- 9 months ago
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00:00So, as in my case, I had like a lot of down times in my life. I was very down.
00:07And belief in God gave me a lot of hope. So isn't a belief related to hope?
00:13I'm sitting here and I believe that there is an enemy behind me ready to stab me.
00:18And I'm shivering.
00:22And hence I summon another belief and say, no, this enemy,
00:28this negative energy will not be able to harm me at all.
00:35Because there is an invisible positive energy also that I believe in.
00:40Instead of compensating for one belief with another belief,
00:47why don't you inquire into the first debilitating belief itself?
00:53Are you really so weak, so fragile, so brittle,
00:58that you have to necessarily go through, as you said, the down times?
01:04Spirituality and belief should not be spoken of in the same breath.
01:08All organized religion begins with belief.
01:11So, as in my case, I had like a lot of down times in my life.
01:27I was very down.
01:29And belief in God, for instance,
01:33belief in God gave me a lot of hope.
01:35And so, isn't a belief related to hope in some context?
01:43But then, belief in an external power, God,
01:48isn't it first coming from belief in your internal powerlessness?
01:55So now you have a compensatory belief.
01:58And because it compensates for a pre-existing belief,
02:02you are saying this compensatory belief is wonderful.
02:05What you are not seeing is that you need the other belief only because,
02:09first of all, there is a pre-existing belief.
02:11And this pre-existing belief is so debilitating,
02:15that it makes you go for another belief.
02:19It's like this.
02:20I'm sitting here, right?
02:26And I believe that there is an enemy behind me,
02:30ready to stab me.
02:32And I'm shivering.
02:34And because I'm shivering and I can't talk to you,
02:37even as you six are here,
02:39beautiful people asking me lovely questions,
02:41I find I cannot attend to this.
02:43Why?
02:44Because continuously there is a belief
02:46that behind my back lurks an invisible enemy.
02:49with a dagger.
02:53That too is a belief.
02:58And hence,
02:59I summon another belief
03:01and say,
03:02no, this enemy,
03:04this negative energy will not be able to harm me at all.
03:09Because there is an invisible positive energy also that I believe in.
03:15That positive energy
03:16is needed only because,
03:18first of all,
03:19you randomly believe in this negative energy.
03:23You randomly believe in your vulnerability.
03:26Are you vulnerable?
03:28Now, instead of compensating
03:30for one belief
03:32with another belief,
03:34why don't you
03:35inquire into the first debilitating belief itself?
03:41Are you really so weak,
03:43so fragile,
03:44so brittle,
03:44that you have to necessarily go through,
03:47as you said,
03:48the down times?
03:52What had befallen?
03:54What was the,
03:55what was the sheer curse?
03:58Why did you have to feel so disappointed?
04:01And what was the nature of disappointment?
04:03That disappointment could be annulled with mere imagination?
04:08I am so disappointed,
04:11I am so disappointed,
04:12there is somebody behind me ready to kill me.
04:14What do I need to take care of this disappointment and the fear?
04:18Nothing, just close my eyes and believe that there is somebody else protecting me.
04:22Now, how, how, how amusing is that?
04:31If I am not alright,
04:33should I not first inquire into my dependencies?
04:38You are not born to be internally weak.
04:42If you are feeling internally weak,
04:44instead of rushing after belief,
04:47shouldn't you inquire why you are feeling internally weak?
04:50Maybe you are feeling internally weak because you are carrying
04:55random expectations,
04:58dependencies,
05:01or greed.
05:05Right?
05:05When you carry all those things,
05:07those things weaken you from within.
05:09But instead of dropping those things,
05:12instead of dropping those things,
05:13you go and pray and start feeling relaxed,
05:17that now you will be taken care of by an invisible energy.
05:22Please tell me,
05:23I don't want to offend anybody,
05:24but please tell me,
05:26what do people go to places of worship for?
05:30Don't people go to those places to just get what they desire?
05:36Yes?
05:36No, you are carrying those rubbish desires within,
05:42and they make you feel small and defeated,
05:46and poor.
05:47Instead of inquiring into those desires,
05:50instead of dropping those desires,
05:53you summon up, you conjure,
05:55a big power outside of you,
05:57and then you go and you kneel,
05:59and you say,
06:00now my belief system has come to my rescue.
06:06That which you require defense against,
06:10is in itself imaginary.
06:15That which gets hurt within you,
06:21is in itself imaginary.
06:23Why do you want to defend the imaginary with the imaginary?
06:36There is the imaginary threat standing behind me.
06:40I want to annul,
06:42I want to annul this imaginary threat using an imaginary belief.
06:47A fairy with a weapon is just coming,
06:55to take care of this monster.
06:58Why is the fairy needed?
07:01Because there is a monster.
07:02What if there is no monster at all in the first place?
07:05The monster is imagination.
07:07To take care of this imagination,
07:08now you are imagining a fairy,
07:10and a great weapon.
