Video Information: 22.05.2019, Month of Awakening, Advait Bodhsthal, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
Context:
Equal in pain and in pleasure, equal in hope and in disappointment, equal in life and in death, and complete as you are, you can go to your rest.
~Ashtavakra Gita (Chapter-5, Verse-4)
Look on such things as friends, land, money, property, wife, and
bequests as nothing but a dream or a three or five-day conjuror's show.
~Ashtavakra Gita (Chapter-10, Verse-2)
How will the worldly man be Truthful, if his world hates the Truth?
What is the difference between worldly man and Godly man?
Why world hates the Truth?
How to be equal in pain and pleasure?
How to attain a stable state of mind?
Music Credits: Milind Date .
Context:
Equal in pain and in pleasure, equal in hope and in disappointment, equal in life and in death, and complete as you are, you can go to your rest.
~Ashtavakra Gita (Chapter-5, Verse-4)
Look on such things as friends, land, money, property, wife, and
bequests as nothing but a dream or a three or five-day conjuror's show.
~Ashtavakra Gita (Chapter-10, Verse-2)
How will the worldly man be Truthful, if his world hates the Truth?
What is the difference between worldly man and Godly man?
Why world hates the Truth?
How to be equal in pain and pleasure?
How to attain a stable state of mind?
Music Credits: Milind Date .
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Radhaman has quoted from the Dashtakya Gita.
00:16Equal in pain and in pleasure, equal in hope and in disappointment, equal in life and in
00:25death, and complete as you are, you can go to your rest.
00:37Then again from chapter 10, look on such things as friends, land, money, property, wife and
00:45bequests as nothing but a dream or a magician's show lasting three or five days.
00:55Shri Ramachandraji, I have never experienced this equal state nor have I ever lived like
01:08the people and objects are temporary.
01:15I understand they are temporary in an intellectual sense but that has not brought much change
01:23in life.
01:26Please guide this so-called family man, worldly man who is able to satisfy neither family
01:36nor God.
01:41Thank you for the hand-holding and patience.
01:57Gautama, these are descriptions.
02:03These are just descriptions.
02:05These are not teachings.
02:14When it comes, when teachings become unnecessary, they look childish, at best they resemble
02:36a joke, at worst they sound like insults.
02:53I am thirsty, very very thirsty.
02:59If you demonstrate this to me, you demonstrate this to me, then would you also teach me?
03:12Drink it.
03:14Drink it.
03:18If you have to teach me, the thirsty one, to drink it, then either my thirst is a fraud
03:34or your water is a sham.
03:41If I am really thirsty and if the water is really pure, then merely demonstrating the
03:52water is.
03:59Equally, if I am here and I claim that I am really thirsty, then you do not need to motivate
04:09me to go to the river.
04:24You merely describe the way.
04:29Having described the way, you would not even bother to say go.
04:36If after all the description you still have to say go, then that is a blemish upon the
04:44power of a description.
04:51So, when it comes to purest utterances, they are merely declarations, descriptions, grand
05:10announcements without a purpose, without a context, without a background.
05:20They would not say, now that we have told you the truth, this is what you ought to do
05:26with it.
05:28None of that.
05:32They will not come with a user manual, the Upanishads.
05:38Upanishads just are.
05:43They will not tell you how to use them.
05:49They are only for the ones who know what the use of peace is and who knows what the use
05:59of peace is, the one who is burning with peacelessness.
06:06The thirsty one knows what the use of water is.
06:11Having shown him the water, you do not have to describe him that to a molecule.
06:18You do not have to tempt him to come to the water.
06:32The news is enough.
06:59The passengers are waiting at the platform.
07:03The announcement is enough.
07:06The train is arriving.
07:09Does the announcement also say, now the passengers must rush towards the train or their respective
07:15bogies?
07:17Does the announcement include that?
07:20If you really want to depart, the news is enough.
07:26But if you have made your little hut on platform number 8, as many people do, then announcements
07:37come and go.
07:38You never go.
07:43Right, Kothaman?
07:44There are many who live on the platforms.
07:56Lao Tzus come and go.
08:05Rishtavakas come and go.
08:08Day and night, there are announcements and every announcement heralds an opportunity.
08:22The ones who don't have to go, don't go.
08:26And then there are the ones who are seen running after the trains, huffing, puffing, but somehow
08:33catching.
