Your Discomfort With LGBTQIA+ Says A Lot || Acharya Prashant, AIIMS-Raipur (2026)

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]I have a trans friend and I have a gay friend also, and I'm quite comfortable with this thing, but I also know people who doesn't even want to talk about it.

[00:00:07]How can we let people understand this thing and be okay with this thing or maybe accept this thing?

[00:00:14]There is no dignity in this and it's actually quite quite stupid [music] to judge someone on the basis of their physicality. You don't have to ask for acceptance. Who is anybody else to even accept you?

[00:00:32]You look at a human being coming towards you and the first thing you ask is tell me your gender.

[00:00:38]What do you have to [music] do with that? Are you getting into an intimate relationship? We do not understand any kind of maryada or lakshman rekha.

[00:00:51]Good afternoon to the respective faculty, distinguished guests, students, and members of the AIMS Raipur community. Few institutions reflect disciplined inquiry, scientific thinking, and a commitment to nation building as strongly as AIMS Raipur. It is therefore a privilege to host a thinker who inspires us to question our assumptions and engage deeply with life's fundamental concerns. Acharya Prashantji is a contemporary philosopher, author, and public intellectual known for his clarity and fearless pursuit of truth. With over 160 books, including the best seller Truth Without Apology, his work challenges conventional thinking and encourages honest self-reflection. Through his writings, talks, and digital presence, he he reaches millions worldwide. Today, we are honored to host him here at AIMS Raipur. On behalf of the AIMS Raipur community, I extend a warm welcome to Acharya Prashantji. We look forward to an insightful and thought-provoking session. We welcome you, sir.

[00:01:59]A warm welcome to our respected executive director of Ames Raipur, retired Lieutenant General Dr. Ashok Kumar Jindal, sir. I now humbly request him to felicitate Acharya Ji.

[00:02:48]Thank you, sir.

[00:02:50]I request sir to take a seat in the auditorium and enjoy today's discussion.

[00:02:55]I now call upon the panel to take their seats on the dais.

[00:03:03]Namashkar, sir.

[00:03:04]Today's question that I really want to ask is about LGBTQIA+ and I am definitely sure a lot of people here don't even know the full thing.

[00:03:14]They know gay, they know lesbian, they might know transgenders, but they don't know Q, they don't know I, they don't know A.

[00:03:21]And for my personal experience, I have friends uh who belong to this thing also. I have a trans friend, I have a gay friend also.

[00:03:30]And I'm quite comfortable with this thing, but I also know people who doesn't even want to talk about it.

[00:03:36]Not knowing one thing is a different thing, but not want to know one thing is ex- but extremely different thing. There are people who don't even want to think about it, listen about it. Being comfortable and uncomfortable with this thing is another thing.

[00:03:53]So, the accept how can uh we let people understand this thing and be okay with this thing or maybe accept this thing, not ignore it or not with like ew with this thing or cringey like that.

[00:04:07]How can we get the acceptance?

[00:04:10]I uh Even acceptance is not really needed.

[00:04:21]We are talking uh about alternate gender identities here.

[00:04:33]Who is any person to even accept let alone reject uh somebody on the basis of uh gender identity or sexual orientation.

[00:05:05]There has to be a silent uh There has to be a silent and dignified uh if I may say indifference.

[00:05:36]Mhm?

[00:05:38]As we sit here to discuss we are attention.

[00:05:51]We are dignity. We are consciousness.

[00:05:55]We are listening.

[00:06:00]How does it exactly matter what the gender constitution of the audience is or for that matter that of the panelists or the speaker?

[00:06:18]As I speak to you all, I don't want to be accepted uh on the basis of uh anything that is not uh relevant to consciousness itself.

[00:06:40]No, don't pay attention to anything else. Pay attention to the words and uh whether they elevate you from within.

[00:06:49]That's all.

[00:06:51]And the same thing applies uh to the panelists here. As you come over here, it would be pretty odd and not at all dignified of me to uh get into miscellaneous uh uh physical details, for example.

[00:07:10]Uh that's almost like asking somebody to submit their pathology records before you can initiate a conversation with them.

[00:07:24]Hm?

[00:07:26]Uh makes makes no sense and there is no dignity in this and is actually quite quite stupid.

[00:07:35]You see, you require uh a center that does not know life at all, that does not know the human being at all to to judge someone first thing on the basis of their physicality.

[00:08:01]Physicality in in whatever sense possible.

[00:08:06]Not just the sexual sense. You know, height, weight, complexion, looks, this, that, whatever.

[00:08:19]That's the way a butcher and a buyer look at animals to be bought, sold, slaughtered, consumed.

[00:08:33]That's not the way sentient human beings are to look at each other.

[00:08:38]No?

