The Storm Kept Raging, the Sky Didn't Utter a Word
Acharya Prashant: What's the relationship between immortality, deathlessness, and knowing the Ātmā as the container of the material and the mental world? Not that they are really distinct, still. So, what's the relation between knowing Ātmā as the container of the world and keeping all other thoughts aside, and immortality? Everything is within that container. Actually, containment is not the right concept here, because containment denotes a boundary within which stuff is happening. Even better than containment is the concept of 'the sky'. Everything is happening within the sky, but the sky is not the boundary. The sky is also the substance that is enabling everything to happen. Sky is not merely a boundary.
What is a container? A container is merely a boundary, and within the container, there is no container. Within the container is stuff distinct from the container. The sky is different from the container because, within the sky, all that you have is sky itself. There is nothing except the sky. Even the stuff that is there, that stuff has skyness in every atom of its existence. There is sky within the stuff; there is sky outside the stuff; there is sky to the left, right, everywhere. Even when we are talking of the atom, if you go to Niels Bohr's experiment, more than 99% of space within the atoms is just sky, empty space; no material there.
The subatomic particles are just so minuscule. Most of the space there is just space, empty; skyness is there. And then, when you move ahead of Bohr, then you realize something even more surprising that the one person part that appeared to be particulate or material, even that is just sky, just sky.
Material really does not exist. It is just the sky, and within the sky you have fields. But field is not material as such. The field does not stand in an absence of the sky. You come to realize that field is rather a function of the sky. So, all that you have is the sky and the function of the sky. All that you have is sky and skyness. All that you have is either the sky or skyness. And the Upanishad is saying, "Know this, and keep all your junk aside." This is there; that is there; he was born; he is dying; he is alive; I have to do this; I have to reach there; keep all these things aside. There is only the sky and skyness. There is no you, no me. And once you know this, you are immortal.
You're immortal; congratulations. How do you feel about it? No, but, is this fellow to my left, is he too immortal? Probably yes, then I don't feel too good about it. Now, this too is skyness, this too is skyness. Don't you have a totally dark sky in the nights? Skyness, games of the sky, sometimes it turns to pitch dark. Nothing has changed there. Does the sky turn dark? Nothing has changed there. Still, everything is happening in the sky.
The kite killed the sparrow in the sky. Heinous, no? Little cute sparrow and the kite swooped over it and just tore into it. It happened in the sky. All kinds of things are happening there, and nothing is happening there. Because there is nothing that can happen, for something to happen something must be there. All that you have is sky and skyness.
What appears like the kite is skyness of one kind; what appears like the sparrow is skyness of another kind. Sky kites killed the sky sparrow. Sky kite, sky killed the sky sparrow. What else is killing? Skyness of a particular kind and sky being the infinite sky. How many kinds of skynesses are possible? Infinite. So, anything can happen in the sky.
Everything happens in the sky. When only this is remembered, and this is remembered with such clarity that all other concepts fall off, then you are immortal. What does this mean about all other concepts? Essentially, all other concepts are just one single concept: the ego concept.
The ego concept believes in fragmentation, separation, diversity, and individuality. The kite has a separate ego, the ego concept says, "The sparrow has a separate self." The kite and the sparrow are different entities. And I am obviously another different entity distinct from both this kite and the sparrow. This is one way of thinking; this is one center of thinking.
When only sky and skyness remain, then this center of thinking becomes completely dislodged. Death belongs to this particular center of thinking. With this center of thinking gone, death too disappears, great news.
The bad news is, with death also disappears this life that we call as life. Because this that we call as life is intertwined with what we call as death. Every living being here is moving continuously toward death. Therefore, you cannot talk of life, as we generally use the term without bringing in the concept of death. You tell a child, "He's a man and he's alive." And the child asks, "What do you mean by alive?" How do you explain? You say, "Alive means he's not yet dead." So, life, as we know it, cannot even be defined in absence of death.
Otherwise, how will you explain to the child, the meaning of the word alive? He's asking, "What do you mean, daddy?" You say, "We have four people alive here." He says, "What do you mean by alive? Explain life without bringing in the concept of death, can you?"
So, when death disappears as immortality, then along with death, life too disappears, bad news. But what disappears is life as we know it. Now life, as we know it, feel it, experience it, live it, is no fun at all anyway. Or is it? So, the bad news is probably not so bad, or is it? With death, disappears life.
