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00:00Why there's a need to have a goal like why is it considered a virtue like because you are in
00:05a jail
00:07life is a playground enjoy yourself no need to have any goals you can deceive the world with
00:12your smiles but inwardly if you're not smiling that's not the way to be but we are not free
00:19we are prisoners give me a goal and i'll beat everybody to it give me a deadline and i'll be
00:25the first one who am i the top prisoner carrying out the jailer's wish and the top prisoner remains
00:33the favorite of the jailer anybody can be released but this one would never be released must we have a
00:48goal is there a way to become type three
00:58hello sir i'm jitain second year phd student coincidentally my question is in contrast to
01:04hers so basically i wanted to ask why there's a need to have a goal like why is it considered
01:11a
01:11virtue like suppose she said she does not have an idea and she's trying random things but one fine
01:20day she discovers something she loves but again people try to attach that thing to a goal suppose
01:27she likes music again people oh why don't you pursue it further and all so like why having a goal
01:34considered a virtue why is it necessary i don't understand that you see there are possibly two kinds of goals
01:44if you are a prisoner if you are a prisoner
01:51in a jail
01:55you will not be allowed to sit idle
02:01they'll want you to work they'll want you to be productive
02:05they'll give you tasks and targets right
02:11this is what you have to do
02:14just to survive here to be called a decent prisoner
02:20and if you do this you will have some compensation even prisoners do get paid
02:26do this and they will serve money
02:29credited to your account and you can have it when you walk out if you walk out
02:37that's one kind of goal
02:40a goal imposed on you
02:45in the jail it is very gross
02:48very optical
02:50very visible
02:54undeniable
02:56it is very clear that what you are doing
02:59is somebody else's wish
03:05but you have to do that right
03:08by evening you have to do something
03:12that's a goal
03:14that's a goal
03:15type one goal
03:20the type that
03:22the prisoner in the jail has
03:26and then
03:28there is another prisoner
03:32who is serving a life term
03:36in touch with reality
03:37knowing fully well
03:39they'll never release him
03:42this life term is not 14 years
03:45it is actually a life term
03:47full life term
03:51so his goal is to somehow break away and break free
03:56that's type 2 goal
04:00type 2 goal
04:02now you tell me whether or not you should have goals in life
04:10and there is a situation 3 as well
04:12the prisoner actually manages
04:18to flee
04:21now it's a third situation
04:23now must he have goals
04:27so there is no need
04:31to have goals only when you are really free
04:34when you are really free then go play
04:37life is a playground enjoy yourself
04:40no need to have any goals
04:42but we are not free we are prisoners
04:45therefore we need to have goals
04:47unfortunately we all have type 1 goals
04:52keep pursuing these type 1 goals
04:55you will stay in your prison all your life
04:58you definitely and desperately do need goals
05:02goals but you need type 2 goals
05:06but you are so busy so busy super occupied
05:09oh i am very busy i am very busy
05:11i am very busy doing what
05:14carrying out the jailers wish
05:17oh i am very busy
05:19just that the jailer remains invisible
05:22just that the walls remain invisible
05:27just that the handcuffs remain mental rather than physical
05:34so we keep flattering ourselves that we are free
05:37no we are not free we are all prisoners here
05:39we are all prisoners here
05:43puffed up in pride
05:45you know there is this particular prisoner prisoner number 101
05:51and he says i am the topper
05:56i am the topper
05:57why
05:59because i achieve all the type 1 goals
06:06instructed to me by my oppressors
06:09they have given me these goals
06:11they have given me these goals
06:11and i am the topper
06:14i am the most obedient one
06:18i am the most pliant slave
06:22i am the most cooperative prisoner
06:28i am the topper
06:31who am i
06:33the type 1 achiever
06:36give me a goal
06:37and i'll beat everybody to it
06:39give me a deadline and i'll be the first one
06:45show me a target
06:46and i'll be rank 1
06:52who am i
06:56the top prisoner
06:59the top prisoner
07:01and the top prisoner remains the favorite of the jailer
07:05anybody can be released
07:07but this one would never be released
07:19do have goals
07:22do have burning goals
07:24don't sit idle for a moment
07:28let the fact of your slavery
07:31keep incinerating you from inside
07:37you must be smoldering
07:38there must be smoke
07:41you cannot be happy satisfied content
07:45because you are in a jail
07:48we are born there
07:51we are all born there
07:57almost like
07:59in the legend
08:02krishna was born in a prison
08:05that's where we are all born
