0:00

Why the

0:02

Studio? Failure

0:06

teaches us to move towards God. Success

0:09

also should teach us to move towards

0:11

God. Why do you think the entire

0:13

world right now is chasing the material

0:15

goal? Human experience is necessary for us

0:17

to understand that there is a divine

0:19

plan. We have to go through that

0:21

cycle and there is a share which

0:23

is basically, I'll say it in Urdu,

0:26

We are into toys, we are into

0:28

crushes, we are into job and career

0:30

and then we think, God,

0:38

I have a retirement, I have a retirement and all that. Basically,

0:41

the purpose of life is to find God and

0:43

that is what Paramahansa Yogananda I follow. And all

0:45

the scriptures said, there is a saying, a 16

0:48

year old admires people with luxuries, a 40

0:50

year old or a 50 year old admires

0:52

people with inner peace. It is a 16

0:54

to 40 year old. I

0:57

am very happy at the trend of

0:59

this conversation because it is very important

1:01

for people to know this. Vivekha

1:06

Trasir, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast. Welcome,

1:09

I am grateful and thankful to be here. Like

1:12

I was telling you, IAS, as

1:15

IAS officer, one of the

1:17

things that one

1:19

has to often do is have a lot of

1:21

difficult conversations. Things like

1:23

saying no to a politician or

1:26

to break the news which is not

1:28

so good or not something that you

1:30

really dread to pass on to your

1:32

senior or maybe to someone. So

1:34

what is something that you

1:36

learned about having difficult conversations and how

1:38

can one navigate that? Because I think

1:40

that is something that you can take

1:43

lessons from that and then implement into

1:45

your relationship or maybe having a conversation

1:47

with your parent about your life partner

1:49

or a career choice and that

1:52

can go into different aspects of life. Yeah,

1:55

so you already made this conversation difficult

1:57

by asking that question. but

2:00

that is a challenge that one has to accept.

2:03

I think let's look at four types

2:06

of relationships quickly. Family,

2:10

friends, work colleagues, and

2:13

let's separate the spouse

2:15

or the partner or the love interest.

2:19

So each is complex and

2:21

each requires a certain amount

2:23

of understanding and patience on

2:26

both quarters. Now,

2:28

as an IS officer, you're obviously

2:30

a human being. You have friends who you have

2:32

to look after, who

2:35

you have to not make them feel

2:38

that you have become arrogant because you got

2:40

into the IS, and you're

2:42

still the same friend. They should

2:44

not feel you're not answering their phone or replying to

2:47

their calls or calling back. Family

2:50

should be given time. If

2:53

the kids are small or if the parents

2:55

are you know, expecting something,

2:57

you should give them time. And

3:00

time is there. It is your, it is

3:03

a skill to take out time for the

3:05

busiest person. Often I

3:07

quote this Socrates saying, beware

3:11

the barrenness of a busy life. It's

3:14

a barren life. So find those sparks

3:16

of love and understanding.

3:18

So the politician is also

3:20

a human being. Now let's come

3:22

to the IS and politician conversation, difficult conversation

3:25

as you said. So he

3:27

or she will ask you to do something. If

3:30

it is doable, it is within the

3:32

rules, it is perfectly fine, then obviously

3:34

do it. Now what's the issue?

3:37

And if the politician is calling you up

3:39

to accelerate something like that, then

3:41

you respect him or her and do it quicker than it

3:43

would normally have been, no harm. But

3:45

if it is not doable, it is

3:47

not tenable, it is not acceptable, then

3:50

you must say no and all you just say that,

3:52

okay, I'll look into it, but you don't do

3:55

it. And if he calls back, she

3:57

calls back again and again, then you

3:59

say firmly that. this can't be done. I've had a look at

4:01

it, it can't be done. What can

4:03

they after that do? They will basically feel

4:05

exasperated and upset with you and then they

4:07

will give up

4:10

or they'll transfer you. So nothing really matters

4:12

after that. So if you make a reputation

4:14

one, then you're okay. So

4:16

how do you go about saying no to

4:18

someone? Because I think one of the biggest

4:20

challenge a lot of people have is

4:23

having, you know, is saying no, saying no

4:25

to friend to necessarily, you know, do the things

4:27

that I'm not interested in, but I have

4:29

to do it because of social pressure, whether that

4:31

could be drinking or whether, you know, anything.

