Evolution is a myth; we are still animals || Acharya Prashant, on Vedanta (2021)

Acharya Prashant

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Transcript

00:00We talked of, we said that nothing has inwardly changed, so we are essentially inwardly the

00:11same people who are roaming the jungle, so but a question comes in that definitely somewhere

00:23during the course of evolution we became this human species, so there has, so somewhere

00:30there has been inward evolution also or has there been no inward evolution?

00:36There has been no inward evolution, let's discuss that, look at an amoeba or a paramecium,

00:52don't you see that it's basic instinct is just the same as that of the most evolved

01:02human being, it wants to exist, you want to exist, what has changed?

01:17You are still the amoeba or you can contradict me in a thousand ways possible, what I am

01:25saying is so vulnerable to arguments that you can trash it in no time, but with some

01:42empathy and understanding try to get into the truth of it, with all our evolutionary

01:55gifts intellect, memory, muscle, the subsequent development of a suitable and comfortable

02:11ecosystem aided by technology, are we still fundamentally different from any other kind

02:22of conscious life form on the planet anywhere else, tell me please, an amoeba reproduces,

02:35so do we, an amoeba eats, so do we, no sir, but you know there is so much that we do not

02:50share with amoebas, let's see please, is there anything that you do that is fundamentally

02:59not centered on stuff that amoeba does, an amoeba wants its space, its territory, even

03:15a little plant does, a blade of grass does, the most primitive being does, see what do

03:28you use your knowledge and your skills for, aren't your resources, your money going so

03:40much towards acquiring space and territory, both physical and psychological, tell me please,

03:51an amoeba wants to have personal space, space that it can declare as its own, territory that

04:01it can monopolize, that's what even an amoeba wants, you could say we do so much, but aren't

04:15we doing so much just to do what the amoeba does, the amoeba obviously doesn't go to the office

04:24every day, you do go to the office, but you go to the office to do what the amoeba does,

04:29the amoeba has no laboratories, it does not develop technologies, but we have laboratories

04:44and we have developed technologies to do what the amoeba does, the amoeba does not

04:53have language, we have language, what do we use language for, to do what amoeba does,

05:07what do you speak for, please tell me, we said the session today started late because

05:13the people around were playing loud music and such stuff, what were all those songs about,

05:21they were about reproduction, let's put it bluntly, the fellow wants to mate, he is using

05:37words to invite the other human, the other human of the opposite gender to mate and that's

05:46what we call as songs, at least that's the kind of songs we use on celebratory new year

05:56eves, so you have language, what do you use language for, you use language to mate, that's

06:06also what the amoeba does without using language, in fact the amoeba is more efficient, you

06:17use so many words just because you are wooing a female, words and instruments and loudspeakers.

06:35You know amoeba is so efficient that not only does it not need words, it does not even

06:41need a female, it just multiplies on its own, it's both a male and a female, it's neither

06:54a male nor a female, is there anything that you do that is fundamentally different from

07:03what an amoeba does, so where is evolution, please tell me, whatever we do, we do for

07:13the sake of existence, we want to remain, we want to remain as we are, that's also exactly

07:21what the amoeba wants, how are you different, now today we have taken the amoeba, at other

07:41times I have taken up the dog, we will find that offensive, so I said fine amoeba, but

07:52I still maintain that the dog is more handy, if you look at all that a dog does and you

08:00look at all that you do, it would be so easy to establish a clear mapping, a very direct

08:15correlation, there is not a single thing that you do and a dog doesn't, where is your evolutionary

08:25superiority, tell me please, but we read, for what do you read, you read to feed yourself,

08:43you read to clothe yourself, you read to acquire physical psychological space, a dog manages

08:54all of that, even without reading, you need to draw international boundaries, the dog

09:05just has to lift his leg, the dog doesn't have to appoint a commission MacMohan or something

09:17to draw a meticulate international boundary, this is my territory, how do I mark it, by peeing,

09:33you know that's the truth of all territorial occupation, all territorial obsession, you want

09:44territory so that you can pee and shit over it, irrespective of whether that territory is physical,

09:52mental or bodily, why do you want to acquire territory in the form of a human body, I own you,

10:02you are mine, you're my territory, just as that's my scooter, that's my car, that's my bungalow,

10:08that's my wife or husband, what do I do once I acquire the territory, I'll pee over it,

10:20now that's already offensive, but can't help it, what else do you do once you have acquired a man

10:35or a woman, think of it please, there was one thing that you could not do without acquiring

10:41that person, spoil his or her body, once you have acquired him, then literal shit.

