Video Information: 08.12.2022, Sir J.J. College, Mumbai
Context:
~ How do I stop overthinking?
~ How to deal with anxiety and fear?
~ Why do we keep thinking of little things?
~ How to stay away from trivia in life?
~ What is important to do in life?
~ How to not be bothered by every little thing?
~ What is worth doing?
~ How to not waste my life?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
#acharyaprashant
Context:
~ How do I stop overthinking?
~ How to deal with anxiety and fear?
~ Why do we keep thinking of little things?
~ How to stay away from trivia in life?
~ What is important to do in life?
~ How to not be bothered by every little thing?
~ What is worth doing?
~ How to not waste my life?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
#acharyaprashant
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Good afternoon, sir. I am Tuhina Chatterjee and I am in first year. So, I usually tend
00:11to overthink everyday things like everyday situations, like even if it's just my bus
00:17not reaching the destination and things like that. So, how do I not let this fear take
00:22over myself? Think of better things. Think of more important things. I fall into this
00:30loop of thoughts where I just think about it instead of actually doing it. Have something
00:36in life that overpowers all the random thoughts. I am talking to you, right? Yes, sir. I happen
00:46to be a busy person. There are so many things that I can alternately think of at this moment.
00:55What makes me forget all those things? And frankly, to me, right now, you're a stranger. All I know
01:07of is your name, to some extent your age, the institutions you are affiliated to. That's all
01:13that I know about you. Compared to this, there is so much else that I am involved in. There is
01:22my mission, there's my work and this is a working day and so many people are dependent on me for
01:29what they are doing. Why am I not thinking of them at this moment? Because this is important.
01:42That's all. When you do not have that in your life, which is important, when you do not have
01:49a sense of the worthy, the result will be that a lot of little things will invade the mind.
02:00There is no way to keep those little things away. They are like germs. They constantly keep
02:14attacking you. You cannot keep them away. You can only have a strong inner immunity. Is there a way
02:24to keep germs away, virus or bacteria or other kinds of pathogens? Is it possible? No, they are
02:31everywhere. I keep my hand here, they are here. This air that I breathe in, they are in the air.
02:39How do I ensure I am 100% shielded against them? Not possible. However, there is one thing that
02:49is possible which is my inner immunity and that inner immunity is called importance. Know what is
02:59important and then random things will cease to matter. If you find yourself thinking about
03:09unimportant matters too much, it just means that there is a huge inner vacancy for something
03:17important and that vacancy has not been filled. The mind cannot tolerate a vacuum, a vacancy.
03:28The mind needs something to chew. You cannot just abruptly bring the mind to a thoughtless state.
03:41Not possible. So what to do? As students, as beginners, what to do? Determine what is
03:56important. Honestly, give it due credit. And I like to say, fall in love with it. Make it your
04:06life. Then there will be no space to think of random things. And is that not beautiful? Life
04:16is pestering you with all the normal trivia and yet you are not bothered. Why? Because there is
04:25a mighty inner thing you have embraced and you simply don't have the time, the space to look
04:37towards anything else. Is it hot? Yes, it is. Is it cold? Might be. Are you hungry? Probably yes.
04:52Do you need a little more money? Of course I do. Care for better clothes? Why not? But so sorry,
05:06in spite of all these things that I might potentially care for, I am occupied. Nobody
05:18will ever have enough money. Nobody will ever be able to say I do not need more clothes or
05:25better clothes. Nobody will ever say all my desires are now satisfied. That's not going to
05:32happen. Nobody will ever say the situations are all perfect. No. Those things will continuously
05:46remain just like the pathogens we talked of. But along with them, taking precedence over them,
05:59an inner sense of importance can remain and that has to be developed. It won't just come.
06:12As a young person, you need to figure out very clearly what is worth doing. What is
06:22important in life. Else you are traveling to the college and you are looking out of the bus window
06:32and you see something happening, something by chance, the usual trivia and it will capture you
06:42and you will find yourself thinking about it 30 minutes. 30 minutes of life gone on nothing. And
06:55that's how most of us simply waste away our entire life on nothing in particular. So what did you do
07:07your entire life? Nothing in particular. Though I was always occupied. I was always occupied. But
07:17what did you do? Nothing. Okay, let's say you get a one week break, Diwali break, 10 days break.
07:29And somebody asks you, what did you do actually? Is that not an honest answer? Nothing in particular.
07:42And that's what happens when you have nothing really important to do. You do nothing. At least
07:48nothing in particular. And it's unimaginable the lengths of time that you can simply squander doing
08:01nothing in particular. Two months summer holidays spent doing nothing in particular. Nothing in
08:12particular. My driver, I make it a point, he drives slowly so that sitting on the rear seat, I do not
08:28get disturbed. Why? Because commutes take long, one hour, two hour and I want to read. That's a
08:39dedicated time I get to complete my reading list. Else it's very possible to simply say I was
08:51traveling so I was doing nothing in particular. And it's not that you are doing nothing at all
08:57when you are traveling. You are doing something. What are you doing? Staring out of the window,
09:02looking at something random. In between you just scroll through the feed, Facebook or something.
