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Video Information: BITS, Pilani - Goa, 28.01.2022, Greater Noida, India
Context:
~ What work to choose in life?
~ Should one seek social validation while choosing work?
~ How important is money while choosing work?
~ Why do we often underestimate the circumstances?
¬ How can we become more conscious of and accountable for our choices?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...
Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books?
Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...
Read 3 handpicked wisdom articles, just for you: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articl...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Video Information: BITS, Pilani - Goa, 28.01.2022, Greater Noida, India
Context:
~ What work to choose in life?
~ Should one seek social validation while choosing work?
~ How important is money while choosing work?
~ Why do we often underestimate the circumstances?
¬ How can we become more conscious of and accountable for our choices?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00My question is a personal problem of mine. Let's say, for example, I decide that I will
00:08stop eating junk food from today or rather minimize junk. I'll stop eating junk food
00:13or rather minimize my consumption of junk food. But what happens is that I go about
00:19doing it for, let's say, a month or maybe 45 days or something. But then I go back to
00:25my earlier schedule like eating whatever I want. This is not just related to that. Even
00:31if I decide that from today onwards, I will attend all the lectures that I have. But still,
00:38what happens is I have that commitment issues to my decisions. Even if I decide that I will
00:47attend all the lectures from today, but still it happens that after a week or after two
00:52weeks, I start skipping lectures. So how do I become more conscious or more aware and
01:01take ownership of my decisions?
01:05Why do you want to attend lectures?
01:11So that I will get the required information to do well in my classes.
01:21So that I will learn enough to do well in my exams, to do better than I used to.
01:26Make up your mind.
01:31I want to attend classes because that's what everyone says, attend classes you will get better grades.
01:41Because that's what everyone says. That's the way you are born. The entire population
01:49of this earth, that's the way we are born. Two people say that's what everyone says.
02:02Why do you want to attend lectures? Is there attendance requirement? Zero?
02:12What's the usual attendance in classrooms?
02:14I would say if there are 100 students, there would be, in good classes there would be around 60.
02:21And if the professor is not, if the professor is not that much liked by students, maybe around 15-20.
02:29Or is it so that 15-20 is anyway the upper limit, irrespective of how good the professor is?
02:37No, in some classes there are students, in some classes there are around 60% students are attending classes.
02:47Then you guys are a special lot.
02:51That's basically lab classes and all.
02:55Where anyway if you don't go, you flunk, right? So you have to go.
02:59I am talking of lectures because that's what you started off with.
03:03Yeah, in that way, yeah.
03:05And especially in online lectures, like people just put in, like what I do most of the time,
03:13I just get into the class through Google Meet.
03:16We are going to publish this recording.
03:26So I get into the Google Meet and then attend carefully.
03:33And make notes.
03:39No, my question was not just about attendance, about all the different things,
03:45about decisions that I think would make my life better.
03:49For example, in the whole, in the entire year 2021, I have been trying to go to gym.
03:54I go for 3 weeks, 4 weeks and then...
03:57Why do you want to go to gym?
03:59Because there are multiple reasons.
04:02One is that I feel better when I go to gym.
04:05I mean, I feel more energetic and all.
04:09And second is it is good for my health in the long term, right?
04:15And you still go to the gym, right?
04:18Yeah.
04:19So there is something that pleases you more than being energetic?
04:25Yeah, being lazy.
04:28That's good.
04:31So how do I overcome that?
04:34There has to be something bigger than laziness,
04:37because laziness is contained in the body itself.
04:41What do you mean by lazy?
04:43Define laziness.
04:45Laziness is basically, I don't want to waste my energy.
04:50I'll just be sitting here or just be laying down here and playing games.
04:55Son, laziness is an unnecessary pejorative.
05:01You are imposing morality on Prakriti and calling it as laziness.
05:06There is nothing called as laziness.
05:10In physical nature, there is a tendency towards work minimization.
05:20And it's a very logical thing.
05:22Try to get the maximum output from the minimum work possible.
05:29Now you are looking at it from moral lenses and calling it laziness.
05:38Please stay with me.
05:41Right?
05:44If you have an idea that something is giving you more output with lesser work,
05:58you will do it.
06:00That option will be chosen.
06:03In the moral vocabulary, you can call that as laziness,
06:07but you will choose that option
06:09because you are perceiving good output from your action or lack of it.
06:18Right?
06:19The output is pleasure.
06:22The output is pleasure.
06:24The activity is remaining lying down on your bed.
06:30Right?
06:33And that's the net gain from it.
06:40I'll keep lying on my bed, I gain pleasure.
06:44So, there is a thing within you that calculates the ratio.
06:49How much pleasure did I get?
06:51And how much energy and effort did I have to invest?
06:54And if that ratio is greater,
06:57then the ratio of the energization and whatever you get from the gym
07:05divided by the energy you put in the gym,
07:08something within you will always choose lying down on the bed,
07:14irrespective of whether you call it laziness or whatever.
07:17Yeah.
07:18Effort minimization is required in Prakriti, physical nature.
07:22It's a prerequisite for our physical survival.
07:27Every species, if you look at all the animals and other people,
07:31what are they doing?
