Beliefs: Reconciling Perception & Reality
Questioner: Sir, actually, I wanted to have a very important conversation with you. It's basically regarding the entire thing. I am currently in a mess, I can say. It is the mess of confusion, what is right, what is wrong, the belief system. I can give an example of how this got started. So, for example, I did various observations, and from that, I came to the conclusion that, yeah, I am restlessness. But it is just like that. I saw what it really was. I created an abstraction that I am a restlessness, and then I worked over it; I basically started conceptualizing, and I said what Vedanta speaks that you are a restlessness, it's a constant thing, that you are a restlessness twenty-four hours, which I don't see it as a fact because I have only seen that in few instances.
And so there are various things which I just see. Those are not facts for me, but rather, they are just a logical understanding that has been made. It is not something that I can see, and yes, it is for sure true. I don't care if it is ideologically wrong or not; it is true for me. So, like this, the entire model collapses; the various things, all of it collapse. So that's the biggest problem for me, and this happens quite frequently.
Acharya Prashant: When you were seeing that you are not restlessness, then you are seeing that you are not restless, or you were not seeing.
Questioner: I was not seeing, yeah.
Acharya Prashant: If you're not seeing then how can you see that you are not restless? It's like, I tell you that there is somebody inside that house and you have to see through the window. And you look through the window only five times a day, and then you infer that the fellow is in there only five times a day. Were you not seeing restlessness, or were you not seeing at all?
Questioner: Yeah, I was not seeing at all. True.
Acharya Prashant: So how can you infer anything then?
Questioner: But sir, when you say that, okay, like the entire Vedanta model, people just accept it. Nobody is actually seeing twenty-four hours and actually confirming it.
Acharya Prashant: Nobody is asking you to accept anything. But from your honest observation, what you can say is that “Five out of five times when I saw, I saw restlessness. So 100% of my observations tell me I'm restless." Fair enough? No beliefs are involved.
Questioner: Yeah.
Acharya Prashant: That's it.
Questioner: That is just five times.
Acharya Prashant: Make it 8, make it 20, make it 40. Come on, disprove it. It will remain 100%; that's my assertion and hypothesis. You disprove it. Watch yourself, look through that window, and quote a single instance when you do not see that man inside, the restless man. Instead, you are positing that just because you are not seeing, the man is not there, and that doesn't stand to reason.
Questioner: Yeah, the positing was wrong. I am saying that I'm not a restlessness; that statement is wrong. I should say that I'm doubtful if I'm a restlessness.
Acharya Prashant: No, you’re not even doubtful. You have not seen it at all. You have no reason even to doubt. You are blank.
Questioner: How?
Acharya Prashant: Five out of five times, you saw restlessness. Beyond the fifth time, you didn't see anything at all.
Questioner: Yeah.
Acharya Prashant: So, what assertion can you make?
Questioner: I can say that, okay, it's my inability to see.
Acharya Prashant: That is right. So then, that inability has to be addressed.
Questioner: Yeah, okay, so, but sir, the mistake was that, based on just the five times that I watched, I created, I took this assumption that the boy was inside that room.
Acharya Prashant: No. Due to some self-interest, what you're saying is that even though my sample space is five, all five samples are pointing at the same thing. Yet, due to some self-interest, I still want to believe that there is nobody inside. 100% of your observations are yielding the same result. Yet you want to side with an unproven possibility. What does this tell about your inner judge?
It's like this: I bring 100 boxes to you, and I say there is something inside the box, and that's my hypothesis. And of all the 100 boxes that you open or unbox, that little thing is found inside, and still, you say, no, I want to claim that there is nothing inside the box. What does that tell about the quality of the judge? Is the judge not biased?
Questioner: I'm still like, I cannot see, like, if you stick to that “boy example,” and I see that five times the boy is in the room.
Acharya Prashant: Right.
Questioner: But how does that prove that the boy was there the entire day?
