- 2 days ago
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00there are many practices like yoga and meditation but for how long should one
00:03practice it or do we really need these practices or something else when we say
00:08oh the mind is doing this let's silence the mind let's bring the mind to peace
00:12then we are taking attention away from the place where the real mischief is and
00:19that place is called the you are told if you go to such and such place your
00:25problems will be solved worship the ancient hero but most of these so-called
00:30practices they succeed in having you look away from yourself but what if
00:38someone feels that he has come with that mirror because there are some instances
00:43that I have experienced with my own self in religious practice don't give too
00:48much weightage to experience a lot of people fall in this trap they say but we
00:52experience a certain divine energy sir why do you experience divine energies
00:57only at your preferred places a hindu will not experience divine energies at a
01:03mosque a muslim will not experience divine energies at a temple spiritual
01:08practice is actually about
01:14hello sir so my question is that we talk about strengthening the mind as a tool to
01:20navigate through the life how does one do that there are many practices like yoga
01:24and meditation but for how long should one practice it or do we really need these
01:28practices or something else mind strengthened actually the phrase does not
01:36mean much the mind is nothing but a lot of objects structured around the ego as of now is the
01:49entire
01:49universe present in what you call your mind no only certain objects right you
01:57might be thinking of of your classes your assignments certain individuals certain
02:02objects you have certain clothes certain places certain events certain
02:07memories right only only only certain objects right and he is not thinking of all
02:12that hmm the set of objects he is carrying here will be different from the set he is
02:19carrying and that will be different from what he is carrying right who decides that set
02:25obviously the set is not deciding for itself who decides you decide right so the ego is the
02:35architect of the mind the ego chooses the objects to keep and it also chooses the
02:43relationship it will have with those objects and also the priority order and many other things the
02:50entire structure a complex architecture I think it mind then in itself is in animate unconscious
02:59the mind then is like a building the mind then is like a building the building that has been conceived
03:09by
03:10designed by designed by built by and maintained by the by the ego the ego the ego the ego builds
03:19it
03:20and occasionally the ego also keeps what do you do with the building when you don't like it much
03:30yeah either rebuild it huh reconstruct it or simply renovate it
03:40furnish it take some items out get new curtains raise a wall somewhere
03:48right or or bring down a wall somewhere but the house doesn't do all this the building doesn't do all
03:55this for itself so talking of the mind is is is like shifting the spotlight away from the real doer
04:08a crime happened in a building do you ever launch an fir against the building do you do that and
04:16if you do
04:17that then for sure you are trying to save the real criminal
04:24somebody
04:26is killed inside a building
04:30and what does the fir mention the building and not the killer
04:36surely somebody is trying to save the killer
04:40right similarly when we say oh my oh the mind is doing this
04:43let's silence the mind let's bring the mind to peace and you said strengthen the mind such things
04:51then we are taking attention away from the place where the real mischief is
04:58and that place is called the ego
05:02the ego is the runner of the mind the creator and the operator
05:10the mind is the entire environment around the ego the mind in some sense is a fortress around the ego
05:21the mind is an armor around the ego built by the ego itself getting it now revisit your question
05:35yeah yeah i understand but now how where does your question stand in light of the of the definition
05:41yeah we have many practices like yoga and meditation right and we uh many people use them for strengthening the
05:48mind
05:50so do we actually need it and now as you mentioned ego so do we need to uh you mentioned
05:58the ego and we have yoga and meditation
06:00for ourselves so are these all related and are these practices for the ego
06:09originally yes originally yes but actually practically no what happens is that you start the ego starts
06:22aiming at everything except itself whereas the real disease lies within the ego so much so that the ego itself
06:33can be called a disease
