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00:00The
00:24next award in the category of Spiritual and Social Leadership for this year goes to Acharya
00:31Prashanthji.
00:32From Prashanth Advait Foundation, Acharya Prashanth obtained his B.Tech in the year
00:39of 1999 and MBA from IIM Ahmedabad in the year 2003.
00:45A visionary leader and spiritual teacher, Acharya Prashanth has awakened millions through
00:50his advocacy of wisdom, ethical living and inner transformation.
00:55He has revived Vedantic wisdom for the modern world through the Prashanth Advait Foundation
01:00with 160 plus best-selling books and transformative teachings that integrate Indian philosophy
01:07with global thought traditions.
01:09His work spans environmental advocacy, compassionate living and ethical reform, earning him PETA's
01:16Most Influential Vegan Award in 2022.
01:18Most importantly, with over 55 million YouTube followers and influence across premier institutions
01:27worldwide, he is regarded as the world's most followed wisdom leader.
01:31I am so grateful I discovered him during COVID times.
01:35So please come and share a few words to our audience.
01:46Many thanks to the IIT Delhi Alumni Association, Director, Dean Alumni Affairs for this award,
01:59this recognition.
02:01And most of all, I would want to thank the Institute through a very small incident that
02:13I just got reminded of and that will tell how much I stand indebted to IIT Delhi when
02:19it comes to doing what I could do the little bit and being where I am today.
02:28You know, the last award I got here was when I was sitting in that corner.
02:37So that was 1998.
02:39And just as I sat on that chair, I was reminded of that.
02:42That was not a very significant thing.
02:44That was the Best Actor Award.
02:47It was an inter-college or inter-hostel competition.
03:00And I was playing the soul, the silent witnessing soul.
03:05And there was a common man here in the usual run of daily life, not having a voice.
03:13There was an entire activity happening here, entire universe happening here.
03:18And I was not supposed to utter a word.
03:19I was sitting there in the corner.
03:21I had no dialogues.
03:22I had to just emote and express through facial expressions.
03:28I couldn't even move.
03:29So I was squatting there, sitting there, not speaking, not moving, just sitting.
03:34And I was to be the voice of the common man without uttering a word.
03:40And I think I have tried to be that, the voice of the common man, the one who could
03:52give a little bit of expression to the suffering that we all go through and the love for liberation
03:59that we all innately have.
04:02Thank you, IIT Delhi, for catalyzing my journey.
04:05All that I experienced here, the great academic structure, the friendly and competitive peers.
04:17Without that, doing what I have been attempting to do could not have been possible.
04:22Thank you again.
04:23Thank you so much.
04:24Thank you, Acharyaji.
04:25Whenever I meet you, I feel as if I am watching you live or listening to you on YouTube.
04:40It's always a personal connect.
04:42And the more I listen to you, the less it is.
04:52I thank Acharya Prashanth for being with us today.
04:55I think he has to leave.
04:56Thank you so much, Acharyaji, for being with us today.
05:25Thank you, Prashanth.
05:45which is the foundation of our entire cultural civilization.
05:50And to bring them among the common people,
05:55our entire Gita Shikshan program is there,
05:58and we are teaching the Vedanta.
06:01So perhaps for this reason,
06:04the award given by the IIT Delhi Alumni Association
06:13and I am grateful,
06:16because if this award has come to me,
06:20then all the citizens of India,
06:24if they get the right direction,
06:27it has come to take them in the right direction.
06:33Acharya Prashanth ji, I want to start by asking you,
06:37first congratulating you about a recent award that you have won
06:40which the IIT Alumni Association has awarded you
06:43for outstanding contribution to national development,
06:47your alma mater, IIT Delhi.
06:51From that, I just wanted to pick up and ask you,
06:54what do we understand from national development?
06:57What is national development?
06:59Is it making your country the super economy,
07:03number one economy in the world?
07:06Is it about your growth engines?
07:09Is it about your GDP, about the trillion dollar economy and so and so forth?
07:12Or is it also about how aware the people of that country are?
07:21Nation is about the people.
