Video Information: 10.01.25, Vedanta Samhita, Goa
Description:
In this video, Acharya Prashant deeply discusses work hours and work culture. Recently, a new debate has emerged in India regarding working hours, where company owners expect employees to work 70 to 90 hours a week. Most employees hate their jobs and work solely for their salary.
The true purpose of work should not be just to earn money, but to find love and satisfaction in it. The progress made in South India in terms of education and development is proof that the right decisions and hard work can bring about societal change.
Instead of relying on external standards and societal pressures, it is essential to recognize one’s inner truth. The message of the Gita is based on love and selflessness, and this love should be integrated into one’s work. Ultimately, work should have love and purpose so that one can live a fulfilling and meaningful life.
🎧 Listen to Acharya Prashant on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/2QmVEAAnsNE7Xs0MW0Li8Y?si=09fbcbc7c99c469b
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~
Description:
In this video, Acharya Prashant deeply discusses work hours and work culture. Recently, a new debate has emerged in India regarding working hours, where company owners expect employees to work 70 to 90 hours a week. Most employees hate their jobs and work solely for their salary.
The true purpose of work should not be just to earn money, but to find love and satisfaction in it. The progress made in South India in terms of education and development is proof that the right decisions and hard work can bring about societal change.
Instead of relying on external standards and societal pressures, it is essential to recognize one’s inner truth. The message of the Gita is based on love and selflessness, and this love should be integrated into one’s work. Ultimately, work should have love and purpose so that one can live a fulfilling and meaningful life.
🎧 Listen to Acharya Prashant on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/2QmVEAAnsNE7Xs0MW0Li8Y?si=09fbcbc7c99c469b
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00So, please understand that as bad as it is to marry the wrong person, it is even worse
00:16to get into the wrong job that you find least interesting.
00:19Many people would have stopped watching the recording right here, the moment I said that
00:24you are seeking work-life balance because the reality is that you are not passionate
00:29about work.
00:30Many people would have said, no, no, this is a useless topic of discussion.
00:33The one saying increase the hours is also a prisoner.
00:35The one saying don't increase is also a prisoner.
00:38Freedom isn't pursuing passion, which neither of them knows.
00:41This freedom that you get for two hours in a week, should I call it freedom or bondage?
00:45I would say that you should get used to things that you don't really need in your life.
00:49You should build a core structure around it.
00:52Then you can complain saying, now I'm helpless.
00:55How can I live a holy and righteous life?
00:57I have liabilities.
00:59Which liability?
01:00What liability?
01:01Gita says love is itself the result.
01:03The whole purpose of the Gita program is that we learn to love.
01:27First of all, I heard a gentleman saying that Indians should work at least 70 hours a week.
01:34Then just yesterday, I saw the chairman of another big company while replying to one
01:39of his employees in an internal meeting said that you have a problem in working on Saturday.
01:46If I wanted, I could have made you work on Sunday as well.
01:50And people should work at least for 90 hours every week.
01:55In saying this, he gave the example of China, that he has seen that the people of China
02:00are very hardworking.
02:01And he had a conversation with a Chinese professional who said that they will be ahead of America
02:06because they work for 90 hours and Americans work for 50 hours.
02:10So speaking of this, he also made a small sexist comment.
02:15He was saying, what do you do while sitting at home?
02:18How long will you keep looking at your wife's face?
02:20How long will she tolerate you?
02:22So you better come to the office and work.
02:24So this whole debate about working hours has been going on for a long time and today
02:29this topic is discussed on every social media platform.
02:32Question is also based on the same.
02:34Basically, I wanted to understand from you that how should we understand this about working
02:39hours should be?
02:40What should we ideally follow?
02:44What should be followed?
02:45See the context in which the discussion is going on.
02:49There is an employer on one side and an employee on the other side.
02:57To be honest, the employer has no passion for whatever he is doing.
03:02The employer just wants to get the work done so that he can get some money from it.
03:09So here, the employer just wants to get the work done so that he can make profits out
03:16of it.
03:18And the employee is also doing that work so that he can get a salary from it.
03:24So try to understand the whole thing that when you work without passion and love, you
03:31know, you only want to maximize your output over the input.
03:42Input means the number of hours you worked and output means the salary you get.
03:48Input means the number of hours you work and output means the, and with this equation where
03:53you say the purpose of work is to maximize output over input.
03:59This equation only works in a passionless environment.
04:05If someone is passionate about his work, then the second equation works.
04:09We will talk about it later.
