Questioner (Q): (In tears, sitting next to the Speaker, by the Ganges and the Himalayas. Overwhelmed by his weeklong presence in the Speaker’s discourses) Why is it difficult to even be here?
Acharya Prashant (AP): Something is difficult if you try to fight. Something is difficult only if you try to do something about it. If you don’t have to do anything, then where is the difficulty? Here is this mountain, if you want to move this mountain then it is very difficult, but if you can just sit here and admire this mountain, then is there a difficulty? Forget about even admiring, if you can just see the whole presence of this mountain, its action, its landscape, the way it seems to be dividing space, the way it is attractive in a way, the way it is dangerous. All the stories that go along with this mountain, if you can just see all of that and do nothing, then where is the difficulty?
Same is fear. If you want to do something with fear, if you try to fight it, or suppress it, or overcome it – don’t do anything, let it be there. I have a cold right now, what to do? How can I fight it? The cold is there, the throat is not quite proper. I am speaking, to the extent possible.
Q: I feel like I did something wrong. And that I deserve this feeling of unease. That it’s not yet the right time for me to find peace.
AP: See, first of all, never be so unfair to yourself that you go into a cycle of guilt or helplessness. We all are alright, no one is obliged to suffer or feel guilty or anything. We all are good. Even the situation in which we are, this confidence must be there that I might have been stained a little, but the stains can be easily washed away. The stains are not going to touch my soul, the stain will only touch the body and I can clean them, clear them. So never feel bad about yourself, never feel guilty. Never have pity upon yourself.