08:08the purpose of life is to break free
08:12instead we are busy
08:14instead we are busy
08:14decorating
08:15prison walls
08:26and hanging
08:29expensive artworks in our prison cells
08:36and displaying them on social media
08:38and displaying them on social media
08:44marrying fellow prisoners
08:51and raising families in the prison
08:58and once you have done that
09:00even if you want to get away
09:02the family won't allow you to get away
09:04they'll say we are all here
09:07and you are trying to scale the wall
09:10disloyal
09:16must you have a goal
09:21type 2 goal
09:22type 2
09:26is there a way to become type 3
09:32can type 3 come before type 2
09:37sorry
09:46you
09:46namaste sir
09:48my name is
09:49maheswar
09:50i am from niger
09:51i'm doing phd
09:53first of all
09:53it is a really privilege for us
09:57that we got this opportunity
09:59to be here with you
10:01so my question
10:02first will be started from the follow-up
10:04from subalakshmi
10:05that you said that
10:10how do you know ourselves
10:12that is the essential thing
10:14to move forward
10:16so we have to be selfish
10:17but how can we be selfish
10:19how can we know ourselves
10:21that is the first follow-up question
10:23and after that i will say my second
10:24you are you are knowing yourself all the time
10:29this constant feeling of being
10:36is the initiation of self-knowledge
10:40don't you constantly know that you are
10:45the sad part is
10:47you know of yourself only as a lingering dissatisfaction
10:54why does it feel peaceful to sleep
10:58because the dissatisfaction subsides for a while
11:03and so you say fine
11:05too much tension let me go to sleep
11:06the moment you get up
11:08there is again that feeling of being
11:10i am
11:13you don't wake up
11:14i amness wake up wakes up
11:18does it not
11:21the moment you wake up you say oh
11:23i again am
11:25and all the usual nonsense returns
11:28so you do know yourself
11:31what else is all the restlessness for
11:34what else is all the tension the worry the anxiety for
11:42if you do not know yourself
11:45who is hoping who is dreaming
11:48who is envious
11:51there is constant experience of the self
11:56right
11:59just that the experience tells of an unhealthy self
12:07we do not experience the self as bliss
12:11we experience the self as tension stress
12:20being awake is stress
12:30and therefore that's
12:36where you must begin from
12:40what exactly is this constant humming insight
12:49who keeps buzzing
12:51what's this inner voice
12:54what's the background noise
12:57because it is in this
13:00buzz this noise that the self is experienced
13:06the buddha said first principle first noble truth suffering
13:15the self is experienced by the common man as nothing but suffering
13:22right
13:23we all do suffer
13:25right it's just that sometimes we
13:27give this suffering very
13:30very decorated names for example ambition
13:34ambition
13:35oh he is very driven
13:38oh he's a go-getter
13:39oh he's so ambitious
13:42or oh she's so dominating she's so possessive
13:48all these are just decorated names for suffering
13:55when you are truly yourself
13:59full and healthy
14:01you cannot be ambitious really
14:07so all this that you carry within
14:10all this that you attach your name to
14:14is actually an experience of the self
14:17the self
14:18the self is not some mysterious entity
14:20to be found through exotic spiritual means
14:25the self is there in everyday experiences
14:28in fact you cannot have an experience without the self
14:31because the self is the experiencer
14:37constantly when you say you are
14:40that's a declaration of the self
14:43i am
14:44that's a declaration of the self
14:46the self is there
14:47and the self is suffering
14:50don't ignore that suffering
14:54don't try to mask it
14:59by renaming it
15:05you get this
15:07don't give it a
15:10colorful mask
15:18the self is there
15:21somebody asks you how are you
15:22don't say i am i am so good
15:24all is well
15:26it's a little large on your face
15:31that you are under something
15:34don't deceive yourself
15:40camouflage
15:41won't work inwardly
15:49so self-knowledge
15:51discovering the self
15:55all these are
15:57nothing
15:59complex
16:03in fact i wonder how somebody can avoid the self
16:10it's almost like saying i am sick
16:14but i avoid suffering
16:16how can you do that
16:19it will take
16:20a terrible kind of inner pretense to do that
16:24no
16:30keep
16:31keep looking into the mirror
16:32keep looking into the mirror
16:34that's self-observation
16:37not just this face
16:39the inner face
16:40that's self-observation
16:43you can deceive the world with your smiles
16:46but inwardly
16:49if you are not smiling
16:55that's not the way to be
17:02you can see
17:04still sir there is a confusion
17:05whenever we will introspect that
17:07what we are really is
17:08but sometimes this conditioning
17:11will be a mirage that
17:13we are that person that is our true identity
17:15but
17:17sometimes we again
17:18when introspect that
17:20that is not our true identity
17:22so this confusion is always going on
17:23so how can we know that
17:25this is our true identity
17:27self-observation is not about
17:31introspecting and trying to think
17:34about your true identity or trying to discover it
17:39all that involves a phase lag
17:42introspection involves time gap
17:47something has happened and now you are looking back at it
17:53that's not self-observation
17:55self-observation is real time
18:00knowing the inner thing
18:04as it moves
18:06not after it has moved
18:10knowing the inner thing as it moves
18:13and that is not
18:15difficult why
18:16because the one who will know the inner thing is the same as the inner thing
18:21so
18:23it's not difficult to avoid the phase lag
18:27if the one observing the thing within
18:31were different from the observed thing
18:34then there would be a lag and then you will say i'm introspecting
18:40right
18:41i'm introspecting
18:42because there was something within and now i am observing it
18:48so there are two
18:49the observer and the observed thing
18:53and wherever there would be two there would be a gap and a lag
18:56but thankfully that is not the case with self-observation
19:01because the ego has to look at itself
19:05so the the observer and the observed are one
19:10which means you don't have to make any efforts
19:13which means you already know
19:16you have to look at yourself right
19:18how can anything be hidden
19:21you're not looking at a separate object
19:23you're not looking at a second thing
19:27you're looking at yourself
19:28so you already know
19:30then what is missing honesty
19:33what is missing honesty
19:35we are master deceivers
19:39something is happening within
19:42and we don't admit it
19:47the state
19:49of the self we don't acknowledge it
19:53so self-observation is simply honesty
19:57it is not an activity
19:59all activities take time
20:02all activities will lie behind
20:07all activities will keep playing catch up
20:14all activities will involve separation and therefore
20:19obfuscation
20:22deception
20:25signaling and decoding and in decoding there can always be noise
20:34the self has to look at
20:37itself it's like looking at the
20:40mirror
20:42the one looking is looking at
20:45himself you're not looking at something else
20:50therefore it's not introspection
20:52we are not talking of thinking about yourself
20:57oh why did i get so angry in the morning
21:00why am i still angry till night
21:04no this is not this is not self-observation
21:06self-observation is simply inner honesty
21:11inner honesty
21:15i am
21:17i do
21:18i know
21:21no second party here
21:23i am
21:25i do
21:27and therefore
21:28who else will
21:31if i don't know
21:33who else will
21:35i am
21:37i do
21:39and therefore obviously
21:41i know
21:41this is self-observation
21:44okay
21:46if i am observing myself constantly in real time
21:50won't there
21:50won't it be a distraction
21:52you're again taking it as an
21:55as an
21:57he's saying if i'm constantly observing myself
22:00won't i be distracted for example i'm driving
22:02and i'm observing the road and i also have to observe myself
22:05so i'll be distracted and the car will bang against something
22:10that's the assumption
22:11how do i answer this
22:17it's not that there is the road ahead of you and the self behind you
22:22so you have to two time
22:25you have to look into the windshield and the rear view at once
22:30therefore the car collides
22:32that's the mental model you are coming from it's a flawed model
22:36self-observation does not mean looking at anything
22:42observation the word is there only for practical reasons
22:47language requires some word so that word is being used
22:51self-observation is not the same as observing the road in front of you
22:55or observing anything else there is nothing second here
22:58there is no other here
23:01you're driving you're driving right
23:05and today
23:08you're driving at 90 or 100
23:12that's significantly more than your usual speed
23:17should you
23:19allow the accelerator to remain pressed
23:23should you allow the engine to just keep revving
23:27or should you just spontaneously know
23:32that you are angry
23:34or impatient
23:36or hurt
23:39and that hurt is showing up in the speed of the car or the bike
23:51the car is running not just on petrol today
23:57the car today is running on my hurt
24:02i used to do 60 the extra 30 is the hurt
24:10that's self-observation
24:12that does not require you to look at the speedometer
24:15or the fuel tank
24:17or something else
24:19you already know
24:20because it's happening to
24:22it's happening to
24:24you who else will know
24:26how can anybody else know
24:29only you can know
24:32i did not mean it in terms of material
24:34i meant like suppose
24:36anger is fine
24:37if i start addressing that
24:39i'm getting angry so it comes down
24:40but suppose if i'm doing something very
24:42pleasurefull
24:44and if i start thinking okay this is very pleasurefull
