If yours is not a world of miracles, then yours is a world of machines || Acharya Prashant (2016)

Acharya Prashant

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If yours is not a world of miracles, then yours is a world of machines || Acharya Prashant (2016)

Question : I have been meditating for many years, and I have been attending Satsangs and I have been doing a lot of things. But the more I do, the more I see – It’s all about me! Everything, Everything, Everything… is about me. Even trying to follow a spiritual path is about me doing all these things to follow a spiritual path! And so how to get out of that?

Acharya Prashant: You are already out of it. If you can see that all of that is just ego-centric activity, you are already out of it.

L1: But I continue to do it though…

AP: You have been doing it since decades now, so you will do it for two more days. (Smiling)

(Laughter )

L1: But it feels like, if I didn’t have that, I don’t know what I would do with myself! That’s my whole… ‘Story’!

AP: You will have fun! You will have fun! (Smiling)

L1: I will have fun?

AP: You will have fun!

L1: So, I go out and play basketball? Like what do I do?

AP: No pre-set definitions of fun! Cultivated sport is no fun! My friend here, where is he? The weird one, No not you! You are not weird enough! He was caught rolling with the dogs on the sand there.

Now that is no organized sport, we cannot count the number of goals, or score or points. That is fun, for him!

L1: Not for me, but, yeah!

AP: As of now!

You never know what shape it takes and that’s the beauty of it; so unpredictable! When you unburden yourself of all this ‘me’ centric activity, then the divine finds a way to act through you.

L1: But I find that I like this kind of activity.

AP: You have become accustomed to it.

L1: I love going to meditation retreats; I love going to Satsang ; I love doing all this stuff but all of this is like a circle around me. ‘Me’ loving to do all that!

AP: If you have to go to them again and again, again and again, it means you are seeking something which they are not able to give! What does it mean if after every hour you return to a restaurant? Does it mean that it is giving you a very fulfilling meals?

L1: No, it means that there is still a seeker who is seeking.

AP: It means that it is billing you well, but not serving you anything! And you are such a trusting one that you keep returning to it, in spite of returning hungry every time. What does it mean, I am asking you! What does it mean to be continuously in front of a restaurant? It means your hunger is not being taken care of.

L1: So, what to do?

AP: Not to do! (Laughs)

L1: Not to do? Not to do!

AP: Not to do!

L1: I don’t know what I would do with myself, if I weren’t doing all these things.

AP: Why is it important?

L1: I would be a vegetable. I don’t know…

AP: I am asking you, why is it important that you must know what you would do? Why is it important that you must know in advance, what you would do in future?

L1: I guess, it brings up anxiety to me.

AP: Yes! It calms you down, that “I already know what I would do, so I can relax!”

Now, what is a bigger relaxation? “I already know what I would do!” Or “Whatever I would do would be alright!” Which of these is a bigger relaxation?

Listeners (in unison): Second!

AP: So to not to worry about what you would do is a bigger relaxation.

L1: So what I would probably do is continuing to do what I’ve been doing all along!

AP: You are still guessing and still trying to be certain! You used these three seconds, to visualize, imagine and then express!

L1: Yeah! Yeah!

AP: One needs to have that faithful surrender.

“I may not know what would happen, but whatever would happen, even the worst, I am prepared to take it. It would be alright. I would be there. I will pass through all of it.”

“If that which I call as good, if that happens – Good!”

“If that which I call as bad, if that happens – Very good!”

“I have it in me to pass through both good and bad” – and that is ‘Faith’.

“I need not think about what would happen. I can drop all support, all accessories, all this ‘me’ centered fakeness, I can drop it! And now I am boldly standing, prepared to let happen whatever happens.”

And you would not be a vegetable. And even if you are a vegetable, you would be a very tasty vegetable. It’s okay! Have you seen a cauliflower?

He wants to compete in the taste! “Here I am!” (Smiling and pointing at another listener)

Going by this tendency to compete, you will only become an onion.

(Laughter )

Your methods, your practices, your routines, your schedules, your flight tickets, your visas, your holidays, your jobs back home – Sorry! It’s still all ‘you’! Which means, still all ‘your’ sufferings would continue.

L1: But still you know, if the visa ends, you have to plan to leave India or there are consequences. Or you have to make plans, the plans do go around this body. It’s just a fact of life. You have to plan to cook a meal, so you can feed this body so it continues to live, you know!

AP: We have ample evidence here from our own life that negates this. Ask my friends here, you are here since weeks now. How many of you know when in the day would you get meals and whether you would get any meals? And you would still find them laughing, singing, dancing, here, on the street. And most of them are doing this on empty stomachs. And it’s not as if they are saying, “You know, we are hungry and still we are dancing!” They are actually so…

L1: But there are practicalities that you have to take care of.

AP: Take care of them.

L1: So there is a ‘me’ that’s taking care of them for ‘me’!

AP: Yes of course! Take care of them. One does take bath; one does wear cloth; one does get the visa renewed – it’s okay!

You cannot just go and hop onto a plane. You need tickets in advance, it is okay! You may decide when to book the ticket, but you have also decided what all to do, how to do! And most people come here with very fixed ideas, then it’s a problem. Decide as little as possible and then be ready for miracles.

You are not alive if you do not see miracles happening every day! In the world of machines, there are no miracles! If in your world there are no miracles, then yours is a world of machines.

You must see miracles happening every minute. “Shoo!” A small mouse just popped up from nowhere. We have a miraculous friend called Chandu Chooha , he comes from nowhere!

Count your life by the number of miracles you have seen, not by the number of days you have lived! And if you haven’t seen any miracle yet, then you aren’t born yet!

We don’t believe in miracles, right?

“Ummm… If you can prove that miracles happen!”

(smilng)

A miracle that can be proved is no more a miracle. It is real only if it is miraculous! Whatever is not miraculous is fake! You get this? It is real only if it is totally unbelievable! If it is not incredible, if it does not make you go bonkers, it is not real. Only miracles are real! Nothing else is real.

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