Don't fight the mind; just relax in realization || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
Listener: How can we get rid of past and future worries that distract our present and dis-illuminate our path?
Speaker: Kushagra is asking how can we get rid of our past and future worries that distract our present and dis-illuminate our path. Path goes to where?
Listener: Future.
Speaker: So, you want to get rid of the future so that your path that leads to the future remains good. What are you asking? Look at your question. You are saying, ‘I don’t want to think of the future so that my path to the future …’. Are you already not thinking of the future? It is like saying that I don’t want to think of future, so that I may have a brilliant future.
Look at the deceptions of the mind. Come what may, the mind cannot stay in the present. Even when it recognizes that the past is a load; the future is a load, yet the recognition is very superficial, very theoretical. You know what it means to stay in the present? You won’t even be thinking about the future or the past. Not thinking about being a slave of the past, and the future and also not thinking about being free from past and future. Even to think about the freedom from the future is to yet be thinking of the future. If I say that I want to be free from Kushagra, who is still in my mind?
Listener: Kushagra.
Speaker: So, am I free from Kushagra. The more I say, ‘I want to be free from Kushagra’, the more I’m thinking of…
Listener: Kushagra.
Speaker: The more I say, ‘I don’t want to think of future’, the more I’m thinking about the …
Listener: Future.
Speaker: Is there anyone here who can claim that he has been listening attentively for even two minutes?
(One of the listeners raises his hand)
(Addressing that listener) Were you thinking of the future when you were listening to me?
Listener: No, Sir
Speaker *(Addressing the same listener)*: Were you thinking of freedom from future when you were listening to me?
Listener: No,Sir
Speaker: This is real freedom, where you don’t even think of freedom. The free man is already free, what has he to do by thinking about the freedom. He is a slave, who has thoughts of the freedom. The free man has no thoughts of freedom, it is a strange thing. The free man has no thoughts of freedom; he is already free.
Past and future do not exist except, in the mind. There is no question of gaining freedom from them. Were they real, one could have fought with them and gained freedom. How will you fight something which is already in the mind and only in the mind? You cannot fight it. You can only understand that it is imaginary, it is gone, finished. What is not there, how do you fight it? How do you fight a shadow? How can you fight a dream? Unreal,imaginary things, how can you fight them? How do you fight a dream? By waking up. How do you fight a shadow? By throwing light on it. Or do you fight a shadow by beating it with a stick. Just throw some light on it and it is gone. How do you fight a dream?
All listeners: By waking up.
Speaker: In your dream you are fighting a monster, a great monster. In the morning when you wake up, will you continue fighting it? Do you ask where the monster has gone? Do you feel guilty that the monster scared you? You killed the monster. Do you feel guilty that the monster’s wife will come and take revenge? Do you feel afraid? You realize that it is unreal and the moment of realization is it, finished. We said that the past and future are in the mind. When the mind is roaming here and there, just realize that it is roaming and there is nothing to fight and illuminate the way, and all those things. There is no need, just realize that these are unreal things.
‘Oh! it is back to its old ways and starts thinking what will happen two years later, ten years later’. That is what it keeps doing, it is unreal. The only reality is what is happening right now and I am into it; enjoying it; fully immersed in it, nothing more, simple.
Why make things complicated? But probably, you will be happy if I tell you that you do shirshashan and stand on your head, then past will go away, and if you will walk on all fours, crawl, then the future will go away, then you will feel good. Now I have a method. Whenever future comes to the mind, start walking like a goat. Whenever past comes to the mind, start walking on your head. Good method! How will it help? Think of a man who is carrying a large sword with him, fighting a shadow and he is very serious and thinks of bravery, he sings songs like,“Veer tum badhe chalo” , for fighting shadows.
That is the beauty of intelligence, that it doesn’t need to fight, it needs to realize. Realization is sufficient, effortlessly done. No need to fight; I am free. Without moving a step; I am free. Standing where I am; I am free. Right now; I am free. No time consumed, no effort needed; I am free. That is the beauty of realization; that is the beauty of intelligence. Sharp, attentive realization and very joyful, let me assure you. At times you may just laugh out; nothing serious, not at all. Right? Alright.
-Excerpts from a Samvaad session. Edited for clarity.
