- 2 hours ago
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Sir, every year for nine days in India, men, women, they come and they worship a goddess
00:06and for the rest of the year they forget about it and they beat her and they'll not send her to school
00:11and they'll oppress her of everything.
00:13They are still thinking of themselves from the eyes, the lenses of the past.
00:17Don't give them any kind of power or authority. They are brainless.
00:20Let them just breed kids. That's what they are good for.
00:23Or let them go to the kitchen and do something.
00:24If you convince the woman that her job is not to think but to serve,
00:28then in spite of having the brain, she will not use it.
00:31Don't be a good girl with your mother sitting next to you.
00:33That's the advice I'm offering.
00:35Does the Devi look like a good girl?
00:38Be like the Devi.
00:45Sir, I'm a 14 year old and sir, every year for nine days in India,
00:51men, women, every Hindu, they come and they worship a goddess for nine days
00:57and for the rest of the year, they forget about it and they beat her and they hit her
01:02and they'll not send her to school and they'll oppress her of everything.
01:07So for these nine days, just for these nine days, they'll remember the goddess.
01:12But for the rest of the year, the goddess is nowhere to be found.
01:15I want to know how I can make people understand how significant it is to respect a person throughout
01:26the year and respect a gender throughout the year and not oppress them.
01:32First of all, I appreciate the spirit of your question.
01:37But at the same time, please sit.
01:39At the same time, Devi is not about a particular gender.
01:44Though where you are coming from is a very proper place.
01:47Yes, there is very perverse kind of gender discrimination and exploitation here.
01:53But the fact still remains that Devi does not represent a particular gender.
01:57That's a very common misunderstanding that Devi represents the feminine side of existence and all that
02:06and people are holding forth on that and gurus and all.
02:09This is sheer nonsense.
02:11Devi does not represent the woman, not at all.
02:15Just as Shiva does not represent the man.
02:18Shiva does not represent the male or the man or Nar.
02:23No, no way.
02:24What does Devi represent?
02:30And where does the entire lore and the legend of Devi come from?
02:36We have to go to that.
02:38Right?
02:39Over the past few days, you have been consistently here and you would have heard me talking of
02:45Durga Sabchati, Devi Mahatma.
02:48That's the name of the scripture.
02:50It's a part of a wider body of scriptures, but it is held to be a scripture in its own right.
02:56Durga Sabchati.
02:58That's from where the whole symbolism containing the Devi comes from.
03:06And Devi represents Prakrati itself.
03:11Not one species, not one gender, not one place, but the entirety of the whole cosmos.
03:20For practical purposes, you could say, because we are little beings on a little planet, you
03:26could say, Devi represents the sum total of all sentience we have on this planet.
03:35Devi represents the sum total of all sentience that we have on this planet.
03:40However, there is a little catch.
03:45In the books of Devi, it is not only human beings that are taken as sentient.
03:55Animals have a very prominent place.
03:58And we are still not done.
04:01Because it's not even just the animals.
04:04It also includes the rivers and the mountains.
04:07So, Devi represents all of that.
04:11The trees, the forests.
04:15Getting it?
04:16And it's a beautiful scripture to read.
04:20Very enlightening.
04:22Provided you get the symbolism.
04:24If you take literal meanings, then you'll be left on the surface.
04:30So, it's a very beautiful scripture to read.
04:32And, in fact, if you don't find time over the entire year, these nine days, you must make
04:37use of getting it.
04:41So, there is Devi, which is this, all this, all this.
04:47And the scripture opens with pointing that even the highest gods are no match for the Devi.
05:03What does that mean?
05:05That means that even the highest realization that you can attain will come only by being
05:13in sacred contact with nature.
05:18If you cannot learn from the trees and the rivers and the mountains,
05:25and the animals and the kids, and the woman and the man, if you cannot learn from them,
05:30then it's pointless to think that you will gain from a temple or a mosque or a book or a priest.
05:38It is from being in very discreet, yet very loving contact with life that one learns.
05:54And then there are all these demons carrying very colourful names.
06:02You'd have heard of them.
