Conquering the mind, and experiencing the Self || Acharya Prashant, on Ribhu Gita (2018)

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: ShabdYoga Session, 14.02.2018, Advait Bodhsthal, Noida, India   Context:  Verse: The firm denial of the existence of the mind and the  firm belief in the existence of Brahman - SeIf, is the sure way to  the conquest of mind, leading to the experience of the sole  effulgent Self. ~ Ribhu Gita, Chapter 15, Verse 11 .  ~ How to conquer the mind? ~ How can one experience the self? ~ What is Truth? ~ Should we believe in existence of Brahman-Self? ~ What is the significance of belief in this quest? ~ Does mind really exists?   Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~

Transcript

00:00Aalok from the U.S. he has referred to a particular verse, verse 11 of chapter

00:2715. The verse says, the firm denial of the existence of mind and the firm belief in

00:38the existence of Brahm self is the sure way of conquest of mind leading to the

00:47experience of soul effulgent self. So Aalok is asking, Beloved Acharyaji Pranam, in the

00:59verse below, who is trying to conquer the mind and experience the self? Are these

01:08not the tricks of the ego self itself? Please shed some light on the

01:15significance of belief as mentioned in the verse. I'll repeat the verse. The firm

01:25denial of the existence of mind and the firm belief in the existence of Brahm

01:30self is the sure way of conquest of mind leading to the experience of soul

01:37effulgent self. So he's asking, who is conquering the mind and experiencing

01:43the self? Are these not the tricks of the ego itself? Why are we talking of

01:53belief being significant?

01:57You are not reading the truth, Aalok. You are reading something that is arising

02:21from the truth. The truth cannot be read. As long as the reader and the reading

02:36exist, there still is the dance of truth, the dichotomy of truth, the duality

02:54proceeding from truth, the shrouded truth. Shrouded truth too is verily the truth

03:12itself. It's just that the shrouded truth is not useful for you. Duality too is

03:24absolutely the truth. It is not really as if the truth is merely non-dual or

03:32adhyat. If duality is not truth, then what is duality? What else exists apart

03:44from the truth? Either you say that duality does not exist at all, which if

03:52said would negate the very statement because if duality does not exist, who is

03:59making the statement and to whom? So you will have to accept that duality does

04:06exist for you. And if duality does exist, then you must match it with the

04:15statement that only truth exists. Truth exists and duality exists. So duality too

04:23is truth. And if you want to still forcefully negate this statement, you

04:29will have to say, no, duality does not exist. And if I am the perceiver of

04:34duality, then I too don't exist. If you too don't exist, then you can't exist

04:41even to make the statement that you don't exist. But you are making that

04:45statement. So you do exist. And only truth exists, which means you too are truth.

04:54When the scriptures term the world or the ego or the person as false,

05:03then you must know what they mean. They mean that the person is the enveloped

05:13truth, that the person is the manifested truth, that the person is the truth

05:24truth divided into duality.

05:32The truth is, you see, so free that it is free to divide itself into

05:41its own various fragments.

05:44So we are saying that the world is true, your experiences are true, even your

05:50dreams are true, even the apparitions are true, even shadows are true,

05:55imaginations are true, concepts are true. All of them proceed only from the truth

06:02and that which proceeds from the truth, how can it be false?

06:06So it is not true that the world is true. It is not true that the world is

06:12false. So it is not a question of something being true or not. It is a question of

06:19something being useful for you or not. Even poison is truth, but it is not useful for you,

06:30please. You must go towards that which is useful for you.

06:42Stop saying that you are a seeker of truth. It is a very meaningless statement.

06:47If only the truth exists, what are you seeking and who is seeking?

06:53There can be no seeker of truth, but you can be genuinely a seeker of relief

07:01because it is possible to be in the truth and yet be troubled.

07:06This statement sounds strange to you that one can be in trouble,

07:11can be in truth and yet be troubled. Obviously it is possible because the truth is so free

07:17that it is free to even be the troubled truth.

07:24So stop saying that you want the truth or that somebody can give you the truth. You

07:29are already in the truth. It is just that you are in the troubled truth.

07:35And given what you are, given what you have taken or assumed yourself to be,

07:41you want the untroubled, still, silent, absolute, peaceful truth.

