Is chanting just a religious ritual? || Acharya Prashant (2019)

Acharya Prashant

Full Video: Is chanting just a religious ritual? || Acharya Prashant, on Guru Granth Sahib (2019) Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJCzT0IcULw   Video Information: Advait Learning Camp, 26.04.2019, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India   Context: ~ Is chanting just a religious ritual? ~ How one can remember formless God?  ~ Why one should remember God?  ~ How does Lord rescue us from obstacles? ~ Are rituals meaningful?   जह मुसकल होवै अति भारी ॥ Where the obstacles are so very heavy, हरि को नामु खिन माहि उधारी ॥ The Name of the Lord shall rescue you in an instant. अनिक पुनहचरन करत नही तरै ॥ By performing countless religious rituals, you shall not be saved. हरि को नामु कोटि पाप परहरै ॥  The Name of the Lord washes off millions of sins. ~Sukhmani Sahib (Guru Granth Sahib) .   Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Transcript

00:00If the Lord's name is taken to be in the same dimension as the various worldly names

00:09that we know of, then the Lord's name just gets added to the repository of the million

00:17names we already have.

00:21It turns into something very ordinary, something very useless, rather something rather harmful.

00:33Now you're asking, how to ensure that the chanting of the Lord's name doesn't turn into

00:39another ritual?

00:42I've already answered that.

00:45A ritual is something that you add to your daily routine, don't you?

00:53A ritual is something affirmative.

00:55It is something additional.

00:57It is something incremental.

00:59It is something over and above what you're already doing.

01:03Whereas chanting the Lord's name is an act in negation.

01:13It is an act in subtraction.

01:17It is an exercise in realization, negation, deletion.

01:23So you are having a coffee table discussion with a client and a thousand names he is dropping

01:35to impress you and there are names of various things.

01:41There are names of currencies, there are names of figures, there are names of progress,

01:47there are names of various kinds of temptations and fears.

01:52And in this instant, you say, it's the Lord's name that's important.

02:03You are out of the spell.

02:09You have just managed to beat the trap.

02:14Are you getting it?

02:21How can it be a ritual?

02:24A ritual is something definite, positive, well-defined.

02:32Building something can be a ritual.

02:39Chanting the Lord's name is an exercise in destruction.

02:41How can that be a ritual?

02:43Because when you build something, you already have a blueprint.

02:46When you build something, it comes from an idea.

02:51When you build something, you already know in advance what you are going to build and

02:55therefore it can turn into a ritual.

02:59The Lord's name is when you cut down, bring down and demolish what you have built.

03:13How can it be ritualistic?

03:16To perform a ritual, you must know what the ritual is, right?

03:20And the ritual says, do this, do this, do this, do this.

03:25That's not how the method of remembrance of the name works.

03:31It works differently.

03:33It says in your daily routine, whenever any name starts to dominate you, put it away,

03:44cut it down.

03:45That's how this method works.

03:47This is a non-method.

03:50This is something that just keeps your tendency to be impressed and dominated in check.

04:02It cannot turn into a ritual.

04:04Try turning it into a ritual.

04:05What will you do?

04:08The Lord's name is like a sword.

04:11You cannot just exercise it.

04:19You cannot just dance with the sword.

04:23You cannot just rip through the air.

04:30There has to be something that appears definitive and on that definitive thing, the sword has

04:40to be applied.

04:42You get this?

04:44The sword by itself means nothing.

04:46The sword by itself is just an instrument of negation.

04:49No is what the sword stands for, no.

04:54This is not real.

04:55It must be cut down.

04:56That's what the sword stands for.

05:02That's how this method works.

05:05Anything becomes too much on you, wield the sword, hack that thing down.

05:13In this world, everything has a name.

05:19The method works on everything in the world.

05:23Because if anything is to dominate you, it would dominate you through a name.

05:28You would be able to say, this is dominating me, X is dominating me, Y is dominating me.

05:33There's nothing in the world that is not a name.

05:38There is nothing in the world that is not a name and there is nothing in the world that

05:41is not hollow.

05:42Therefore, no name with all its hollowness should be allowed to overpower you.

05:55Had chanting of the Lord's name been another affirmative activity, another definite activity,

06:03there was a danger, some probability that it could have turned into a ritual.

06:08But it is not an exercise in affirmation at all.

06:12It is an exercise in negation of Maya.

06:15Therefore, it cannot be a ritual.

06:17It is to be exercised only when Maya strikes.

06:21Okay, tell me, can using a fire extinguisher be a ritual?

06:33It cannot be a ritual because the fire extinguisher is used only when there is fire.

06:41Otherwise the fire extinguisher just happily sits and hangs on the wall.

06:50Does it not?

06:53For years it is possible that the fire extinguisher is not needed to be used.

06:58It is used only when there is a need.

07:00Therefore, it cannot be a ritual.

07:03Are you getting this?

07:13Having fire in your kitchen can be a ritual.

07:18There is the stove in the kitchen and routinely there is fire.

07:26The flame is needed to cook food.

07:30That can be a ritual.

07:33But can the fire alarm be a ritual?

07:36No, the fire alarm works only when the fire has gone out of hand, it has become problematic,

07:43it has started going beyond its limits.

07:49The name of the Lord is like the fire extinguisher or the fire alarm.

07:53It works only when there is a problem.

07:56If there is no problem, it is not needed.

07:59But as far as we are concerned, there is always a problem.

08:01So the name of the Lord is always needed.

08:04Therefore, those who gave this method, they also told you that once you are one with the

08:12truth, then the name is no more needed.

08:18You are the name.

08:20You are one with the one who is being named, therefore what will you do with the name now?

08:29Go to the Upanishads and they tell you, once you are liberated, please drop us, please

08:36do not read us anymore.

08:39Because we are useful only when there is a need, otherwise there is no need to take recourse

08:46to us.

08:51The name of the Lord just hacks down the unnecessary.

08:56It does not build or create anything by itself, therefore it cannot be a ritual.

09:03Eating food can be a ritual, taking a medicine cannot be a ritual.

09:07The name of the Lord is like a medicine.

09:09It is needed only as long as there is a disease.

09:12If there is a disease, the medicine will work, otherwise the medicine is quite unnecessary.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended