Only the society says the society is supreme || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
Question: Sir, we are social beings. If we want to act freely, intelligently on our own, then rest of the society goes against us. Sir, is it morally correct to follow our intelligence or being conditioned according to the society is correct? I don’t think it is morally correct to…
Speaker: You are saying that going against society maybe wrong. And who told you this?
You have the answer. Someone has said that the brain told me that I am the most important organ in the body. Then I realized who was saying this.
Who is saying this?
Listeners(everyone): Brain
Speaker: If the society itself has told you that remain my slave, then why should you be bothered?
Listener 1: Sir, but then it implies that absolutely there is nothing right or wrong.
Speaker: Obviously! The only right is to act as per your intelligence; the only wrong is to lead an unconscious and wasteful life. Nothing else is right or wrong, nor those ethics and codes of conduct that you have been taught. They all are means to keep you chained.
Your first obligation, your first and only obligation is towards yourself. Even if you want to help others, can you help them when you are asleep? Can a drunkard help others?
Can he?
Listener 1: No sir!
Speaker: If you yourself don’t know, can you tell others?
First obligation is towards yourself. Wake up! Understand.
Listener 2: Sir, according to this principle, we say that society is our master.
Speaker: There is no principle in this.
Listener 1: You just said that our friends and our relatives condition us to do some favourable things. But do we ourselves condition others?
Speaker: Yes! Wonderful. Very nice.
Listener 2: Can there be anything that we should do to stop ourselves from being conditioned?
Speaker: It is a network. You see there is no point blaming anybody. Those who condition you are conditioned to condition you.
Those who condition you are not really villains or evil doers. They themselves do not know what is happening. No one has planned it out, all are victims.
Everybody is a slave, slaves are enslaving others. In fact, only a slave can enslave others. A free man will never make slaves because he loves freedom. He loves his freedom and the freedom of others as well. If someone wants to make you a slave, then understand that he himself is a slave. What else can he do? Poor man, he himself is a victim.
Yes! It’s a mutual network where everybody is victimizing everybody else. That’s what is happening. I said that you get rid of your friends. And if I meet your friend, I will tell him you get rid of that fellow (you).
Both of you need to get rid of each other because both of you have conditioned each other.
Excerpted from a ‘Shabd-Yog’ session. Edited for clarity.
