Mind

क्या आपके विचार भी आपको सच जैसे लगते हैं? यही भ्रम है। विचार कभी सत्य नहीं होते, वे सिर्फ़ मन की गतिविधि हैं। जब तक “मैं हूँ” का भाव है, तब तक वस्तु, व्यक्ति और विचार रहेंगे ही। उनसे भागना नहीं, उन पर विवेक लगाना है। जो अहंकार को पोषित करे उसे छोड़ो, जो उससे टकराए वही सही दिशा है। यही चुनाव जीवन को बंधन या मुक्ति की ओर ले जाता है।

प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी, जैसे मैं पहले ओशो जी और जिद्दू कृष्णमूर्ति जी के रंग में रंगा हुआ था और अब आपके रंग में रंगा हुआ हूँ। मुझे ये समझ नहीं आता कि यह मेरी जिज्ञासा मात्र है, प्रेम है या पागलपन?

आचार्य प्रशांत: जैसे आपने कहा था कि मन में…

Our mood is always dependent on others and situations. Results have not been up to your expectations. So now you require a morale booster, some motivating speaker. The moment that fellow is gone, your energy also goes away. But there is another way of living. Deep within myself, I find a point that no external situation can touch. Whatever happens, happens on the surface. That will remain stable, uninvolved, a non-participant. Then you are really free.

कोई आदत अच्छी नहीं होती; ‘अच्छी आदत’ जैसा कुछ नहीं होता है। एक आदमी सुबह उठते ही वॉक पर निकल जाता है — न सोचा, न समझा। उसकी मूल आदत वॉकिंग नहीं है, मूल आदत है न सोचना, न समझना। जो कुछ अंधेपन या बेहोशी में किया जाए, वही आदत है। आप जो कुछ कर रहे हो, देखो कि वो आदतवश ही हो रहा है। एक बार यह देख लोगे, तो कर्ता बदल जाता है।

Acharya Prashant: That's why the rājasika mind is better than the tāmsika mind. The rājasika says, “I’m not alright. I need to do something to become better. I feel inferior. I feel incomplete. I need to rise. I need to achieve.” That’s the rājasika mind. The rājasika mind at least…

तुम जिसको दूसरा बोल रहे हो, तुमने उसकी खोट अगर सही वक़्त पर निकाल ली होती तो तुम वैसे आज नहीं होते जैसे तुम हो। नहीं समझ में आई बात? तुमने उसकी कभी कोई खोट निकाली नहीं, तभी तो तुमने उसको मौका दिया अपने आप को प्रभावित करने का। तुमने सही वक़्त पर उसकी खोट देख ली होती तो तुम आज इतने डरपोक नहीं होते। और अब तुम इतने डरपोक हो गए हो कि कह रहे हो, "मैं उसकी खोट देखना नहीं चाहता।

For change to happen, somebody has to be a change agent. But if that agent starts thinking, “I’m not exploited; I benefit from this discriminatory system too,” then who will demand change? My employer earns 11X from my intellectual labor, pays me X, and saves 10X. But that X enables me to run my household and fulfill my dreams. So, will I ever rise and rebel? The system bribes you into submission. The exploiter incentivizes the exploited to stay exploited.

साक्षी भाव इत्यादि का अनुभव करने की होड़ बिलकुल त्याग दो, साक्षी भाव का कोई अनुभव नहीं होता है। साक्षित्व सर्वप्रथम कोई भाव होता ही नहीं है, ये जुमला ही भ्रामक है — साक्षी भाव। और उससे ज़्यादा घातक है ये आकर्षण, ये लोभ कि मैं साक्षित्व का अनुभव कर लूँगा। साक्षित्व का कोई अनुभव नहीं होता। बेवकूफ़ियों के अनुभव में हम जीते हैं और अपनी बेवकूफ़ियों को हम ही ताकत देते हैं। वो ताकत देना बंद करो, साक्षित्व तो है ही।

The Gita is useful because its setting is extremely relatable. Just like us, Arjuna does not know himself—he's a victim of multiple identities and all kinds of conditioning. Therefore, the Gita is about letting Arjuna know who he is, and this illumination enables him to do what he must. So, first of all, see that you are Arjuna. Then, step by step, verse by verse, there will be some resolution.