07:11Please see, there is no monster,
07:19there is no fairy, there is no weapon.
07:22Why are you going mad?
07:37Next thing,
07:38spirituality and belief should not be spoken of in the same breath.
07:45Organised religion is belief.
07:47All organised religions begin with a belief system.
07:53You have to believe in such and such things.
07:55Only then you are a proper atheist.
08:01Otherwise we will, in fact you are called a believer.
08:04When you are in the organised religion,
08:09that's what you are called, a believer.
08:13And they will address you,
08:14listen O believers!
08:18All organised religion begins with belief.
08:23But spirituality is not belief.
08:25Spirituality is the unrelenting inquiry into all beliefs in life.
08:32Why am I living on imaginations?
08:35I want to question, I want to question.
08:38This is a spiritual process you are seeing.
08:43Because you have questions.
08:46And I can say something and you may say,
08:48no but I don't agree to this,
08:50there is a big but still remaining.
08:53This is spirituality.
08:57Am I asking you to believe?
08:58No.
08:58I am raising questions continuously.
09:00I am raising questions and I am dealing with your questions.
09:06This is spirituality.
09:08Now, how would it have looked had it been a religious gathering?
09:17This I am saying that you are seeing here is spiritual.
09:21Because what we have is open, honest, transparent questioning.
09:29Right?
09:30Instead of this, how would it have looked had this been a religious congregation?
09:39What would it have been a religious authority would sit here?
09:51No, not like this, obviously.
09:53You are mere mortals.
09:54Who are you?
09:54How can you occupy the same stage as I do and sit at the same level?
09:58No, no, no, you are not allowed.
09:59So, you will be sitting here.
10:04And you cannot sit this way with the mic in hand.
10:07How should your hands look when you are sitting in front of a religious authority?
10:11And I won't be taking questions really.
10:21Or continuously just preaching, preaching, preaching.
10:28And even if I have to take questions, I'll take questions from, you know, deeply religious
10:32and mature people.
10:34Why will I allow kids to question me?
10:41That's how religion proceeds, organized religion.
10:45It does not allow you to ask questions.
10:48It says, this is it and you have to believe in it.
10:52You like this?
10:55You like this?
10:57You like this?
10:57You like this?
11:00This is it?
11:00And you believe otherwise?
11:03There is always this otherwise hanging over your head like a sword.
11:09Otherwise, come on.
11:12God will come later.
11:14I will punish you.
11:18I will punish you.
11:21That's how belief systems operate.
11:24Because they are very, very insecure.
11:28I believe in a yellow God.
11:30You believe in a blue God.
11:32He believes in a red God.
11:33She believes in a white God.
11:36And we all will be very insecure because no one really knows.
11:39We are all just believing.
11:46Because my tradition told me God is red.
11:48His tradition told him blue.
11:50His tradition told him yellow.
11:52The white there and violet here.
11:54We will all be very insecure because we cannot be secure without the truth.
11:59And we do not know the truth.
12:00We are just believing.
12:02So, he comes to me and says, God is red.
12:04I will say, no, my God is yellow.
12:06And then we will fight and kill each other down.
12:10That's what belief systems do.
12:13They breed violence.
12:16Truth cannot breed violence because truth is the same for all.
12:20But beliefs will definitely be different for all.
12:23Do you now see why religions fight with each other?
12:25Because they are based on belief.
12:29And you now know why scientists cannot fight.
12:32Because it doesn't matter whether you are coming from Germany or US or India or any place.
12:40The facts of science remain the same.
12:43Hence, scientists will not fight.
12:44In fact, they collaborate.
12:47Scientists across countries and cultures collaborate.
12:52And religious people across cultures and beliefs, they continuously fight.
12:57Because beliefs cannot match.
13:01Because stories cannot match.
13:03Because imaginations cannot match.
13:07He will never be able to prove God is white.
13:09He will never be able to prove God is yellow.
13:12And I will say both of you are idiots.
13:17And not just idiots.
13:19You are committing blasphemy.
13:23Heretics who deserve to be killed.
13:31God is white.
13:35Do you all agree or not?
13:37Or should I pull out the gun?
13:39Repeat after me.
13:40God is white.
13:45And if you don't, we will have riots.
13:49That's belief.
13:50Nobody knows anything.
13:53All have their stories.
13:54That's belief.
13:56Spirituality is not belief.
13:57Please, please, please.
14:00In fact, spirituality is constantly sniffing for belief.
14:06And if I smell belief there, I'll come hunting.
14:15Do you get this?
14:15Do you also see how within the human being, there is something that just lazily wants to believe.
14:25Why?
14:26Because truth is arduous.
14:29Truth demands hard work.
14:34The sun is hanging there.
14:35Because the gods ordered it.
14:40How much work does it take to come up with this fancy story?
14:44How much work does it take?
14:46No work it takes.
14:48The earth is the center of the universe.
