Identity, Ambition, and the Search for Fulfilment

Questioner: Pranam sir, I am Ram Surendra Singh, a research scholar from the Mathematics Department. Sir, we all are dealing with physical matter here but if we see a periodic table, all the elements in there, and if someone knows how to play with those elements they can all create the whole universe. That is just a matter of some addition of electrons and some fewer electrons in that present everything is the same. So, if you go below that then everything is proton, electron, and neutron and again we go down, it is like quark.

So you are also like a quark, we are also like a quark, everyone is a quark with a positive charge or some charge is different. Then why if everything is the same, then why do we have hatred, jealousy and ego among ourselves only? And the people in positions of authority, are biased towards some kinds of people, if everything is one then why is it like that?

Acharya Prashant: Wonderful! See, there is somebody who is the quark, right? The quark itself is not the quark. Does a quark ever say, “I am a quark?” Does an electron or a proton ever declare its identity? Ever heard protons, neutrons, or electrons shouting I am e, n, or p? Or an electron saying, “I want to progress in life by jumping to a higher orbital, S is not good enough so D, P, F?” Ever found an ambitious electron in life, no?

That's where that particular one comes in, who says I am the electron. This ‘Iness’ is missing in the objective universe as you see it. This is a table, the table never says, “I am a table”, but then there is somebody, somebody like me or you who says, “I am the owner of the table.” Now, the table has an active identity. Now, there is somebody who is identified with the table.

So, while objectively as you see it, it might be true that each of us is just the elemental particles or waves, but then where is consciousness in this statement? what is consciousness? That which declares ‘Iness’, I, I, right? So, you said, “If we all are the same in terms of our elemental fundamental constitution, then why do we fight with each other? Why is there a strive for hatred or differences?” Because the one who is the quark is not satisfied being the quark.

You are somebody, are you okay with being what you are right now? No, you are not okay. He is somebody, she is somebody, none of us are contented. We are identified with something material, like the quark or the table or the BMW car, they all belong to the same dimension in terms of their materiality, right? We are identified with something,

I am a man, I am a woman, I am a student, I am a Topper, I am a laggard, I am rich, I am poor, I am handsome, I am short, I am knowledgeable, I am a seeker, I am a good sports person, irrespective of what you say about yourself including I am a quark, you are not all right being what you are. You declare you are a billionaire, does that satisfy you fully? That does not or you could turn very knowledgeable and declare I am a quark, does even that satisfy you fully? It does not, so we are not happy being what we are, we want to be something else.

We do not know what we should become so that we can be happy and satisfied, right? Each of us is trying to become something each of us is trying to become something. Nobody is stable, contented, relaxed, retired, or absolutely at peace being where he or she is. So, there is that constant inner dissatisfaction and lack of fulfillment. We want to be somewhere, we try hard to be there and we find that our efforts are going fruitless so there, then is frustration within.

Then there is somebody else sitting next to me, this person too is an object that can be potentially used by me so that I become somebody else, right? For example, if you are a boy and a girl is sitting next to you, how do you become a boyfriend from a boy? You are a mere boy and there's a girl sitting next to you, how now do you become, the important word is becoming, now how do you become a boyfriend from a mere boy? For this, you will have to use the object sitting next to you, the girl. Once the girl agrees, you find you have graduated to being a boyfriend from just being a boy. So now you have to use that object next to you, that object is a conscious being, and that object has some will of her own. But for you to satisfy your urge to become somebody else, you'll have to use her and objectify her and she may not want that and then there is conflict. Are you getting it?

Let's say all of you are participating in some kind of quiz contest here and there is a trophy to be taken. Let's say, this is a trophy (Acharya ji pointing towards the mug kept at the table), this has I am Ahmedabad written on it, right? So not too bad as a trophy and this is waiting here to be captured and taken home. All of you think that if you become, note the word become, all of you think that if you become the holder of this trophy that will give you satisfaction, that's how it happens, no? But can all of you become the owner of this trophy? No, one of you will take it home and the others will, you know, probably smolder inside, so then there is conflict.

Becoming, therefore you see, begets conflicts in a lot of ways. Whatever you are currently, since that is not sufficient so you want to become somebody else and the entire process of becoming, is a process of conflict. Unfortunately, instead of understanding where we stand our education system, our social system, the entire culture gives a lot of importance to becoming, which is a game of ambition, so all of us want to reach somewhere, no? You have targets in life and you are hustlers, you want to quickly reach there, is that not what we want? There is a place and if it is to be reached, I better reach there fast.

