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00:00India is being considered a secular country but we see a lot of division and political decisions
00:05mainly taken upon community and on religious basis. With the literacy rate going up do you
00:10think that we'll have a shift in the dynamics? You are being told of economic or political systems
00:15but you are not those systems. How are votes casted? Do people really know stories fighting
00:22with each other and why are stories fighting with each other? What was the Cold War? The capitalist
00:31story versus the communist story. The India Pakistan thing you might think it is about the
00:36waters, it is about this or it is about Kashmir. It is actually a Hindu Muslim problem. The Muslim
00:42story cannot agree with the Hindu story. The thing is you could be deeply educated and yet very
00:49superstitious. But when it comes to the inner ignorance, the model of education that we
00:55have just doesn't suffice.
01:00Good evening sir. I am Ayush from 2nd year PGPSM. India has been considered a secular country
01:07but we see a lot of division and decisive decisions, political decisions mainly taken upon community
01:14and religion on religious basis. So how do you see in coming future these these things changing and
01:23with the literacy rate going up do you think that we'll have a shift in the dynamics or it'll
01:29be the same for the next two decades?
01:33You see literacy rate obviously must increase and reach 100% but literacy alone won't help. First of all, literacy
01:54you see as we measure it is a very easy condition. When it comes to Indian matrix, it's a very
02:09easy condition.
02:11If you can just write your name in any language and read a few lines, you would be counted as
02:18literate.
02:20That hardly suffices. Secondly, when you talk of literacy, you would want to mean education.
02:35And education of the formal type, the outer type, education in which you study physics, chemistry,
02:44psychology, psychology, geography, history, finance, marketing, such things. Right?
02:52None of that ever includes the self. None of that ever takes you back into yourself.
03:04The thing is you are not the apple Newton saw. You are not the kings and queens of eras bygone.
03:15Right? You are studying objects outside of yourself. You are being told of economic or political systems
03:24that exist today in India or elsewhere or have historically been. But you are not those systems.
03:36You are being taught of the chemicals and reagents. But you are not those chemicals.
03:42You are being taught of everything as if that is important. And the one thing that is absolutely never
03:52taught is the self as if that is the least important thing. If you look around yourself,
04:03the auditorium where you are sitting, being the educated audience that you are, you will be,
04:11you will find you know something about everything that you look at.
04:20The electronic gadgetry, you will be able to say something about it. Some of you might be coming in
04:27fact from the electronics engineering direction and they will know a lot. Even those who don't know a lot,
04:35they will know how to operate the machinery. You are sitting on these chairs and you will know something
04:41about it. These clothes that you wear, you will know something about it. The walls, the arrangement,
04:48the cultural context, the cultural context, you read the newspapers and you know something about everything.
04:58Right? But how much do you know about yourself?
05:06And is that such an important thing that we compulsorily ignore it?
05:21And it is an important thing because all this that you are looking at,
05:28focusing on, studying, investing 20 years of your life in, in terms of formal education, all of these are
05:37important things but they are just things. They are not you. They are your objects. They are not the subject
05:46that you are. And we put so much emphasis on knowing them. We even become super specialized.
05:59But we never know who we are and that is important because this one that we are,
06:04is the subject of all objects. Is the experiencer of all objects. It is the one that accords
06:12meanings to all objects, be it history or an electronic gadget or a political system.
06:21Right? Someone sitting within the self,
06:27the one that you call as I.
06:32Why? He is the experiencer of everything that you study.
06:39But you never study the experiencer. You keep focusing on the experienced objects.
06:46And that's where the false kind of divisive religion steps in.
06:58Because you do not know who this I is. So, religion comes in and gives you fancy stories about who
07:08you are.
07:12And one religion would give you one story. Some other religion gives you another story.
07:18And because these are just stories, they can never agree with each other.
07:25Right? You have your own stories, which is concepts and notions and traditions.
07:32And some other organized religion, some other organized stream has its own stories.
07:38And since they are stories, not facts, they will not match.
07:43Facts can tally with each other. Stories, they cannot tally with each other or can they?
07:49You all can independently verify the acceleration due to gravity.
07:56And the numbers you come to will broadly agree.
08:04Right? Provided you have honestly measured the facts.
08:10But if I say, well, you just imagine how much this G constant is. Just imagine.
