Trying to 'Be Your Own Light'? || AP Neem Candies
Acharya Prashant: I know it's a fad currently, “the in thing” to say, be your own light, don’t depend on anyone, decide for yourself, whatever. It's a very ignorant thing to say with all due respect to the Buddha.
Such advice is meant only for very selected disciples. And even from the Buddha, it went only to a very few and privileged disciples, not to everybody.
The way we are born, the way we are configured, we won't get light just on our own. Illumination won't happen automatically. We require guidance. Now that comes with associated risks. The risk is that if you seek guidance at the wrong place, that's the worst thing that can happen to you.
But just because there is a danger of something bad happening to you, if you get false guidance, you cannot avoid or stop taking guidance altogether. That would be an equally disastrous thing.
So these are two extremes, two ends of duality, and unfortunately like in every other thing in the world, both these ends of duality are quite crowded. You have people at both these ends. The real thing is somewhere else and very few are found there.
Which two ends am I talking of? One end is- I am a follower, I am prepared to follow, I am prepared to follow. But I am following a quack, a charlatan, an unqualified fellow, an ineligible teacher. There is a huge crowd at that end. And there is an equally huge crowd at the opposite end.
What is the opposite end? I don’t follow anybody.
So you have followers and non-followers, and both are equally deceived. The non-followers are deceived because they keep on following themselves and you are probably one of the worst gurus you can get. And you are surely the worst when you are a guru to yourself.
So there are non-followers who follow themselves. What's the name of their teacher? I, me - which is the Ego.
And then there are those who follow. They say, “Oh, we are humble people, we are prepared to listen.” But whom do they follow? They follow all the stupid and fraudulent chaps.
Both these ends are to be avoided. Right? Negate both these. And you need to negate both these with equal ferocity.
If you are someone who has been following somebody outside of you, some other person. Ask yourself with great discipline, without any attachment, without any emotion- “What am I getting there? What am I learning there? Is my life changing? Are my doubts vanishing? Am I stronger? Am I more fearless now?” These are the questions to be asked.
And these questions have to be asked very dispassionately, very objectively. Are you getting it? This is in case you are following somebody outside of yourself. It could be a person, a book, a line of thought, ideology, anything.
And if you are someone who prefers to follow himself or herself, the same questions have to be asked. "How good a teacher or guide have I been to myself? Have I really been of any use to myself?" Yes? Very rigorously, very rigorously. Don't play favorites. Don't be biased. Getting it?
The outer guru and the inner guru, both have to be rejected, then you come to the real Guru. The outer guru is the quack, the inner guru is the Ego. And these two are hand and gloves with each other, by opposing each other.
What do you do on a tightrope walk? It appears that this thing is trying to go this way (right) and this part of the pole is trying to go this way (left). So, these two seem to be opposing each other. Let's hack down one half, what happens to you now? You fall.
So, what do you see? They were not opposing each other, they were actually supporting each other. Often the two parties in a dispute are necessary for each other. Without the dispute, they cannot support each other. So don't be deceived when you find two parties quarreling, whether in the physical sense or the psychological sense. That quarrel does not mean that one of them wants to end the other. It merely means that through the quarrel both of them are ensuring their mutual continuation. Without the quarrel, both will die down. It's necessary for the two to fight. If the two fight, both survive. If the two don't fight, neither survives. Are you getting it?
On the surface, it will appear that these two are opposites, they are not opposites. On the surface, it will appear that the two are aiming at each other. They are not aiming at each other; they are supporting each other.
Full article link: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articles/whom-to-listen-to-and-whom-to-avoid-1_feb29dc
