Is This Really What You're Living For? || Acharya Prashant, IIT Hyderabad (2025)

Is This Really What You're Living For? || Acharya Prashant, IIT Hyderabad (2025)

Author Name:Acharya Prashant

Youtube Channel Url:https://www.youtube.com/@AcharyaPrashant

Youtube Video URL:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJciDdbgOxE



Transcript:
(00:00) There is one that wants to sleep. There is one that wants to study. You have an exam tomorrow. Which one are you talking of? This one or this one? The nature of body is to die. The nature of this one is to just eat, sleep, reproduce, and die. That's what this body is for. Have you seen? Does it ask for anything else? >> This is classical.
(00:20) This is non-classical. Similarly, in our body, too, there is something which is >> Now, tell me, are you or are you not? You cannot laugh at that, right? >> Yes. But, we have to find it out, I guess. >> The moment you say something is lovable, it's gone, finished. I love you is the most violent statement.
(00:41) The moment this says, "I love this." This is hacked out. You talk of science. All that science can deal with is the body and the brain. It is about the body. Science is wonderful when it comes to >> Nature has made us such that we always make groups and love them. For example, we start from family, then caste, then religion.
(01:06) Even the countries that are also man-made lines. So, isn't it the basic nature nature has kind of made all the living beings like that to make a good group. So, what would be the actual difference between the love itself and man-made love? >> You have an exam tomorrow. Body feels like sleeping. Right? Body feels like sleeping. But, then you say you have to study.
(01:33) There are two of you. Please understand. And we have talked of it. There is the participant and there is the observer. There are two within. So, when you say nature has made me like this, which me are you talking of? This one or this one? There is one that wants to sleep. There is that one that wants to study.
(01:55) You have an exam tomorrow. Which one are you talking of? >> Yes. >> Yes, and both are happy following their own nature. The nature of body is to die. The nature of this is to witness the death. The nature of this is to blindly do what the hormones say. The nature of this is to stay unaffected from any chemicals, any material.
(02:27) Therefore, when you say nature has made us like this, you are right. The body has been made like this. In the journey of evolution, yes. Groupism helped. Faced with a wild animal, it helped if you were in a group of 10. It helped. But when it comes to inner illumination, if you are still in a crowd, that's a problem. That won't help.
(02:57) When it comes to the body, certain things help. Most often, these are the same things that do not help who you really are. So, that's where you have to have a heart and the courage to drop. Huh? And willingness to pay the price. Yes, there are certain things that the body will dislike, but I'll still opt for them. Because I am not the body.
(03:35) The body has its own interests. I have my own. The body wants to sleep. I want to study. There are these two. Why should I follow the nature of this one? The nature of this one is to just eat, sleep, reproduce, and die. That's what this body is for. Have you seen Does it ask for anything else? In fact, whenever you want to do something important, you find body becomes a hurdle after a point.
(04:07) It either wants to sleep or something. It gets tired. Something. >> Uh is it so for example in physics we say this is classical, this is non-classical. So similarly in our body too in our uh self too, there is something which is >> Both classical and non-classical are man-made theories. So they both belong to this.
(04:30) So we are not talking of uh the two here. No. >> So but here these two there are certain levels where we are bifurcating these two. >> Yes, we are. We are we are. But these two are not uh analogous to classical and non-classical. This is all that is existential, open to experience. This is nowhere. This this we are saying is only in a matter of language.
(05:01) Otherwise, this is non-present. Its job is to see all that is present. By itself, it is really not present. If it were present, then it would be a part of this. So it is not really present, but it can see all that which is present. And this is who you are. Now tell me, are you or are you not? You can only laugh at that, right? Are you or you not? >> Yes.
(05:36) Yes. We have to find it out, I guess. >> In Zen, they they [music] respond to such questions with moo. What does moo mean? The answer. Huh? The the the the extent of the answer is beyond the scope of the question. So, can't say yes. And also can't say no. >> So, is the observer effect of that one hampering this one or is that >> very well said. Lovely.
