What really is Vedanta? Is it relevant today? || Acharya Prashant, in conversation (2022)

Acharya Prashant

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Transcript

00:00I would like to ask you about even, you know, sort of what you've focused on when it comes

00:14to Vedant philosophy, right?

00:19Vedant having, you know, while being such a, while being so firm as a school of thought

00:26in terms of being based in Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, the Brahma Sutras, while having such

00:34distinct schools as well, it has throughout its timeline of thousands of years, gone through

00:44many people adapting it in different ways, meaning approaching it and implementing it

00:51in different ways, whether it be, say, the saints, whether it be the bhakts, whether

00:57it be the yogis, whether it be the acharyas themselves having completely different approaches

01:04of what, say, Brahman is, to even the day-to-day, I mean, the new 18th, 19th, 20th century revolutionaries

01:14and scholars and philosophers who approached it in their own light.

01:19And in one respect, that is honorable, that the Vedant philosophy has, is so, while so

01:26firm, it's also flexible.

01:29And my question to you is that, in today's light, in today's light, in today's times,

01:35how should one approach Vedanta?

01:37How should one implement it?

01:39How should one practice it?

01:42See, what is Vedanta, first of all?

01:44Vedanta is not really a philosophy in the sense, we typically use the word philosophy

01:51especially for Western thought.

01:54Vedanta is not really a philosophy.

01:58Vedanta is an inquiry.

02:02The inquiry is about one's own nature.

02:08The nature of the mind, what do I want?

02:15What do I want?

02:17Why do I never get fulfilled?

02:20What is it about me that always seeks activity and something else, the next exciting thing?

02:31Who am I to keep wanting like this and where did I come from?

02:37That's the most fundamental Vedantic inquiry.

02:41Who am I?

02:43Who am I?

02:45And one thing Vedanta is very certain about, whosoever I am, I am not really contended

02:52with that.

02:56Something about me is amiss and that's why the inquiry.

03:01Otherwise there is no need to inquire, everything is alright.

03:04Then why bother to inquire?

03:07So something is missing somewhere and it's possible nothing is missing anywhere.

03:15I am unable to grasp the perfection of things, even that is possible.

03:22But whatever be the case, one thing is certain, I am not alright with the way I am.

03:26I am not joyful with myself.

03:32Now this myself is a fluctuating entity.

03:39You are not the same person when you are, let's say in the studio as when you are on

03:43the road.

03:44It's a common everyday experience.

03:48The way we look at ourselves, the thing within us that calls out I keeps changing or identities

03:57keep fluctuating, influences make us change our very center almost.

04:09That's the reason why Vedanta will be looked at from many different angles by the various

04:18knowers, sages, rishis, pundits, saints.

04:26Because even if the destination is the same, the current location is definitely different

04:36for every person.

04:40You may realize that the welfare of the I lies in its liberation from itself.

04:50But liberation from what?

04:52The current situation of the I is unique for every individual, for every situation, for

04:59every place, for every community, every age.

05:03And that's why the thing has been presented in so many different ways.

05:08Another reason, related reason why the words of the sages etc. sound sometimes at odds

05:15with each other is because the I, the ego has a great tendency and capability to co-opt

05:25whatever has been told to it.

05:29So you tell the ego that the truth is this way and you listen to it, else you will suffer.

05:37The ego will take those words and digest them in such a way that they rather fatten

05:46the ego itself.

05:50Instead of guiding the ego, instead of liberating the ego, the words of the sages can be used

06:01by the ego to reinforce itself.

06:05And that's why the words that were uttered for the sake of salvation, education, liberation

06:15become cannon fodder.

06:20And the ego is using them as ammunition to blast the teacher itself.

06:31So then the next teacher has to step in.

06:34And the next teacher then has to elucidate in a different way, sometimes in a drastically

06:41different way.

06:43Now that is not being done to prove the previous teacher wrong.

06:48That is being done now to checkmate the ego at its own game.

06:53But the game continues, the game is eternal.

06:57The words of the next teacher too are in time distorted, manipulated, assimilated, co-opted

07:04and then the next one has to come.

07:07Just as the ego is always at work, the series, the tradition of teachers too has to be continuously

07:14at work.

07:16You cannot have one teacher whose words are eternal because no word can be eternal.

07:22Words will need reinterpretation according to the time, the situation, the people, everything.

07:32So Vedanta is just one thing, Vedanta is not too many things.

07:36But Vedanta definitely has to be looked at in context for it to be useful.

07:45And that's why the words of the different knowers were all very useful at their own

07:53time in their situations and might be useful even today.

07:57It depends on how much can you relate to the person the teachers are speaking to.

08:07For example, when I teach the Bhagavad Gita, I say that the Gita is only as useful to you

08:14as is the depth of your identification with Arjun.

08:19If you are Arjun, then Krishna is talking to you.

08:23But if you cannot see that you indeed are Arjun, how will the Gita benefit you?

08:29You have to see that you are embattled just like Arjun.

08:32You have to see that you are stuck in attachment and dilemma just like Arjun.

08:38And when you see that, then Krishna becomes radiant and brilliant for you.