09:11Type something random on Instagram. Ogle at some nice faces passing by. You don't know their name.
09:25The fellow will be in visual range for 2.2 seconds. And yet the fellow becomes so important.
09:35Two seconds you stare and then for two minutes you think. You know, by the time the next pretty
09:49face comes, you have already forgotten the previous one. And the world can be an unending
10:02succession of pretty faces. Two hours will fly away. You did your entire journey doing nothing
10:17in particular. The name of the journey is life. Now death has arrived. And death asks,
10:33so tell me, how was it? What did you do? Nothing in particular. Though I was always busy,
10:53always busy. You'll never find anyone saying, I have so much time, kindly assign me some task.
11:06Ever found somebody begging for work? Everybody is running behind on schedule, right? If you
11:17happen to have a to-do list at all of any kind, you're always behind the list. Are you not? So
11:30everybody is occupied doing nothing in particular. Have one thing worth living for. You'll forget
11:41when you board the bus. You'll forget when the destination has arrived. Somebody will have to
11:51prod you to get down. You'll be so immersed. That's a beautiful word, no? Immersion. How do
12:04you like it? Immersion. How about that? Does that appeal to you? Immersion? Have you experienced
12:16that sometimes? Immersion? That alone is the way to live. If you are not immersed, you are scattered.
12:26How does it feel to be scattered? Have you experienced that? A state of being scattered
12:37inwardly? Have you? Have you? Isn't immersion beautiful? Have you seen how time stops when
12:49you are immersed? And if you can have immersion in your everyday life, that alone is the best
13:03meditation. Are you getting it? And if you can have that immersion, that is an antidote to all
13:15kinds of mental troubles. Otherwise, there is the menace of depression, anxiety and all kinds
13:25of mental things, especially among the young. The one who has something to live for will never
13:42be mentally sick. And mental illness is a pointer that life is devoid of essence.
13:58I have no time to be anxious. How about that? Are you suffering from anxiety? What's the answer?
14:14I have no time to be anxious. Even anxiety requires time. I don't have time. How can I
14:22be anxious? Are you afraid? I have no space for fear. When fear comes, I say, sorry, no vacancy.
14:30Not that you aren't great. Obviously, you are great and powerful. The entire world kneels to
14:39you. You are wonderful. But as far as I am concerned, no vacancy. Give all your inner
14:48space to something that is beautiful for you. Let there be no vacancy. Get a headband, no vacancy.
15:04Or have a t-shirt. Straight on your heart here, no vacancy. Occupied. Engaged. The knowers in the
15:32spiritual domain, they have said, we are wedded already. And not only in the spiritual domain,
15:44obviously you know of Bhagat Singh. So he was just 22 or 23 when he laid down his life. His
15:58mother had approached him once. You'll have to marry. You'll have to marry. He said, but I already
16:09am. And she was shocked. How can my son do that? What's her name? And what did he say? What did he
16:20say? Azadi. So no vacancy. The girls are all beautiful, but sorry, no vacancy. Teri dulhan
16:34gana ham kya hai? Azadi. Already married, no vacancy. And that's why you remember him today.
16:49And that's why all others have become the dust of time. And Bhagat Singh is immortal. Even though
16:59he left his body at 23, yet he is immortal. And there were those who lived long lives for
17:06ninety hundred years. And yet as we say, are just the dust of time. Who cares for them? That's the
17:19difference. Have an early wedding, as early as possible. Not the kind of wedding that requires
17:38social, religious and legal sanction and ceremonies. An internal wedding. Let nobody know of it.
17:49Freedom. Azadi. What do you think? Bhagat Singh had time to think of miscellaneous things?
18:03How occupied he was, you know of it. Even on the eve of his hanging, he was still reading the Bhagavad
18:24Gita. A copy of that, in fact that particular copy is still preserved. Was he thinking,
18:39tomorrow I will die, what will happen then? Was he thinking? No. He said, but I still have a few,
18:45I still have a few hours. Let me spend these hours with the beloved. I have something very
18:53important to do. Was he doing nothing in particular? Was he doing nothing in particular even in his last
19:06hours? No. He said, let me spend this time in reading. And he was a voracious reader.
19:12At your age, he was so well read. Never had any time to waste. I don't know, this one is from
19:35Bhagat Singh or one of the other great revolutionaries. But they actually marked the last
19:44page they read in their favourite book. And somebody out of curiosity asked them, it said,
19:51tomorrow you are going to be hanged. You will be no more. Why are you marking this page?
19:56And very mystically he said, because I have to continue from there. No time for self-pity,
20:11inner misery, sad thoughts. No time. I am busy with the right thing, even in my last moment.
20:27How about such a life? Does it not excite you? It does not, it seems. Or does it? It does.
20:52Be extremely occupied. Don't be like these wanton flies or insects. Seen how a mosquito behaves,
21:14sitting here, sitting there, or a fly hopping from here to there. Doing? Don't be like that,
21:23please. Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.