When a Guru eats meat || Acharya Prashant, on Raman Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj (2020)

Acharya Prashant

Video Information: Myth Demolition tour, 20.2.20, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India  Context:   ~ What to learn from wise one? ~ How to identify right guru? ~ What is absolute freedom? ~ Who is fake guru?  Music Credits: Milind Date ~~~~~

Transcript

00:00 [Music]

00:07 So a question that comes up for me is

00:11 Ramana Maharshi says that one of the best ways to stabilize is to

00:17 eat more sattvic food and give up meat

00:20 and then I like his words and his teachings

00:24 and then Nisargadaraj Maharaj who also

00:27 his words penetrated me very deeply

00:30 someone asked him the question why do you eat meat

00:33 and he says my body has these habits so what of it

00:37 and I find myself for me personally

00:40 I just have no desire to eat meat anymore

00:43 I'm just curious what Nisargadaraj Maharaj meant when he said

00:47 my body has these habits so what

00:50 These are coming from two different points

00:56 two statements that you have just quoted

00:59 Ramana Maharshi is advising a seeker

01:08 Ramana Maharshi's counsel is for someone who is still on the way

01:16 so he is offering you a method to be lighter on your way

01:27 so that your journey is less loaded against yourself

01:39 Nisargadaraj Maharaj is saying from the point of one who has already reached

01:51 and he's saying I am at a point where there is complete separation between me and the body

02:02 now that kind of a separation does not exist for the one who is still on the way

02:10 so Nisargadaraj Maharaj says let the body do what it wants to do

02:17 the body is anyway a conditioned mechanism

02:21 and situated where I am

02:25 if I interfere with the body even to bring some purity

02:37 some correction some sattvic that to it

02:42 that would again be a kind of entanglement a kind of identification

02:48 so I don't want to touch the body not even to correct it

02:56 not even to bring sattvic that to it

03:00 I don't want to meddle with the body anymore

03:06 but that statement remember is possible only to someone

03:12 who has arrived at that complete distinction

03:19 therefore the statement that Nisargadaraj Maharaj is making

03:24 is wonderful but not useful

03:28 it has very little utility because all utility has to be for someone

03:37 who is still struggling still on the way

03:42 still trying to make his way through the various challenges that the body and mind offer

03:49 liquor consumption or flesh consumption

03:57 or other kinds of unwise gratifications of the body

04:07 merely increase the obstacles that one faces

04:16 so therefore those kind of things must not be practiced

04:31 even if it is observed that a realized man is practicing them

04:37 Nisargadaraj Maharaj by the way was also an avid smoker

04:48 not only would he smoke himself

04:59 he actually owned several little shops that would dispense

05:08 local handmade cigarettes called BD's

05:17 in the locality where he stayed he was famous as BD wale baba

05:25 but then does that mean that you have to smoke to be enlightened?

05:31 no, those kind of things even if they are documented, recorded, observed in a realized man

05:40 must be respectfully kept aside as the idiosyncrasies of the realized man

05:50 Ramkrishna Paramhans would run after fish

05:57 being a Bengali he found it very difficult to resist fish

06:09 Jesus seemed to have his affinity towards meat and wine

06:25 there is much else that can be learned from the wise ones

06:38 not these aspects

06:41 their inner force, their urge for liberation

06:48 surely was so strong that they could arrive at their destination

06:55 in spite of these obstacles

06:58 and for sure all these are obstacles, there is no doubt about it

07:03 but they were extraordinary people

07:08 in spite of liquor or flesh

07:13 or cigarettes

07:20 they could overcome those obstacles that only proves the strength of their love

07:33 their resolve, their determination

07:36 the common man does not have that kind of resolve

07:43 he is unable to overcome even the ordinary and commonplace obstacles that life places

07:53 why add to your challenges, why add to your troubles

07:59 by indulging in avoidable stuff

08:09 there have been all kinds of stories associated with saints

08:19 and many of those stories must be factually correct, undoubtedly

08:31 there have been saints who have been womanizers

08:40 there have been sages who have been shown to have their own fascination for their several kinds of passions

08:52 that's not something we are to learn from them or emulate from them

09:01 if anything what these stories tell us is that

09:08 there is nothing called absolute liberation

09:13 are you getting it?

09:18 that the stranglehold of maya on the body

09:22 and the mental tendencies always remains

09:27 therefore even at the so called end point

09:31 what you can have is complete separation but not complete purification

09:38 these two are very different things

09:43 liberation therefore is the word not purification

09:47 liberation implies separation

09:50 you say the I sense is now liberated from the body and mind

09:54 you do not say that the body and mind are liberated

09:57 do you say that?

10:01 so when you say liberation, who is liberated from whom?

10:05 we must go into that

10:08 and the very emphasis on the word liberation

10:12 proves that ultimately you have no option

10:18 but to distance yourself

10:23 that alone is liberation

10:26 but in the process of liberation

10:29 purification is important

10:33 and that is what is satvikta

10:36 so Ramana Maharishi is talking of purification

10:41 he is talking as a counselor to someone who is on his way

10:47 and therefore his words are useful here

10:52 Nisargadatta Maharaj is truthful here

10:58 but not useful

11:01 the seeker must look for that which is useful

11:06 even if it is not absolutely truthful

11:12 getting it?

11:16 and that is also the reason why

11:20 one must avoid

11:23 peeping too much

11:29 into personal lives of people like Nisargadatta Maharaj

11:34 or for that matter any sage

11:38 they can afford what they do

11:42 we will probably not be able to afford what they do

11:49 and the knowledge, the undue information that we will gain

11:55 by looking into their personal life

11:58 will only prove to be our own detriment

12:06 far better to go by their advice

12:15 Acharyaji, I have something more on this

12:20 you mentioned useful even if not truthful

12:24 and that a seeker should look for

12:27 can you elaborate please?

