How to Make Oneself Do the Right Thing?

Questioner 1: In my experience, what’s happening is that I really like reading scriptures, so I’ve been reading them for quite some time. But with time, what I’ve observed is that earlier there used to be a freshness and it would stay with me. There was a sense of excitement also.

Of late I see that missing, so if I face a situation, all that comes back to me. But that excitement, which used to give hope, that okay, there’s some change happening. So, that seems to be missing, not able to really read the situation.

Could you please help me out here?

Acharya Prashant: You see, the nature of the mind must not be forgotten. Because the mind is never happy with itself, therefore it is looking for continuous change. It will look for change even in scriptures and you cannot resist that, because the mind will keep acting unhappy and dissatisfied, even as you are reading the scripture.

And the scripture is meant to be fed to the mind and the mind becomes an unwilling recipient. So, all that becomes inefficient. You are reading, spending time and the mind is not quite partaking in the process, so what do you do?

You say, “Fine, you want change, I’ll give you change.”

You don’t need to read only one kind of scripture all the time. There’s so much diversity even in the spiritual literature. Even Vedant has hundreds of texts, and then there is the Zen Koan, there’s Sufi literature, and there are the stories from European mystics. Obviously, you have the Chinese, the Japanese, you’ve Lao Tzu, Li Tzu, there’s so much. Or you could go to the epics and see what they’re trying to say.

Or if the mind has become resistant to the written word itself, then why not watch, maybe videos? Go to let’s say, Jiddu Krishnamurthi, there’s ample video content available. And if the mind is saying, “I have a problem with the word itself, whether written or spoken,” then attempt action. Spirituality, or spiritual practice is not just about reading. It’s also about acting, act to learn.

Are you getting it?

Questioner 1: Please elaborate — ‘Act to learn.’

Acharya Prashant: The scripture is telling you that you have to challenge that within you, which keeps you as you are. See how can challenge it in action, whether at your workplace or at home, in the physical sense, in all senses that constitute your personality. Even in the sense of the clothes you wear, the company you keep, the way you manage your house, the way you look, the way you eat.

How is the ego not finding a crystallized expression in our fixed diets? When we talk of the ego, finding security in the past, one of the things that comes from there is our diet. Even challenging that might be a part of the spiritual process.

But don’t blame yourself. This is something that is bound to happen even with sincere seekers. The mind has a tendency to seek change even in the Truth because that’s what the mind is, this tendency itself.

So irrespective of how noble the text you’re reading, how great are the words, you’ll soon get kind of fed up and bored. Boredom, that’s one of the central descriptions of the mind. It’s always bored, but it cannot take audacious steps to get rid of its boredom.

Play games with the mind, play games. Listen to music, there is so much of devotional music there. Listen to Kabir amritvani, listen to a recitation of the Guru Granth Saheb, or the Ramcharitmanas. There are several ways to give the mind what it wants, and still keep taking it in the right direction.

Questioner 2: Namaste Acharya Ji. On my spiritual journey, I was led onto this journey through my personal relationships. And as I keep going, and as I went ahead, and I keep going now, I’m extremely curious and I’m extremely attracted to what is there in store for me.

But sometimes I suspect my motives, if I’m doing it for the highest really, or if it’s the personal relations that are propelling me on. And sometimes, the attraction is just too much that I don’t care about this. But I’m really worried sometimes that, is there a pitfall that I should be aware of in my situation.

Acharya Prashant: See the ego is such that it will never move towards the right thing, with absolutely the right intention. Even to go towards the temple, you need to be tempted with prasad, you know, the sweets that the priests give you. Otherwise, the kids won’t go to the temple at all.

So, you need not suspect that there is some problem or issue. Be convinced that there indeed is a problem. And the problem is that, you’re approaching spiritual literature or spirituality itself, because of personal reasons, that is indeed the case, take that for granted. But, there is no need to be disappointed because of this. That’s the way we all are.

I repeat, even to move to the highest, we need to be given some lowly reason. And blessed be the lowly reason, that takes you to the highest, right? Takes you to the highest, and then excuses itself. Or takes you to the highest, and then you find that there’s no separation. Because at the highest, you know, this, that, separation, conflict all that anyway disappear, right?

So irrespective of what makes you move in the right direction, keep moving. And know fully well, that there’s nobody who ever got into spirituality because he wanted to disappear. You cannot tell the ego, “I’m taking you to a place to die.”

You have to tell her, “Come, we’ll have fun.”

You’re not lying, the disappearance of ego is good fun. But you’ve to counsel her in a language she understands. You have to offer her a bait, she’ll accept, and then at some point, you’ll say, “I’m glad, I’ve been cheated.” Because there was no way to bring me to the right place without cheating me, that’s how I am.

Had somebody straightaway told me, “I’m holding your hand so that both of you, both of us merge into dissolution,” you would have never accepted to hold the hand. So, a little bit of cheating is needed. Cheating in love you know, not cheating of a kind for self-interest.

Blessed is such a cheat I said. Later on, you’ll thank him or her whatever, later on. In the middle of the journey, you keep cursing. The bugger has made my life hell, and I curse the moment I got into a relationship and these things. At some point, if you let the person stay alive till that moment, you’ll thank him.

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