08:39So, does this tempt you?
08:43If it does tempt you, then proceed.
08:49If it doesn't tempt you, then seek the company of some of those who you see as eager to board
09:01the train.
09:06Ask them, why do you want to depart?
09:08I don't want to depart.
09:10I'm a worldly man.
09:11I want to stay put.
09:20If it hurts you too much, do not seek instruction from them.
09:25Rather, seek to convert them.
09:29Present your own example to them and tell them how you prefer staying on the platform
09:36rather than departing.
09:40Try to convince them.
09:42Maybe you will save a few of them some unnecessary hassle.
09:50Trains are anyway overcrowded.
09:53If you can convince a few aspiring passengers to not to board, then maybe you are doing
10:00everybody some good.
10:03But do get into a conversation.
10:09Do ask them, what is it that charms them?
10:14Why do they look at the horizon with such thirsty eyes?
10:27Why do they put their ears to the track and want to listen to the beat of the approaching train?
10:38Why are they so eager?
10:41You tell them why you are so lukewarm.
10:50And you ask them why they are so much in heat.
11:08Engage them.
11:14And we are not saying that.
11:21It's a pre-decided debate.
11:24Maybe you will prevail.
11:30Maybe you would convince an ashtavakra not to depart.
11:40All I can say is begin the game of engagement and play honestly.
11:49If you see that what they are doing is the right thing to do,
11:56then don't wait for the next train.
12:00Hold their hand and board.
12:26You know, Madhuman, you have been young and even in a worldly way,
12:53one can show you the image, the picture of the most beautiful woman.
13:06But one cannot make you fall in love with her.
13:15One can read out to you the most touching poem.
13:33But one cannot force you to admire her.
13:49She walks in beauty like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies.
14:03Did something happen?
14:09And if nothing happened, then it cannot be made to happen.
14:24Not because the situation is hopeless, but because you are determined.
14:41And therefore an ashtavakra is far more wise than an ordinary teacher who teaches through instruction.
15:04Ashtavakra says why waste energy?
15:08Instructions are anyway not useful beyond a point.
15:30You can instruct a fellow to come and sit down in front of you and hear you out.
15:43But you cannot instruct a fellow to resonate with you.
15:50That is beyond instruction.
15:55Resonance would happen only when the fellow wants it to happen.
16:24Equal in pain and pleasure, equal in hope and in disappointment, equal in life and in death.
16:34And complete as you are, you can go to rest.
16:44Now neither are you equal in pain and pleasure, nor are you equal in hope and disappointment,
16:50nor are you equal in life and death, nor are you complete, nor are you restful.
16:56Then why is ashtavakra telling all this to you?
17:02He is saying if this sounds charming enough, then come my way boy.
17:10Else you can have your way.
17:15Do you like what you see?
17:18Then come over.
17:21Do you like what you hear?
17:24Then come over.
17:27Else, platform to you, you to your platform.
17:50This is the way of the accomplished teacher.
17:55This is the way of the teacher who has seen the futility of trying too much with the student.
18:25Teachers who are just beginning are overloaded with the energy of
18:50the energy of
19:02a mature enthusiasm.
19:10Having got it, they think it can be transmitted equally easily.
19:23So they strive.
19:27They try very hard.
19:35The ones like Munya Ashtavakra are veterans, seasoned professionals.
19:57They know that it doesn't help to flog a dead horse.
20:12The horse has probably come to enjoy the flogging.
20:20Leave it to itself.
20:24And maybe then it would run.
20:28And if it doesn't run, it doesn't have to run.
20:33The horses are entitled to their own self-determined quota of flogging.
20:51Who is Anashtavakra or any other teacher to make a horse run against its own free will?
21:14So they won't flog the horse.
21:16They would simply whisper in the horse's ear.
21:22This green grass on the other side of the mountain, they leave it to the horse.
21:38Real teachers are real non-doers.
21:44They won't make the effort of cutting the grass and bringing it to the horse.
21:54They would say, enough has already been done.
21:59The rest is upon the horse.
22:05Maybe the horse has fallen in love with some yellow and pale dead grass right where he is lying.
22:19It's okay.
22:22The horse is entitled to all kinds of experiences.
22:43It's a fine art.
22:53How much must one be exposed to therapeutic radiation?
