Never be afraid, young girl (Just fight the nodes of evil) || Acharya Prashant, at BITS Goa (2023)

Questioner (Q): When I read what is happening in the environment, about the irreversible damages and how it is in the end my generation and the people who are going to come that have to suffer because of this; there is this kind of anxiety that you know, occurs from inside, you know, “Now, I have to do something about it. After all, I'm the one who's going to suffer. I need to do something about it”. But then, you know, very anxious place, I go to this anxious place, but then in the end, there is this tiny pinch of feeling that also comes inside like, “How does it matter in the end with what I do? Because this is a collective effort”. So, my question is that: How do I deal with this? What is the cause of this two-sided feeling, this anxious and the laid-back behavior, and how do I deal with it?

Acharya Prashant (AP): See there are two ways you can respond to that anxious place. One is: you say, “What can I as a solitary individual do when this is a collective problem?“. So, you ask the anxiety, “How do you know that individual action won't help? How are you so sure? How are you so sure that individual action cannot make a difference?”

Q: Because if the problem was caused by multiple actions, then how…

AP: No the problem was not caused by multiple actions. The problem was caused by root ignorance and that is the one shared thing among a lot of ignorant people. So, you can count the number of ignorant people and they appear numerous, but the thing within them is just one.

That’s called fundamental ignorance Avidyā / Māyā . That's what drives them, right? So, it's not a case of too many versus too few. It's a case of ignorance versus light or clarity. You don't need to count the numbers. You just need to know that you are on the right side. The light side is the right side, when the opposing side is of darkness. No need to count the numbers, the first thing is.

Heard of Hitler? How many people are responsible for starting the Second World War and how many lives did it take? So, if all kinds of wretched and horrible things can be done by a few people, how can you be so sure that a few good people cannot do great things?

Is it not so that ignorance itself is causing this kind of pessimism and demotivation, cynicism rather? It's telling you, ‘You do not even need to start because you'll not reach anywhere.’ Ask that cynical one, ‘How do you know I won't reach anywhere? How do you know? How you're so sure?’

Remember, there is something called nodes of evil. You look at the concept of avatars: There was this entire army of Ravana, right? And it is said that the entire army belongs to the Asuras , those were the ones who constituted Ravana’s army. Did Rama have to massacre every single one of them? Is that what he did?

The kingdom of Lanka was an all-powerful one. It was the kingdom of evil. It is said that Ravana had captured and enslaved even the Gods/the Devtas . They were all in his prison. So, more powerful than today's America. That's how powerful Lanka, Ravana's kingdom was. All the gold was there, all the weapons were there and that's what decides the power, right? The economy and the military, and Ravana had both. It was an entire network of evil. Ravana had people everywhere, even in the mainland, the subcontinent, even there the Ravana’s people were there. How many of them needed to be eliminated to cure the earth of all evil? Only one. That's what is called a node of evil!

Not everybody is evil. Most people are induced to be evil just as in the presence of, let's say, a strong electromagnet, what will happen to even ordinary pieces of iron? They get magnetized, right? That's what happens in the presence of nodes of evil. Even ordinary people become evil.

If there can be nodes of evil that can turn ordinary men into demons, why can't there be nodes of goodness that can turn demons back into human beings?

How many people did Krishna have to eliminate? How many? Think of it. You know of the story of Hiranyakashyapa ? He surely had an entire army of evildoers. We don't even hear of them. Vishnu came down just to eliminate that one person and that one person was gone and things were fine with the earth again.

Same thing is everywhere and at all times. Even at this moment, on this earth, there are just a few nodes of evil. When I say just a few, I do not mean just two or three because the population today is eight-hundred crore. So, back then compared to the population, you had four or five nodes; today you will have four-hundred or five-hundred nodes. If four-hundred and five-hundred bad people can turn the earth into hell, why can't just four-hundred good people restore the earth its peace, its glory, its beauty? I'm asking you, please!

The others are not evil. They are just in the field of a powerful evil electromagnet. Why can't you have a powerful field of your own? Why can't you demagnetize the ones who have been magnetized? Why can't you de-hypnotize the ones who have been hypnotized? People have been sedated, why can't you wake them up?

