How to differentiate right thinking from wrong thinking?|| Acharya Prashant,on Shri Ashtavakra(2014)

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...  ⚡ Want Acharya Prashant’s regular updates? Join WhatsApp Channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va6Z...   Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...   Want to accelerate Acharya Prashant’s work? Contribute: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/contri...   Want to work with Acharya Prashant? Apply to the Foundation here: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/hiring...  ➖➖➖➖➖➖  Video Information: Shabdyog Session, 23.11.2014, Advait Bodhsthal, Noida, India   Context:   अष्टावक्र गीता (अध्याय 18 सूत्र 43)  शुद्धमद्वयमात्मानं भावयन्ति कुबुद्धयः। न तु जानन्ति संमोहा-द्यावज्जीवमनिर्वृताः।।  Those of dull intellect meditate upon the Atman  as pure and One, but they do not realize It,  through delusion,  they remain unhappy as long as they live.  ~ Ashtavakra Gita (18-43)  ~ What is wrong thinking? ~ What is right thinking? ~ How to differentiate right thinking from wrong thinking? ~ What is difference between buddhi and sad buddhi? ~ What is mind?  Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~

Transcript

00:00 Ashtavakra Gita - Those of dull intellect meditate upon the Atman

00:29 as pure and one, but they do not realize it.

00:42 Through delusion they remain unhappy as long as they live.

00:58 The question is that if one doesn't meditate upon the Atman and still be redeemed, then

01:13 what to meditate on?

01:19 Those of dull intellect meditate upon the Atman as pure and one, but they do not realize

01:27 it.

01:28 Through delusion they remain unhappy as long as they live.

01:56 The exact word used is "Kubaddhaya" "Kubaddhi"

02:10 What is the difference between "Satbuddhi" and "Kubaddhi"?

02:40 The man with "Kubaddhi" Ashtavakra says, even if he meditates upon the supreme truth,

02:52 even if he does technically all the right things, the Atman is pure, the Atman is one,

03:00 the Atman is without a second, he doesn't realize it, he remains deluded and he consequently

03:09 remains unhappy as long as he lives.

03:14 What is this "Kubaddhi" which is responsible for his deluded state throughout his life?

03:29 "Buddhi" is

03:55 the movement of mind from one state to the other.

04:13 The mind is constantly in a flux, always moving, thoughts rising and falling, images coming

04:27 and going.

04:32 No state of mind is permanent and if it is looked at closely it would be seen that it

04:38 does not survive even for a moment.

04:49 The power vested in the mind through which the states move into each other, through which

04:58 the mind moves from one state to other, that is "Buddhi".

05:09 "Buddhi" is an important component of what the scriptures called as "Antahkaran Chatushtay".

05:26 They say that what you have inside is four things - "Man Buddhi, Chit, Ahankar".

05:43 "Buddhi" is the guiding force.

05:53 Then what is "Satbuddhi" and what is "Kubaddhi"?

06:01 "Buddhi" makes the mind move.

06:09 All movement of the mind can be only in one of the two directions.

06:25 One direction is "I exist and that is the ultimate truth.

06:46 I am there as I know myself, my concepts about myself, my image about myself and from this

07:06 position I now want to understand the world, the universe and finally the ultimate truth.

07:26 Apparently the effort of "Buddhi" is genuine.

07:34 It does want to understand, it does want to know, it is meditating.

07:41 But it is meditating keeping itself intact.

07:56 It would be making very smart moves, it would be analyzing thoroughly.

08:06 But the objective of all the moves would be to maintain the self and to discover the truth

08:17 while maintaining the self.

08:23 You know it's a peculiar situation.

08:26 When you say that I want to discover the truth while maintaining the self, remember that

08:39 now you will be under compulsion to create a version of truth that maintains the self.

09:01 We are talking of one particular movement of "Buddhi".

09:05 We said all movements of "Buddhi" can be in one of two directions.

09:11 We have taken one of the directions.

09:16 Here saying one direction is "I exist, that is for granted, that is the first truth, that

09:28 is my principle fundamental position" and not that I am a dull man, not that I am a

09:38 closed man.

09:41 Apparently I am a seeker, apparently I want to know, I want to inquire and I am investing

09:53 my energy in understanding.

09:56 But my prime concern, my fundamental position is I am what I am.

10:07 Now around this position the truth must disclose itself.

10:16 So what will inevitably happen is that I will be forced to come not to truth but to a concept

10:31 of truth which is suitable to the position that I hold about myself, my identity, my

10:39 image.