14:51And the suns and the moons and the stars and the galaxies are all orbiting around the earth.
14:57How much work does it come to come up with this kind of a nonsensical story?
15:02Zero work.
15:03Therefore, we go for easy, lazy beliefs.
15:07But to discover the distance between the sun and the earth.
15:14To really come to the shape of the orbits.
15:19To derive equations.
15:21To come to the exact numbers.
15:24To determine the speed of light.
15:26All that takes effort.
15:29Therefore, we settle for easy, lazy beliefs.
15:33Because we don't want to work.
15:35And because we are also afraid.
15:38He said the sun is circling the earth.
15:43If I say no, no that is not right, I will be killed.
15:46And you know of the name of the gentleman.
15:53You know of Bruno, you know of Galileo.
15:55You know what happened to them.
15:56You also know that even Newton was threatened.
15:59Do you understand this?
16:07You are not born to believe.
16:09Belief is simply a validation of ignorance.
16:13If I am blind, I want to get out of this hall.
16:23I will have to ask you.
16:26And then I may have no recourse but to believe.
16:31Right?
16:33Which way is the exit please?
16:34And you will tell me and I have no option but to believe.
16:40Because, but what if I do have eyes?
16:43And I still keep believing what others tell me.
16:46And this one is telling me, you can go out of this room only by blasting through the roof.
16:50And there is a fire here.
16:54And I am believing that the only way to exit is through the roof.
16:59I am stupid.
17:00Am I not?
17:00I have my eyes.
17:02I can see.
17:03I can know.
17:04Why do I need to believe?
17:07How stupid would I look if in spite of being gifted with eyes,
17:11I still keep asking all and sundry and believing what they say and also get roasted in the process.
17:22What is it that you cannot know?
17:24Please tell me.
17:25What is it that you cannot even question?
17:27Please tell me.
17:30Just that the process of inquiry is long but beautiful.
17:38Be it the external world, be it the internal world.
17:41None are exempt from the question mark.
17:46Can't you ask yourself, there is a certain attraction I am feeling towards this individual.
17:51Where is this coming from?
17:52Why can't you ask this?
17:54Just as the scientist, the experimenter proceeds in his lab.
18:00Why can't you question your emotions, your intuitions, your instincts, your love, your anger, your greed?
18:07Have you seen?
18:08When you look at yourself, it is possible to see what is happening within.
18:11Have you seen?
18:14You are unreasonably irritated.
18:16Somebody asks you, what's the matter?
18:17You say, no, no, no, just the mood.
18:20But if you honestly look at yourself, you will discover there is a reason why you are irritated.
18:25Inquiry does yield results, but it requires honesty.
18:30In absence of honesty, belief is the crutch.
18:38So, spirituality is an extension of logic.
18:49Not really, because what is logic?
18:51What is the definition of logic?
18:53Logic simply is, there are these two statements.
18:57And then you derive a conclusion from the two statements.
19:01If the conclusion follows from the two statements, then you say it is logical.
19:05That's how logic is defined.
19:08So, spirituality is way beyond logic.
19:12Spirituality is way beyond logic.
19:14You see, I'll tell you.
19:15There is a conclusion in logic and these statements on which you base your conclusion.
19:21They are called prepositions.
19:24Logic will only test whether the conclusion follows from propositions.
19:29But logic will not test the validity of the proposition itself.
19:38No, the conclusion is never seen as truth.
19:40The conclusion is said to be logical.
19:45For example,
19:50he is stupid, she is stupid.
19:53They recommended this towel to me.
19:57This towel must be the wrong one.
20:00Now, this is logical, but not necessarily true.
20:03This is logical, but not necessarily true.
20:06Why?
20:08Because I am basing my conclusion on two statements.
20:12The conclusion, yes, definitely follows the two statements.
20:15But how do I know whether the two statements themselves are fact-based?
20:19Maybe he is not stupid.
20:20Maybe she is very, very wise.
20:22Maybe I am the idiot.
20:25Maybe, maybe I have a personal grudge against the two of them.
20:27Therefore, I am labeling them idiots.
20:30Logic will not test that.
20:33Logic will not take you to truth.
20:35But logic is useful in testing the veracity of the conclusion.
20:39So, spirituality is not really logic.
20:42Spirituality is an examination of the self.
20:47If I am doing something, why am I doing it?
20:50What have I become?
20:52Do I really need to chase that desire?
20:54Where is that desire first of all arising from?
20:57That's, that's spirituality.
21:00The fundamental question, who am I?
21:03That is spirituality.
21:06And in that, there is no space for beliefs.
21:12Hmm?
21:13Yeah.
21:13Hmm.
21:14Moving on.
21:26Do I know this?
21:27Who knows the truth?
21:28I ask that.
21:29I ask you.
21:29I ask a question.
21:30How did I know this is possibly not?
21:32What do I know?
21:33I ask the contradiction at you.
21:33What does it say?