00:00Anna, Dear Acharya ji, two sample descriptions of Howard Rourke are as follows.
00:18One I am not capable of suffering completely.
00:21I never have.
00:22It only goes down to a certain point and then it stops.
00:24Second, I don't care whether you agree with me or not.
00:29He has said it so simply that it doesn't sound offensive.
00:33It sounds like the statement of a fact.
00:36These and many other descriptions of Rourke as an awakened being give the impression that
00:42it's been his nature all along without having acquired anything on the way.
00:47Good.
00:49So the question is, if indeed enlightenment is an innate gift, what chances do we seekers
00:55of truth have in ever coming near to anything that Rourke represents?
01:00Thank you for your guidance.
01:01No Anna, no.
01:02Either Rand wants us to believe that Rourke is a freak of nature who didn't have to
01:09go through the tedious and rigorous spiritual process to be an awakened being or you could
01:25speculate that Rourke has had one or several capable teachers in the past.
01:34Don't forget that you meet Rourke when he is already 21.
01:43Either he is a freak of Prakriti.
01:45There are such cases possible where you are born so particularly conditioned that your
02:00tendency is not to be conditioned more rather to give up the conditioning.
02:07It is possible.
02:10It is possible that a child is born with such an internal configuration, with such a typical
02:23peculiar configuration of Satrajitam that he is conditioned to get progressively deconditioned.
02:37It is possible.
02:40But the probability is one in a million, one in a billion.
02:47Such a student, such a candidate, such a prodigy will not require too many teachers.
03:01He will move ahead on his own.
03:06Being guided by his life experiences, seeking knowledge here, seeking clarity there.
03:16In fact, I forget it but Patanjali Yoga Sutras have a specific name for such a phenomena.
03:27The Yoga Sutras talk of the various methods of liberation and then in between they say
03:37that one of the ways in which a person can get liberated is by being born
03:49in a configuration that is very suitable for liberation.
03:57But Ana, please, please forget all this because the probability of that happening, I say is
04:03one in a million, one in a billion, one in a trillion, I do not know.
04:07It's a freak of nature if that happens.
04:10The others must go through some kind of spiritual discipline.
04:17So for your purposes, it would be safe to imagine that Rourke has had several teachers
04:25in the past.
04:27Those teachers might not have been strictly spiritual teachers but their teaching has
04:34had to be deeply spiritual at its core.
04:38Are you getting it?
04:41So let's say there is somebody who is teaching Rourke the trade of plumbing.
04:48Rourke has been into all these trades to eke out his livelihood.
04:56He has walked his way through college.
05:00So surely he would have learnt all these things from someone.
05:03So let's say there is somebody who is teaching him plumbing.
05:05Now it's possible that in the process of teaching plumbing to him, several spiritual
05:11inputs were also indirectly delivered.
05:16Are you getting these things?
05:23Now those things are not mentioned in the text.
05:27So you can only conjecture.
05:33But do not think that awakened beings drop from the trees or the skies.
05:45Spiritual rigor, discipline, education is an absolute necessity.
05:53In fact even the text so very gloriously showcases us the relationship between Rourke
06:09and Cameroon.
06:13If you will look closely at it, it is a beautiful Guru-Shishya relationship.
06:18Rourke is not with Cameroon merely to learn architecture.
06:25Look at their conversations.
06:27Cameroon is teaching life to Rourke.
06:33So Rourke has had teachers.
06:37Cameroon is probably the last of the living ones.
06:44After Cameroon, Rourke probably does not need a teacher in flesh and blood and it would
06:51be safe to assume that Cameroon is only the last teacher in an entire series of teachers.
06:57There might have been, there are most likely to have been a few teachers even before Cameroon
07:03in the life of Rourke.
07:10But Rourke did not learn at Stanton whatsoever.
07:13That is certain.
07:15Supranil, dear Acharyaji Pranam.
07:22Then he quotes a conversation between Rourke and the Dean.
07:26Dean, you don't care what others think and this might be understandable but you don't
07:32even care to make them think as you do?
07:35Rourke, no.
07:36Dean, but that's monstrous.
07:38Rourke, is it?
07:39Probably.
07:40I can't say.
07:41So then Supranil is asking, self-assertion it seems is an act for the ego to confirm
07:48its own validity and superiority.
07:50But Rourke feels no need for validation of qualification.
07:55How is that possible as we know that ego by its very nature is insecure?
07:59Won't that type of ego impart monstrosity to a nihilistic or narcissistic mind?
08:06Where is the fundamental difference?
08:07Kindly guide.
08:09But then that ego that you are seeing here in Rourke is not at the center of a nihilistic
08:14or narcissistic mind.
08:18If a nihilistic or narcissistic mind emulates Rourke, then there is a problem.
08:26But when at the center of the mind is a Rourke-like ego, then the mind cannot be nihilistic.
08:36Are you getting it?
08:41The ego, the I sits at the center of the mind, correct?
08:46The I sits at the center of the mind and the quality of I decides the quality of the mind,
08:55the entire mental landscape.
08:59If the I is Rourke-like, then how can the mind be nihilistic or narcissistic?
09:09So that which you are hypothesizing is impossible.
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