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Video Information: 14.02.2025, Vedanta Basics to Clasics, Greater Noida
Title : The Fine Line Between Innocence and Foolishness! || Acharya Prashant (2025)
📋 Video Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:03 - Innocence vs. Foolishness
0:29 - Understand Nature of Innocence and Foolishness
7:14 - Transition from Foolishness to Cleverness
12:31 - Innocence vs. Foolishness: A Deeper Look
15:48 - Ascending to Wisdom and Transition to Innocence
18:28 - Outro
Description:
In this video, Acharya ji explores the difference between innocence (मासूमियत) and foolishness (मूर्खता). He explains that foolishness is when a person remains ignorant but still expects great results from life — like wanting happiness and success without changing their inner flaws. Innocence, on the other hand, comes from wisdom. An innocent person is self-aware and detached from the desire for results — they don’t worry about gain or loss because they have already found inner fulfillment.
Acharya Ji describes how innocence and foolishness may seem similar because neither appears focused on profit or success. However, their motivations and states of being are completely different. Innocence is the result of deep self-knowledge and conscious choice, while foolishness arises from ignorance and ego. True innocence comes only after understanding oneself and making the right choices — it’s not the same as the biological innocence of children.
In the end, Acharya Ji emphasizes that only a self-realized, wise person can truly be called innocent.
Context :
~ How to Evolve from a Foolish Mindset to a Wise One?
~ Psychology of Innocence vs. Foolishness
~ Naivety vs. Cleverness in the Modern World
~ Success and Intelligence
🎧 Listen to Acharya Prashant on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/2QmVEAAnsNE7Xs0MW0Li8Y?si=09fbcbc7c99c469b
~~~
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~
Video Information: 14.02.2025, Vedanta Basics to Clasics, Greater Noida
Title : The Fine Line Between Innocence and Foolishness! || Acharya Prashant (2025)
📋 Video Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:03 - Innocence vs. Foolishness
0:29 - Understand Nature of Innocence and Foolishness
7:14 - Transition from Foolishness to Cleverness
12:31 - Innocence vs. Foolishness: A Deeper Look
15:48 - Ascending to Wisdom and Transition to Innocence
18:28 - Outro
Description:
In this video, Acharya ji explores the difference between innocence (मासूमियत) and foolishness (मूर्खता). He explains that foolishness is when a person remains ignorant but still expects great results from life — like wanting happiness and success without changing their inner flaws. Innocence, on the other hand, comes from wisdom. An innocent person is self-aware and detached from the desire for results — they don’t worry about gain or loss because they have already found inner fulfillment.
Acharya Ji describes how innocence and foolishness may seem similar because neither appears focused on profit or success. However, their motivations and states of being are completely different. Innocence is the result of deep self-knowledge and conscious choice, while foolishness arises from ignorance and ego. True innocence comes only after understanding oneself and making the right choices — it’s not the same as the biological innocence of children.
In the end, Acharya Ji emphasizes that only a self-realized, wise person can truly be called innocent.
Context :
~ How to Evolve from a Foolish Mindset to a Wise One?
~ Psychology of Innocence vs. Foolishness
~ Naivety vs. Cleverness in the Modern World
~ Success and Intelligence
🎧 Listen to Acharya Prashant on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/2QmVEAAnsNE7Xs0MW0Li8Y?si=09fbcbc7c99c469b
~~~
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00So, Acharya ji, my question is regarding innocence and foolishness. How can we differentiate
00:11like that this is innocent and this is foolishness and how we will recognize that I am not doing
00:20this as an innocent, I am doing it as a foolishness and how we can correct ourselves when we realize
00:25this. Foolishness is when you are foolish and you yet want great things to happen to
00:38you. Innocence is when you are wise and you do not care about the things that will happen
00:48to you. The mark of the foolish person is that he will want to remain foolish. Else
01:01he couldn't have been foolish at this point. Foolishness is its own punishment. If a person
01:09has continued to remain foolish, it means he wants to be foolish. Else the first dose
01:16of punishment would have sufficed. He would have no more remained foolish. The foolish
01:24person is determined to remain foolish and yet wants lovely experiences for herself.
