Sir, Why This After IIT-IIM-UPSC?
PrashantAdvait Foundation
Questioner: Acharya Ji, I think this question may be on behalf of many of us sitting in this auditorium. Every student sitting in this auditorium had a dream not of getting admission in Lakshminarayanan Institute of Technology (where the session is being held), but getting into IITs. Then, after IIT, what most of the time, the trend we follow the trend and the trend is IIM. Then many IITians get into IAS. And this is the dream of many young Indians, young minds who are studying, and also of the parents, most of the parents, of course, those who know about the IITs, IIMs, and finally the civil services.
Acharya Ji, you achieved all. You did your Bachelor's in topmost IIT, you did your management from topmost IIM, and also immediately, you got into civil services. So, even one of (2.00) these three will satisfy anybody in this country, and his whole family will just rejoice and start dancing, maybe. You achieved all this; you got all three top things, not just one of them.
And later on, you have chosen a very, very different path. And today we are listening to you. Of course, I listened to a few of your videos earlier also; and then when I got to know about you more from Wikipedia, then I came to know about your qualifications also. So exactly what happened? Because it is not the case that, you wanted to get into IIT so you topped JEE; you wanted to get into IIM, so you cracked the CAT; and you wanted to get into civil services, so you were one of the IAS toppers. Then what? This is, of course not exactly I have phrased it as a question but I’m curious to know about it. Thank you.
Acharya Prashant: See, the first thing is that, very humbly I would like to say that, the way my academic or other achievements have been very gracefully and rather magnanimously portrayed, they have been made to look bigger than they actually are.
See, why does one want to do anything good or big? Why does one want to get into an IIT or an IIM? Because one is, you could say, because one wants a good career. You could say, because that’s the ‘In thing’ to do; because that gives you fame, money, recognition. Indirectly, that also helps you get a good wife; also helps you move abroad. You could say all these things and none of these would be wrong if you say, but go a little deeper, one does all that because one wants to get to the top of life. One wants that, which is the highest possible. Right? And that is the urge of every living human being — be it me or be it you.
Tell me, does anything ever fully satisfy you? And I'm talking as one of you, as a friend, not as someone on the podium. Does anything ever satisfy you? Is, is there any number that would ever be perfect? Think of anything, that can be quantified; If it can be quantified, there would be a number to it; would any number ever suffice and be perfect? Tell me. Let's say, the number in your bank account; the number in your assessment sheet; and any number; would it ever be okay? Not really. Which means each of us — it is not just my story; it's your story, understand this — which means each of us is looking for something higher than the highest. Therefore, an IIT is not sufficient.
In your college, sir said, you think you would have been better off, had you cracked the JEE and been in an IIT. Let me tell you, it's no different with IITians. They too think that they could have done much better than where they are. Somebody is not happy with his CGPA; somebody is not happy with his department; somebody is not happy with departmental rank; somebody is not happy with summer internship; somebody is not happy with the choice of courses; somebody is not happy with the final placement.
There is nobody who is satisfied and that is okay — that's what makes us human. I'm not complaining. I'm not saying one should be easily satisfied. On the contrary, I'm saying, “that it is this lack of satisfaction that is the very mark of humaneness.” This lack of satisfaction means we are looking for something yet higher. I might have reached here [Holding his hand at a certain height]. No, no, no [Shaking his hand and head], even this place does not give me what my consciousness is looking for and my consciousness is your consciousness, we are just the same, when it comes to that, consciousness.
Externally, obviously, we are different in worldly achievements, in age, in possession, gender, and social status, we are all very different. But when it comes to the fundamental nature of consciousness, we are all one. And the fundamental nature of consciousness is discontentment.
I love to say that when somebody asks for identity simply say, “Atripta chetna. I'm a dissatisfied consciousness.” So, once you are in IIT, it no longer appears as a big deal, you want something higher. And it's not just in terms of money or social sanction. There's something more to it, this campus could not give me that, so then comes the next thing, then comes the next thing. And it's not at all a coincidence, that finally, the thing that I could find is Vedanta because I was looking for the highest.
I was not very lucky; I did not have a living mentor or somebody. So, I took a rather long route to reach Vedanta, though I had started out pretty early. I was a voracious reader, I read a lot, probably starting at the age of five or seven. But still, it took me very, very long to finally discover that this, that is happening right now, between you and me, is higher than anything else in the world. And that made it possible for me, after a long, long and not just long, long-winded actually, very convoluted journey, full of dissatisfaction, full of suffering as well; a lot of suffering, a lot of experimentation, to come to this place, where I can tell you very easily what it took me very, very long to achieve. Had somebody come to me, when I was your age and told me this basic thing, it would have helped me a long way in my journey.
But I was not that fortunate. I didn't have anybody coming to an IIT or my school or IIM or any place to tell me what I am telling you. So, that's the reason I'm doing this. This is the highest I can give to myself, and this is the highest I can share with you. The highest purpose of life itself — true, pure, simple, direct spirituality. For me, that is Vedanta.
Are you getting it?
So, Vedanta is not something, that comes as opposite to worldly life. Most people ask, “You could have had anything you wanted in the worldly life, why did you leave all that and change sides to come to Vedanta?” “No, I have not changed sides. I've just risen.” You want good things, right? So, I have the best thing. Is that some kind of deviation or just an extension of what everybody else is doing? You want to be involved in a good kind of work, don't you? Don't you? So, my long journey has brought me to the best kind of work. Is that not reasonable? There's nothing mystical in it. There are no hidden enlightenment experiences; there is no sharp U-turn; there is no sudden dramatic filmy change of heart. None of that!
It's just a long and arduous journey, towards finding the next better thing. I have this, what is higher than this? And if I want to find something higher than what I already have, don't you too want that, please tell me? If you have something, won’t you want something higher than that? Yes. So, I had something then I went for something higher than that, then higher than that, then higher than that, and ultimately one comes to the highest. Oh! I won't be presumptuous enough to claim I already have the highest. But I'm inching towards that, I'm not yet dead. Right? I have a few years to live, and I want to keep rising and rising. So should you! Or should you not? That's what — don't settle down.
I said to one of the previous questioners, “Don't commit yourself too early and too easily to anything. Don't allow yourself to be blocked and bounded.” And that's the one thing I luckily did; I didn't allow myself to be constrained. I said, “I want to retain my freedom so that I can move on.” And I kept moving on, kept moving on. That's all that I have done. There is no great drama or mystery or something very fascinating involved in this. My life has been just of continuous movement. That's all and that's what I share with you. It took me, took me long, it will be great if it doesn't take you that long. No? That’s all sir.
