This has been the curse of India! || Acharya Prashant (2022)

Acharya Prashant

Video Information: 10.10.22 , Greater Noida.  Shivi Verma of Life Positive magazine interviews Acharya Prashant on the curse of India.  Context: ~ Can the youth take on the challenges of coming times?  ~ What is Prashant Advait Mission about? ~ Where is our Youth heading? ~ What is India's rich heritage? ~ Why is there so much spiritual misinformation in India? ~ What is freedom?  Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~

Transcript

00:00You have been guiding the youth of this country for the longest time.

00:07So what has been your observation about the youth of India?

00:11How willing are they to embrace their roots?

00:14They are quite willing in the sense that they appear less prejudiced and encumbered with

00:32the ideologies and moorings of the past.

00:44They are also more straightforward, display lesser duplicity probably compared to the

00:56previous generations.

01:00They do not hesitate to speak their mind.

01:06So it becomes easier to have a dialogue and where a dialogue is possible, their solutions

01:18emerge more easily.

01:24So that's the thing that gives me hope with respect to the youth of today.

01:30However, there is one aspect of their value system that makes it a bit problematic and

01:39that is that they have been taught to back themselves, believe in themselves, have self-confidence

01:54no matter what and that sometimes becomes an obstacle in the path of open and honest

02:07inquiry.

02:09If you believe that you already know a lot, then the urge to inquire diminishes and if

02:22you feel too confident of your views and opinions, then your ability to listen suffers.

02:34So that's the problem that we face but all in all, it's always a pleasure speaking

02:42to the youth.

02:44In fact, given a chance, I would probably prefer the youth over the aged and the middle-aged.

03:01So the kind of energy that a young person carries and the fact that he or she has a

03:10life to live and the spark in their eyes when they come upon something new, that always

03:19makes it a delight to converse with them.

03:24So you do feel that they are well-prepared to take on the challenges of the coming times?

03:31That's a very general statement, I can't say they are well-prepared, can't say they are

03:36not well-prepared.

03:37It will vary from person to person.

03:43So some of them will meet life and rise to its challenges very nicely, very competently.

03:59Unfortunately there would be some who would fall by the wayside, the mission that we have

04:09espoused aims to have more individuals who can live life freely, boldly, delightfully.

04:23What do you mean when you say live life more freely, more delightfully, more unencumbered?

04:31You have to see what is the nature of our bondages, because the word freedom has any

04:37meaning only in context of bondages.

04:42Mostly we do not realize that we are in a shackled state of bondage, even if we do begin

04:52to realize that we are living a limited and circumscribed life.

05:01The first instinct is to feel that the bondages and the oppressor exist in the world, outside

05:09of us.

05:11It is only when there is careful inquiry and a lot of attention towards the self that one

05:20realizes that the bondages are within, the concepts that one is carrying, the beliefs

05:28that one might be holding very close to his core, these are the real bondages.

05:38And if these are the bondages, then we know what is freedom, examining what you live by,

05:47examining what your value system is like, seeing where it comes from, seeing whether

05:54it really helps you navigate through life, and therefore dropping what is necessary,

06:04that is freedom.

06:05Indians today, especially Hindus, are mostly clueless about their rich spiritual heritage.

06:13And why do you think that we have come so far and we have become so distant from the

06:20stream of spiritual knowledge which has nourished our generations, we just don't, we have to

06:26be reintroduced to all that which has been our heritage.

06:32Because there is just too much of it.

06:35You see, when I go to, let's say, Lucknow via the Muradabad route, there are these eateries,

06:46wayside eateries.

06:49So 10-12 years back when I used to go, there used to be one Shiva Dhaba, and it got very

06:57famous.

06:58It got very famous and it was very successful because the food quality was good, the ambience

07:03was wonderful and there were lush green fields behind it and one could be there and have

07:10some tourist food and enjoy all this, especially during winters.

07:14So then another one came up, new Shiva Dhaba.

07:21Then one more came up and I have been an experiencer to all that, real Shiva Dhaba, then Asli Shiva

07:28Dhaba and now there are just so many of them that neither the food is delectable nor the

07:40ambience or anything else about it.

07:45Why did that proliferation happen?

07:48Exactly because the original one was wonderful.

07:53When the original one is great, all kinds of duplicate ones start mushrooming and that

07:59is what has happened in India and the duplicate ones assume so much abundance and visibility

08:09and power and popularity that the original one is lost.

08:14I won't be surprised if the mother Shiva Dhaba does not exist anymore.

08:21You get what I am saying?

08:23Exactly because our original scriptures are very powerful, therefore based on their strength

08:31and to encash on their popularity, all kinds of charlatans came up, all kinds of fraudsters

08:39in the name of spirituality and they said, Bhai tera dhyan ki dhar hai, Asli Shiva Dhaba

08:45idhar hai, gone.

08:48Now why read the Bhagavad Gita?

08:51Somebody else is posing as Krishna, some other scripture, some other Guru is there

08:55and the original one is gone and could this charlatan, this fraudster have gained popularity

09:03on his own?

09:05No.

09:06All those miscellaneous, half a dozen or two dozen Shiva Dhaba's, they could gain popularity

09:15only on the back of the original one.

09:20Had the original one not existed, these would have cut no ice, they would have met no success.

09:28But they have been very parasitic and that's what has happened in India.

09:33Exactly because our foundational scriptures were so strong and so pure, they attracted

09:41a lot of parasites.

09:42Those parasites came to the scriptures, bit into them, extracted their little pounds or

09:52pounds or ounce of flesh and started their own shop.

09:57The result, nobody is now caring for the central scriptures, the original Shiva Dhaba.

10:05Nobody is caring for that and there are thousands of other books and thousands of traditions

10:10and thousands of communities and lakhs of Gurus.

10:16Every place has its own local Guru and every Guru is saying, I am the real one.

10:20Asli Shiva Dhaba idhar hai.

10:23Are you getting it?

10:25And that has been the curse of India.

10:27The success of the real fathers has become the curse of the descendants.

10:37So, what do we need to do now?

10:40Go to the original Dhaba, go to the original ones and keep everything else aside.

10:47Right, right, right.

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