00:00So, Acharya ji, my question is regarding innocence and foolishness. How can we differentiate
00:11like that this is innocent and this is foolishness and how we will recognize that I am not doing
00:20this as an innocent, I am doing it as a foolishness and how we can correct ourselves when we realize
00:25this. Foolishness is when you are foolish and you yet want great things to happen to
00:38you. Innocence is when you are wise and you do not care about the things that will happen
00:48to you. The mark of the foolish person is that he will want to remain foolish. Else
01:01he couldn't have been foolish at this point. Foolishness is its own punishment. If a person
01:09has continued to remain foolish, it means he wants to be foolish. Else the first dose
01:16of punishment would have sufficed. He would have no more remained foolish. The foolish
01:24person is determined to remain foolish and yet wants lovely experiences for herself.
01:32I am foolish but life will be great for me. Wonderful pleasures I am going to experience.
01:46And as I remain foolish, that's foolishness. To be innocent is not to care. I know myself
02:11and I don't care whether great or bad things happen. That's innocence. You know the word
02:25innocence in its etymology indicates a state of being untouched. Untouched. A kind of purity,
02:39sacredness, virginity. Innocence. Untouched. Untouched by what? We are obviously not talking
02:55of the body here. Untouched by what? Untouched by the concern for tomorrow. Untouched by
03:09the concern for results. That's innocence. I don't bother about results because whatever,
03:19whatsoever needed to be decided on has already been decided. So my job is done. My day is
03:31closed. The shutters are down. I am no more dealing. That's innocence. That's innocence.
03:49Foolishness in spite of having all kinds of shitty items in the shop. Foolishness is about
04:04expecting a great experience with the customers and running up a great profit as well. The stuff
04:18I have inside is all rotten and yet I want to have a great experience with all the customers
04:26and also run up profits. That's foolishness. Wisdom. The deal is made. The job is done.
04:41The shutters are down. I do not care what happens next. That's innocence. Innocence
04:53does not care and foolishness cannot stop caring. Just that both of them. Now why this question?
05:11Why first of all do these two look alike in some respects? We need to address that.
05:19Why do innocence and foolishness look similar in some aspects? That's what we need to address
05:24because neither of them ever look like making profits.
05:32Foolishness does not make profits because it cannot.
05:35Innocence does not make profits because it cares not. And that's a mighty difference.
05:46Innocence is incapable of worrying about profits and foolishness is incapable of making profits.
06:01Innocence has already made so much that it does not care to make anymore.
06:19And foolishness is so rotten that in spite of all its desires it can never make any profits.
06:32And because none of them appear like making profits,
06:35so to the unversed mind they may probably look a bit similar.
06:42And that's where this question is coming from. What is the difference between the two?
06:50So it's a gradual ascension.
06:54First of all, you have to quit being foolish.
07:01Foolishness is about maintaining the rotten ego and yet expecting a great life.
07:13When you are no more foolish, when you are clever in the worldly sense,
07:20then you say, yes, I want to fleece my customers. I do want to make profits.
07:30And I now realize that for that to happen, my product has to be tasteful to them.
07:39So you do yourself up. You try to be better in the worldly way.
07:47That's cleverness. Foolishness is when you are not just rotten, you are very visibly rotten.
07:54Your rottenness is visible to everybody except you. That's foolishness.
08:01Cleverness is when you are still rotten but at least to others you have managed to make it appear that you are no more rotten.
08:10That's cleverness. And in cleverness, you start making profits.
08:19But when you are clever, you realize that the profits don't suffice.
08:27There is not profits for profit's sake that you work.
08:34The profits that you want are ultimately for an inner fulfillment.
08:42That inner fulfillment was elusive when you were foolish and it remains elusive even when you are clever.
08:54And then you ascend into wisdom.
09:06Foolishness, cleverness, wisdom. Wisdom takes a very very hard look at itself
09:13and says that if all the profits that I want about the world are about fulfilling this one within,
09:25if all that I want from the world is for the sake of this one within, why shouldn't I focus exclusively on the one within?
09:35Because even if I take that route, the circuitous route, you know, going to that one, collecting
09:41profits from him, bringing the profits back here and then testing whether it gives some fulfillment.
09:47Ultimately, I am returning to myself. Why should I take this longer route?
09:52I look at myself. Wisdom looks at itself and that's called
09:57self-knowledge. Self-knowledge. Looking at itself, it discovers the very core of lack of fulfillment.