07:48And even the adjectives or characteristics that I just now associated with truth

07:54have to be associated only in relation to your current state.

07:59When I say that the truth is absolute and that's what you want, I have to talk about

08:05the absoluteness of truth only because you live in the relative world and in the relative world,

08:10there is trouble for you. You want freedom from troubles. You want freedom from relativity.

08:19That is why I have to talk of the truth as being absolute. Otherwise,

08:22even the word absolute is not really applicable to the truth.

08:29You live a life of tension, stress, conflict, and that is why I have to talk of the truth

08:37as being peaceful. Otherwise, even the word peace is not really applicable to the truth.

08:47You must ask for a medicine.

08:53That's what you need. Do not ask for health.

08:58Health is not something that somebody can gift you or hand over to you.

09:06The statements that you are reading here, I repeat, must not be taken as the absolute truth.

09:18They are medicines.

09:20They are wonderful medicines, very, very potent medicines.

09:25But will you pick up a medicine and test it and ask, is this medicine same as health?

09:38Obviously, there is a difference between medicine and health.

09:42Medicine leads to health, but is the medicine itself health?

09:45But is the medicine itself health?

09:50Scriptures lead to the truth.

09:54What kind of truth? That kind of truth which is useful to you.

10:00Otherwise, anyway, everything is truth.

10:04Scriptures lead to the truth.

10:07And that is why they must be attended to and respected.

10:12But if you start scrutinizing the scriptures and asking, is the statement truth?

10:20Then you might be disappointed because a lot of what the scriptures are saying

10:25is just in relation to your current state.

10:30Just as the medicine is always relative to the patient.

10:34Because you have a certain state, so the scripture is offering you an antidote of that state.

10:46You know what an antidote is.

10:48Let's talk of an antivenom.

10:51What is an antivenom?

10:52Is it something very nutritious?

10:55Is it something very wonderful to eat, absorb, assimilate?

11:04You very well know where the antivenom comes from.

11:09The antivenom itself is so closely related to poison.

11:13If there is no poison, you can't even make the antivenom.

11:20But the antivenom is useful.

11:23You cannot look at the antivenom and ask, is the antivenom really health?

11:29No, antivenom is not health, but it will save your life.

11:34It will save your life and maybe restore you to health.

11:38Not restore your health, restore you to health.

11:48Now, will you be able to look at this statement with a little more sympathy?

11:54The words of the scriptures, if they are not sympathetically read,

12:02they will not reveal themselves to you.

12:11Are you getting it?

12:13You must see why the fellow is saying what he is saying.

12:21He's not just blabbering.

12:24He would have been greatly at ease in his own pure silence.

12:32If he's saying something, it is to help you.

12:37He's not offering you literature or knowledge.

12:42The speaker of these verses, the composer of these verses,

12:48had no intention to be called a scholar.

12:51Or a writer or a poet.

12:56He uttered these verses out of mere compassion.

13:01Like a doctor, like a helper.

13:05Take them in that spirit.

13:09He is not coming up with the claim that he is a knower of truth.

13:17He is not writing or speaking.

13:19He is not writing or speaking or composing to display that he has arrived.

13:29These verses are not, I repeat, a demonstration of somebody's knowledge.

13:37Knowledge or awakening or achievement or erudition, whatever you may call it.

13:43These verses are springing forth as an antidote, as a method, as an instrument that will help you.

14:03So, the instrument is free to take any form that is needed to do the task.

14:14And what is the task?

14:16The task is to help the reader.

14:20That is the only objective.

14:24And whatever it takes to help the reader will be done.

14:32I repeat, whatever it takes.

14:36If the word belief has to be used, it would be used.

14:40If the word experience has to be used, it would be used.

14:45If the verse has to be presented in a way that does not appear pristine to the Puritans,

14:55let it be.

14:56The author doesn't care.

14:58The author is already established in the truth.

15:02He has no thirst to be certified by you.

15:07If he has one objective and if that can be called as an objective, it is to merely,

15:14I know I'm sounding boring, but it is to merely help.

15:20And to help you, he will say whatever is needed to help you.

15:25He will not bother about accuracy.

