It takes a lot to know Krishna || Acharya Prashant, on Bhagavad Gita (2020)

Acharya Prashant

Video Information: 05.04.2020, Month of Awakening, Greater Noida  Context:  यो मामजमनादिं च वेत्ति लोकमहेश्वरम् | असम्मूढ: स मर्त्येषु सर्वपापै: प्रमुच्यते ||3||          yo māmajam anādiṁ cha vetti loka-maheśhvaram          asammūḍhaḥ sa martyeṣhu sarva-pāpaiḥ pramuchyate He who knows Me, Birth less and Beginning less, the Great Lord of Worlds-he, among mortals, is undeluded, he is freed from all sins. ~ Shreemad Bhagvad Gita (Chapter - 10)  ~ If Krishna exist in human form then why Krishna says himself  birth less? ~ Who is freed from all sins? ~ What is Liberation? ~ What is meaning of Birth less? ~ What is the meaning of formless?  Music Credits: Milind Date ~~~~~  #acharyaprashant

Transcript

00:00Shreemad Bhagavad Gita, chapter 10, verse 3.

00:14He who knows me birthless and beginningless, the great Lord of worlds,

00:25He among mortals is undiluted, He is freed from all sins.

00:33The question says, it's being said that the person who knows him as birthless and beginningless

00:40is freed from all sins. I was under the impression that everyone is supposed to settle their bills

00:48in this human life. Why this verse seems to be giving a clean chit to even a sinner?

00:55Don't be taken in by the simplicity of these words.

01:09Because we are used to complexity, so simplicity can delude us, mislead us.

01:28The verse simply says, the one who knows me as birthless and beginningless is freed from all sins.

01:36And we say, wow, that's so easy. Liberation in all of 10 words.

01:45The one who knows me as birthless, beginningless is freed from all sins. Done.

01:52Done.

01:56It's the equivalent of saying the one who jumps

02:01with a velocity of 20 km per second is freed from the gravitation of earth.

02:20Because this speed is higher than the escape velocity that is needed.

02:23So simple. The one who jumps up with a speed of 20 km per second is freed of all gravitation.

02:34Done. Simple. How simple is it? How simple is it? But then these words are

02:46disarmingly deceptive.

02:53Whenever something is said from a point of simplicity addressed to complexity,

03:09it is usually misunderstood by complexity.

03:16All that the verse says is the one who knows me as birthless,

03:19beginningless is freed of all sins. And we say, oh, it's so easy.

03:23Two-minute noodles. Just know me as birthless, beginningless. How will you

03:30know him as birthless, beginningless, sir? Is it a minute's job?

03:39Will you snap your fingers and be done?

03:41And because you do not understand the absolute requirement that this statement is posing to you,

03:56therefore you proceed to ask the next part of your question which says,

04:01I used to think that everybody is supposed to settle their wills in the human life,

04:05in the current life. Then why is this verse giving a clean sheet even to a sinner?

04:10Look at your assumption. Your assumption is knowing is information gathering.

04:19The verse says you have to know me as birthless and beginningless and deathless.

04:26Because we do not know knowing. Because we do not know what it means to really know.

04:35Therefore, we think that knowing is information gathering.

04:42So, the questioner here feels that now I have read that Krishna is birthless and deathless.

04:47So, I also know that he is birthless and deathless because I have received this information. Nonsense.

04:54To know that Krishna is birthless and deathless, you will have to invest your entire life.

05:01It is not as if somebody came and uttered a few things, whispered something into your ears

05:08and you got to know the essence of Krishna. Knowing is not

05:17this kind of an easy affair. It is simple but difficult.

05:28Difficult for us because we are complex people.

05:39For 20-40 years, you try. Do your best, try your hardest and then if you can come to the realization

05:50that there is the beginningless and endless truth, then you should call yourself lucky.

06:03It is not as if you read something in Gita and you have known it.

06:10These are revelations. These are realizations. These are not data bits.

06:17This is not something that you can transfer from your mobile phone to your laptop. That's called

06:22information. That's data. This is realization. This is understanding. It requires sacrifice.

06:31It requires investment of an entire lifetime. And then you come to the point where you start saying,

06:40yes, the truth is indeed beginningless and endless.

06:46Why do I say that it requires a great sacrifice to come to that point?

06:51Because you are mired in stuff that begins and ends.

