Don't Follow Others, and Don't Follow Yourself || AP Neem Candies
Acharya Prashant: You have asked, “Is it the majority that decides what is universally good or bad?” Obviously not. The majority just consists of persons, and all those persons are conditioned in their own ways. The conditioning might be of different types, the conditioning might show up in different ways among different individuals; nevertheless, the common thing is that all are conditioned. It is like saying that all are diseased; it is just that the symptoms of the disease are different in different people, and those different people call themselves as different from each other depending on the symptoms they exhibit.
So, if the central disease—which is common to everyone, which pertains to the obfuscation of health—shows up in someone as a high temperature, then that person starts identifying with his high temperature and starts taking that high temperature as his central identity. Compared to him, in the next person that disease shows up as high blood pressure. Now, this person with high BP thinks of himself as someone who is centered around high blood pressure. And these two think of themselves as different from each other. This one says, “I am the one with high temperature”; the next one says, “I am the one with high blood pressure.” So, they are convinced that their lives, their opinions, their world views, their identities are divergent; they may even get into conflicts with each other. But the fact remains that these two are very much alike: they share a central, common disease.
So, that which you call as the majority is actually just a conditioned lot of people. It could be a majority, it could be a minority—how does it matter? Hundred drunkards versus ten drunkards—how does it matter? Just because something is a majority view it holds no credence. Just because something is a minority view, that doesn’t make it any special. Who is the one holding that view? Has the person taken care to cleanse his mind? Has the person paid the price for freedom? That is the question to be asked.
So, good-bad, right-wrong, these obviously are not standards that can be set by the majority or the minority, or even the individual. Remember, the unit of the drunk crowd is the drunk individual. How is the individual any superior to the crowd then? In fact, it is several of these drunkards that get together to form that crowd. It is another matter that in the crowd there is greater incentive to remain drunk.
Is it a better choice for an individual to believe in himself rather than the majority and live by his own beliefs? No, not at all. Whether you go by the standards of the mob outside of you, or whether you go by the dictates of the mob inside of you, it is much the same thing. So kindly do not hold the impression that if you are going by your own personal beliefs you are any better than the ones who follow the crowds.
See, the crowd is not only outside of you; the crowd is within you as well. And when you are physically in a crowd, then, in fact, it is a bit easier to acknowledge that you are influenced and dominated and conditioned because you can easily see with your eyes, with your senses that a lot of people are holding sway over you. In contrast, when the crowd is inside you, then it is a lot more difficult to realize, to acknowledge that you are controlled by that crowd; then you start feeling and asserting that you are a free man. You start saying that you live by your own individual, personal beliefs and convictions, which is totally false.
Most of the people who believe in free thought or free will are actually highly conditioned. Free thought is not free at all. Free will is not free at all. It is just that there is great egoistic pleasure in declaring oneself to be a free man, especially when one is in bondage within. You continue to remain in bondage within and you do not pay the price for freedom, and yet you can relish the pleasure of declaring freedom. One falls for that; it is tempting.
So, go neither by the crowd nor by your inner beliefs. Keep striving for the Truth. Go neither by the crowds nor by your inner beliefs or convictions. Remember that the outside and the inside are not very different. That which we call as our inside is composed mostly of external influences. Then how is the ‘inside’ inside at all? The ‘inside’ is as much controlled by the outside as is the ‘outside’.
Therefore, stop identifying with the so-called inside, the so-called person, the so-called individual self. Instead, pay attention. Acknowledge that there is bondage all around and within, and pay attention to the facts of your slavery. That will enable you to move towards the Truth or have the freedom to enter the Truth.
Full article link: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articles/is-there-anything-called-universal-truth-or-universal-beauty-iit-kanpur-1_487266b
