Video Information: 23.01.23, DTU
Context:
~ How to take control of my life?
~ Is everything subject to destiny?
~ How to improve in life?
~ What is the right way of leading a life?
~ Is life a culmination of random incidents?
~ How to be a champion?
~ How to be successful in life?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Context:
~ How to take control of my life?
~ Is everything subject to destiny?
~ How to improve in life?
~ What is the right way of leading a life?
~ Is life a culmination of random incidents?
~ How to be a champion?
~ How to be successful in life?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00A very delightful good evening to all of you. We have all gathered here after enormous waiting
00:08for the precious interactive session by Acharya Prashant Sir. It's wholesome to see you all
00:13here with your charisma lighting up in this session. We are delighted to host you today
00:18and want you to dig down deep in the flow of the session and get benefited the most
00:23out of it. Henceforth, tight up your seatbelts of your ears and activate your listening
00:29capabilities to get the meaningful rest. Today on the occasion of Netaji Subhash Chandra
00:34Bose Jayanti, we are lucky to have with us Acharya Prashant Sir. Sir has addressed us
00:40in online in 2020 and was kind enough to accept our invitation for an extended offline talk
00:46this time. Thank you, Sir. Acharya Prashant needs no introduction from being an acclaimed
00:52Vedant exegete to a national blessing author of over 100 books. He is a powerful voice
00:59of socio-spiritual awakening in today's world. Today, tens of millions of people, especially
01:06the youth, get inspired daily by Acharya Prashant. Though his direct contact with people and
01:12though various online channels, he continues to bring clarity to all. Sir, it's an honour
01:18to welcome you to address our institute on behalf of Delhi Technological University.
01:23We thank you for accepting our invitation.
01:30Now, I would like to invite all the dignitaries to step forward for the lamp lighting ceremony.
02:01I now request all the dignitaries to take a seat among the audience and Acharya Prashant
02:13Sir to proceed with the session.
02:15So, first of all, I understand you have been waiting since an hour now. I regret the delay.
02:23I had not anticipated it will take me rather upward of two hours reaching here. So, anyway,
02:32we are here. We are good. And suppose we'll have nice and bright time together. How do we begin?
02:45Hello, sir. My name is Ransh. And my question was, sir, all my life, I believe that my life
02:53has been a consequence of decisions I have taken for myself. But recently, in the past
02:59three months, I've had two retinal detachments and I've been blind for three months, basically.
03:04So I am questioning my beliefs now that is really that life is a consequence of decisions
03:11we take or it is affected by external things and things that are not in our control.
03:21There is hardly anything that is in our control as far as situations of life are concerned.
03:33So even when we feel that things that are happening to us are actually happening because
03:46we planned them out that way, or that what is happening is a result of something that we did.
03:57It is actually not that way. Your situation here is obviously entirely different.
04:04You are clearly seeing that random, unpredictable, uncalled for things are happening to you, right?
04:15And you're asking why and what is this? From where is it all coming?
04:21But think even of those who feel that their life is in their control, even they are mistaken.
04:35As far as the external environment is concerned, as far as material situations are concerned,
04:46a lot that is happening, I'm just shying away from saying everything that is happening
04:53because to many of you that would sound too extreme.
04:57So I would limit myself to saying a lot that is happening is simply incidental, random.
05:07It's just that there is something called the ego.
05:10And one of the definitions of the ego is that it is the agency that likes to believe that it is the doer.
05:22What is the ego? The agency that likes to say I did it.
05:28Whereas the fact is everything in the sensual material domain is just random.
05:39It is the inability of the mind to come to terms with this randomness that gives rise to a fictitious doer.
05:51The doer says I did it. And because it believes that things are within its control, this has happened because I did it.
06:02So it feels secure.
06:04I'll not be threatened. I can do good things to myself.
06:08I'll improve. I can take my situation to a higher place.
06:15I can do something. I am somebody and I can do this, do that, alter the conditions.
06:21However, many a times this doer meets with rude shocks like in case of physical ailments.
06:38Suddenly you discover one day that your report says you have cancer.
06:45The doer used to love to claim he does a lot.
