Why Words Fail to Capture Life’s Truth? || Acharya Prashant (2023)

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/enquir...   Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...   Read 3 handpicked wisdom articles, just for you: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articl...  ➖➖➖➖➖➖  #acharyaprashant  Video Information: 06.07.2023, GSE, Goa  Context: देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा।  तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति ॥  Bhagavad Gita - 2.13   ~ Why is the above verse highlighted? ~ Why is the above verse a huge threat to our existence? ~ What does it mean if we highlight something in this world? ~ What comes first for the ego? ~ Who is a liberated person?   Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~

Transcript

00:00Greetings Benevolence Master. My first question is more of an observation. I am reading Gita

00:14book from a Kindle e-book. Now Kindle provides popular highlights. So Kindle keeps track

00:22of those texts which people are highlighting in their e-books. Now this particular verse,

00:30verse number 30 is one of the most popular highlight of Kindle. This is the verse which

00:37has been most misquoted and misunderstood. Maybe that is the reason that this particular

00:44verse is highlighted the most. Like one highlights the target. Like one has the victim in one's

01:00cross hairs. You highlight that which you want to consume or pray or feast upon. In

01:20that sense, we have highlighted this one. You highlight a potential threat, don't you?

01:28So we have highlighted this one because this verse, if rightly understood, is a huge threat

01:34to our existence. So we have taken great care not to let this one pass safely. We have ensured

01:51that we will corrupt its meaning so that we remain safe. So it's a typical example

02:03of the ego laying its hands on holy scriptures. Yes. Example of the ego identifying a threat

02:15and neutralizing it. And you can extend this observation to all the things in the world

02:32in the sense of our relationship with them. If we are highlighting something in this world,

02:39chances are we are going to destroy and distort it. We do not highlight things because they are

02:49virtuous or truthful. The ego does not want virtue. The ego has nothing for the truth. For the ego,

02:57its own security and preservation come first. So if it just gets a whiff of truth somewhere,

03:09it becomes very alert. Alert not in the sense of getting eager to surrender. Alert not in

03:18the sense of getting eager to welcome the beloved. Alert in the sense of getting ready and aggressive

03:36to counter an enemy. If you find people rushing to temples, you can see what that means. We

04:00highlight temples, don't we? We highlight temples so that we can distort their purpose.

04:18If there is something that the ego gives attention to,

04:24the thing is in danger. It is now running the risk of being misused, misappropriated

04:44and robbed of its authentic nature and purpose.

04:54If the ego says, I love you or I respect you, it's a red flag.

05:09When someone says, I love chicken. Yes, in the same way.

05:14Travellers like Goa. I like a particular mountain when travellers say. In the same way.

05:23My next question is related to, you talked about the life being in a constant movement,

05:35flux. You talked about Buddha. So I have one observation. I was reflecting on this verse

05:41today. I find that there is a conflict between linguistics, language and life. Now life is

05:50continuous, life is dynamic. But language is static. When we say this is a tree. This

05:58is a tree. So it means static. This means static. This is a boy. Whereas what it is

06:08pointing to is continuous. So clearly there is a difference between the tool using which

06:18we explain life, that is language. One almost feels like seeing that it's an intentional

06:25difference. Because if the tree is static, then so is the seer of the tree. So you want

06:36to assert that the ego is an entity. Just as the tree is an entity. It's a thing. Equally

06:45I am a thing. But if you see that the tree is a process, tree is a stream, then you will have

06:51to admit that the ego too is a stream. And if the ego is a stream, then the ego is nothing.

06:55Therefore language has to be deliberately constructed in a way that supports the ego.

07:06If the tree is a flux, then so is the seer of the tree.

