In the name of spirituality; entertainment, titillation and pleasure sells || (2016)

Questioner (Q): Do you believe in [Censored]?

Acharya Prashant (AP): What is [Censored] I have not read any such thing. Do not quote this and that author here. We are talking real stuff, not entertainment. If you know, this particular author that you are talking of, for sure you will not know Dattatreya.

Q: Who?

AP: That’s what. The result of knowing such pop authors is that you do not know the real ones. You will be able to go to the real one, only if you get rid of the popular ones.

Q: Finally, if they are all saying the same thing. Ramayana says the same thing, Mahabharata says the same thing, [Censored] says the same thing. They are all saying the same thing. They all mean the same thing. There is nothing different. I mean, nothing different in anyone. The question was asked because there is confusion in my mind…

AP: If they say the same thing, why are you confused? Could they say the same thing, that same thing would have cut through all the confusion. You can have billions who are saying the same thing, does that matter?

Q: Since ages…

AP: Since ages there are idiots who are saying the same thing. How does that matter? Truth is not a democracy, where you will have a hand count, “How many of you believe in this?” (Satirically) And if a lot of people believe in this then it is the Truth!

Q: What is the source of the Upanishads and the Vedas?

AP: Symbolically, it is said that they are not man-made.

Ramayana and Mahabharata are classified as Itihaas – history, not as Aadhyatm. Don’t you know the difference between Itihaas and Aadhyatm? Why are you quoting Itihaas here? This is no place to quote Itihaas or Smriti . All that is good entertainment, one can keep reading. Some angel came and gave birth to some king’s son, and some fish became pregnant. You are living your life based on such tales? Trying to impregnate the fish?

And somebody had a life of one thousand years. And somebody stood in front of the Sun and said, “Okay, give me a son”, and from the Sun dropped a son! If there is something within the Mahabharata that you can pay attention to, it is the Bhagwad Gita. Pay attention to that. And there are a few other Gitas as well, within the fold of Mahabharat – pay attention to them.

Our trouble is that we have stuffed ourselves with so much miscellaneous stuff; so many undeserving people, pigmy authors, unworthy teachers have occupied our mental space, that Truth becomes impossible for us.

The real ones that are known, whose works are available, they are few and far between; stick closely to them, do not leave them, do not go to random people. The random ones don’t deserve to be read at all. In fact, don’t even touch them.

Any time that you spend with an undeserving teacher, is self-torture. You are already conditioned and you want to have a few more layers of conditioning? You are already confused and you want the teacher’s confusion to become your confusion?

And especially avoid the pop authors, the ones who are in circulation; and pop gurus, the ones who are very famous – the bestsellers – avoid them.

J Krishnamurti doesn’t sell much. But there are so many others who are “Wow!”

Entertainment sells; titillation sells; pleasure sells.

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