Rising strong, defeating overthinking || Acharya Prashant (2024)

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant?  Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/enquir...    Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books?  Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...    Read 3 handpicked wisdom articles, just for you: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articl...   ~~~~~  Video Information: 11.05.2022, Vedant: Basics to Classics, Greater Noida   Context:  How to develop strength in life?  How to overcome depression and stop overthinking?  How to come out of a slum?  How to take on challenges in life and excel?  How can we know whether a situation is good or bad?  Where does our concept of goodness come from?  When we are stuck, what do we need to ask ourselves?  What do we need to know when we are stuck?   Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~

Transcript

00:00Namaste Acharyaji. Acharyaji, I've been listening to you more than a year now and my life has

00:12been upside down because I was in a depression and then I recovered it and I'm with peace

00:20because things which were destroyed they must have been destroyed even before. But I'm now

00:27trying to rebuild myself and come back. But I'm so consumed in overthinking and I have

00:37lot of inertia. So I just wanted your point of view to help me unstuck or go faster.

00:47See, if you are stuck, that is the situation. One can only know the situation one is in

01:00and there is no definite rule that going faster is definitely better than being stuck. If

01:14I'm rushing, I must know the whole equation around it, the entire process of rushing and

01:25if I'm stuck, I must also know the two sides that are evenly balanced and I'm unable to

01:34take a decision. Being stuck in itself is not a problem. No situation in itself is a

01:45problem. The problem lies not in any specific kind of situation but in not knowing the situation.

01:58What we call as a bad situation is bad only if we do not really know what the situation is.

02:07If what we call as a good situation is a very bad situation, if we do not understand where

02:14our concept of goodness is coming from. So when you are stuck, ask yourself, what are

02:23the tensions playing on my mind? This tug of war. Which are these two parties? Can I name them?

02:31Can I see their faces? Something is pulling me to the left. Somebody is pulling me to the right.

02:40Who are they? Can I unmask them? That's what you need to know. You don't need to feel hurried.

02:48You don't need to feel bad that you are stuck. There is no need to be always in movement.

02:57In fact, right movement comes not from the desire to move but from an understanding of what is.

03:09So just try to see what's going on. And it's both relieving and amusing.

03:18And it cannot be relieving unless it is amusing. You will be entertained when you will see

03:26what is it that holds you, arrests you, confines you or pressurizes you.

03:33And one is never pressurized from one side alone. There is somebody here saying, come on, do this.

03:38Some other vector is acting on you from somewhere else. No, no, no. Don't you dare try that.

03:45Somebody is from behind whispering into your ear. See, both of these are idiots. Come my way.

03:53So find these chaps out. Who are they? Where did they come from? Were they always there?

03:59When were they introduced to your mind? The more you know them, the more you become free

04:07of them. Actually, yeah. Actually, I took on a challenge. It was, I think, going on for three

04:14years or more. And it was much bigger than what I had anticipated at the start. But it was the

04:24right challenge. And it broke me into many, many pieces. And that's when I started Bhagavad Gita

04:34with you. Otherwise, I would have died. This was sure. So I think this really helped.

04:46I understood that that path was wrong. So now it doesn't hurt because I've left the path.

04:53But where I feel hurt is because I think that I have a lot of potential.

05:00And I don't know why I'm waiting to get it to be manifested. And there were a lot of fears

05:10I had, which I dissolved. But I think that there is still a layer of fears

05:17or inhibitions. Because I also failed along the way. The challenge I was standing up was

05:26almost quite big. So I did fail. And that also is giving me inertia sometimes, I feel.

05:39Taking up great challenges is always a great thing. I always say that unless you have a

05:44great war to fight, you will never come to the Gita. That's why it's very important

05:53to play true to your conviction.

05:59The really shrewd ones are those who stand in opposition to the truth,

06:08but never disclose their stand. I say, even if you are opposed to the truth, now come on,

06:17come on, enact and live out the consequences of your position and that will bring you to the Gita.

06:30So it has been always seen. It's a historical fact that those who have made

06:38great attempts, heartful attempts, even if in, let's say, unwise directions,

06:51have been

06:56relatively

06:56quicker in coming to the truth because they at least tested their hypothesis out.

07:15They said, there is this that I want to do and that which you want to do might not make sense.

07:21But you realize that in retrospect, at that time it made all the sense.

07:27But you tried it out and that's called living up to your convictions.

07:33You tried it out and that will bring you to the Gita. That's the first part.

07:40And the second thing that you said that

07:43that still prevents you from doing the right thing, you are still waiting.

07:54The memory of the loss or the failure is still a kind of deterrent.

08:06You probably might have had personal experiences with such people. If not, then you would have

08:12seen them somewhere in literature or fiction.

08:18There are people you argue with and when their argument is totally defeated, they still don't

08:25give up. They just keep murmuring something. Do you know of such people? Do you know of them?

08:36No.

08:37The person is totally gone. His argument is shredded.

08:44But he is still just randomly blabbering something.

08:50Not prepared to give up. What do you do? You wait for him to surrender or do you move on?

