00:00By not adoring the worthy, people will not fall into dispute.
00:16By not valuing the hard to get objects, people will not become robbers.
00:25By not seeing the desires of lust, one's heart will not be confused.
00:32Therefore, the governing of the saint is to empty one's mind, substantiate one's virtue,
00:38weaken one's worldly ambition and strengthen one's essence.
00:44He lets the people to be innocent of worldly knowledge and desire and keeps the clever
00:49ones from making trouble with their wits.
00:53Acts naturally without desire, then everything will be accomplished in its natural order.
01:04The first three lines in the above verse are a bit confusing.
01:11Can you please help me to understand them?
01:14Also, how does a saint let people be innocent of worldly knowledge and desire and the clever
01:21ones from making trouble with their wits.
01:24Thank you for your guidance, Nimisha.
01:30First three lines in the above verse are a bit confusing.
01:34And how does the saint let, okay, first three lines first.
01:40By not adoring the worthy, people will not fall into dispute.
01:44By not valuing the hard to get objects, people will not become robbers.
01:48By not seeing the desires of lust, one's heart will not be confused.
01:57Action is being traced to the value behind the action.
02:04How does one become a robber?
02:09By valuing material objects.
02:15How do people fall into disputes?
02:20By adhering to ideologies and to role models.
02:27How does the mind get confused?
02:34By constantly looking at the various objects of lust and attraction.
02:47That's what Lao Tzu is saying here, Nimisha.
02:56The central attraction appears harmless.
03:06That's how the game begins.
03:10When one is being attracted by ideologies or role models, at that time they appear sublime
03:38and tasteful.
03:47And one feels that there would only be benefits.
03:54But what appears beneficial in the beginning leads to a strife soon after.
04:02How did the subscriber to an ideology feel when he came upon the ideology the first time?
04:20He felt elevated.
04:26How did the subscriber to the opposing ideology feel when he subscribed to it the first time?
04:37He too felt elevated.
04:40But very soon these two would clash.
04:45Lao Tzu is talking against principles.
04:54He is saying when you live on patterns, and principles are patterns, when you live on
04:59patterns, strife is the inevitable result.
05:09It's sweet to begin with, bitter in the end.
05:21People have killed each other, murdered each other since centuries in the name of faith,
05:34denomination, thought, principles, ideologies.
05:52How does it relate to adoring the worthy?
05:55When you adore one who is worthy, you also adore his actions, thoughts, words.
06:07Hardly do you ever reach the center of his actions.
06:13Hardly do you ever reach his heart.
06:17But you end up copying and emulating his actions.
06:23You do not reach the source from where his words originate.
06:28But you do mug up his words and you turn them into principles.
06:36And when you are the principled one, you are bound to clash with those who appear unprincipled.
06:50Similarly he says, by not valuing the heart to get objects, people will not become robbers.
06:57The more you install the world as a value in people, the more likely they are to get
07:16into social chaos.
07:23Even in society there is conflict and chaos because all are running after worldly goods.
07:33One wondrous thing with the truth is that it cannot be reduced, that it cannot get diminished.
07:49You keep dividing it and distributing it.
07:54It still remains whole and total.
07:58But that is not the case with worldly objects.
08:02Everything in the world is limited.
08:06So if the people are running after truth, there is going to be no conflict.
08:10Everybody can have the truth.
08:15You can have as much truth as you want to have and there would still remain an infinite
08:22supply of truth.
08:26But if the people of the world are running after a cake or a piece of land, then there
08:31is bound to be conflict.
08:34Because not everybody can have infinite land.
08:40Everything in the world is limited.
08:43That's what Lao Tzu is saying.
08:45The more you value the world, the more anarchy there is in the society.
08:52Two men, if they both are lovers of God, can both have God.
09:03But two men, if they both are lovers of a woman, probably they both can't have her.
09:11That's the thing with wanting anything worldly.
09:14It is always in short supply.
09:16First of all, it is in short supply.
09:18Secondly, when you get it, it is not what you wanted to get.
09:24Truth is immutable.
09:29So if you get the truth, it would remain the same after 30 years.
09:33But the woman, after 30 years, that's too much to think of.
09:41After three years, even that is too long a period to sustain.
09:47Even after three months, she does not remain what she appeared to be.
09:55Lao Tzu is saying, if you have to run after something, you better run after that which
10:03is always there to be taken, never deceives you
10:20and is not going to ever change.
10:31Is there any love affair in which both parties do not feel cheated?
10:37They may still carry on in spite of being cheated.
10:41That is alright.
10:47But they all carry this sting.
10:55This is not how it was supposed to pan out.
11:01But now that the TV has been brought home after spending so much, it cannot be smashed
11:07on the floor.
11:08Too much investment has gone into it.
11:12So we will carry on with it.
11:13But surely this is not what we had signed up for.
11:21There is no lover in the world who is not putting up a brave face and is smarting within.
11:34Oh no, what is it that I have brought home?
11:44With God, that risk is not there.
11:56There is no possibility of any complaints because nobody remains to complain.
12:03God is the ultimate purchase.
12:05After that there is nobody left to purchase anything.
12:12Poison on the menu.
12:13Order it and then you would never order anything else.
12:34And then by not seeing the desires of lust, one's heart will not be confused.
12:47When you know what it is that simply puts you off the right track, why do you get into
12:58it again and again?
13:02It's not that you do not know the beginnings of it.
13:06You know how it begins and still you let it begin.
13:10And then you complain, oh such and such thing happened with me.
13:32This is what is called in Indian scriptures as Indriya Nigraha and sometimes as Dham.
14:02Do not let the eyes see what the eyes must not see.
14:06Do not let the ears hear what the ears must not hear.
14:10Do not let the mind think what the mind must not think of.
14:17Once you let it begin, then it is like that cereal cracker containing a thousand mini
14:28bombs, Hazar ki Ladi.
14:34All that you do is, you show a little bit of flame to the first baby cracker and after
14:49that it is unstoppable.
14:54When you know what it is, why do you unnecessarily play with fire?
15:24Then she asks, how does a saint let people be innocent of worldly knowledge and desire?
15:34And how does the saint prevent the clever ones from making trouble with their wits?
15:46This is how.
15:48What did Lao Tzu do his entire life?
15:53He taught, he told, he exposed.
15:56That's what the saint does.
15:59And if he has a little more love, then he demonstrates.
16:05And if he has gone crazy in love, then he fights for the people.
16:17How does a saint let people be innocent of worldly knowledge?
16:22By showing them what worldly knowledge does to them.
16:28He becomes a mirror.
16:30He displays their life to them.
16:38How does the saint prevent the clever ones from making trouble with their wits?
16:43In the same way.
16:47See what your cleverness is bringing to you.
16:52It's obvious and no one knows that better than you because you are bearing the results.
16:59Please see whether you are really free, really blissful.
17:05Please see whether you really like the state you are in.
17:10These are the questions that he asks.
17:15He implores them to fight their real battles.
17:23Sometimes he assists them in fighting their battles.
17:29Sometimes he even fights their battles on their behalf.
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