04:10Just remind me once, but all these things that are happening right now, whether it is
04:15about Infosys, L&T, whether it is China's 996, whatever it may be in this entire debate,
04:21which is going on, nowhere in this entire debate is it told what the work is.
04:26In this entire debate, work has only one meaning.
04:29That is something that give us income, gives stability, fulfills desires, fulfills ambitions,
04:35et cetera, et cetera.
04:36So in this entire debate, have you seen on any platform that someone has come up with
04:40a discussion on the definition of work or someone asked, how do we define work in the
04:46first place?
04:47Has anyone talked about this?
04:49No.
04:50No.
04:51Yes.
04:52Because they all agree that work means something that involves using your hands and feet to
04:58earn money for survival.
05:00The output is money and the input is using hands and feet.
05:03The number of hours you put in, that is the input.
05:06No one even wants to talk about the definition of work.
05:09Yeah.
05:10All right.
05:11Let's dive into their world first and talk about it.
05:14Okay.
05:15After that, I will give you a reality check.
05:18In a world where a person is working only to run the household and he's earning money
05:24so that we can buy something else with that money, go out and have fun, fulfill his hobbies,
05:29fulfill his needs, get married, pay children's fees, all this, where work is done only for
05:34this purpose.
05:35Where forced labor is involved in such situations, it is essential that working hours be limited
05:41and the concept of work-life balance is absolutely applicable in such an environment.
05:46It is completely applicable because practically speaking, no one has signed up to work so
05:51hard that it will affect them.
05:55This employee came to work.
05:57He did not sign the offer letter so that he will work for 90 hours and die there like
06:00a loser.
06:03He has come to do as minimal work as possible to minimize the input and maximize the output.
06:09He has come with this intention.
06:11Yes.
06:12But the person who has hired him, his boss has completely different intentions.
06:15He is saying that I should take maximum work from him.
06:17I should pay him minimum money.
06:19I should get maximum hours from him.
06:21So this conflict of interest will always exist.
06:26When never statements are made that more work should be done, more work should be done.
06:30These will either come from the owner or from the CEO.
06:34And then the anger that follows is that no, no, why are you making us work so much?
06:39Why is there no work-life balance?
06:40Burnout happens.
06:41Employees will continue to complain about these things.
06:43So you're talking about Reddit, whether it is Reddit or Twitter, go back and check it
06:46carefully.
06:47Anyone who is saying that this is wrong and this is exploitation and there should be an
06:52upper limit in the weekly hours that there should be only so many hours worked in a week
06:56or that these CEOs who are talking about working so many hours are exploitative and
07:01cruel people.
07:02They make fun of these people.
07:04All right.
07:05It must all be these employees who are making fun of them because it is their mentality
07:08that they should get to do as little work as possible, the least.
07:13So this has become a kind of class struggle.
07:15This is classified struggle.
07:18There is one class which wants to work as little as possible.
07:21There is another class which wants to take as much as work as possible.
07:25So both of them are talking about this, but if you also want your employees to be as productive
07:34as possible to maximize the output, and I'm talking about this in the context of that
07:40passionless environment, okay?
07:42Right now, it has not been discussed anywhere as to what work actually means.
07:45What is the definition of work that has not been discussed right now?
07:48I'm talking about typical corporate environment.
07:50If you take a normal corporate environment where we have to maximize productivity, if
07:56there is no passion towards work, it is absolutely imperative that an upper limit of these hours
08:04should be kept and the upper limit on the number of hours you can work isn't put in
08:13place because people are poor.
08:15The poorer a person is, the more he can be exploited by an employer.
08:21That's why you find that in Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, or Scandinavian countries,
08:29they all work 31, 32, 35, 36 hours, here you will find the average working week.
08:37So that's how they work.
08:38In a week, 32 hours, somewhere 36 hours, that is all they can do.
08:42And in poor countries like India, Pakistan, or others, which are developing countries
08:50right now, be it Mexico, Brazil, or many such countries, the average work week that they
08:54are following will be of 45 hours.
08:59Not only this, half of India's population works more than 50 hours a week.
09:07And you will not find this in developed countries.
09:10In the UK, Britain, and Germany, and Japan, perhaps, the four-day work week was also tried
09:21and it was found that, no sir, productivity remains fine.
09:29The six-hour work day was also tried out, that if you work six hours a day, productivity
09:34is good.
09:35Make a four-day work week, the employee becomes so happy, he says, now I get three days to
09:39have fun.