[00:08:42]So, if if you come from one of the alternate identities, could be anything LGBT or Q or or if you come from one of the two mainstream identities, doesn't matter.

[00:08:56]You don't have to ask for acceptance.

[00:09:00]Even asking for acceptance is a bit of a climb down.

[00:09:07]Who is anybody else to even accept you?

[00:09:12]You are what you are, that's fine.

[00:09:14]That's fine.

[00:09:16]If a human being is to be assessed he, she, or whatever pronoun you want to attach is to be assessed on the basis of of the depth of his understanding, the fire of his love.

[00:09:39]Huh? The the the patience of his attention.

[00:09:45]Those are the things you must consider when you look uh at at a member of the Homo sapiens species.

[00:09:56]Not whether the hair are long or short or >> [snorts] >> or very crudely put what's inside the undergarments.

[00:10:10]That's that's that's that's that's that's not the way.

[00:10:14]And if someone were to look at you that way, probably the best thing is to get up and walk away silently.

[00:10:26]That company is not worth it.

[00:10:29]Uh you should not stay there and ask for acceptance.

[00:10:34]Even their acceptance is not worth it.

[00:10:37]Uh simply refuse that company. Why why belong there?

[00:10:42]You're not an animal.

[00:10:44]Uh you are you are not uh your your gender identity.

[00:10:51]Uh mm but when it's a part of the mainstream culture to look at any person from just or primarily the sexual center, then the first thing you ask is uh which gender do you belong to?

[00:11:14]That tells less about the object of your inquiry and much more about the inquirer. The inquirer is obsessed.

[00:11:26]The inquirer is sexually obsessed.

[00:11:30]Huh?

[00:11:31]You see, you look at a human being coming towards you and the first thing you ask is, "Tell me your gender, orientation.

[00:11:41]Are you static or fluid?"

[00:11:43]What kind of questions are these? And what do you have to do with that?

[00:11:48]Are you getting into an intimate relationship? One can probably understand then.

[00:11:54]But in a university, at a marketplace, at a workplace, in matters of general social acknowledgement, why do you even need to know all these things about the other person?

[00:12:11]But we are not just intrusive, we are vulgarly intrusive.

[00:12:18]We we don't bat an eyelid before getting into something we are not we are not supposed to.

[00:12:30]We do not understand any kind of maryada or Lakshman Rekha.

[00:12:35]We can get into the neighbor's house, for example, and ask the newlywed bride, "Uh put in a mug of the curry, you."

[00:12:45]This is equally obscene, equally intrusive.

[00:12:51]This is like just trespassing into somebody's very personal lawn.

[00:12:59]You know, just because you found the gate open.

[00:13:05]And you just don't just walk, you trample it.

[00:13:09]You you're not supposed to even get in.

[00:13:13]Hm?

[00:13:14]So, uh One has to move beyond the question.

[00:13:21]How to gain acceptance?

[00:13:24]Let the question be irrelevant. No, I don't want your acceptance.

[00:13:28]I don't want you to even look in that direction.

[00:13:37]Don't even look that side.

[00:13:39]Look at me, here.

[00:13:41]Not Not down there. Here.

[00:13:45]This is where the consciousness is. This is This is where I speak from.

[00:13:52]This is where I hear from.

[00:13:56]The face is the index of the mind.

[00:13:58]Look this way.

[00:14:02]My genitals do not describe me.

[00:14:06]You're not supposed to look down there.

[00:14:08]Look this side. And if you are someone some kind of a pervert, an addict uh who who looks at the human body and finds only the sexual, the reproductive parts of interest, then you're not worth talking to. Full stop.

[00:14:30]Women Women know of that experience more than men do, right?

[00:14:36]You speak to someone, and instead of looking at your face, he's looking at your chest constantly, and you know of the discomfort it causes.

[00:14:44]Right? And And what do you want? You want that person then to accept and acknowledge you as a conscious being?

[00:14:52]Not worth it. Not worth it.

[00:14:55]Uh You're not to beg for acceptance. You're not even to uh demand acceptance. Nothing.

[00:15:03]Not worth standing there.

[00:15:05]Walk away.

[00:15:13]Just download the Acharya Prashant app, and there you go to the community section.

[00:15:18]And you have live testimonials streaming in at the rate of one every 5 minutes. I'm seeing lives change >> [music] >> in thousands if not millions every day in front of my own eyes. We are doing it. We have actually done it.

[00:15:34]Join the community of more than 2 lakh [music] participants on the Acharya Prashant app. Your first month is completely free. You'll get full access to Gita mission.

[00:15:43]>> [music] >> On the app you will get regular live sessions, daily exclusive conversations with Acharya [music] Prashant, access to the vibrant Gita community, wisdom exams, curated news, audiobooks, quotes, and much more. Search Acharya Prashant on Google Play Store or Apple App Store and download now.

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