10:40 I will come to something, there would be a mental movement, not that I would be so dull

10:47 that I won't discover anything.

10:48 I will discover lot of things.

10:55 But whatever I will discover will be polluted by its mandate to be compatible

11:13 with me.

11:23 And if it is not compatible with me, I will not even be able to discover it.

11:33 Not that I will reject it, it will not come in the purview of my discovery.

12:00 This is Kubuddhi.

12:04 Kubuddhi keeps self before truth.

12:15 Kubuddhi says truth is great, truth is wonderful, let me search for the truth.

12:25 Now this is seemingly a very harmless statement.

12:30 In fact a nice thing to say.

12:34 I will go and search for the truth.

12:39 But a nuance has not been realized that when you go and search for the truth, then you

12:47 have said that whatever will be revealed, will be revealed to me, the same me who went

12:57 out to search.

13:04 So me before truth.

13:07 I come first.

13:09 The truth has to be suitable to me.

13:18 So the man with Kubuddhi, let's say if he picks up Ashtavya Samhita, what would his

13:27 approach be?

13:28 Read the Ashtavya Samhita, figure out all the important verses and what would be important

13:39 to him?

13:44 That which maintains him.

13:48 That which maintains him.

13:53 Not that he won't read, he would read and he would appreciate.

14:04 He would want to go through all the knowledge that can be available to him.

14:17 But out of that, he would give importance only to that which maintains him.

14:32 Because when he has said truth, he is talking to something that is extremely important but

14:41 still less important than him.

14:47 He is a worshipper of the truth.

14:49 But before truth, he worships himself.

14:58 So he may go to Ashtavya or he may go to Kabir or he may go to Krishna.

15:18 But within himself, there would always be a feeling that I am going there, I will benefit.

15:26 Something good will happen to me.

15:30 That's like a precondition.

15:31 If I am going, then I should benefit.

15:41 Which also implies obviously that if this self comes under any kind of threat, then

15:52 all his sense of allegiance or surrender or affinity to Ashtavya or Krishna would evaporate

16:07 in a moment.

16:09 Now they don't matter to me.

16:18 Satbuddhi on the other hand, places the truth in an incomparable position.

16:47 Satbuddhi says, there is no question of asking what is more important, the truth or me.

17:06 There is no question of wondering what will happen to me when I come upon the truth.

17:25 If it is the truth, it would be auspicious.

17:30 If it is the truth, it would definitely be helpful.

17:41 So there is no point speculating what will happen to me if I know the truth and if I

17:49 start living the truth, what will happen to me?

17:51 Oh my God!

17:55 This question does not arise in the man with the pure intellect, Satbuddhi.

18:08 He does have thoughts, but never a thought that questions the truth itself.

18:24 The fear that alright, everything else can be given up, I can drop my notions, I can

18:45 drop my attachments, but let me protect at least myself, even if just to enjoy the truth

18:56 you see and it's such a nice argument.

19:01 I'll come upon the truth.

19:04 Truth is Anand.

19:06 I must survive at least to experience that Anand.

19:18 Satbuddhi does not raise even this argument.

19:30 Not that it says that the truth is greater than the self.

19:37 In Satbuddhi, truth is incomparable because deep within it knows that there is nothing

19:46 except the truth.

19:49 So what to compare it with?

20:03 This man now has no self-imposed duty to protect himself.

20:15 He is not under an obligation to come to a certain appropriate version of truth.

20:28 Now he is really open to discovery.

20:37 He is not wondering.

20:41 Oh my God, what lies in the closet?

20:48 Are there skeletons in the cupboard?

20:51 What will I discover?

20:56 I hope the discovery is not too harsh.

21:02 I hope I don't come to know or see something that simply shakes me up.

21:14 These concerns do not bother him.

21:17 He says let it come, bring it on.

21:24 I am prepared to hear whatever it might be.

21:30 I am prepared to see whatever it might be.

21:35 The ugliest cannot be ugly enough to deter me.

21:43 The most terrible cannot be terrible enough to shake me up.

21:50 It's alright, I can take anything.

21:55 Bring it on.

22:14 So a very fine between sadbuddhi, difference between sadbuddhi and kubuddhi.

22:23 In fact that difference is not visible till the very last stage.

22:30 Both are seekers, both want to know, both want to understand, both are prepared to give

22:34 up relinquish and both show movement from one state of mind to another state of mind.

22:44 Yet there is a subtle difference but that subtle difference creates a world of difference.

22:54 When it comes to the final leap, the kubuddhi mind will say I need to protect myself.