06:35but the ego starts targeting for example the body i have to keep the body still
06:42as if the restlessness lies in the body
06:46the ego also starts targeting the mind
06:49the thing is
06:51if the if the mind is vibrating it is probably because the owner of the house
06:57is doing something very stupid inside the house
07:01playing some extremely loud music which is causing even the walls to vibrate
07:05but then the ego would say there is something wrong with the walls
07:09the ego would never admit there is something wrong with me
07:12so in name of all the meditation practices
07:16the ego unfortunately succeeds in not looking at itself
07:22whereas the original purpose is always to bring the ego to the mirror
07:28because that's the only place where any problem is
07:31the sense of the self the i-ness that's where the any every problem is but then you know you
07:38you
07:39you are told if you go to such and such place
07:42your problems will be solved now the ego is focusing on
07:47that place and in doing that it has successfully turned the attention away from
07:54itself itself and that's exactly what this culprit this rascal wants
07:59to never look at itself okay okay give me a rosary
08:04give me something secret to hold
08:08tell me some method that delivers salvation
08:12and i'll focus on that method focusing on that method greatly appeases the ego because it ensures
08:19that now the ego won't have to look at
08:23itself okay here is the story of some divine lord here is some ancient sacred story written in some
08:31ancient sacred book
08:35worship the ancient hero
08:37the ego the ego will be very happy doing that because in in worshipping anybody outside of itself
08:45the ego
08:47happily succeeds in
08:51turning the attention away from itself
08:56i will simply say oh the lord is great without acknowledging that
09:05i am the i am the thing farthest from greatness
09:10but now i won't mind
09:13i crawl like an insect but lord is great
09:17do you have to live the lord's life
09:20you must focus on your own life right
09:23that's what the entire domain of religion spirituality and wisdom literature is all about
09:30to improve your life as it is
09:33but most of these so-called practices they succeed in having you look away from yourself
09:41look at babaji look at that mountain top look at that desert
09:47think of that miracle many other things you know of them right
09:51wait for that particular auspicious day wait for a particular position of the moon
09:58and you're looking at the moon and not looking at
10:02and the ego is rejoicing
10:05i finally got another object to stand distracted
10:10the ego loves objects after all the mind is itself an aggregation of
10:17objects the mind loves objects
10:19objects so it would objectify even the concept of god
10:25so so i am the i am the subject i am the thinker and i think about
10:31god so god is now my object so in the building
10:36there are hundreds of objects including something called the god object
10:42the ego loves objects because so many objects
10:47help secure the subject at their center
10:52putting all those objects around itself the ego subject stands fortified
11:00so irrespective of the discipline or the ritual you are following
11:05never forget yourself remembering yourself that is the bottom line
11:12sir but then what is the difference between ego and self same
11:19i i even literally i i in normal sense when we talk about ego it is something
11:27we can imagine off in a negative manner ego and self as positive then how can they both be same
11:36it is a prevalent ignorance you think of ego as pride vanity such things no ego is a technical term
11:46it simply means i am ness so if somebody says oh i'm great i'm strong i'm rich i'm knowledgeable
11:56that you will easily say is ego right but if somebody says i'm meek i'm humble i'm nobody even that
12:04is ego
12:05because that too includes i am i am i am i'm great that's ego because that includes i am
12:16i am meek even that is ego because that includes i am so i am x i am x in
12:24this x is
12:25not the ego x is the object of the ego i am is the ego i am is the ego
12:32not x
12:34but this i am collects a plethora of excess x1 x2 xn and in middle of all the excess it
12:43stands
12:43now i'm safe i have all these objects to defend me this is money this is knowledge this is network
12:50this is friends this is memory this is my latest gadget that's my big car that's my wife the four
12:59kids so so all these objects plus this is my religion the anything everything that you can think of
13:07is an object to the ego and the ego accumulates objects so that it can feel a little certain of
13:14itself a little safe uh so now as you mentioned uh that they succeed in taking us away from ourselves
