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00:00A very good evening ladies and gentlemen. Please put your hands together for Acharya Pashanji.
00:20We have with us Acharya Pashanji, philosopher and teacher of global wisdom literature and a prolific author.
00:27At the screen Bootsthal, I would have arranged something for you right in the front.
00:39But you'll have to stand at the scenes today.
00:43Namaste Acharya Ji.
00:46The title Truth Without Apology attracts me. It invokes a sense of strength, a kind of declaration.
00:54Thank you for this.
00:57As I was reading chapter 138, it stated,
01:02It's far better to crawl on the right path than to fly down the wrong one.
01:08This sense of Righteousness has always attracted me.
01:14Perhaps why?
01:16Perhaps it is what has distinguished humanity across history.
01:21Can we then say, Righteousness is Greatness, but it comes with a price and it keeps getting challenging.
01:34Right path is not the rightiest path.
01:38Righteous carries a sense of being on the right side of morality.
01:47We are not talking of being righteous.
01:50Being right and being righteous are different things.
01:54The quote in question here is,
02:01It's far better to crawl on the right path than to fly on the wrong one.
02:09Right and wrong here are neither moral concepts nor righteous percepts.
02:17Right and wrong are defined by the one who is the experiencer of those things.
02:31You see, what is it that matters most to us?
02:38Experience, does it not?
02:39Behind all the lofty concepts and this and that,
02:47if at this moment you start experiencing a heartache or the head starts spinning,
02:55things will get difficult, won't they?
02:58It is experience that matters.
03:03So, right and wrong are in relation to the experiencer.
03:10And when it comes to human beings, the experiencer has a choice.
03:19The choice is to either see that he is a construct of the body and the society,
03:31or just blindly operate from wherever he is coming and whoever he is.
03:41That choice is available.
03:43That experiencer, you would have guessed it.
03:46We are talking of the ego.
03:48That experiencer has a choice.
03:53Right?
03:54The choice is, don't look at yourself.
03:55Just take notice of your instincts, your desires and be propelled in some particular direction.
04:10You don't know why, but you have a desire.
04:13Do we choose our desires?
04:14Once the desire arises, then the intellect chooses a path to fulfil that desire.
04:23But do we choose our desires?
04:25Similarly, do we choose our emotions or thoughts?
04:29We don't.
04:31Thoughts to some degree we may choose.
04:33For example, you may say, I am choosing to open a book and then the book induces certain thoughts.
04:38To that extent you can say, but when it comes to emotions, we hardly exercise any choice.
04:45That's a particular way of living.
04:48Being blind to oneself and then moving in the direction of your feelings and thoughts and conditionings and beliefs and so on.
04:57That's one thing.
04:59The other is, before I act to fulfil myself, should I not know who is the one unfulfilled?
05:09Right?
05:11It is in this context that one is being called as right and the other is being called as wrong.
05:17There is no other criteria.
05:20We are not talking morality here.
05:22We are not talking religious commandments here.
05:25We are talking utility here.
05:28We are talking experience here.
05:30If the experiencer operates from the wrong centre, the centre of blindness, then the experience will not be palatable.
05:44As simple as that.
05:46The experience will be of suffering.
05:51Getting it?
05:52It's as simple as that.
05:53Spirituality is not about obtaining heaven or pleasing gods or accumulating virtue.
06:03It is about taking care of the quality of your experience because that is all that is there to life.
06:10What else is life?
06:11Isn't it a continuous series of experiences?
06:16Right?
06:17So, it's as simple as this.
06:18Somebody asks you, what is the purpose of spirituality?
06:21The purpose is take care of experiences.
06:23Take care of experiences.
06:25Someone might say, but one can have great experience eating some snacks or visiting the new tourist destination.
06:38Fine, you may try that.
06:39And you have already tried that.
06:41And you still remain unfulfilled.
06:44And what does this lack of fulfilment point towards?
06:49What is lack of fulfilment?
06:50Experience.
06:51What else?
06:52So, though I tried all kinds of diverse and colourful experiences.
06:59The reality is that my continuous experience is still that of remaining unfulfilled.
07:09Unfulfilled.