No, no, you don't have to be empty of anything. You just have to be empty of the choice to use anything in your defense. You are born with ammunition; you don't have to keep the ammunition aside. Let the gun be there with you—just don't fire at the teacher. That's all that Shri Krishna is saying. You don't have to empty the gun. Keep it loaded; it's all right.

I have been insisting continuously that consciousness, real consciousness is a choice. In a process, there is no choice. The fellow in front of you, how much of a choice does he have? If he has no choice, why get angry? And if he has choice, then the mark of having choice is that you will not choose wrongly. And then you will not get a reason to be angry at him. Had he really had a choice, he would have chosen rightly. And had chosen rightly, you would have found no reason to get mad at him.

The mind chatters only about little and inconsequential things. First of all, the matter would be a petty one; secondly, irrespective of how long the chatter is, the matter can never be brought to an end; so it is inconsequential. The mind loves to engage itself with itself. The mind loves to roll in its own stuff. Give the mind a proper purpose. Let the entire body, your entire system, everything in your existence be focused, be channelized towards the right purpose in life.

The mind is the entire set, the whole universe of objects that the ‘I’ has a relationship with. Not the entire set of everything that is there in the universe. One does not have a relationship with everything. But whatsoever one develops a relationship with becomes mind. An object untouched by the self, the ego is just an object. But the moment the object is touched by ‘I’, it becomes vishay or mind. And, mind is an accumulation, a congregation of objects that it is in relationship with.

The mind is both your best friend and your worst enemy. It’s your friend when it operates with intelligence and attention, but when there is no attention, when there is no care or love, then intelligence does not function. And then, the mind is your worst enemy. A prisoner knows no joy, no freedom, no love. Your own sleep keeps you imprisoned. The moment you wake up, you are free.

जिसे तुम काबू में रखना चाहते हो, वो तुम्हारी छाया है। तुम जैसे हो, वो वैसी है। तुम उसे काबू में कैसे कर लोगे? मन निर्धारित ही इस बात से होता है कि तुमने अपने-आप को क्या समझ रखा है, क्या बना रखा है। तुम बदल जाओ, मन बदल जाएगा। इसलिए तुमने जो भी अपने-आप को बना रखा है, उसको समझो। ग़ौर से देखो कि क्या बना रखा है! फिर नहीं कहना पड़ेगा कि मन को काबू में कैसे करें।

You have ample gurus who come over and say, “You know, you do this and then you can do whatever you want to do.” Now the moment you hear this kind of philosophy that Yoga will help you do better whatever you want to do, I suppose one must run away. Because that’s exactly antithetical to Yoga. Yoga is not about doing whatever you want to do; it’s the ego that says that, not the dedicated, devoted, wise mind. That does not come from there.

Just know that this is what is there in the mind. And that is the appropriate mental activity. The mind is the machine, well tuned, nicely designed for both analysis and observation. Use it for observation. You use it only for analysis and comparisons. Use it for observation. And if the observation is honest, then the object of observation will drop.

Creativity is the action of a fresh and free mind. With a fresh mind, whatever you do is creative. We have equated creativity with brilliance and dynamism, whereas it can be very ordinary. It’s like love—where something totally new comes from nowhere, where one is not overly concerned about results, and where one is not caught in mundane distractions. It's an expression of freedom and fearlessness.

Peace is your destiny, everybody's destiny but that destiny is a timeless destiny. You do not reach there after ten years, you are there right now. And because you are there right now, hence this drama of not being there can continue endlessly.

Mind control is not about suppressing the mind; it is about supporting it to take the right route and reach the right destination. The mind does not really need control; it needs peace. But the mind is a little foolish. If the mind were not foolish, why would it leave its peaceful state, which is its natural state?

प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी, मन पर लगी चोट से कैसे उबरें?

आचार्य प्रशांत: दूसरे काम करो। तुम्हें हर्ट (दर्द) पसंद है इसीलिए उसको पकड़ के बैठे हो। वो बंदर याद है न? एक मर्तबान था जिसका मुँह बड़ा सँकरा था, बंदरिया भी हो सकती है (श्रोतागण हँसते हैं।), चलो बंदर, चलो…

When you are relaxed, then there is no need to observe. Observation is not a need. It cannot happen because you are telling yourself to observe. It cannot happen out of some purpose. When you are internally relaxed, then a subtle observation is automatically happening.