09:43So he works with double the energy for four days.
09:48Because he hates his job, right?
09:52You want to get rid of something you hate as quickly as possible.
09:56When you hate something and when you find out you don't have to work for three days,
10:03you're so happy.
10:06Please understand that most of the world's population hates their work.
10:13Just two years ago, the retirement age in France was increased by two years.
10:19One million people marched against it.
10:24Ten lakh people marched against it.
10:26Ten lakh people marched when the retirement age was increased by just two years.
10:30People said we don't want to work, let us retire, let us start getting pension.
10:34Because people hate their jobs.
10:37That's exactly what we're talking about right now.
10:43Do you know how passionate people are in research labs?
10:48That when the time of retirement comes, at that time scientists say that we will work
10:56more and request that somehow the retirement be postponed.
11:04They are very enthusiastic and although the retirement age in the lab would be say 65
11:08years, it has been said that he is working in his lab till the age of 75.
11:14And it has been seen that people working at lower levels who have no passion whatsoever
11:21for that work like assistants, technicians, other team members, as soon as they get a
11:27chance to retire, they run away because there are so many jobs in the world in which one
11:31cannot have passion.
11:34If you don't have passion to work, then there is only one thing that you can do is somehow
11:37work day and night and maximize the output and input.
11:42And I completely agree with the inputs you are taking from this.
11:46It is important to keep it within limits.
11:49Otherwise people will go crazy.
11:50The reason is quite obvious.
11:52What is your feeling towards your work?
11:56Hate.
11:58And you are told, yes, yes, yes.
11:59You hate it.
12:00If you are told that you have to do the job that you hate for 90 hours a week, then what
12:05will happen to you?
12:07You will go crazy.
12:08Yes.
12:09So that is why it is important to control working hours because most people in the world
12:14are stuck in such jobs that can only be hated.
12:17This is their hatred, indifference or empathy, sorrow.
12:23If you do too much of what you don't like, then it's possible that you will get neurotic,
12:26you will get tired and eventually affect yourself and your productivity will also start
12:30decreasing.
12:31You will lose yourself.
12:32Then this will be bad for you as well as your employer.
12:36That is why the developed countries of the world keep making rules that no one should
12:39be asked to do so much work in a week.
12:43Otherwise he will go mad because he does not like the work and work is like a life partner.
12:52You can still divorce your spouse and many people don't even get married, but there isn't
12:57a single person who doesn't work.
13:02So listen, as bad as it is to be married to the wrong person, then you must know that
13:08it is even worse more so to get tied to the wrong job.
13:13And even if you're tied to someone, there is still a solution.
13:17The relationship is over now.
13:18You take care of yourself.
13:19So will I?
13:20I'm not with anyone now, but you will not find anyone who says that I do not work.
13:25You have to work whether you live with someone or not, but you will have to live with work.
13:31So someone who has chosen the wrong job, the one who has chosen a job that one cannot be
13:35passionate about, his condition is very miserable.
13:38And for him, I am saying that it is absolutely right to limit his working hours.
13:42Otherwise he will die.
13:45And the scary thing is that in the world, believe me, 90 to 95% maybe even more are
13:50doing such work in which they have no interest at all.
13:54Why?
13:55Because your education system has conditioned them to view work as merely means of maximizing
14:01output over input.
14:06Your family, your culture, your placement office, what do all these people say?
14:12Go and look for meaningful vocation.
14:14Do they say that?
14:15They say, go and look for the CTC figures.
14:20So you only see how much money you're getting.
14:22And then you admit that it would be fun if you could make that much money by working
14:25by just one hour a week.
14:28Think.
14:30Many people must have been happy to hear this.
14:33That if they got paid the same as they do and only had to work an hour a week, why?
14:42Because you're not working for the sake of working.
14:44You're working for a salary and that's the worst way to live life.
14:50But I just work to accomplish something else.
14:54People say there should be work-life balance, right?
14:56If there was a work-life balance, what would you do then?
14:58Go home.
14:59We will pursue our hobby.
15:00Do you have a hobby?
15:02You like your hobby so much, then why don't you make your hobby your life?
15:08Do you have an answer?
15:11So you say, no, I will go home and spend quality time with my wife and children.
15:16If you don't have any good qualities, then how will you spend quality time with someone?
15:20If you were a good person, you would have produced quality work for yourself, right?
15:26You are a heathless person who has sold himself just to keep himself in the business for the
15:31sake of CTC.
15:32How can such a pitiful man have a good time at home?
