The solution to our everyday problems || Acharya Prashant at IIT-Delhi (2022)

Acharya Prashant

Video Information: 15.04.2022, IIT-Delhi, Delhi  Context: ~ How to be free from problems? ~ How to drop fear? ~ How to deal with difficult situations? ~ What is the fundamental solution to our everyday problems? ~ How to get rid of sorrow?  Music Credits: Milind Date ~~~~~~~~~~~~~   #acharyaprashant #IIT-Delhi #IIT-D

Transcript

00:00A very good afternoon to all attendees in this August gathering. I am Rohit, and I will

00:14be moderating the session for today. Today we have with us Acharya Prasad, acclaimed

00:19Vedanta exegete, author of over 80 books including the national bestseller, Karma, and of course

00:25last but not the least, an alumnus of this Ved Institute. After graduating from IIT Delhi,

00:31Acharya Prasad went on to qualify both UKC and CAD on the same year. After two years

00:37at IIM Ahmedabad and a few years at corporate, he found himself a higher calling of spreading

00:43the ancient wisdom of Vedas among the masses, and for that very purpose founded this mission

00:49which is at the forefront of creation of new humanity through intelligent spirituality.

00:55Today his movement has touched the lives of tens of millions of individuals through his

01:00direct contact with people and through various internet based channels. Sir, it is our honour

01:05to welcome you, and on behalf of Prasad Delhi, we welcome you all.

01:10Thank you so much.

01:18Since it is an interactive session, so we will move with Q&A from audience.

01:24Good afternoon sir. Sir, my question is, does Vedanta offer any fundamental solution to

01:32the problems that we face in daily life such as languishing, sorrow or other emotional

01:40stresses that we experience in our daily personal and professional lives?

01:45Right. What is your name please? Tirthesh.

01:49Tirthesh. The question is, does Vedanta or wisdom literature in general offer any solutions

02:00to the day to day problems that mankind faces, that a normal individual faces?

02:11Vedanta does not go at all into the specifics of the problems we face.

02:21If it does that, it would become very limited, temporal and even regimentary.

02:32Because the problems faced by people in one age vary greatly from the problems in another age.

02:46Problems faced by one community or one gender or one economic class are not the same as faced by others.

02:56So if we try template based solutions, they would never suffice.

03:03Vedanta directly goes into the one who is facing the problem.

03:10Problems are multifarious. Problems are so diverse.

03:18But the one who is facing the problem has remained much the same since the advent of time.

03:29Man's insides have not changed. The exteriors have changed majestically.

03:44If you look at the way we live today and our civilization and the technology available to us,

03:55it is very different from the exteriors we had, the resources we had, the technologies at our disposal,

04:05let's say 5000 years back. Everything has changed.

04:09If someone were to videograph a place or let's say a university campus, Nalanda,

04:17several years back and he were to compare it with a video clip of let's say our campus today,

04:30he'll hardly find anything in common. There has been so much change.

04:35But there is one thing that has not changed at all.

04:39That is the self. The one that we fundamentally are.

04:44And I am talking here of the ego. I am talking here of man's mind.

04:51When I say man, I mean humans. That includes both the genders.

04:56That has not changed. We were insecure then, we are insecure today.

05:03We were ignorant then, we are ignorant today.

05:07We wanted to be better then, we want to be better today.

05:10We were never satisfied then, we aren't satisfied today either.

05:16Greed, fear, jealousy, possessiveness ruled the day then.

05:27They abound equally today as well.

05:31That is what Vedanta addresses and that's why Vedanta is of such timeless value.

05:37Because time will change everything on the outside.

05:43What is not changing is the one we are on inside and that is our very problem.

05:49Externally, we are able to change everything.

05:53Internally, so little has changed.

05:57In fact, every new kid that is born is born at point zero.

06:07Irrespective of how much progress mankind has made,

06:14every new kid is a new challenge.

06:19So that's where Vedanta becomes perennially useful.

06:24It says, why are you troubled first of all?

06:28Who is the one so much in need of trouble that he can give up everything except his problems?

06:37Today you are worried about this thing, tomorrow you are worried about that thing.

06:41Things that you are worried about keep changing.

06:44Your state of being worried does not change.

06:49What does that tell?

06:50Does the problem lie with the situations or the problem lies in the one who is situated in the problems?

06:59Let's say we take away all the problems that each of us face today here.

07:06What do you think? We won't be then worried tomorrow and day after tomorrow?

07:12No. Very quickly, just for the sake of our psychological existence,

07:17we'll dig up problems, we'll rather invent problems without problems.

07:24There is something within that cannot survive and it's a very fragile, very insecure thing.

07:31Problems are its very nutrition.

07:34That's what Vedanta digs deep into.

07:37Who is the one sitting inside so much in need of problems?

07:41And what is the point in striving so much on the outside?

07:44If this mischievous one, the real culprit sitting within is anyway never going to feel contended,

07:54I may explore and win the entire world and keep at its feet.

08:02It is still going to keep cribbing.

08:07Oh, this is not sufficient, that is not proper.

08:09And if there is no problem, that itself becomes a problem.

08:15As if problem itself is born from the mother's womb.

08:22That's what Vedanta goes into.

08:26It is not a belief system.

08:28It does not ask you to believe in mythological stories or gods and goddesses.

08:35There is no belief involved.

08:38In some sense, entire Vedanta can be condensed into this one question.

08:46Who is the one talking?

08:49Who is the one experiencing?

08:51Who is the one searching for happiness?

08:54Who is the one always dissatisfied?

08:56Who is the one competing and hustling so hard?

08:58And when you start knowing that as a result of your investigation, as a result of your enquiry,

09:10then you find you have power, you have choice.

09:18What is the choice?

09:20Do I want to remain that one?

09:22And it is a very powerful choice to have.

09:25If you don't have that choice, there is so much helplessness.

09:28I can change everything outside. I can't change the one who I am.

09:34It's a situation of miserable helplessness. Is it not?

09:40Vedanta gives you with great power because it blesses you with that choice.

09:46You need not compulsorily be internally the one you have been so far.

09:54You can be totally different.

09:56You can be entirely better.

09:59And the transformation need not be just superficial.

10:04The very essence can change as if a new individual can take birth.

10:13Are you getting it?

10:15Remember, it somehow suits us to play the victim.

10:23We want to act as if life has been hard on us.

10:28We want to give too much importance to our circumstances.

10:34Vedanta says, let circumstances remain where they are.

10:42Your entire domain is your own kingdom.

10:49I mean the internal one.

10:53Outside things can happen in their own random way.

10:59Internally you can be the master irrespective of how things are outside.

11:05Internally you can remain untouched, undisturbed.

11:11And that's a very powerful state to be in.

11:17Otherwise there is no dearth of problems.

11:19When one is not alright inside,

11:24then problems appear from all possible directions outside.

11:31It is not that those directions are to be blamed.

11:35It is the lack of inner health, inner wellness that's the culprit.

11:54No part of this recording may be reproduced

11:57without Mooji Media Ltd.'s express consent.

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