Subhash Chandra Bose, Swami Vivekananda, and Gita || Acharya Prashant, at DTU (2023)

Acharya Prashant

🧔🏻‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquiry-gita-course?cmId=m00046  📚 Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?cmId=m00046  📝 Read 3 handpicked wisdom articles, just for you: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articles?cmId=m00046  ~~~~~  Video Information: 23.01.23, DTU, Delhi  Context: ~ On Subhas Chandra Bose Jayanti  ~ What does Vivekananda and Subhas Chandra Bose have in common? ~ How can youth be brought closer to Gita? ~ What is the importance of the Bhagavad Gita? ~ Was Subhas Chandra Bose spiritual?  ~ Was Bhagat Singh an atheist?   Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~  #acharyaprashant #vivekananda #gita #bhagavadgita #vedanta

Transcript

00:00Pranam Acharyaji, my name is Ashank, I am a alumnus of this college, currently studying

00:12in IIT Delhi. Sir, today is Subhash Chandra Bose's Jayanti and as we know that like at

00:19the young age of 15 only he read the biography of Swami Vivekananda and subsequently he read

00:25the teachings of Ramakrishna Paramhansa and the Upanishads also and this is like not known

00:34mostly about this part of his life is not known apart from being a revolutionary and

00:41like and we also know that Bhagavad Gita was like the teachings of Bhagavad Gita was really

00:49inspirational for him and has a special impact on his life. So sir, my question is like how

00:55the youth of today can be brought closer to the scriptures so that we can have more

01:01revolutionary like him with having deeper understanding of life. See, there is no revolution

01:09possible without the Gita. We have lot of self-declared, self-appointed micro rebels

01:22these days. Everybody wants to be seen as fire brand rebel in his own right but there

01:33is no revolution possible without the Gita and when I say Gita, I do not mean a particular

01:38book, a particular scripture. By Gita, I mean a particular class of wisdom literature. So

01:46to me the Upanishads are Gita and anyway even if you just say Gita, there are at least

01:58two dozen Gitas that just I would have spoken on and most of them are truly remarkable.

02:12So when I say Gita that would also mean let's say the words of Ramana Maharshi or the discourses

02:21of Jiddu Krishnamurthy. There is no revolution possible without the Gita. Right? Do you know

02:32what I mean by the Gita? Yes, something that uplifts your consciousness that is Chetana

02:40from its prakritic slavery to liberation. Please pay attention. This is very important.

02:49I am glad this question came up. Your default condition at birth and in life is one of slavery.

03:04We do not realize that. In fact, it took the West very long to realize that otherwise

03:13the West kept saying man is born free but is found in chains everywhere. Who was that

03:19who said this? Lord Dickens. No, we are not born free. Birth itself is slavery. Birth

03:33itself is bondage. Have you seen a stillborn baby? Does it have any knowledge, any realization?

03:48Is it independent of its body? Is it free of fear, of temptation? Can it control its

03:57impulses? So when you are born, you are already a slave. In the moment of conception itself

04:07in the mother's womb, it is slavery that is conceived. So liberation has to be attained

04:14and because that slavery is so fundamental to this body, therefore a great revolution

04:22is needed and that revolution can come only from the Gita. By implication, if there is

04:30no Gita in your education, you are condemning yourself to lifelong slavery. How exciting!

04:39And that's the reason why even those who are not remembered particularly for their

04:51spiritual inclination, people like Subhash Chandra Bose, even they founded their core

05:04on Gita. When you think of the armed revolutionaries, Rajguru, Sukhdev, even Bhagat Singh, you

05:20do not think of them as particularly spiritual people, do you? You think of them as young

05:26dashing firebrands with guns in their hand. What is not shown to you is that they also

05:37had the Gita in their hand and some part of that propaganda has been deliberate. For example,

05:48we are told that Bhagat Singh was a die-hard atheist and the title of one of his books

05:56is often quoted. But if you really go into his life, very short lifespan he had, 22-23

06:05years, you will find he was a voracious reader and he had a great love for spiritual scriptures

06:10as well. There is no revolution possible without the Gita and if you are someone who thinks

06:22of the Gita as something old-fashioned and this and that, I won't even wish luck to

06:29you. No point wishing luck to you. Luck cannot save you. Finished. Game up. It's therefore

06:42very important to read on your own of the people in the world who have contributed in remarkable

06:55ways. Those people can be counted on fingertips but they are the ones who have made life worth

07:04living and if you go into the details of their lives, you will invariably find very strong

07:14spiritual imprints. It is impossible to be a great person in any field without being spiritual

07:22and being spiritual is not about conforming to the images of spirituality, wearing particular

07:29colors, following traditions or superstitions or rituals. No, spirituality is none of that.

