Are You Foolish, Clever, Or Innocent?
Questioner: My question is regarding innocence and foolishness. How can we differentiate — like, this is innocence, and this is foolishness? How do we recognize that I’m not being innocent, but rather foolish? And how can we correct ourselves when we realize this?
Acharya Prashant: Foolishness is when you are foolish and yet want great things to happen to you. Innocence is when you are wise and you do not care about the things that will happen to you. The mark of the foolish person is that he will want to remain foolish! Else, he couldn't have been foolish at this point, no? Foolishness is its own punishment. If a person has continued to remain foolish, it means he wants to be foolish; else, the first dose of punishment would have sufficed, and he would have no longer remained foolish.
The foolish person is determined to remain foolish and yet wants lovely experiences for herself.
“I am foolish, but life will be great for me! Wonderful pleasures I’m going to experience, even as I remain foolish.” That’s foolishness. To be innocent is to not to care. Beparwahi! "I know myself, and I don’t care whether great or bad things happen." That’s innocence!
You know, the word "innocence," in its etymology, indicates a state of being untouched! Untouched — a kind of purity, a sacredness, a virginity. Innocence means being untouched. Untouched by what? We’re obviously not talking about the body here. Untouched by what? Untouched by the concern for tomorrow. Untouched by the concern for results. That’s innocence.
"I don’t bother about results because whatsoever needed to be decided has already been decided. So my job is done. My day is closed. The shutters are down. I’m no more dealing." That’s innocence. That’s innocence.
Foolishness, in spite of having all kinds of shitty items in the shop, foolishness is about expecting a great experience with customers and running up a great profit as well. The stuff I have inside is all rotten, and yet I want to have a great experience with all the customers and also run up profits. That’s foolishness. Wisdom — The deal is made. The job is done. The shutters are down. I do not care what happens next. That’s innocence. Innocence does not care and foolishness cannot stop caring.
Now, why this question? Why, first of all, do these two look alike in some respects? We need to address that. Why do innocence and foolishness look similar in some aspects? That’s what we need to address.
Because neither of them ever appears to be making profits. Foolishness does not make profits because it cannot. Innocence does not make profits because it cares not. And that’s a mighty difference. Innocence is incapable of worrying about profits, and foolishness is incapable of making profits.
Innocence has already made so much that it does not care to make any more. And foolishness is so rotten that, in spite of all its desires, it can never make any profits. And because none of them appears to be making profits, to the unversed mind, they may probably look a bit similar. And that’s where this question is coming from—"What is the difference between the two?"
So, it’s a gradual ascension. First of all, you have to quit being foolish. Foolishness is about maintaining the rotten ego and yet expecting a great life. When you are no longer foolish, when you are clever in the worldly sense, then you say, "Yes, I want to fleece my customers. I do want to make profits. And I now realize that for that to happen, my product has to be, yeah, tasteful to them."
So, you do yourself up. You try to be better in the worldly way. That's cleverness. Foolishness is when you are not just rotten; you are very visibly rotten. Your rottenness—your rottenness is visible to everybody except you. That’s foolishness.
Cleverness is when you are still rotten, but at least, to others, you have managed to make it appear that you are no more rotten. That’s cleverness. And in cleverness, you start making profits. But when you are clever, you realize that the profits don’t suffice. There are no profits for profit’s sake that you work. The profits that you want are ultimately for an inner fulfillment. That inner fulfillment was elusive when you were foolish, and it remains elusive even when you are clever. And then—then you ascend into wisdom.
Foolishness > Cleverness > Wisdom.
Wisdom takes a very, very hard look at itself and says, "If all the profits that I want from the world are about fulfilling this one within — if all that I want from the world is for the sake of this one within — why shouldn't I focus exclusively on the one within? Because even if I take that route, the circuitous route, you know — going to that one, collecting profits from him, bringing the profits back here, and then testing whether it gives some fulfillment — ultimately, I am returning to myself. Why should I take such a long route?"
I look at myself. Wisdom looks at itself. And that’s called self-knowledge. Self-knowledge! Looking at itself, discovers the very core of the lack of fulfillment. Its discovery is its treatment. It’s healing. A final cure!