Immortality is not freedom from death. Immortality then is freedom from your mortal self, the ego self. Immortality then is freedom from life. When you say somebody is now immortal, or Amar, what do you mean is that he's no longer alive.
In a very distorted way, we acknowledge that when upon somebody's death we say, "falane Amar ho gaye (somebody became immortal)," basically no longer alive. So, you're no longer alive. But then what was there anyway in being alive?
Therefore, immortality is only for those who have no great regard for life as usually lived. If you are okay with life as it is usually lived, then you continue to live. And living is inseparable from death.
Not in the sense that living ends in death, in the sense that when you say that you are alive, you are in constant dread of death, that life itself operates from a center of death, that death powers, energizes every moment of life. What you call as life is nothing but death in action, death in motion.
There are two kinds of death: passive death and active death. Passive death is when you're lying on the ground waiting for your burial, that is passive death. You can't do anything; you're not doing anything except waiting and cursing from within. Hurry up. You're passively dead.
And what is "active death"? when all your activities are actually coming from the center of death. So, what we call as life is actually active death, death in action. Death sits within us, making us go round and round, making us go place to place, making us run pillar to post, and making us believe that we are alive, that this is what is to be called as life.
No, that's just death sitting within us. So, for you to be free from death, you have to be free of life that runs from the point of death, from the center of death. That's the meaning of immortality. I no longer live the life that is powered by, energized by, controlled by death. I'm no longer dead; that's immortality.
Immortality will continue to elude you as long as you believe in the ego self. The kite is different from the sparrow; the sparrow died. Now there is no immortality because the sparrow had a personal self. Why did the sparrow have to die? Because the sparrow had a?
As long as there is a personal self, as long as there is this, this, this, this, this, and all these are distinct from each other, immortality is not possible. So, immortality is possible only when there is just the sky and skyness.
Now, immortality is possible. In other words, for immortality to be possible, the personal self has to be discarded. The life that we usually live has to be discarded. An entirely different flavor of life has to be there. As if the cinema hall is the same, the seats are the same, the screen is the same, the movie has changed.
You can be immortal with the same face, with the same buttocks, the seat. The seat is the same, the screen is the same, the vision has changed, the movie has changed. It's possible. If it's possible to a dead cinema hall, it's entirely possible to a conscious entity like you. What was the movie that was running till now? “Seven sobs and a cry.”
It's a blockbuster movie; it's running since ages; it's made zillions; it's everybody's favorite; IMDb nine? a little more than ten. Your theater must screen some other movie, not this “Seven Sobs and a Cry.” What is the name of the next movie? “I play.” What's the name? “I play.” In another language, the name is “Just for fun." What's the name of the movie? "Just for fun.” But, dear sir, Mr. Brahman, why all this? I mean, we know you are endless, nameless, formless. But, then, why all this? That has so many forms, names, colors, shapes, coming, going, beginning, ending, small, big, this, that, why all this? Just for fun. Just for fun. And this is not even the trailer; it's the entire movie. Sorry for spoiling it for you. just for fun.
Pahadi is a hardcore fan of "Seven Sobs and a Cry." It has seven of her favorite actresses belonging to seven different mountains of the Himalayas, Kanchanjanga, other places. He won't give up so easily. You tell him, "I play," and he says, "I don't, but I don't." My racket is broken. Does he play? No.
Questioner: You are saying that death is the driving force. Does death mean fear is a driving force, or is the ego center a driving force?
Acharya Prashant: What is death for you? Have you been through death?
Questioner: No.
Acharya Prashant: So, what is death? An enigma, an apparition, a vague concept, a thought, that's what death is. What else is death? Still, this vague apparition controls us, runs us, runs the entire world.
There are only two centers within us: the center of immortality and the center of death. What we call as Ātmā and Ahamkār, Self and Ego, can also be described as immortality and death. Mostly, we operate from the point of death, not immortality.
So, you proceed from death and go on to become the president of the country, it's quite possible. Death has great power. Coming from death you can become the chairman of the entire universe. It's possible, but still, you will stink of a corpse; dead man walking as the president.
Not fun, not fun, not fun; don't apply too much brain into it; you'll get it. Don't exert yourself; it's very, very obvious. Have fun, and you'll understand. Pahadi is still occupied with the seven stars, imagining himself in the central role. With the seven of them around him, seven of them are the seven Sobs, and he is the Cry.