06:59You live your entire life from the center of beginning and ending.

07:06Is there anything in your life that didn't begin and won't end?

07:10Right? Your entire life is about stuff that begins and ends.

07:14Now if you are to come to a point where you say the truth doesn't begin and doesn't end,

07:19that is the same as saying that your entire life is

07:27false. In your life, everything begins and everything ends.

07:32And then you come to the realization, truth doesn't begin and doesn't end.

07:37What does that imply? Your life is false. And that's why it requires a tremendous

07:42sacrifice to come to this realization. And that sacrifice is not merely verbal or intellectual.

07:48That sacrifice then has to show up in your life, in your actions. If everything about your life is

07:53false, then you have to back your claim that you realize by giving false the treatment that

08:04falseness deserves. You cannot just say, oh I have realized that everything about me is false

08:09and yet I continue to patronize it. If you are honestly admitting that everything about you is

08:17false, then reject it. Reject everything about your life. Stop giving value to stuff that you

08:25have valued so far. Don't merely reject. Despise it. How can I despise so many things that I love

08:41in this world? That means that your realization is a big sham. On one hand you say the truth

08:53is beginningless, endless. On the other hand you are totally charmed by stuff that begins and ends.

09:01Then do you realize anything? That's why this realization requires practice over decades.

09:09And I said even if you succeed after that, you should consider yourself lucky.

09:14That's the general problem that we face with the truth.

09:25You don't come to the truth. You actually come to see that you are false.

09:30And that's why truth is so very difficult.

09:37The truth by itself is nothing. What you have to see is that you are false.

09:44Seeing the truth and seeing your falseness will always go hand in hand. And that's why

09:49seeing the truth is so difficult. Truth could have been seen had it not demanded the prize

09:56that you will have to concurrently admit that you are false. That we do not want to admit.

10:05Getting it? So no clean shit is being given to sinners. Sinners are being told to repent over

10:13decades. What is repentance? What else is repentance? How do you stop being a sinner?

10:26What is sin in the first place? Operating from the wrong center is sin.

10:37Forgetting your real nature is sin.

10:39Calling your limited personality and your limited world and your limited concepts as the truth

10:46is the sin. And all these things that I am saying about sin are not different. They are one.

10:56Therefore, to stop being a sinner,

11:03you have to stop calling yourself as real.

11:05You have to stop calling yourself as real.

11:10And that cannot just happen on your demand.

11:18You can't wish yourself to be false. You'll have to see yourself as false.

11:23Getting it? That has implication on every aspect of your life.

11:42This realization will require cleansing

11:47in every moment that you live. Therefore, it is not an easy task. Therefore,

11:54no clean shit is being given. Therefore, no shortcut is being suggested.

12:02Liberation is difficult, arduous, time-taking

12:10and will always remain so.

12:20Yes, I understand there are several snake oil salesmen who promise instant liberation,

12:26but then that snake oil. People are obsessed with snakes. What else will they sell you? Snake oil.

12:36And we buy that, right? Instant liberation, do this, do that. And in the name of sadhana,

12:43you are told stuff like sit here, do this, utter these words strictly for 32 and a half minutes.

13:05You are saying you are under the impression that everyone is supposed to settle their bills in this

13:17human life. Of course. And it's tougher than that. You're not supposed to settle your bills

13:27in this human life. You may decide not to settle any bills. It's just that when you do not settle

13:34your bills, then the amount is extracted from you with interest and penalty. So, either you willingly

13:44settle or you pay through your nose. When you willingly settle it, it's sadhana.

14:05When double the amount is extracted from you, then it is life.

14:18What else is life?

14:19Continuous, unrepentant payment for your unending follies.

14:43Practice, practice and practice.

14:46Continue questioning, continue seeing.

15:01You will not be able to see Krishna or truth

15:07as timeless, formless, beginningless, endless

15:09unless you willingly give up your obsession with forms, names, shapes, sizes, all products of time.

15:32You'll have to work on yourself.

15:33Working on yourself, that is Krishna worship.

15:48Attaining Krishna is just a fancy name given to basic self-inquiry and self-purification.

16:04Krishna is nowhere outside. The outside is just a projection of the inside.

16:09And the insides are quite dirty. Then how can Krishna be outside?

16:19Getting rid of the dirt inside, that's Krishna sadhana.

16:29That's what also is meant by settling your bills.

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