Aloneness is to see That alone; to see That alone is Love || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)

Listener: Why do things appear different?

Speaker: The more distracted the mind is; the more it believes in diversity, the more it believes in different things to be different. Taking different things, letting your mind be subjected to differences, is what is called as chaos. Understand this clearly. Letting your mind become a victim of differences, is what is called as chaos.

A chaotic mind sees too many things and takes all of them to be independent of each other. Then comes a mind that is not so amorphous, that is crystallizing a little. It starts seeing few principles. It starts seeing that even though things, people, time, situations, they appear different and diverse yet there is an underlying principle that unites them, they are not actually different, they appear different. It is a little bit like a layman thinking that the wall is qualitatively different from the fan, which is qualitatively different from the air, which is very different from the water. A scientist comes and says, ‘No, they are not actually different. They are all made of molecules and molecules are all similar, and yes, at the molecular level, they are all different but at the atomic level, even that difference vanishes. Even the atoms may be different but the constituents of the atom are not at all different. So, the scientist starts seeing and underlines similarity, underlines unity. He starts seeing that the moving world that seems to be moving around in a thousand directions, yet is governed by a few basic laws.

Everything appears random but it is not actually random. Everything appears different but nothing is discreet. They are all being governed by a few basic laws and even those laws are not very different, those laws are just one. Similarly, a person whose mind is very-very chaotic, divided, distributed looks at his relationships with everybody and thinks that he is in different kinds of relationships. He will say that I have one relationship with my girlfriend, I have another relationship with my parents, I have yet another relationship with my bike, I have a fourth kind of relationship with animals, a fifth with teachers, a sixth with science and technology, seventh with books and ideas, and he thinks that these are diverse relationships. But a little bit of understanding and he realizes that relationships are not really different.

Ultimately, most of my relations are driven by two factors – greed and fear. So he says that why call all these relationships different. Ultimately, I am operating only in greed and fear. So, from many, from apparent diversity, the mind starts coming to a few, or one. The mind starts coming to a few, or one. The senses will always tell you that there are many, many and many. The senses, whenever they perceive, all that they perceive is differences. All that they perceive is limitations. You can not be perceived if you do not have a limit. A word can not be perceived if it does not ever stop. If there is something that is always continuing, it can not be perceived. For example, you can never perceive silence because silence is ever continuous, it is always a background against all noises. So, at the level of the senses, things are very very divided and amorphous. Then when you look at the mind, you find that there are underlying principles. I gave the example of fear and greed, and then when you go further down then you say that whatever the mind is doing, is originating from a single Source. Everything is the manifestation of that source. Then, you do not say that things are different at all. Then, at some level, you start seeing that this is the same as this, is the same as this, is the same as this, is the same as everything else(points at different things in the room). Now, diversity comes to an end; division comes to an end; naming comes to an end. You start seeing a particular oneness. You start seeing that only That Source exists. It may appear to be diverse but it is only that Source that exists. In other words you can say that the Source alone exists.

Listener: In different forms.

Speaker: The forms may be different but the source is one. When you see that the source alone exists, even though it manifests itself in a billion forms, this is called Aloneness. The one who can see That alone in everything and everybody, he is alone. That alone, only That. Nothing else. He knows then that the existence is not divided. He knows that even though the branches may be different, the twigs may be different, the leaves may be different but the root is one, and the root alone is expressing itself as the huge tree. This is Aloneness; the root alone exists. Leaves will fall; even the branches will come and go. The root alone really exists. This is Aloneness.

Listener: Sir, we know that the root alone exists; we are the part of the only Source from which everything originates. How would that help us to be alone? Even after knowing all this, you have these gratifying experiences, which take you away.

Speaker: When I am saying that the root only exists, can you say ‘I’? Then, what are you? When the root alone exists, then who are you? The root; That Alone. So, why are you asking this question? What will I do? What do I think?

Listener: The root will also come to an end.

Speaker: The root too will come to an end, if the root is the part of the mental world. That is why the root that we are talking of, which alone exists, is beyond senses, beyond the mind. Whatever is there in the mind, will come to an end. Whatever is in the mind, is subject to origination and demise.

Listener: Sir, does Aloneness mean ignoring the world?

Speaker: No, Aloneness does not mean ignoring the world. At a very practical level, Aloneness means ‘the other’ is not very different from me. You cannot be too angry with anybody. The mind is one. He operates out of fear, but I too operate out of fear. What right do I have to be so angry? Whatever is happening in the entire world is ultimately, the reflection of my mind. How dare I say that the world is corrupt? Do you understand Aloneness? Things are not different, things are not divided; they are unified, they are one. Do not point fingers at anybody. The chaos in the world is actually the chaos in my mind because my mind and the world are same. If I see that there is war, rape, dishonesty and corruption, it is because my mind too is full of sexuality, violence and greed; this is Aloneness. That this is not so different as it appears. In Aloneness, you cannot really take or treat anything as inferior or superior. You cannot claim that something is mine and something is not mine. In that sense, Aloneness is a great quality of love. Ego separates; aloneness brings you closer to the entire world, to everything that is perceivable or thinkable.

Listener: The source gives rise to everything. I would like to know what is the source of Aloneness?

Speaker: That pen is the source, this wall is the source.

Listener: These are other objects,

Speaker: These are not other objects. This is the only way the source exists, by looking at the way the source manifests. You are asking that if the source alone exists, I want to know the Source. There is no way to know Source, except by looking at the manifestations themselves. The Source manifests itself in you, the Source manifests itself in the tree, and the source manifests itself in the sky, in the river. Look at them closely and you will also find the source.

Listener: Do you mean that all these things look different but they are all the same?

Speaker: Yes. And there is no way that you can know the source, because the source does not exist separately. It exists only as the manifested and it is manifesting itself continuously. Look at the manifestation and come close to it. When you look at anything with attention, you will see the source, you will see That alone. It is great. You are looking at the road and you see That alone. You are looking at the sky and you see That alone. You are looking at your own face and it is no longer you, it is That alone. But let me also guarantee that when it will happen, you will not know that this is happening. So, anybody who says that I have an experience of That, is lying, because then ‘you’ will not exist. So, there is no way you can register it.

Listener: If different people say that they have experienced the different forms of the source?

Speaker: All thoughts and imaginations, nothing else. It has got nothing to do with senses. It has got nothing to do with eyes. Yes, the eyes will look at the road but there is something else that will perceive differently, there is something else that will be known. That which would be known, would not be known as a thought. You would not be knowing that you are thinking. ‘Yes, now I am seeing that alone. Alright, what is the time? At this time, I am seeing that alone. You come here, in you I am seeing That alone. You too are seeing That alone? Come, give me a hug. We both are able to see That alone’. These are self deceptions.

Excerpted from a ‘Shabd-Yog’ session. Edited for clarity.

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