(06:09) Lovely. Very well said. Very very well said. So, when this no more remains an observer, then this suffers badly or gets distorted. Gets distorted. Just as you're supposed to, let's say, watch all this. Let's say this is a jungle. But instead of being the observer, you become a consumer. Then what happens to the jungle? You hack it down.
(06:36) You clear away the jungle. You say, "I want timber. I want fruit. I want land. I want to build a resort." What are you doing now? Instead of observing the flow of the river and the and the song of the wind and the flight of the birds, you are saying, "I I'm no more content with observing. I want to consume. I want to catch that bird and eat it up.
(06:59) " And that will destroy the jungle. So, that will destroy this and that will also destroy this because it has not dropped its nature. Its nature was to >> observe. >> Observe. Instead of that, it has now become >> consumer. >> Consumer. So, this will suffer and this too will suffer. And this is climate change. >> Oh.
(07:19) >> [applause] >> So, all the species will get wiped out and man too will get wiped out. You are supposed to just just observe them in love, not interfere so much. Not be their consumer. Huh? But just the observer of their beauty. But the thing with us is we have defined beauty in a way that whenever we call something as beautiful, it is threatened.
(07:50) The moment you say something is beautiful, now you will leap on, tear it apart, and eat it up. The moment you say something is lovable, it's gone, finished. Just yesterday I was quoting, I love chicken. What happens to the hen now? Gone. I love you is the most violent statement. This is gone.
(08:17) The The moment this says, I love this, this is hacked down. >> So, love is also holding it apart. >> False love, man-made love, just like man-made religion. You see, when you are at a place you should not be, right? You want to You want to get away from there, huh? And that you can call as attraction towards freedom. Huh? You asked me a question.
(08:47) How would you feel if if if the question is important to you, and yet I don't answer? >> I will >> You'll feel suffocated. Yes, this is love for knowledge. Similarly, when when let's say you're handcuffed, how do you feel? >> Suffocated. >> Yeah, that's love for freedom. So, that's what love is. Love is meaningful only in the context of an unnatural state.
(09:18) When you are at a place you should not be, then you feel attracted to the place you should be at. That's love. So, the your nature, for example, is to I said continuously know, right? And when you don't know, how do you feel? Uneasy. That is love. That is love. Therefore, love is characterized by restlessness.
(09:42) Restlessness. Even in the ordinary kind of physical love, don't you feel restless? You say, "I want that and without that I'll continue feeling >> restless. >> Restless. Yeah. True love is, "I want freedom and without that freedom I continue feeling >> restless. >> Restless. Yeah, that's love. That's love. >> Okay.
(10:02) >> And And in physical terms, that translates into being with a person who can rid you of your bondages. >> With whom I can experience freedom. >> Yes. Yes. Being in a classroom then can be love. Being in a laboratory then can be love. Reading a book then can be love. >> So, is it is is it ever a third-person thing? For example, with someone if I feel free >> you're in a classroom, there is a teacher.
(10:33) And what the teacher is bringing you is freedom from ignorance. So, what you see happening there is love. It's an exercise in love happening there. Though you won't call it as love. For example, nobody would say this is a love affair. But it really is in existential terms. >> What if the sense of freedom is itself flawed and what they seek is completely flawed by their own karma.
(10:55) >> Then you'll continue to suffer. >> Yeah. >> And suffering itself means something has gone wrong already. >> Like initially for that person it he may feel rejuvenated. >> Temporary. >> Really? >> And then in the long term he will have to deal with the consequences of life itself. >> Yes.
(11:11) Yes. Yes. Therefore, you have to learn from experience. I thought this would bring me freedom, but did it? And having failed here, now I want to go to that. I failed with him, now I want to go to her. But must I not before that ascertain that she is not this person, the same person wearing wearing another attire? Do you see this? That's what most of our desirous love is like.