08:57You move on.

08:58That's it. You must know that his argument holds no merit anymore.

09:06It's just that the fellow is too obstinate to accept his defeat.

09:12So he'll keep saying, no, no, no. Like a batsman whose middle stump has been uprooted.

09:20But he says, yeah, I still need to face at least 10 more deliveries. You see, how can you just, you know,

09:25ask me to walk back. He won't walk back. He'll be carried back.

09:30I know of many such people.

09:34Irrespective of how clearly you prove to them that they are losers,

09:38they are still very confident within themselves.

09:42What do you do? You stop proving anything to them anymore.

09:46You just walk past them. You say, sir, I am done with you. Nothing can be proven to you.

09:52Sir, I am done with you. Nothing can be proven to you.

09:57Such people do not live merely outside of us. They also live within us in our own name, face and form.

10:08And they keep presenting. You might have the noblest intention, but this

10:14doppelganger within you will keep murmuring something as if he still has a valid point.

10:22As if he still deserves to be heard.

10:27Hear him out as long as there is some weight in her arguments.

10:34If there is some weight in the arguments of this inner lady, hear her out.

10:40But once you are reasonably certain that there is no more weight in what she is saying

10:45and now she is just muttering something for the sake of it,

10:51it's time to stop listening. It's time to just do what you need to do.

10:56It's like standing on the edge of a cliff,

11:00ready to dive into the beautiful stream flowing underneath.

11:06You are standing there ready to dive and what is the inner lady still muttering?

11:12Everything is done. To come to that place, you have travelled as much as you needed to.

11:21You are wearing the right outfit. You have made all the preparations. Everything has been done.

11:26The temperatures are right. There is no obvious danger.

11:31The stream is beautiful and you know how to swim.

11:35Still the inner lady is saying,

11:36the inner lady is saying, it is not good.

11:41But why are you saying it is not good? No, it is just not good.

11:47I don't like this. This is not good. This is not fair.

11:51Something. What do you do with this inner one?

11:56Let her keep saying what she has to. You close your eyes and just jump.

12:07This is the worst thing that we can do to ourselves.

12:16To be that lady. The next worst thing is to listen to that lady.

12:24Unfortunately, we are both. We are the ones who utter nonsense knowing fully well

12:30that the nonsense carries no merit, that the nonsense is emanating only from fear, inhibition, greed.

12:40Still we stick to our guns.

12:45Still we don't give up. Still we don't honestly surrender and say, I am wrong.

12:53And we said, the next worst thing is to listen to such a person.

12:58Don't listen. Do what you have to. They will never stop barking.

13:06If you will wait for complete inner silence, you will have to infinitely wait.

13:13And that is one mistake that most of us make. We say, you know, I am not yet 100% certain.

13:18You will never be 100% certain.

13:20If you are 99% certain, 1% uncertain and you decide not to move, whom are you favoring? The 99% or the 1%?

13:31Why are you so biased? Why do you favor the 1%? If you are 99% certain, 1% not certain,

13:40then move. That 1% cannot be allowed to cast a veto on the rights of the 99%.

13:48On the rights of the 99%.

13:54Can you give 1% the veto to stop the 99% from doing what they want to?

14:03That veto cannot be given. But we give that veto. We say, you know, there are still some doubts.

14:09Why don't we instead say, you know, there is a lot of clarity and only some doubts.

14:18There is a lot of clarity and only some doubts.

14:21If you will say, I will wait for the sky to be absolutely cloudless

14:28before I fly, you will never fly.

14:33Obviously, you don't want to fly in turbulent weather.

14:36You don't want to fly when the clouds are thick and heavy

14:42and lightning rages around. You don't want to fly then.

14:45But also, you cannot impose this very tight condition that you will fly only when there are absolutely no clouds.

14:53You will never fly. So, let there be that slight inhibition or resentment within.

15:00You proceed to do what you must.

15:03Don't listen to the naysayers. Don't listen to the cynics, within or without. Doesn't matter.

15:15There is this beautiful excerpt.

15:21It's either from Lust for Life or The Agony and the Ecstasy, one of his two works, Irving Stone.

15:35No, I am sure it's from Lust for Life.

15:39Lust for Life.

15:42So, the young Vincent asks Rembrandt,

15:45How is a young man to be sure, sir?

15:49This one is coming up as a painter.

15:52So, he asks him. I might be missing the context or the characters.

15:57You fill in the blanks wherever I am missing them.

16:00But this is the theme of what I very impactfully remember.

16:05So, this one asks him, how is a young man to be sure in life?

16:12And the teacher or the advisor or the senior friend, he responds,

16:18you can never be fully sure.

16:21You can never be fully sure.

16:24There would always be an iota of doubt.

16:28But you have to proceed to do

16:32what you believe to be right.

16:36If you wait for absolute clarity, you are just denying your own potential.

16:44Never wait for absolute clarity. It is never going to come.

16:47What in life can be absolute? Nothing!

16:50Thank you, sir.

16:51Welcome.

17:20Thank you.

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