Good, Evil, and the Ego
Acharya Prashant: Do not ask, 'What is good, what is evil?' You must ask, 'To whom is good and to whom is evil?' In just asking, what is good and what is evil; you are keeping yourself safe, you're putting the spotlight on good anywhere, and that enables you to roam and lurk safely in your darkness.
'To whom is good, to whom is evil?'
If there is someone to whom something is evil, that 'someone' is evil. And if there is someone to whom something is good, that 'someone' again is evil.
In the universe, there is no good, no evil. The only evil is the perceiver of the universe, the one who takes himself as separate, the one who feels that he has come to the universe and would one day depart from the universe, he is evil.
In the universe, there is no good, no evil — the evil is the one who says that he must be careful that he does not become evil, or that he must remain careful that he remains good, only that is evil.
The self, the little self, the ‘I,’ the ‘me,’ the one who wants to define good, the one who wants to define evil, he is evil.
He is evil because he's unnecessary; he is unnecessary because, frankly, he does not exist. In the universe evil does not exist, so from where has this specimen arrived? He does not exist, and yet he feels that he does, that's evil. Are you getting it?
Shubhankar (volunteer) is saying, “Is it not so that the existence of the ’I’ is itself a feature of Prakriti?” No, in Prakriti, ‘I’ does not exist.
Questioner: But the constituents of ‘I’ are always from the Prakriti, whatever ‘I’ is made up of…
Acharya Prashant: ‘I’ is never made up of anything, ‘I’ is hollow. Because ‘I’ is hollow, so it uses prakriti to stuff itself up.
Questioner: So ultimately, the ingredient is the prakriti.
Acharya Prashant: You can use anything that does not put the blame on the thing.
Questioner: But if there is an existence of ‘I’...
Acharya Prashant: The existence is prakriti. The universe is existence.
Questioner: So in that existence, if you have something that can be talked of…
Acharya Prashant: Then to satisfy you, the universe will have to cease to exist; because as long as the universe is there, you will find something to latch on to.
Half the universe is gone, the other half still exists, you'll get attached to that. If even the last speck of dust remains, that will become your universe. Who is evil then, the universe, the speck of dust, or you? Who talks of good? The one who is afraid of evil, right? Only insecurity talks the language of good and evil, right? You fear some harm, and you expect some reward; goodness is reward, evil is harm.
The one who is in need of reward or harm, the one who is affected by virtue or vice, is evil. The one who must stay careful is evil. Truly, it is a system in which ‘I’ is unnecessary, and if the unnecessary I does exist and demands that it must have a role in the universe, then the only role it can have is to work towards its own obliteration.
In existence, everything has a role, except ‘I’. In existence, everything has a definite place, except ‘I,’ but ‘I’ demands a role and a place. It's an unworthy demand. It's a demand that ‘I’ is not eligible to make. But still, if the ‘I’ really feels that it must have something to do, then fine, remove yourself; that's your task, that's what spirituality is all about, giving the evil something to do.
If you do not give the evil the right thing to do, it will pick something else, something on its own, and that would keep it present, kicking and alive, making it feel relevant in the scheme of things; whereas the fact is that it has zero relevance. That's why you talk of spirituality as self-destruction.
Spirituality is giving the evil something right to do.
And what is that right action?
Questioner: Self-destruction.
Acharya Prashant: Work to remove yourself.
