Why we are sometimes wise and sometimes otherwise
[Talk at The College of New Jersey, Philadelphia, USA]
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Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Why we are sometimes wise and sometimes otherwise. I started by speaking about this student who is my model.
Brilliant electronics, but unfortunately, a chain smoker. And that cost him his life. And he was bitterly regretting at the end.
Why did I get into smoking? So I found in the Bhagavad Gita, there is a force within us which makes us act against hardware. So to understand what that force was, I gave the example of a computer system, software, hardware, and the user. So the body is like the hardware, the mind is like the software, the soul is like the user.
To illustrate this further, I had two examples. One was of the experiment of raising the hand, conducted by Dr. Wilder Penfield, from which he concluded that the source of consciousness is extra-cerebral. And the second was a thought experiment of how there is an inner screen and there is an inner sphere.
So we are the inner sphere and our mind is the inner screen. So when we malfunction, that’s because unwanted images are coming on the inner screen. Our science and technology have improved the hardware enormously.
The physical comforts we have are unparalleled in recent history. But at the level of the mind, the inner screen is misfiring worse than the surface. So it’s like a time machine.
If it goes into the past, and all the wrongs that have happened in the past, it makes us depressed. If it goes into the future, it makes us worried. And both ways, we are no longer available in the present.
When we get addicted to something, that addiction just compulsively, insistently comes on our inner screen. It makes us empty. So if unwanted images are coming on the inner screen, how do we change that? There are two things.
First is, understand I am not that screen. I am different from that screen. We distance ourselves.
So through deep breathing, through meditation, through reflection, we can avoid fusing with whatever images are being played on the inner screen. And through spiritual self-understanding, through meditation, we can understand that I am an inner seer. So, when we are at the ground level, the flood may threaten us.
But if we rise to the first level, we are safe. The first level is spiritual understanding. Ground level is physical understanding.
So, just like this friend who was a writing retreat, survived because he found a way to the first level. Similarly, life’s adversities, when they trouble us, if we raise ourselves in spiritual understanding, we can not only go through those adversities, but grow through them. This boy who was devastated first time on a breakup, was almost suicidal.
Second time when something similar happened, that which could have been a depressing experience, became an enriching experience for him. So, our science, our education can hone our talents. With our spirituality, that will strengthen our temperament.
And talent plus temperament will lead to achievement. Thank you very much. So, are there any questions or comments?