07:27It's not about land in the first place,
07:31or possessions, or the economic output.
07:35It's about the people.
07:38So, national development is about the deepest kind of welfare
07:45of the people of the nation.
07:50That's what it means.
07:53But there are many layers to it and many dimensions to it.
07:58The word nation itself has started carrying several kinds of meanings.
08:05First of all, development is for human beings
08:13and begins from within.
08:17And all the external kind of growth that you just mentioned
08:22is for the sake of inner development alone.
08:28This is something that we very frequently ignore.
08:33We think that buildings, or bridges, or ports, or airports,
08:39or schools, or grand institutions, or grand armies,
08:44or a thriving economy are for their own sake.
08:50No, they are not for their own sake.
08:53They are for the sake of the individual, the human being.
08:58So, whether or not those things are succeeding
09:03has to be determined by only one factor.
09:07What influence are they having on the individual citizen?
09:12Because it is the individual citizen that is at the center,
09:17the heart of the nation.
09:20So, growth and development, as we know,
09:25basic macroeconomics are different concepts.
09:28Growth is external.
09:30Development is much more internal.
09:33And it is for the sake of my own inner experience
09:38that I get into everything external, don't I?
09:42Whatever I do, morning till evening,
09:47it has to be something that gives me fulfillment, right?
09:52Nobody wants to get into something that makes him or her more uneasy,
09:58or agitated, or imparts a sense of hurt.
10:05Nobody wants to do that.
10:07So, the purpose of all external activity is internal upliftment,
10:13and that is development.
10:18May we now come to nation?
10:21You see, a nation is a group of people held together by a common understanding.
10:30If that common understanding is not there,
10:33then some kind of principle is there that keeps them together.
10:37Those principles are often very divisive, divisive and shallow.
10:45And that's the reason there have been great luminaries
10:50who have cautioned us against misunderstanding nationalism.
10:55We could say we are all together because we all love to inquire,
11:02we all have a scientific bent of mind,
11:05or we want to do good to the world,
11:08or we want to understand how our own inner processes work.
11:11That could be a thing that keeps us together, binds us,
11:15or we could say we are a group of thieves,
11:21and hence we are sticking together,
11:24and they do stick together in a very solid way,
11:29and that's what can keep you together.
11:32So, nationalism is a double-edged sword.
11:37You have to figure out what makes you feel related to the other person.
11:43It has to be something deep, not something as shallow as the color of your skin,
11:48or the language you speak, or your food habits,
11:53or your history, or your religion.
11:58Unfortunately, most nations are not founded on very deep principles.
12:07And that's the reason why as a curse of misplaced and violent nationalism,
12:15we had to suffer the two world wars.
12:18They were very nationalistic in nature.
12:21When we do not come together on sublime principles,
12:28then we come together on something that is very divisive.
12:32For example, we are together because we are all white or brown or black or yellow.
12:39If we are all together because we are white,
12:42then we are together against all those who are not white,
12:46and there will be wars.
12:49If we are all together because we speak a certain language,
12:52or belong to a certain religion,
12:54then we are together against all those who do not share the same language,
12:59or the same religion, and there will be wars.
13:02And wars need not be explicit.
13:05You need not have missiles flying and bombs exploding to see a war.
13:10We are already and always at war within.
13:13You can call that as inner war.
13:16That's what the real cold war is within.
13:20So, the right kind of nationalism is about finding the right ground for unity.
13:28And the right ground for unity is,
13:31I am a human being and I exist to realize my utmost potential,
13:38and that cannot be done without your help, your cooperation,
13:43and definitely it cannot be done by jeopardizing the same interests that you have,
13:53which means I cannot attain my potential by compromising on yours.
13:58I cannot come to my fulfillment by hurting you.
14:02I cannot be liberated by keeping you in bondage.
14:06That's what is the basis of the right kind of nationalism,
14:10and in India we are lucky to have the right philosophies behind us,
14:17Vedanta in particular, and a sublime constitution that embodies those noble philosophies.
14:27And so, we have at least in theory, at least an idea,
14:35the right kind of nation possible in India, that is possible.