23:15 The sadbuddhi mind says hello, we were talking about the truth which by definition is one

23:30 without a second, all-encompassing, joyful, deathless.

23:48 Do I still have to take care of myself?

23:53 Do I still have to be concerned about my well-being?

24:02 I can let myself lose.

24:05 In the pursuit of truth, whatever happens to me is exactly the right thing that should

24:13 happen.

24:15 Sorry, I am not going to worry what is happening.

24:21 Whatever is happening is the best that ought to have happened.

24:33 Based on my condition, based on my feelings and my reactions, I am not going to decide

24:41 my course of action.

24:48 After the day's fight, I will not come back to my room in the evening and count my wounds.

25:05 And my wounds are not going to decide whether I am going to fight the next day or not.

25:11 That is a given.

25:16 That has already been decided.

25:22 One wound or ten wounds, I am going to be found in the battlefield next day.

25:28 So what is the point in counting them anyway?

25:32 If there is a wound, a single wound, it's good, nice, I will go and fight.

25:38 Then if there are a hundred wounds, do I have the option of not turning up available to

25:45 me?

25:46 No, I gave up that option long back.

25:49 I don't have that option.

25:59 It's the battle of truth.

26:00 I have to show up.

26:10 I am optionless.

26:24 The man with kubuddi says, "You see, it's a great battle.

26:32 It's a most important battle, no doubt.

26:43 But I must live to see the victory."

26:47 That is one condition that he poses.

26:51 He says, "Yes, I am fighting.

26:52 I am fighting for victory.

26:55 But if victory comes and I am no more there to look at it, to enjoy it, then what is the

27:02 point of such a victory?"

27:06 This is the difference between these two minds.

27:12 He says, "I will fight.

27:13 There is no doubt I am going to fight, but I will fight while protecting myself."

27:22 Now, whenever that is an objective, then remember, the battle is so bloody that one day you will

27:35 have to choose your protection over the truth because you will be hurt.

27:40 It's a bloody battle.

27:41 You will be hurt.

27:42 You will be wounded.

27:45 And then you will be required to make a choice.

27:56 What do you want to do tomorrow?

27:57 Rest, go to the doctor or fight?

28:01 And you will have to say, "I need to take rest."

28:10 The concern for self-preservation will be your defeat.

28:27 So that is the reason why Ashtavakra says that the Kubuddhi mind, even if it keeps thinking

28:42 of the Atman, of the truth, it does not realize it.

28:52 It only remains deluded all along.

28:57 It remains deluded even though it gives its search a very high priority.

29:15 I am doing so much for my search.

29:20 I have given this up.

29:21 I have given that up.

29:22 I am working hard.

29:23 I am toiling.

29:24 And yet, realization doesn't dawn upon me.

29:33 It won't dawn because you have given it a very high priority, yet a priority lower than

29:41 yourself and that is your punishment.

29:56 For the rest of the world, truth is the 50th priority.

30:02 You brought it up, you brought it up, you brought it up and you brought it up to number

30:06 two.

30:10 So you gave up a lot.

30:13 In your parlance, you invested a lot in the search and yet you will get nothing because

30:23 here one gets something only by placing the search on the highest pedestal, number one.

30:34 Number two won't do.

30:36 Number two is worse than number 50 because when you have put it on number two, then you

30:45 have given up number three, four, ten, twenty, thirty, forty and yet you will not get anything.

30:54 So you have lost what you apparently had and yet you will not get anything because to get

31:01 it, it has to be the one incomparable value.

31:11 That is why those who talk in relative terms, those who talk in the language of balancing

31:26 are the ones who will suffer the most.

31:31 You can be a man who is totally occupied with the world and engaged and alright, you remain

31:43 occupied and engaged, you can become so dull that your senses get numb and you don't even

31:56 experience suffering.

32:00 You are at least occupied, not suffering deeply but there is great suffering for those who

32:14 start on the path of truth but do not go the entire way.

32:27 The ones who want to balance things, the 50-50, 80-20 types, even 99-1 won't do, is not permissible

32:46 and you think that 50-50 can do.

33:07 Shri Aurobindo Chauhan says, "Maya mili naram".

33:17 Whatever you had in a worldly way, your time, your relationships and all the excitements

33:32 that the world can offer, you are no longer making any use of them.

33:42 At the same time, your thirst remains what it was.

33:49 Now that's a bad situation.

33:56 Maya mili naram.

34:06 For the world, the truth is the thousandth priority.

34:11 For you, it is the second priority and that is why you must suffer more and more and more.

