Why Freedom Requires Discipline First
Questioner: Isn’t it contradictory that I need to discipline myself in order to realize Freedom?
Acharya Prashant: The one, who has a strong sense of bondage, only he needs to be freed; who else? The one who is abiding in freedom requires no freedom. Freedom is his very breath, so there is no question of striving after freedom.
So, when we say freedom, obviously there is somebody to whom freedom is applicable. Freedom word is applicable only to the bonded mind. Now what is discipline with respect to a bonded mind?
The bonded mind behaves in a particular way, the particular way is such that it keeps the bondage perpetual, it’s a self-furthering, self-sustaining vicious cycle which masks the bondage, which names the bondage as freedom itself and in the continuation of which there is no apparent break, it can continue on its own till infinity.
There would be nothing that would come to break the cycle, because the one who is in the cycle is the bonded mind itself; suffering, frustrated; nevertheless hopeful and dissatisfied.
What breaks this cycle is called Discipline.
Discipline is that which can break the self-sustaining cycle of bondage. The freeman who abides in his freedom anyway has a beautiful, natural order in his mind, thoughts and actions. He needs no discipline.
In other words, a particular divine discipline is already there. So, we can’t even call it discipline, it would be redundant. We would not use the word discipline with respect to the realized mind, the tranquil mind. We will have to come back and use the word discipline only with respect to the bonded mind.
The bonded mind requires something a little beyond itself, that which is beyond itself is not very distant from it, it is close by, and because it is close by, it can come from another fragment of the same mind. Or, it can come from something or somebody, the mind perceives as an external object. But, what is certain is, that the cycle is not going to break itself, that the cycle of bondage has no interest in its own dissolution. Left to itself, it would continue and continue, time would keep passing and passing, and that is the reason why time, age and experience are such useless words when it comes to realization, because time can keep passing, and passing. Nothing has happened that can disrupt the cycle.
Discipline is that which can potentially disrupt the cycle. Nothing else is discipline. So, discipline is a break from the normal pattern. Remember please, every pattern has a great interest in its own continuation, the pattern will not just disappear, it needs something. It lives in cause and effect and even to disappear, it requires a cause. It requires a cause. Discipline is that cause. You will require it, as long as you do not require it. Till you come to a point where the word freedom itself becomes meaningless for you, you will require discipline.
It would be a great place to be in where even the most arbitrary, most random action has an inner discipline contained in it, so much so, that one doesn’t even have to bother; what is he doing, what is he thinking and what the quality of actions are?
That would be a great place to be in, but till the time one is not there, till the time one holds the idea that I am not there, discipline is needed. Yes, there is a funny part to it that I am not there, is only an idea, but we all hold that idea. I am not there, I have to reach somewhere, that idea expresses itself in the form of our urge to achieve, know, learn, get, acquire, become!
Till you want to become, you need that discipline. Till you have an urge to achieve, you need a particular discipline because the mind is bonded.
So, yes, discipline has definitely an important place in the process of realization. So, be disciplined till you realize that discipline is redundant. Have all the respect for discipline till you realize that all this doesn’t matter. But, be honest; don’t give up discipline before you have actually come to that realization. That can be one of the cunningnesses of the pattern, well, you are already there, why do you need discipline? Discipline is for the man in neighborhood, the boy next door needs discipline, you don’t need discipline.
We said, discipline is that which breaks the pattern, you already have a pattern to your life, are we very clear that no pattern will arise, awaken and break by itself? No pattern is suicidal, are we aware of that? It will not just say on its own, I am done; if you don’t read, you won’t read, you have not read since five years, you won’t read for next five years, your entire life. A thousand lives are insufficient, the pattern will continue, it has continued, always.
Walking down the same road a thousand times, can you reach a new place? What is the point of then following the pattern, or experience, or time? If you are just on the same road again and again, obviously you cannot come out of it. The well has the frog and the frog may keep jumping, hopping one thousand times, all its movements will still be within the well. The well can’t be broken; the walls have not been breached. Your movements may give some kind of consolation, I am doing something, what you are doing is what you like doing, within the well of your thought. That’s one of the most difficult things for the mind to grasp and even more difficult to actionate , that’s why real change is so difficult to come about. Superficial change is very easy, go change your dress, change your make-up, change your words, the words you use to express the same old rotten stuff, but real change is so hard to come about.
Real change is a kind of suicide, mind does not want that, the pattern does not want that. That is why discipline is so scary, any kind of discipline, and the mind will come up with a thousand reasons against discipline. Do I need discipline? I am mature, adult, reasonable, fit to take care of myself. And remember, whenever there would be a question of discipline, there would always be the other. Even when you are saying that I am disciplining myself, there is still an other, in the form of another fragment of mind. And whenever there is an other, this pattern would be threatened, because the other is disciplining me, and I don’t like it. Who is the other to discipline me, what authority does he have, and how does he know that he is doing the right thing? Beautiful argument!
Questioner: Is it possible that the same discipline becomes another pattern?
Acharya Prashant: That is why discipline is something very, very conscious. Discipline is not a dead principle, discipline is not an ideal; discipline is something very radical and dynamic. Discipline is not about waking up at 4:00 in the morning and taking a bath, it’s not a dead routine.
Questioner: What if you are able to train your senses but the other doesn’t understand?