(11:43) I suffer with one object, one person, one idea, one place, one endeavor. I suffer there. >> [snorts] >> Then I hop on to the next one without caring to realize that the next one is fundamentally like the previous one. So, I'm only extending my suffering. Right? And this is then not love. Right? This blind desire that just keeps seeking variable objects.
(12:08) And that doesn't help. >> Why do you think we have it fundamentally like why how is it evolved in us through time? >> [laughter] >> Why do we have it? Why etc. exist? This very question, you see, why is a paradigm. Whyness indicates causality. All causality exists only in the in the world of the ego. Otherwise, there is no whyness.
(12:40) Whyness is only when this leads to that. And that happens only in the world of the the objects. And when the ego is is too obsessed with objects, then the question of why arises. Otherwise, it just is. Just is. The There There is no why. It just is. >> I mean, once we understand it, then we can choose like we can perform better.
(13:04) Like we we'll be able to identify that. >> Yes. Yes. It happens. You don't do it, but it happens. All kinds of betterment happens. >> Mhm. That's [clears throat] why like because even evolutionarily like there will be some purpose like we have derived this in our in our brain. >> All purpose is individual. Individual.
(13:23) Evolution has only one purpose, continuity. >> Yeah. I mean, even if we die, whatever we do >> Yeah. >> their life is still >> doesn't matter to evolution if one member of a species dies. >> Even if World War III happens right now, Mother Nature won't really care about us. >> Yes.
(13:39) Yes. So, our purpose is for this one. And its purpose is to come to purposelessness. Hm? It has It has uh assumed purposefulness by attaching itself with with this. It said, "This is my purpose." But here it is suffering. Here it is suffering. So, now the right purpose is to disentangle. Unengage. Disengage. Be here. And play. >> Yeah.
(14:14) So, like what what do you sannyasis do it? Like do they actually do it in the same [laughter] thing? Is there like a specific way what that they do it? >> Uh what do you mean by a sannyasi? Somebody wearing a particular attire? >> Yeah, that's all it's stere- it's stereotyped. >> All that is man-made. >> Yeah, exactly.
(14:29) But then, what do you like how can can you clear up the definition for all of us? >> Yeah, yeah. Sannyas simply means dropping the needless. Refusing to be stupid. That is sannyas. >> So, they they might have a predefined need for them, right? Like for example, >> have that need. It's just that some are more more honest towards their own needs.
(14:51) And some of us are loveless enough to suppress our own inner needs. >> Like for for me, let's say my need is to socialize with people. >> No, that's not your need. No, no, no. Nobody has that need. You socialize for a purpose. You see, figure out what that purpose is. And then there would be a purpose behind that purpose. And if you continue, you will you will circle back to yourself.
(15:14) You are the ultimate purpose of all your efforts. And if you see that, then instead of going out, you will go within. >> But it's as as it's like even said in scientific journals where human beings only survive well when there is a stimulation of some sort for them. >> They are they are they are they are dealing with the body.
(15:33) When you talk of science, all that science can deal with is the body and the brain. >> And that that is also affecting their own consciousness as well, right? Their own >> That affects only when you become a participant, no more an observer. So, all that science is saying is wonderful. But remember that is not about you. It is about the body.
(15:52) Science is not lying to you. But there is an agency mismatch. What science is saying is great, but it is not about you. So, there is a great scientific discovery, for example, about my thumb. So, it is about this thing. It is not about me. Science is wonderful when it comes to thumbs. But science is helpless when it comes to the self.
(16:22) >> Because even isolated confinement is considered a cruelest form of torture in any >> Yes, when it comes to the body because the body requires the body and the mind, they require company of some kind. Yes, but the same thing gets totally reversed when it comes to who you really are. That one feels suffocated in a crowd.
(16:41) >> Yeah, but then the mind will the mind function the its best in such a >> The best functioning is when both adhere to their nature. This one needs a crowd. That's the nature. This one needs a crowd. Give it the crowd. Let it have the crowd. This one is an individual. This one can be only in aloneness.
