Living in the Moment vs. Battling Thoughts and Suffering ｜｜ Acharya Prashant (2023) [r3s4I4CCjns]

Acharya Prashant

Video Information: 08.06.2023, Gita Samagam English, Greater Noida  Living in the Moment vs. Battling Thoughts and Suffering || Acharya Prashant (2023)  Description: In this conversation, a questioner expresses feelings of exhaustion and depression due to the overwhelming nature of worldly experiences and physical discomfort, which overshadow his thoughts. Acharya Prashant explains that the ego is shaped by a lifetime of experiences and beliefs, leading to a mix of pride and dissatisfaction. He emphasizes that one cannot selectively enjoy the benefits of life while ignoring its consequences. True liberation requires a willingness to let go of attachments and experiment with new paths. Acharya Prashant encourages the questioner to move beyond familiar routines and embrace new opportunities, suggesting that entrepreneurship and reinvention are ongoing processes. He highlights the importance of immersing oneself fully in life, akin to being "neck deep" in one's occupation, to experience true vitality and growth.  🎧 Listen to Acharya Prashant on Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/2QmVEAA...

Transcript

00:00Namaskar, Sir. Sir, worldly things are everywhere. Whatever we see or think about, the thought

00:17process is all worldly. So I feel like I am creating my own world through this thought

00:25process. When it comes to what you are saying, that living without death and all that, in

00:36that also I feel like that too is just a thought process, that I name some things differently

00:43and I name other things differently. So I keep thinking on this and it becomes very

00:49exhausting. I have, there is no clear clarity in my head regarding this and actually in the last

00:594-5 months, I have been suddenly hospitalized for different reasons and also there is this

01:08physical discomfort which overpowers you sometimes. It does not do mentally but on a physical level,

01:18it is very tiring. It overpowers me and so this also affects the thought process. Even small

01:25things like temperature, physical suffering, it overpowers you and this concept of thought

01:33process, it feels like it is just present in the thought. If the entire process remains

01:45as it always has been, the results cannot be too different. There is a reason why the

02:00inner thing becomes the way it currently is. An entire train of experiences over the last

02:12several decades brought it to its current position. That's what the ego is made of,

02:21right? Experience after experience, result after result, one belief upon the other conviction,

02:31an array of conclusions validating one's own concepts and this leading to a sense of confidence

02:51in the way one has been. All that gets together to convert one into the one, one currently is

03:03and there is a lot of belief involved because there are only certain aspects of one's current

03:14state that one dislikes or wants to change, improve or get rid of. There is a lot in one's

03:23current state that one approves of, admires, is actually proud of. So, it's a hodgepodge.

03:37It's like enjoying the power that comes from burning coal but detesting the pollution that

03:58it causes. Think of a steam engine. One is enjoying the ride and one has been on the

04:07train since decades now and it's a coal-fired thing but now one is seeing that it's emitting

04:16a lot and there is so much carbon and other gases and other trash. Is it possible to

04:27keep thinking of certain things as enjoyable or right or proper while trying to get rid

04:46of other things that are definitely linked to the things one cherishes? There are aspects

05:00of one's inner state and fruits from one's journey over the decades that one really likes

05:11and admires and they happen to be there in everybody's case. Nobody disapproves of himself

05:19fully and then there are certain things about oneself that one selectively wants to get

05:28rid of. Now, that's where the problem is. It's not that it is too difficult to get rid

05:35of those things. The problem is in the selectiveness. If one says I want to keep enjoying the power

05:46from the coal, one will have to keep bearing the pollution from the coal but then one finds

05:57one has come to a point where the pollution is overriding the pleasures from the power.

06:12If one finds himself at that stage then it's time to deboard. It's time to say goodbye

06:25to the entire thing in its entirety. You cannot be half aboard a train. Either you

06:41are fully on it or you have deboarded and if you are fully on it then you will have

06:53to bear the full package of consequences. I wish the entire package was detestable but

07:10it never is. Certain parts of that package are always cherishable. Are they not? Even

07:23right now in your narration, there were only two or three points that concern you. The

07:35other aspects of your life obviously you are quite satisfied with or rather proud of.