06:51Now who did the cancer?
06:54Who did the cancer?
06:57Now the doer is perplexed.
07:00Who did this?
07:04And the doer obviously wants to take credit only for the good things in life or for the things in life it can turn good.
07:15Don't you see how we all behave?
07:18When something goes nicely, we like to claim credit.
07:23When things do not turn up as they should, we balk away.
07:30We say well it was situational or I didn't do it or somebody else did it or you know it just was a random accident or something.
07:36The ones who can look at life with sharp insight, the one who can have some detachment and intelligence will realize that we actually have close to zero control over what is going on externally.
08:00Even if for a while it appears that we are indeed in control, very soon that illusion is exposed for a while and that while can last a bit, not necessarily five minutes.
08:20For five years it might appear that you have control over external situations.
08:25The thing is nobody has control over anything.
08:30So many of us sitting over here, who controls his or her birth?
08:38The very fact of our physical existence is something we did not have any say over.
08:48Not even the one with the greatest desire for control, a die-hard control freak would dare to claim that he controlled his own birth.
09:07Equally death, most people would be fair enough to concede that their death is something that they never want to happen and hence is beyond their control because it does eventually happen.
09:26But in other matters of life, we believe, we behave, we rather pretend as if we are the movers and shakers, we are the doers.
09:39And when life ruthlessly exposes the falseness of this belief, then we are shattered.
09:48There is very little that we actually control.
10:00Chance, randomness is a great, great power.
10:07However, now that we have gone through the bleak part of it, let's come to the brightness.
10:14There is one thing that is bigger than chance and that is who you really are.
10:26Situations can affect everything about you.
10:34Situations cannot affect you, provided you know who you are.
10:46Everything about you is situational.
10:50Classically, it is said to be in the domain of Prakriti.
10:55And what is in the domain of Prakriti is in the domain of Prakriti and you are not Prakriti, therefore you have zero control over the affairs of Prakriti.
11:03Things happen there.
11:05Your eyes are Prakriti, your body is Prakriti, the entire universe is Prakriti, your birth is Prakriti, your death is Prakriti.
11:13You come across a person and fall for her, all that is just Prakriti.
11:19You believe you have done something, you have done nothing.
11:24It's like two chemicals believing that they have decided to react with each other.
11:30There is no agency there, there is no decision-making entity there, things just happen.
11:38With us too, things just happen.
11:42The difference is that when it comes to chemicals, there is no ego there to claim decision-making or ownership.
11:53And there is no desire there to claim the fruit of the reaction.
11:59Sodium and water give you sodium hydroxide, well sodium is actually gone, but let's say sodium remains, sodium will not say.
12:16I own a part of the hydroxide because I made it.
12:21So this fictitious agency, ego, does not exist there.
12:29When it comes to the external aspects of our life, the material aspects of our life, for example, the aspects of our body, these things are also like chemicals.
12:44But the great difference is here we have an inner psychic fictitious agency that loves to claim I did it and I am suffering for it or I am enjoying the results of it.
13:03The ones who start seeing that what they usually call as life and events in life are just situational and random are the ones who are liberated from life.
13:20They are set free as liberated beings to fly high without limits and achieve their true potential.
13:30Whereas those who keep thinking very erroneously obviously that they are doing stuff when actually it's just a game of chemicals.
14:01I'm sorry a bit of bad throat.
14:14They suffer. So we were saying providence or chance or randomness or prakriti is a great power.
14:25That power we sometimes refer to as luck as well.
14:34For example, why was somebody born a male? Why was somebody born a female?
14:40Nobody decides that on his own, right? Just happens.
14:43Why was somebody born or somebody not born at all?
14:46Why black? Why white? Why is somebody born with a silver spoon?
14:50Why is somebody born in an impoverished family?
14:54Luck chance obviously that has a great power.
15:00But there is one power we said that's greater than chance and what's that?
15:05The power of the self and what is self?
15:11That within you that must remain unaffected by chance.
15:16Otherwise you will be puppets in the hands of luck, chance, providence, prakriti, randomness.
15:29Choose your word.