01:32I am foolish but life will be great for me. Wonderful pleasures I am going to experience.
01:46And as I remain foolish, that's foolishness. To be innocent is not to care. I know myself
02:11and I don't care whether great or bad things happen. That's innocence. You know the word
02:25innocence in its etymology indicates a state of being untouched. Untouched. A kind of purity,
02:39sacredness, virginity. Innocence. Untouched. Untouched by what? We are obviously not talking
02:55of the body here. Untouched by what? Untouched by the concern for tomorrow. Untouched by
03:09the concern for results. That's innocence. I don't bother about results because whatever,
03:19whatsoever needed to be decided on has already been decided. So my job is done. My day is
03:31closed. The shutters are down. I am no more dealing. That's innocence. That's innocence.
03:49Foolishness in spite of having all kinds of shitty items in the shop. Foolishness is about
04:04expecting a great experience with the customers and running up a great profit as well. The stuff
04:18I have inside is all rotten and yet I want to have a great experience with all the customers
04:26and also run up profits. That's foolishness. Wisdom. The deal is made. The job is done.
04:41The shutters are down. I do not care what happens next. That's innocence. Innocence
04:53does not care and foolishness cannot stop caring. Just that both of them. Now why this question?
05:11Why first of all do these two look alike in some respects? We need to address that.
05:19Why do innocence and foolishness look similar in some aspects? That's what we need to address
05:24because neither of them ever look like making profits.
05:32Foolishness does not make profits because it cannot.
05:35Innocence does not make profits because it cares not. And that's a mighty difference.
05:46Innocence is incapable of worrying about profits and foolishness is incapable of making profits.
06:01Innocence has already made so much that it does not care to make anymore.
06:19And foolishness is so rotten that in spite of all its desires it can never make any profits.
06:32And because none of them appear like making profits,
06:35so to the unversed mind they may probably look a bit similar.
06:42And that's where this question is coming from. What is the difference between the two?
06:50So it's a gradual ascension.
06:54First of all, you have to quit being foolish.
07:01Foolishness is about maintaining the rotten ego and yet expecting a great life.
07:13When you are no more foolish, when you are clever in the worldly sense,
07:20then you say, yes, I want to fleece my customers. I do want to make profits.
07:30And I now realize that for that to happen, my product has to be tasteful to them.
07:39So you do yourself up. You try to be better in the worldly way.
07:47That's cleverness. Foolishness is when you are not just rotten, you are very visibly rotten.
07:54Your rottenness is visible to everybody except you. That's foolishness.
08:01Cleverness is when you are still rotten but at least to others you have managed to make it appear that you are no more rotten.
08:10That's cleverness. And in cleverness, you start making profits.
08:19But when you are clever, you realize that the profits don't suffice.
08:27There is not profits for profit's sake that you work.
08:34The profits that you want are ultimately for an inner fulfillment.
08:42That inner fulfillment was elusive when you were foolish and it remains elusive even when you are clever.
08:54And then you ascend into wisdom.
09:06Foolishness, cleverness, wisdom. Wisdom takes a very very hard look at itself
09:13and says that if all the profits that I want about the world are about fulfilling this one within,
09:25if all that I want from the world is for the sake of this one within, why shouldn't I focus exclusively on the one within?
09:35Because even if I take that route, the circuitous route, you know, going to that one, collecting
09:41profits from him, bringing the profits back here and then testing whether it gives some fulfillment.
09:47Ultimately, I am returning to myself. Why should I take this longer route?
09:52I look at myself. Wisdom looks at itself and that's called
09:57self-knowledge. Self-knowledge. Looking at itself, it discovers the very core of lack of fulfillment.
10:06Its discovery is its treatment, its healing, a final cure.
10:24The very problem that made you relate to the world in a profit-seeking way has gone.
10:36It was not for nothing that you had set up the shop. The shop exists to transact with the world
10:44and you are transacting with the world to take care of a problem within.