15:30He will not bother about being criticized centuries later.

15:37He will not bother about critics.

15:41He has no desire to be academically pure.

15:48He will wander.

15:49He will stray.

15:50He will appear deviant.

15:52He will be often self-contradictory.

15:55He will say one thing and then contradict it a minute later or a chapter later.

16:06You will have to be very intimate with him.

16:12You will have to listen to him as one listens to a well-wisher, if not a lover.

16:21And if you read these verses like a scholar or analyze them like a critic

16:32or review them like a knower, then you will miss.

16:39Do not do that.

16:45Now, I will tell you simply what the little verse is trying to say.

16:52The firm denial of the existence of the mind and the firm belief in the existence of Brahma

16:58self is the sure way of conquest of mind leading to the experience of the soul effulgent self.

17:05The firm denial of the existence of mind.

17:09What does it mean?

17:13Denial the world to exists in relation to what I want.

17:21What is it that I want?

17:22Do I want stuff that comes and disappears?

17:26That comes only to deceive?

17:28No, I don't want that.

17:31Let there be stuff that is ephemeral.

17:38My way, if I want my own peace, is to not to deny that stuff, is to deny that stuff importance.

17:52Are you getting it?

17:54If I am a lover of peace, if I wish my own welfare, would I grant importance to something

18:02that is not reliable, that will deceive me?

18:07That is what is meant by the firm denial of existence of mind.

18:11Deny importance to mind stuff.

18:16Would you reread it now?

18:18Alok, would you reread it?

18:20The firm denial of existence of mind means deny importance to mind stuff.

18:26Why must you deny importance to mind stuff?

18:29Because mind stuff causes sorrow.

18:32It's simple, obvious, is it not?

18:37What is it that you want?

18:39Why are you talking to me?

18:41Why are you listening to me sitting there at the other end of the globe?

18:50Why?

18:51Don't you have better things to do?

18:53You're listening to me because you love peace, don't you?

18:57And you love peace.

18:59That's why you must firmly denial the existence of all that which you know is conclusively

19:09bothersome.

19:10If there is something that is so very deceptive that it manages to beat your inquiry, beat

19:23your radars, beat your discretion and still deceive you, then one can be forgiven.

19:37It is not one's fault.

19:39There was something so absolutely wicked that it got the better of somebody.

19:49What could one do?

19:52In those cases, there is not much suffering either.

19:59Suffering, you know, is tragic because it is extremely repetitive and it is even more

20:07tragic because it could have been avoided.

20:12There is a lot of pain associated with living that just cannot be avoided.

20:20And no spirituality talks of that pain.

20:27That pain is just to be taken as a component of life, part and parcel.

20:38But why must one allow himself to be deceived knowingly?

20:46What you know to be mischievous must be denied entry and importance.

20:52That is the meaning of this part of the verse.

20:56What you know to be wicked,

21:01mean, mischievous, must not be entertained.

21:10The firm denial of the existence of mind.

21:13This part is simply saying do not fall in the same rut twice.

21:21If you are deceived once, it's okay.

21:24But do not keep falling in the same trap, in the same hole again and again.

21:31Deny importance to stuff that has at least been known to be false.

21:40What do I mean by false?

21:41All that is troublesome to you is to be called as false.

21:46That is the only definition of falseness.

21:51And the firm belief in the existence of Brahms self.

21:56Now, I know this.

22:01Makes you wonder how can one have belief in the existence of Brahms self?

22:09He is talking of belief because he is talking to someone who lives in beliefs.

22:18Had you really gone beyond beliefs,

22:21would you be a reader of Ribhu or would you be Ribhu himself?

22:27Is Ribhu talking to Ribhu?

22:31Is Shiva talking to Shiva?

22:34Ribhu and other sages talk to those whose sageness,

22:43whose Shiva-hood is hidden.

22:48Potentially there, but not yet quite there.

22:53And that is why the word belief has its importance.

22:59If he tells you that Brahm is beyond belief, tell me what do you get?

23:06You always want something in your hand because right now you are just hands and legs.

23:15You always want something in your mind because right now you are terribly identified with the

23:19mind.

23:21And let's for a moment assume that Ribhu says that there can be no belief in the Brahms self.