The very problem that made you relate to the world in a profit-seeking way has gone. It was not for nothing that you had set up the shop. The shop exists to transact with the world, and you are transacting with the world to take care of a problem within. When you look at the problem within — the looking itself is honest enough, rigorous enough — the looking itself suffices to cure the problem. And if the problem is gone, what will the shop stand for now? What did the shop exist for?
It existed to transact with the world, to take care of the problem within. Now, the very motivation is gone. The central problem that necessitated all the arrangement is gone. So, the shutters are pulled down. That’s innocence. "I don’t need the shop anymore." That does not mean that you won’t transact with the world anymore. I will. But not by way of a shop. A shop is give and take. Now, it will be much more of give — and only very little of take. In fact, I’ll take only as much as is needed to give back tenfold. That’s innocence.
Now, innocence, you’ll see again, will look like foolishness. Because in foolishness, you make no profits. And innocence also gives back tenfold. So, obviously, innocence does not make any profits. Innocence is a nonprofit venture. Foolishness is a for-profit company going bankrupt. You don’t see any profits either way. But there’s a great difference.
You go and you found a company, but you are so damn foolish and inept at everything and anything. You flounder at all your operations and strategies, and you raise a huge debt and finally go under bankrupt. That’s foolishness.
Innocence is when you can make profits, but you don’t care to.
You still work very hard, probably harder than the for-profit concern but you work so hard to give back tenfold. That’s innocence. These two will look similar to the clever mind because the clever mind is about making profits. The clever mind looks down at foolishness and sees no profits. It also looks up at innocence, and there also, it sees no profits. So, it thinks that probably these two are the same. They’re not similar.
Foolishness is like a robber trying to execute a robbery—a bank robbery, in his drunken state, and returning starved and empty-handed. Instead of the bank, he probably entered a mortuary and tried to threaten everybody into submission: "Give me all you have, else you will be lying dead within the next two minutes!" He addressed all the dead bodies. That’s foolishness. This fellow will return empty-handed.
Innocence is a billionaire who has so much that he goes out every day with a huge truckload of cash and returns every evening empty-handed. That’s innocence. The common thing is, both of them are seen returning empty-handed. But the commonness ends there. Nothing else is common.
Questioner: Acharya Ji, you spoke at length about innocence, which was very, you know, thought-provoking and clarified many of my doubts. However, I just want to, you know, just confirm one thing that innocence can only come when we have already made the choice in the right direction. Before that, there is no innocence, right?
Acharya Prashant: Only when we have made….
Questioner: The choice in the right direction like towards Atman or towards Ram.
Acharya Prashant: Yeah, yeah. Continually, you make that choice. Yes.
Questioner: And in that sense, in the true sense, only a Atmagyani or a realized man is to be called innocent, not us.
Acharya Prashant: Yes.
Questioner: And when that Doha says Tulsi Bharose Raam ke, Nirbhay ho kar Soye so that…
Acharya Prashant: Yes, yes. That’s innocence.
Questioner: That’s innocence.
Acharya Prashant: That’s innocence. Very well said. Yes, that’s innocence. Which also means that the general kind of, you know, biological ignorance and cuteness—they are not to be conflated with innocence. The kid cannot be called innocent. Shri Krishna can be called innocent. And I’m not talking of Bal Krishna — I’m talking of the Shri Krishna of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the one to be called innocent.
But the Lok Dharma, Lok Bhasha — the language of the commons, is very distorted. So, we look at a newborn or somebody and we say, "Oh, such an innocent one." They’re not innocent. They are just doing their biological bit. And innocence is not biological. It’s just by virtue of biology that they belong to a certain age and hence are displaying certain behavior. Once they exceed that age, they will not display that behavior. Innocence is not biological. Innocence is not age-bound.
Questioner: It’s a choice, basically.
Acharya Prashant: It’s a choice. It’s a choice of elevated consciousness.
So, no kid can ever be innocent. Only the one who has had the courage to confront himself is innocent.
Questioner: Right. Got it. Thank you. Thank you Acharya Ji.