पहली कुसंगति आंतरिक होती है। मन ऐसा कुसंगी है जिसे बाहर कुसंग नहीं खोजना पड़ता। मन को अगर मन का साथ मिल जाए तो इससे बड़ा कुसंग नहीं। बाहर का कुसंग हटाना आसान है, पर भीतर वाला कुसंग, जहाँ आदमी अपने ही विचारों में फँसा है, "मैं हूँ और मेरे विचार हैं" - इससे बड़ी कुसंगति क्या हो सकती है? आंतरिक कुसंगति न हो तो बाहर का कुसंग कुछ नहीं कर सकता।

जैसे शरीर को पोषण देते हैं, वैसे ही मन को पोषण दीजिए। फ़िल्म देखने से मन को पोषण नहीं मिल जाना है, मैच देखने से नहीं मिल जाना है। पार्टी करने से, ख़रीददारी करने से भी नहीं मिल जाना है। जहाँ मिलना है, वहाँ जाइए। वो मैंने करा है, इसीलिए आपसे बड़े अधिकार और बड़े विश्वास के साथ कहता हूँ कि आप भी करिए।

The world is a habit, but drugs are a worse habit. The one who is finding refuge in drugs is fed up of the usual stuff of consciousness, that is certain, but he is taking a very wasteful route. It’s like feeling cold in Delhi in the month of December…

हम सोचते हैं वर्तमान में होने का अर्थ है कि जो काम कर रहे हो उसमें हो जाओ। ये हो ही नहीं पाएगा। हम सोचते हैं वर्तमान में होने का अर्थ है कि इस वक़्त जो हो रहा है उसको अपना पूरा मन दे दो। ये हो ही नहीं पाएगा जब तक तुम अपनी उस जगह को उपलब्ध नहीं हो जाते जो वास्तव में है, जो वास्तव में प्रेज़ेंट (वर्तमान) है, जिसकी सत्ता सच्ची से सच्ची है, जो बदल नहीं सकती, जिसका कोई आना-जाना नहीं है। जब तुम वहाँ बैठे होते हो तब दुनिया भी तुम्हारी होती है और चूँकि हम वहाँ नहीं बैठे होते इसीलिए हम दुनिया में भी फिसड्डी रह जाते है।

प्रश्नकर्ता: कोई काम करते हैं या कोई बुक पढ़ते हैं, तो मन उस समय नहीं होता, वो भविष्य या भूतकाल में चला जाता है। ज़्यादातर प्रेज़ेन्ट (वर्तमान) में नहीं रहता है। तो क्या करें कि वो अधिकांशतः वर्तमान में ही रहे?

आचार्य प्रशांत: क्या करोगे तुम वर्तमान में रहकर?

प्र:…

प्रश्न: आचार्य जी, हम पूर्णता के भाव तक कैसे पहुँचे?

आचार्य प्रशांत: पूर्णता के भाव तक पहुँचे कैसे, शुरुआत यहाँ से करते हैं। पूर्णता कोई भाव है ही नहीं, तो उस तक पहुँचने का भी कोई प्रश्न नहीं है।

आप (प्रश्नकर्ता) कहते हैं कि आपने मेरा लिखा पढ़ा है, थोड़ा…

Acharya Prashant: It has been told to us that there exist two centers. I suppose it has been very freshly told to you right? Very recently. He says, “How do I know that I am living out of the right center? How does a young man know whether he’s not…

Questioner: There is some image of something and you are not conscious, where then there is that blocked energy, so to speak? Fear or whatever it is, you act out of reaction. So, what would be… at the moment there is no choice, you are just reacting. What would be…

Acharya Prashant: The four yugas in the Vedic tradition have been Satyug, Treta, Dvapara, and Kaliyug. Now, what do they represent? Do they represent the passage of time? Do they represent something historical? We have been led to believe that way, right? We believe that time is something external that…

Acharya Prashant: You can not win the mind, you can not cater to the mind, you can not control the mind. And you are not responsible for everything that this ancient mind does. A thousand squirrels are sitting here, and five hundred monkeys, and the extinct dinosaur, and all the…

Acharya Prashant: A mind free of stories about itself, is a humble mind. The story could say everything. The story does not always say, “I am the king of the world.” Often the story says, “I am the most wretched person on this earth.” Nevertheless, irrespective of its content, a…

Questioner: Sir, when you say rest, what do you mean by that, because something is always going-on, in the periphery, some or other activities are always being carried out?