Acharya Prashant: How does that also prove the contrary also? Even if there is some ground to prove anything, the proof goes in the direction of somebody being inside. I understand it is not yet because the sample size is small, just five. You cannot still absolutely claim that the man is inside 24 hours. That is understood- very right, logical.
But I want to question this questioner, even though all his five observations are proving the same thing, why does he want to believe the contrary? What self-interest does he have? I'll tell you a self-interest. When you look at the ego and find restlessness, then what is proven to the ego is that you are not the Atman (Self). The ego fights back. The ego says you know what, your observations were ill-timed, and you caught me red-handed at just the wrong moments.
You should have come after an appointment, you should have watched me after due intimation, and then you would have seen that I am restful because I am Atman. That's the central greed and desire and mission of the ego- to prove that it is indeed restful as it is. I am alright. Though it is not, it wants to keep proving that “I'm okay.”
If it accepts that it is not okay, it will have to own the responsibility for genuine change, and responsibility, as we know, is tough. It wants to shirk that responsibility. Therefore, it comes up with all kinds of obnoxious arguments. Otherwise, see, let's say there are 10,000 moments in the day.
Questioner: Yeah
Acharya Prashant: You watch yourself for 9999 moments. All the time, every single instance, you find yourself restless. You still, going by your logic, have ground to say I might not be restless because, at one particular moment, I didn't watch myself; maybe I was not restless then. And if that is going to be the logic then you know what you will do? You will ensure that there is one moment per day that is spent unwatched because that one moment per day unwatched will enable you to claim that you are restful.
You'll say, “See, I watched 9,999 only. There was one moment I didn't watch, and in that one moment I was very peaceful.” So, that proves that the ego is peace itself; therefore, I am Atman. That is the logic. And that one moment, I tell you, you will never watch. That is purposeful.
Questioner: You have to take a leap of faith.
Acharya Prashant: There is no leap of faith in this. There is just a reasonable thing to say. You see anything that you consume comes to you after testing, any edible food item for example. There is something in it. It came to me not just straight from the factory. From there, it goes to a quality auditor who checks it. He cannot check every single molecule of every item that is coming to you. How does he check it? Sampling. It is a matter of life and death, yet man trusts sampling because sampling is random, and random sampling provides a great confidence level. Confidence is a mathematical term. 99.5% confidence level, 99.85% confidence level, depending on the sample size. So if I observe myself 40 times a day and every time I'm restless, then I have a 99.85% reason to believe that yes, I am indeed restless.
Questioner: But we can never come to an absolute conclusion.
Acharya Prashant: Don't come to an absolute conclusion. Believe it 99.85% times. You can remain cynical 0.15%, that's okay.
Questioner: Can I start a bit more because I have some sequential doubts about the entire understanding? If I start with the very beginning, I would say that because I'm physically well, I'm able to enquire into the entire thing. If I won't be physically all right, I won't even be able to be enquiring.
So when I enquire, I see that I have dispassion towards various objects in the universe, be it the one I'm already related to or the one to whom I'm not unrelated. This is key; yeah, there is dispassion. So this dispassion creates a very big confusion about what to do because there is no such purpose. Because the purpose is instantaneous.
You have a purpose to do this, and you're just doing this. By this, I'm suddenly coming into a center that, okay now what to do, what has to be done, and all that. But the fact is I'm enquiring with you, but at the same time, there's a very strong flow that will ultimately take me to actions that are unconsciously happening.
It will happen; it's not like I can control actions. It's not that if I don't have this discussion with you, the actions won't happen; the actions will happen, and the thinking will happen. But the point is that I don't quite understand; I see that those actions do not make sense to me. As if something is wrong, I don't know what is right and wrong. The fundamentals are somehow shaking, which were established earlier. That's why I'm quite confused. And I can see that there is a huge amount of suffering in various objects that I'm related to.
