There is no problem outside of yourself || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2014)

Acharya Prashant

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There is no problem outside of yourself || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2014)

Question: Sir, mystery is unknown, and our mind is running behind them to solve them. Why?

Speaker: The mind, rather the ego, does not acknowledge anything as mystery. Mystery by definition is something that can never be…?

Listener 1: Known.

Speaker: Known, solved. But the ego is arrogant. It says, ‘Everything is a problem, and every problem has a solution. So, I can solve everything.’ So it is busy trying to solve everything, trying to solve everything. In fact, the more it solves, the more it gets inflated.

So it creates more and more problems, so that it can come up with more and more solutions and feel more powerful. For the ego, there is no mystery. Once it realizes that there is a mystery then the problem should anyway go because all the problems are ego created. Ego creates problems. Can you see the whole movement?

Listener 2: Sir, the problem is problem now.

Speaker: No, the problem is not a problem. The problem is always a problem for somebody. The problem is a problem when you want something. Alright? Otherwise, there is nothing called problem. It’s just a situation. It is happening. You call it a problem because you have a particular identity. You are somebody who is having that problem. Otherwise, it is not a problem. Nothing is a problem. It is just a situation.

Problem exists only for the ego. Otherwise, there is no problem. Are you getting this?

‘I want forty lac rupees. I have only ten lacs.’ Now, it’s a problem. Right? Why it is a problem?

Listener 1: Because he wants more.

Speaker: Is there something wrong with the figure of rupees ten lacs?

Listener: No, Sir.

Speaker: What is the problem then? Because, ‘I am somebody who wanted forty. So, it is a problem that I have only ten.’ Otherwise, it is just a situation.

Listener 2: So, I should try to get forty or be happy with ten?

Speaker: I should first realize that it is not a problem at all. My ‘identity’ is the problem. Otherwise, there is no problem. Right? And then the right action will happen.

First thing is the realization. What realization? That it is not a problem as such. The problem exists for me, with reference to me otherwise, it is just a situation. Mind wants to take the problem as an objective thing existing outside of ‘me’. The thing is, the problem is not objective, the problem is the subject itself. It exists within ‘me’. The problem exists here (pointing inwards) not there (pointing outwards) .

The ego always need problems. Remember that! It is not as if problems are just coming to you unwanted from all directions. We feel that way. Right?

‘Oh! Life is full of problems! Problems are coming from here, problems are coming from there.’ The problems are not coming. The ego needs problems so that it can survive. The ego says, ‘I am a problem solver’. Right?

Listener 1: Sir, if the ego says that ‘I am a problem solver’ then when the problem really arises, why do we feel fear?

Speaker: Because, fear reinforces ego. The ego is very comfortable with fear. And, the ego is very afraid of ‘joy’, fearlessness. Have you not seen how people run away from joy?

Listener 2: Yes, they actually do!

Speaker: The ego is very comfortable with fear. It pretends that ‘I do not like fear’, but it actually does!

Listener 3: Because, it reinforces fear.

Speaker: Right. Whenever somebody is afraid, what do we say? ‘I am afraid’. So, the separation between me and the world increases. ‘The world is trying to frighten me and I am afraid.’

Listener 2: Then the ego actually divides.

Speaker: Yes, ego divides. The ego likes fear. When somebody takes you towards fearlessness, then you resist it.

Listener 2: Yes, it happens.

Speaker: Ego is afraid of Joy, Love, Freedom. Ego does not like all these.

Excerpted from a ‘Shabd-Yog’ session. Edited for clarity.

This article has been created by volunteers of the PrashantAdvait Foundation from transcriptions of sessions by Acharya Prashant.
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