The Only Way to Help the World Is to Leave the World Alone
Questioner: Why should I care about global warming or such worldly issues? If the world is unreal, then why do all these things matter?
Acharya Prashant: You don’t care about global warming, do you?
Questioner: Still, why should anyone care about global warming?
Acharya Prashant: Forget about others, because you do not know others. But you anyway don’t care about global warming, do you? So, where is the question, “Why should I care about global warming?”
Questioner: Should I forget about it then?
Acharya Prashant: You have already forgotten about it. Being what you are, do you have an option? You are asking as if you can care about global warming. Who can care about global warming? Global warming, remember, is nothing to be taken care of. You stop doing what you are doing and global warming will take care of itself. You don’t have to take care of global warming. What do you take care of? You only take care of yourself. When you are taking care of yourself, that’s when global warming happens.
Please understand. Your question is, “When the world does not exist, then why should I worry about the world and the world’s problems?” But you anyway do not worry about the world’s problems; you anyway cannot solve the world’s problems, and neither do you want to solve the world’s problems.
The world’s problems are solved by not taking the world as real. Understand this. The world’s problems are solved by those who do not contribute to those problems. The world’s problems are not solved by those who take the world seriously. The world’s problems are actually solved by those who know that the world does not mean anything; hence they leave the world to itself.
If you can leave this Earth to itself, will global warming be there? When you know that all this doesn’t mean anything, then the world’s problems are taken care of. And that is the only way problems like global warming will be taken care of—when you know that “I do not need to exploit the Earth because all this doesn’t mean anything”; when you will know that “I do not need to burn fossil fuels to travel here and there because anyway all these luxuries and indulgences do not mean anything.” When you realize that the world does not mean anything, then the world’s problems are solved.
Who creates the world’s problems? The one who thinks that the world is attractive, that it has a lot of meaning. When the world holds a lot of meaning and attraction and relevance and significance for you, then you create problems in the world. “Oh, let me invade that country. Why? Because it has oil, and oil has a lot of significance for me.” So, now you will begin a forty-year-long war.
Why did the two world wars happen? Because the two parties were clamoring over who would colonize the rest of the world. Half of Europe wants to exploit Asia, the other half also wants to exploit Asia and Africa, and the two parties are fighting amongst each other because for both of them the world means a lot. For Germany, the world is very significant; it wants to exploit the world. For Britain, again, the world is very significant; Britain too wants to exploit the world. Hence, there is a world war. Now, what if one of the parties says the world doesn’t mean anything—would the war happen?
You destroy the world when the world becomes meaningful to you. You destroy your loved one when you start caring for your loved one.
Do you get this? Leave the world to itself. The world knows how to take care of whatever it is—dream, illusion—whatever it is, the world will take care of itself. But when you start taking it as important, real, significant, then you simply distort everything.
I am repeating, if ever global warming is taken care of, if ever mankind is able to get past this menace without getting obliterated, it will not be because of these crusaders and activists who are rallying against global warming; it will be because of the spiritual masters who will bring in you a general apathy towards consumerism. The world’s leaders are never going to be able to take care of global warming. It is only people like Ashtavakra who will ever solve this problem for you. And they will solve this problem for you by telling you that this problem doesn’t mean anything; leave the world. If human beings can leave the world to its fate even for five years, everything will be alright. The jungles will take care of themselves, the rivers will take care of themselves; they all have this intelligence as to how to take care of themselves. You just stop interfering.
Questioner: The problem is that we take this statement partially and say that let global warming do what it wants to do, I will continue to consume.
Acharya Prashant: How can you not continue to consume—of course, there is a consumption that is needed by the body. We are not talking of that; we are not talking of you eating three fruits a day. Three fruits a day, that much consumption does not cause global warming. Even thirty fruits a day will not cause global warming. Global warming is caused by your exploitation, by your lust to consume.
If you can just carry on with your business without having this feeling to do this and that, then everything will be alright.