15:35He will teach his children to follow his footsteps.
15:40And I am saying this for the sake of this man's health that please don't make him work
15:43too much.
15:46Make him work a maximum of 40 hours a week or else he will go crazy.
15:52I feel very sorry for such people.
15:54I want them to work less.
15:55Those whom I see who do not have love for their work, then I punish them by reducing
15:59their workload.
16:03Because giving them work is an atrocity against them.
16:05How can I torture anyone?
16:06I give work to people who love their work.
16:08And it is very strange.
16:09People who love their work, I tell them to do more, do more, do more.
16:13Love is infinite.
16:14You give your 100%.
16:15And if I see someone who is not interested, says that it is too much, I won't do this,
16:18I won't do that.
16:19It's not happening.
16:20Then I say, let's work less, leave it.
16:26Now this is where we come to what the definition of work should be.
16:32Many people right now might have stopped watching this recording right here.
16:36The moment I said that you are asking for work-life balance, you are asking for it only
16:42because you don't have any passion for work in your life.
16:44So many people would say, no, no, this is a useless topic of discussion.
16:47I'm not listening.
16:49Well, once a person sacrifices himself just for the sake of CTC, it becomes very difficult
17:00for him to hear the truth.
17:05What is work?
17:09Work is worship.
17:12Work is something for which you say, I am willing to pay something for it.
17:18I am ready to pay money.
17:21Leave aside the fact that I'm asking for a salary.
17:24If I get anything on top of that, it's a bonus, my friend.
17:26If I get a lot out of it, it will be God's grace.
17:31It would be compassion.
17:33It would be favor.
17:34It would be grace.
17:35If you get more, then there is no harm in it.
17:37You're already getting it.
17:39But the fact is we are not working for what we get.
17:41We have a job that we do.
17:42The job is so good.
17:43Who will count the hours?
17:45How do we know the number of hours in a work week?
17:48We have never made a count.
17:52And if we count, we will get only one number, 24, because there are only 24 hours in a day.
17:57And in those 24 hours, we do nothing but worship.
17:59That worship comes out in the form of a passion, which is a work, right?
18:05But how do I tell people how many hours I work in a week?
18:07How do I tell?
18:09And let me tell you one more thing.
18:10Don't think that these CEOs are saying that work more, work more as they like their work
18:16very much.
18:17And that's why they're saying work more.
18:18No, no, no, no, no.
18:21So as I said, from the employee's point of view, the poor guy comes to work only for
18:25money.
18:26So he will definitely ask for his working hours to be reduced.
18:28But the CEOs and owners who are asking for increased working hours are not asking for
18:32increased hours because they love their jobs.
18:36They're asking for increased hours because they get paid 300, 400, 800 times more than
18:42the common employees.
18:45When you earn that much of salary, you will have to sacrifice your peace of mind.
18:50The one who is giving you so much is not giving so that you can enjoy it for free.
18:54The one who will give you so much money, as we know that the average CEO compensation,
19:02which is 300 is to one times in India, and in some companies, it exceeds even more than
19:091000 times is to one.
19:11I mean, the ratio of average worker pay to CEO pay is 1000 is to one, sometimes exceeding
19:17that.
19:20So whoever takes this much money will definitely do the work.
19:23So why is he saying that I work too much?
19:25If you don't do this much work, then the board will throw you out.
19:29Why are you saying that?
19:30I'm a role model.
19:31I work so much.
19:32Come on.
19:33You all should also work.
19:34Give them the same amount of money you get and they will work too.
19:39Why are you telling them that you should work for 90 hours?
19:42You should work for 190 hours, then feed them as much as you're getting.
19:48Then they will also work and we'll do it happily.
19:51These are all stories of a different kind of struggle in life.
19:56It is all the same thing that work is done to earn money.
20:01As soon as the money comes, people spend it on consumption.
20:05That is why we need the teachings of the Gita so that we learn that perfection lies in selflessness.
20:13No action is done because one will reap the rewards of the action.
20:18Action is done because action is the supreme thing in itself.
20:22Why is it supreme?
20:23Because it is coming out of our own consciousness.
20:26We understand something.
20:27We know something.
20:29That is why we do something.
20:31There is a meaning to it, a point to it, love to it.
20:35We are not going to back down.
20:40I know very well that startups fail.
20:44If there are 20 startups, 19 of them will fail.
20:46Why do they fail?
20:48Because they didn't choose the right market segment, their product was bad, they didn't
20:54get funding.