06:03So, there are three parts there, and several chapters, and the various chapters are divided
06:17into three parts.
06:19And in every part, there is a fresh set of demons that come over, doing something very bad,
06:27very mischievous.
06:27And even the gods cannot control them.
06:30Such powerful demons.
06:32The highest gods can't control them.
06:34Vishnu, Mahadev.
06:36What to talk of the ordinary ones like Indra and Varun.
06:40And they are all, they have all been held captive by all these demons.
06:43And then, the gods pull their energies together, in one way or the other.
06:53And then, in every part, Devi arises.
06:57Though the names that Devi assumes in all parts are different, yet it is the same mother,
07:03the same Devi, the central one.
07:05The idea is to say, that irrespective of how learned you think you are, who your gods are,
07:18Prakriti is beyond everything.
07:23And the mother of all understanding and knowledge and liberation.
07:31And if you do not acknowledge that, then you will want to consume Prakriti, and that's who the demons are.
07:42Every chapter, in each of the three parts, that's what they are attempting to do.
07:46You know what they are trying?
07:48We will capture Devi.
07:50We will defeat Devi.
07:50In the last one, in fact, Devi comes in a very beautiful form, atop the Himalayas.
07:57And they say, no, no, no, we want to marry this one, because she is so beautiful.
08:03And the Asurs had become, that's how the story runs, had become very powerful by that time.
08:09And they said, we have all the great and precious things in our lavish treasure.
08:14And she looks like the most beautiful woman, so she should also be a part of her treasure.
08:22So they send, first of all, messengers.
08:25And messengers tell Devi, our kings want you.
08:30And Devi plays innocent, says, you know, I am just a poor lady and I am standing here, you see.
08:35But I have put a condition, taken a vow, that somebody who can defeat me, will can take me as wife.
08:45So please defeat me.
08:46And when they come to defeat her, she slaps the life out of them.
08:51There is actually an episode, clearly mentioned, that Devi is annihilating them just by slapping them.
08:58They come and there is one more tight slap, one more tight slap, and they are all gone.
09:03You get the idea?
09:04You look at the modern man's tendency to eat away at nature, to destroy nature, to subjugate nature,
09:15to dam the rivers, to clear the forests, to dig holes and mines and excavate and fossil fuels
09:24and release carbon dioxide into atmosphere and wipe out entire species and everything that is
09:31possible, we are destroying the nature.
09:33And that's the characteristic of the demons.
09:37And that's what the scripture is written to warn against.
09:41If you mess with nature, there is no way you will be spared.
09:47If you mess with nature, there is no way you will be spared because this nature itself is Devi.
09:52To make things easier for the reader, the learner, we personalize nature in the form of a lady.
10:06A venerable lady called Devi.
10:09But that's just a symbol.
10:10That doesn't mean Devi is a woman.
10:14Are you getting it?
10:15We have a tendency to, you know, this is called anthropomorphization.
10:19Whatever there is, we want to represent it in the human form.
10:25So, nature also, because otherwise nature becomes an abstraction.
10:29If everything is nature, then how do I talk to nature?
10:34Yes.
10:35So, we personify nature so that we can kind of conveniently assume that we are talking to nature.
10:41So, that's who the Devi is.
10:43And the entire scripture exists to warn against the indiscreet exploitation of nature.
10:52And that's why the scripture is very, very relevant today.
10:56Very relevant in the age of the climate crisis.
10:58When I read it first, I was almost shocked towards the end, when all the demons are gone, finished, killed.
11:13It says that the effect is that the skies have cleared, the air is fine, unpolluted, light, the rivers are flowing freely, sunlight is now raining as it should,
11:37and everything has attained its proper place in the universe.
11:43And by everything, there is very clear indication.
11:47We are talking of all the things that we have corrupted and polluted today.
11:55Are you getting it?
11:56So, that's who the Devi stands for.
11:59Now, the kind of treatment that women get in our country, in the world over, you see, if at the centre of our being is the ignorant and exploitative ego,
12:16it will exploit whosoever is taken or found as powerless.
12:22Please tell me, why don't you eat the elephant?