23:29Because beliefs are only about objects and Brahm is not an object.

23:35Wonderful to read.

23:37Great to hear.

23:38But what does it give you?

23:39How does it help you?

23:41Do you know of objectlessness?

23:43Objectlessness can be known only to those who are no more a subject.

23:48But you firmly believe in your subjecthood, don't you?

23:52Do you know what it means to believe in your subjecthood?

23:55It means that you still exist as the seer, the perceiver, the experiencer.

24:01Aren't you the seer, the perceiver, the experiencer?

24:04Aren't you hearing these words?

24:06Aren't you looking at me in the screen?

24:09And if you are still that, how can you go beyond beliefs?

24:14You live in a world of beliefs.

24:16So the poet, the Rishi is giving you a belief.

24:25That is of the highest kind.

24:27A belief that dissolves other beliefs.

24:33A belief that holds not much weight in itself,

24:39but dissolves all the flab that you have otherwise accumulated.

24:45Yes, if you want to jump the gun and ask,

24:49but sir, what will happen if all the other beliefs are gone and this one stays back?

24:55Yes, you are right in your inquiry.

24:57Even this belief would ultimately disappear.

25:00But you know what?

25:01If all the other beliefs are gone, where would this belief stay?

25:07This belief rests only on top of the other beliefs.

25:11Please understand, only when the believer is there, can there be any belief.

25:17When all the other beliefs are gone, it means the believer too is gone with them.

25:22And if the believer too is gone, who will carry this belief?

25:27So it is a great belief to have.

25:31This does not work only in one condition.

25:35When the other beliefs, instead of going, just hide themselves.

25:39And that often happens.

25:40And then you say, see, all the other beliefs are gone.

25:44But now I am of the firm belief that I am the Brahm self.

25:48No, you cannot merely believe that you are Brahm.

25:52If you are saying that you believe that you are Brahm,

25:54you would be carrying 10,000 other beliefs as well.

25:58They, however, might be hidden.

26:02Nobody can ever carry a single belief.

26:05It is impossible because the presence of even a single belief

26:10establishes the presence of the believer.

26:13And if the believer exists, why would he stop at one belief?

26:18He is carrying 10,000 other dormant beliefs as well.

26:26If you let this belief do its work, it takes away the believer.

26:34Once the believer is taken out of the equation, all disappears.

26:39But make sure that when you believe that you are the Brahm self,

26:46you know what you are believing.

26:51Believing that you are the Brahm self means firmly doubting all your other beliefs.

26:59Because the Brahm self belief is not a belief that you are the Brahm self.

27:06Because the Brahm self belief has no tolerance for your other beliefs.

27:14It's a very special belief.

27:16It does not coexist with other beliefs.

27:20So do not dupe yourself.

27:23Do not say, I am Alok.

27:26I am a green card holder.

27:30I am this, I am that.

27:32I am knowledgeable.

27:34I am athletic.

27:36I am a Hindu.

27:38And well, you know, I am Brahm as well.

27:44Don't get into that kind of self-deception.

27:51When you say you are Brahm, stop.

27:54Stop at Brahm because after Brahm, there is anyway nothing.

27:59I am Brahm and then you cannot be Alok anymore.

28:02You cannot be Brahm, I repeat, and Alok.

28:07So have this belief.

28:11Of all the beliefs that are available to be had, this one is the most magical one.

28:23It kills the magician.

28:25Then the verse further says, this is a sure way of conquest of mind leading

28:32to the experience of soul, effulgent self.

28:35It is a sure way of conquest of mind.

28:37What does it mean to conquer the mind?

28:39You will again have to understand this.

28:43No one wants to conquer the mind.

28:46No one wants to conquer the mind.

28:48You will again have to understand this.

28:52No one wants to conquer the mind.

28:54Where is the mind?

28:55Show me.

28:58All these are mere metaphors.

29:02Conquering the mind, this and that.

29:06You simply want freedom from rubbish, don't you?

29:13You don't want to conquer the mind.

29:15You want a peaceful sleep.

29:18You don't want to live like an idiot.

29:23That's all that we need.

29:26Keep things straightforward.

29:31And if simple peace and freedom

29:40and stresslessness is what we want, why do we coin this kind of language?