07:10Is it not?
07:12Right?
07:17Spirituality addresses that.
07:18Getting it?
07:19So, the experiencer has to be seen.
07:20Seeing the experiencer is what is being called as right.
07:33Acting blindly is what is being termed as wrong.
07:37Nothing else.
07:38Nothing beyond that.
07:39No complications here.
07:41And when you are operating from the right centre, then even if there is a particular way of operation which has been referred to as crawling, it is alright.
07:52And when you are operating from the wrong centre, even if you seem to be flying, that won't help you because the quality of experience would still not be something you can accept.
08:05Our nature is joy.
08:07If the experience is not rooted in joy, then life is being wasted.
08:13Spirituality wants to prevent that waste from happening.
08:17That's all.
08:18So, firstly, I want to thank you for writing this book. I am sure many of us here need this and I certainly needed this book. So, firstly, thank you. I was just reading this book and there is a chapter that struck me. I would like to quote it. So, there is chapter number 84.
08:45And that says, we don't love people. We love the ghost of our imagination until reality shatters the dream.
08:56So, I would like you to help me understand this. But before that, I would like to quote some data here.
09:03So, according to NFHS, nearly 29% of married women have experienced spousal violence.
09:13According to NCRB data, and that's in 2022, family problems were the single largest cause of suicides in India. I repeat, single largest.
09:23And that's not just in India. In US, in 2023, so they recorded 6,70,000 divorce cases and that's a big number 6,70,000. So, so the question is given this the reality, why do we then still cling to the image of love that's there in our head, in our mind?
09:45As long as you do not know who you are, you do not do anything. It's almost like asking why does the stone roll in that direction? The stone doesn't roll. It is kicked.
09:59We don't do anything. We are forced. But when a stone is kicked, it is very obvious. Right? The event is there, out in the open for all to see. The stone has been kicked and is rolling in that direction.
10:15But among human beings, things are subtler, though in the same dimension. What you call as your choices are not your choices. You have been forced, but in an unconscious way, in a civilized way.
10:30You are presenting this data. This data is something that, let's say, this audience might have encountered for the first time or for the third or fourth time maximum.
10:40Do you hear of these things? Right? Facts, numbers, statistics, comparisons, data gathering bodies, their names. Do you hear of these things very often in media or anywhere? We don't.
10:54What is it that we frequently are made to experience? We are made to experience the romantic dream. Right? Yes, fantasies. If you look at India especially, majority of the movies that we watch are about a man and a woman.
11:19When you are experiencing that movie, is there somebody alongside quoting this data to you? No, not at all. Right? So, when you are just an unconscious piece of material like a stone, the direction that you take is not your own, but the resultant of the various forces that are acting on you.
11:43On us, most of the times, most of the forces are acting with the purpose of making us believe in that very cliched paradigm.
12:02You grow up. You grow up. You get education of some kind. Mostly the dream is about professional education. Right? And then you get married and then you have kids and that's what is called the happy life.
12:17And that is repeated again and again and again and again and so very often that it just gets into you. Right? It's like the stone being kicked again and again in the same direction and the stone has no volition of its own.
12:34The stone has no free will of its own. That's where spirituality comes in. It's not about adding something to yourself. It's about coming alive. Otherwise, you are just a stone.
12:46Just a stone. Just a stone subjected to the moods and fancies and vagaries of others, their kicks in particular. They just keep kicking us. But that's not how we would frame it or phrase it.
13:04It's not how we will. But we will frame it or phrase it. That's how we would frame it.
13:06Whereas if you are just watching a movie or listening to your favourite romantic song in a loop.
13:11It would never occur to you that you are being kicked. And that too continuously in one direction. It wouldn't occur to you. Right? You'd think of it as something soft, smooth, sweet.
13:25healing, soothing.
13:31And that's what, once you take it as sweet and soothing, you will subject yourself again
13:39and again to it.
13:42And then intermittently, even if you came across this data, this impact, this effort
13:54– this spraying of water on a sleeping person's face will be largely ineffective.
14:07Those drops of water will be too few and far between.
14:10You won't wake up.
14:12You have been lulled into a very compelling dream.