22:59If the exposure is too little, then there is hardly any therapy.
23:08If the exposure is too much, it's worse than having little therapy.
23:23It's a fine art.
23:38Friends, land, money, property, wife, nothing but a dream.
24:07Our magicians show lasting three days, five days and he doesn't say hence.
24:21He leaves the rest to your wits.
24:28You decide.
24:31He has told you what these things are.
24:37The rest is upon you.
24:48You're welcome to scrutinize the fact of his utterances, whether these things are or are not for three or five days.
25:00That much you can scrutinize.
25:06But after the scrutiny, your sweet will.
25:14Having seen that these things are indeed ephemeral, your free will.
25:26This is the point beyond which no scripture works.
25:34This is the point beyond which no teacher, no guru can help you, rather would help you.
25:44This is the point to which you must be brought and left alone.
25:52This is the point after which either your suffering works or your deep prayer.
26:08Either you should be so badly suffering that you refuse to let the teacher go when he's about to drop you and disappear.
26:37Or you should be so convinced about the need to depart.
27:07That you pray to get the decision, the motivation, the energy and the legs to run.
27:35What to do then, Gautama?
27:48I already told you. Engage these people.
27:52Converse with them.
27:55See what Muni Ashtavakra has to say to you and see what you have to say to me.
28:10After all, if you want to stay put on the platform, you must be sure of yourself, right?
28:21If you are sure of yourself, why shy away from an honest conversation?
28:36If your reasons are genuine, they will hold out.
28:47If they are not genuine, then they must burn out.
29:03Keep talking to them. Keep talking to them.
29:12Maybe some of what charms them will rub off on you.
29:26That's why the sages have emphasized so much on the importance of right company.
29:46Right, Gautama?
29:49Be in the company of the one who is found a lot in the company of the one.
30:06How do you know that you must be with somebody like Ashtavakra?
30:10Because Ashtavakra is continuously in the company of the one.
30:16And that's how you must also choose your friends and partners.
30:20The one you spend so much time with.
30:24Is he usually found in the company of the one?
30:32Or is he someone who is rarely found in the company of the one?
31:02You are saying you are a family man, a worldly man. What kind of world is yours?
31:27In your world, you are at the center, right?
31:32You're not talking of the world, you're talking of your world.
31:39You say you're a worldly man, you're talking of your personal world.
31:43What's your personal world full of?
31:48Who are the residents of your personal world?
31:55You aren't talking of the 8 billion people of this planet.
32:02You aren't talking of the trillions of other sentient beings on this planet.
32:11And obviously, you aren't talking of the myriad forms of consciousness that might be existing throughout this universe.
32:23When you say the world, when you say you're the worldly man, you mean.
32:285 people, 10 people, 20 people, 50 people, 100 people.
32:34These are the people that constitute your world, right?
32:39It's a very misleading expression of the world.
32:47Because it is never the world.
32:51It is always my world.
32:54Nobody lives in the world.
32:57There is no subjectivity that is being admitted.
33:02We act as if there exists an objective world, the world.
33:11But there is nothing called an objective world.
33:14It's always your world.
33:17And that's why your world is very, very different compared to your neighbors.
33:25So, who is it that fills your world?
33:33Who all make up your world?
33:37Are they people like Ashtavalkya?
33:41So, when you say you're a worldly man, what you essentially mean is that you are in the company of a few people, right?
33:50When you say you're a worldly man, what you mean is that you are in the company of a few people.
33:56These are the few people that constitute your world.
34:00So, it's a question of company.
34:03Whose company are you exposing yourself to?
34:14And I've already given you a very easy thing to use as a test.
34:32The one you are with, is he with the one?
34:51See where your time is going.
34:57Look at the faces that occupy your consciousness.
35:02Look at the ones you are conversating with day in and day out.
35:09Conversating whether in your imagination or physically or on a mobile phone.
35:16Who are these people?
35:20Are they in the company of the one?
35:22If they are not, then rest assured, their company would pull you away from the company of the one.
35:33And equally, the company of Ashtavalkya would pull you towards the one.
35:39If you're finding yourself distanced from the one, now you know the reason, Kusangati.
35:46And it won't announce itself as bad company.
35:51It comes in different names.
35:58It comes with nice, fair, clean, polished faces.
36:05It won't say that neither do I belong to him nor would I let you belong to him.