10:50When you look at the problem within, the looking itself, provided it is honest enough, rigorous enough,
11:01rigorous enough, the looking itself suffices to cure the problem.
11:08And if the problem is gone, what will the shop stand for now?
11:14What did the shop exist for? It existed to transact with the world to take care of the problem
11:21within. Now the very motivation is gone.
11:26The central problem that necessitated all the arrangement is gone. So, the shutters are
11:35pulled down. That's innocence. I don't need the shop anymore. That does not mean that you won't
11:42transact with the world anymore. I will but not by way of a shop. A shop is give and take.
11:50A shop is give and take. Now it will be much more of give and only very little of
12:02take. In fact, I'll take only as much as is needed to give back tenfold.
12:13That's innocence. Now innocence, you'll see again, will look like foolishness
12:19because in foolishness you make no profits and innocence also gives back tenfold.
12:26So obviously, innocence does not make any profits. Innocence is a non-profit venture.
12:35Foolishness is a for-profit company going bankrupt.
12:42You don't see any profits either way but there is a great difference.
12:49You go and you found a company but you are so damn
13:01foolish and inept at everything and anything.
13:09You flounder at all your operations and strategies
13:14and you raise a huge debt and finally go under bankrupt. That's foolishness.
13:25Innocence is when you can make profits but you don't care to.
13:34You still work very hard, probably harder than the for-profit concern but you work so hard
13:40to give back tenfold. That's innocence. That these two will look similar to the clever mind
13:50because the clever mind is about making profits. The clever mind looks down at foolishness and sees
13:59no. It also looks up at innocence and there also it sees no. So it doesn't care to give back tenfold.
14:10It thinks that probably these two are not similar. Foolishness is like a robber
14:22trying to execute a robbery, a bank robbery in his drunken state
14:30and returning starved and empty-handed
14:33Instead of the bank, he probably entered a mortuary
14:43and tried to threaten everybody into submission.
14:53Give me all you have else you will be lying dead within next two minutes.
14:58He addressed all the dead bodies.
15:03That's foolishness. This fellow will return empty-handed.
15:11Innocence is a billionaire who has so much that he goes out every day
15:18with a huge truckload of cash and returns every evening empty-handed. That's innocence.
15:28The common thing is both of them are seen returning
15:32empty-handed but the commonness ends there. Nothing else is common.
15:38Acharji, you spoke in length about innocence which was very thought-provoking and clarifying
15:45many of my doubts. However, I just want to confirm one thing that innocence can only come when we
15:55have already made a mistake. We have already made a mistake. We have already made a mistake.
16:03Innocence can only come when we have already made the choice in the right direction.
16:10Before that, there is no innocence. Only when we have made the choice in the right direction
16:18like towards Atma or towards Ram. Continually you make that choice.
16:22Yes, and in that sense, in true sense, only Atma Jnani or a realized man
16:33is to be called innocent, not us.
16:39And when that Doha says that Tulsi bharose Ram ke nirbhaye hoke soye.
16:47Yes, that's innocence.
16:50That's innocence. Very well said.
16:53That's innocence which also means that the general kind of
16:59biological ignorance and cuteness, they are not to be conflated with innocence.
17:07The kid cannot be called as innocent. Krishna can be called as innocent.
17:15And I am not talking of Bal Krishna. I am talking of the Krishna of the Bhagavad Gita.
17:20He is the one to be called as innocent.
17:26But the Lok Dharam, Lok Bhasha, the language of the commons, very distorted.
17:35So, we look at a newborn or somebody and we say, oh such an innocent one.
17:39They are not innocent. They are just doing their biological bit and innocence is not biological.
17:46It's just by virtue of biology that they belong to a certain age and hence are displaying certain behavior.
17:53Once they exceed that age, they'll not display that behavior.
17:57Innocence is not biological. Innocence is not age bound.
18:01It's a choice. It's a choice. It's a choice of the elevated consciousness.
18:07So, no kid can be ever innocent.
18:10Only the one who has had the courage to confront himself is innocent.
18:17Right. Got it. Thank you. Thank you Acharya ji.