13:25these practices but what if someone feels that he has come with that uh mirror because there are some
13:35instances that i have experienced with my own self so should one practice them or how much should
13:42one practice them and where does rationale come into place between all this i am feeling
13:52even feeling is an object the ego loves to feel because even feeling is an object thoughts and feelings
14:01are just objects the ego enjoys them greatly enjoys them in feeling do you look back at yourself
14:10is any feeling a mirror no in fact feeling allows you to get away from yourself all feelings are
14:19themselves objects dependent on other objects is there ever a feeling without an object
14:28so even feeling is an object to the ego because you say i am the feeler or you say i
14:34am feeling
14:35something right so even that is an object right and the ego would love each of these similarly you said
14:42i
14:43have experienced with my own self all experiences have the ego as the experiencer
14:54oh in in enjoying the experience so much or in valuing it or respecting it so much
15:00we tend to ignore who the experiencer is the ego is the experiencer of all objects you see there is
15:08the ego there is that object one of the relationships between these two is of experience
15:15in fact experience can also be called as the umbrella relationship that includes all possible
15:21relationships between the ego and its objects so just because you experienced something does not mean
15:28the something is good bad ugly nice whatever because after all who is the experiencer the ego is the
15:35experiencer and the ego will ensure that its experiences never violate its existence all your
15:44experiences are customized to help you stay who you are that's the reason take an example right now as i
15:53speak what you experience is very different from what he experiences whereas i'm saying the same thing right and
16:00you both are equidistant from me almost but you as an experiencer are different you are ex1 he is ex2
16:09therefore your respective experiences will also be very different in fact if i ask you both of you to pick
16:16up a
16:17notebook and enumerate what i have said just now in the session till now in let's say 10 points the
16:2310
16:23points here will be greatly different from the 10 points there how because the ego has no concern for
16:30facts or truth it will hear only what it wants to hear it will remember only what it it will
16:39interpret only as
16:41it wants to interpret the experiencer itself is a fraud now how do we respect the experience
16:50the inner experiencer is a big fraud it has no respect for facts
16:59it it has respect only for its own survival and its survival is always questionable
17:08always threatened we'll come to that later you know when why the ego in itself is a false thing
17:15but let it suffice for now that the ego is always afraid always afraid
17:22therefore it will not easily admit facts it will it will filter according to its convenience
17:32so so so don't don't in in in religious practice don't give too much weightage to experience a lot of
17:38people fall in this trap they say but we experience a certain divine energy sir why do you experience
17:45divine energies only at your preferred places a hindu will not experience divine energies at a mosque
17:52a muslim will not experience divine energies at a temple right why does all that happen only as per your
18:02dogma
18:04right oh i had a great dream in which my beloved god came to me okay fine you are a
18:09muslim why doesn't
18:10the jewish god come to you
18:15or you are a hindu why doesn't the buddha come to you right so don't give too much weightage to
18:23experience
18:23never say it is true because i experienced it experience is a great liar
18:30spiritual practice is actually about using experience to detect the lies of the experiencer
18:43you use experience to expose the experiencer
18:50how
19:01let's say you were chased by a dog when you were a kid right
19:07there is some random stray dog
19:11harmless
19:14and you find that one coming to you
19:17and you still get nervous even anxious
19:20and if he's coming speedily towards you you feel like running away
19:26right
19:26the same kind of reaction he does not display
19:30okay use this experiencer to see what is sitting within
19:36use experience
19:39to know the experiencer the same dog is coming towards both of you let's say the two of you are
19:46walking in the campus and this random dog is just coming to you and he's all right not even noticing
19:52it
19:52and you find you are sweating
19:55see where the experiencer is coming from the experience is not real
19:59the experiencer is an imprint of a past event
20:04it has no authenticity
20:07it is conditioned
