00:00Namaste Acharyaji. Acharyaji, I've been listening to you more than a year now and my life has
00:12been upside down because I was in a depression and then I recovered it and I'm with peace
00:20because things which were destroyed they must have been destroyed even before. But I'm now
00:28trying to rebuild myself and come back. But I'm so consumed and overthinking and
00:36I have a lot of inertia. So I just wanted your point of view to help me unstuck or go faster.
00:46See, if you are stuck that is the situation. One can only know the situation one is in
01:00and there is no definite rule that going faster is definitely better than being stuck.
01:12If I'm rushing, I must know the whole equation around it, the entire process of rushing
01:25and if I'm stuck I must also know the two sides that are evenly balanced
01:34and I'm unable to take a decision.
01:35Being stuck in itself is not a problem. No situation in itself is a problem.
01:47The problem lies not in any specific kind of situation but in not knowing the situation.
01:56What we call as a bad situation is bad only if we do not really know what the situation is.
02:05If what we call as a good situation is a very bad situation,
02:10if we do not understand where our concept of goodness is coming from.
02:15So, when you are stuck, ask yourself, what are the tensions playing on my mind?
02:23This tug of war. Which are these two parties? Can I name them? Can I see their faces?
02:31Something is pulling me to the left. Somebody is pulling me to the right.
02:37Who are they? Can I unmask them? That's what you need to know.
02:43That's what you need to know. You don't need to feel hurried.
02:48You don't need to feel bad that you are stuck. There is no need to be always in movement.
02:57In fact, right movement comes not from the desire to move but from an understanding of what is.
03:09So, just try to see what's going on.
03:12What is going on? And it's both relieving and amusing.
03:19And it cannot be relieving unless it is amusing.
03:23You will be entertained when you will see what is it that holds you, arrests you, confines you or pressurises you.
03:33And one is never pressurised from one side alone. There is somebody here saying, come on, do this.
03:38Some other vector is acting on you from somewhere else. No, no, no, don't you dare try that.
03:45Somebody is from behind whispering into your ear. See, both of these are idiots. Come my way.
03:53So, find these chaps out. Who are they? Where did they come from? Were they always there?
03:59When were they introduced to your mind? The more you know them, the more you become free.
04:08Actually, I took on a challenge. It was, I think, going on for three years or more.
04:19And it was much bigger than what I had anticipated at the start. But it was the right challenge.
04:28And it broke me into many, many pieces. And that's when I started Bhagavad Gita with you.
04:36Otherwise, I would have died. This was sure. So, I think this really helped.
04:46I understood that that path was wrong. So, now it doesn't hurt because I've left the path.
04:53But where I feel hurt is because I think that I have a lot of potential.
05:00And I don't know why I'm waiting to get it to be manifested. And there were a lot of fears
05:10I had, which I dissolved. But I think that there is still a layer of fears
05:17or inhibitions. Because I also failed along the way. The challenge I was standing up was
05:26almost quite big. So, I did fail. And that also is giving me inertia sometimes, I feel.
05:40Taking up great challenges is always a great thing. I always say that unless you have a
05:44great war to fight, you will never come to the Gita. That's why it's very important
05:53to play true to your conviction.
05:59The really shrewd ones are those who stand in opposition to the truth,
06:08but never disclose their stand. I say, even if you are opposed to the truth, now come on,
06:17come on, enact and live out the consequences of your position and that will bring you to the Gita.
06:30So, it has been always seen. It's a historical fact that those who have made
06:38great attempts, heartful attempts, even if in, let's say, unwise directions,
06:51have been
06:56relatively
06:57quicker in coming to the truth because they at least tested their hypothesis out.
07:15They said, there is this that I want to do and that which you want to do might not make sense.
07:21But you realise that in retrospect. At that time, it made all the sense.
07:27But you tried it out and that's called living up to your convictions.
07:33You tried it out and that will bring you to the Gita. That's the first part.
07:40The second thing that you said that still prevents you from doing the right thing, you are still waiting.
07:52The memory of the loss or the failure is still a kind of deterrent.
08:04You probably might have had personal experiences with such people. If not, then you would have
08:11seen them somewhere in literature or fiction.
08:13There are people you argue with and when their argument is totally defeated, they still don't give up.
08:24They just keep murmuring something. Do you know of such people? Do you know of them?
08:33The person is totally gone. His argument is shedded.
08:39But he is still just randomly blabbering something.
08:45Not prepared to give up. What do you do? You wait for him to surrender or do you move on?
08:51You move on. That's it.
08:55You must know that his argument is totally defeated.
09:00You must know that his argument holds no merit anymore.
09:07It's just that the fellow is too obstinate to accept his defeat.
