Is a living teacher necessary? || Acharya Prashant, on Vedanta (2021)

Acharya Prashant

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Transcript

00:00Namaskar Acharya ji. The first question today comes from the US. The participant has been

00:14listening to you for a very long time now. She asks, Namaste Acharya ji. Does knowledge

00:22of Vedanta comes from listening with the presence and the teachings of a level master or can

00:29knowledge be also grasped without the master's life presence or any kind of direct help?

00:42Can the knowledge be had by listening to the videos and reading the master's words?

00:50You see, theoretically yes, it is possible to have that knowledge from books.

01:08Theoretically yes, it is possible.

01:10You see, today I was in the Gita Press shop here in Rishikesh.

01:26Several hundred titles they had, right, and in that shop it somehow was so that most people

01:52seem to know me. So there was this young man and he came to me and he said that he

02:07has been reading spiritual texts since long but he does not seem to comprehend them.

02:26And so I took him to a certain part of the shop and gave him two books that I know would help him.

02:46That's the situation you see. Firstly, there are so many books and often what the books are saying

03:00is not much in agreement with what the other books are saying. The books contradict each other.

03:19You do not get to begin with the right book because there are different sects, communities, streams

03:37and they seem to give importance to different kinds, different categories of books.

03:44All books appear important and if you randomly start with something, it is not necessary that it will be the best text for you.

03:56So firstly, there is so much of literature. What is it that you must begin with?

04:06Secondly, even if you lay your hands on the right book, it is not simple to comprehend what the book is saying.

04:26You were today with me and you were flipping through the pages of the Bhagavad Gita and you asked me,

04:43what is this about Adhibhut, Adhidaya and Adhiyagya? And even as I did explain that to you, I realized that moment

05:03that it would be very difficult for you to get it on your own or to get it purely through a translation.

05:14Because the translation was available to you. The translation was very much there. The translation didn't help.

05:23So that's the situation you see. Theoretically, yes, it is possible that merely books may suffice.

05:33In my own life, I must clearly tell that I have relied a lot on books.

05:46So I would be the last person to say that books on their own cannot help. They have helped me and I'll admit that.

06:01But do books help everybody? Again, an ideal answer would be yes.

06:08A practical answer is no. Even in a normal educational school, you require a teacher on top of the books.

06:27The students have their books and the students have a teacher. It's a combination that clicks.

06:39Next you said, can videos suffice? Well, videos are probably a little more useful than books.

06:57In the sense that in videos you have not only words but also visuals. So they are a little more useful.

07:10And then a little more useful than even the videos are interactive sessions like the one we are having right now.

07:22You are watching me through a video medium but are interacting with me real time.

07:36And even better than this online interaction is face-to-face interaction.

07:41So these are levels of communication with the truth.

07:52The first level is the text.

08:01Then there is the video. Then there is an online kind of virtual interaction.

08:11And then there is the face-to-face thing.

08:16And I'll repeat, I am in no way saying that books alone can't suffice.

08:29You see, books are the bedrock.

08:34Even if there is a face-to-face interaction, it has to be assisted, aided by a book.

08:43Like it happens in a classroom. The teacher is there and the student is there.

08:49And in between the teacher and the student is the textbook.

08:53So the textbook is of course always important.

09:00Any form of teaching that does not include a textbook is extremely prone to duplicity and also mischief.

09:17You do not know what is going on.

09:20The book lends a certain authenticity, authority, credibility.

09:29Because the words are not flimsy things.

09:35They are not like our thoughts or ideas or opinions.

09:40They don't change overnight.

09:43Two people are talking to each other, trying to convince each other of something.

09:50Very forcefully let's say.

09:52Next day you might find that these two people have themselves changed their positions, their ideas.

09:59That cannot happen with a book.

10:03A book comes into existence after a lot of thought.

10:09It is something set in concrete.

10:18It is not ephemeral, perishable, momentary.

10:30It is frozen in time.

10:34A bit like the truth.

10:36A bit like the truth.

10:41Not changing with time.

10:44But if a person is teaching the other, then his thoughts or ideas can change tomorrow.

10:52Therefore, the quality of the content that a book communicates to you is bound to be higher.

11:09We talked of these four levels of learning.

11:16Let's say Vedanta.

11:18In each of these levels, the book plays a very important role.

11:27So it is not whether the book is important or not.

11:30The book is absolutely important.

11:33The question is, is the book sufficient by itself?

11:39It is always important, but not always sufficient.

11:44Sometimes you require something plus the book.

11:51The book you would always require.

11:53The text is an imperative unconditionally.

12:02But with the text, you sometimes also require a perceiving consciousness.

12:13Who can know the fact of the student's life.

12:20Who can look into your eyes and read your mind.

12:27That's something the book cannot do.

12:32But the living teacher can do.

12:37However, as I say this, I must warn you.

12:41A living teacher who does not bond with books is a much more dangerous proposition than learning from books alone.

13:08We have said sometimes books are important but not sufficient.

13:17So we have a problem, right?

13:19The books do not always suffice on their own.

13:23But this problem is a small problem.

13:30The big problem is a teacher who has nothing to do with books.

13:39Books without a teacher is a small problem.

13:42Teacher without books is a huge problem.

13:51Books without a teacher is a problem in the sense that you will have difficulty in comprehension.

13:56And you may take a long time coming to realization.

14:00So that's the problem.

14:01Then it's a small problem.

14:03All that is happening is that your task is becoming difficult.

14:09What could happen in 2 years will probably take 10 years.

14:15But a far far bigger problem is to be with a teacher who contradicts books or is not with books or condemns books.

14:27Here it's not a question of 2 years versus 10 years.

14:31You are never going to arrive.

14:32In fact, your task is being made more difficult.

14:42It's not that you are progressing slowly.

14:46No, you are not progressing at all.

14:48You are regressing.

14:52You are not advancing.

14:53You are retreating.

14:57So the best thing is books plus teacher.

15:01In a nutshell, the best thing is books plus teacher.

15:07But if you can't have books plus teacher, have books.

15:14Best is books plus teacher.

15:16But if you can't have books plus teacher, have books.

15:19The worst thing is to have a teacher who sends books.

15:23That's worst.

15:24Unfortunately, this worst option is exercised by most people.

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