1765: Robert De Niro, Vedanta and the Art of Being Chill
5/5/202657 min
"Just be calm. When things are going well, be calm. Don't think you're on top of the world. Everybody is dispensable." The Bhagavad-gita calls it samathvam. Robert De Niro calls it being chill. Evenness of mind, steady in both the highs and the lows. Fame, wealth, prestige — they come and they go. And when that truth settles not just as a concept but as a genuine inner recognition, something shifts. Detachment arises — not as resignation, not as indifference, but as the fertile ground in which deeper contemplation and bhakti-yoga can take root. In this episode Raghunath and Kaustubha explore that teaching alongside the Srimad Bhagavatam, where the cowherd men of Vrindavan — hearing that Varuna himself worshiped their little boy — begin to wonder: will he bestow his transcendental abode upon us?
Srimad Bhagavatam 10.28.8-11
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsKaustubha Das· Host0:00
It sounds to me like... It's said that in the mode of goodness, jnana manifests, right? Knowledge manifests. And this sounds like a person who's gained some knowledge. You know, there's been enough sattva guna in his life that some truths have arisen in his, i- in his awareness that he's developed a strong faith in.
Raghunath· Host0:23
Mm.
Kaustubha Das· Host0:24
And it has to do with that evenness of mind. You, you know, uh, Bhagavad Gita i- in the 12th chapter, you know, where there's that whole list of, of- Mm ... qualities that make one dear to Krishna. And, uh, and so many of them have to do with this evenness, right? Yo na hrisyati na dvesti na socati na kankshati, right? One who neither rejoices nor grieves, who neither laments nor desires, right? But especially this, I think he's saying... Sometimes we hear that, um, we think, oh, o- one that doesn't grieve, but what about not rejoice? Shouldn't we be happy when good things happen? Should-- Hey, if you have s- a successful career, shouldn't you celebrate? And it's not exactly that he's saying no, but he's saying, but be calm. There's a certain inner calmness that one has to have.
Raghunath· Host1:10
He says be chill.
Kaustubha Das· Host1:11
Be chill, be calm. Yeah.
Raghunath· Host1:13
I, I thought that was sort of o- out of character, be chill. [laughs] But maybe it does say be chill.
Kaustubha Das· Host1:16
He says, "Just be calm when things are going well. Be calm." He's saying your-- sometimes in life, things are gonna go up. Don't get too excited about it, because we know things are also gonna come back down, right?