07:46So that brings us to that almost, it has been turned into a cliché.

08:03Sukhme sumiran kare na koe. Jo sukhme sumiran kare, dukh kahe koe.

08:15So the two or three points you spoke to me of all concern your dukh but that dukh is

08:27just the other side of the various kinds of sukhas that you have been enjoying and enjoying

08:36and continue to have the desire and the determination rather to keep enjoying and these two are

08:51inseparable unfortunately. One cannot be selective. You see how can I give something to others

09:00without letting the thing affect me. How is it possible? If for example I work in a

09:18bomb making plant where I am manufacturing death for others, a uranium enrichment plant

09:26to produce an atom bomb, it is but very likely that I too will become a victim of radiation.

09:37Even if the bomb is not dropped on others, first of all it will affect me in a continuous small

09:49and passive way. So these are all intertwined aspects of life. The way one's relationships are,

10:02the way one's livelihood is, the way one's social status is, all that is deeply related to one's

10:14inner state. We cannot want to continue the way our relationships and our livelihood and all our

10:24other things are and yet want to change the inner state. Think of all those things that you find

10:36admirable in your life. Think of all those things you seek to protect day in and day out. What is it

10:43that you work for? What is it that you care for? What is it that you want to defend continuously?

10:50And then you will see that in all that lies the seed of the inner problem. I can not overemphasize

11:10that that which appears as a problem is a small thing. In fact, it's an innocent thing because it

11:21has revealed itself to be toxic, undesirable. You are already calling it openly as a problem.

11:30Therefore, actually it is only half a problem. It has been detected, diagnosed, identified. The

11:40real problem is the stuff that is never seen as a problem. But that is the thing that continues

11:50to give life to the problems. That thing remains not only hidden within us but actually actively

12:04defended within us. Somebody comes to you to take away those things. Oh, you'll offer mighty

12:13resentment. Your resistance will be not just active but probably violent. Think of those

12:23things please. And it is those things that you hold so close to your chest that continue to

12:32harbor the things that you today identify as your problems. Is it possible to break away from the

12:43life that you have lived so far with courage, with the recognition that there is hardly anything to

12:53be lost in the experiment? That one is anyway already running out of time? That as far as the

13:06desirables go, one has already experienced enough of them? So, why not try out another kind of

13:16experiment? Unless there is a willingness to have a total change, selective transformation

13:29will remain very difficult. Sir, whenever I see my profession, I feel like I'm doing a fair job.

13:42As I told you last time, I work as an insurance broker. I have a company which feeds around

13:49hundreds of families. So, I might not be directly linked to their families or I have shareholders.

13:57I might not be directly linked to my shareholders but I feel like I am doing a few things which are

14:05helping others whom I'm directly not related to. It's not my son or my daughter but I feel like I'm

14:14doing some amount of good. Sometimes I think about this that I'm doing this much and I feel like I

14:20have to do way more. I am capable of doing way more. So, right now currently I'm experimenting

14:28in my thought and if I apply your logic to it, I feel like I have to definitely do something about

14:37it but I also feel that whatever I am doing in my current field, that is let's just pursue it up to

14:45a certain level and then before shifting my field. Also, we have been doing this campaign for elderly

14:57people. Elderly people get their medical claim. There is a thing called Mediclaim where a few

15:06elderly people won't be able to get their claims on time. So, we help them. We help them get their

15:15settlements and my organization works with them. You can say I do this out of attachment or

15:23attachment for them or for my employees but even though it is based on our income and it is

15:33dependent on how much we are earning but I also think there is aspect of service inculcated in

15:40this. So, but definitely service comes before the income part. Please understand something. In the

15:52Grihastha way of life, is there any Grihastha who is not required to do his share of good deeds? So,

16:08there are a lot of good deeds that you have to do, right? And the householder, the Grihastha,

16:16the normal follower of the path of goodness, he is the one who constitutes 80, 90, 95, 99% of the

16:26world's population. So, all these things he does. He feeds the cow. He gives some money to the beggar.

