Does the law of attraction really work? || Acharya Prashant (2017)

Acharya Prashant (AP): ‘Law of attraction’, all such stuff is based on the premise that you know what is worthy enough to be attracted to. Who are you to know that? Do you really know that? And if you really knew that, would you really want to attract something? Wouldn't you know that the real thing is anyway not an object of attraction? If a drunkard were to use the law of attraction, what would he deem suitable to attract to himself? A huge truckload of beer. He would keep fantasizing of beer companies and such things. And maybe that materializes also, and if that materializes, it is even worse for the drunkard, is it not?

What do you want to come to you? That which anyway is your disease. Can you use the law of attraction to make God come to you? Can you use the law of attraction to make peace come to you? But you want to use the law of attraction to make a woman come to you, right? And probably you will succeed, and if you succeed, then your life will be hell. If you really knew love, if you were really in love with any woman, would you use the law of attraction, some kind of method, some wizardry, some totka to attract her? You get these kinds of advertisements in C-class newspapers: “Baba Ruhani—If you want to get a woman, you can go to Baba Ruhani, and he will do something that will make the woman crawl on all fours, like a cow, and come to you— vashikaran mantra.” Have you not heard of these things? See, the thing is you remember only those instances when you dreamt of a biscuit and got a biscuit. Do you ever keep a log of the number of times when you think of biscuits and do not get biscuits? You, please, see how the ego selectively wants to remember only those occasions when imagination materializes, but the ego does not want to remember those occasions when the imagination does not materialize. Because if you do, indeed, impartially remember even those occasions, when the imagination fails, then you'll have to see how impotent imagination is, and you don't want to see that, so you selectively remember only one out of ten instances when the imagination succeeded in its objective. That one out of ten will anyway happen whether or not you imagine it.

And, you know, this is also the principle behind the success of all kinds of black magic and such stuff. All kinds of charlatans and quacks, thrive only because of this. “You come to me, and I prophesize that it is going to rain.” Now, either it will rain,or it will not rain, so there is some definite probability that it is going to indeed rain—that probability might be ten per cent, that probability might be eighty per cent. And if you remember only those occasions when it rained, after I had said that it would rain, then you would take me a soothsayer.

“You know what? He can make the skies rain. He has control over even the natural universe.” You go to a baba, and the baba says, “Okay, your child will get well.” Now, the child will either get well or not get well, so there is some probability that he will get well. And if he gets well, then you remember that he got well, and then you say, “You know what? The baba has a magic touch. Let's baptize him. Let's confer sainthood on baba.” Very recently, sainthood has been conferred on this basis itself.

The would-be saint was able to treat somebody's cancer. I'm also interested in knowing, how many cases were there where she treated and the person died. Why don't you log all those cases? That's the same principle behind fearing the thirteenth floor of buildings. There is, indeed, documented evidence that the thirteenth of a month or the figure of thirteen, in general, is dangerous. If you list all the harmful and deadly events that happened on the date thirteenth, you would get a long list, a very long list.

And if you look at that list, you would indeed be convinced that there is something obnoxious with figure thirteen, but why not also look at twelve and fourteen? You'll get an equally long list there also. That is what happens in selective perception, and that is why total perception dissolves the ego. You want to create enemies? Just remember all the wrongs the world has done to you, and the world has indeed done a lot of wrong to you. But why remember only that? Has the world also not done a lot of good to you?

You want to blame god? Then you can selectively remember all the occasions when the throw of the dice has gone against you. But is it not true that several times you have just been lucky and fortunate? Why don't you remember those occasions? You miss a train, and you start cursing god. Why don't you remember all those occasions when you were late, and you got the train because the train was also late? But you don't want to remember that.

You have a vested interest in cursing. The ego likes to feel like a victim, in that the ‘egohood’ is reinforced. Don't perceive selectively. That is very, very important. Either don't perceive at all or if you want to perceive, try to make the domain of perception as wide as possible.

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