08:20And then, your imaginations are not going to agree with each other. Someone might say 10 to the power minus
08:2744.
08:29And someone might say 10 to the power 20. And someone might say 8. And someone might say something else.
08:35And there is never, never going to be any agreement.
08:39And that is what you call a sectarian strife. Religion based conflict.
08:45Stories fighting with each other. And why are stories fighting with each other?
08:48Because no one knows the truth. And why does no one know the truth?
08:52Because in our education, we are not focusing on the self.
08:58And the self is the most important thing to be studied, because it is the thing of all things.
09:08It is the centre of all things. It is who you are, in your own eyes.
09:14And you ought to know. But you are never taught or never encouraged to know by yourself.
09:22So, what rushes in to fill the vacuum?
09:26Organised religion. Giving you stories about who you are, what should be the purpose of your life.
09:32How you should live, eat, sleep, marry, worship.
09:36In absence of self-knowledge. All these things are then supplied by religion.
09:45How else will you know?
09:48How else will you know?
09:52When you should marry and whether you should marry?
09:56That question cannot be answered by your formal education.
10:00What will you do?
10:04How much should you earn? That again is not a question that your formal education can answer.
10:09What kind of friends to keep? And these are very important questions.
10:12Where to settle?
10:16Whether or not to have kids. Again, your formal education cannot answer these questions.
10:21That's where organised religion comes in.
10:23How to feel morally good? How to feel satisfied?
10:26How to feel at peace?
10:28It's a very important human need. But formal education does not take care of it.
10:35So, finding that vacuum.
10:37All the old stories. Just Russian.
10:40And they tell you, you do all these things and you will be a do-gooder.
10:45And God will be pleased. And you will be placed in heaven.
10:55Right? And one recommendation from one side,
11:01as we have been saying, will not agree with another religious recommendation from another side.
11:08So, these two will fight.
11:10And then you look at the Middle East, what is happening?
11:13You will think it's a geopolitical game.
11:16Fundamentally, its story is fighting with each other.
11:19Obviously, it would look very stupid if that is openly admitted.
11:24So, the leaders will say, no, no, national security, this, that, oil.
11:32Not much of that strife could have survived had it not been for Jews versus Muslims.
11:41Or the India-Pakistan thing, you might think it is about the waters.
11:45It is about this, geopolitics or it is about Kashmir.
11:52It is actually a Hindu-Muslim problem.
11:57Stories are fighting with each other.
11:59The Muslim story cannot agree with the Hindu story.
12:02The thing is, the Muslim needs the story because the Muslim does not know the truth.
12:08The Hindu needs the story because the Hindu does not know the truth.
12:11And these two stories will keep these two nations fighting.
12:18What was the Cold War?
12:21The capitalist story versus the communist story.
12:32And as we proceed in time,
12:37it becomes evidently clear that both the stories were deeply flawed.
12:43It's not as if capitalism prevailed over the other one.
12:53So, technology or economic empowerment or education are not going to liberate you from the clutches
13:06of religious belief or even superstition.
13:11You could be deeply educated and yet very superstitious.
13:18Because the first superstition is the ego itself.
13:22What is superstition?
13:24To not know something yet believe in it.
13:26Right?
13:26That is superstition.
13:27You do not know something and yet you believe in it.
13:30You call that's called superstition.
13:32The first thing that you believe in is your own existence.
13:35Existence not as the body, but as some inner being within the body.
13:39The body is a fact.
13:40Yes, the body is here.
13:41Hi.
13:43But the inner being you believe in, right?
13:45I, the self, the ego, as something inside the body is there.
13:49Now really, have you investigated?
13:51Have you questioned?
13:53But you believe in it.
13:54So, superstition starts from here, irrespective of how educated you are.
14:02So many things that you feel compulsive about.
14:08Are they not superstitions?
14:09If you are asked, how do you know?
14:13You won't be able to answer, but you believe in them.
14:18In fact, any of your beliefs, not just religious beliefs, any of your beliefs,
14:26if they are questioned deeply, you will find you have no basis.
14:35No basis.
14:38Look at your deep desires or deep beliefs or deep concepts about how the world is or how life should
14:44be.
14:45And if you are questioned, then the fourth question in the thread will be enough to frustrate you.
14:56You won't survive beyond that.