12:29 you see the absolute truth is not useful

12:33 in fact the more you want utility

12:39 the more you will have to dilute the truth

12:46 absolute truth in a sense is absolutely useless

12:50 because absolute truth is nothing, silence, avoid

12:54 it doesn't speak to you

12:57 are you getting it?

13:02 it has no value, no purpose, no utility whatsoever

13:08 therefore

13:13 when the liberated ones have spoken

13:21 they have been forced to

13:25 say things

13:29 that have an iota

13:33 of falseness in them

13:36 so if you detect falseness in the words of a liberated one

13:44 kindly do not take it to mean that the liberated one

13:49 could not tell truth apart from the false

13:57 it merely means that he wanted to be of help

14:01 the brahma sutras are quite truthful

14:13 though not absolutely because the moment

14:15 something is expressed in words

14:17 it ceases to have any

14:21 absolute truthfulness to it

14:27 but still brahma sutras they come as close

14:31 to truth as words can possibly come

14:36 but then very few people find them of any use

14:43 very very few people

14:45 of far greater use are

14:52 let's say the parables of Ram Krishna Paramhans

14:57 simple stories

15:05 for the common people

15:09 and far greater number of people have

15:16 benefited from these stories

15:19 than have benefited from the brahma sutras

15:26 are you getting it

15:37 but there is a

15:39 there is an amusing

15:41 ironical part to it

15:46 if the one who knows want to be of use to you

15:52 you will have to mix it up a little

16:00 dilute his teaching a little

16:05 in fact to teach is to dilute

16:10 there can be no teaching without dilution

16:14 but the moment there is dilution

16:18 the teacher becomes vulnerable

16:24 against charges

16:32 of falseness

16:35 you can now indict him

16:39 you can say here this is what you have said

16:42 this is what you have done

16:44 and I can conclusively prove that a lot of it is false

16:50 yes of course a lot of that is false

16:53 for your sake

16:55 had it not been false

16:58 would you have been able to make any sense out of it

17:06 all these prayers

17:23 you hear these mantras being recited

17:26 somewhere in the city

17:28 they take you towards the truth

17:31 but they are not the truth

17:33 get the distinction straight

17:36 they are very useful assistants

17:41 but they are not the real thing itself

17:44 you could say they are the secretaries

17:50 that would take you to the bosses cabin

17:53 but they are not the boss

17:55 and do not confuse the secretary for the boss

18:02 so then the concept of fake guru is invalid

18:12 there is nothing like fake guru by the same logic

18:17 a fake guru is someone who can't even be of help

18:22 there are three categories

18:28 there is the realized one

18:32 who will not budge from his absolute heights

18:39 he is sitting right atop mount Everest

18:43 the highest peak possible to consciousness

18:49 and he won't move an inch

18:52 and since he won't move an inch

18:55 you have no access to him

18:58 he is absolute and therefore absolutely unreachable

19:04 there, up there

19:07 so he is great, you can worship him

19:09 but you cannot benefit from him

19:13 keep worshipping him

19:15 and he does not bother even for your worship

19:19 he does not care for anything because he is beyond all care now

19:22 there is that one

19:25 then there is the one

19:28 who has been to the mountain top

19:34 and for some unknown reason

19:38 decided not to stay there

19:42 having known what that absolute height is like

19:47 he has still descended to the ground

19:52 to the valleys

19:55 to the cities and villages

19:59 and he brings to you something

20:05 of that absolute height

20:08 and narrates that to you in your language

20:12 and obviously your language is the language of the false

20:16 therefore when the truth is expressed in your language

20:21 for your sake, for your benefit

20:24 it does not retain its absolute purity anymore

20:27 it cannot, but it becomes

20:30 but it becomes

20:33 to you it becomes useful

20:36 it becomes useful to you

20:39 so this fellow takes the blame upon himself

20:44 there is no doubt that first of all

20:47 he has

20:50 disrespected

20:55 the invitation of the absolute

21:00 by being there and yet not

21:03 staying there, lodging there

21:06 and secondly

21:09 he is bringing to you something

21:12 that does not quite belong to your world

21:16 that cannot quite be expressed in your language

21:20 but is being

21:28 somehow

21:31 perforce

21:36 made to be expressed in your language

21:43 this is the second category that we have talked of

21:47 then you used the term fake guru

21:51 this is the fellow who has never been to the mountain top

21:55 he belongs to the

22:00 lanes and the crossings

22:07 maybe he has seen some

22:14 photo or two

22:19 or has heard some description from someone

22:23 who has gone up some distance

22:27 and is using all that to

22:31 further his own

22:39 ego and little self-interest

22:42 this third chap is the fake one

22:45 the third chap is

22:48 necessarily harmful

22:51 the first fellow is not useful

22:54 it is the second one

22:57 who proves useful

23:01 but is also the one who has been

23:06 blamed, insulted and derided

23:11 the most in the history

23:14 often he earns

23:19 flack from both sides

23:24 the ones who

23:27 care only for the absolute

23:30 they blame him

23:33 for mingling too much with the masses

23:39 and the masses

23:43 after they have learnt a bit from him

23:46 start using

23:49 the teaching given by him

23:52 against him

23:55 and then they tell him you know

23:58 what you are doing goes against your own teaching

24:01 so he receives it from both sides

24:06 but this second fellow is the one

24:11 who proves useful

24:14 incidentally

24:22 the really fake guru is quite unlikely to be

24:26 detected as a fake guru

24:29 the title of fake guru is usually

24:33 reserved for the

24:37 fellow of the second type

24:42 Thank you

24:45 [Music]

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