Now, I do not know where I am standing, how do I know where I need to reach? Is that logical enough? And if you do not know where to reach, how do you know the path to take? When you want to reach somewhere and you set your GPS it asks for two things, what are the two things it asks for? It asks for the place you want to go to and also there is something called your location, remember that? Remember that? In the map’s app, your location, if you do not know your location, can any map in the world help you? When it comes to your physical location the satellite suffices, the satellite will tell you what your location is even if you do not know. But when it comes to your mental station, where you are as an individual, here inside, no GPS or app, or satellite can help you. That you have to know and only when you know where you are, then you can know where you need to reach. Is this getting too heavy or too fast for you? Do you see how we are going?

We all are carrying identities and each of these identities comes from identification with a certain object, right? So, when you say, for example, you are a boy, what is the object you are identified with? The male body. Since, you say I am the male body so you entitle yourself to say I am a boy, right? When you say, I am rich, for example, there is some object you are identified with what is that object? Money.

Tell me of something else, give me an identity statement, give me an identity statement, please.

Questioner: I am a Hindu.

Acharya Prashant: I am a Hindu, there is something objective you are identified with, in religion there are books, there are practices, there are beliefs, and all these are objects. You understand an object, anything worldly that you can talk of is called an object, that's a definition. So, any identity statement involves deep association with an object and that's the reason why the entire world is running after objects.

That's why there is so much crowd in shopping malls because they carry a lot of lucrative objects and we are hungry inside not physically but mentally. We need something to associate ourselves with, something so lovable that it will give us a final satisfaction nothing gives that to us. So, we continue to run without ever coming to a halt and ultimately, we find that our days are over and we are dead, the entire life spent in hustling without ever really reaching.

Do you see this? This, that we are within, that is hungry for satisfaction, you could call as the ego or the mind or the consciousness, these two are not exact synonyms of each other but for your purpose as beginners, it suffices to take them as one. The ego, the mind, or the consciousness that's the hungry thing inside. So, whenever you say oh! we are, you know, just a quark or Panchbhoot, oh! I am, I am just the soil that's not really right to say because if you are just material then the material exists even after death, does it not?

Does the weight of a person change immediately upon dying? The material exists even then. Surely, there is something beyond the material that you are, something beyond the material that looks through these material eyes. The eyes are material but there is something beyond material within, that is looking out through the eyes. Can pure material ever love? Can material cry? Can material deeply long for something?

It's all right, the body is material but then there is something within that is not material. It is not material but it is heavily discontented, it is unfulfilled and it wants fulfillment and it does not know how to get there. So, in its lack of knowledge, what does it do? It tries all kinds of material possible, including narcotics, and drugs because they too are just objects, substances, no? So, you try even that, so maybe this will satisfy me, maybe that will satisfy me, money might satisfy me entertainment, excitement, drugs, knowledge, power, sex, sports, whatever. I mean you name it, man has tried everything, tourism, wanderlust. Are you getting it?

It is extremely important to study that, that which you really are, a thirsty consciousness. While walking in, I was discussing with the Honorable Dean here, that the entire education system is focusing exclusively on objects. We know so much about, for example, this mic, we know not a thing about the consciousness that speaks to this mic. We know about the eyes, we have studied this piece of flesh brilliantly, we know all about its anatomy, we can cure most of its diseases and we can also replace the retina, for example, and we have goggles, we have specs, you name it and we have extensions of the eye is called massive telescopes, that can look deep into the space as well. Those are just extensions of eyes.

So, objectively we know so much but we do not know a thing about the one who looks out through the eyes, tell me who is the one taking in information through the eyes? Who is the one? Do we know him? Not that he is male, you know, this is just a way of saying, please tell me, who is the one so eager to look out through the eyes, that the eyes keep rolling continuously? Are the eyes ever stable? The eyes are looking this way, that way. What are the eyes really looking for? Our education system puts no emphasis on that, so the result is that we know a lot about the objective world, but we know very little about ourselves.

Now, fortunately or perhaps unfortunately, we are standing at a point where we have to fulfill our mental needs and if those mental needs are not wisely fulfilled then we'll go bonkers, as we already are, and there would be massive destruction that you are already witnessing in the form of climate change, biodiversity loss, mental disease epidemic and many other things.

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