36:14The quality of your company can be assessed only by the impact it has upon you.
36:33What is the impact it is having upon you?
36:36Hmm?
37:06You have to be very careful because there's a clear conflict here.
37:36Declaring yourself as a worldly man and your world does not include Ashtavakas, does it?
38:00Declaring yourself a worldly man, you are asking me,
38:09why don't the utterances of the knowers, the sages, bring about a real change in your life?
38:21Because they stand outside of your immediate world.
38:34They are not part of your intimate world.
38:37Your intimate world consists of people who not only have nothing to do with the sages,
38:48but who might actually be in active or passive hatred of the sages.
38:54Those are the people who constitute your inner circle.
39:01And you do not need to judge a person by his words alone.
39:14Want to check the quality of the people you are keeping as company?
39:19Check just one thing.
39:21Whose company do they love?
39:29Whose company do they love?
39:43Ask this question.
39:53Who is the friend of your friend?
40:04Who is friend of your friend?
40:13Is your friend amongst the ones closest to the one?
40:19Or is your friend amongst the ones who are farthest from the one?
40:24Your friends are your world, Gudaman.
40:41And your world is your identity.
40:45That's what you are calling yourself as.
40:47I am a worldly man.
40:49I am just parsing that.
40:54What does it mean to say I am a worldly man?
40:59You mean to say that you are in the company of a few people.
41:03That's what you mean.
41:19Hmm?
41:40Even the kids know that, you know.
41:42Even in a class.
41:49Let's say a normal school.
41:58The kind of schools we all have been through.
42:06A normal, usual school.
42:12And the teacher always has her favourites.
42:20And if you are a newcomer to the class.
42:27You immediately smell who the favourites of the class teacher are.
42:36And then you want to be friends with them.
42:42Even class 4 students.
42:50Not divine students. Very worldly kids.
42:54Know.
43:05How to.
43:12Reach the teacher.
43:19Don't you?
43:29And the newcomer also smells.
43:32That there is a particular gang in the class that the teacher does not quite approve of.
43:41And if the newcomer decides to belong to that gang.
43:44Then the newcomer has already sealed his fate.
43:52The gang is a world.
43:55And for the one you are a worldly man.
43:58Why do you so stubbornly want to belong to the gang that the class teacher dislikes?
44:22You knew better than that when you were a class 4 kid.
44:26How have you forgotten even basic common sensical knowledge?
44:38God is the class teacher.
44:40Ashtavakra is the front bencher she loves.
44:44If you want to curry favour with the class teacher.
44:49Better make friends with the front bencher.
44:56Not the back benchers who are seen in the class once a month.
45:03Who appear in the class only on special occasions.
45:10You know it's Independence Day. Let's go to the school.
45:16You aren't coming to the school for the sake of learning or for the sake of teacher.
45:21You are coming to the school for the sake of laddu.
45:23What are you here for?
45:25For learning or for laddu?
45:27Ask yourself.
45:31If you are here for the learning you would have been seen quite frequently here.
45:35But if you are seen here only on special days.
45:38It means you aren't here for the teacher.
45:40You are here for the laddu.
45:43Good one.
45:45Examine your world.
45:48Good one.
45:50Examine your world.
46:17Examine your world.
46:19It's a conflict we said.
46:48Somebody has to lose.
46:52You can't have two winners in this.
46:59Somebody will be brought to his knees.
47:04And somebody would hang his boots.
47:18If you are in a party.
47:42In the faint music of a fakir.
47:44Outside the party when he enthralls you.
47:49One of the two has to win because the fakir won't enter the party.
47:54The fakir won't enter the party nor would the party admit the fakir.
48:00You have to belong either here or there.
48:09The party is loud.
48:10The fakir's music is faint.
48:13You are inside.
48:14The fakir is outside.
48:16The odds are greatly against the fakir.
48:22But let's see.
48:23Strange things happen.
48:24Strange things happen.
48:42The party is your world.
48:44Huh?
48:45Question yourself again and again on this.
48:55Does your world really have to be like this?
49:06You aren't talking about an objective reality that you can't reach.
49:10You're talking about your self-created nest.
49:16You're talking about relationships that you on your own volition walked into.
49:27And on your own volition are sustaining on a daily basis.
49:31You're talking of jobs.