09:13So he will keep saying no, no, no. Like a batsman whose middle stump has been uprooted.
09:21But he says, yeah, I still need to face at least 10 more deliveries. How can you just
09:25ask me to walk back? He won't walk back. He will be carried back.
09:34I know of many such people. Irrespective of how clearly you prove to them that they are losers,
09:42they are still very confident within themselves. What do you do? You stop proving anything to them
09:48anymore. You just walk past them. You say, sir, I am done with you. Nothing can be proven to you.
09:56Such people do not live merely outside of us. They also live within us in our own name, face and form.
10:07And they keep presenting. You might have the noblest intention. But this doppelganger within you
10:16will keep murmuring something as if he still has a valid point,
10:20as if he still deserves to be heard.
10:27Hear him out as long as there is some weight in her arguments.
10:34If there is some weight in the arguments of this inner lady, hear her out. But once you
10:41are reasonably certain that there is no more weight in what she is saying and now she is just
10:46muttering something for the sake of it, it's time to stop listening. It's time to just do what you
10:54need to do. It's like standing on the edge of a cliff, ready to dive into the beautiful stream
11:03flowing underneath. You are standing there ready to dive and what is the inner lady still muttering?
11:12Everything is done. To come to that place, you have travelled as much as you needed to.
11:22You are wearing the right outfit. You have made all the preparations. Everything has been done.
11:26The temperatures are right. There is no obvious danger. The stream is beautiful
11:33and you know how to swim. Still the inner lady is saying,
11:37it is not good. But why are you saying it is not good? No, it is just not good.
11:47I don't like this. This is not good. This is not fair. Something. What do you do with this inner one?
11:56Let her keep saying what she has to. You close your eyes and just jump.
12:07This is the worst thing that we can do to ourselves.
12:16To be that lady. The next worst thing is to listen to that lady. Unfortunately, we are both.
12:26We are the ones who utter nonsense knowing fully well that the nonsense carries no merit.
12:33That the nonsense is emanating only from fear, inhibition, greed.
12:40Still we stick to our guns.
12:45Still we don't give up. Still we don't honestly surrender and say, I am wrong.
12:53And we said, the next worst thing is to listen to such a person.
12:58Don't listen. Do what you have to. They will never stop barking.
13:06If you will wait for complete inner silence, you will have to infinitely wait.
13:13And that is one mistake that most of us make. We say, you know, I am not yet 100% certain.
13:18You will never be 100% certain.
13:20If you are 99% certain, 1% uncertain and you decide not to move, whom are you favoring? The 99% or the 1%?
13:31Why are you so biased? Why do you favor the 1%?
13:35If you are 99% certain, 1% not certain, then move.
13:42That 1% cannot be allowed to cast a veto on the rights of the 99%.
13:47Can you give 1% the veto to stop the 99% from doing what they want to?
13:57That veto cannot be given. But we give that veto. We say, you know, there are still some doubts.
14:03Why don't we instead say, you know, there is a lot of clarity and only some doubts.
14:10Why don't we instead say, you know, there is a lot of clarity and only some doubts.
14:18There is a lot of clarity and only some doubts.
14:21If you will say, I will wait for the sky to be absolutely cloudless
14:28before I fly, you will never fly.
14:33Obviously, you don't want to fly in turbulent weather.
14:36You don't want to fly when the clouds are thick and heavy
14:42and lightning rages around. You don't want to fly then.
14:45Also, you cannot impose this very tight condition that you will fly only when there are absolutely no clouds.
14:53You will never fly. So, let there be that slight inhibition or resentment within.
15:00You proceed to do what you must.
15:03Don't listen to the naysayers. Don't listen to the cynics within or without. Doesn't matter.
15:16There is this beautiful excerpt.
15:22It's either from Lust for Life or the Agony and the Ecstasy.
15:27One of his two works, Irving Stone.
15:32No, I am sure it's from Lust for Life.
15:42So, the young Vincent asks Rembrandt,
15:45How is a young man to be sure, sir?
15:49This one is coming up as a painter.
15:52So, he asks him. I might be missing the context or the characters.
15:57You fill in the blanks wherever I am missing them.
16:00But this is the theme of what I very impactfully remember.
16:08So, this one asks him, How is a young man to be sure in life?
16:16And the teacher or the advisor or the senior friend, he responds,
16:21You can never be fully sure.
16:27There would always be an iota of doubt.
16:31But you have to proceed to do what you believe to be right.
16:40If you wait for absolute clarity, you are just denying your own potential.
16:47Never wait for absolute clarity. It is never going to come.
16:51What in life can be absolute? Nothing!
17:01Thank you, sir.
17:14Welcome.
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