Acharya Prashant: Discipline is always inward, the first mistake is that discipline means speaking the truth to somebody. This very definition of discipline is other-centric, and out of this flawed definition there is arising a problem, and what is the problem that what do I do when I speak the truth and the other does not respond in the way I want him to. Both, the discipline and the problem arising out of that discipline, are other-centric; discipline hence, is not something so casual.
Remember we said, mind lives in patterns, discipline breaks that pattern. What do we mean by the pattern of the mind; all the patterns of the mind have others at the center. Now the discipline will not work if it still is other-centric. How can you speak to others if you are not sitting in the truth? What do you mean by speaking the truth to others? Is discipline about morality; what do you mean by truth?
Lao Tzu had a great problem, saying that the Truth cannot be spoken, and you are repeatedly saying that whenever I will speak, I will speak the truth; what do you mean by that? Speaking the truth only means, behaving in a particular way to the other; no, that is not discipline, such discipline will invariably crumble. This discipline is arising out of the Ego, because where the other is, and a discipline arising out of the Ego will be consumed by the Ego. I spoke the truth ; what do I mean? I spoke the truth, and yet he was harsh to me and that hurts my Ego, so next time onwards, no truth for you. For everybody else I will be truthful, but you have had it, you will only get this and that from me. What arises from the Ego will only serve the needs of the Ego, nothing else.
This discipline is of no value.
Questioner: It is said that for the relationships whatever you speak, put some honey on it, say the other way round.
Acharya Prashant: Again see, this is the continuation of the pattern. This question and the last question are in the same pattern because you are still talking about others. There is no discipline.
Questioner: So, if in this if I need clarity, what should I do?
Acharya Prashant: A fundamental discipline would be, I would not let the other be so significant. And this would be a dynamic discipline because the other can be significant in a thousand ways; not predictable. Sometimes the other becomes important by being very good, sometimes the other becomes important when you miss him, sometimes the other becomes important when you do not want him to come to you. So, this is a very dynamic discipline. Ah! The other is still dominating me, oh, it’s still the other. In a market place, I am buying something, I am still looking at it from the eyes of the other; how would I look when he/she looks at me? The other is still so important. That is why a discipline without understanding does not survive the mechanics of the Ego; it crumbles. In fact, it is not a discipline at all.
Once you know the pattern, there are two ways to enter into a discipline, if you want to go further into it,one is, even the most pattern-based-mind cannot be very far from its own source. You cannot go too far from your mother. You may be the most conditioned, habituated mind, yet wisdom is not too far away. So, there is the way of intelligence, I am not an idiot and though I am pattern-based, in moment of explosive awareness, I could see that I have been stupid, and, I let that remain. It was so explosive that its impact could not be just forgotten or wished away.
I let that remain with me; I saw the futility of all my actions, it could also happen when you see the result of your actions; even that is possible. This is, for example , the case of Valmiki . You know his story. He was a robber initially. So, I know my pattern; this and that , to rob. One day he goes home and he asks a question, which is essentially a question of self-interest, there is nothing very very special about this question, he has been prompted by somebody, he goes home and asks his wife and kids; I bring the loot home, and you all have a good time feasting over it; I will go to hell, for what I have been doing, will you come with me there? And it’s a simple question, you know, you can ask your partner that you are sharing all the goodies, will you also share the bads ? And it’s a very businessman-like question, profit is being shared, loss must also be shared.
Wife says, ‘No’. And the man wakes up forever. It’s an explosion. He says, what the hell am I doing then?
And the robber becomes a saint, immediately. This is the way of intelligence.
All I wanted was to take care of my self-interest, but I was honest about it, I gathered the courage, I went to my wife and asked, point-blank; will you come with me? Most of us have no guts to ask point-blank questions to our spouses. You may be thinking of a lot of things but you cannot go to your spouse and ask like this. You know that all the dearness will dissolve in no time. Tomorrow the divorce papers will be filed.
You may be suspecting that he has a very pretty secretary in his office but you dare not ask him, have you slept with her? That would be too much. You can have all kinds of doubts and suspicions, and you can ask an oblique question here and there, but you can’t ask point-blank, it is very difficult, and you are afraid, what if he too replies point-blank; yes, I have! You asked point-blank, “have you slept with her?”, and he replies point-blank, of course I have. What will you do then? So you dare not ask.
He had that courage, he asked. And that was the point that disrupted his pattern.
The Robber becomes a Saint. This is the way of intelligence.
Then, there is the way of Faith. The way of intelligence is; one aspect of your being disrupting your mind. It is arising from within, no external source is required. There is something within your mind, your own self-interest, which is helping you break the pattern. It is little bit like, standing in front of the mirror and you are overweight, and one day after taking the bath you stand naked in front of the mirror and you look at yourself and say, “*What the hell?*” If I can’t bear to look at myself, then surely it is a serious situation, or the doctor tells you.
The second is the way of faith; you are continuing in the patterns and there is nothing wrong with the patterns, you are happy, you say, I am leading a contended, happy life, there’s nothing much, nice family, two kids, little bit of money, couple of vacations every year, everything is alright and then somebody comes to you and says, No, it is not alright! And you do not know why is he saying all this? But sheer out of faith you take his words, and you take his words very seriously, close to your heart. And you let that source disrupt your patterns.
This is the way of faith.
In the kind of times we are living today, the way of faith will be very difficult, extremely difficult, because it will be extremely difficult for you…
Go by the way of intelligence. Use the same mind to look at its patterns. Ask yourself sharply; are my patterns really giving me even happiness? How am I benefiting?