14:40And the right kind of nation will always be about the individual.
14:44And the right kind of development will also be always about the individual.
14:49So, these two converge.
14:50So, national development then is doubly about uplifting the human being from within.
14:57It's very interesting when you were describing the whole idea of nation.
15:03Of course, I mean, theoretically a lot of people must have read about it.
15:06But can I understand from you, like you said about India,
15:11that the idea of this nation is largely different from a majority of the countries that you would see as a nation.
15:19Well said, yes.
15:21What is those basic principles that make this nation so different and we identify ourselves,
15:28very different people in the way we speak, in the way we eat, in the way we look also at times,
15:34but we still identify as a nation together.
15:37And all that is different amongst us, all that which separates us,
15:44makes us distinct and diverse is important but secondary.
15:51It's important, it is to be respected, but it is not the center of our being.
15:59And at the center of our being, you and I are one.
16:05That's what keeps us together as a nation.
16:08We are different in our body, in our thoughts.
16:15So, in body and mind, we might be different.
16:19But at the center of consciousness, we are all the same being,
16:25striving for liberation, for love, for realization.
16:31So, in that sense, at that point, and only at that point can there be real unity.
16:36Otherwise, there is only diversity. And in a country like India, where things, culture, food,
16:42and thought and appearance are changing every few hundred kilometers,
16:48it would be impossible to keep the nation together, if it were not for the great principles of Vedanta,
16:58which are, we can safely say, enshrined in the constitution as well.
17:04Because, you see, if you look at the Balkans, for example,
17:12a little difference in ethnicity and language and the split.
17:19You look at the countries of Europe or Central Asia.
17:28I mean, what is it that lies at their being?
17:33Not something very, very fundamental. Not something.
17:38Why did India have to be divided between India and Pakistan?
17:42This is because, you know, religion is at the center of our being.
17:47You are Muslims, you are Hindus, we cannot live together.
17:51So, fine, there was a split. Did that experiment really work? No.
17:56Because you are keeping, not the most important thing, but something lesser than the most important thing,
18:04as the center of your nation. So, Pakistan again split.
18:10The Bangladeshi said, fine, we might share the same religion,
18:15but then our language is different. And West Pakistan was not ready to honor the Bengali language.
18:23And that led to a subsequent division. So, those are the foundations underlying several countries of the world.
18:34And that doesn't work. And then there are wars. India doesn't say, you know,
18:40you are an Indian because you have a particular complexion or because you are coming from a particular history.
18:50You are an Indian, if you can identify with what the Constitution says.
18:59Our Constitution is almost a spiritual document. You look at it and I find it very interesting
19:08to map the articles of the Constitution, starting from the preamble, then the fundamental rights,
19:15the directive principles, the fundamental duties, especially these parts.
19:19I love to map to the utterances of the Upanishads. And that's the basis of our nationhood.
19:29And that's why India, the nation has been sustainable and would always be.
19:34Is the whole idea of nationalism then adversely proportional to the idea of India, the nation?
19:44Because we are a very diverse nation. I can see where you are coming from.
19:50You see, the way nationalism is commonly understood, simply does not correspond to the sense in which India is a nation.
20:01Whereas India is the most glorious example of what right nationhood must be like.
20:09In spite of that, the common idea of nationalism is not akin to the foundation of the Indian nation.
20:20Our nationalism as an idea is not divisive, is not comparative, not dominating.
20:31Whereas the usual run of the world, the usual sense of the word nationalism is,
20:39I was born here, this is my land, this is my country, this is my culture, my history.
20:44So, I am superior to my neighbor next door. There is always a certain comparison and a feeling of superiority, which is very egoistic.
20:53Whereas real nationalism is about challenging one's own ego.
20:57Real nationalism is about getting within and challenging the demons within.
21:03While the world war kind of nationalism is about saying, I don't want to look at myself.
21:08I just want to kill the one who is out there and occupy his land because I am the best.
21:15And why am I the best? Because I am just the best and because I am the best, so my language is the best, my food is the best,
21:20my history is the best, my kids are the best, my land is the best, my culture is the best, my songs are the best.
