Questioner 1 (Q1): What I want to know is, suppose with all the discussions and with our own thought process, to some extent we understand Vedānta or spiritualism. But understanding is not enough. We have understood what to do—whether it is to reach the stage of bliss, or to separate Chetanā (consciousness) from Prakṛti (body/physical nature).
If I have understood, how to attain that? Are there any practices? Maybe, it can be meditation, it can be cleaning, it can be anything? Will just understanding bring me to that stage, or is there anything, any certain practices which I need to follow to reach to that stage?
Acharya Prashant (AP): No, no practices can help. I will have to disappoint you here. There is no practice that can bring you to understanding. Even if you intellectually absorb something, it does not attain the level or the status of understanding.
To know something intellectually is to have this handkerchief, right? Now, what I do with it depends on my intention. I could use it to wipe my forehead, I could use it as a mask to prevent Covid, or I could use it to smother myself and die. That can be done, right? I could use it for a thousand things.
Who is the one who is going to use the knowledge that you have attained? Knowledge is not understanding. To be knowledgeable is not the same as to be a knower, or to be in knowing; that is not the same. Knowledge is just a resource, you have it. You read a book; you got knowledge. You had an experience, that experience told you something.