20:09same thing applies to all experiences
20:16this this little thing if you can remember and practice to not give too much weightage to your experience
20:24to give not too much weightage to your likes and dislikes
20:28never say oh i'll go towards it because i like it
20:32you like it fine
20:33how does that matter
20:35and endorse something only if
20:38there is authenticity in it
20:41go towards something only if
20:44it is truthful
20:46not because it is likable
20:50at your age your hormones can make you like almost anything
20:54so
20:58you have to see through the experiencer
21:01i know where it is coming from it's all coming from that experience and i know where it's coming
21:05from if you can do that you'll stay clear of a lot of traps in life
21:14sir but then what is truth if the ego filters
21:19then what is truth
21:20the ego and the truth anyway do not go together we don't even need to talk of the truth facts
21:26are
21:26sufficient the ego doesn't even want to admit facts when the ego
21:34for a change
21:36honestly comes in
21:37complete contact with facts it tends to disappear
21:43facts are sufficient
21:45have you seen how people live in their opinions and stories
21:48do they live in facts
21:50have you seen how easy it is
21:52to spread misinformation
21:54affirmation
21:56seen that the ego loves opinions stories and falsehood
22:01have you seen how difficult it is to clear away falseness
22:05if somebody
22:07is living in a certain narrative a certain story and you want to talk him out of it
22:12have you seen the kind of resistance he gives
22:17because the ego has no taste for
22:21facts
22:21even if it will pick a fact
22:25it will be a convenient fact
22:27the ego will do some kind of cherry picking
22:30and pick up some isolated fact from somewhere that suits its own narrative and survival
22:36so truth can be left alone that's a that's a deeper engagement
22:41even facts learn to live in facts
22:45and facts are not just something that exists outside of you
22:49the inner fact also
22:52you are jealous of someone that's an inner fact
22:54do you admit that
22:56rarely because
22:57it doesn't you know feel morally good to admit that i am jealous
23:03you are afraid of someone do you admit that no
23:07you are coveting something that someone has do you admit that you don't
23:11the practice must be to surrender to fact wherever you find it
23:19just bow your head
23:20if the fact is seen
23:22i can't unsee it almost like the scientific method
23:25just that the scientific method deals only with external facts
23:29external facts right
23:31an equation that you solve yields the result x is equal to 1.98
23:37you don't approximate it to 2.0 do you do that
23:41that's the kind of sincerity and rigor and care you must apply to the internal world also
23:49you must know what is what 1.8 1.98 is not 2.0
23:56getting it similarly possessiveness is not love don't approximate
24:03attachment is not care don't approximate
24:07eat things very rigorous
24:11very clean
24:13very precise
24:17are you kidding it is
24:23respect another name for fear
24:28but have you examined most of the times when you say oh i am respectfully silent
24:34you are actually fearfully silent
24:38have you seen that
24:41if you have seen that that's worse because even after seeing that you still continue to remain silent
24:50just has 1.98 is not 2.0
24:54fear is not respect
24:59insecurity is not care
25:02or is it
25:05hmm
25:25that's the inner scientific rigour
25:30i will not approximate
25:33right
25:34right the whole thing must follow a very honest progression like when you solve a mathematical equation
25:46spirituality is not mambo jumbo it's not it's not about
25:52babaji's antics and
25:54the
25:58demons that have to be exorcised
26:01and then
26:04none of that
26:09thank you sir and i hope
26:11i can include this in my life
26:15to not believe in the experiences and to focus on
26:19ego or self
26:21synonymous
26:23thanks a lot
26:23welcome
26:27just download the acharya prashant app
26:30and there you go to the community section
26:33and you have
26:35live testimonials streaming in at the rate of one every five minutes i'm seeing lives change
26:42in thousands if not millions every day in front of my own eyes we're doing it we have actually done
26:47it
26:48join the community of more than two lakh participants on the acharya prashant app your first month is completely free
26:56you'll get full access to gita mission on the app you will get regular life sessions daily exclusive conversations with
27:04acharya prashant access to the vibrant gita community wisdom exams curated news audio books
27:12books quotes and much more search acharya prashant on google play store or apple app store and download now
27:19book
27:20book
Comments