Why Do We Need the Society?
Question: I am feeling that the society is a curse. Why do we need the society?
Acharya Prashant: Nothing is a curse; nothing is a curse. The only curse is to ‘not know’. The only curse is ignorance, and where does this ignorance lie? Who is ignorant- the society or the individual? Where does ignorance lie?
Society as a whole does not have its collective ignorance; the person is ignorant. It is our stupidity that shows up as the stupidity of the society.
A group, a collection of ignorant individuals will make for an ignorant society. Do you see this? An ignorant individual – even if given the so-called best of circumstances and the most enlightening of societies – will still find that he is not at peace, he will still feel that he is being exploited. And he will say everything is a curse. Society cannot harm you at all if you are aware. And if you are unaware, then those around you even with best of intentions, will be of very little help to you. You will end up getting harmed! They aren’t harming you, yet you will still get harmed.
Why do you find the society to be the curse? How many of you find something problematic with the society? How many of you sometimes feel like rebelling against the society? Yes? I see a few hands but I suppose few more would certainly be there, yes? And this is not something that is unique to you. Every individual in this modern society at some or the other point feels like breaking all the rules and declaring himself free! “I do not want to follow all these worldly bondages, social patterns, the dogmas! I am free. This world exploits me and I don’t like it”. Don’t you feel like this at times?
Now you must understand this: nobody can exploit you against your will, nothing bad can happen to you if you do not allow it to! You cannot be exploited without your consent. No curse can fall upon you unless you invite it.
I never tire of telling this small story: Once I was travelling in a long distance train which started from Delhi, next whole day it travels, and on the third day, reaches its destination. First day in my coach, a lady enters, and sits on the berth in front of me, and she looks utterly depressed, I thought it’s fine; it is a long journey, she might be sad at something. I did not pay much attention to it and slowly, as the night came in, she is showing sighing with her head against the window. Her sadness went on increasing as the stations kept on passing by. I thought it may be a general grief upon leaving some dear one behind and went off to sleep.
In the morning as I woke up I found her weeping and now tears were rolling down her cheeks. Concerned, I decided to ask but then stopped thinking it might be something personal. But then with every station that passed, her woes were increasing. As the afternoon approached, she was crying and filling the compartment with her wail. I was concerned and asked the cause to her utter sadness, but she did not say anything and continued to cry. I thought she didn’t want to tell and tried not to pay any heed after that. As evening came, she was crying vigorously. I asked again and she did not say anything again. So amidst all this crying, I somehow managed to sleep although with difficulty.
In the morning when I woke up, I was startled to see that she was crying with all her might! Not only was she sobbing furiously but also shouting and beating the walls in despair. I got mad at that and making her sit still, I asked firmly the reason of her grief. “Why was she suffering so much?” She replied in a very soft, almost guilty voice, that “I am in the wrong train since last three days, and every station that passes by reminds me that I am in the wrong train.”
(laughter)
Found it funny, hmm?
If you know that the train is wrong, then why did not you get off it? Now if you know you are in the wrong society, if you really know it deeply enough then you would have left it by now. You would have discarded it by now, you would have flown away by now! Whom are you deceiving? You want to live in this society and you want to take all the pleasures from this very society and at the same time, you want to enjoy being a ‘rebel’.
This is your way to escape from life. You would find many people saying “I am fed up of my parents. I am leaving my house.” Tell him to leave immediately and he would not go because had he been so fed up, he would have left long back.
There was a man fed up of the world – society, home, everything – and he frequently used to go out to commit suicide, carrying an umbrella. Somebody asked him the reason and he replied “what if it rains” and “also the sun is very hard”. He used to take food too with him, eat well, and then lie down on the railway track. Just before the arrival of the train he would say that Indian trains are never on time and come back belching.
(laughter)
All your life you have kept on complaining that you have so little. Right now, this speaker is available to you, but some of you are looking outside the window. This is the job of the mind: Whatever is not available, it remains lost in imagining it! What you complain about not having today, if you get it tomorrow, you would run away from it also. Do not think a different society would bring you happiness. Whatever society may have given to you, your mind will always remain sad. The problem lies within us! What harm can the society do to us and what can it give us?
Society is just an arrangement between a man and others. Now what can an arrangement do harm to you and what can it give you? Also, it is not a compulsion for you to stay in that arrangement. Drop out! What prevents you? There are millions of dropouts in the world, you too drop out! Drop out of the system, the home, the institution, drop out. But you would not! Because if you quit then what will be left to complain about? Now at least you have something to complain against- ‘I am always the victim’- so if this victimisation is taken away from you, you will lose all the support that your ego has. You will never let it go away. If it is gone what will you complain about and if you are not able to complain then how will your ego get its nourishment?
I am not saying we live in an ideal society, I am no spokesman of this society. What I am trying to say is that you – the individual – are far, far more powerful than what the social system can ever be. There is no need for you to complain. There is no need at all for you to complain. Nobody can harm you if you decide not to get harmed. Have clarity about yourself and about everything around and then you can find that you can laugh at the society or whatever! This is not your age to complain about the rottenness, falseness in the society. Be true, rise up, and let action happen.
When you realize the depth of your dishonesty, you are protected from it, you are insulated from it!
If you become aware about the falseness of an object then it can never harm you. If you are aware about the milk being stale then can it harm you? No, it cannot, because you would not drink it.
So try and find out things with clarity.
There is no compulsion.
