The Root of Societal Challenges || Acharya Prashant, with IIT Delhi (2022)

Acharya Prashant

Video Information: 24.07.22, Conversation, Greater Noida  Context: ~ Why are humans rotten from within? ~ Can our systems change us? ~ Who are the controllers of social systems in world? ~ How to change any large system of society? ~ How to identify the cure issue in our Life?  Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~

Transcript

00:00Hello, everyone.

00:10I would like to welcome you all on behalf of IIT Delhi Alumni Association.

00:14My name is Gaurav Goel, class of 2009, Aravalli Hostel, IIT Delhi.

00:20I am currently convener of Arugyam Healthcare Initiative of IIT Delhi Alumni Association.

00:26IIT Delhi is an institute of eminence as declared by Government of India.

00:31IIT Delhi Alumni Association represents 57,000 IIT Delhi alumni globally who have contributed

00:40significantly to various social and economic development for the nation.

00:46Arugyam, a healthcare and wellness initiative was started last year by IIT Delhi Alumni Association.

00:54Sometimes in corporate world, in our busy schedule, we give less importance to health

01:01and overall wellness, and which has long-term ill effects.

01:06To bring unique knowledge about healthcare and wellness to our alumni, we are organizing

01:11various such events in Arugyam initiative.

01:15So far, three events have been organized in Arugyam series, and we have received wonderful

01:21feedback from our alumni across the globe.

01:25In future also, we aspire to invite various healthcare and spiritual leaders from across

01:31the world to Arugyam platform.

01:35And now, I would like to invite our today's speaker, Acharya Prashanth.

01:41Acharya Prashanth is an acclaimed authority on Vedanta, and author of over 80 books, including

01:48the bestseller Karma and Ananda, and a powerful voice of social-spiritual awakening in the

01:55today's world.

01:57After graduating from IIT Delhi, Acharya Prashanth went on to qualify both UPSC and CAT in the

02:04same year.

02:05After two years at IIM Ahmedabad, and a few years at corporate, he found himself a higher

02:12calling of spreading the ancient wisdom of Vedanta among the masses.

02:18And for the same purpose, he founded his mission, which is at the forefront of creating of a

02:26new humanity through intelligence spirituality.

02:30Today, this movement has touched the life of tens of millions of individuals.

02:37Through his direct contact with people and through various books and internet-based channels,

02:41he continues to bring clarity to all.

02:44So I'll not take much of the time and I would invite Acharya Prashanthji among all of us.

02:52Good afternoon.

02:56Thank you for having me here, and for the kind introduction, and I'm really looking

03:02forward to this interaction.

03:04Thank you so much.

03:07I would like to invite Mr. Pankaj for the first question to Acharya.

03:11Namaskar Acharya ji, I'm Pankaj Kapadia, BTECH 2011 batch.

03:20I wanted to ask you a question.

03:23Do you believe capitalism is at the core of many problems we face today?

03:29If yes, what can individuals do about it?

03:33For example, at society level, income inequality has kept on increasing.

03:42At economic level, greed drives many business decisions, as well as government decisions

03:47at times.

03:48At individual level, it puts us into a constant race for many more things to achieve in terms

03:57of monetary gains.

03:59And this is how we take education, housing, travel, healthcare, and they have been very

04:04expensive nowadays.

04:05So I want your opinion on this, that do you believe that this is the core issue to address

04:11and how to go about it?

04:16Thank you for the question, Pankaj.

04:20It's not as if human beings are alright within themselves and pure of intention, simple and

04:36innocent beings, and then somehow an alien system called capitalism invades them and

04:48victimizes them.

04:50But that's how somehow a lot of us would like to think, because this line of thought places

05:00the blame of our present condition on something alien to us.

05:07So we are then happily able to justify being what we are and claim innocence.

05:19Where does capitalism come from?

05:23If we say capitalism is to be blamed for our situation as it is, where does this economic

05:30and social system come from?

05:34It comes from the mind of man.

05:38It comes from our own tendencies.

05:44Capitalism is just a way of organization of the economy.

05:46What does it say?

05:48That private individuals will have the right to function economically as they please and

05:58that they'll have the freedom to earn profits and supply and demand will determine the market

06:06prices. And government would not interfere in such matters.

06:13Now, you are giving somebody the right to do economic activity as per his choice.

06:24Per se, how can this be blamed for the mess we are in?

06:29Let's say you give the right of production and the right of ownership of capital and

06:36resources to some other entity like the government, which we think of as an alternate

06:43system. You give the ownership of resources not to private entities, but to the collective

06:49entity called government.

06:52Will that really change things?

06:53Because if the mind of the human being is corrupted, then so will be the mind of the

07:07government. I am someone who has been given the right to operate freely and produce and

07:16sell as I please.

07:21What will I produce? How will I sell?

07:23How will I entice my prospective consumer to buy?

07:28That depends on the direction of my mind and the center I am operating from.

07:36If the center I am operating from is itself animalistic, then I'll want to earn profits for

07:44myself, whatever be the social cost.

07:47I'll say I might be selling something very useless and also quite dangerous.

07:56And if I have to manipulate the customer's mind to get my thing sold, I'll do that.

08:06You let the government have control of goods and services and the corrupt mind is found

08:15there as well. There, the corrupt mind will manifest itself in some other form.