15:01You will say, okay, why do you need that particular job?
15:05You will give a reason.
15:06Counter question, again an answer.
15:08Counter question, again an answer.
15:09The fourth counter question, you will be annoyed because you will have no answer.
15:17That's the superstition then, right?
15:19You are believing in something without knowing why.
15:23How does education help?
15:26Obviously, education helps in terms of knowing the material world.
15:32Education helps when some Baba comes and says, this particular river originates from the holy heavens.
15:43But you have studied geography and you know satellite imagery.
15:48So then you can counter the Baba by saying, no, this river does not come from the holy heavens.
15:52It comes from that particular glacier.
15:54And here is the image.
15:56Here is the proof.
15:56Here is how it all happens.
15:58To that extent, yes, education helps.
16:02But when it comes to the inner ignorance, the model of education that we have just doesn't suffice.
16:19Very, very educated people and very unfortunately, you will find them
16:26extremely ignorant of themselves and they could be very experienced.
16:3140, 50 years of age or 70 and holding very important public positions might be.
16:40Double PhDs and yet deeply ignorant of who they are.
16:44And hence, in the subtler term, very superstitious.
16:51Superstition is not just about believing in witchcraft or voodoo.
16:58Right?
16:59The moment you utter an unexamined statement about life, that is superstition.
17:09If you do not have two kids, life is incomplete.
17:14How is this not superstition?
17:18Please.
17:22How is this not superstition?
17:26Superstition is very prevalent in the educated fraternity.
17:34I must have a job that pays at least this much.
17:37How is this not superstition?
17:45How do you know?
17:53One must always be polite to the other.
17:55How exactly do you know?
18:02What defines superstition is, is the epistemic haze.
18:10You do not know where your belief comes from.
18:14You do not have proof of knowledge and yet you insist on knowing.
18:22This epistemic haze, we all carry, irrespective of how deeply educated we are.
18:33I am Rajesh Tanwar, student of sustainable management program.
18:39I am Lucknow.
18:40So my question is, when things go well, people often say that my faith has given strength to me.
18:48But the same faith crumbles when failures strike,
18:52often leaving them into the despairs.
18:55So, doesn't it contradict that this faith is reliable or not?
19:02And in today's time, when nature is itself giving warning through disasters and
19:10climate change, what would be a real or good way to believe in the faith?
19:16So, again, it all starts with definitional lack of clarity.
19:32What people call as faith is just belief.
19:37And there is a reason why these two separate words exist.
19:44They are separate because they are not synonymous.
19:48Belief is not faith.
19:49Belief is not faith.
19:53If you look at the top wisdom books across the world.
20:01Some of them are religious scriptures.
20:05They define faith very clearly, very pointedly.
20:12Faith begins with knowing what is right.
20:21And then is about immersing into the right without care for consequences.
20:36Living rightly without fear of consequences is faith.
20:46Not just fear of consequences.
20:48That any drunken man can have.
20:52You get drunk and you lose fear sometimes.
20:56It's about knowing what is right.
21:01And that knowledge frees you of fear.
21:06So, you act and you are not caring for the results then.
21:11That is faith.
21:15And faith obviously cannot have a plural.
21:18So, all this that you find in popular parlance.
21:22Let us have an interfaith dialogue.
21:25Or people of different faiths are mingling here.
21:31All that is very inaccurate usage of a very important word.
21:36Faith.
21:40Faith is a different matter altogether.
21:48You can believe in something.
21:52And as they say,
21:54even a dead clock is right two times a day.
22:03So, sometimes it will happen what you believe in.
22:06Will seem to materialize.
22:08And then you will be very happy.
22:10And you won't realize you have just been fooled by randomness.
22:17By the way, there is a good book by this name.
22:26And the same belief, which has no basis to it, would often come crashing.
22:33And when it comes crashing, then you say, this is happening because of mysterious, mystical reasons,
22:39that I cannot know of, maybe God is not happy with me, maybe I am being punished for my sins
22:46of the previous birth.
22:50Getting it?
22:51All of that is just shooting in the dark.
22:58The fact is that as human beings, as human beings, you can never be satisfied with mere belief.
23:09You need the hard fact about the world, the universe as it is, and you need the hard fact
23:16about who you are, and when both of these are there, what you get is the truth.