20:55Not at all.
20:56Most of the startups do not fail.
20:58They are shut down.
20:59And why are they shut down?
21:01Because they were started only to earn profits and 2-3 years have passed.
21:05It is visible that the profit is not being made as much as was expected.
21:09So close down this company.
21:14Work is not being done for the sake of work.
21:15Work is being done for the results.
21:18And how can one love work?
21:19All love is for the result only.
21:21And this thing is put into the mind since childhood.
21:25Mummy is saying to Dhanya, the little one, that if you top the board exams, then I will
21:34love you even more.
21:38That means you will get love too.
21:41In the form of accomplishment.
21:42Wow!
21:43That's great.
21:46So he says that I just had to top, right?
21:48It's not about how deeply I studied mathematics or history or whatever I have studied.
21:53I just want to top it.
21:55If I somehow top it, then my work will be done.
21:57So it is the result focused.
22:00It's not about process focused.
22:02It's not love focused.
22:03It's not heart focused.
22:04Just have to get the result by any means, any method.
22:07So when you have to get a result, the less input that goes into the result, the better
22:12it will be.
22:13Better.
22:14That's better.
22:16So every person is thinking that I will work from home and I please make it a four day
22:22work week and I will work for a total of 30 hours.
22:26And I agree with them.
22:27I'm not saying that their work hours should be increased.
22:29I'm saying that their hours should be reduced even more.
22:32The poor guy is in terrible condition.
22:36What bigger punishment could they get than doing something that they don't even like?
22:42This is such a big punishment.
22:43It's no while punishing them further by calling them to work.
22:50The person who has found a purpose in life, a purpose, go and ask him once.
23:00You will find out that he doesn't even have a watch on his wrist.
23:07What's day?
23:08What's night?
23:09What's Thursday?
23:10What's Saturday?
23:11What's Sunday?
23:13What's the month?
23:14What's the year?
23:15It might be summer or winter.
23:18He remains lost in his own world.
23:25This is not the fault of that employee.
23:27This is the fault of the system which follows the data and not the heart.
23:38When you were young, you were told to score marks.
23:40Marks are just numbers.
23:42When you were told to score marks in the board exam, that too is a number.
23:45Then you were told to score a rank in the entrance exam, that rank is also a number.
23:49Then you were told to score a CGP in college, CGP is also a number.
23:53Then you were told to score a CDC in placement, CDC is also a number.
23:58After that some people become entrepreneurs.
24:01Then they are told to score an IPO and that IPO is also a number.
24:05There is no heart in it, only numbers.
24:07You are playing with numbers, a game of numbers.
24:10In the working hours, that too is just a number.
24:15So just keep fighting behind the numbers.
24:17There is no life in it.
24:18There is no passion in it.
24:26So I totally agree with people who want to live a passionate life.
24:31Their working hours should be limited and their work-life balance should be taken care
24:35of completely.
24:39But I am also asking whether it is necessary to live a passionless life, chasing numbers
24:44and money just for the sake of convenience.
24:51Whether it is your job, whether it is your business, whether it is your trade, whatever
24:56it is.
24:59Why can't it be something that you like?
25:05Why can't you follow your heart?
25:06This is a question, a question for everyone.
25:11And if you are not following your heart, then are you even alive?
25:14Every morning you go to do some work that makes you angry when you wake up and hate
25:19it when you swipe your card.
25:21So is this life or what is it?
25:25And what is all this for?
25:27That at the end of the month you will get a little money that runs the house and you
25:31will become happy that you are earning your bread and butter.
25:35You know, these concepts are getting interesting in the West.
25:40Now life expectancy is increasing day by day.
25:47This is an interesting story.
25:48Listen carefully.
25:49Life expectancy is increasing day by day.
25:53Yeah.
25:55And the birth rate is declining.
25:59All right.
26:01And morbidity is also decreasing.
26:03Morbidity means illness.
26:04So this means that older people are living much longer.
26:15Elderly people are living very long lives and they don't even get sick and they already
26:21retired at 60 and they will live till 90 and they are healthy even between 60 and 90.
26:29But the birth rate has gone down, so there are no young people.
26:34But these old people retired at the age of 60, so who will help build the economy now?
26:39There are no young people.
26:40Old people retire at the age of 60, but they will live longer.
26:46That's why it's becoming prevalent among older people that they should work more, work till
26:51the age of 70.
26:54So one opinion is emerging in the West that really there is no need for this research
27:02on aging and so on.
