Video Information: 10.10.23, IIM-Konversations, Greater Noida
Context:
~ Do people need to be protected on the basis of their caste?
~ What is Karma?
~ What is destiny?
~ What decide the quality of action?
~ Which matters the most Karta or Karma?
~ How to detach from attachments?
Transcript
Follow along using the transcript.
Context:
~ Do people need to be protected on the basis of their caste?
~ What is Karma?
~ What is destiny?
~ What decide the quality of action?
~ Which matters the most Karta or Karma?
~ How to detach from attachments?
Transcript
Follow along using the transcript.
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00 Acharya ji and I have a few rapid fire questions as we call it because we have been discussing
00:08 for a long time and I will not take any more of your time.
00:11 I will straight away jump to those questions and the first one is what are some non-negotiables
00:21 in your everyday routine in your opinion?
00:25 Reading the reports that come from various departments in my organization, that is something
00:35 I do that without fail.
00:40 And the second thing is reading before I retire and sleep.
00:47 I read on a daily basis something, anything, but I definitely read and the reports.
00:55 I cannot go to bed without looking at the reports.
00:58 In fact, if people sleep without sending the reports, I go and wake them up.
01:04 Any favorite book or author that has deeply influenced your thinking?
01:07 I know for a fact that you yourself are an author who have written countless books now.
01:12 That's a no-brainer, Upanishads.
01:14 The Upanishads.
01:15 Do you still read them?
01:18 Oh, obviously, that's not something you can ever get over with.
01:23 You have to go through them again and I have to read because I teach them.
01:28 So the Kathopanishad is what I'm currently teaching.
01:31 The first time I taught Kathopanishad was more than 10 years ago.
01:34 So I go back to them and I go through them over and over again and again every few years.
01:44 Super.
01:46 Do you have any podcast recommendations that you listen to?
01:49 You said that some of these people that people consume is absolute garbage.
01:55 Do you recommend something that people should listen to?
01:58 Not really.
01:59 Okay, we'll move on.
02:03 What's the last book you read and enjoyed beyond Upanishads?
02:08 If I have to ask you any fiction book?
02:12 Fiction would be like just so many years back, I don't have any memory.
02:17 The one that I'm currently reading is by Wu Sin, the forgotten book of Wu Sin and it's
02:29 called Five Volumes on Non-duality.
02:34 I don't know whether it's readily available in the market, but it's a wonderful piece.
02:40 You could say the Chinese equivalent of Ribhugita.
02:47 What is the most challenging aspect of you being a writer?
02:50 I can see so many books written here over the years probably that you have written.
02:55 Do you also have a writer's block?
02:57 I don't have a writer's block.
02:58 I have a time block.
03:00 The most challenging aspect is finding the time to write.
03:04 So the next one has been on the table for more than a year now.
03:10 And the publisher has been gently reminding that I must send the final manuscript before
03:19 I came to you today after many, many days.
03:26 I've been able to work on that book for some six hours today.
03:32 I don't find the time.
03:34 That's the block.
03:37 Should people be scared of artificial intelligence?
03:40 No, no, people should rather be scared of not having true intelligence.
03:49 Okay, I really like that answer.
03:55 If you were born again in the body of a 22 year old, the experiences that you have had,
04:05 would you like to do the same again or would you do something else in your life?
04:13 The first thing, nobody ever gets born again.
04:16 So that's a very important part of my teaching.
04:20 But for the sake of the answer, if I were to speak to my 22 year old self, I would say
04:29 commit yourself more rigorously to sports.
04:36 There are three racquet sports that I play and then four rather, including table tennis
04:43 and then there is cricket, the ubiquitous one in India.
04:48 But I would have loved to excel.
04:51 I play well, but I cannot claim a level of performance I would rather want to have.
05:02 So that's one thing I'll tell myself, commit yourself with much more love to your sports.
05:12 And the second thing, save time as much as possible, read even more, read even more,
05:26 trust yourself more.
05:28 You can save time.
05:32 I have experimented a lot with life, but probably there have been phases when the results were
05:40 more or less clear, yet I persisted with the experimentation phase because I was still
05:50 feeling uncertain.
05:51 So I would advise myself to trust myself more and hence save time.
05:57 Right.
05:58 Thank you very much, Acharyaji.
06:01 On that note, I'll draw close to this particular conversation.
06:05 I hope that people who are listening to this enriching podcast, they'll get something
06:11 out of it.
06:13 I definitely am going back with a lot of learning.
06:17 I expected to learn from you.
06:20 And as I mentioned that I came in here as somebody who wants to pick your brains, wants
06:27 to challenge a few ideas that I have, that probably you have, and probably a lot of people
06:33 in our generation have.
06:35 And I hope that I did justice to it to whatever extent possible.
06:39 And I would leave that to the audience for us to tell.
06:42 Do tell us who you want in this particular seat in the next episode in the Conversations
06:47 Cafe podcast.
06:48 Do tell us how this particular episode was for you.
06:52 Do share it with your friends who think, who you think needs to hear this that we spoke
06:57 about today.
06:59 And do subscribe to the channel if you like our content.
07:02 Thank you very much, Acharyaji.
07:03 It was lovely having you.
07:05 Thank you.
07:06 [Music]