15:31Does it sound great to be a puppet?
15:37An unconscious puppet that does not even know who's holding the threads, the strings.
15:44How alluring does that sound as young people?
15:49Yes?
15:51But the thing is we all indeed are puppets.
15:55Just a couple of minutes back I had no idea that my throat would play up and I would be coughing at that particular juncture in my speech.
16:05Did I know in advance? I didn't.
16:07But it happened.
16:09You yawn, you cough, you sneeze, you breathe.
16:14You ingest food and you find it digested.
16:18Do you know how things are happening in the digestive tract?
16:23You don't know that but it's just happening.
16:25Similarly decision-making.
16:27We feel we are deciding matters but whether you go back to the classics in Vedanta or you return to modern science.
16:38Even that which we call as our conscious decisions are actually just chemical games being played out in form of thoughts and emotions.
16:50We love to say I thought thus or I felt thus.
16:57The thing is there is just the thought and just the feeling.
17:01There is no thinker, no feeler.
17:03There is just something happening in a biological, a chemical way within.
17:10And mistakenly you start taking ownership or credit for it.
17:17You start saying I felt this way.
17:20Did you choose to feel that way?
17:22No, it was just chance.
17:25And we all are actually puppets.
17:27How many of you choose your thoughts?
17:32Well, thoughts come and thoughts decide your choices.
17:39When you have to make a choice, it is the thought that is the chooser.
17:46But did you choose your thought in the first place?
17:52Somebody comes to you with some idea or some topic and you say let me think over it.
18:01At that moment, do you know what you are going to think about the matter?
18:07No, thought is largely autonomous and thought has no capacity to see where it is coming from.
18:15And because thought has no capacity to see where it is coming from, we mistakenly believe that the thought is coming from some place called the I.
18:24No, the thought is not coming from a place called the I.
18:26The thought is simply coming from hormones, chemicals, material, prakriti.
18:33That's where the thought is coming from.
18:36So we all indeed are puppets.
18:38Whatsoever is happening in life is just a chemical game.
18:43That sounds quite depressing, right?
18:47But as we said, there is brightness ahead.
18:50Every cloud has a silver lining.
18:53The self is above all luck.
18:59And what did we say about the self?
19:03Not much can be said about the self, but we'll have to.
19:06The self is that within you that situations can never touch.
19:19And situations include time as well.
19:22When we talk of the material universe, that includes time, right?
19:27Time and space.
19:29There is no universe without time-space, correct?
19:32So the self is that within you that is timeless.
19:36That is timeless, formless, spaceless, nameless, beyond your imagination.
19:44There has to be something within.
19:46And remember, that self is an optional entity.
19:49Optional? How optional?
19:52Yes, optional for you.
19:54If you want, it will exist for you.
19:56If you do not want, it will not exist for you.
19:58The Upanishads say the self exists only for the one who chooses it.
20:03You don't choose it, it won't exist for you.
20:06It will exist as an absolute truth, but it will not exist with respect to you.
20:13So the self is a choice.
20:17The self is a choice.
20:20And if you have the self, you can beat luck.
20:22Otherwise, you are puppets of luck.
20:24How many of you love to be puppets?
20:26I'll repeat that question again and again.
20:28Because as young people, there must be a philosophy within, a fire within,
20:33that says I do not want to live the life of a slave.
20:37How many of you relish this proposition?
20:39I'll continuously be a slave.
20:43Anybody who enjoys this thought?
20:45Then the only help can come from the thing called the self.
20:53The self meaning the one that you really are.
20:56Not the one that you have assumed yourself to be.
21:02If you live in the self,
21:05then you will see whatsoever is happening to the body or to the world,
21:10and all kinds of tragedies,
21:13they might be good, they might be bad,
21:16you might need to do a lot about them,
21:20but still, internally, you will remain untouched,
21:26you will remain uncorrupted,
21:29you will remain free of fear and sorrow.
21:32Otherwise, life is unforgiving.
21:39Life does not spare anybody.
21:43And situations can be very, very brutal.
21:53Coming to your place from Greater Noida,
21:58I had to navigate a stretch of around 10 kilometers.