21:25Everything is best because I am the best and that's the most vicious and also the most juvenile form of ego that there can be.
21:35No, that's not the kind of nationalism India really corresponds to. Indian nationalism is a different dimension.
21:44Indian nationalism is not about hating someone or attacking someone. It is in fact about teaching everybody.
21:55Swami Vivekananda put it so beautifully. He said, you know, all nations because nations are founded by people.
22:02You know, we say we are a nation. All nations have a particular source, a particular character and a particular responsibility.
22:11So, for example, he said the Brits, he said they are traders and their nationality is about trading and making money, making profits.
22:24Sometimes at whatever cost, if it includes colonization, they will go and colonize. But even the colonization is for the sake of trade.
22:36We'll trade and we'll extract and we'll become richer and Manchester and everything.
22:42So, Indian nation, the very character and concept is different. You are supposed to be inwardly liberated to strive for greatness
22:53and teach the same to the entire world. That's what the Indian nation is about.
22:59So, the Indian nation and for example, let's say even the Pakistani nation, they are not comparable.
23:08You cannot say, oh, India and Pakistan, two neighboring countries and hyphenate them. No, no, no.
23:14The Indian nation is very, very different, right in its origin, right in its very, very concept from the Pakistani nation or even the Chinese nation or even the American nation.
23:28The Indian nation is one of a kind, extremely unique because we are not coming from man-made principles.
23:41We are not coming from a sense of tribal and parochial kind of identification with each other.
23:48Since 4000 years, we have lived here on this land. Therefore, we are one. No, no, no.
23:54That kind of statement doesn't go down well with Indian nationhood.
23:59I picked up on two very interesting words while you were speaking and that's my next question.
24:07For example, you were quoting Swami Vivekananda, you said self-liberation.
24:12Can a self-liberated person, although I'm sure it's a very difficult process to be self-liberated,
24:18but is somebody who is striving to or trying to be self-liberated, can that person be a nationalist?
24:28Only that person is a nationalist. How? But that nationalism is of a different kind, a different dimension, we said.
24:36Because when you are doing good to yourself, something corresponding happens spontaneously, effortlessly,
24:44which is you start doing good to others as well and there is a great relationship then.
24:50This relationship then becomes the foundation of the nation.
24:54If I'm not self-liberated, sir, how will I relate to you? I'll only relate to you in a selfish way.
25:00Even if it appears quite beneficent, I might appear a very easygoing fellow, nice to be with fellow, but I'll still be violent.
25:14If I'm not all right within, even if I'm someone who is gregarious and appears quite light-hearted all the times and friendly,
25:26yet I'll be insidious and the others might not even realize how I'm cutting through their interests to serve my own.
25:36So only the person who realizes where his real self-interest is, can be of use to others.
25:44And when I start being of use to others, starting from first of all myself, I'm of use to myself and hence I'm used to others.
25:53That's when the real nation comes into being. Now we are together, all basking in the light of self-knowledge.
26:03We are not together because we come from the same tribe. That's not a nation. That's a very shallow kind of nation.
26:11It's not even attempt to of oneness. We accept how we are.
26:17Effortless. So the word attempt doesn't kick in.
26:21Yeah, that's nice. Can I then, because we are talking about nationalism and a nation, can I then ask you,
26:29is there a difference between a nationalist and a patriot? Because does the nationalism as we understand it now,
26:38does it allow you to question the nation that you are in? I mean, can you do that or is it, it's now seen as blasphemy, but can you do that?
26:50You must do that. The only thing that should be forbidden as the existentialists used to say in their heydays in Paris,
27:02forbidding should be forbidden. Nothing else is beyond the scope of inquiry.
27:14Yeah, so see patriotism is a nice word. Patriotism is about loving your land, your people and all that is around you,
27:26includes your rivers, your animals, your history, your culture, whatever there is, your cuisine, that's patriotism.
27:37It's between me, my people and my community, my history, all those things, that patriotism between these two.
27:47I am there and my country is there and there is a certain amiable relationship. That's patriotism. Wonderful. Nice thing.