I can see that I am currently standing into two demands- first is that I want a suffering-less life, I don't want suffering in those objects, and secondly, I want an understanding that is established over facts and not theoretical assumptions and all that, because all of that in the past has created a lot of ruckus in my life, because I create beliefs and assumptions that -yeah this is true and then it falls apart, leading to all the decisions falling. So, this takes me on a journey. Either I do it completely on my own, or I get external help. Because the suffering is quite huge, I choose external help, and for that…..
Acharya Prashant: It's not that you are choosing external help; you are choosing external help along with suffering. You're driving a car and using the inbuilt audio system of the car, what you call as the infotainment system. You are communicating with me, right? Even as you are communicating with me, you're still driving the car towards the same destination. You are the one doing both things. There is a clear choice involved. Stop the car, get out. It is not necessary to talk to me while being in the car. Being in the car is a choice. No current is carrying you away. There is pleasure in being carried away.
Pleasure is always something determined by you. No pleasure is absolute. All pleasures get their value from the pleasure seeker. The same thing that appears pleasurable to one is discarded by the other. Therefore, pleasure is not something that can carry you away on its own. You accord value to the pleasure. You can also withdraw value from the pleasure. Withdraw value from the pleasure. Stop the car, get down. Sit by a rock below a shady tree. Keep speaking to me; things might change.
Otherwise, nothing changes. With or without this conversation, the car is carrying you towards the same place at the same speed, and a lot of people do that. I speak to them; I know where they are coming from. I know once the conversation is done, they will go the same way. They have, as if, just stopped by to have a little break, a little bit of an entertaining change. It's a decision. It's a choice.
Questioner: But, sir, this enquiry is not happening in the flow. Because the flow is not like, okay, I am choosing the flow. Honestly, I am choosing the flow. It's not that the flow is taking me away; I am choosing it.
Acharya Prashant: You are according a value to the flow, and that value is misinformed. That which you are valuing does not intrinsically deserve value because you do not know; hence, you are taking it as valuable. Like a man being robbed of his money by somebody who is selling fake gems.
You do not know what a real diamond looks like. Somebody is fobbing off some ordinary stone but you are according the value of a real diamond to that ordinary thing. As long as that value estimation stands, you will keep going with the flow. Sometimes, I advise people to “go completely with the flow.” Flow away. Then, you will know what value lies in the place the flow is leading you to.
It is the top gutter of the city. That's where the flow will take you. Find yourself in the greatest septic tank possible, and then you'll realize what going with the flow means. Sometimes I get tired, you know, my human limits, and then I let people go; you please go with the flow. I'll enjoy seeing you in your septic tank. And not to you, sir. I'm coming from my general experience. I just realized it might appear that way. No, no, no.
But that's something that you should tell yourself. You should not wait to hear it from me. Ask yourself, how do you favor going with the flow when you do not know what the flow is taking you to? How do you favor? Like somebody flowing in a river and the river is coming to a fall. Have you seen those waterfalls? Merrily flowing, and just before a waterfall, a cascade.
The river is quite shallow, so you do not fear drowning. No fear of drowning, no fear of drowning, and then you fall. But all this is just my words, my experience, and maybe my observations. You have to figure it out for yourself.
Questioner: But this is exactly what I was saying. You just put it more honestly. I was saying that the flow is taking me, and you said quite brutally that, yes, I am choosing the flow.
Acharya Prashant: No, nothing takes anybody anywhere, sir. Nothing. All pretense of helplessness is exactly that.
Questioner: Yeah.
Acharya Prashant: A dishonest pretense.
Questioner: Yeah, acting.
Acharya Prashant: We all are such wicked creatures. We feign helplessness just to exhort, extort pleasure. We cannot even be honest enough to say that I am a pleasure seeker; therefore, I'm doing all those things. We say, you know, I just fell into pleasure helplessly. Why didn't you come in time? You know, I just crashed on the bed. Why didn't you crash on hot burning coal? Why do you ever crash only on your bed? Why don't you crash on the commode?