4:33

But I think taking lesson from

4:36

what you've just said, how do

4:38

I say no? Because that's such a big

4:40

part, right? Saying no to, I

4:42

don't want to do this, but I have to say no

4:44

because of whatever obligation that I have. So

4:47

even in 2023, we are still dealing with

4:49

human beings and human

4:51

beings have emotions, feelings. So the person

4:53

who has to say no is

4:56

someone who feels that this person will

4:58

not accept my no or will

5:01

feel hurt by my no, or

5:03

will be, I

5:05

will find it difficult because

5:07

of this person's personality or

5:10

closeness to me. So you

5:12

said alcohol, some friends are saying, yeah, except play-low,

5:14

except play-low, that sort of thing. Even I went

5:16

through it in college, though I

5:19

never had, I never, I don't

5:21

drink. But on the last

5:23

day of our four years,

5:26

they said, because I was

5:28

such a close friend. So

5:31

I had a sip for them. But then

5:34

that no, which I said for four years and

5:36

beyond is something which was a

5:38

choice and it has to be done. So

5:41

I think we should

5:43

realize that when we are saying that no, it

5:45

is probably for the benefit of the other person

5:47

also. You care for that person, you

5:49

are saying no, which might temporarily hurt them. Let's

5:52

take the case of a mother. I've heard a

5:54

saint talking about this. He says

5:56

the mother doesn't give the child the

5:58

toy that he wants. because

6:00

the mother knows it's not good for him to play

6:02

with that too much, something like that. Let's

6:05

say it's PlayStation or something nowadays. It's not good

6:07

for him. So the mother says no,

6:09

but it is a rough no for the child. The

6:11

child cries. The person we

6:13

are saying no to in real life might feel bad,

6:16

but it is temporary. In the long run, they will

6:18

thank you. So be a little, raise

6:20

your consciousness and say no. As an ego, you say no

6:22

to everything. But when it is important to say no, may

6:24

say no. I

6:27

have one more question when it comes

6:29

to IES or any high-ranking government officers.

6:32

One of the things that you mentioned, not to be arrogant. And

6:36

the general perception is people with that kind

6:38

of, you have a certain power, all of

6:41

a sudden, everybody will look up to you,

6:43

respect you. When they come to

6:45

your cabin, they have a certain sense of fear

6:48

of what they might... I

6:50

just can't disappoint this person. So

6:54

how does that change

6:57

you, at least in the early part

7:00

of your career, on being

7:02

like, hey, you know what? Now I have this power

7:04

and all of the people, that

7:06

arrogance can come into you, right?

7:09

And how can you not

7:13

let that sort of run you? I

7:16

want to hear your experience with that. I

7:19

think being a human being, at

7:21

times I have also felt that

7:23

I have been arrogant

7:25

with some people at some point

7:27

of time. But luckily

7:29

for me, it is an exception to my

7:33

personality. My father

7:35

was an IPS officer. So I

7:37

saw that power that took, as they call

7:39

it in Punjab, from the beginning. And

7:41

he was like, salutes

7:44

and police and siren and everything. As

7:46

a child, I knew that this was part of my life. He

7:50

died at 50. I got a job in his place in the

7:52

Haryana Civil Service. Later I was

7:54

promoted to the IAS, much later. But

7:57

that respect which he had, I

7:59

owe him. also got. Now

8:01

I was maybe if I was a first

8:03

generation officer, I may have

8:06

been a little taken aback

8:08

or taken in by that power a little

8:10

more. But here I was a bit

8:12

used to that kind of thing. So

8:14

I did not really change my personality. I

8:17

did not become arrogant. But

8:19

then when I became Deputy Commissioner, DC

8:21

is the key cutting edge post in

8:24

administration. So I realized

8:26

suddenly people are although I was already an

8:28

IS officer, suddenly people

8:30

are respectfully talking to be

8:32

even more than before. So

8:35

more that they're you know, they are a little more

8:37

wary of this person, they are a little more respectful

8:39

there. So then it is easy to become

8:41

arrogant. But I think you have

8:44

to see that you will not be there forever.

