Questioner (Q): Sir, in one of your videos you say, "Faith is giving up everything to the enquiry." Can you please elaborate on what sort of enquiry? If I have five friends, should I enquire about everyone? Should I enquire about everything and everyone I am associating with?
Acharya Prashant (AP): Good. Enquiry is not suspicion. To enquire does not mean to doubt. Understand this very clearly. Usually when we say, "I am enquiring", it means collecting information, it means being confused, it is a kind of suspicion. But when we are talking of real enquiry, enquiry into the world, self-enquiry, that means coming so close that you know the truth. That is real enquiry. Real enquiry is closeness. What prevents us from knowing the actuality of anything? What prevents us? Our fears prevent us. How? How can you know the fact when you refuse to come close to the fact? And why will you refuse? Because you are afraid. I am afraid of a particular kind of reptile, will I ever really know about it? Tell me, will I ever really know about it? Some of you will be having pets at home, and you play with the pet and you know so much about the pet. Don’t you? How do you know? You know through closeness.
Closeness is the gate to knowing.
Real enquiry is closeness. Real enquiry does not mean that you are acting like a detective and keeping an eye on everybody. "What am I doing? Enquiring." That is not an enquiry. Real enquiry is the ability to love because only in love can you come that close. And when you come that close then the truth simply opens up!
You need not read about it in any book, you need not ask somebody, "What kind of person is he?" You will simply know. That is real enquiry. Many times we confuse enquiry with collecting information. I am repeating. Enquiry is not to collect information. If you really want to know who I am (referring to the speaker) and somebody tells you how much money I have, will that help you? Money is information, but will that help you? If you really want to know who I am and somebody tells you the registration number of my car, will that help you? Now all this is information coming to you. If somebody tells you where I graduated from, how many people are in my organization, somebody tells you what is my age, where do I live, what do I like eating, will that help you? Information is useless. The thing with our world is that we think we know a person if we have information about him.
There is a beautiful small story called ‘The Little Prince.’ The little prince says that the grown-ups are such idiots that when they meet each other they ask such stupid questions - "What is your name, where are you coming from?" He says, "This is not the way to know about anything. If you really want to know about somebody go and hug him." That’s the way to know the person. Don’t ask his name. Embrace him, that’s the way to know. Closeness. But that is dangerous. For whom? The Ego. Because the Ego thrives in isolation, in separation. The Ego wants to remain separated. When you hug somebody the Ego feels bad. So if you want to really enquire, go close.
Q: Sir, this means that we should get into love with the thing before having faith?
AP: You don’t get into love with ‘the thing’. You get into love. You never get into love with a particular thing. That is not love, that is some kind of attraction. You get into love. Love is your own internal state. Love is not specific to one object. Love means, ‘I am open, I am not trembling. My Ego is not inflated. I am full of Joy! And that Joy wants to reach out to others.’ This relationship with others is called love. What kind of relationship with others? When you are so full within, that you want to share it with somebody. This sharing is called love. When you are so full within that you don’t choose that this person is lovable and this one is not. That love just spills over. Have you seen a river that is flooded? Does the river decide where the water would go?
Q: No.
AP: It has so much to give that the water just overflows. That is love. ‘I have so much.’ Have you seen people who smile at everybody passing by? Have you seen such people? They are so happy within that they would be walking, and anybody who would come to them, they would just be smiling at that person. Indians don’t do that. But you would have seen people from other countries do that surely. For no reason, they are smiling. Do you now understand what I am saying? Love is not about being in love with one thing or person. Love is your own inner state. ‘I have attained something and it is so wonderful that I want to share it with everybody. It won’t reduce, even if I share it, it won’t reduce. In fact, the more I share the more it increases.’ That is love and in that love there is enquiry. In enquiry, you know the truth. So what are we saying? Love is the key to Truth because there can be no closeness without love and there can be no truth without closeness.
Do not have an inverse approach. The approach we usually have is - "I will find out everything about somebody. First I will do that and then if everything seems alright then I will think if I can love the person." This is foolish. This is not how you proceed. This is a businessman’s way of living life. ‘Go and find out everything and then if everything is good...'
Q: We have a deal.
AP: ‘We have a deal.’ This is not an intelligent way of living. And read that book that I am talking of, ‘The Little Prince’. It is a wonderful book.