Quality Living: A Comprehensive Guide to Success || Acharya Prashant

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...  ⚡ Want Acharya Prashant’s regular updates? Join WhatsApp Channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va6Z...   Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...   Want to accelerate Acharya Prashant’s work? Contribute: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/contri...   Want to work with Acharya Prashant? Apply to the Foundation here: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/hiring...  ➖➖➖➖➖➖  Video Information: Advait Learning camp, 28.03.2019, Chandigarh, India   Context:  ~ How to succeed in getting a good quality life? ~ How to live a quality life? ~ How to maintain quality of life? ~ What should be our aim for success? ~ What should be the higher thing in life?  Music Credits: Milind Date ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Transcript

00:00Acharya ji, how to lead a quality life in this materialistic world?

00:08What should be our aim for success and what should we do for attain higher thing, higher

00:16level in our life, for the source, how do we?

00:22You see, we have a concept of success and there are certain things entailed in the concept,

00:37a certain amount of money, a certain social prestige, a certain excellence in one's chosen

00:49field of work and all that comes.

00:58But it is quite possible that all that may be there and one is still discontented.

01:06It is because all that which we have achieved is within our self-defined concept of success.

01:21One has to go beyond it.

01:24Obviously, if our concept of success includes four things and all those four things have

01:32been ticked against and still there is dissatisfaction, it means the concept is not quite working.

01:42One has to then go beyond it.

01:47Then one has to aim for something higher than success.

01:56Then one has to ask what is it that matters more than success.

02:04One sees that all the success that one has tried to obtain has been primarily for himself.

02:13You say your educational qualification, you say your love life, you say your son, you

02:20say your profession.

02:22So success is in general defined with the me at the center.

02:31I did this for myself.

02:36I did this for myself and I succeeded.

02:40I did this for myself and I succeeded.

02:43And there are a lot of things that one does for himself and succeeds and is yet not satisfied.

02:52That hints again and again at the failure of the conceptual framework itself.

03:00Maybe one needs actions that are not directed towards the fulfillment of the me.

03:07The me has been greatly fulfilled.

03:14The me has been appeased a lot already.

03:19All that this little me kept demanding has been provided to it.

03:25At least most of what has been demanded has been served and still the me keeps clamoring.

03:35It is still not satisfied.

03:38Maybe the way out is to look beyond the me.

03:45Maybe the way out is to work for a cause that does not include the me.

03:53I did well in my practice.

03:55I did well in my love life.

03:57I did well in my social interactions.

04:00I did well in my studies.

04:04I did well in doing whatever I wanted to do.

04:07Maybe I am a mountain climber, maybe I am a deep sea diver.

04:12Whatever I am, I am for myself.

04:15Now can I be bigger and broader than that?

04:19Can I be something without being much for myself?

04:25Can my actions be directed towards others?

04:29Can service now enter my life?

04:35There is a lot of success which has been self-centered.

04:41Can I now move on to service?

04:50Service will not probably fulfill this restless I, but service would enable you to forget

05:08this restless I.

05:13That is beyondness.

05:15Not quite the fulfillment of the little I, but a certain forgetfulness towards the little I.

05:24You say that you are serving a cause bigger than yourself or you are serving others.

05:36Therefore there is no time nor opportunity to keep wondering whether your own demands

05:47have been met.

05:51One is restless, one is restless, one is restless and then one starts dedicating himself to

05:57something bigger, something larger.

06:05And the bigger cause consumes so much attention, time, energy that one is left with no space

06:12to complain or wonder whether one is internally fulfilled.

06:28You say even if I remain unfulfilled, it is a small matter.

06:34I might be happy, I might be sad.

06:40The work I have taken up is bigger than my little happiness and sadness.

06:48It does not quite matter how I am feeling.

06:58I am unfulfilled?

06:59Oh, probably I am, but I just forgot that.

07:04This is beyondness.

07:07Am I unfulfilled?

07:09Probably I still am, but who cares?

07:13I have better things to take care of.

07:15This is fulfillment.

07:17When thoughts of your personal success stop mattering to you, you say there is something

07:25more important than my personal success, then you have really succeeded.

07:33It has to be so big that you forget about your failures, your happiness, your sadness.

07:41Somebody comes and tells you, but you are sad and you say, oh, am I sad?

07:46I just forgot that.

07:48Somebody comes and tells you, you have not had meals since the last 36 hours.

07:53You say, oh, am I hungry?

07:55I just forgot that.

07:56I was so engrossed in something large, in something meaningful, that I totally forgot

08:05my personal appetite.

08:08It just vanished.

08:11Not that it does not exist.

08:12Now that you are reminding me that I have not had food, I see that I have not had food.

08:18Now in fact, I am also feeling hungry.

08:22Now that you have reminded me, I have also started feeling hungry.

08:28But for the last 36 hours, hunger didn't matter.

08:32I didn't even know that I was hungry.

08:35All my attention was dedicated towards something broader, larger.

08:49That has to be there.

08:51And this is the only way out, especially for people who have achieved a certain level of

08:56worldly attainment.

08:59You know, people who have no worldly attainment at all.

09:02They keep saying, but we need to prove ourselves in the world, we need to get a job, we need

09:07to earn some money, we need to get a wife, we need to have a decent family.

09:12And then they keep insisting that this is what would fulfill them.

09:17But then there are those who already have all those things, who already have a certain

09:22level of financial attainment, social attainment, intellectual attainment, familial attainment

09:28and they are still not satisfied.

09:31Then the only thing that can fulfill them is forgetfulness.

09:35When you say others' expectations from you, the circle of this

09:47others, the set of this others is very very limited and is me-centric, is it not?

09:56You do not really care about the expectations that let's say the entire humanity has from you.

10:09It's bitterly cold and a dog is outside your doorsteps.

10:18You do not wonder about the expectations that that dog might be having.

10:23It is only the expectations of a particular four people that matter to you, four people.

10:31And who are these four people?

10:34The ones with whom you have the bond of me-mine-my.

10:41If you have to cater to expectations, then why not cater to the expectations of an entire

10:48nation or the entire world or the entire animal kingdom, entire species are vanishing every day.

10:56Don't they expect you to help them?

10:59So answer their expectations.

Category

Transcript

Recommended