8:47

And these are things which come and go. So

8:49

often say that you have to be that person

8:51

who they respect, not because the

8:53

position. So you that position

8:55

comes and goes, but you

8:57

remain that Vivek or that Vijay or

8:59

whoever we are, whatever. That's the

9:01

thing. You know, this brings me to a

9:04

very, very interesting, you know, thought that I

9:06

have. And I think one of the reasons

9:08

why politicians are so attached to the chair

9:11

is today you are in power, everybody

9:13

is there at your doorstep,

9:16

you know, and you have if

9:18

it's some festival or

9:20

if it's anything, then you get tons

9:22

and tons of invitations, everybody want to,

9:25

like, you know, talk to you,

9:27

connect with you, and all of a sudden the

9:29

power power goes away, then it's tickets.

9:33

You know, so it's

9:35

very, you see, we

9:37

have to understand my motivational talks, I tell

9:39

the youngsters, life is

9:41

unpredictable. And life is full

9:44

of ups and downs. And every day

9:46

is not the same. So

9:49

you expect something good to happen. And it may

9:51

not happen at that time, you feel it's a

9:53

setback. But sometimes you get things

9:55

which are much better than you had hoped

9:57

for. So then it is something we should

9:59

be. grateful for. But then,

10:01

you know, this unpredictability is the magic of

10:04

life. There is a story

10:06

which I'll tell quickly here, an SHO

10:08

who was in Ludhiana, let's say, or in

10:11

Ambala, North Indian towns, very

10:13

powerful man. Suddenly, he

10:15

was transferred. So what you said just now, and

10:18

suddenly people stopped looking

10:21

at him with that same awe that

10:23

that aura went and everything went. So he was

10:26

obviously feeling very let down.

10:28

People who retired from service,

10:31

the next morning, it hits them. But

10:35

well, I do volunteer retirement. So

10:38

I was 49.

10:40

And normally people retire at 60. So

10:43

it is something which I was prepared for.

10:45

Had I retired at 60, it may have

10:47

hit me also. So when

10:49

you retire, you know that you're going to

10:51

retire. In fact, people who are in their

10:54

last year of service, they're like, Oh,

10:56

yeah, I'm going to retire. You

10:58

can perceptibly see the change personality,

11:01

but they're human. So

11:03

we feel for them. But then human beings

11:05

should realize nothing is permanent. And

11:07

next day you have to drive your own car, which

11:09

you haven't driven for 35 years. And so

11:12

you better be practicing that driving in

11:14

service. I often tell retired officers that

11:16

if you find it difficult to

11:18

drive, why don't you just keep one driver

11:20

pay him a salary after retirement, he will

11:22

also deposit your bill and you won't feel

11:24

that you've retired, you have a driver. So

11:27

that that change should be gradual, I

11:30

guess. But even if it is

11:32

sudden, people have to accept it and move on

11:34

in life and be grounded, whether it's a posting

11:36

or a retirement. Interesting.

11:39

The purpose of the life, and this is something that

11:41

you have said over and over again in so many

11:43

talks, and I want to go a little deeper into

11:45

this. The purpose of the

11:47

life is not power money or

11:49

any of the material, you know,

11:51

goals that we chase yet

11:54

for anyone to get to

11:57

that realization should have

11:59

experienced these things, right? If

12:02

somebody who has not experienced

12:06

any of these would

12:09

never understand, in my opinion, the

12:12

higher purpose that you talk about, right?