08:20We know the kind of corruption that prevailed in the erstwhile USSR.

08:26We know what went behind the Iron Curtain.

08:30We know why economic activity had to collapse and why the collapse of economic activity

08:35was one of the reasons behind the disintegration of that country.

08:40So, if we are rotten from within, that rottenness will show up irrespective of the economic

08:49system, philosophical system, political system, social system we choose for ourselves.

08:56No system will have the power to redeem us because we are the fathers of all our systems.

09:04Systems come from us.

09:06We don't come from the system.

09:08Systems come from us.

09:09We don't come from our systems.

09:12So, the point the systems come from, the source, that has to be cleansed.

09:20But that involves something very challenging.

09:24That involves challenging the very ego of the human being.

09:31And all that we see around ourselves is nothing but the game of the ego, the fundamental

09:41existential self.

09:45The game is on for the sustenance, the furtherance and the protection of the ego.

09:54The ego will not want the game to shape up in a way that challenges the player itself,

10:03the challenges the existence of the player itself.

10:06The game exists for the pleasure of the player.

10:09The player is the ego.

10:11But if you want to play the game in a way that the player runs the risk of annihilation,

10:16then the player refuses to play the game.

10:19But that is what we need today.

10:23Otherwise, all that we are staring at is a massive destruction of the kind we have

10:31never historically witnessed, right?

10:35So, it's not about a debate between philosophies.

10:41It's not capitalism versus socialism.

10:44It's not any ism versus any other ism.

10:48It's fundamentally about self-knowledge.

10:51Do we know who we are?

10:53Once we realize who we are, our trust on the products of our thought will reduce.

11:03And then we will be a little cautious of seeking solutions in systems of thought.

11:16You can come up with newer and newer systems of thought, place your faith in them and hope

11:23that the new system, the seemingly innovative system will redeem you.

11:32Unfortunately, it won't because of the simple reason that we are reiterating.

11:39It is all coming from the same center.

11:44It is all coming from the same place.

11:47So a new system may offer a glimpse of redemption.

11:55It may entertain us and make us optimistic for a while.

12:03But these are all false beginnings.

12:11They offer a promise that does not last.

12:19The change that we need is inward.

12:23And it sounds cliched, I know it's been repeated so many times.

12:29It's been repeated so many times, but it has never been executed.

12:33So let's not just dismiss it as another cliche.

12:39We need an education system in which the child is very clearly, openly, rather ruthlessly

12:52helped to face his, her animalistic, prakritic nature.

13:01When we realize that our fundamental tendencies are all very gross, very primitive, and therefore

13:13we are not to place our deepest confidence on ourselves, then we'll develop a certain

13:20humility and try to look for solutions beyond what our animalistic tendencies and subsequent

13:32thoughts propose to us.

13:35Without that, I don't really see a solution.

13:42All that we think of as solutions are nothing but extensions of systems that are already

13:49prevalent in the jungle.

13:52It's just that we have the added power of intellect as a privileged species.

14:00So the same things that operate in the jungle get ornamented with intellect and operate

14:13in our cities and countries.

14:16That does not make them any fundamentally different from what we see out there in the

14:26jungle.

14:27And if we want really something that is subtle, nuanced, sophisticated, sublime, then we'll

14:37have to look at another source within us that will give rise to something else.

14:44Coming from the same source, we cannot get a different output, a different result.

14:50Thank you Acharyaji.

14:51Namaskar.

14:52My name is Saurabh, I am from Mumbai.

14:59I have been learning from Acharyaji since 8 months.

15:03I think Shikshitji has already covered most of the points just before me, but I would

15:10still like to go ahead and start or start my journey.

15:14So first I had started Acharyaji sessions with Gita, obviously everybody joins Bhagavad

15:21Gita first and eventually I joined all four sessions.

15:26I find listening to all these four sessions in parallel provides you different levels

15:30of clarity because all four sessions provide you different aspects in a way.

15:36I just try to narrate what different sessions give so that everybody probably understands

15:43the how it opens from each session or a high level clarity.

15:46So Sant Sarita tries to teach you bhajans which are centered around common man's life.

15:54It gives you a glimpse of how Sant Kabir used to perceive reality around us, which we all

15:59see in our daily life, but we don't comprehend it the way Kabir Saab does.

16:06The Bodh Pratisha, which Acharyaji teaches, equips you with teachings of Nagarjuna, Lauzu.

16:14Personally for me, Shunyata Saptati have been very effective.

16:20I don't know because I had this fascination probably about Mukti, but Shunyata Saptati

16:26even takes that away from you.

16:28There is no Mukti because there is no Om.

16:31So that is personally effective for me.

16:34Then the third session that I regularly listen to is Vedanta Sahita, which is a very core

16:41learning from Upanishad and Ashtavitra Gita that we received from Acharyaji.

16:46They are based on direct Adwait Vedanta principles.

16:51Since I have joined Acharyaji, I have read literature on Advaita, written by multiple

16:59people.

17:00And the final is Srimad Bhagavad Gita session, with which everyone starts their journey with

17:06Acharyaji.

17:07Bhagavad Gita is just magical.

17:08It takes you to places where you can never imagine to go.

17:14I don't know it will break you, but I think that damage will lead you to some place else

17:22where you had never imagined to go.

17:24Bhagavad Gita is great.

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