07:15Because you said today that seer and the seen are of the same dimension. Now if the seen is in the

07:22flux dimension, that means seer also is in the flux dimension. Yes. And that can even be seen

07:28very logically. You say I am the body. Now your body and the tree's body are very similar. So if

07:36the tree is a flux, so are you because you say you are the body. So we intentionally or maybe

07:49not intentionally also we say this is the body. But I think we have to give the benefit of doubt

07:57to ego because the least count of the senses using which we perceive, it cannot detect very

08:03subtle changes. Now since it cannot detect subtle changes, it is unable to see that it is a flow.

08:10You cannot detect subtle changes in the gross material of the body.

08:14But can't you detect the almost instantaneous changes in your mind and mood?

08:25In a fraction of a second, your universe changes, right?

08:29How did that happen? If you were a static thing,

08:33how did the thing so completely change in almost zero time?

08:51Yes, but okay, okay. I have to think, reflect on this even more because it is very unnatural to,

09:02unnatural, non-biological to know that something is flux. It is very conducive,

09:09biologically conducive. You could look at it in a totally opposite way as well.

09:15This moment you were thinking of somebody as your beloved

09:21and think of your state and think of the meaning that that person has for you.

09:28And then somebody tells you that this person is not that one and your beloved is out there

09:35somewhere. There is a confusion. And see how completely everything has changed.

09:39Immediately.

09:40How immediately? And how then can you miss seeing that everything is a flux?

09:51It's a classic example of that mother in a maternity ward.

09:55Yes.

09:55The mother is having the child and she is caressing the baby and suddenly the nurse says,

10:02by mistake the baby was exchanged and suddenly the string of belongingness is cut.

10:18So, my last question is related to the state of a liberated man. So, you describe the state

10:26of liberated person at two, three places in your discourse. I was reminded of Ramana Maharshi.

10:36I was reading his book Advaita Boddhipika where he explains the state of a man who is egoless,

10:43who is liberated. He says his state is like that of a burnt rope. There is a rope, the burnt rope,

10:51so its shape and size is still maintained, but its ability to tie, but its ability to

10:59be bondaged or bond, that is gone. So, this is a very nice way of putting it. Burnt rope.

11:08Liberated man is a burnt rope.

11:10Externally, just like the rope, but without the typical attributes of the rope.

11:22Or externally, just like anything. Externally, just like anybody else. Internally, nobody.

11:37Like a room that has been vacated.

11:44Like a room you have checked out of. The room is there.

11:48When you are passing through an aisle between a series of rooms,

12:05can you distinguish between rooms that are occupied and that are not? Can you?

12:11No. 106, 107, 108.

12:16So, externally, all the rooms look the same. The liberated person is a room without an occupant.

12:31So, you mean the room, the walls of the room, that is the body. That will be there.

12:38Yes. Yes. Internally, there is nobody making mischief.

12:48Or doing anything else.

12:56Before going, a more befitting example could be

13:01a vacated prison cell. A hotel room

13:11sounds a bit tempting. You know, why should I check out, especially if it is a good hotel?

13:17So, a liberated man is like a vacated prison cell. The cell remains.

13:25The prisoner is gone. The prisoner is free.

13:32Before going, last class, you told many definitions about what is ego.

13:43You also said at the end of the class that today I told so many definitions of the ego.

13:48So, today I was sitting and compiling those definitions. I found 20 definitions.

13:53So, I noted them down and sent to Anmolji and few other people.

13:58Now, one thing I found very common. Last class, you laughed a lot. It means the moment you gave

14:06one line a definition and you exhaled, means you say one line and you laugh and you give another

14:14definition of ego and you laugh. Because I was noting down the definitions, I was hearing this,

14:21every time a definition comes from you, you laugh. So, then I was thinking whether the

14:27wisdom lies in the word or in your laughter. So, it was nice.

14:34It was like, you know, asking whether the real thing is the rain or the thunder.

14:43Nothing. It's just a little more cloudy on a few days.

14:53Just happens. Sometimes, there are the clouds. Sometimes, there is the clear sky. Sometimes,

15:01it rains without the thunder. Sometimes, there is thunder without rain. Sometimes,

15:06there is rain and thunder. Thank you so much.

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