12:15

So can you share why

12:19

do you think the entire world

12:21

right now is changing the

12:23

material goals? And yet, let's take a bit

12:25

of a macro view. Let's say we zoom

12:27

out and we look at from

12:30

the top and let's say we can see

12:32

everything that's happening on the earth from a

12:34

very macro perspective and we see that everybody

12:36

is running after power, money, accumulation,

12:41

occupation in terms of different country and

12:43

war and so on and so forth,

12:45

right? So is

12:47

that all like a wrong

12:50

game that we're playing? No, no, it's part of

12:52

the divine plan, I think. And it's a very

12:54

good question, well expressed by you. Basically

12:57

human experience is necessary

13:00

for us to understand that there is a

13:03

divine plan, as you said. We

13:05

have to go through that cycle and

13:07

there is a share which is basically,

13:09

I'll say it in Urdu, it's, so

13:11

basically it is that it's not mine, of course, it's not

13:13

mine. It's

13:23

came on WhatsApp. So we

13:26

are into toys, we are into crushes, we

13:28

are into job and career and then we

13:30

think God, and all that. Basically

13:35

the purpose of life is to find God and

13:38

that is what Paramahansa Yogananda I follow and all

13:40

the scriptures said, the autobiography where

13:42

Yogi says it clearly it's a great book

13:44

to read, everybody should read it. Yeah, I'm

13:46

reading it currently. You're reading it currently, great.

13:50

The point is that if

13:53

we don't have setbacks, if

13:55

we don't have setbacks in the quest for material goals which

13:57

you talked about, money, I want this money, I want this

13:59

money. that you have setbacks

14:02

then you pray you don't

14:04

have setbacks we know that means when

14:06

you're happy

14:10

you're like god does not

14:12

require when I'm unhappy I need

14:14

god so when I'm unhappy

14:16

only then I'll fulfill the purpose of life

14:18

which is to find god so

14:20

I start praying and meditating when I

14:22

get angry when you're getting those bumps

14:25

in life so I think they're

14:28

necessary and that quest for

14:31

material success there is a

14:33

saying a 16 year old admires

14:35

people with luxuries a

14:37

40 year old or a 50 year old admires

14:40

people with inner peace so

14:42

16 to 40 mea ab sikse hai kailong

14:45

nahi sikte us ke baad bhi 70 80 sak bhi nahi sikte

14:47

even in 70s

14:49

they're talking about money and crime and power

14:51

and politics it is okay with me I

14:53

have no problem with that but I would

14:55

say talk about sports and music and art

14:57

and literature and spirituality ultimately

14:59

it'll be good progress and

15:01

now today you are asking

15:03

me this question you're

15:08

reading the autobiography at a young age I

15:11

started at let's say 40 started

15:13

the spiritual so I

15:15

think life is actually progressing and

15:19

last point on this one

15:21

Sri Yukteswar who wrote the holy signs he

15:23

said the kalug ended

15:25

in 1700 something whereas in

15:28

popular perception kalug chalva kalug chalva

15:31

kalug ke bhi wo thore

15:33

se wo facets chalvay after

15:35

effects because there's a long

15:37

transition period towards duapariyuk which

15:39

is a higher yug all

15:42

this electricity and internet and knowledge

15:44

and chandrayaan and all is not

15:46

possible without that higher yug science

15:49

technology so after 200 years

15:52

we may be having a better conversation in

15:54

another lifetime so

15:56

I think the crux of this is all

15:59

the human experiences, they basically move us closer

16:01

to God, whether they are bad or

16:04

good. And ultimately, we have to go.

16:07

I have a question here. And I think

16:09

this is a dilemma, a lot of people,

16:12

my age and younger people

16:16

who have

16:19

started exploring the spiritual side of

16:22

saying that, okay, I need to this is

16:24

the ultimate purpose. Everybody is saying that. And

16:26

I think, you know, there is a there

16:28

is saying by one of the one of

16:30

the billionaires, saying that I wish that everybody

16:32

becomes billionaire, so that they could realize that

16:35

this is not what this is not something

16:37

that's going to make them happy, right? We

16:39

have heard this from the people that we have

16:41

idolized saying, Oh, my God, I would want the

16:43

money like this person. And this person says that

16:45

this is not it, you know, great.