22:03The driving conditions were very pathetic,
22:06but I should not talk about the driving conditions.
22:08What was appalling was the living conditions.
22:13Life is cruel.
22:21If there are moments,
22:25if there are patches in which life does not appear cruel,
22:30then that's just the interlude.
22:43I had not wanted this.
22:46It just happened.
22:48I have two options.
22:50I start paying attention to this,
22:53or I choose to remain in the self,
22:56I choose to remain in that which is timeless.
23:01The camera over here is recording something.
23:04Is it meant to record that which is the dust of time,
23:07or is it meant to record that
23:08which deserves to be stored for the next 100 years for posterity?
23:13Please tell me.
23:16Do you see what the self is?
23:19That which is valuable enough to be, come on,
23:25timeless.
23:27All else is dust of time.
23:31When you return,
23:33would you want to remember this cuffing,
23:36or the content?
23:38You know what the self is then?
23:41What is the self?
23:43And it's a choice.
23:45We might have a couple of souls here
23:48that take back nothing but the cuff from here.
23:52Choice.
23:54The self is a choice.
23:58It's just that in this moment of luck,
24:01it is very clear
24:03that when it comes to content versus cuff,
24:07content is to be chosen.
24:09In general situations of life,
24:12usually the self does not appear that attractive.
24:16Other things appear very attractive and they get chosen.
24:23Make the right choice.
24:26See what is just incidental.
24:29And for that you require something called self-knowledge.
24:34What is self-knowledge?
24:36To understand where one's impulses,
24:40thoughts, feelings, instincts are coming from.
24:45The more you see where your entire system is coming from,
24:50the more you will feel detached from it.
24:54Because you will see that very little of it is within your own control.
24:58You will see that all this is an autonomous system independent of you.
25:03Even if you are sleeping,
25:04the lungs continue to do what they have to.
25:08Even when you are sleeping,
25:10the brain too continues to do what it has to.
25:13The fictitious agency, ego,
25:16goes to sleep.
25:18And yet things keep happening.
25:20So is it really the I, the ego that is doing things?
25:24Not really.
25:26But those questions are not posed to us by our education system.
25:31Our education system, unfortunately,
25:34is just too much about the wall,
25:37the gadgets,
25:39the lights, the projectors,
25:42the wood, the metals,
25:45these things.
25:47And what are all these things about?
25:50They are about the material universe.
25:52Prakriti.
25:54Are you getting it?
25:56About the self there is no education.
25:58There is no education.
26:00And when there is no education of the self,
26:02a choice in the favor of self becomes improbable.
26:07How can you choose something that you have never been educated in?
26:11You can still choose it.
26:13But the choice becomes difficult.
26:17Are you getting it?
26:20You have to start looking at the body
26:24as something alien, something foreign.
26:27Not my body,
26:29but the body.
26:32The body.
26:37Son, it would have been very easy for me to console you
26:40by saying that the thing that you are going through
26:43will pass sooner than later.
26:45Is that not the standard way?
26:47Somebody comes to you and expresses
26:50discomfort about his or her physical condition.
26:53And how do you respond?
26:54You say, oh nothing.
26:56You will get well soon.
26:58That's the classical response, right?
27:01Should I entertain you with that kind of hackneyed stuff?
27:08The fact is you might never actually get well.
27:11I too carry physical conditions that are chronic
27:17and there are no cures available.
27:21The fact is that the body itself
27:24is an incurable chronic disease.
27:27Not only is it incurable and chronic,
27:31it is actually terminal disease.
27:34The body is a fatal condition.
27:37The body always results in
27:41death.
27:42So what else is the body?
27:44Except a terminal condition,
27:46what name do I realistically give to the body?
27:50And these are things that a young man must necessarily think about.
27:55A young person who has come to terms with death
27:59becomes fearless.
28:02And it is fearlessness that we require in our youth.
28:07And you cannot become fearless
28:09if you do not start seeing the body as something
28:14other than you.
28:18The more you are attached to the body,
28:20the more you will be carried away
28:23by the bodily chemicals
28:27and the set processes
28:30and the prakritic apparatus.