16:38If there is a friend in need, he will lend some money. He keeps some sugar for the ants. He keeps

16:47some water for the birds. Then there is Zakat in Islam. Then there is Daan Dakshina in Hinduism.

16:57This the householders the entire world over have been doing since centuries and when they do this,

17:08they obviously get beneficial results, right? The results are good if you do all these things. You

17:18be good. These are things of policy, Naitikta. Good conduct, Acharan. And when you do all these

17:29things, then you get some benefit as per the measure of the goodness you have served. But

17:41what you are demanding is something extraordinary. What you are demanding is something absolutely

17:50extraordinary. You are demanding freedom from body identification and there is no way basic

18:00acts of goodness towards the world can fetch you freedom from the fundamental bondage itself.

18:11You are doing something and to the extent you are doing good things, you are being rewarded

18:20with goodness. Please be grateful. The equation is not deceiving you. To the extent you are doing

18:31good things, life is rewarding you with goodness. So, the game is fair there. But what you are

18:41demanding from life is far beyond the goodness you are practicing. You are demanding liberation

18:49itself. If you are on the operation table and you want to remain equanimous even at that moment,

19:03then you are de facto wanting to be a Buddha and that is not being over ambitious. We all

19:16deserve to be Buddhas. In fact, we are Buddhas in disguise and we are needlessly disguised.

19:21So, that's your fundamental right. Obviously, I agree. But then if that's what you want,

19:32Buddhahood itself, liberation itself, Brahmanirvana itself, then the price that you need

19:41to pay has to be far greater. Kindness is wonderful. Obviously, wonderful. And if you

19:52are a kind person, believe me, the universe responds to you with kindness. That happens.

19:57And there is a certain large heartedness within and there is a certain pride, a justified pride

20:08in living. I have given more to the world in comparison to what I have withdrawn and that's

20:18all very beautiful and I wish more people do that. The world is in need of good people. But

20:25being good is one thing and demanding something that is totally in another dimension is a desire

20:34of another sort. I am pretty sure the young prince Gautam, when he was in the palace,

20:42even then he was a kind fellow and we have some kind of literary proof available as well. You

20:50remember Nyai Daya Ka Dhani Maso Nekh Kahani. So, he was roaming in the garden. That was his

21:00morning routine and then a bird pierced by an arrow fell at his feet and then he refuses to

21:11give the bird to the hunter. That was his kindness and he was yet not a renunciate. He was still in

21:18the palace living the life of a householder. He had a beautiful wife. He had the kingdom and he

21:23had this little kid. Even then he was very large hearted and this bird is there and he says no,

21:30no, no, no, no. You have no claim over this thing. You might have managed in hunting it down but the

21:37thing deserves to live and I will not give it to you. The hunter was returned and I am pretty sure

21:42there must have been an argument and such things and maybe he would have needed to pay the hunter

21:46off. Buy him off. You take this money and you go away. So, he was kind even then but did that

21:53suffice? Did that kindness suffice? In the palace, he would have remained at most just a kind prince,

22:05a nice prince. Niceness is not the same as liberation. He ultimately had to take what we

22:17would call in our worldly parlance as an extreme step. Even if we are unable to take that kind of

22:24an extreme step, even we must still experiment. We must still do as much as possible. Step out.

22:32Maybe he stepped out and went all the way to the jungle. Alright, do not go all the way to

22:37the jungle. Go to some other place at least. Try things out. Life is inherently fair in some sense.

22:45You get what you deserve. If you are prepared to pay the price that Gautam did, you will probably

22:53get what Gautam got. And you can still practice love and kindness in your palace and in that too

23:06you will get the returns that you deserve. Life in that sense is fair. So, if you are not getting

23:12the returns that you want, then you need to enhance the scope of your experimentation.