16:48

So this means that, you know, there is something

16:50

beyond that, I think I should start looking at

16:52

that path as well. But

16:55

like, you know, what Yogananda did, he

16:58

left that path, you know, while

17:00

his guru asked him to complete his education,

17:03

which he did. And then he

17:05

left that path and completely at a very,

17:07

very young age for him as well, he

17:09

started going on that path. The

17:14

dilemma is if I

17:20

say tell myself that, Oh, you know what,

17:22

the material goal doesn't, you know, really is

17:24

not something that, you know, that gives me

17:26

happiness. So let me start on the spiritual

17:28

path and let me advance a lot on

17:31

that path. And the

17:33

battle that you fight within is, is

17:35

this like a compromise that I'm

17:37

making or an excuse that I'm giving, because

17:39

I'm not able to, you know, excel

17:42

the way that I should be in the material

17:44

path. That's a good

17:46

point. But I

17:49

think it's not a compromise. It's

17:51

basically, it also comes when success

17:53

comes at times. Failure

17:56

comes, we think of God, because

17:59

we in those trying. times. But sometimes

18:01

Gautam Buddha, Ashoka

18:04

the Great, Virat

18:06

Kohli. Now let's come to people

18:08

who are universally known. Virat

18:10

Kohli is today's modern great. And

18:13

Ashoka the Great won the war, everything.

18:15

And then he found that compassion, that

18:17

love for God. He was the king

18:19

of the world or whatever of that

18:21

time, of that era. Gautam

18:24

Buddha had everything that

18:26

a material person needs. So

18:29

I think some

18:31

people they will find that

18:35

nothing is giving them joy anymore

18:38

because they have enough of it. They

18:40

have so much of material success. You

18:43

press a button and whatever you want to come,

18:45

just like the genie nowadays, you press

18:47

a button, the bugger will come. Or

18:49

you click something, Zomato comes, whoever comes. Or

18:52

if you have money, you order something, the richest of

18:54

people can order anything. So what I'm trying to say

18:57

is that failure teaches

18:59

us to move towards God. Success

19:01

also should teach us to move towards

19:04

God. And in between, people

19:07

who are still striving to move from

19:09

the low rungs to the higher

19:11

rungs, they are too busy

19:14

in striving. But

19:16

Paramahansa Yogananda says, if

19:18

you think of the giver

19:21

and not his gifts, you

19:23

will get the giver as well as the gifts.

19:26

So the word of spirituality

19:28

contains material success also. A

19:31

person who is meditating, who

19:33

is following the spiritual path, will

19:36

also be materially successful if he wants. So

19:39

last point on this one is, there

19:41

was a nun threading a needle. And

19:44

Daya Mataji was the

19:47

senior lady, senior nun, and

19:50

she's also a follower of Paramahansa Yogananda,

19:52

president of SRF. The

19:54

young nun was not able to thread the needle for

19:56

a while, maybe her eyesight was

19:58

not that great. Finally she

20:00

did it. She says, Ma, see, the

20:02

moment I prayed to the Guru that helped me

20:04

to do this little thing, I did

20:07

it. That is great. But

20:09

Ma, Daya Ma says to her, she

20:11

says, why didn't you pray to him the first time? So

20:15

the world of spirituality includes

20:17

the smallest thing. So

20:19

we should basically try and be connected to

20:21

the Lord in everything we do. Even crossing

20:23

a red light, I mean a green light.

20:26

Let it be green. That's the thing. How

20:34

does one arrive at this

20:37

is the path that spiritual, there

20:39

are so many different spiritual paths. Ultimate

20:41

goal, everybody said that, you know,

20:44

find the God in any religion, connect

20:46

to God, you know, find divine

20:48

and so on and so forth. There are so many

20:50

paths. How does one arrive at,

20:53

okay, this is the path that I want to

20:55

take in. You know, how did you know that,

20:57

oh, you know what, this is the spiritual path

20:59

that I want to follow to get

21:01

to, you know, to connect with the God and divine.

21:04

I'm very happy at the trend of this

21:06

conversation because it's very important for people to

21:08

know this. Basically,

21:11

the spiritual path is one.

21:15

But there are various ways onto the top of the

21:17

mountain, as they say. You need

21:19

to reach the top of the mountain. Once you reach the

21:21

peak, then it's all one. That is the divine. But

21:24

there could be different pathways. And

21:27

sometimes you say that these pathways are religions.