11:11No, but we keep our houses clean, why are you saying that we acquire territory, to spoil it,

11:27once we acquire territory, in fact, we make additional efforts to keep it clean, that's what,

11:34the cleanliness that you are talking of is shit, you acquire territory to use it to maintain yourself,

11:49the dog uses territory to suit its own personal purpose, that's what we are calling as spoiling or dirtying.

12:03So, it might appear that you are keeping your place very clean,

12:07but still the purpose is very dirty, the purpose is continuation of my existence as I am,

12:16my place will be used to provide me comfort and security, that's a very dirty purpose.

12:33Evolution will not take you beyond the body or the self,

12:43wisdom would, that's why I keep hopping, don't attach too much significance to age,

12:54no age is small enough to prevent you from moving into wisdom

13:17and no age is advanced enough

13:20to prevent you from moving into wisdom.

13:25Evolution will not help, experience will not help, age will not help,

13:31only wisdom would help, if you think that experience will deliver wisdom to you, you are badly mistaken,

13:41you are badly mistaken, if you think being called a senior citizen will deliver you from maya,

13:53you are in a fool's paradise.

13:55So, we as human beings do have the possibility of going beyond what is fundamentally the same

14:15with all other animals, because if we as human beings, we can let's say perform this

14:21five steps and move towards, go towards liberation, which an animal cannot do.

14:29An animal does not want to do, that's not how it is biologically constituted.

14:34So, this quest is, this potential, is this also biological?

14:39Yes, this potential is the potential of your body.

14:49Only your body is designed in a way that the consciousness attached to it can seek freedom from it.

15:04You could even say that only man is unfortunate enough to not remain contended with the body.

15:21All other life forms are contended with the body, only man is born with a special urge,

15:35this you could take as his superiority or his misfortune.

15:44No animal experiences the angst that a human being does.

15:54Animals don't have to go through so much tension and inner strife.

16:05They don't turn depressed, neurotic, suicidal so easily.

16:14We do, because we are special.

16:20We are special animals.

16:22Hello!

16:24Not that we are absolutely special, we are just special animals.

16:34H.R.ji, previously in the answer you specified that there is nothing evolutionary which is in us.

16:44But in our Vedas and scriptures, in the 10 avatars, we were marine first,

16:54and then gradually the last stage is the meditative man, that has been described.

17:00So, and meditative as in the current state, which has the potential of, which is able to discuss this.

17:12And while we see that this is the potential which has come through the evolution, which we just came to,

17:18but you also straight away disagree that there is anything biologically evolutionary that is going to come, which will uplift us.

17:34How to reconcile?

17:36The problem is, potential is a very deceptive word.

17:40You use the word potential to defend your notion that man is special.

17:58You say man has the potential for liberation, therefore man is special.

18:04You say man has the potential for liberation, therefore man is better than animals.

18:11I take potential as a phantom, as maya, myth.

18:25Potentially we are all divine, potentially we are all the true self, atma.

18:30So what?

18:34Where is that potential expressing itself in your life?

18:40The only use you have for that potential is that you use it to defend your unreasonable sense of grandeur and superiority.

18:54We are potentially great.

18:58Two hoots to your potential.

19:01What are you really?

19:03What are you living as?

19:04Potentially, yes, you could be sage Angiras.

19:08What are you living your life as?

19:10Tell me that.

19:12You are living your life as the amoeba, therefore I will call you the amoeba.

