Is this an important question? || Acharya Prashant, with Delhi University (2022)

Video Information: Delhi University, 15.01.2022, Rishikesh, India

Context:
~ What work to choose in life?
~ Should one seek social validation while choosing work?
~ How important is money while choosing work?
~ Why do we often underestimate the circumstances?
~ Which work is best to do?

Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#acharyaprashant #DU

Transcript

00:00Sir, my question is, sir, whenever I, you know, sir, straight backbone is very necessary

00:17for anybody's spiritual growth. Whenever I try to make my backbone straight, I fails

00:23after more than, not more than half hour, I am unable to do that. So, what is the solution

00:31for this? You are asking the wrong person, mate. I have never focused on having any part

00:38of my body straight or something. Even at this moment, I really do not know that the

00:45shape of my backbone, I am not focusing on my posture at all. All I am caring about is

00:51having a certain posture and that enables me to be committed to you in the maximum way

01:01possible. I am not at this time concerned, worried about my body at all. There is something

01:08far more important I must attend to and that is what I am doing. So, I do not know whether

01:14backbone and such things are important to me. There is something else that is far more

01:20important and if you know you are focusing on the backbone, let me ask you, how will

01:28you know whether the backbone is a perfect perpendicular to the horizon, to the horizontal

01:36surface? Sir, when we stand, I think.

01:42When you stand, are you sure the backbone is exactly perpendicular to the horizontal

01:46surface? Is it? Because an absolute 90 degree angle is anyway never going to be possible

01:53and if that is what you demand for your spiritual growth, you will always find yourself lacking.

02:03Sometimes you might come close to being orthogonal to the surface, let us say 89.9 degrees, but

02:11even that is not a perfect 90 degree. I am not asking you to slouch or have a curved

02:18backbone, that's not the advice. I am not advising you to have a distorted body posture.

02:25What I am wondering is whether this is the most important thing to talk of, whether this

02:31is the most important question in the process of spirituality. So, these are, you know,

02:38in my opinion and experience, irrelevant questions. Yes?

02:46I am so sorry for this, but in yoga and asanas and that, sorry sir for this, I am very sorry.

02:56What are you sorry for?

03:00You said that these are very irrelevant, irrelevant type of questions.

03:11Asana and all are good for health. I do not denounce them. So, be it asana, mudra, pranayama,

03:24they are good for health and a good body is conducive to spiritual well-being. I fully

03:31will agree, but I also know that that is not the central thing or the most important question.

03:43If you will keep practicing your asana and the other things that you do in yoga, hatha

03:54yoga, you can practice till the dawn of your life and practice will never come to an end.

04:01That practice is not the goal of life. The goal of life is something else. Yes, obviously

04:08having a fit body, a healthy body helps and so with that end, if you want to practice

04:17your yoga, it's alright.

04:21Sir, another question is, like in Gita, Lord Shri Krishna said in 18.66, chapter 18, verse

04:316, sarva-dharman parityajya mamikam saranam ratham aham tvam sarvapapibhyo mokshishyami

04:36ma shujay. Sir, he said that abandon everything or every dharma and surrender on to me alone.

04:45I shall liberate you. I will give you moksha. So, sir, does it mean that we have to surrender

04:52everything and surrender on to Krishna alone and do his devotion and he will give us liberation

04:58and nothing is necessary, only devotion will do everything?

05:07Quit all small goals and focus only on the mightiest goal possible. That's what he is

05:17saying. Sarva-dharm means all your small goals, your small duties, small responsibilities,

05:26they are not worth anything. Mamikam saranam raj, focus only on the one real thing, devote

05:39your life to one mighty cause or end. Get rid of all the small distractions and desires.

05:52That is the import of this verse. And sir, in Brahma Sanhita, they say, Hare

06:01Naam, Hare Naam, Hare Naam, Kevalam, Kalo, Nastya, Nastya, Nastya, Vyatiranyatha.

06:07Exactly the same thing, exactly same thing, nothing else. Naam here refers to all the

06:14names and forms that appear to you as desires. All desires have a name, right? Have you ever

06:23desired something without name and form? So, what is being told is that everything that

06:29you desire is petty. Desire the highest, the ultimate, Mamikam Saranam Raj. Same thing

06:40has been repeated endlessly by various seers in all forms possible.

06:47Homa kahu mein anubhav apna. Acharya ji, my another question is, how much

07:01time we should give for Dhyan or Pooja in a day?

07:07Let's say, I say 8 hours, what will you do with the remaining 16?

07:13What will you do with the remaining 16? 8 hours is impossible for me.

07:26Even 8 hours is impossible? Even 8 hours is impossible?

07:30Pooja for Pooja is impossible, I think. Pooja of the kind that you practice, obviously

07:37can't do it for 8 hours. Real Pooja, 8 hours is too little. Similarly, for real Dhyan,

07:468 hours is very insufficient. Dhyan and Pooja, they have to be continuous, they have to be

07:5624 hours. So, how can we? First time in the conversation, there is a pause in your mind,

08:13right? You are prepared to pause and listen, good. How is it possible? With the kind of

08:24things that you do, it is not possible at all. The kind of Dhyan you practice, the kind

08:30of notions and knowledge that you have, it's not going to happen. Are you listening to me?

08:39This is Dhyan. But the books you have read have never told you that Dhyan is a simple

08:51thing. It has to be very ordinary. It has to be present in all conditions at all times.

09:00Are you right now devoted to understanding? This is Pooja. Hello, Mr. Pujari. But you

09:16have been told that unless you are offering flowers and fruits and incense to the deity,

09:24it's not Pooja. No. If you need to have a deity in front of you, a material figure in

09:34front of you, to worship at all times, then you will not be able to worship for too long.

09:44Real Pooja involves being devoted to the highest within. The highest within is the

09:54peak of consciousness. When you at all times want to aim at that, I want to be as conscious

10:01as possible, that is worship, Pooja. And therefore Pooja and Dhyan are one.

10:21Acharyaji, I have a follow-up question. May I ask? Yes, please.

10:27Sir, you told about consciousness and you also told that thought is materialist, it is a material thing.

10:34So, how can we find a difference between what is thought and what is consciousness?

10:39They are the same. The consciousness that we have is very thought-based. Therefore,

10:48you require attention. Attention uplifts consciousness. Thought is a mediocre level of consciousness.

11:02Being unthinking is a low level of consciousness. Getting it? So, we as human beings mostly

11:14practice a mediocre state of consciousness. We are thinking beings, but that state is

11:23however superior to the state of animals who do not think at all or to the state of human

11:29beings who do not think much. Attention is superior to thought. We said it uplifts consciousness.

11:43So, the more attentive you are, the higher is your state of consciousness.

11:48What does it mean to be attentive? To be attentive is to continuously remember your condition

11:57and therefore your imperative, your dharma. Your condition is of bondage and your dharma

12:04is to move towards liberation, to act in a way that challenges your bondages.

12:11Remembering this continuously is attention. When you remember this continuously, then

12:18you cannot patronize the frivolities of life. You know who you are. You are somebody in distress.

12:25You are somebody in chains. How can you allow your precious time and energy to be wasted

12:32away in trivial things? You are suffering and all you want is freedom from that suffering.

12:40This is attention. To want freedom continuously, always.

12:52Thank you Acharya Shree.

Is this an important question? || Acharya Prashant, with Delhi University (2022)

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