The most difficult battle to fight || Acharya Prashant, on Vedanta (2021)

Acharya Prashant

Video Information: Shastra Kaumudi, 20.12.2021, Rishikesh, India  Context: ~ How did Krishna teach Arjun? ~ What is the essence of Bhagwad Gita? ~ Bhagwad Gita hold a very special place in Spirituality. ~ What makes Bhagwad Gita so special? ~ The real meaning of Gita ~ How to understand Bhagwad Gita?   Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~  #acharyaprashant

Transcript

00:00The next question comes from a student from Finland, who has been associated with Upanishad

00:10Samagam for quite a long time. The question is, is there any place for consciously practicing

00:17indifference towards the world, even when it still has meaning to you? Or would that

00:22just be dishonesty? No, this is something quite advisable. Practice

00:32is very, very important. And all practice involves discomfort. All practice involves

00:41pushing your boundaries. All practice involves testing your limits and negating them. So

00:52the world, yes, will continue to exercise its charm over you. And you'll have to consciously

01:02negate it, deny it. And that's not always a pretty thing to behold. It is obvious that

01:22you are in a struggle. But then there is no other way. Conscious practice of anything

01:35is good. Rather, the only possible way. From the worldly point, the life of the spiritual

02:02man is not a pretty sight to behold. Because there is a constant strife there. The world

02:14is pulling you, pushing you, attacking you, charming you, threatening you. And you are

02:22doing all you can to resist the charm, to negate the threat. A battlefield is not a

02:43place for tourists, is it? You don't go there and take selfies. You don't go there to look

02:54pretty. So the life of the real man, the authentic person, it's quite possible, does not look

03:07pretty. But if you can truly look, there would be great beauty in it. The beauty that is there

03:21in the Bhagavad Gita. The armies are arranged on the two sides and right in the middle are Krishna

03:35and Arjuna. And their weapons and their chariots and horses and elephants. The blowing of the

03:49conch shells and so much blood is to flow. So many relationships are to be snapped. So much

04:05pain is to be endured. And from all that rises the Bhagavad Gita. Was it a meticulously

04:24manicured orchard setting? The peaceful monk discoursing to a very receptive listener?

04:53Is that the scene of the Gita? Not pretty, no? There is tussle, there is anger, there

05:08is hurt, there is bloodshed. If not outwardly, at least inwardly, within you. And therein

05:29comes the role of conscious practice. In fact, that's what conscious practice entails. A

05:36lot of inner bloodshed. Do not look for prettiness, look for piousness. Unfortunately a lot of

05:59spirituality today is teddy bear spirituality. Cozy, comfortable, soft, something you can go to bed

06:18with. Something you can tuck up under your quilt. Something that sits nicely with all

06:45the other toys in your life. Bhagavad Gita cannot sit well with the nonsense that pervades the

07:03ordinary life. Bhagavad Gita disrupts, dynamite that annihilates. That's the role of consciousness.

07:25Shri Krishna is imparting consciousness. Arjun is being encouraged to practice it.

07:32And when consciousness is practiced, heads roll. The first being your own head. That's

07:50the very purpose of deliberate practice of consciousness. To cut off your own head. And

07:59with your own head gone, you are headless enough and heedless enough to not to care

08:08for others heads. Being headless, I do not heed your head. How did you get rid of your

08:22own head? Through conscious practice. It's incremental. Remember, practice means incremental

08:44improvement, daily improvement, moment to moment improvement. That's what we started this session

08:50with. Step by step you have to move even towards the absolute. No one step can take you to the

09:02absolute. Not even a million steps can take you to the absolute. But still there is no way except

09:09the million steps.

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