So what is rest?

Acharya Prashant: Rest is to realize that none of those activities, which continue on the periphery, have…

Questioner: Why think so much about decisions? Shouldn’t our decisions be spontaneous? I like to decide in a free flow.

Acharya Prashant: So the questioner is stressing on the spontaneity of decisions. He says that he likes to decide in a flow. It's a good thing, your intention is good.…

Questioner: While writing the questions about our lives, we were silent and it feels very peaceful right now. But how to maintain this silence? How to make sure that this silence holds, that it is not momentary?

Acharya Prashant: It is apparent that this silence is conducive to understanding. It…

Acharya Prashant: Man is the only one who has a worrying ego. Man is the only one that has an ego that looks into the future. Other living beings on the earth have a very nominal and minimal ego. All that it wants is to be alright currently, so some…

Acharya Prashant: What’s worse, there might be much more lethal and incurable viruses to come in the future.

We talk of the virus as the problem. In fact, if you go to social media to get a hang of how we are looking at the whole thing in a cultural…

Because of the stimulus, a thought arises. There is an external stimulus, and because you have an inherent tendency to think, you are conditioned to think. That is the maximum that the external stimulus can do. It can provoke a thought within you. But then you provide fuel to that thought; you provide energy to that thought. And then the thought becomes a fixation with you. Now you are thinking the entire day.

There is a desire that gives birth to the worlds and then there is a desire that gets fed up with the worlds and returns to the pure, the original, the immutable. You have already come to a long distance, cannot undo the journey, you cannot un-travel the distance, what do you do then? Complete the cycle. Have the right desire that stimulates you into the right action. The right work, the right action that will lead you into immortality, that’s what you need to do now.

Acharya Prashant: You are walking along an empty street in the middle of the night—nobody around you, nobody to really disturb you, nobody to talk to you, nobody to point to you, nobody to intercept you, nobody to remind you of anything, and still do you see how much keeps…

The ego likes to settle matters too soon, the ego likes to conclude too soon. Wherever there is a conclusion, wherever there is a settlement, wherever there is an ending that thought can grasp, it is a false ending, it is a false realization. I have no interest in talking about what true realization is like. True realization is anywhere not a subject matter of this course. We should rather warn of that which is false. Read more....

Acharya Prashant: The topic is the infectiousness of boredom. Not only is boredom infectiousness, anything and everything that the mind experiences is contagious, infectious. You experienced it with respect to one particular way of the mind, one particular move of the mind right now. That does not mean that only…

Questioner: Acharya Ji, what is Self-learning and Self-knowing, and how are they connected with the mind?

Acharya Prashant: It is a little different. Mind exists only when you are unnecessarily associated with the brain, otherwise, there is nothing called the mind. There is the brain, and the brain is an…

Acharya Prashant: If you find religion bad, then just honestly consider a world totally without religion. Then probably you will not find religion so bad.

I assure you, there is nothing in man’s physical constitution that prevents him from being envious or lustful or tense or attached. In fact, man…

Questioner: In the middle of a storm with the agony of not getting what I want, I can get out of the mind only by holding on to your videos and writings. Rest comes again only to be swept away in the next moment. It feels like an impossibility to…

मन इतना अशांत क्यों रहता है?

प्रश्नकर्ता: प्रणाम आचार्य जी। आचार्य जी, आज मेरा प्रश्न फिर से मुझसे ही जुड़ा हुआ है, कि मेरा मन इतना अशांत क्यों रहता है। एकसाथ मेरे दिमाग में बहुत चीज़ें चलती रहती हैं, मेरे दिमाग में कुछ-न-कुछ चलता ही रहता है, मैं ध्यान केंद्रित…

Questioner: Acharya Ji, from the past two days, I am writing down all the activities going on in my mind. It seems really hard for me to see the mind the entire day. How can I watch the activities of mind and so separate from it?

Acharya Prashant: So, all…

Questioner: Hello sir, my question is that I’m fully aware of the thoughts that I’m having, most of the times. So, I feel like, ever since so for a year and a half, I have been going through something, it’s a low phase. I acknowledge the suffering and I know…

Questioner: You have quite an illustrious standing when it comes to demolishing all that is false. I personally find that intriguing. In a world of distrustful agendas that people carry, what has been your driving force? People either have blind faith in a failed leader or they don't connect at…