07:33If they start expending energy left, right, center,
07:37they will die.
07:40Because energy comes from food
07:42and food requires a lot of effort and effort.
07:45And food requires a lot of effort in the jungle.
07:49So, Prakriti has trained our bodies to be effort efficient.
07:55That effort efficiency in the moral glossary is called laziness.
08:04It is just effort efficiency.
08:08Don't call lazy people lazy.
08:10They are just effort efficient.
08:12Just effort efficient.
08:16Now, it looks sorted at this point, but it is not.
08:20Why?
08:22Because the output that you have calculated from your classes
08:28or gym or anything that's worthwhile
08:31has been grossly underestimated.
08:34And that's why the ratio is not favorable.
08:39There is a particular pleasure that you get from sleeping
08:45and that's undisputed, right?
08:48I am sleeping and I am expending very little energy
08:51and so the ratio is very high because the denominator is very low.
08:56The denominator is the effort that you are putting in, right?
08:59The effort that you are putting in is so small
09:02that the output is very big, right?
09:08Now, you go to the gym and the effort you put in is large.
09:14Therefore, the numerator has to be correspondingly very very large
09:21if you are to exceed the ratio that you get in sleeping.
09:28Unfortunately for you,
09:30the benefits that you see from attending classes
09:33or gyming or reading or all the great activities
09:37has not been properly calculated.
09:41Only when you will properly and insightfully know
09:45the benefits that you get,
09:48that your decision will change.
09:50The moment that appreciation changes,
09:53that ratio changes,
09:55automatically the inner desire will change.
09:59And if you try to change your decision
10:02while keeping the ratios adverse,
10:05you will find that you are again and again slipping back.
10:09Sleeping will always be more attractive than working
10:13if the ratio has not been properly calculated.
10:17There has to be a reason why somebody expends his energy.
10:20Think of it.
10:22A lion expends all his energy.
10:24Now, what happens to him? He is tired.
10:27If he is tired, two problems.
10:30One, he must immediately go for food.
10:33He must immediately hunt.
10:35Secondly, if he is tired,
10:37then his ability to hunt decreases.
10:40Therefore, in Prakriti,
10:43there is a strong urge towards conserving energy.
10:50If you don't understand that urge,
10:52you will just keep dismissing it as laziness
10:55and such things.
10:57It won't help.
11:00Therefore, what is energy efficiency in Prakriti
11:05is laziness in morality
11:07and is unconsciousness in spirituality.
11:11If you call it laziness, you are not understanding it.
11:14So, simply call it unconsciousness.
11:19You are unconscious, that's why you are lazy.
11:23You are unconscious.
11:24You do not know, that's why you are lazy.
11:30Let's say you are…
11:36At your service…
11:40You are lying in a room
11:43and you are drunk, as we all are.
11:45We are born drunkards.
11:48And there is fire in the room.
11:52And it's winters.
11:55Not the Goa winters.
11:57The Delhi winters.
12:02There is a nice fire in the room.
12:05And you are drunk.
12:07And you are feeling, in fact,
12:10nice, pleasured.
12:12And the room is burning.
12:14And the fire is just getting big and big.
12:20You continue to enjoy
12:23your position.
12:25You are just lying down.
12:28You do not realize
12:29the room is about to be burned down
12:33and that you too will be gone.
12:36The moment that realization comes,
12:39you will be like a spring.
12:43Up from the bed
12:45and out towards the door.
12:49All laziness will be gone.
12:51Those who are lazy
12:54lack not in energy
12:56but in understanding.
13:01You do not know
13:04that you need to work
13:06and that work will get you
13:08benefits, dividends,
13:10joys.
13:13Therefore, you are preferring
13:15inaction over action.
13:18Had you really known
13:20the sweetness,
13:22the ambrosia
13:24of right action,
13:27you would have chosen
13:28right action over laziness
13:30every moment.
13:32Because what is the fun
13:34in lying unconscious on the bed?
13:37What is the fun?
13:39Great fun lies in being awake.
13:42No?
13:45Will you ever miss a date
13:46because you just overslept
13:49and if you do that
13:51you will curse yourself
13:52your entire life?
13:54It's another matter
13:55that that might be
13:56the biggest blessing
13:57you ever got.
14:01But because you perceive
14:03the pleasures
14:05of the waking state
14:06as substantially big,
14:08therefore you will not
14:10miss the date due to oversleeping.
14:14Sleeping offers some pleasure,
14:16dating offers
14:18a higher pleasure.
14:20Therefore, you will not
14:22keep lying down
14:24there lazy.
14:27It's just that
14:28in the case of dating
14:30the pleasure is very physical,
14:32very gross,
14:34very easy to see, appreciate
14:36and calculate.
14:39In the case of right work,
14:41the joy is internal
14:43and subtle and therefore difficult
14:45to quantitatively calculate
14:47and so we miss out on it.
14:49Because it cannot be easily
14:51quantified, therefore we quantify
14:53it as zero.
14:54That's our inner trick.
14:58Because we cannot
15:00easily quantify it,
15:02so we have a software
15:04that returns the default answer
15:06as zero.