21:29

We could be in the lower parts

21:32

of the mountain, they are religions. But

21:34

then they become spiritual paths. All

21:37

good, true spiritual paths will lead to the

21:39

peak. So whether you follow

21:41

one or the other, what you should do is

21:43

to go deep into it. One of them.

21:47

First you can explore, no harm. So

21:49

they say, the saint says that you read everything

21:52

under the sun. Some people have that quest. They

21:55

will read Osho, Ramakrishna, Paramhansa,

21:57

they will read Paramahansa Yogananda.

22:00

they will read others, they will read even the Bible, they

22:02

will read the Quran,

22:04

they will read the Guru

22:07

Ramsahab. But the thing is

22:09

that ultimately you need to start practicing

22:11

that one path and

22:13

maybe you take a year or two to decide

22:15

or maybe take five years also, ultimately

22:18

focus on one and get

22:20

deep into it. So I think it's very important for

22:22

people to realize that we

22:24

will find the goal like

22:27

Arjun had the eye

22:29

on the goal, on the eye

22:31

of the bird and that's it. You

22:37

have taken an early retirement and

22:39

now you are on this path

22:41

of spiritual

22:44

journey of connecting with the divine.

22:46

And I'm also working as a

22:49

motivational speaker, so it's trying to

22:51

balance both. Yeah, of course, balancing

22:53

both. So from that spiritual

22:55

journey, what is it that you have

22:57

learned and what do you think

22:59

is, where do you

23:01

see going before you

23:04

sort of leave the world? Is there

23:06

a goal that you are chasing on

23:08

your spiritual path? How do you

23:10

see that? So I'll

23:12

quote my path because Self-Realization Fellowship

23:14

and Yoga Satsang Swati which I

23:16

follow, I write for them also,

23:18

I write articles on the Guru's

23:21

teachings and Paramahansa

23:23

Yogananda. So he said basically the

23:25

purpose of life is to find God. How

23:28

does God come to you before you pop

23:31

off as you said? So basically

23:33

you need to find within

23:35

you those qualities which are

23:38

God-like. You may

23:40

not be perfect, you may not be

23:43

great, but you have improved

23:45

from before. If you were

23:47

a little restless, you become a little more peaceful. If

23:49

you were not forgiving, you become more

23:52

forgiving. If you were,

23:54

let's say, that dynamism which comes

23:56

from within that spiritual magnetism they

23:58

talk about. It was less,

24:00

it has improved. So if you

24:02

have raised the level of these qualities, there's

24:06

a quality, equanimity, which is

24:08

Sanskrit, which is basically Sambha,

24:11

which means that bad

24:13

things are happening, I'm solid and

24:15

calm. Great things are

24:17

happening, I'm solid and calm. I

24:21

have equanimity in the face of success and failure.

24:24

These qualities, if you attain a little

24:26

bit also, nobody's perfect. Then

24:28

you have fulfilled the purpose of life because you

24:30

move closer to the Lord. And

24:33

the divine has all these qualities, there are

24:35

26 qualities enunciated in the Gita, I think.

24:38

So what we have to do is

24:40

to go with the consciousness that I

24:43

did my best as

24:45

a good human being, as a

24:47

meditator, as someone who helped

24:49

others, and followed my Guru's

24:51

teachings. If I can go with that consciousness,

24:54

then I think I fulfilled my purpose.

24:56

There are people in this era, in

24:58

this life, I've seen who may be

25:00

monks or devotees, in

25:02

the family also devotees, who

25:04

seem to me to have realized even the

25:07

ultimate goal. They are one

25:09

with God all the time. So maybe I

25:12

cannot aspire maybe to that, although I'll get a

25:14

scolding from my Guru if I say that, because

25:16

the Guru's teachings say you will find God in

25:19

this life. But let's hope

25:21

we come near that, that's it. One

25:24

of the things that really touched me when

25:26

I was reading the book, and maybe that

25:29

was probably something that I was personally trying

25:31

to find, and this is about eating

25:34

non-vegetarian food. And

25:38

Yogananda Paramahansa, he

25:40

asked Guru saying that,

25:45

about the importance of the life, where he says,

25:48

does that mean, he says, his Guru said that all

25:50

life are equal. And he says, does that mean that

25:53

if an animal is dying, it's better that I give

25:55

my life. And Guru says, in

25:57

the hierarchy, human life is higher, more

25:59

equal. Important, but that does not mean

26:01

that you can still are. You have

26:03

to kill eight And and and. Left.

