Before judging others, know yourself || Acharya Prashant (2016)

Listener: Sir, I have often realized that most of the time, I keep on judging things, people and situations. The mind is never calm and always indulge in judging. What to do?

Acharya Prashant: See, the judging that you are talking of is an action.

No action is right or wrong. All that matters is the center from where the action is arising.

Here, specially in the west we have this notion – ‘Don’t judge’. It’s not quite correct. Judging is an action like any other action.

It’s not important to not to judge; it’s important to not to judge from the wrong center.

From the right center, you can say that this person is afraid and that will be harmful for him. You have judged, but this is a very useful and auspicious judgment. But let’s say if you have your own needs for appreciation, then you’ll compare yourself to others and judge them.

Let’s say, one is not rich enough in her own imagination, so she looks at rich people and says, ‘Ah! Murderers, I know how they have collected their wealth’. Now, in fact, she might be factually right. The one she is pointing towards might actually be a murderer and might have actually collected his wealth through loot. But the comparison is coming from the wrong center. She is saying all this only because she wants to feel superior. So this judgment is from the wrong center. Hence, this judgment should not be made even if it is factually correct.