00:00A question always comes in my mind. When I see Bhagavad Gita, it's a book that shows
00:10a way to live life, not a dharmic book. And many foreign institutes have Bhagavad Gita
00:15as a core source in their management courses. Then why this generation in India do not have
00:22much knowledge of Bhagavad Gita? Sir, my question always remains...
00:26We are so far away from Krishna because the image of Krishna is just too close to us.
00:35Compared to us, foreigners find it easier to come to the essence of Krishna because they
00:43don't have images or stories about Krishna. No Indian wants to know anything more about
00:52Krishna. We already know Krishna. Every single person knows five or ten stories about Krishna.
01:01And that is all. Why do you need to read the Gita? Why do you need to understand Vedanta?
01:07We know those five stories. One, how he was stealing butter. Two, how he was dancing with the gopis.
01:16Third, the mountain on the little finger. Fourth, the great snake in the Jamuna river.
01:22Done. Then Sudama. Five stories you know and you are fully confident you know Krishna.
01:29And beyond that nobody needs to know anything. Every person walking on the road in India is
01:40Aham Braham Asmi. I too am Braham. I am an Indian. And he spits on the road.
01:46Why do we need to read the Upanishads then? I am already Aham Braham Asmi.
02:01Five stories from the Bhagavad Purana. That's all.
02:07Krishna, obviously Krishna. Yeah, yeah, the one in the neighbourhood. That mischievous boy.
02:13Obviously I know of him. All my life I have been inviting people to the Gita, teaching Gita,
02:22speaking for hours on every single shloka of the Gita. And not too many people have been interested. Why?
02:32We know the story, Makhan Chor. What else is there to know? What else is there to know?
02:41And there are so many TV serials. Are they talking of the Gita? No.
02:46They are showing how he made love with all the milkmaids, booing them, frolicking with them.
02:56That's what the TV serials are showing, right? Or are they educating you in the principles of Gita?
03:04The philosophy of Vedanta. Gita is one of the pillars of Vedanta, by the way.
03:09What they are showing you?
03:11The peacocks, the cows, the birds, the girls. And the girls are there in the pond. And Krishna does away with their clothes.
03:25And for five hours, the TV producer is just lengthening and lengthening and dragging the whole thing on.
03:35Which particular clothes? Which girl? What is she saying?
03:40Ninety percent of that is not there even in the Puranas.
03:48Forget about the Gita. The stuff, the image and the stories that you carry about Krishna are not there even in the Bhagwat Purana or Harwaj Purana.
04:00From nowhere are they coming. Just from imagination.
04:03And everybody knows Krishna. That's why nobody reads the Gita.
04:07A lot of research on the Gita, a lot of scholarship on the Gita has actually come from abroad.
04:14Indians are Gita.
04:19Yes, Gita.
04:20Arjun, yeah, yeah. Arjun?
04:27It is such a tragedy, so unfortunate it is, that we have all the trash and the gems we had,
04:39have been rather used by the foreigners.
04:46Advaita Vedanta, it is greatly respected abroad.
04:51Bhagwat Gita, it is understood and read abroad.
04:56You have university courses on the Gita.
04:59Hardly in India.
05:04They were wise enough to take the best out of your spiritual heritage.
05:11And they took only the best that was there.
05:16All the trash was left for the Indians.
05:20All the trash you just enjoy.
05:23Jhaad phuk, tona totka, that's for you.
05:27Occult, flying snakes, that is for you.
05:33The great philosophical javils, the foreigners accepted them, respected them, learned them and taught them.
05:45Today, if you talk of non-duality, non-duality is a much bigger thing in the US than in India.
06:00It's a matter of great joy.
06:02It's also a matter of great shame.
06:05Is it not?
06:12Attend to the valuable things in your heritage.
06:17And keep the trash aside.
06:19And believe me, there is a lot of trash in your spiritual heritage.
06:24Let's be honest and acknowledge that.
06:27Because if you will not keep the trash aside, you will not be able to value and worship the javils.
06:35Is it possible to worship both?
06:38Please tell me.
06:40Can you worship the dust and the gems alike?
06:44No.
06:47In fact, you want to polish the gem so that the dust can be cleared away.
06:58Indians have chosen the dust.
07:02The West has been able to identify the gems.
07:07All the nonsense in the name of religion, Indians have lapped up.
07:13All the nonsense, all the riots, all rubbish, all superstition in the name of religion.
07:20Indians are very happy with that.
07:22And all the great things in your spiritual heritage.
07:26All the wonderful philosophies.
07:29I am repeating.
07:31The West has happily, smartly accepted that.
07:36Yes, sir.
07:37Any way to develop this in our body, sir?
07:48That we should read Gita or we should learn something?
07:51Try to understand it.
07:53And when you read Gita, first of all, exert yourself fully to understand what Krishna is trying to say.
08:01I have a question.
08:02When I read Gita, sir, I read and I understand something different.
08:05But when I listen something, my seniors, my professors, they taught me something different.
08:11As the many times I read Gita, the meaning is different.
08:15Then don't settle down.
08:17Don't believe that you are right.
08:19Equally, don't believe that the others are right.
08:21Keep investigating.
08:23Keep investigating what is the real spirit of Gita.
08:26How is one verse related to the other?
08:29And remember that the Gita is founded on the principles of Vedanta.
08:34If you are not clear about the right meaning of a verse, then you have to refer to Vedantic principles.
08:41Vedanta will ultimately decide what a verse in the Gita means.
08:47Because Vedanta comes first.
08:49After that comes the Bhagavad Gita.
08:51Are you getting it?
08:55You don't need to settle down.
08:57You don't need to say what you are saying is the final thing.
09:00Equally, you don't need to accept what someone else is saying is the final thing.
09:03Be on a continuous journey of inquiry.
09:06Yes.
09:07Sir, one last question.
09:09Sir, when I read Gita and the place where I live and the environment I am in.
09:19Sir, when I talk to my friends about movies and recent movies like Pushpa and something, they will start involved with me.
09:26But sir, when I talk to them about Gita and something which makes our life better.
09:31Sir, they don't do.
09:32And they think like I am becoming assigned.
09:34And our parents also think that reading this type of Upanishads and Purans will make you assigned.
09:40You will go on another path.
09:43Why are you with such friends?
09:47Sir, the environment is like this.
09:50You can choose the right elements in your environment.
10:03Nobody is helpless.
10:05And today, in the age of technology, you can have a virtual environment.
10:12Your friends can come from anywhere.
10:17Or does your physical neighbour have to be your friend?
10:21If he is not worth it, ignore him.
10:25Try to help him at first.
10:27See whether he listens.
10:29But if he is insistent that he wants to talk only about Pushpa, not about Gita,
10:35then you say you keep Pushpa, I keep Gita.
10:45Yes, I got the point.
10:47Got the point?
10:48Create your own environment.
10:50People who do not respect the Gita, do not deserve to be your friends.
11:00Full stop.
11:01Full stop.
11:02Full stop.
11:03So if you enjoyed it.
11:04Perfect.
11:05High school at breaks.
11:06Is this a game that's so positive?
11:08Fun world.
11:09Very extreme.
11:10I'm a genius.
11:11We are brilliant with this.
11:12Our Black personally therapies are 100% in our systems,
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