34:23 And then you come up with fantastic arguments.

34:33 Bhukhe bhajan na hoye gopala.

34:36 Sir first priority has to be the stomach.

34:40 If the stomach is empty, how will we go after the truth?

34:51 So firstly I have to ensure a good earning for myself and my family.

34:55 That is my first priority and after that I can think of other things.

35:00 Sir have you not heard of Maslow?

35:03 Have you not heard of the fundamental needs?

35:06 First of all, the physical needs have to be met.

35:10 Only then the higher order needs, self-actualization, realization can come.

35:22 Whom are you fooling?

35:28 When your first priority is the stomach, then that's what you will do.

35:35 Beat the stomach all life.

35:42 The man whose first priority is the stomach surely identifies more with the stomach than

35:46 the truth.

35:47 So that's what you are, a stomach.

35:51 Next time when you think of yourself, don't think of your face, think of your stomach.

35:58 When you want to get yourself photographed, go and display your tummy and ask him to take

36:04 a pic.

36:05 This is what I am because Bhukhe Bhajan Na Hoye Gopala.

36:16 What to do?

36:17 You know sir, we have responsibilities and there is the family and I have a kid sir.

36:26 So there are lot many other things that are important than the truth.

36:29 So it's alright.

36:31 You have discovered something bigger than the truth.

36:37 You have done what all the Buddhas of the world could never do.

36:45 You have gone one up on the truth.

36:53 You have found out that your emotions and your family responsibilities are more important

36:57 than the truth.

36:58 Wonderful.

36:59 A Buddha must come to take a lesson or two from you.

37:13 The poor man, he was deluded, wandering here and there in the jungle thinking that the

37:21 truth is absolute, incomparable.

37:27 But we know better than the Buddha, no no sir, truth is important.

37:32 But my wife, her tears, they are more important.

37:40 Poor Buddha never knew all this.

37:50 That is Kubuddhi.

37:51 Kubuddhi will create a future and what Kubuddhi will want from the future, Sadbuddhi will

38:03 want exactly the same thing, this moment itself.

38:11 Absolutely the same statements.

38:14 There will be no difference.

38:23 Sadbuddhi will say I am drinking, Kubuddhi will say I will drink.

38:28 Same statement.

38:30 But a world of difference if you can look at them closely.

38:34 When you say I will drink, it's a conspiracy of the mind to say I am not drinking.

38:42 Pay attention.

38:44 When you say I will drink, what you are saying is right now I will not drink.

38:54 Kubuddhi will always create a future.

39:01 Always.

39:03 It will want to do all the great things that can be there.

39:12 All the wonderful things that can be there.

39:15 It would surely be devoted to all of them.

39:18 But when?

39:21 In the future.

39:26 It will postpone the truth to the future so that it can escape the truth in the present.

39:35 That's the conspiracy.

39:39 Because truth is number two.

39:43 So it can be procrastinated.

39:48 Number one is something else that I have to take care of right now.

39:51 First priority, this moment.

39:53 Second priority, future.

40:11 Do you see how we shift all that is valuable to the future and whenever there is an urge

40:23 to dive into the gutter of life, we do it right now.

40:33 If you have ever felt like being angry, have you ever said I will be angry six months later?

40:45 Have you ever said Bhukhe Krodhna Hoye Gopala?

40:59 You may be on an empty stomach or on an empty pocket, but if you want to be angry, you will

41:07 be angry.

41:09 Angry spontaneously.

41:11 That moment you will not say that let me first marry off my daughter, then I will be angry.

41:36 When the tides of sexual arousal rise in the mind, do you say next week?

41:53 Do you say that?

41:54 Oh no, next week.

41:55 But when it comes to coming to Sunday, you say next week.

42:06 Now that will help you decide what is the priority you have given to what in life.

42:14 That is the difference between Satbuddhi and Kubuddhi.

42:17 Remember, both will say that the clarity session is important.

42:22 They will not differ.

42:24 They all will agree.

42:26 But one says it is number one.

42:30 Everything else can go for a toss.

42:33 Let the entire world burn.

42:37 But this cannot wait, compromise or be delayed.

42:43 The other says, yes, yes, it is important, very important, absolutely important.

42:48 But let me just take permission from Papa.

42:50 What are you saying?

42:57 What are you saying?

42:58 No, sir, I know, sir, it is great and very important and it is the most important thing

43:04 for myself.

43:05 Let me just inform mother.

43:11 Whom are you deceiving?

Category

Transcript

Recommended