10:06Its discovery is its treatment, its healing, a final cure.
10:24The very problem that made you relate to the world in a profit-seeking way has gone.
10:36It was not for nothing that you had set up the shop. The shop exists to transact with the world
10:44and you are transacting with the world to take care of a problem within.
10:50When you look at the problem within, the looking itself, provided it is honest enough, rigorous enough,
11:01rigorous enough, the looking itself suffices to cure the problem.
11:08And if the problem is gone, what will the shop stand for now?
11:14What did the shop exist for? It existed to transact with the world to take care of the problem
11:21within. Now the very motivation is gone.
11:26The central problem that necessitated all the arrangement is gone. So, the shutters are
11:35pulled down. That's innocence. I don't need the shop anymore. That does not mean that you won't
11:42transact with the world anymore. I will but not by way of a shop. A shop is give and take.
11:50A shop is give and take. Now it will be much more of give and only very little of
12:02take. In fact, I'll take only as much as is needed to give back tenfold.
12:13That's innocence. Now innocence, you'll see again, will look like foolishness
12:19because in foolishness you make no profits and innocence also gives back tenfold.
12:26So obviously, innocence does not make any profits. Innocence is a non-profit venture.
12:35Foolishness is a for-profit company going bankrupt.
12:42You don't see any profits either way but there is a great difference.
12:49You go and you found a company but you are so damn
13:01foolish and inept at everything and anything.
13:09You flounder at all your operations and strategies
13:14and you raise a huge debt and finally go under bankrupt. That's foolishness.
13:25Innocence is when you can make profits but you don't care to.
13:34You still work very hard, probably harder than the for-profit concern but you work so hard
13:40to give back tenfold. That's innocence. That these two will look similar to the clever mind
13:50because the clever mind is about making profits. The clever mind looks down at foolishness and sees
13:59no. It also looks up at innocence and there also it sees no. So it doesn't care to give back tenfold.
14:10It thinks that probably these two are not similar. Foolishness is like a robber
14:22trying to execute a robbery, a bank robbery in his drunken state
14:30and returning starved and empty-handed
14:33Instead of the bank, he probably entered a mortuary
14:43and tried to threaten everybody into submission.
14:53Give me all you have else you will be lying dead within next two minutes.
14:58He addressed all the dead bodies.
15:03That's foolishness. This fellow will return empty-handed.
15:11Innocence is a billionaire who has so much that he goes out every day
15:18with a huge truckload of cash and returns every evening empty-handed. That's innocence.
15:28The common thing is both of them are seen returning
15:32empty-handed but the commonness ends there. Nothing else is common.
15:38Acharji, you spoke in length about innocence which was very thought-provoking and clarifying
15:45many of my doubts. However, I just want to confirm one thing that innocence can only come when we
15:55have already made a mistake. We have already made a mistake. We have already made a mistake.
16:03Innocence can only come when we have already made the choice in the right direction.
16:10Before that, there is no innocence. Only when we have made the choice in the right direction
16:18like towards Atma or towards Ram. Continually you make that choice.
16:22Yes, and in that sense, in true sense, only Atma Jnani or a realized man
16:33is to be called innocent, not us.
16:39And when that Doha says that Tulsi bharose Ram ke nirbhaye hoke soye.
16:47Yes, that's innocence.
16:50That's innocence. Very well said.
16:53That's innocence which also means that the general kind of
16:59biological ignorance and cuteness, they are not to be conflated with innocence.
17:07The kid cannot be called as innocent. Krishna can be called as innocent.
17:15And I am not talking of Bal Krishna. I am talking of the Krishna of the Bhagavad Gita.
17:20He is the one to be called as innocent.
17:26But the Lok Dharam, Lok Bhasha, the language of the commons, very distorted.
17:35So, we look at a newborn or somebody and we say, oh such an innocent one.
17:39They are not innocent. They are just doing their biological bit and innocence is not biological.
17:46It's just by virtue of biology that they belong to a certain age and hence are displaying certain behavior.
17:53Once they exceed that age, they'll not display that behavior.
17:57Innocence is not biological. Innocence is not age bound.
18:01It's a choice. It's a choice. It's a choice of the elevated consciousness.
18:07So, no kid can be ever innocent.
18:10Only the one who has had the courage to confront himself is innocent.
18:17Right. Got it. Thank you. Thank you Acharya ji.
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