00:00Namaskar Acharya Ji. My question to you is why is it and how is it that the purpose of
00:08life is to get moksha, which is basically that we go away from death and life. Why isn't
00:19that knowledge of power is the purpose of life? Like I am studying philosophy from Hansra
00:25scholars. So I have read that Hegel's philosophy was that from if you look at the history of
00:30human beings, what we have been doing is we have been increasing our knowledge about ourselves
00:36and about our surroundings and hence we are increasing our power. So our projected purpose
00:42of life might be that we become the most powerful being or the most knowledgeable being. So why
00:49is it that according to spirituality, the purpose of life is moksha.
00:54It is not about your opinion versus somebody else's opinion. It is not about Hegel versus Vedant
01:05or something. It's about reality. If knowledge or power can give you fulfillment, by all means,
01:16go for knowledge and power. Purpose of life is a very very subjective thing. And when I
01:26say subjective, I do not mean variable as per the subject. I mean it is something that intimately
01:36got to do with the subject and you are the subject. You are the subject. Because we are talking
01:42of your life. We are talking about the purpose of your life. Why do we need to talk of purpose
01:51of life? Because we do not feel alright as we are and where we are. Because we do not feel
02:03alright where we are. Therefore, we need to be somewhere else. Because we do not feel good
02:11the way our self-concept or self-image is. Therefore, there is the need for change. So it all starts
02:19from you. It does not start from the Upanishads or Hegel or Kant or Voltaire. No, not from there.
02:26It starts from you. What is it that would fulfill you? Because you are the one who is restless.
02:35Over the millennia, countless people have tried power and countless have tried money and knowledge
02:43and prestige and adventure and you name it sex. Man has tried all kinds of possible means
02:53to come to a certain fulfillment because there is a gaping hole within. We are not at rest.
03:02We are not alright. The child is born crying. Human beings are always running hither, hither
03:09to gain some satisfaction which is in itself a far cry from fulfillment. But we all are looking
03:18for something. The eyes are continuously wandering in search of something. The ear wants to hear
03:23some special kind of news. The mind is continuously restless. And that is why there is the question,
03:34what do we want? What is all this desire for? We are desiring all the time. And then there were
03:41those who realize that we want an end to all wants. We desire the end of desires and that
03:50is called liberation. And that is more coming to the end of desire itself. That's what desire
03:56wants. Right? Now, power or knowledge do not bring you to the end of desire because after power,
04:05you can want more power. And there is nothing called absolute power because the hunger for
04:11power will still remain. There is no end to knowledge because the one who is seeking fulfillment
04:18through knowledge will never be situated through knowledge.
04:24None of that. Vedanta does not admit any God. Brahma or Truth or Atma are not God. In fact,
04:52Vedanta categorically dismisses all Devi, Devata and Ishwar. Brahma is not God. Brahma is not Ishwar.
05:05The truth is devoid of everything that you can think of. We want to know who we are and why
05:16are we so restless and so confused. We want to come to terms with our own existence. That's what
05:25Vedanta is all about. And when we come to who we really are, we discover that the reality
05:34that we perceive outside of ourselves is identical with the reality within. That is Vedanta. So,
05:43Vedanta is not about believing in some creator God and his created universe. Vedanta says,
05:52who is the perceiver of the universe? I am that. And who am I? Somebody who is half mad.
05:59This kind of honesty Vedanta begins with. Who am I? Someone who is utterly confused. Somebody whose perceptions
06:08and conclusions are heavily unreliable. And if the world is my own perception, how do I begin with the world?
06:17I do not know whether even the world exists. All I can say is that I am not alright. This much I can say.
06:25So, Vedanta begins with this simple observation. All that I see around me is my own perception, my own experience. And I am not alright. So, I will not talk of my experience. I am the kind of person who can say these are 24 fingers. So, how do I go about finding out who made these 24 fingers when they don't even exist?
06:48Yes. How can I talk of a creator God when the creation itself is still not something to be certain of?
07:03Before I say, who was the God who made the mountains and the trees? I have to ask myself, do the mountains and the trees even exist at all?
07:11And who am I to say they exist? I am saying they exist based on my own experience. But I am a lunatic. Very humbly, I admit I am a lunatic. And if I am a lunatic, how do I ever that the mountains do definitely exist? They probably don't.
07:31So, I will not talk of the mountains. So, I will not talk of the mountains. I will talk of myself. And I will ask myself, why am I so restless? Why do not I see things as they really are? Why do I project my desires upon everything? That is what Vedanta does.
07:46Right? And Vedanta keeps peeling off layers after layers of impurity and conditioning and comes to the pure mind or no mind or the core mind and that is the atma, the pure self, also called as the truth.
08:03And when you are there, then what you see through your senses gains an immense clarity. And then you do not see distinctions outside of you. Not that the eyes do not see distinctions and black and white appear as one.
08:19But the meanings that those distinctions used to carry, they are no more there. And then you say all is Brahm. All is Brahm. That's what Vedanta is about.
08:31Vedanta is not about worshipping a god or worshipping this or that or believing in a certain creator. Vedanta believes in nothing.
08:39Vedanta is ruthless inquiry. No belief, no superstitions, no mandates, no commandments, nothing of that kind.
08:49Very, very pure and solid and ruthless inquiry. That's all.