23:30Animals, even animals live in facts.
23:33They don't live in fancies.
23:36They don't, they can't know much.
23:38But when they can't know much, they just don't even want to imagine too much.
23:45But human beings are extremely imaginative.
23:48And a lot of that imagination is just a poor substitute to facts.
23:54We weave stories, because earnestly, effortfully, exploring the facts,
24:08demands a price.
24:10We don't want to pay the price, right?
24:13How far is the sun from the earth?
24:17And you could say, well,
24:23some great angel,
24:2640 times as tall as Mount Everest,
24:33covers the distance from sun to earth in eight strides.
24:38So, that's the distance between the sun and the earth.
24:42It took you just seven seconds to come up with a cheap answer based on imagination, on belief.
24:51Right?
24:54Whereas, it took humanity
24:57several centuries of diligent effort
25:01and submission to fact, respect to fact, to come up with the right answer.
25:08Because you don't want to put in the effort to know how things really are.
25:17You resort to beliefs.
25:20You become a storyteller.
25:25Getting it.
25:26And you even start calling it as faith.
25:29Now, belief is nonsense.
25:32Belief is not faith.
25:34And if religious systems are belief systems,
25:38let us be upfront enough,
25:40audacious enough to say,
25:43even they are nonsense.
25:46the real role of religion is to bring you to the truth,
25:51not confine you to fancy stories.
25:59And it's a warning even to those who are apparently not religious,
26:06atheists, agnostics.
26:07Just because you do not believe in God, does not mean that you do not believe.
26:15Belief itself is the problem.
26:17Not belief in one particular object.
26:22And if you are basing your life on beliefs, you will suffer.
26:26You will greatly suffer because these beliefs will not conquer with facts.
26:32And when the belief bubble meets the fact needle, you know what happens.
26:44You say, I am hurt.
26:46I am hurt.
26:49If facts hurt you, investigate your beliefs.
26:54If facts hurt you, if life hurts you, there is a very clear sign that you are living in dreams.
27:00That you are living in stories.
27:06Otherwise, why will anything hurt you?
27:08You must discover, who is it that gets hurt?
27:13Only your stories get hurt, right?
27:15You thought of something as something and it turned out something else.
27:22Why the, first of all, need
27:25need to imagine something about something.
27:30Why can't you go close?
27:34And explore?
27:40The ego bases itself on belief.
27:46Therefore, investigating the belief is hurtful to the ego.
27:55Think of someone, 40, 50, 60 years old.
27:59That fellow, has invested so much in beliefs.
28:05Time, money, energy, he has been putting into his notions, his concepts.
28:15Stuff,
28:20And once you are invested to that extent,
28:26in beliefs,
28:29you become an enemy of facts.
28:34Can you see that psychologically happening?
28:40I believe that fellow is a friend.
28:46Or my culture has told me that I must trust that relative.
28:51And you have done that for four decades.
28:54And invested yourself thoroughly.
28:58Now, even if there is solid evidence,
29:03against what you have done, you will refuse to accept the evidence.
29:07You will become an enemy of facts.
29:09And if someone comes to show you the mirror,
29:13you will slap the person and break the mirror.
29:21belief is a very, very dangerous thing.
29:25Very dangerous thing.
29:26Whenever someone says, I believe that,
29:28you must immediately be alerted.
29:34Why do you need to believe?
29:36Tell me what you really know of.
29:38We are creatures of knowing.
29:41That's what separates us from animals.
29:43Doesn't it?
29:46We have a great appetite for knowing.
29:51We can explore.
29:54Animals don't do much of that.
29:56And that's why we say our species is different.
30:03Now, if you don't live by what makes you different from animals,
30:10then you are, in fact, declaring that you are an animal.
30:16Even an animal can be made to believe.
30:22Even an animal.
30:23And that's how animals are trapped and hunted, right?
30:26You make them believe in something that does not exist,
30:29and then they get trapped, and then they are hunted.
30:40Because, if you are on a jungle safari,
30:45hmmm?
30:47And,
30:48a tiger,
30:51can look at you,
30:55through your car window,
30:56it would still not attack you.
30:59Why?
31:01Because the tiger believes that the entire vehicle is who you are.
31:10The tiger has no notion of someone sitting inside something else.
