they have places where you can sit.
01:16:17They can also feed you.
01:16:21They are nice, gentle people sometimes.
01:16:25So you can be here for 8 years,
01:16:296 years, 5 years.
01:16:33You are just out on a stroll.
01:16:45You will not benefit.
01:16:55You will not benefit.