26:07

The next lane racing huddle very deep

26:09

impact on me with says. Or

26:11

himself. With. His is not one

26:13

me about not killings. But. It's

26:15

also the in ensign all the thought of

26:18

towards that you have a lot not telling

26:20

anyone. Faith. Which I said

26:22

was really really powerful. Eight one is like or

26:24

you know what, I don't wanna kill Saudis. I

26:26

also have no intention of killing anyone a bit.

26:28

I think was a really fall for do It

26:30

says it's great that you picked it up. Your

26:35

fish with uses to a brutal. When you have

26:37

a young boy. He. Said why

26:39

not? Complete the lead of killing

26:41

the mosquito. In your

26:43

mind, you already killed. To

26:46

go million on that. He was a young

26:48

boy, forty Maria. That and. Under

26:50

the Buddha's hard she says you didn't

26:53

killer but you. In your

26:55

mind wander to collect a know

26:57

you when they are of I

26:59

mean of friction in taught. You.

27:03

Something which is. Perhaps

27:05

unattainable for the common man. Unless.

27:08

He goes deep into meditation and that

27:11

consciousness doesn't allow him to more into

27:13

back to visit the point. The.

27:15

Point is that the even say that

27:17

it is not wrong to be empty.

27:20

Made. It is wrong to succumb to

27:23

temptation repeatedly. You. Learn from

27:25

your mistakes and you improve. But.

27:27

You're tempted to have another tactic. Whereas

27:30

perhaps you should stop. And.

27:33

Nord. Have it for your own says. So

27:35

bad been tempted to have the

27:37

chocolate is is okay. But.

27:39

Having the chocolate again and again with you

27:42

shouldn't have and affects your health is wrong

27:44

about somebody else. It's audience and was gets

27:46

you stealing it Also. But.

27:50

On the other hand would you says is even

27:52

higher what you said. That. Are

27:54

you from the one thing? Are you from the you

27:57

have that both. Getting. Them.

28:00

Another way to put it, the more

28:02

you meditate, the more you are

28:04

regular on the spiritual path, your tendency

28:06

to think those thoughts will

28:08

reduce. So it's not that

28:10

we are giving up such thoughts, it

28:13

is that we are moving closer to the light. The

28:15

darkness is anyway vanishing. This is what he says. Then

28:18

darkness is coming towards you. You

28:20

move towards the light and the darkness is moving far

28:22

away from you. And

28:25

does eating non-vegetarian stops

28:28

in any way on your spiritual advancement?

28:30

I think he says, even the holy

28:32

science of Yukteswarji says that human body

28:35

is not meant for non-veg. He

28:39

does, Yogananda ji advocated, okay

28:41

you eat eggs. Now

28:43

I would say to someone

28:46

who's eating non-vegetarian to probably

28:48

reduce the non-vegetarian consumption first.

28:51

Even the modern book Atomic Habits by

28:53

James Clear, he says reduce incrementally or

28:55

change incrementally. Incrementally small

28:58

atomic changes. So

29:00

a non-vegetarian can reduce it from

29:02

let's say four times a week to once a week

29:05

and then gradually you feel and but

29:07

the thing is if you meditate, your

29:10

desire to eat non-vegetarian will also

29:13

reduce. Affair it done. It is

29:15

very very strong. My wife, she

29:17

stopped, she used to eat non-vegetarian food

29:19

even after getting married because they used to

29:21

before and I didn't, we were okay with

29:24

that. I'm okay she's eating non-vegetarian times. But

29:27

she started reading the Gita and meditating and

29:29

scripture and then she didn't feel like eating

29:31

it. That's it. So I think you move

29:33

towards the sun and you're moving

29:35

away from the darkness or even non-vegetarian that way

29:37

is dark but it's okay if

29:39

somebody's eating non-vegetarian, I'm not against them.