27:05If living longer means that we will have to work more, then we don't want to live longer.
27:13People hate their work so much that they are saying that if increasing life expectancy
27:19means that our retirement age will also be extended, then don't give us such a long life.
27:27We don't want to live longer, but we won't work.
27:29We may die early, but don't make us do this work because we hate this job.
27:34A survey was conducted in Britain.
27:37You can find its details later.
27:40I think there was a very large percentage of it, maybe 40%, maybe 60%, maybe 70%.
27:49British employees were saying that we consider our jobs as either frivolous or redundant.
28:00We consider our jobs as either frivolous or redundant.
28:08Now this man will surely say that don't make me do too much work.
28:12And since his work is frivolous, trivial, redundant, that's why a new threat has already
28:17arisen in the name of AI.
28:25Because your work is such that someone else can do it.
28:28If you did something from the heart, then AI couldn't take away your job because artificial
28:34intelligence doesn't know the meaning of real love.
28:39AI may know everything, but it doesn't know how to love, right?
28:44If you would have put in your work that only a human can put in, a transcendental creativity,
28:51then AI couldn't have replaced you easily.
28:54But your work is just like that paper pushing.
29:00So now you cry that AI will take away my job.
29:10There is no such thing as hell.
29:12A rotten office is hell.
29:17And when you return after completing your job, that rotten office is replaced by a rotten
29:22house.
29:23This is called living in hell.
29:26Office is such where you have gone just to earn some money in some way.
29:33And home is such where you come just to spend that money.
29:39And what else could be hell?
29:46You work for salary.
29:47You work for salary.
29:48Well, how many days in a month do you get salary?
29:51You get it only on one day.
29:55So how do you spend the remaining 29 days?
29:58You get salary on only one particular day.
30:01What do you do for the remaining 29 days?
30:04Wait for the salary.
30:05You refresh your bank account again and again to check if you receive the salary or not.
30:19You become very happy when there's an increase of 4%.
30:23Hey, I am saying reduce his working hours completely.
30:30This poor guy doesn't even know that the output which he is getting as salary is also
30:37decreasing day by day.
30:42All these people who are saying to increase his work hours, all these are the beneficiaries
30:48of capitalism.
30:52And in capitalism, there's a trickle down effect, right?
30:55And that wealth doesn't come down, poverty comes down in that.
31:00By what percentage did your salary increase in a year?
31:035%.
31:04And you became happy, started dancing.
31:07How much did his salary increase due to stock options?
31:11His salary increased by 80%.
31:13Yes.
31:14So tell me, did you become rich or poor?
31:17You became poorer.
31:21It is not just in nominal terms that he has become relatively poor.
31:25His money has increased so much that now he will increase the price of whatever he buys.
31:33You also have to send your child to school.
31:35The one sitting at the top, the beneficiary of capitalism will also send his child to
31:40school.
31:41There are limited seats in the school.
31:45So those limited seats will be filled by the people at the top by paying a hefty fee.
31:51You will also go saying that I also have to educate my child.
31:53So the same fee will be demanded from you to the fee that those at the top can afford.
31:57Those at the top will afford it because the salary has increased by 80%.
32:00It was more even before, and now it has increased by 80% and yours is just 5%.
32:04How will you afford it?
32:05The one who is getting more money is increasing the prices of everything, be it hotel rooms,
32:10be it land prices, be it school fees, right?
32:14Be it even hospital charges.
32:16He is increasing the prices of everything and making you even poorer.
32:21But then you count your CTC.
32:33This whole debate is frivolous.
32:38How many hours of work?
32:40How many hours of no work?
32:41Both the people who are talking, both of them are prisoners of an exploitative system.
32:53The one who is saying increase the hours is also a prisoner.
32:56The one who is saying don't increase the hours is also a prisoner.
33:00Freedom isn't pursuing passion, which neither of them knows.
33:03Freedom for both of them means going to play golf on the weekends, right?
33:09This freedom that we get for two hours in a week, should I call it freedom or jail?
33:15Even the prisoners in the jail get freedom for two hours.
33:25Anything else?
33:26Saint Kabir said, listen, Saint Kabir said, when the mind is immersed in love, then who
33:39counts the days and dates?
33:43When the mind gets immersed in love, then the date, day and date are not counted.
33:50But those who do not have love, I'm saying they should definitely count and they should
33:53definitely count that they will not work for more than half an hour after 35 hours.
34:00I'm telling them that they're already being punished so much.
34:02They're living an emotionless life.
