Truth Isn’t a Crime
Questioner: Namaste Acharya Ji. First of all, very thank you for sharing your piece of heart with us through the new book. I was fortunate enough to attend the book launch in person, and ever since, I got the opportunity to read the book. The topic, the title of the book is very profound and hence also thought-provoking.
There is a question that was hovering in my mind when I first went through the title: "Truth Without Apology." So why should one be, first of all, apologetic about the falseness?
Acharya Prashant: No, we are not apologetic usually about the false. We are apologetic about the Truth. Falseness — we accommodate it with some trick, tactic. It is the Truth that really shames us. Just consider the number of participants who would be watching this session online in the most apologetic way, hiding beneath a quilt, under the bed, or in the lavatory, occasionally using the flush to hide the sounds. Yes, that's what. You watch all kinds of crap on TV. Do you ever have to hide it? You call that family stuff, right? But when you watch these sessions, see how ashamed you are.
Otherwise, the name of the book, simply “Truth.” “Withour Apology” is to just clarify the context that is the reader. Yes, we are ashamed, are we not? Every time there is a gathering, I ask, "How many of you lied to your folks to be here?" There are a few hands, the honest ones that is. The others raise it like this (putting his hands under the table.), or inside their pockets, they raise their hands and say, "See, we were not dishonest; we did raise our hands."
Forget about attending a session, there are those who are making a career in the foundation without ever having told their families that they are here. That's how apologetic we are. In one case, the family members still believe that the daughter is working in some salon here, and they are pretty enthralled about the whole thing. They say, "You know, she's making a real career." They're just puzzled. "How come your own skin has gone so bad? What?”
Nothing ashames you more than the Truth. Have you not seen that? What's the puzzle? Falseness, we all carry it like medals on our chest here. It is the deep Truth that we have to hide. Like Kunti, the great god — sun — for whatever he symbolizes, he's still the sun, right? But it was love, not a socially sanctioned contract; it was just love. So in all guilt and shame, she just threw the baby away. Was Gandhari ashamed of Duryodhan? Even if it's a Duryodhan, you will not be ashamed. In fact, just before the final battle, it is said that she blessed him with a specially armored body. Gandhari is not ashamed, but Kunti is ashamed of Karna.
We are not ashamed when we give off our bodies to someone we don't love, while that should be a matter of deep, deep shame. How did you allow a de facto stranger to touch you? That's not what shames us. Most of our population was born that way, two strangers meeting and mating. But love is a thing of shame, is it not? Does it take guts to parrot the repeated and well-rehearsed lies? Please tell me. But it will require more than guts, a spine actually, to utter the Truth.
What does namaste mean? I bow to you. It takes guts to say namaste to the vile idiots that you meet on the street or those who visit your home? Does it take guts? And you tell them, "I bow down, I surrender." That's what namaste means. And it takes no guts to utter that total lie. But I said it will take more than guts, a spine really, to stop being down in front of those who don't deserve it. That's why "Truth Without Apology," because you will be asked to apologize. "How come you were so disrespectful? Come on, say sorry." And that's when you have to wave the book and say, "No apologies."
Go to a corporate HR meeting and listen to the employees narrating their experiences and testimonials. What does the company do? It manufactures rubber pipes. And the fellow says, "I found the purpose of my life here." Think of the one who will stand up and say, "I don't want to speak, but if you push me to, the fact is I'm here for the paycheck, right? And tomorrow I was about to put in my papers. I have a better offer, better only in the sense of more money.” That's all. That's the Truth.
“I'm a lifeless thing. I'm a mere resource to be hired. I'm a mercenary. I'm a nut — pun intended. You can use me to bolt anything. You manufacture rubber, you can use me. Next, I'm going to someone who manufactures something else." That's the Truth. Why are you unnecessarily projecting meaning where there is none? Nobody starts a rubber pipes company because he wants to have meaning in life. And nobody works in one of those jobs because they want meaning in life. It's the simple, obvious Truth. But do you find it uttered? Do you?
In fact, if someone manages to whisper even a fraction of what I just said, he would necessarily asked to apologize. Jain Sahab and Sharma ji, both are very devotedly nonviolent. One a Jain, the other a Brahmin. Both are respectable government servants. Both worked in the fisheries department all their life. Sharma even got additional incharge of another department. Which department? Animal husbandry, and?
Listener: Poultry.
Acharya Prashant: Poultry. Would they be apologetic? You think about the day of their retirement. You think they'll be apologetic? But you'll have to apologize if you spit the bare Truth in their face. Both of you have been more violent than the mere butcher we see on the streets. But you are retiring as a respectable government servant who earned four promotions in his career.
Open your eyes. See the kind of world we live in, the world we have inherited. And ask yourself, do you want to live by it? Or do you want to create a new reality based on the Truth of your own? Do you want to just play by the rules, or do you want to play a new game in a new arena? And never, never feel guilty or small for being with the Truth. Never. That's the instrument they use. Guilt is something very, very personal — personal in the sense of being intimate. Let nobody induce guilt in you. If there ever is one thing you should justifiably feel guilty of, it is your deviation from the Truth. Nothing else deserves your guilt.
Be brazenly immodest. Let them come to you almost begging: "Please, please show a little remorse. Please display a little shame." Laugh in their face: "This is my shame. Haha. No, I'm not guilty. No, I'm not sorry. No, I'm rather proud of who I am and what I do." Never allow them to make you feel guilty. Never.
Guilt, I repeat, is something very intimate. And there is only one thing you ought to punish yourself for. And the punishment is internal reform, not anything else.
If you find you have betrayed the Truth, then yes, you are guilty. And existentially, apart from that, there is no other offense.
In the rule books of the courts, there are offenses of a thousand kinds, right? But when it comes to life, there is just one offense: did you live by the Truth, or did you betray it? And no court of the world can absolve you, exonerate you, if you have betrayed the Truth. They may say, "Oh, you are respectfully acquitted." As they say, “baizzat bari kiya jata hai.” They may say, 'Yes, yes. Guilt not established, doesn't matter. You have already been punished.' And let the courts of the world announce you guilty and convict you to prisons or gallows. You should never be guilty in front of the Truth.
Remember that chap called Bhagat Singh and his associates. Remember them. The courts declared they were guilty, and they were still joyful because they were absolutely not guilty in front of life.
Live rightly and then don't apologize. That's it. Such a shame if I have to be ashamed of who I really am. Why? How? For what? No, no, no, sir. I'm not ashamed.
Questioner: Sir, there is a small follow-up. While every chapter feels like an arrow raging with fire, the one that really summarizes very aptly is the third chapter: "To Know Yourself, Watch Yourself" and the list of questions that you have mentioned. The one that really touched me was, "See what you avoid and see what you are afraid to lose." I think this summarizes very aptly the whole, not only the title, but also every aspect of it. So yeah, I just wanted to say, thank you, sir.
Acharya Prashant: At the end of each of these deals, you must ask yourself, "If I had to sell my Truth, what did I save?" You always save something for something, right? If you had to sell away the Truth, what did you save? And who did you save it for? Stop being respectful. There is no need to bury yourself beneath humility and modesty. Humility comes with surrender to the Truth. Surrendering to society is not humility. It is subjugation. There is a difference between surrendering spiritually and being subjugated socially.
Be loud. Don't hide. Be out. And when it comes to the Truth, don't just whisper — go out and shout.