29:48Conquest of mind.

29:53Then conquest of mind must be read as

29:58that in the mind which keeps you problemed,

30:04which keeps you suffering.

30:06That is what you want to conquer.

30:10You want to conquer that which is against you.

30:17Against your peace.

30:20And if something is against your fundamental peace,

30:23then you can rightly call that thing as your enemy.

30:28And enemies are there to be conquered.

30:31You must identify who your enemy is and conquer that.

30:37Mind is not merely an enemy.

30:41It depends upon you.

30:43The mind can be a very good friend as well.

30:48Vivek or discretion is about telling the enemy apart from the friend.

30:56You must really know who is with you and who is against you.

31:03You must be able to look at your own tendencies

31:07and you must be able to look at the light within.

31:11And you must know what needs to be supported

31:16and what needs to be ignored, despised, even suppressed.

31:25Getting it?

31:27Conquer that within you which you know is going to trouble you.

31:33I'm not talking of supernatural powers.

31:37I'm not talking of mystical realization.

31:41I'm not talking of some uncanny understanding.

31:51I'm talking of basic common sense.

31:57Don't you know where your demons lie?

32:06Don't you know what you are afraid of?

32:11Then why don't you plunge into the right action?

32:17Why do you keep acting as if you are in the dark about your enemy?

32:26If the enemy is lurking around and you pretend that you do not know the enemy,

32:36would that really placate the enemy?

32:39Or would that only embolden and make the enemy more dangerous?

32:48You know your enemy.

32:51And if you do not know your enemy, then no spirituality,

32:55no Acharya, no Ribhu Gita can help you.

32:59You know your enemy.

33:01If you know your enemy, don't support him.

33:05That is called conquest of the mind.

33:12And then finally the verse says,

33:14this leads to the experience of the soul effulgent self.

33:23Obviously, there is nothing called

33:26a dedicated or isolated experience of the truth.

33:39But we are experiencing beings, aren't we?

33:42We keep experiencing all the time, all our life, all the places.

33:49What is the quality of those experiences?

33:53The quality of those experiences is the quality of the experiencer.

33:57One road, try this out.

34:05If you walk on it with a troubled mind, it is one particular road.

34:13And if you walk on the same road with a calm mind, it is a totally different road.

34:24Try this out.

34:27Of course, you have known this.

34:29I'll just remind you of this.

34:34When you return from abroad or from a vacation after long

34:41and you look at the faces of your family members, are they still the same faces?

34:47When you look at your house, the walls, the objects,

34:55do they still look the same?

35:00After you have taken a break and the break has helped in changing the climate of your mind,

35:09do things still remain the same for you?

35:12They don't.

35:16Your experiences depend totally on you.

35:20Because you are muddled within, so the experiences too are muddled.

35:29We do not really know what we are looking at.

35:33And I'm not talking of looking at God or something.

35:36What I mean is that when you look at a man,

35:39you have really no clarity as to what you are looking at.

35:44When you are reading a book or looking at words,

35:47you really do not know what you are reading.

35:50That's what I mean.

35:51I know this is not really glamorous, but then this is life.

35:57Even if it's not glamorous, you are living it, right?

36:01And that's the way it is.

36:04Glamorous or not.

36:06Glamorous or not.

36:10That's what is meant by aiming for purity of experience.

36:18When you really know what you are looking at,

36:23then that is called experience arising from the self,

36:30experience arising from the truth.

36:33It is still not really an experience of the truth

36:37because the truth cannot be an object of any experience.

36:42But you are now at least truthfully looking at the wall

36:46or at the man or at the train or at the road.

36:50At least now you are not claiming that you already know

36:53the other person or the other thing or the other vehicle or the road.

36:57Now, there is an openness, a freshness in your perception.

37:05You know, this simple fact about direct perception

37:12is called the experience of soul effulgent self.

37:17It would disappoint you because these words,

37:21they have somehow come to mean very exotic,

37:25very exotic things to you.

37:29And what I am talking of is very, very commonplace.

37:32I am talking of the wall and the road.

37:36But, you know, the wall and the road themselves can be very, very exotic

37:41provided your eyes are clean.

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