34:04Why do you punish them further by making them work?
34:10Acharya Ji, I've seen many times that my friends associated with Gita Session ask this question
34:16and almost complain that when we were associated with Acharya Ji, we wanted some kind of peace
34:22in life because our mind was filled with many things and useless thoughts.
34:26And when we reached Acharya Ji, we reached such a stage of life that at that time we
34:31started living in a kind of system.
34:33And gradually we started to understand that the system is wrong and we need to get out
34:37of it.
34:38But this thought itself increases anxiety and stress even more.
34:44So they understand that.
34:45I mean, I want to ask again this way that even the right thing can cause a lot of stress
34:50and anxiety.
34:51So is that right?
34:53Stress is not gained from the right work.
34:55It is gained from our greed.
34:58We start panicking, thinking, oh, won't we get so many lakhs from next month?
35:04Right work does not give stress.
35:07The fear of losing bad work gives stress.
35:12How will the right work give stress?
35:14That is the right work.
35:15What stress is there in that?
35:17The only fear is that we have developed all kinds of greed.
35:21We have set up our cost structures.
35:24So much money has to be spent on this.
35:26So much money has to be spent on that thing.
35:30Wrong work does not come just like that.
35:32It brings CTC, right?
35:35There is a fear of losing CTC.
35:38It's nothing else.
35:39And no one needs CTC.
35:41There is tension of losing the facilities that you enjoy from that CTC.
35:46Facilities will be lost.
35:48Facilities.
35:49And what are the facilities?
35:50Nothing.
35:51The facility is that we will get a normal bathroom.
35:55Which one is right now?
35:56It has a jacuzzi, right?
35:58I am very tensed.
35:59I am having a heart attack.
36:00Oh my, my, I lost my jacuzzi.
36:03What is the stress?
36:05That this is a normal TV.
36:08Now let's say how many inches is this TV?
36:11How many inches?
36:12Whatever it is.
36:14How many?
36:1540.
36:1640?
36:17Yes, it is a 40 inch TV.
36:20Now they have a desire to buy a 400 inch TV.
36:24Now they are panicking.
36:25How will they get a 400 inch TV?
36:27Get a TV so big that the whole wall is filled with it.
36:31It is also available in the market.
36:32This is why they are worried.
36:38Why are you worried?
36:42So I suggest you get into the habit of buying things you don't really need.
36:47And build a cost structure around them.
36:50Then you say, oh you are helpless.
36:53How can I live a holy and righteous life?
36:56Oh, I have so much liabilities.
36:59Which liability?
37:00What liability?
37:02No, the liability is this.
37:05That I have to build my fort
37:08in a plot of 1000 square meters.
37:11This is my small desire.
37:15And why do I have to build it?
37:17Because you know, if you don't build it, your wife will leave you.
37:20Why will your wife leave you?
37:21Because your wife doesn't love you.
37:22You don't love your wife either.
37:23Your wife is also sitting with you with the greed that one day
37:26that mansion will be built and she will become the queen of that mansion.
37:29So it is important for you to keep doing a wrong job in greed for CTC.
37:41If the children stop respecting you at home,
37:43if the father becomes unemployed, then why?
37:45Because you have raised the children in such a way.
37:47Now it is important that the father keeps earning.
37:49The real fear is that if I don't earn,
37:51then the children will kick me out of my own house.
38:00If I earn less, then my reputation in the society will fall.
38:04I will be disgraced among my friends. Why?
38:06Because you made such friends.
38:08They became your friends after seeing your money.
38:10If you become unemployed, you start living a simple life.
38:13All your friends will leave you.
38:15It is a good thing that they leave you.
38:17How can you benefit in keeping such bad friends?
38:24Now it happened in a campus.
38:29In an engineering campus.
38:37Then the company had sent its proposal for placement.
38:44In that they had written CTC as 12.5 lakhs.
38:48Around 12.5 lakhs per annum.
38:51It was not a top college, right?
38:57So it was a big deal for the students here
39:00that the company is approaching them.
39:02They will give a package of 12.5 lakhs per annum.
39:05Means that if you get 70-80 thousand in the beginning,
39:07it's a big thing for them.
39:10So in whatever auditorium they had,
39:13the company gave a presentation.
39:15I am telling you this is a real incident.
39:17It happened just now.
39:19In this placement season.
39:21So the company came.
39:23They were giving a presentation in the auditorium.
39:25Then that HR guy started the presentation.
39:27He opened a slide.
