The theoretical reply would be that if condemnation hurts you, then somewhere you are looking for praise. Even if it’s implicit praise or subtle praise, there is some hunger for praise. Or the inner condition that the ego has set is, don’t give me praise, but don’t condemn me either. So there is some condition that the ego is setting on the world. The fact is, the world has a movement, a flow of its own. You cannot set any condition on it. If you are getting hurt, it means there is an expectation, a condition.
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Questioner: Acharya Ji, there was one thing that the exhibitionist mind: it looks for validation from the outside. And now, when I think about it, I understand the fact that the exhibitionist mind is constantly looking for validation. But I find that I’m pretty much like, mujhe kisi ki tareef se utna farq nahi padta. I can understand that it is fake, and that what they understand about me is not real. Yet, when they talk bad about me, I know that it is wrong and that it is coming from their conditioning, but it still hurts.
I also watched one of your videos in which you were saying that you don’t need to apply anything, you just need to keep on understanding. But even after understanding, if it still affects you, how should one approach that?
Acharya Prashant: Let it be, let it hurt, let it remain, see that it is a tendency.
The theoretical reply would be that if condemnation hurts you, then somewhere you are looking for praise. Even if it’s implicit praise or subtle praise, there is some hunger for praise. Or the inner condition that the ego has set is, don’t give me praise, but don’t condemn me either. So there is some condition that the ego is setting on the world. The fact is, the world has a movement, a flow of its own. You cannot set any condition on it. If you are getting hurt, it means there is an expectation, a condition. See that it exists.
