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ये खास अनुभव आपको हुए हैं? || आचार्य प्रशांत, वेदांत महोत्सव आइ.आइ.एस.सी (IISc) बेंगलुरु (2022)
222.1K views
3 years ago
Experience vs. Knowledge
Spirituality
Experiencer
Ego
Superstition
Miracles
Kabir Saheb
Truth
Description

Acharya Prashant responds to the notion that he has a lot of scriptural knowledge but lacks experience. He begins by humorously stating that those who say this are mistaken, as he has not read as much as they assume, and they have no way of knowing what his experiences are. He explains that people tend to fit him into a preconceived mental model of a person who is knowledgeable but lacks experience. He dismisses this as a superficial judgment, questioning how they could possibly know either of these things about him. He then deconstructs the popular idea of spiritual experiences, sarcastically mocking the kind of miracles people seek, such as out-of-body travel, seeing divine lights, or communicating with spirits. He asserts that it is very easy to fool people with such tricks and be hailed as a god. He contrasts this with his own feeling of being unread, with thousands of books still waiting to be studied. He questions what people truly mean by 'experience,' listing various mundane and fantastical events and dismissing them as forms of mental derangement, not spirituality. Acharya Prashant clarifies that true spirituality is the investigation of the experiencer—the ego—itself. He states that one who has gone to the root of all experiences and understood the experiencer has effectively captured all 'ghosts and ghouls.' He offers a clear criterion for identifying a non-spiritual person: anyone who speaks of special, metaphysical, or paranormal experiences. Such an individual might be a clever businessman, but they are not spiritual. The ordinary, everyday experiences of life, such as jealousy, fear, and suppression, are what truly need to be understood. The desire for special experiences, he concludes, is a sign of a foolish person. Spirituality is not about having extraordinary experiences but about understanding the ordinary experiencer.