39:29And he sees that the CTC is written as 12.5 lakhs LPA.
39:33And he says,
39:35It seems there is some confusion.
39:37The students were also surprised.
39:39Because the salary of freshers is not that great.
39:41Even in the IT industry,
39:43Freshers still get an average salary of 3-3.5 lakhs per annum.
39:47And this college was not even a top college.
39:49So students were also excited
39:51that a company offering 12.5 lakhs is visiting the entire auditorium.
39:55It was fully packed.
39:57Those who had passed were working somewhere else.
39:59They also came and sat in front saying that they are also here.
40:02So even they want jobs.
40:04So the HR guy looks at the first slide.
40:06Says there is some confusion.
40:09And he removes the 1 and says
40:11that the LPA is 2.5.
40:13The moment he said that LPA is 2.5,
40:16the entire auditorium becomes empty.
40:18All the students got up and walked out in front of the HR team.
40:24Now tell me, what will you do?
40:27No one is even asking.
40:29Fellas, what is the job profile?
40:31What is the KRA?
40:33Nobody knows anything.
40:34Everybody came and sat there thinking they will get money.
40:37Now the one who wants to work for money will say
40:39give me the money for free.
40:41We don't have to go to office for a single day.
40:43We don't have to work for a single hour.
40:44Just give me the money.
40:45It's like you are working for the result.
40:47If you are told that you will get 99 marks
40:50without giving the exam,
40:52so will you refuse it?
40:54This is what our family,
40:56our folk religion,
40:58our folk philosophy has taught us
41:00that we should not have passion for work.
41:03We should work for the result.
41:05By any means, the result should come.
41:11Gita says love is itself the result.
41:14Mahapaleshu Kadachana,
41:16what do we have to do with the result?
41:23Sir, Khalil Gibran has a quote on work.
41:26Work is love made visible.
41:29And if you cannot work with love,
41:31live with distaste,
41:33it is better that you should leave your work
41:35and sit at the gate of the temple
41:37and take alms of those who work with joy.
41:41And I always did not understand the second part of the quote.
41:44I mean why he is saying that.
41:45Alms means learning.
41:49And we are not talking about the temple,
41:50we are talking about the office.
41:52He is saying that where a person is working with joy,
41:55that office itself becomes a temple.
42:00You should not sit in front of the temple.
42:02You should not sit in front of any such office
42:04where people work with their heart and soul.
42:06That is not an office.
42:08That becomes a temple.
42:13And Gibran is saying that go there again
42:15in that temple,
42:17take alms, Dakshina,
42:19take donations.
42:20What donations?
42:22What donations will you take from there?
42:24Same thing.
42:28Learn love from them.
42:29Take the gift of love.
42:32Learn how to live life in love.
42:35Look, it's not just about
42:38falling in love with the work.
42:40It is about loving.
42:43The one who loves will love work as well.
42:45He will love his life.
42:47He will love his relationships.
42:49And the one who does not know how to love,
42:51it's not that he cannot fall in love with his work.
42:54He cannot love his children.
42:55He cannot love his friends.
42:57He cannot love himself.
42:59Because love is not a selective thing.
43:01Love is not a segmented thing
43:03that I will love this one, I will not love that one.
43:05Love is like light.
43:07When it falls, it falls on everyone.
43:09Like the light of the sun.
43:11The man who lives with his heart,
43:13there will be heart in his work as well.
43:21Heart will be visible in his every step.
43:25And
43:27the one who is doing something for money,
43:29he will say then that he will marry
43:31where he is getting more dowry.
43:33And I will take up a job where I get a higher CTC.
43:41And I will give the contract to the one who is paying more bribe.
43:51And this,
43:53who teaches this love?
43:55Learning this is wisdom.
43:57This is self-knowledge, this is self-observation.
43:59This is why we have Gita sessions.
44:01Our entire Gita program is so that
44:03we can learn how to love.
44:07You have not come to learn Gita to learn shlokas.
44:09You have come to learn Gita
44:11so that you can learn love.
44:19And how much
44:21have you learned from the Gita program?
44:23Whether it has been 6 months,
44:25a year, 2 years.
44:27A good way to check is to ask
44:31How much love has come into your life?
44:43Love means
44:45vastness.
44:47To be able to give.
44:49And lack of love means
44:51how much did you get?
44:55Love is infinite.
44:57In which even after giving everything,
44:59infinite remains.
45:01And where there is no love,
45:03there the calculator just keeps running.
45:05Profit, loss, income, expense.