15:08It does not accept that
15:10the answer exists and the answer
15:12is huge, it's just that I am
15:14calculating it,
15:16identifying it.
15:18Instead it says, oh I have calculated
15:20because I am a superstar, I am so knowledgeable
15:22as we all are, especially when young
15:24and it says the answer is
15:26zero.
15:28And so we say, what's the point
15:30in working when the return will be zero?
15:32And therefore we
15:34keep lying lazily.
15:38What we need is
15:40sharpness, what we need is
15:42insight.
15:44Two things,
15:46I gave you two examples
15:48and you would have probably not
15:50missed the contrast there.
15:52I gave you the example of being
15:54enclosed in a burning
15:56room and I gave you
15:58the example of
16:00meeting a
16:02nice girl.
16:04So only these two things
16:06can
16:08relieve you from your laziness.
16:11Either
16:13the fear of missing out
16:15on life or great
16:17love for something tremendously beautiful.
16:19When you have either of these
16:21two in your life, then you
16:23no more remain lazy.
16:25And if you are lazy, it means you have neither fear nor love.
16:27And
16:29both are great things to have,
16:31fear and love. I am talking of the right kind of fear,
16:33not your ordinary fears.
16:35The right fear, the right fear
16:37that I have one precious life
16:39and I'll just squander it.
16:41That's the right fear to have.
16:43Or you could have a great love.
16:45I have one precious life
16:47and there is so much
16:49to realize, so much to know
16:51and I'll miss out on all of that.
16:53I want all of that.
16:55If I say miss out, that's fear.
16:57I want all of that, I love all of that,
16:59therefore I want to remain awake.
17:01I don't want to miss the sunrise,
17:03therefore I want to remain awake.
17:05I cannot keep lying
17:07on bed, I cannot afford to close my eyes.
17:09The sunrise is just
17:11I have fallen in love
17:13with the dawn.
17:15So that's
17:17what you require as a young man,
17:19lots of love, you require
17:21to have a big heart.
17:27And
17:29second part of this question is
17:31Are you
17:33are you clear
17:35with the first part first of all?
17:37Yeah, I understand
17:39that either
17:41we should be motivated by fear
17:43or love
17:45for the activity
17:47only then we will be
17:49willing enough
17:51to do it on a regular basis.
17:55It's not exactly what I said
17:57but ok for the
17:59proceed.
18:01So
18:03I have been working on an
18:05entrepreneurial project
18:07so currently
18:09this is motivated by a vision
18:11and
18:13a passion towards the project
18:15but
18:17what I fear is that
18:19what if one day
18:21it becomes motivated by money
18:23the project gets motivated
18:25instead of the vision
18:27and the passion, it gets motivated by
18:29money and then we deal.
18:32How do I keep a check on that?
18:34What's wrong with money?
18:38If I focus on money then the vision will be left behind.
18:42What if money is there for the vision?
18:46Yeah, then it is fine.
18:48I mean I saw one of your videos
18:50Can you have a vision without money?
18:52What kind of vision are you talking of?
18:54No, no, no
18:56So vision and money go hand in hand.
19:02Otherwise in the name of vision
19:04all you'll have is dreams.
19:06They don't require money.
19:12Money is not a problem.
19:14The mind that does not
19:16know, even obsession is not a problem.
19:20Just trying to jump the gun all the time.
19:22I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
19:24Even obsession
19:26is not a problem.
19:28The problem is the wrong
19:30center.
19:32What are you obsessed with?
19:34What are you obsessed with?
19:36Be obsessed with the right thing and obsession is
19:38beautiful.
19:40Want money
19:42for the right purpose
19:44and earn
19:46trillions if you need to.
19:54Equally
19:56A vision
19:58can be devastating if it's coming
20:00from an unconscious point.
20:02You can keep saying, oh I have a great vision
20:04I have a great vision, but that vision
20:06will actually be a nightmare.
20:10Lots of people have visions.
20:12Everybody is a visionary.
20:16And the earth is a mess.
20:20That's the vision.
20:26Money is not a problem. Nothing is a problem.
20:30An unconscious
20:32mind is the problem.
20:36If you are unconscious and if you don't have money
20:42how is that a great state to be in?
20:46Like a drunkard
20:48with no money in the pockets
20:50and heavily drunk
20:52lying in the gutter
20:54and saying, oh look at me
20:56I am a farishta
20:58I don't care for money
21:00I have given up
21:02all my
21:04materialistic possessions
21:06no money at all
21:08and why is there no money?
21:10Because all the money was blown up in drinking
21:12and the fellow was
21:14too lazy to earn anything
21:16so no money.
21:20How is not having money a virtue?
21:22How will you educate me?
21:26But then that's the way you said
21:28what if instead of vision
21:30I am thinking of money
21:34What I meant was
21:36now in the centre
21:38there is vision
21:40Now that's the new word
21:42in your vocabulary, centre
21:44but it's a good word to have
21:46great, well done
21:48Know what to keep at the centre
21:51If you keep consciousness
21:53at the centre
21:55if you keep wisdom at the centre
21:57then money is a great tool to have
21:59but never keep money itself in the centre
22:07That is what I was talking about
22:09Yes, wonderful
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