The 99 floors of consciousness || Acharya Prashant (2018)

Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, Pranam! I do not want to ask philosophical questions as you have also rightly stopped me from doing so many times in the past. But here are some thoughts, knocking about in the head, and I want to know how to make them practical and behaviourally relevant. So, I'm asking these three questions, only with the purpose of understanding how to live the answers.

First Question is, "What is the difference between Māyā and Prakṛti?"

Acharya Prashant (AP): When you understand Prakṛti as Prakṛti, then Prakṛti is merely Prakṛti, Riya. When you take Prakṛti as yourself, then Prakṛti is Māyā. Just a while back you sent a joke on the group; that joke was Māyā because you were confusing Prakṛti with yourself. You know what that joke said, Riya? Riya was the one who said that, right?

She (the questioner) said, "Human body is 80% water, so we are just cucumbers with anxiety," which is good; the wit is appreciable. Human body is 80% water, so we are just cucumbers with anxiety. But do you see the underlying assumption there? Yes, human body is 80% water, but what did you term the human body as? —"Me".

You see that? You're not merely comparing the human body to a cucumber; you are also saying "we" are cucumbers with anxiety. So, there you have taken