23:18You will get that. It depends on your stubbornness to want and to have it before

23:34life takes everything away. I hope the health is better now. I was inquiring about your health.

23:46Yes, sir. My health is a little better now. Thank you. Sir, I would like some more clarity

23:51on what you've been saying regarding the price we have to pay, the direction and experimenting

24:00mentally. Would you give more clarity on that? Because what happens is, I'm living in a normal

24:07family with my kids, my wife and all. I'm running a business. So, is there nothing that which

24:16remains? Because if I renunciate all the things or if I can't, what type of experiments should I be

24:22doing? You see, I actually do not know the details. But let me give a broad hint to the extent I can.

24:34There are things that you must have been practicing since decades, right? And those

24:39things have brought you certain pleasures, happiness, a certain satisfaction as well.

24:46Those things have brought you certain goodness as well. So, they have made you into the person

24:51you are. Now, if you want to exceed what you have, obviously, you cannot continue doing those same

25:00things. So, you have to look at what you have been consistently doing since long.

25:07And the moment you detect a consistency, you have to see that this is not the thing

25:13that will now take you from where you are to the next dimension.

25:18That thing has brought you to the place you currently occupy. But it cannot, that same thing,

25:24that thing cannot take you to another place now. It's like a bus that takes me from A to B

25:32and it has already brought me to B. That bus is not supposed to take me from B to C. So, I have

25:40to get off. And the bus is wonderful. Mind you, there is nothing wrong with the bus. It was the

25:50bus that brought me from A to B and coming from A to B is in itself an achievement. Something

25:58that qualifies me to now want to go to C. Had I not come to B, going to C would not have been

26:08possible even as a desire. So, I am grateful to all the things that brought me to this place.

26:14But now I must get off. I must exceed.

26:28And that does not mean a sharp breaking away. I am talking of experimentation.

26:37We remember the Buddha's story in a very dramatic way as if he just got up one night and left.

26:45There would have been surely a lot of context to that. Maybe the departure was not an event but a

26:54very spread out process. Maybe he was experimenting with this, that over several years and then after

27:04experimenting, one day he found that, you know, I can get a little further away and then a little

27:11further away and then, you know, things take their own course.

27:17So, there is that security that lies in all the things that past has given you.

27:23And I am acknowledging that we need to be grateful to those things.

27:29But then there is a time to move on. If you will look at it as something like letting go,

27:45then there will be a problem. You will feel the pangs of attachment. You are not dropping

27:52something. You are just moving on. Moving on is a beautiful thing, is it not?

27:58Yes, sir. It is.

28:02So, one has to move on. It's not as if one gets into entrepreneurship at a particular age.

28:10Entrepreneurship is a constant state of being, you know. You want to reinvent yourself.

28:19You want to tell yourself as long as the body stands erect, it still can do a lot of magical

28:28things. I am up for the next enterprise. Why can't I try something new now? What makes me think that

28:37I must stick to the existing ways of life, of relationships, of business? Why can't I start

28:44something afresh? That's the kind of experimentation I am talking of.

28:52Think. Begin. Be better. Challenge. Do not stop at what you have attained.

29:06Today we talked of deathlessness. You remember what we said about immortality?

29:11To be immortal is to be neck deep in your occupation.

29:21I am so occupied. I am so fully immersed that I have no time to die.

29:29Yes, sir. So, that's what one needs.

29:34It's a kind of a fresh love affair.

29:40And it has to be as much of a green field thing as a fresh grad from a

29:52college begins when he first gets his thing incorporated.

30:03We cannot let the old experience extend into the future.

30:07So, I have to start a new identity. Whatever I have learned from you, it is like a new life,

30:13new identity. It is like campus placements.

30:16Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful. It's great. Even just to listen to it.

30:25Definitely, sir. Definitely. I will do that. I will experiment as well. Thank you.

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