19:16I won't call you Angiras.

19:22You might be born with so much potential.

19:27That's actually unfortunate because you will die with so much potential.

19:31Would have been better had you been born with no potential because that potential is never going to fructify.

19:41You will just die with it.

19:44With you it would be turned to ashes.

19:47What's the point in talking of that mythical potential and singing and dancing around it?

20:06You know our possible glory.

20:13Possible glory?

20:18Or current debauchery?

20:24I want to talk of the latter.

20:30Because without talking of your current debauchery, your possible glory is anyway always going to remain just myth.

20:47A utopia.

20:50A chimera.

21:08Like people talk of their great ancestors.

21:12You know, I come from the line of the great king who once used to rule Delhi.

21:21How does that help you?

21:22Look at your life.

21:27How does that help you?

21:30I come from the line of the Buddha or Mahavir.

21:33Who are you?

21:36Who are you?

21:38Look at your life.

21:42All the time you are violent and you are talking of Buddha and Mahavir.

21:50But you know, I am a Bharadwaj Brahmin or some other Brahmin.

21:58I come from the line of sage Agastya.

22:02Agastya.

22:07And even as you say this, you are spitting chicken bone out from your mouth.

22:20Steeped in ignorance, you are talking of this glory, that glory, this highness, that beauty.

22:33Potentially, you could have been the topper of your class.

22:44No?

22:47I want to know what you actually did.

22:55Potentially, you could have won 8 Nobel Prizes by now.

23:03But I know you couldn't have graduated without cheating.

23:07That's your reality.

23:08That's your reality.

23:21Isn't it actually a disgrace that in spite of having a potential, we live the life of an amoeba?

23:33Doesn't that not only make us equal to but rather worse than the amoeba?

23:43The amoeba never had the potential of being anything beyond the amoeba.

23:48You had the potential and you still lived as the amoeba.

23:52Now tell me, are you better or worse than the amoeba?

23:56Worse than the amoeba.

23:57That's the reason I keep saying the dogs are better than us.

24:03They are at least performing to their average.

24:07You know, there is a tail ender.

24:09I am talking of cricket.

24:14His average is 10, batting average 10.

24:18He has no more potential.

24:20His batting average is 10.

24:24And he comes to bat and gets out at 10.

24:29Is that bad performance?

24:30Not at all.

24:31He is performing to his average.

24:34Now you are a top order batsman.

24:37Your average is 58.

24:40That's your potential, right?

24:41You would have made 58 or more.

24:45And you come and you get out at 10.

24:50Who's better?

24:51The tail ender or you?

24:54So the dogs are better than us.

25:02Happened with me, you know.

25:05I stood third in my class.

25:08Class four or five.

25:12And got bashed up at home.

25:21Wasn't a bad performance by any means.

25:25Thought I was better.

25:27Wasn't a bad performance by any means.

25:31Third in a class of 40 or 50.

25:36Got beaten up.

25:42And then,

25:47I rebelled.

25:50I said this, my sister.

25:56She never even manages a single digit rank.

26:01But happily she carries her report card.

26:05Comes in, throws it away.

26:08And starts rolling on the bed.

26:12And nobody utters a word to her.

26:17All the time she is just happy.

26:23I burn the midnight oil.

26:26She keeps snoring.

26:31She comes 13th in her class.

26:32I came third.

26:38She is still happy.

26:43I have been bashed up.

26:44This won't do.

26:46My mother said,

26:47you have done far worse than her.

26:51I couldn't really grasp.

26:54Now I think I do.

27:05If you have potential

27:07and you don't try hard enough,

27:09you will never get it.

27:11You will never get it.

27:12If you have potential

27:14and you don't

27:16live up to it,

27:20life will offer you

27:23the harshest punishment.

27:30Because you have failed

27:31in your one duty as a human being

27:35to materialize your potential.

27:38That's your only dharma.

27:40Your potential,

27:42the Upanishads call as Atma.

27:48You have it

27:49and yet you do not have it.

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