28:32You will think that's what life is all about.
28:37If you are young, you will say there is the body
28:40and the body wants pleasure.
28:41Let me give it pleasure.
28:42Pleasure comes through money.
28:43So the purpose of life is
28:45earn money.
28:48And there is the mind.
28:50And the mind is seated in the brain.
28:53And the mind wants happiness.
28:54The body wants pleasure.
28:55The mind wants happiness.
28:57And happiness comes from this.
28:58Happiness comes from that.
29:03Let me try all the means that will give me pleasure
29:06and happiness.
29:09And I am a woman.
29:11My body is signaling
29:14that it requires
29:16a child.
29:17The purpose of life is to become a mother.
29:20A great mother.
29:23And you will waste your life
29:25doing all these things.
29:28Unless you start seeing
29:31that the body is a system
29:33of its own.
29:36Very separate from who you really are.
29:39The body will become your destiny.
29:42And the word destiny
29:44is very close to the word destination.
29:45What is the destination of the body?
29:48Death.
29:49So death will become your destiny.
29:52And that's the reason Upanishads continuously say
29:56that our only purpose is to
29:59liberate
30:01a human being from death.
30:04Immortality is what we are after.
30:08Otherwise death is all that there is to life.
30:11Life is death.
30:13If you are the body,
30:14life is
30:16death. What else?
30:18What's the point in living on
30:19if it all has to just
30:22end in death?
30:23What's the point?
30:24And so many philosophers have grappled with this question.
30:28You remember to be or not to be?
30:30What's the point in continuing to live?
30:32And that's the reason so many of them
30:35just ended their lives by suicide.
30:38Because they could not
30:40see what Vedanta had to offer.
30:43That there is a life beyond the body
30:46and that life is not after death.
30:48That life is right now.
30:51And it is not that you are totally
30:58unavailable
31:00or unacquainted
31:02to that life.
31:03Don't you know that life?
31:05I mean
31:07you have to get up at 5 am.
31:09The alarm goes off.
31:10The alarm goes off.
31:12The body is saying it's so cold.
31:13I want to continue sleeping.
31:14What do you decide?
31:16Sometimes you do decide to get up, right?
31:19So don't you see that the body has its own objectives
31:22and your objectives are different?
31:25Do you see this?
31:26Even if in a
31:28hazy way.
31:30Do you see this?
31:33You are sitting here
31:35and
31:36I'm pretty sure
31:37there would be nobody whose body
31:39would be in a perfect condition
31:40to continue
31:43just sitting.
31:46Somebody would be feeling a bit thirsty.
31:47Somebody a bit hungry.
31:55Somebody would be feeling
32:00some ache somewhere.
32:02The knee is paining.
32:07But you say no.
32:09I'll continue to sit.
32:12Right?
32:15So the body is a different system
32:17and you are a different
32:19entity.
32:21The entity that you are
32:23has to be chosen
32:24and when you choose that entity
32:26then irrespective of
32:28what life and situations
32:29have to throw at you
32:31you will be a champion
32:33and there is no other way
32:34to be a champion.
32:36You have role models,
32:37you have success stories
32:38that tell you
32:39that go out,
32:40conquer this,
32:41conquer that
32:42and then you will be called
32:43a successful person.
32:44All that is pure nonsense.
32:47All
32:49that these people are talking of
32:52just becomes
32:55dust
32:57crumbles
32:59into nothingness
33:00in no time.
33:02There were so many
33:04people who were
33:06respected
33:08as idols,
33:09as role models
33:10just 20 years back
33:11when I was
33:13in my management campus.
33:15At least a few of them
33:16are behind bars today
33:20and a few more are there
33:22who have
33:23just disappeared
33:24into oblivion.
33:27They are no more
33:28making the news.
33:29Nobody is talking of them.
33:32The success
33:34that lies
33:36in external achievement
33:40in material positions
33:42including the material
33:43position called the body
33:46all that can
33:47entertain you for a while
33:49but will not
33:51be able to
33:52take you
33:53through life.
33:55At some point
33:56you will falter
33:57and then
33:58there is depression
33:59and neurosis
34:00and what not.
