How to awaken one's potential? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)

Acharya Prashant

4 min
57 reads
How to awaken one's potential? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)

Acharya Prashant: Just ask me how to not lie sleeping, don’t ask me how to awaken my potential.

The potential doesn’t have any habit of sleeping, you forcefully put it to sleep, intelligence is not habituated of lying dormant. You habitually put it to sleep by acts like these (pointing to two students gossiping) and then you ask why is life so miserable, why my potential is lying unutilised; because you are hell bent upon living a stupid life.

You are asking me what do I need to do to awaken my potential, I am saying don’t do anything, you are already doing too much, in fact, stop doing what you are doing right now, once you stop doing, you find that the potential that intelligence starts expressing itself, stop doing that you are doing so much, even at this moment there are two kinds of people over here:

  1. Who are not doing anything, who are just sitting and letting the listening happen.
  2. Who are doing a lot.

And what would that doing mean, that would mean fidgeting with the pen, that would mean thinking a lot.

Who do you think is understanding me?

Those who are doing a lot or those who are not doing anything? Who is understanding?

Those who are not doing anything.

So don’t ask me what do I need to do to awaken my potential, you don’t need to do anything extra, in fact, stop doing all that you keep doing, stop doing that in which your energy is being dissipated, in thousand miscellaneous acts, stop doing them and then you will find that there is great and beautiful channelization, a lovely flow and then you will know what does it mean to be young; not this kind of random movement, like this is going on, haywired minds, this way, that way, this thought, that thought.

Look at your thoughts and actions from morning till evening, and see what you are doing, where your time and energy are going, and then you will realise.

You don’t need to actually read great books it’s far easier than that, far closer than that, observe your own life, what do I do from morning till evening.

We have our friend sitting here, and it pleases my heart, it warms my heart, to see that he doesn’t belongs to this section but he is still here but then there is something from time, past, memory which reminds me that our friend is the same fellow whom I had to scold in the last samvaad and ask him to sit right in the front, remember?

Would have been absolutely great if he had come here on his own accord, but he hasn’t, yes, he is here because he is short on attendance, which not a crime, it is good that he is still here but would have been so wonderful had he been here on his own accord.

And there have been cases where people have attended samvaad even though they belonged to different sections, and see how domesticated he looks right now!

And you remember the last samvaad when you were like an uncontrollable beast, over there, and I had to make you sit here; though he was very nice after that, you also raised a question didn’t you?

What we do our entire day just see what it comprises of, when there is pressure we succumb and what is the pressure?

Attendance!

When there is no pressure then we behave in the most glorious manner possible! Like in the last samvaad, just observe your own actions and thoughts, and see what you are doing, please you don’t need to do anything extra, observe what you are any way doing, and that is sufficient even. At this moment find out what you are doing and that is sufficent, you don’t need to take pains and extra steps.

This article has been created by volunteers of the PrashantAdvait Foundation from transcriptions of sessions by Acharya Prashant.
Comments
Categories