27:54Unfortunately, nationalism too should be the same thing. The right kind of nationalism, nationalism detoxified would be the same thing as patriotism.
28:09But unfortunately, the whole concept of nationalism stands corrupted since long.
28:18So nationalism then does not comprise only of these two, me and my country.
28:25Nationalism inevitably brings in a third one into the picture, which is some other country to hate,
28:35some other country to dominate, some other country to compare. It does not suffice that my relationship with my land is wonderful.
28:46It does not suffice that I am striving to make myself and my people better.
28:52In the common kind of nationalism, in the pop kind of nationalism, yeah, pop nationalism.
28:58That's a beautiful word. That's actually describes it better.
29:01In pop nationalism, you are a nationalist only when you hate someone. You have to be a hater and then you are a pop nationalist.
29:11Whereas, the real nationalist is like Swami Vivekananda. The real nationalist is like Rabindranath Tagore.
29:21Bringing laurels to the country and doing something that can inspire other lands as well.
29:28These two personalities, they represent India abroad even today and the world loves India because of these two people.
29:40Others included as well, obviously, not only these two people. So that's the right kind of nationalism.
29:46But pop nationalism has gone insane. Pop nationalism is about saying me, my thought, I was born here.
29:57So everything about me has to be great because I am great. You see, I am great.
30:02So anything that I do has to be great. Anything that I am related to has to be great.
30:07That's very juvenile. There is this, Einstein saw the horrors of the world war and the atom bombs exploding and he said nationalism is the measles of mankind.
30:21It is so juvenile. It's a disease that hits you when you are very childish like measles.
30:27When you are a kid, then you have measles. So nationalism is the measles of consciousness of mankind.
30:32Something to that effect. So he was talking of pop nationalism.
30:37He was talking of the Hitler kind of nationalism.
30:40Ethno-nationalism that they started. Yes, ethno-nationalism. You could attach hyphenate a lot of things.
30:46Exactly, you're right. A lot of things. If it were possible, we could even have a gender nationalism.
30:52Just that our lust probably won't allow that. So and we could have, you could exclude everybody,
31:00men or women from your nation. You know, we are a nation and or just as we are doing today.
31:05You could say our nationalism does not include flora and fauna, animals and rivers and the climate.
31:12So our nation exists only for human beings and we have wiped out 70-80% of wildlife from the jungles in the last 50 years.
31:22That's the exclusive and divisive kind of nationalism. Whereas our Indian philosophies, the Shatradarshan,
31:33the Constitution itself and we are talking of Tagore and Vivekananda, they were representing a very different kind of nationalism
31:42and that's the nation India should aspire to become. You remember where the head is held high?
31:48Yeah, yeah. Beautiful. That's what epitomizes the nation that we should be.
31:56Like you said in the beginning, I think it all stems from realization and the self-realization and that's going to be the very root of the understanding of what nationalism means to you and what this nation…
32:10A nationalism that just keeps staring at the world with angry eyes is a disease. Let's be clear about it.
32:18Real nationalism, first of all, looks inwards and it is this inward glance that produces a light that illuminates the whole world.
32:28So it's not that the real nationalist, the inward looking nationalist doesn't look outwards.
32:35It looks outward but in the light of the self and then you get the right kind of nation, the glorious nation that India must be.
32:44That's a beautiful thought to end the discussion. We can go on and on and I'm sure there will be many other things to talk about.
32:51But for this moment, thank you so much for speaking to us. I'm glad. Thank you.
32:56Hi, my name is Mamta and I live in Switzerland, Zurich.
33:03And I've been listening to Acharyaji from almost one year, three months that I started last year.
33:11And I've been doing the Hindi sessions. My Hindi is poor but still it's the best that has happened.
33:20And these teachings have really changed my whole outlook towards my life because I was like an educated but very superstitious kind of person.
33:38I used to believe in rebirth. I used to think that I have a past life.
33:44And there is Atma inside and one side I will get a next life.
33:50So those kind of thinking and after one year of session, almost all the sessions, it's like a kind of humility dawns in.
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