34:02Think of
34:03that
34:10which can
34:11remain firm
34:15in face of
34:16all the beatings
34:17that life has
34:18to offer
34:20that can
34:21remain
34:22unmoved
34:25in face of
34:26all the temptations
34:27that life
34:29throws at you.
34:32Empower that.
34:33Strengthen that.
34:37That self
34:38even though
34:39it is the
34:40absolutely powerful
34:41entity
34:42as far as
34:43we human beings
34:44are concerned
34:45we
34:46have
34:47to nurture it
34:48cultivate it
34:49raise it
34:50for ourselves
34:51like one raises
34:52a baby.
34:55Are you getting it?
34:57And that's the
34:58real meaning
34:59of growing up
35:00of maturity.
35:02Raise the self
35:03like one
35:04raises a kid.
35:08Growing up is not
35:09about producing
35:10a biological kid
35:11and raising it.
35:13It's about
35:14raising yourself.
35:17Am I making sense
35:18or is it all
35:20just hot air
35:22bypassing
35:23your locations?
35:26Is it making sense?
35:31The self has
35:32to be developed
35:33with practice
35:34and discipline.
35:37If there is
35:38stuff that you know
35:39you must not choose
35:41stand firm
35:42and do not choose.
35:45Even if
35:46it appears
35:47alluring
35:48even if it appears
35:49threatening
35:50stay firm.
35:52Stand your place.
35:54Learn
35:55immovability.
36:03But we question
36:04our situations
36:05only when
36:06we suffer.
36:07Right?
36:09Today there is
36:10a physical problem
36:11therefore you have
36:12raised this question.
36:13There would be
36:14so many here
36:15who would be
36:17in the spring
36:18of their physicality
36:20who would be
36:21very happy
36:22with how their
36:23bodies currently
36:24are.
36:25They will never
36:26ask me
36:27Sir
36:28what do I do
36:29with all the
36:30pleasure
36:31that the young
36:32body has to
36:33offer me
36:34and that's
36:35the problem.
36:37Whether
36:39it is
36:40pleasure
36:41or
36:42suffering
36:43you have to
36:44realize it is
36:45not yours
36:46and
36:47if you are
36:48somebody who
36:49wants to
36:50own the
36:51pleasure
36:52that comes
36:53then you will
36:54be obliged
36:55to own
36:56the suffering
36:57as well.
36:58The equation is
36:59simple.
37:00You cannot
37:01take one
37:02and leave the
37:03other.
37:04If you
37:05want to
37:06identify
37:07with physical
37:08pleasures
37:09material
37:10things
37:11then you
37:12will also
37:13have to
37:14bear all
37:15the material
37:16suffering.
37:17Right?
37:18Therefore
37:19discipline is
37:20needed.
37:21Am I
37:22talking of
37:23having
37:24higher
37:25pleasure?
37:26I am
37:27talking of
37:28having a
37:29higher quality
37:30of pleasure.
37:31Those who
37:32have known
37:33have called
37:34it joy.
37:35They have
37:36said even
37:37animals experience
37:38the cheap
37:39kind of
37:40pleasures.
37:41There is
37:42nothing in
37:43that.
37:44Can you
37:45experience
37:46the
37:47pleasure
37:48contained
37:49in
37:50conquering
37:51oneself?
37:52The role
37:53models must
37:54not be
37:55the ones
37:56who claim
37:57they have
37:58conquered
37:59the world.
38:00Rather look
38:01at the ones
38:02who did
38:03not allow
38:04the world
38:05to mean
38:06too much
38:07to them.
38:08That's
38:09called
38:10conquering
38:11oneself.
38:12And this
38:13is not
38:14some old
38:15fashioned
38:16nonsense.
38:17This that
38:18is being
38:19said is
38:20not
38:21attractive.
38:22I appreciate
38:23youth
38:24and
38:25inexperience
38:26and
38:27lack of
38:28education
38:29in the
38:30self.
38:31Therefore a
38:32lot of it
38:33simply would
38:34appear
38:35unbelievable.
38:36But it
38:37helps.