Why Indians address people as 'Ji' || Acharya Prashant, Vedanta Mahotsav (2022)

Acharya Prashant

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Transcript

00:00Obviously, I'm new here, so I don't know how anything works.

00:06But there's one custom I've noticed.

00:11It was actually the first thing you said in the whole session.

00:15It was chi, like chi.

00:17And you also, when you address someone formally, you put that in the end.

00:25So where does that come from?

00:27Is that just some social custom, or is there something behind it?

00:33It's a social custom.

00:34We address people as chi.

00:38But surely there is a lot behind it.

00:42Good that you raised it.

00:44Actually, it has come to me earlier as well.

00:50And see, chi is not like mister.

00:55Chi is not like mister or miss or missus.

00:58Chi is different, very different.

01:03In India, most of the customs have now been corrupted.

01:07Equally, a lot of customs have a very strong spiritual basis, and they are meant to teach

01:15you something in the daily run of life.

01:23So anywhere in the world we have a name and a surname, right?

01:30The name refers to your physical self.

01:34You exist, so you have a name.

01:35Your name is Rohan, right?

01:37You exist, so you have a name.

01:40So the name refers to your body.

01:46The surname comes from your ancestors.

01:49It is history.

01:50And history exists in the mind.

01:53So the surname refers to the mind.

01:58But if you address a person just as a body and a mind, that's injustice.

02:05Because the person is much more than that.

02:09So you add chi.

02:12Chi comes from the Sanskrit shri.

02:17Shri in Sanskrit becomes ji in vernacular.

02:22What does shri mean?

02:24Shri means all.

02:28That is beautiful.

02:30Shri means abundance.

02:34Shri means auspiciousness.

02:37So shri basically means the true self, the atma.

02:43So when you address a person, you say Rohan Kumar ji.

02:52Now you are reminding him that you are much more than the body and the mind.

02:59The shri is not merely a token of respect.

03:04Shri refers to the real thing that you are.

03:10But now it has become a very dead custom.

03:14It has become a mark of respect, hollow respect, obeisance.

03:22If you do not address someone as ji, some may get offended.

03:29But there is hardly anybody who realizes why ji is important to be added to somebody's name.

03:37It could go both ways.

03:39You could either say the fellow actually has no name.

03:46And that's a beautiful way to say.

03:47That's the Buddha's way.

03:49That the one you really are can actually have no name.

03:55You are beyond all names and forms.

03:57That's one way.

03:59That's the way of the Buddha we said.

04:01The way of Vedanta is different, rather opposite.

04:06The way of Vedanta is you anyway take yourself as the body and the mind.

04:14That cannot be taken away from you.

04:16As long as you are alive, the body is there.

04:20So saying that you don't exist at all, that you are beyond all names and customs and addresses

04:27or addressals, won't work.

04:32So Vedanta says, now that you are anyway identified with the body and the mind, I am giving you

04:37something better to be identified with, Shri.

04:44So you could either extend these two to three or you could reduce these two to zero.

04:52The intention is the same.

04:54The intention is to tell you that you are not just these two, or rather, Vedanta says

05:01you are not just these two.

05:03Buddha would say you are not these two.

05:05The Buddha would be totally silent on who you really are.

05:09About that, he would remain silent.

05:12Vedanta says, the body and mind, we acknowledge our facts, obviously, you are there, otherwise

05:20there is no conversation.

05:24But don't be unjust to yourself.

05:27Don't be so disrespectful towards yourself.

05:32Don't see yourself as just the material, you are beyond that.

05:37So Shri, Shri Julius, Shri Julius, Julius you are.

05:48But much before being Julius, you are Shri.

05:57And long after Julius ceases to exist, Shri will remain.

06:05Shri is the truth.

06:08That's the reason this custom is there.

06:10But hardly anybody knows the reason, so we just blindly follow it.

06:18But I've also noticed that it's also used as kind of an affirmative statement, right?

06:25Is there a reason for that?

06:27That's not the way it was intended.

06:31You say something, and if I want to affirm what you are saying, I want to convey my agreement,

06:38then I just say, Ji.

06:40That's not the intended usage, but that's a popular usage.

06:45That's not the way Ji should be used.

06:52Or you could say that if I agree to you, I convey my agreement by using Ji or Shri to

07:02mean that I agree to the truth, since Shri points to the truth.

07:08So what I'm saying is that if I agree to you, I'm actually agreeing to the truth.

07:14But this is just too far-fetched.

07:16When people in the normal course of conversation say Ji, this is not what they mean.

07:22But this is what they could mean if they understand things deeply.

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