31:18So, if he looks at your face,
31:20and he looks at the entire body of the vehicle,
31:23the tiger believes that the body of the vehicle is your body.
31:27And the tiger says,
31:28this body is much bigger than mine.
31:32So, I should not attack.
31:35Animals can live by beliefs.
31:36Why are you living by beliefs?
31:40And glorifying it as faith?
31:48And you will be amazed,
31:49when you ask yourself,
31:52how many of my business decisions,
31:55or life decisions,
31:57are actually based on knowing?
32:02We do not know,
32:04even in deepest matters of life,
32:06even in the most crucial decisions of life,
32:09we do not know a thing.
32:10Something just happens.
32:14How are jobs taken?
32:16How are votes casted?
32:19Do people really know?
32:22How are babies born?
32:24Do people know?
32:31Does the woman know why she must get pregnant?
32:34No.
32:35It just happens.
32:37Cultural pressure and biological impulse,
32:41they combine.
32:43And you have a baby.
32:49Do people know why they believe in God?
32:53No.
32:55Just happens.
32:57And whenever something is happening,
32:59just out of blind belief,
33:02it will lead to suffering.
33:05It will lead to suffering.
33:05Catastrophic suffering.
33:10Not just inner,
33:12even outer.
33:13The climate crisis,
33:15is actually the sixth mass extinction,
33:18the planet has seen.
33:22And the foundation of it is consumption.
33:25Do people know why they must consume so much?
33:36In the mall from a window,
33:39a shirt appeals to you.
33:41Do you know why it appeals to you?
33:43And if you do not know why a shirt appeals to you,
33:46how will you know why a woman appeals to you?
33:47But you will be pulled.
33:51And you will buy the shirt.
33:52And you will say,
33:53I like it.
33:54Someone asks you why?
33:55It's a belief.
33:58And not that it cannot be known.
33:59It can be known.
34:01Provided you pay attention.
34:04Provided you pay attention.
34:05And then you will also discover,
34:06how the seller uses your ignorance,
34:13to sell his shirt.
34:28Another glorified name for belief is hope.
34:32And have you seen how esteemed that word is in our
34:36culture, all cultures,
34:39all cultures of the world.
34:40Let there be hope.
34:42Hope about what?
34:46How do you know what you are hoping about,
34:48is in fact good for you?
34:52How do you know?
34:55Yes, hope allows you to have a good night's sleep.
34:59That's right.
35:02Everything will be all right.
35:04Everything will be all right.
35:04How do you know what you are hoping for,
35:06is actually the all right thing?
35:20Before you commit yourself to anything, ask yourself,
35:24do I really know?
35:29And all that knowing has to always start from the knower.
35:40It's not about whether that shirt is really attractive.
35:44It is about what in you gets attracted to that shirt.
35:53That shirt comes later.
35:55Then the knower, the experiencer comes first.
35:59You have to know yourself first.
36:01What is it inside you that gets pulled in such and such directions?
36:08It wants to believe in such and such stories.
36:13Okay?
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37:06Namaste everybody. My name is Vinuta. I'm from Bengaluru, Karnataka.
37:10And I am a classical music trainer as of now. And I teach music.
37:18And that has been my learning and passion since my childhood.
37:22And I think Acharya Ji has clarified that through his teachings that if you follow
37:27something, you know, that you pursue and are indulged with your heart,
37:34that gives a lot of happiness and peace.
37:37So it has been a great journey since then.
37:41His teachings have got me a lot of clarity.
37:44Like, you know, they have crushed all the beliefs that I had namelessly.
37:49Like, I didn't know, like, why they existed.
37:51So he has challenged them like, like, you know, somebody who is crushing the stone.
37:58And, you know, then, then, then everything is gone.
38:02And it has been three years that I'm, I've been listening to Acharya Ji.
38:07And it has been 2.5 years since I've joined his Gita sessions.
38:13And Gita sessions, though, a lot of people have been listening to him through YouTube.
38:19But if you are coming and listening to him through his live sessions, that has a very,
38:25very different impact.
38:26I would suggest you all take that seriously and please join Gita community.
38:31We have a specific app for that.
38:33And, you know, that can be very, very helpful to guide you in your, in your learning,
38:40you know, in a, in a very detailed and structured manner.
38:43So please enroll today and get the, get the right teachings from Acharya Ji.
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