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

Acharya Prashant

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 Benevolent Master. My first question is more of an observation. I am reading Gita

00:13book from a Kindle e-book. Kindle provides popular highlights. Kindle keeps track of

00:23those texts which people have highlighted in their e-books. Now this particular verse,

00:30verse number 13 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

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

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

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

01:34our 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, now you can see what that means.

03:59We highlight temples, don't we? We highlight temples so that we can distort their purpose.

04:09If there is something that the ego gives attention to, the thing is in danger. It's

04:34now running the risk of being misused, misappropriated and robbed of its authentic

04:47nature and purpose. If the ego says I love you or I respect you, it's a red flag.

05:04When someone says I love chicken. Yes, in the same way.

05:15Travellers like Goa when they say I like a particular mountain. In the same way.

05:28My next question is related to, you talked about the life being in a constant movement,

05:36flux. You talked about Buddha. So I have one observation. I was reflecting on this

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

05:49life is continuous, 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

06:19we explain life, that is language. One almost feels like seeing that it's an

06:24intentional difference. Because if the tree is static, then so is the seer of the tree.

06:35So you want to assert that the ego is an entity. Just as the tree is an entity, it's a thing.

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

06:51you will have to admit that the ego too is a stream. And if the ego is a stream, then

06:54the ego is nothing. Therefore language has to be deliberately constructed in a way that

07:00supports the ego. If the tree is a flux, then so is the seer of the tree.

07:16Because you said today that seer and the seen are of the same dimension. Now if the

07:20seen is in the flux dimension, that means seer also is in the flux dimension.

07:25Yes, yes. And that can even be seen very logically. You say I am the body. Now your body and the

07:32tree's body are very similar. So if the tree is a flux, so are you because you say you

07:38are the body? So we intentionally or maybe not intentionally

07:50also we say this is the body. But I think we have to give the benefit of doubt to ego

07:58because the least count of the senses using which we perceive, it cannot detect very subtle

08:04changes. Now since it cannot detect subtle changes, it is unable to see that it is a

08:09flow. You cannot detect subtle changes in the gross

08:13material of the body. But can't you detect the almost instantaneous changes in your mind

08:19and mood? In a fraction of a second, your universe changes, right? How did that happen?

08:33If you were a static thing, how did the thing so completely change in almost zero time?

08:40Yes, but okay, okay. I have to think, reflect on this even more because it is very unnatural

09:01to, unnatural, non-biological to know that something is flux. It is very conducive, biologically

09:10conducive. You could look at it in a totally opposite

09:14way as well. This moment you were thinking of somebody as your beloved and think of your

09:22state and think of the meaning that that person has for you. And then somebody tells you that

09:32this person is not that one and your beloved is out there somewhere. There is a confusion.

09:37And see how completely everything has changed. Immediately.

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

09:52It's a classic example of that mother in a maternity ward. The mother is having the child

09:57and she is caressing the baby and suddenly the nurse says, oh by mistake the baby was exchanged

10:06and 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 of

10:26liberated person at 2-3 places in your discourse. I was reminded of Raman Maharshi. I was reading

10:37his book Advaita Boddhipika where he explains the state of a man who is egoless, who is liberated.

10:44He says his state is like that of a burnt rope. There is a rope, the burnt rope, so its shape

10:53and size is still maintained. But its ability to tie, but its ability to be bondaged or bond,

11:00that is gone. So, this is a very nice way of putting it. Burnt rope. Liberated man is a burnt rope.

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

11:16Or externally just like anything. Externally just like anybody else. Internally nobody.

11:37Like a room that has been vacated.

11:39Like a room you have checked out of. The room is there. When you are passing through

11:59an aisle

12:00between a series of rooms, can you distinguish between rooms that are occupied and that are not?

12:10Can you? 106, 107, 108. So, externally all the rooms look the same.

12:19The liberated person is a room without an occupant.

12:30So, you mean the walls of the room, that is the body. That will be there.

12:37Yes. Internally there is nobody making mischief.

12:48Or doing anything else.

12:49Or a more befitting example could be a 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.

13:24The prisoner is gone. The prisoner is free.

13:36Before going, last class you told many definitions about what is ego.

13:42You 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.

14:04It means the moment you gave one line a definition and you exhaled,

14:10means you say one line and you laugh and you give another definition of ego and you laugh.

14:18Because I was noting down the definitions, I was hearing this. Every time a definition

14:23comes from you, you laugh. So, then I was thinking whether the wisdom lies in the word or

14:29in your laughter. So, it was nice. It was like, you know, asking whether the

14:40real thing is the rain or the thunder.

14:45Nothing. 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, there is rain and

15:07thunder. Thank you so much.

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