07:39Spirituality is simply what our friend here referred to, an opening up of the mind,

07:46an awakening of consciousness. There is nothing esoteric, nothing mystical in it.

07:53What we are having here is a spiritual process. It's much the same as any other classroom lecture.

08:03There can be a textbook and there can be a syllabus and this field deserves that.

08:13It's called education of the self. Knowing what your mind is like. It's close

08:23to psychology. It incorporates elements of neuroscience as well.

08:30But it has one thing that sciences do not want to touch, the urge of the ego for liberation.

08:40Therefore, spirituality includes love, love of the highest order, the love of the ego

08:50for its liberated self, for its liberated state. That's not a state, but still.

08:58Are you getting it? If you are somebody who wants to really be big in life,

09:06then you must realize that bigness is the prerogative of what the Upanishads call as Atma.

09:16Atma Anant Asim. Not just big, but infinite, limitless, boundaryless.

09:25Bigness means nothing. If it ends somewhere,

09:32if it is circumscribed by a boundary, then what is big to you will be small to someone else, right?

09:39It's just a matter of having a bigger boundary.

09:43So, bigness has a meaning only when bigness means infinity.

09:48And everything about your body, your mind, your thoughts and material universe is simply finite.

09:56Therefore, bigness lies in being untouched from that which is small, meaning finite.

10:04Can I just see that the hunger within me is not going to be satiated by anything that is limited?

10:14So, why waste my time running after these small things? Because I already have had enough of a

10:23run. 5 years or 10 years of experimentation is sufficient. Even 2 years suffices. And I

10:31have seen, irrespective of how much I have of what this, this, this, this has to offer,

10:44there is an internal clamor for more.

10:48The world outside is innumerable. It can be put in numbers, right?

10:56Is there ever a number that is final? You can always add one more zero.

11:01And you just have 10% of what you had.

11:09Are you getting it? 10% is not something you can ever be satisfied with.

11:13And you were reduced to 10% just by addition of a zero to what you have.

11:20Therefore, the limited world is never going to satisfy you. And you deserve to be satisfied.

11:27You are not born to suffer. You are not born to remain restless.

11:32You are not born to keep feeling like a slave.

11:40Do you see how, when you talk of S. E. Bose, his quest for independence

11:52was actually a manifestation of his inner quest for liberation.

12:03Externally, politically, what was independence from British yoke was internally, spiritually,

12:13liberation from the default condition of prakritigat slavery. Internally, I want to be

12:26liberated. And the result of that internal fire is my external action. Do you see this?

12:37If you cannot have that internal fire within, your external action will just be lukewarm.

12:44There'll be no fire, no dynamite in it.

12:56You'll be always afraid of death. What kind of revolution can you do if

13:01it's the body that's always at the top of your mind?

13:07You require a Gita to tell you that this is perishable and would anyway go.

13:17Don't be too bothered about this. This is just a resource to be used.

13:23This is not a master to be served.

13:27You remain in that which remains whether this remains or not.

13:33You require a Gita to remind you that there is something that never gets destroyed because it

13:40never gets created. And therefore, there is no need to be afraid.

13:50It sounds so melodious when somebody says spontaneously,

13:56Let the body fall if it has to. I'll do what I have to.

14:01You see, it's not just about facing bullets. It's also about facing rejection and poverty

14:06and what not. Let's say you want to start something great as a business venture.

14:12What stops you? I'll tell you. What stops you is the fear of failure.

14:17And if you go into this fear of failure, you'll be in a state of fear of failure.

14:22What stops you is the fear of failure. And if you go into this fear of failure,

14:27you will ultimately find that it is the body that you are afraid of.

14:31What will happen to this body?

14:34What if I am pushed to the streets? What if there is no shelter over the head?

14:38So ultimately, the war is against the body.

14:44Therefore, it is the body that you must put in its place.

14:47Come on.

14:53When it comes to the body, we were just discussing yesterday or the day before

14:59in the Gita session. When it comes to the body, the Gita says,

15:05Tolerate.

15:08No point raising a big hue and cry. Tolerate.

15:15And when it comes to the right action, the Gita says, Yudhyasur, fight.

15:20Your job is to fight. And in the process of fighting, bear what you have to.

15:28Now do you see the metal that a boss is made of?

15:34Tolerate and fight. And you cannot say that if you are far removed from the Gita.

15:42I said, I won't even wish you luck if the Gita is not the core of your life.

15:50And when I said Gita, I hope I made it clear that by Gita I mean

15:55wisdom literature that pulls you up, that opens up the knots within.

16:01It could be the Srimad Bhagavad Gita or any other book.

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