Why do you believe that you are alone? No! They are millions waiting for you. Because it is our fundamental nature to be awake and we have been anesthetized. We want to wake up, but the environment is full of chloroform. We are all waiting for someone to come and touch us and whisper to us, and just shake us up a little with love. Why can't you be that person?

I'm again asking you if a handful of people can turn this earth into a veritable hell, why can't a handful of people wake this earth up into life and joy and love and beauty? Why is that not possible? I'm asking, please! Why this cynicism, that too as a young person, please? And what we have been told by learned people is that “Goodness can win even with relatively smaller numbers and fewer resources”.

Whose army was bigger, Rama’s or Ravana’s? Which army was the better-funded one and the better-equipped one? Who had all the gold? Who had nothing but monkeys and other kinds of animals? Who won? Why can't you win then?

They have the gold, they have the weapons, they have the resources, in fact, they also have the knowledge because Ravana was very-very knowledgeable. He had knowledge, he had money, he had weapons, he had resources, he had experience, he had everything but that does not mean that he won.

Why do you need to assume that the decision has already been made?

Next thing, I said there are two parts to my response. How does it matter if you do not win, huh? How does it matter if you do not win?

So, we are talking of the Avatars. Krishna never assures Arjuna that Arjuna is going to win. All that he tells him is, “Come on, pick up your weapon and fight and what happens next does not matter”.

First thing is “Victory is possible”, that was the first part of my response. Second part is “Even if you cannot win, how does it matter?” At least you'll have a life well spent, at least you will get a death well deserved. Is that a small thing?

So how does it matter if you cannot win? At least give them a bloody nose, no? That's a huge monster, it's not a small thing to give it a bloody nose. ‘Come on, you can kill me, but you'll remember me as someone who really knocked the daylights out of you, even if for a while’.

Does that not energize you?

Q: It does.

AP: Yes, that's what! First of all, never be so disappointed to say victory is not possible, Victory is possible! Second thing, even if you cannot win, the battle is worth it.

Some battles need to be fought just because they deserve to be fought, not for the sake of victory but for the sake of the fight itself. And victory is indeed possible.

Remember, it's not that all the people are evil. Will you remember this? They are just victims of conditioning. That's what I am calling as the powerful electromagnet. We have been induced to be evil. We are not fundamentally evil. We are under a spell that evil magician has cast a…? Come on! A spell. We are all hypnotized since birth. That's what is called Maya. The most fundamental hypnosis: Maya! We are hypnotized.

Just as somebody can hypnotize us, somebody can also break the hypnosis. It is possible! Never, never lose Faith. It's possible!

And even if you perished in the attempt, it's a life well lived, it's a death well deserved. There is glory. Not only in living, there is Glory also in perishing. What's the problem if one perishes for the right reason or is there a problem?

How long did Bhagat Singh live? Do you look at him as a loser? “Oh! looser, the light died just when he was twenty-two or twenty-three”, do you say that? Who, in his right mind would call Bhagat Singh a loser just because he lived only twenty-two years? What's the problem in perishing at twenty-two?

Fight the right battle. That's it!

And remember, they don't have some kind of a copyright over victory. Arjuna was never guaranteed a victory, but it turned out that Arjuna won. And Krishna never tells Arjuna, not a single verse in the entire Bhagavad-Gita: “Arjuna, I am with you, you will definitely win” and Krishna could have very easily made that promise, no?

Don't you find it surprising? Krishna never makes that promise. All he says is, “You have to fight! You have to fight, and I'll not assist you, I'll never pick up weapons. The fight is yours; you will fight it and you must fight. Fight!”

And he does win. It's possible he might not have won. Still, the Gita stands its place. Let's say, “Arjuna was killed!”. Would that undervalue the Gita? Doesn't matter, doesn't matter. Duryodhana won, Arjuna got killed. Arjuna fought valiantly and was martyred. Fine, very fine, um?

So, try and don't think too much of the result. The attempt is sufficient, make it a heartful, honest attempt in love. Love the fight. That's real Love!

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