12:25Why don't you eat the elephant?
12:29Right?
12:30Today, somebody might.
12:33But historically, mankind isn't known to have eaten too many elephants.
12:38Why?
12:39Because the elephant was difficult to catch.
12:43It's sheer power equation.
12:45Nothing more than that.
12:48The poor chicken is easy to catch and breed.
12:51You can not only catch it, but breed it.
12:53Breed it in captivity.
12:56Same thing applies to all the milk cattle.
12:59We extract milk from there because you can catch them.
13:02They can't run fast.
13:04Also, they are not designed to be aggressive.
13:06That's not how their genetic thing is.
13:08They won't attack you too much.
13:10So, you hold them by the rope.
13:13And then you milk them and do all those things.
13:15Because the ego is exploitative.
13:17So, be it the goat or the chicken or the cattle
13:20or the sheep
13:21Imagine
13:23the sheep were actually a lion.
13:30Would you still hold it and shave it?
13:34And extract wool for yourself?
13:36How many things do you use that come from the lion's body?
13:47But when it comes to the body of the cattle
13:51or the chicken
13:52or any other little thing
13:53pigeon
13:54or the rabbit
13:55it's power equation.
13:58And that's the only way the ego operates.
14:01It doesn't
14:01it can't love.
14:02It can only exploit.
14:04The moment it sees somebody powerless
14:06it pounces on it
14:08grabs it
14:10and exploits.
14:12And that's the reason why
14:14women have been exploited.
14:16Because they have remained powerless.
14:20Historically, we know
14:21why they were powerless.
14:24Because they didn't have enough muscle
14:26but had the womb.
14:28Now, that proved to be a deadly combo
14:30in the past
14:31because the only source of energy
14:34was the human muscle
14:36and later on the animal muscle.
14:39You didn't have any engines
14:41you didn't have fossil fuel
14:42you didn't have nuclear energy
14:44you didn't have tidal energy
14:46or solar energy
14:47where did energy come from?
14:50The muscle.
14:51And women didn't have as much muscle.
14:54Simple.
14:54That was the only reason.
14:56Lack of muscle.
14:57So, man needed muscle
15:00for agriculture
15:01for fighting wars
15:02for doing all the things
15:04don't you require energy?
15:05Today also
15:06you see it is for energy
15:07that so many wars
15:08are being fought.
15:09Why is Middle East
15:11always burning?
15:12Because it has energy.
15:14It's a voice of energy.
15:15Right?
15:16And everybody wants to capture them.
15:18So, the same thing
15:19was happening in the past also.
15:21First of all
15:21the woman didn't have muscle.
15:23Secondly
15:24she had the womb
15:25and she was continuously pregnant
15:27because there was
15:28nothing to protect her
15:30against getting pregnant
15:31and infant mortality
15:33was very high.
15:34Kids would get born
15:35and then they would die.
15:37So, she was continuously pregnant.
15:39One after the other
15:40one after the other.
15:40So, you are physically weak
15:42and then you are also immobile
15:43and then there are
15:45three, four kids
15:46always around you
15:47and somebody is sick
15:48and somebody has to be
15:50still breastfed
15:51and all kind of things
15:53are happening.
15:54So, that was the reason
15:56she became powerless.
15:58But that is no more
15:59the case
16:00in the knowledge economy.
16:03Today
16:04knowledge doesn't come
16:05from your muscle.
16:08Today
16:09muscle power
16:11has very little relevance.
16:13Very, very little relevance.
16:16Today
16:17power flows from
16:18the brain.
16:21and wisdom
16:21and wisdom.
16:24Therefore,
16:25there is no reason
16:25the woman
16:26stands to be exploited.
16:29But she is still
16:30getting exploited.
16:32Now,
16:32why is that happening?
16:34Because
16:34even if
16:35you have the brain
16:37you must be
16:38internally
16:39free to use
16:40the brain.
16:41Otherwise
16:42the brain will remain
16:43like a
16:44like a mass of meat
16:45sitting here
16:47doing nothing.
