The Fear of One's Own Existence
Acharya Prashant: We need a mind that is not eager to react. That does not mean that it does not act. It acts beautifully, but it does not react. In fact, these two things go together: the ability to act beautifully, and the lack of tendency to react. The more reactive you are, the more your action would be compromised. Your action would lack authentic agency. Your action would just be an echo of something that somebody else did. There would be no originality.
Brahman : the one without parts.’ It would be obvious by now that when we are talking of Brahman , we are actually talking of a very special condition of the mind beyond all conditions and conditioning; a condition so special, you can call it another dimension. When we are talking of Brahman , we are not talking of any objective entity. We are talking of the subject itself, in its most purified, rarefied form. If we do not get this, then we will miss the essence of the entire discussion.
When we say, Brahman ,what is it that we are referring to? We are not referring to the wall, to the door, to the stars, to the constellations. We are not even referring to some imagination or concept. All these are objects to the mind, in the sense that the mind thinks of them. When we say, Brahman ,we are referring to the mind itself, but not the usual state of the mind, not the normal conditioned mind.
Brahman is mind special. Brahman is mind free of itself. Brahman is mind liberated from the fear of its own existence. The common mind is fragmented, it has lots of parts. What is meant by ‘parts’? Parts are things that are next to each other that coexist but never merge into each other. They coexist but never coalesce. The mind is like that. It has a thousand parts that keep shifting, changing, increasing, decreasing. Each of these parts is actually a territory occupied by an external influence. You could have a vast piece of land that has been colonized by forty different external powers. Now, these parts will keep fighting with each other because each of them is ruled by a different power.
That's the condition of the mind. One part of the mind is dominated by one power, the other part of the mind is dominated by a totally different power. At one point in time, one part is at the forefront. When it is at the forefront, it takes the name of ‘I’. The part of the mind that is dominant at a time becomes your identity.
But like in territorial occupation, no dominance is permanent. One part that is permanent right now, would be overtaken or defeated by another part after a while. And then the ‘I’ statement will change. That is the reason why most people are many people. That is the reason we are unable to stick to our resolutions. That is the reason why most people are in a state of constant internal strife. That is why most people are not trustworthy.
Think of a house that has twenty residents, and these twenty do not go well with each other. There is constant infighting. But at any given point in time, one of them is the champion. And, this one might be upstaged the very next moment, but for that moment, he is the champ. So, you go and knock on the door, and one of them opens, and obviously which one? The champion. And the champion says, "Hey great, can you lend me a hundred rupees? I am borrowing on behalf of this entire house." And you say, "Yes, this chap is the champion right now. All the others seem to be following him. All the others seem to be subservient to him." So, you coolly lend the money.
The next day you return to get your money back, you knock, and what do you find? Somebody else opens the door. And now you say, "I want my money back," and what does he say? "Who the hell are you? We do not know you." You say, “But that fellow was speaking on behalf of everybody.” This one says, “Well, what he said has been buried with him.” So, nothing to do and you have no arguments left.
This is the reason why most people deceive themselves and others. How do they deceive themselves? They make resolutions and then they can't live up to them, because the part that resolves to do something is no more the dominant part after a few days or a few hours. And then you wonder, "What happened to my willpower? With great confidence and devotion, I decided to do such a thing. Why have I failed?” Because you are no more the same person who decided. Because you are just too many persons. You have no integrity. You are fragmented. And that's also the reason why you are not dependable when it comes to others.
Never rely on a person you find influenced or conditioned. This person is helpless. Even if he wants to, even if he tries to, he won't be able to live up to his promises. That won't be his fault. It would be your fault to have trusted him. You go and sign an agreement with a peon working in an organization. Would you expect the organization to honor the agreement? That's what.
We are not masters of our minds; we are servants. And anything that the servant says or commits to has very little value. Trust only the one who is his own master. If you are trusting others, it would be at your own peril.