All your helplessness results in pleasure. Have you never seen that? All your assumptions lead to pleasure. All your dishonesty leads to pleasure. So everything is just for the sake of pleasure. If somebody comes and says, “You know, I'm helpless,” Just figure out where the pleasure is, and you will know the dishonesty. Someone comes and says it happened despite me. “I didn't know; it just happens.” Just see where the pleasure is. The pleasure is what you should seek out.
“You were supposed to come to me at this time. Why didn't you come?” Because I assumed you were not there. If you had to assume, you could have as well assumed that I was there. But all your assumptions are towards the side of your pleasure. All assumptions, if you figure out, you will see there is pleasure in the assumptions. Why did you keep this thing hidden? Why didn't you tell me? Oh, I assumed you already knew. Why didn't you assume I didn't know? Because one assumption helps your pleasure.
Questioner: So, sir this enquiry wasn't happening this way.
Acharya Prashant: Enquiry is nothing. What do you mean by enquiry? Enquiry is not an investigation or third-degree interrogation. Enquiry is just honesty. It's happening within you. You just know it. Enquiry is something that happens on its own. Your job is not to obstruct it. Enquiry is simple knowing. It's happening, you know it's happening. Don't you know when your bladder is full, or do you need to enquire?
Questioner: But a lot of control has to be made to basically even think over such things.
Acharya Prashant: You don't have to think over these things. These things are there. Thinking impedes the observation. You just have to see it directly, openly, as it is, without thinking. It is obvious. The fellow is lying; it's obvious. What's there to be thought of? I am lying; it's obvious. I want to sleep. So, a lot of supportive thoughts start coming. It's obvious why those thoughts are coming, where they're coming from. I want to sleep.
I want to sleep so you know I'm not right now thinking that you know this big thing is such an energy drainer, and it's coming from some damn power plant, maybe coal-fired, so it is amounting to climate change. For the sake of climate change, let's all go to sleep. The fact is, I just want to sleep.
Climate change has nothing to do with it. And I should be the first one, probably the only one to clearly know where all my arguments are coming from. I'm a liar. I just want to sleep. And man, the beast that he is, does not want many things beyond all this- sleep, sex, security, food. Whatsoever you are saying or doing is for the sake of only these four five things.
Even the richest person on the planet, ever, whatsoever he's doing, he's doing only for these things, nothing else. The argument might be coming from a very sublime place. The fellow might be a great philosopher. So, the argument might be put forth in the most eloquent and sophisticated way possible. But still, the whole thing amounts to only this. Sleep, sex, food, security, and the other kind of nonsense. That's all.
Questioner: Sir, I saw a fact for myself, but how can I say that this is a fact for others as well?
Acharya Prashant: You don't, you don't need to think of others. The others are much the same as you are if you observe them. But to observe others, first of all, you must have your own eyes that observe with honesty. So, observe yourself first. Even if others are to be observed, that will be done with your eyes. Right? So, these have to be cleaned up.
Honesty! Honesty! Rob yourself, strip yourself down of any pretense of respectability. We should know we all are just bastards. That's all. Full stop. All the time, we are lying to ourselves, cheating on our own lives, depriving ourselves of what we deserve to be, and yet we strut as if we are somebody. Have you not seen all the respectable ones? How do they prance around with puffed chests? We are just little pieces of shit, moving around for a few years, and then we drop dead, full stop.
Questioner: But sir, the seers of Vedanta….
Acharya Prashant: Let's not talk of them, let's not talk of them. Let's talk of ourselves the way we are.
So you must understand that we must take care of climate change; therefore, it is time to close the session. Otherwise, so much carbon is released into the atmosphere. The gases from our alimentary canal carry carbon dioxide, even methane. More than one of our friends from the audience have been farting. So, this session amounts to a climate disaster. We'll all go to sleep now to save the planet. That's the kind of bullshit we are: liars, deceivers, betrayers of our own destiny.
Questioner: Yes, sir, that's it.