24:47so the pleasure goes down
24:49you already know that right
24:52you already know that
24:54but just so that the pleasure continues
24:57you will not admit
24:59see you already know in fact you know beforehand
25:01understand therefore in your moments of pleasure you switch off the lights
25:06so that you don't have to admit
25:11had you not known it to be a dark thing
25:14you wouldn't have switched off the lights
25:16you'd have said
25:17let it remain visible
25:21what's the harm
25:23that's why when you want to celebrate
25:25you need loud music
25:30so that so that it becomes easier to deceive yourself
25:34and you also need
25:37some beer
25:39something to intoxicate you
25:41so that it becomes easier to forget the reality
25:45have you seen how difficult most people find it to celebrate in silence
25:50why do we need loud music
25:53and why does one need beer or whiskey
25:58so that it's easier to remain dishonest
26:05you already know
26:08and nobody can force you to admit that right
26:12so the whole thing stops there
26:14it's your life your sovereign decision
26:17you have to admit what's really going on
26:19nobody else can do it for you
26:26namaskar acharya ji
26:27i am arushi deshmukh from btech first year
26:32actually i walked in with a different question
26:34and now i have a different question
26:35based on the discussion we are in
26:37so how do we know that the self exists
26:41can it be a delusion
26:43how do i know that i exist
26:51i mean all the emotions
26:54i mean
26:59whose emotions
27:02i mean all the emotions
27:05the emotions that our body feels
27:07is the body talking
27:11introduce yourself as the body
27:14don't say i am
27:15what is the name
27:17arushi
27:17no not arushi
27:1832 teeth
27:2210 fingers
27:23and the rest of it
27:26so but isn't everything just neurology whatever we feel whatever we think
27:30no you are right
27:31you are very right
27:32and i wish this stays with you
27:34yes obviously
27:35the self the ego
27:38is a biochemical neurological construct
27:41and it
27:43really does not exist
27:44unfortunately in spite of not existing
27:47it controls life
27:49maya
27:51you search for the self and you won't find it
27:54there is no molecule no agency no node no cell no neuron inside called the self
28:04it really doesn't exist
28:06it's an it's it's a flawed perception
28:09it's a self-referential agency
28:13only the self says that i exist
28:16but then there is nobody here who would admit that he or she doesn't exist
28:20right
28:23so then the then then the thing is
28:27it doesn't merely exist
28:31it exists and suffers
28:34this entire discussion is not for the body
28:37this entire discussion is for the suffering one who is false
28:43actually hollow still suffering
28:47if we are discussing
28:48it's not for the sake of our nose or our hair or our arms
28:53this entire discussion is for the sake of the ego the self
28:57because only the ego suffers
29:01the self exists as a suffering entity
29:06this entire discussion is only for the self the ego self
29:11and the discussion is
29:13so that the ego self can see that it does not exist
29:19the seeing self which is the ego has to be made
29:26rather helped to see its own non-existence
29:32non-existence in terms of
29:35i think i am but i am just a bundle of influences
29:41i think i decide but the decision is actually being made
29:46by forces that i don't even know of
29:51i articulate the decision i own the decision
29:56i take credit for decision
29:58but the decision is being made long before i even know of it
30:04so this i-ness is actually false
30:10but but so sad
30:12it's very difficult to accept that
30:15this entire discussion is to make it easier
30:23you can you can very happily be without this this self-referential this this circular reasoning called the ego
30:37you can very well be and and that's the point of all philosophy and all wisdom literature
30:44to happily exist without the inner burden
30:48to joyfully be without the inner dictator
30:52to live healthily without the false disease inside
30:58you can speak without the inner agency it is possible
31:02you can listen without the inner agency it is possible
31:05in fact if you are listening at all this moment
31:09that listening can happen only if the ego is not intruding
31:14in the process of listening
31:17the self is not needed
31:20and if the self is there listening will be impeded
31:25same applies to all other activities and movements in life
31:31everything can happen very nicely very smoothly very perfectly without the self
31:38you are greatest when you are not
31:41you are the most beautiful without yourself
31:47you are the fastest
31:51the best the perfect one
31:56when when the inner thing is not
32:02the entire field of what you may call as philosophy or wisdom or spirituality
32:12since centuries
32:15is just there so that life is
32:20and the false owner of life is not
32:25now you are really alive
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