14:15Even if somebody presents data to you right in your face, you will look at it, be moved
14:21for a while and then either ignore it or worse still, even reject it.
14:27You may say this data has been compiled by, you know, forces that want to destroy the
14:34family system.
14:38They have been funded by aliens.
14:41Right?
14:44These data compiling bodies, do you know who is funding them?
14:49Why are you so gullible?
14:53They are funded by those from Jupiter.
14:58Or you will be called an anti-national or anti-this or anti-that or something.
15:06Any tradition and you will say, yeah, when it's already sweet and smooth, why take the pains?
15:18Anyway, looking in this direction, subjects me to unwanted nags and comments and such things.
15:27So, better keep going with the flow.
15:31It's not at all difficult to wake up from the dream.
15:35All that you need is facts and the facts in this age are readily available.
15:41Tell me one decision you want to take in life.
15:44You don't even have to be subjective about it.
15:46Data is available because you are not the first one about to take that decision.
15:52Millions before you, hundreds of generations before you were faced with the same dilemma.
16:01And had to make the same decision.
16:05They made that decision.
16:07And you can benefit from their experience.
16:10All that data is available.
16:13Why don't you just look up?
16:15But we won't look up.
16:17Something within us knows already that looking up is dangerous.
16:21So we'll just proceed as per impressions and beliefs.
16:27I think this is a great thing to do.
16:30I think enrolling in that particular course is wonderful.
16:34No, you're not the first one enrolling there, right?
16:36Look up.
16:37What happened to those who enrolled there?
16:39What are they doing now?
16:42Any critical thing in life?
16:44I want to enter this industry.
16:46I want to go there.
16:47I want to do this.
16:47I want to practice this.
16:49I want to enjoy, I want to get into that method of treatment of my disease, whatever.
16:55Are you the first one?
16:57You know, data is available.
16:58And with AI, not just data, but even analysis is available.
17:04Go for it.
17:08The risk of subjective bias will be greatly reduced.
17:13If not brought down to zero.
17:14Even AI might have some bias.
17:16But the bias that AI has is far, far lesser compared to the bias that an individual has.
17:25It's a very special evening, it's because somebody really special is with us.
17:53One who interestingly doesn't give you Mithi Goli in the form of comforting lies.
18:01But instead gives you Karwa Neem in the form of piercing truth.
18:08Truth that doesn't discriminate.
18:12Truth that doesn't deviate or distract.
18:16Truth that only leads you towards light, wisdom, betterment.
18:24We are a society where we take due care and ensure that we never deliver the message straight
18:30and clear.
18:32But one voice starts to walk in the opposite direction.
18:38He says no matter what, I will be the mirror that will show you who you are.
18:47Now is this crazy or is this brave?
18:50I would say both.
18:53And guess what?
18:55In some years, this man becomes the world's most followed spiritual teacher on social media.
19:02You name it, you have it.
19:12And talking about this brilliant book that I have in my hand, you know, it's taken months,
19:18it's taken years.
19:20He's been extremely passionately working hours and hours and hours just to give a distillation
19:26of his quintessential wisdom.
19:30Now if you've already picked up the book, you would know the beauty of this is that each
19:39chapter in this book is like a Zen Quan.
19:44You read it once, you read it twice, ruminate, sleep over it.
19:50So talk about topics like fear, anxiety, relationships, career, you know, you name it, you have it.
19:58This is your perfect guide.
20:00This is a wonderful book, not only to read, gift, but also to talk about.
20:05Thank you very much.
20:15Thank you so much Sachin, I would like to invite the senior members of the PAF, but starting
20:21first with Shri Sita Tripathi ji, mother of Acharya ji, Divesh ji, CTO, Pradeev ji COO,
20:29Rohit ji, head public relations and Shubhankar ji head outreach for the official launch of the
20:35book.
20:45I would also like to invite Sachin Sharma, publisher from HarperCollins Publishers to join us on stage.
20:51Thank you so much.
21:11Thank you so much.
21:37Thank you so much.
21:51Thank you so much.
22:21Thank you so much.
22:51Thank you so much.
22:52Thank you so much.
22:53Thank you so much.
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