(17:03) So, even in the middle of the crowd, this must be alone. And the crowd is something you can never avoid even if you try to. So, let this be freely mingling with all kinds of crowds. Outer crowds, mental crowds. Right? Because it's nature is to be crowded. Is there anything material in the universe that does not interact with rest of the particles in the universe? Is it possible? No.
(17:33) Similarly, this too is a particle and it will interact with the rest of the universe. Let it freely interact. But this one, it's nature is to be one and only one. Only one. This should not impose its nature on this and this should not be allowed to impose its nature on this. So, you can go to the party, dance, mingle, socialize as much as you want to, but internally you must still remain untouched. That's who you are.
(18:08) >> Uh so, uh there are two bodies. One is the observer. No, no, no, sorry. There are two One is the observer and another is a consumer. So, is there some If if I am saying there is an observer self, so is there any supreme observer which is observing everything? Do we have something like that? >> can be one supreme observer here.
(18:31) >> It can go to infinity like that. >> And if this happens, then this happens. If the three of If these three have somebody behind them, then are these three observers or observed? >> Observed. >> Observed. Then they'll not be on that side of the cup, then they'll be on this side of the cup because they are the observed phenomena.
(19:03) Which means there can be only one observer always. If this observer has somebody behind him, then this one is no more than observer. It is the observed one. >> So is it what called Advait we say? >> You can call it Advait. >> Hello sir. My name is Deepshikha and I'm from AI department the first year PhD student.
(19:29) Since childhood girls are trained so that they can follow the religious practice and rituals. And the other thing like the woman always keep praying and having fast for husband and sons. We are not to feel the same as my mother feel about the religion. So my question is how should being a woman or a girl treat a religion? >> It's not a question that that pertains only to the current situation.
(20:07) Man-made religion was always ugly. Man-made religion was always always ugly. There is a great difference between religion and man-made religion. That is that is ugly and that has always been ugly. The kind of religion you see being practiced all around has always been ugly. No doubt about it. >> That's what happens throughout history as in like initially when during his foundation it will definitely mean something.
(20:42) Uh for example like we know the caste system that we have that we know now. Initially it might just be a like a like a flowchart of how a system is how any system is but then now we are using that for human greed where we categorize them based on their caste or so like that. >> It is not something that can flow from the past to the present.
(21:03) It has to be individually discovered by each human being. In each generation at each point in time, religion is not ancestral property. It is not a thing of legacy. You cannot say our glorious forefathers bequeathed it and we have inherited it. >> It has to be evolved with time, but that's what we didn't >> No, I'm not saying that.
(21:30) I'm saying each child is born ignorant. And the journey from ignorance to illumination is religion. And each one of us has to do it for herself. Yes, the past can help, but the past can also be a big impediment. You have to travel on your own because it's your own life. Right? Most of what we know as religion is not religion at all.
(22:00) It is a very vicious distortion of religion. Religion is uh >> Uh personally, I think uh I believe in only humanity as a religion. >> Only? >> Only humanity. >> What's that? >> [laughter] >> Uh like without uh one particular God, there are some set of rules which >> Where do those rules come from? >> We made it. >> So, that is as bad as man-made religion.
(22:27) If the chef is bad, huh? Would the pizza be better than the cake? If the chef is is a drunkard or totally mad, would the pizza be better than the cake? Then what is this new religion called humanity? Man-made religion. This humanity also is equally corrupted and distorted because it is coming from you. >> Yeah, I think that's where the problem lies where religion they try to tell us foundation concepts where we cannot even question it ourselves.
(22:59) >> Obviously. >> That's That's where it falls apart. >> See, religion is the journey from your native biological state of ignorance. Mhm? To a state where you see that and you see this. And therefore, you are no more in ignorance about either of them. That is religion. A movement from darkness to understanding.
(23:31) Apart from this, there is nothing called religion. These rituals, traditions, whatever, the stories, they don't uh constitute religion. They're just tradition, and that tradition can be of no help. >> Just download the Acharya Prashant app. >> And there you go to the community section. And you have live testimonials streaming in at the rate of one every 5 minutes.
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