49:40You carry out by way of proper legal agreements.
49:47You aren't talking of things that are insurmountable.
49:53You aren't talking of the indispensable realities of life.
50:11You're talking of choices, mind you.
50:15You're talking of things very much within your control.
50:20You push the buttons.
50:21You push the buttons.
50:22You pull the levers.
50:30You board the train.
50:35You swipe the card.
50:38You sign the letters.
50:41All that requires your conscious agreement.
50:45Your world is nothing but a reflection of your deliberate agreements.
50:54The agreements are in the mind and therefore invisible, subtle.
51:01What you call as a world is a representation of the inner agreements that you make.
51:09Where is Ashtavakra in your world, Gautam?
51:13Except on the four days of math, not four days.
51:19One or two days when you choose to send over a question.
51:2428 days of the month.
51:29Is he there in your world?
51:31No, because you're a worldly man.
51:33Even on the two days when you send over your questions.
51:36Is he really there with you the entire day?
51:43So on 28 days, your Ashtavakra quotient is zero.
51:49Zero AQ.
51:51And on two days when you do send over your questions, then your AQ is maybe zero.
52:00Maybe 0.1.
52:06For one or two hours of the day, you decide to listen to me.
52:13Holding forth on Ashtavakra.
52:16All in all, what's your net AQ?
52:22Across the month.
52:2398% of your time, you are choosing to be with the ones who are not with the one.
52:35Mind you.
52:37And repeat it to yourself again and again and again.
52:40Look at the faces of your colleagues in the office.
52:42Are they with the one?
52:44Then why are you hobnobbing with them?
52:46Why are you breaking bread with them?
52:48What are these parties?
52:49What are these parties?
52:52What are these smiling exchanges?
52:57Are they with the one?
53:01Then why are you with them?
53:06What crushing need compels you to sell your soul?
53:15I'm not insinuating.
53:17I'm asserting.
53:20I'm asserting.
53:22I'm asserting.
53:24I'm asserting.
53:26I'm asserting.
53:28I'm asserting.
53:30I'm asserting.
53:32I'm asserting.
53:34I'm asserting.
53:36I'm asserting.
53:38I'm asserting.
53:40I'm asserting.
53:42I'm asserting.
53:44I'm asserting.
53:46I'm asserting.
53:47I'm asserting.
53:49I'm asserting.
53:51I'm asserting.
53:53I'm asserting.
53:55I'm asserting.
53:57Go to your Facebook contacts.
53:59Look at your LinkedIn contacts.
54:01Who are they?
54:04All right.
54:06Here's the check.
54:09When a new contact request comes to you.
54:13What do you check in the fellows profile?
54:15Do you check whether he's with the one?
54:17You don't.
54:19You rather check whether he's going to be useful to you
54:22when you make the next job switch.
54:27Did you ever give this criteria even 5% weightage?
54:33How spiritual is the fellow?
54:36Before you accept somebody's friend request.
54:41Do you bother to inquire how deeply spiritual is the fellow?
54:47But you know, just as a college student doesn't bother to check the spiritual quotient of a girl who makes a pass at him.
55:12An industry veteran doesn't check the spiritual quotient.
55:17Of another professional who sends him a contact request.
55:28That's too much to ask for.
55:30And so impractical it sounds.
55:32You see, we are going to relate on a worldly plane.
55:37Why check each other's SQ?
55:41Fine.
55:43Don't check that.
55:45If you do not check the SQ of the people in your vicinity,
55:53then your world will remain a spiritless world.
56:01Shorn of spirituality.
56:06If you want to check how deeply spiritual you are,
56:10check the SQ of people.
56:14In your vicinity.
56:16As they say, a man is known by his company.
56:24Your SQ is the average SQ of all people in your contact list.
56:31It's an identity.
56:34AP's law.
56:36Note it down.
56:44Next, more in the language of calculus.
56:53Your distance.
56:55From the one.
56:57Will tend towards.
57:03The distance of your nearest one from the one.
57:06Your distance from the one will tend towards the distance of your nearest one from the one.
57:16So if your distance from the one is five units.
57:20And your great friends distance from the one is 200 units.
57:25Then very soon your distance from the one will be.
57:29200 units.
57:31AP's first and second laws.
57:34The third is coming.
58:01Oh.
58:05Oh.
58:08Oh.