Do We Really Need Spirituality in an AI-Driven World? || Acharya Prashant, at IIT-Guwahati (2023)

Acharya Prashant

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00:00Sir, an Indian origin developer from Google recently released a version of ChatGPT called GitaGPT.

00:07So in this, the AI basically acts like a god and you could ask it questions based on spirituality or philosophy

00:14and it would answer like it's coming from Shri Krishna himself.

00:17So my question for you is, do you think this is the end for spiritual gurus in India?

00:30When you ask a question to ChatGPT or GitaGPT, can it choose not to answer?

00:42The guru, if real, can choose not to answer.

00:49And sometimes, silence is the best answer. Nobody can teach AI or a program to do that.

00:59Get this? Also please understand.

01:09ChatGPT will provide the same answer irrespective of who the questioner is.

01:17You type a question, it doesn't matter who you are, the answer will be the same.

01:24If the teacher or the friend, whosoever it is, is actually wise, he never answers the question.

01:34He answers the questioner. And that's the great difference.

01:39Huh? An arrogant, spoiled lad gets up and asks me, sir, is not freedom important?

01:54I'll have a totally different answer to give to her. No computer can do that.

02:06Answers simply continue the question.

02:18Answers simply continue the question.

02:33Answers are based on the assumption that the question is valid.

02:43Stay with me, it might get a little dense here on.

02:50The thing is that the question is a reflection of the questioner, right?

02:55The question is simply an extension of who the questioner is.

03:00Correct? Huh?

03:02If I'm a violent person and I ask you, where do I get knives?

03:12You know where the question is coming from.

03:14That question is coming from my violence.

03:17My violent self is what is giving rise to this question.

03:20So the question is simply a continuation of the questioner.

03:24When you answer a question, you are reaffirming that the question is valid.

03:32Otherwise, why would you answer it? Right?

03:35And by taking the question as valid, you have certified that the questioner is valid.

03:42The matter is that the questioner is the ego.

03:46By answering, by just answering the question, you have certified the ego, you have enforced the ego.

03:55And that's no good. That's not beneficial at all.

03:59If the teacher is real, his job is to not answer the questions.

04:05His job is to dissolve the question.

04:08If the teacher is real, then you will forget the question in front of him.

04:14In front of ChatGPT, you will never forget your questions.

04:19The job of the teacher is to dissolve your questions, is to make you realize that your questions are stupid.

04:27Drop these questions, they do not matter.

04:29These questions are just shadows of my ego.

04:32These questions are actually irrelevant. I don't need to ask them.

04:36The teacher helps you go beyond your questions.

04:40The teacher does not really answer your questions.

04:44With the teacher, you do not play the question-answer game.

04:51For that, there could be a compilation of FAQs.

04:57And that should suffice. That does not suffice.

05:00Remember, the real deal is not in getting an answer.

05:09The real deal is in seeing that all questions are actually unnecessary, invalid.

05:19You are bigger than your questions. You do not need that question.

05:23You can go beyond your questions.

05:27Your questions deserve to be forgotten.

05:29But that's too much.

05:31For now, please remember your questions and keep asking.

05:34Namaste Achareji.

05:44My question is, does spirituality need a guru?

05:48Need a guru?

05:49Yes.

05:50See, what you call as spirituality in English is not the real thing.

06:03Spirituality as most people know it.

06:07This, that, magical beings, disembodied beings, fancy stuff in the air.

06:20That's what people take as spirituality.

06:24The real thing is self-knowledge.

06:26Self-knowledge.

06:27Atma-gyan.

06:28Right?

06:29If you are really interested in wisdom, it's not spirituality but self-knowledge that you

06:39should be seeking.

06:41Now, what is self-knowledge?

06:43Self-knowledge simply means moving from ignorance of the self.

06:48To realization of the self.

06:49Knowing who I am, where do my thoughts, instincts, etc. come from.

07:03That's what self-knowledge is.

07:05So, self-knowledge is a movement.

07:08Self-knowledge is a movement.

07:10It's a movement from ignorance to realization.

07:13Now, in this movement, you have to remember why, first of all, the movement is required.

07:20The movement is required because we are born ignorant.

07:24We are born thinking that we are beings in this world and that is ignorance.

07:30How does one move to realization?

07:33By making good use of stuff in the world itself.

07:38Now, most of the stuff in the world is not usually of a kind that you can utilize to move towards realization.

07:57But, it depends on you, but there can be stuff that you can use to know yourself.

08:07Right?

08:08That is what is called as the teacher.

08:12So, the Upanishads would say, Tamaso Maa Jyotir Gamaya.

08:19And that is also captured in the little word Guru.

08:25Tamas, darkness, is represented by Guru.

08:32It stands for ignorance.

08:35And Jyoti, brightness, realization.

08:42And it denotes understanding.

08:44So, does one need a Guru?

08:47No, no, no.

08:48Your very movement from ignorance towards realization is the Guru.

08:54The very urge to not be an ignorant is the teacher.

08:58And when that urge is there, then you will keep finding suitable teachers at all places, everywhere, at all times.

09:08That's the reason why it is famously quip that when the student is ready, the teacher appears.

09:17The teacher is not an entity outside of you.

09:21The teacher is your own urge to not remain a fool.

09:26And there are a lot of people who are very content remaining fools.

09:31They will not get a teacher even if an established kind of teacher stands in front of them.

09:37They will still not get him.

09:39When Krishna was lecturing the Bhagavad Gita to Arjun,

09:44was Duryodhana rushing to Krishna kindly teach me as well?

09:49Two entire armies were assembled there.

09:53Were they rushing to Krishna to be taught?

09:59Yudhishthir is called as Dhamaraj.

10:01Was even he coming to Krishna?

10:03Please tell me something.

10:04No.

10:05So if you do not have the urge to learn,

10:08then no teacher can help you even if the teacher stands right in front of you in the form of Krishna.

10:17The teacher again is not something objective.

10:20The teacher is not really somebody outside of you.

10:23The teacher is just an external manifestation of your own deep desire to break your bondages.

10:32If you have that desire, the teacher will come in whatever form, probably in several forms.

10:39Sometimes in the form of a book, sometimes in the form of an incident,

10:42sometimes in the form of a person, sometimes in the form of a place.

10:46And the teacher will keep coming in several myriad forms.

10:51Do you get this please?

10:53See, spirituality is not…

10:57When I say spirituality, again what do I mean?

11:01Self-knowledge.

11:03It's not so much like history or science or mathematics,

11:08where somebody can stand and provide you with knowledge.

11:13The ones we have encountered in school and college are knowledge providers.

11:19Knowledge providers, right?

11:21They can stand in front of you and deliver a lecture

11:24and you can record what they are giving you and that would suffice.

11:34The real teacher, the guru that you are talking of,

11:38is a totally different thing.

11:41He is not outside of you.

11:45He is within you.

11:47He is within you in the form of your love for freedom.

11:52If you want to break free of your bondages,

11:55you will have the teacher.

11:58In unpredictable ways and in unpredictable forms.

12:01If you do not want to break free of your bondage and limitations,

12:06no teacher for you.

12:08Right?

12:09.

12:10.

12:11.

12:12.

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