08:44Now Krishna is definitely a teacher to you.

08:46Now Krishna is like a personal coach.

08:51Otherwise you are just witnessing something being said by one person to another person

08:58without you having any real relationship with either of the two.

09:02And that won't help.

09:05So pick up words that were uttered to somebody in your situation.

09:12And then you will benefit.

09:13Right.

09:14And you are pinpointing that really important aspect of, I guess, Bharat itself and its

09:28ages and its years and its millenniums.

09:31How different devotees or different seers of saw Vedanta or saw the truth maybe in their

09:40own light because of their own lens, the fact that they have their own lens.

09:49Whether that would be the bhakts of Maharashtra, right, where their own circumstances, their

09:59own situation, the world at their time, the Indian diaspora at their time was very, say,

10:07superstitional or blind faith based.

10:12And they saw the needs of their time and approached it differently.

10:16Or maybe Shankaracharya saw the needs of his time and he approached it differently compared

10:21to Ramanujacharya.

10:24So with that in mind, what do you think are the needs of today's time?

10:29See, you have put it so nicely.

10:32The principles of medicine remain the same.

10:37But to each patient there is a different and unique prescription.

10:45So that's how it is.

10:46The fundamentals remain the same.

10:48Now we cannot say that one doctor is quarrelling with the other because one prescription is

10:53different from the other.

10:59Now you are asking how do I see the need of this time?

11:02You see, what do the various saints anyway do in their respective ages?

11:11They demolish the popular notions of their time.

11:16They slay the gods of their time.

11:22And the ego is very fond of raising new and false gods.

11:28By gods what do I mean?

11:30Something that you venerate, something that you bow down to, something that you are so

11:34much in awe of.

11:38So today those gods have to be slayed.

11:45The ideals of the age have to be demolished.

11:48Now the gods of the age, who are they?

11:53Money is the god, knowledge is the god, consumption is a huge god, happiness is the biggest ideal.

12:08I just want to lead the good life.

12:10And what does the good life mean?

12:11I must consume a lot.

12:16So Vedanta in today's times amounts to negating the notions, the ideals that we venerate today.

12:28And that's why Vedanta is always a struggle.

12:34It does not really have any affirmative message to convey.

12:42It is a philosophy in negativa, if you can call it a philosophy that is.

12:49Because the inquiry always is, is this real?

12:54You point at something and then you say, is this real?

12:57You point at yourself and ask, is this real?

13:01And the answer inevitably is no.

13:05So the entire inquiry is about negation.

13:09You look at something and you are taking it seriously, you are falling for it, you

13:13are getting too fond of it.

13:16The thing has become truth for you.

13:18You look at the thing and you ask, is this real, is this the truth?

13:22I want to inquire, I want to know.

13:24And if your inquiry is genuine, then the answer is no.

13:29So Vedanta is definitely about negating whatever time at a particular point in history throws

13:37at you.

13:40In 18th century Vedanta will negate what people of 18th century thought.

13:46In 8th century Vedanta was used to negate what people at that time thought of as truth.

13:55In the current century, whatsoever is taken as very important will be negated by Vedanta.

14:02That's what Vedanta does.

14:04And that's why certain people are always irritated with it.

14:07Well, where is the positive message they say?

14:10There is no positive message because there is no need of any positive message.

14:13Vedanta says you do not need any positivity, reality in itself is joyful.

14:20You just uncover it.

14:24And uncovering is a process in negation.

14:29You do not need anything additionally.

14:31You do not need something to be added to your life.

14:37Life in itself is beautiful, provided you get rid of all the nonsense you have covered

14:42it up with.

14:44So that's what Vedanta does.

14:45Vedanta is a cleaning mechanism.

14:48You bring anything to Vedanta and Vedanta says let's go into it, let's inquire, let's

14:52investigate.

14:53Vedanta is a big question mark.

14:57And that is the reason why it could never become the leading thing of the day at any

15:03time in history.

15:04It is the mother of all Indian philosophies, all thought.

15:09In fact it is the mother of much of what is beautiful in the West as well.

15:15But it could never by itself gain popularity among the masses.

15:21Though derivatives from Vedanta became very popular, such as the songs of the Bhakti saints.

15:26They became extremely popular.

15:27But Vedanta, the thing in itself remained kind of marginalized.

15:40Because the ego does not like it.

15:42You bring anything to it and Vedanta says, I'll be attracted to it later.

15:47First of all I want to know what it is.

15:50I'll consume it later or I'll reject it later.

15:52First of all I want to know what the thing is about.

15:55This kind of inquiry is an obstacle to immediate gratification and the ego is very fond of

16:01gratifying itself.

16:03Think of the situations in life when an opportunity to gratify yourself is there.

16:08And in that situation, in that moment if somebody comes and says, let's inquire first thing.

16:14Something very delicious is right on your plate.

16:18And just as you are about to take it in, somebody says, why not first of all inquire the number

16:24of calories per gram and the nutritional value and other things about it.

16:29Now how pleasant would you feel?

16:31There are certain annoyance and that's the reason why Vedanta is only for those who love

16:38the truth more than sensual gratification.

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