Why Indians address people as 'Ji' || Acharya Prashant, Vedanta Mahotsav (2022)

Acharya Prashant

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00:00Obviously, I'm new here, so I don't know how anything works.

00:06But there's one custom I've noticed, that it was actually the first thing you said in

00:13the whole session.

00:14It was qi, like qi.

00:17And you also, when you address someone formally, you put that in the end.

00:25So where does that come from?

00:27Is that just some social custom or is there something behind it?

00:33It's a social custom, we address people as qi, but surely there is a lot behind it.

00:42Good that you raised it.

00:44Actually, it has come to me earlier as well.

00:50And see, g is not like Mr. G is not like Mr. or Miss or Mrs. G is different, very different.

01:02In India, most of the customs have now been corrupted.

01:07Equally, a lot of customs have a very strong spiritual basis and they are meant to teach

01:15you something in the daily run of life.

01:23So anywhere in the world, we have a name and a surname, right?

01:30The name refers to your physical self.

01:33You exist, so you have a name, your name is Rohan, right?

01:37You exist, so you have a name.

01:40So the name refers to your body.

01:45The surname comes from your ancestors.

01:48It is history and history exists in the mind.

01:53So the surname refers to the mind.

01:57But if you address a person just as a body and a mind, that's injustice, because the person

02:06is much more than that.

02:08So you add g, g comes from the Sanskrit shri, shri in Sanskrit becomes g in vernacular.

02:22What does shri mean?

02:24Shri means all that is beautiful.

02:30Shri means abundance.

02:34Shri means auspiciousness.

02:37So shri basically means the true self, the Atma.

02:43So when you address a person, you say Rohan, Kumar, Ji.

02:52Now you are reminding him that you are much more than the body and the mind.

02:59The shri is not merely a token of respect, shri refers to the real thing that you are.

03:10But now it has become a very dead custom.

03:14It has become a mark of respect, hollow respect, obeisance.

03:22If you do not address someone as Ji, some may get offended.

03:29But there is hardly anybody who realizes why Ji is important to be added to somebody's name.

03:37It could go both ways, see.

03:39You could either say the fellow actually has no name.

03:46And that's a beautiful way to say, that's the Buddha's way.

03:49That the one you really are can actually have no name.

03:55You are beyond all names and forms.

03:57That's one way.

03:58That's the way of the Buddha, we said.

04:01The way of Vedanta is different, rather opposite.

04:06The way of Vedanta is, you anyway take yourself as the body and the mind.

04:13That cannot be taken away from you.

04:16As long as you are alive, the body is there.

04:20So saying that you don't exist at all, that you are beyond all names and customs and addresses

04:26won't work, so Vedanta says, now that you are anyway identified with the body and the mind,

04:37I am giving you something better to be identified with, Shri, Shri.

04:44So you could either extend these two to three or you could reduce these two to zero.

04:52The intention is the same.

04:53The intention is to tell you, that you are not just these two, or rather, Vedanta says

05:00you are not just these two, Buddha would say you are not these two.

05:05The Buddha would be totally silent on who you really are.

05:09About that, you would remain silent.

05:12Vedanta says, the body and mind, we acknowledge are facts.

05:18Obviously you are there, otherwise there is no conversation.

05:23But don't be unjust to yourself, don't be so disrespected towards yourself.

05:32Don't see yourself as just the material, you are beyond that.

05:37So Shri, Shri, Shri Julius, Shri Julius.

05:44Julius you are, but much before being Julius, you are Shri.

05:57And long after Julius ceases to exist, Shri will remain, Shri is the truth.

06:08That's the reason this custom is there, but hardly anybody knows the reason, so we just

06:12blindly follow it.

06:14But I've also noticed that it's also used as kind of an affirmative statement, right?

06:24Is there a reason for that?

06:27That's not the way it was intended.

06:31You say something and if I want to affirm what you are saying, I want to convey my agreement,

06:37then I just say Ji, that's not the intended usage, but that's a popular usage.

06:45That's not the way Ji should be used.

06:52Or you could say, that if I agree to you, I convey my agreement by using Ji or Shri to

07:02me that I agree to the truth, since Shri points to the truth.

07:08So what I'm saying is that if I agree to you, I'm actually agreeing to the truth.

07:13But this is just too far fetched, when people in the normal course of conversation say Ji,

07:19this is not what they mean.

07:21But this is what they could mean, if they understand things deeply.

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