Self-enquiry is the essence of ancient India || BITS Pilani (2022)

Questioner (Q): In this modern age, ancient Indian practices are mostly forgotten. There are the traditions with their virtues, values, and wisdom, and there is a lot there that we could learn from. Sadly, they are all forgotten now. People do not practice spirituality or follow these truths that we once knew anymore.

Some of these practices are very hard to follow in this modern world. For example, it is not really practically possible to renounce everything and go live in a forest or something. And even small stuff like, for example, eating sāttvika food becomes hard for, let’s say, an engineering student who is in his campus, his hostel, where the choices of food are limited. So, even though these old values and practices are good, they cannot be implemented.

So, my question to you is, should we learn from these ancient Indian practices, and how do we implement them in this modern age?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Ancient Indian practices were for ancient India. If you try to practice them, this is what you will repeatedly come to: “Oh, it is so difficult to practice sāttvika food in modern engineering campuses!” Those practices were for a certain time, place, situation. That is when they were practical.

Practices do not determine the core of spirituality; consciousness does. If someone is feeding you practices in the name of spirituality, then that fellow is either ignorant or cunning or both, which is actually the same thing. It is not practices, it is understanding that you need. And then, even if you are in a jungle or a frozen desert, you will still know what to eat, what not to eat.