Just feed the right wolf || Acharya Prashant (2017)

Acharya Prashant: The questioner is asking about the various pettinesses that occupy the mind. He says, "These pettinesses are there, all the time there, and they demand expression. What do I do? Should I speak to someone? I can’t curb them. I can’t just wish them away, and they are always making their presence felt."

Why are you reporting selectively? If you must talk of all that which is seeking expression, why do you also not talk of the immense within you that is trying to get expression? Is it only your pettinesses that want to get expressed? Does the Great inside you not want to get expressed? But you have not written a single word about that. Why are you taking sides? Why don’t you let it be an impartial battle? And if you have to take sides, please take the right side.

There is the petty within you that says that 'I want to dominate your life, that I want to be expressed, that I want to become your breath, your action'. And there is the Great within you, which is parallelly saying, “I have a right to be expressed.” Don’t you feel the call of that great? It is impossible. Had you not felt the call of that Great, you won’t have written to me. Had you wanted to remain petty, why would you expose your pettiness?

There is so much within you that is beautiful, that is healthy, and that too wants to lead you, that too wants to take you places, that too wants to make you live an alternate life.

Why don’t you give that a chance? Why don’t you?

It’s a small beautiful story, I often recall it. So, the grandma is telling a story to the kid. And what’s the story? She says “You know what baby, we all have two wolves inside of us and they are always fighting – A black wolf and a white wolf. And they’re growling and fighting and hitting each other and trying to overpower. They hate each other’s guts.”

And she keeps on describing how they are engaged with each other in the fight. The kid interrupts and says “But granny which of these wins? The white wolf is fighting the black wolf continuously within us, which of these wins?” And grandma smiles and says, “The one you feed.”

Which wolf are you feeding? And why? Why aren’t you feeding the right wolf? It has an equal right. It is equally yours. Probably much more yours than the wrong wolf. Both the wolves are within you. Feed the right one, please. And you know which one is the right one. Had you not known, I repeat, you won’t have asked this question to me. You had all the incentives to hide the question. You had all the incentives to never come to me. You had all the incentives to come up with a fake question.

You aren’t faking. You are opening up. If you are talking of pettiness, you are not okay with the pettiness, you want something to change. Now let your intention translate into action. Are you getting it?

If there can be a motivation within you to sit there in front of a laptop and connect to this session in this way and then type out a detailed query and send it and get it delivered to me, then you can be equally motivated to do many other things. Let this motivation continue.

When we met last time, I dictated a list to you. How are you doing with that list? How far have you reached? Are you feeding the right wolf? Are your time and energy going in the right direction? And having known you, I know that you know the right direction. Now just stay put. Now just don’t deviate. Let the pettiness remain; it has a right to. The same pettiness will be turned beautiful by the sanctifying touch of the right one. That which appears irritating, and unnerving, and life-destroying at this moment will show up as beautiful pieces of creative art later on.

Have you not seen or heard of that garden which is made entirely of material that belonged to trash? All that which is trash in our life can become part of a garden when touched by the right one. So, you don’t need to fight it. You don’t need to reject it. You only need to purify it. You only need to touch it with the right thing.

That is why Kabir talks a thousand times of the Paras stone. It’s a mythical stone. He does not talk of rejecting all that which is merely iron, scrap. He says touch all the iron scrap with the Paras stone, it will turn into gold. All that which is petty in your life will turn into decoration, celebration, beautiful artistry. Just feed the right wolf.

One day you will be proud of this pettiness. Zeros, aren’t they petty? Can there be anything pettier than a zero? But the zero assumes great value when accompanied by the one at the right place. Take a series of zeros and just put a one at the head. And now you will know how the zeroes lit up, get blessed with value. Just touch them with the right one. Feed the right wolf. You know which one and how.

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