16:48If you convince
16:49the woman
16:50that her job
16:51is not to think
16:52but to serve
16:53then in spite of
16:56having the brain
16:57she will not use it
16:58and when she will not use it
16:59then you will say
17:00they don't have the brain.
17:03Don't give them
17:03any kind of power
17:04or authority.
17:05They are brainless.
17:07Let them just breed kids.
17:09That's what they are good for.
17:10Or let them go to the kitchen
17:11and do something.
17:12Don't give them
17:13any brainy work.
17:14Do you see this?
17:16Today the problem
17:17is not
17:18not the muscle.
17:20Today the problem
17:20is tradition.
17:22That is what is
17:23holding women back.
17:25They are still
17:25thinking of themselves
17:27from the
17:30from the eyes
17:31the lenses
17:31of the past.
17:33They have not been able
17:34to get rid
17:35of history.
17:37Where?
17:37And that is very funny.
17:38Think of it.
17:39Because
17:39there is nothing
17:41for women in history.
17:44In history
17:45all that you have
17:46is a lot of
17:47exploitation of women.
17:49When India got
17:50independent
17:50search for yourself
17:52how much was
17:53the female literacy rate?
17:57Not
17:58not just very low
17:59it was close to zero
18:02in most places.
18:05Only in certain cities
18:06there were some
18:07literate women.
18:08Otherwise
18:08over several
18:10hundred square
18:10kilometers
18:11it was possible
18:12that you could
18:13count the number
18:13of literate women
18:14on your fingers.
18:16So pathetic
18:16was the literacy rate
18:17when India got
18:18got freedom.
18:22And why do women
18:23tolerate that?
18:24Today you have
18:24legal protection.
18:26Right?
18:27Today
18:27today
18:28there is technology
18:29today there is
18:30everything
18:30we still tolerate
18:31that
18:31because
18:32we think
18:35that it is
18:36good to live
18:37by history
18:38or social sanction
18:39or tradition
18:40or whatever
18:41one finds it
18:45important
18:46to be a good
18:47girl in the eyes
18:48of others.
18:49You know
18:50others must
18:51approve of me
18:52and they will
18:53approve of you
18:54only if you
18:54abide by history.
18:56So that is the
18:57way women
18:58choose bondage
18:59today.
19:00Papa ki pari
19:01you know
19:01good girl.
19:02that brother
19:05is such a
19:07rascal.
19:08He roams
19:09all over the
19:09city and does
19:10this and does
19:10that but this
19:11one is such a
19:12nice girl.
19:13This one is
19:14such a nice
19:14girl.
19:15She follows
19:15all the
19:16parental
19:16instructions
19:17does her
19:19homework
19:19properly
19:20gets good
19:22grades in the
19:23school
19:23and the
19:25brother is a
19:26rascal.
19:29But the
19:30brother will
19:30end up in the
19:31Silicon Valley
19:31and the
19:32sister will
19:32end up in
19:33the kitchen.
19:36Don't be a
19:37good girl
19:37with your
19:39mother sitting
19:40next to you.
19:41That's the
19:41advice I'm
19:42offering.
19:45Thank you
19:46sir.
19:46Yeah.
19:49Does the
19:49Devi look like
19:50a good girl?
19:52Be like the
19:53Devi.
19:54Huh?
19:54Haaah!
19:55Haaah!
19:56Haaah!
19:57Haaah!
19:58Haaah!
19:59Haaah!
19:59Haaah!
20:00Haaah!
20:00Haaah!
20:01Haaah!
20:01Haaah!
20:02Haaah!
20:03Haaah!
20:04Haaah!
20:05Haaah!
20:06Haaah!
20:07Haaah!
20:08Haaah!
20:09Haaah!
20:10Haaah!
20:11Haaah!
20:12Haaah!
20:13Haaah!
20:14Haaah!
20:15Haaah!
20:16Haaah!
20:17Haaah!
20:18Haaah!
20:19Haaah!
20:20Haaah!
20:21Haaah!
20:22Haaah!
20:23Haaah!
20:24Haaah!
20:25Haaah!
20:26Haaah!
20:27Haaah!
20:28Haaah!
Be the first to comment