29:42

It's just that too

29:45

much consumption is not good. Yeah

29:48

and I think this you know the reason,

29:51

the dilemma again is it's

29:54

very clear that on this if you are on

29:56

a spiritual path and I was watching you know

30:00

discourse by Osho and where he says

30:03

that when you're eating something then it's

30:05

pulling you, it's heavy, it's pulling you

30:07

to the ground. And when you are

30:09

eating light, then it helps you make

30:11

your meditation deeper and you know you

30:13

are more moving up. Sorry

30:15

to interrupt you, absolutely right. When we

30:17

practice Kriya Yoga, which is the path

30:19

I follow, they say that

30:22

after dinner or lunch, don't practice immediately.

30:24

Wait for a couple of hours. Because

30:27

the energy that you have within

30:29

is then focusing on the digestion.

30:32

So it's focusing on the stomach and

30:35

you start doing your meditation. So the energy says,

30:37

oh hey, do I focus on the stomach now

30:39

or do I focus on the meditation part? So

30:42

you need to wait when the system

30:44

is calmer, then you meditate. Yeah,

30:47

yeah. And that's one part of

30:49

it, right? You know that, oh, you know what, if you want to

30:51

advance on this path, then

30:53

this is something that sort of even came

30:56

up in the meditation saying that, oh, you

30:58

know what, and that is one

31:00

aspect. The other aspect to it is the

31:02

whole conversation, particularly the conversation that

31:04

comes from the waste about the

31:08

entire thing about nutrition. Where

31:10

they say that, oh, if you are not

31:12

eating animal meat, then you are

31:14

depriving your body of the nutrition. And

31:17

they would have equally convincing... arguments

31:22

on that, right? And

31:24

then the average person would like look at, oh,

31:26

you know, what should I look at my own

31:28

body and the nutrition and the need? Or

31:30

should I look at, you know, my spiritual

31:32

advancement and then I really want to do

31:34

it, right? And finding, I think that balance

31:36

and balance is important. But you see, we're

31:38

not fooling ourselves in cold climates, in

31:41

places where meat eating

31:44

is probably necessary or it is

31:47

the only way in snowy

31:49

areas where there's no vegetables possible.

31:53

In India, I don't think we need to have

31:55

meat, but if you are

31:57

eating it, be moderate in it. I think

31:59

eggs give... the same nutrients that any

32:03

higher or deeper form

32:05

of non-veg gives. So

32:07

I think we should balance our diet as you rightly

32:09

said and the minimal proteins which you

32:11

need they should be there. If

32:13

you're doing it only out of taste or you're greedy

32:16

for that then I think you need to reduce that.

32:20

The other thing that you talk about is emotional

32:23

intelligence and you have delivered so

32:25

many talks and so on and so forth. What

32:29

is emotional resilience in the first place? So

32:32

first emotional intelligence, Daniel Goldman is the

32:34

guru's seven aspects and but my definition

32:36

is very simple. It

32:38

is the ability to handle people

32:40

and situations in a calm

32:42

and balanced manner. Basically

32:45

emotional resilience as you said is a

32:47

higher way to put it. So

32:49

basically under duress, under stress,

32:52

under provocation you're still

32:54

calm in your mind and you're able to

32:56

handle that situation. Somebody's provoking you. It

32:58

happens. Road rage, a relationship.

33:01

So you are able to remain stoic and

33:03

silent and calm. That means

33:05

you have conquered your demons to an extent

33:08

but at times you'll be moody. So

33:11

moodiness is part of human life but

33:13

reduce that. So we used to

33:15

say in the government let's have a paperless government. I

33:17

was in IT. We couldn't do paperless

33:19

we did less paper. So at least

33:21

you have reduced the amount of paper consumption. So

33:24

I say to youngsters now if

33:26

you can't be fearless at least have less

33:28

fear to reduce your fear.

33:30

So similarly