We use words not to communicate, but to avoid communication || Acharya Prashant (2016)
Question : You said that assigning words means that we are giving a meaning to something. So is it that a desire to communicate or a need to communicate the perfect barrier towards attaining meaninglessness?
Acharya Prashant :
You do not communicate through words; you use words to avoid communication.
That is why when you are really communicating, then words become so peripheral. That is why those who are really listening will not be paying much attention to my words. I often tell my friends, simply keep forgetting what I am saying. Simply keep discarding what I am saying. If you are really listening, then you do not need my words. Words are just some kind of pretence. At best you can call them, a vehicle. They are carrying something. Take what those words are carrying and leave the vehicle outside. Read the love letter and discard the envelope.
Why do we as humans get it so wrong? You ask this question only as long as you are getting it wrong. You ask for an answer. You ask for a cause. Every question beginning with a ‘WHY’ is a question demanding a reason, a cause. I give you an answer, the answer is a cause. Why did A happen, the cause is B Why did then B happen, the cause is C. Why did then C happen, the cause is D, where D is a set of an infinite number of causes. Then D is attributable to E, E to F, F to G and so on. And ultimately, it’s an infinite regression. You have to come to a point of silence.
Why not be silent right now?
Asking how did all the mess happen, when did man take a wrong turn, why does everybody get it so wrong, is not very useful. Instead of asking where did it all go wrong, simply set it right.
I repeat, don’t ask how did it all go wrong, because to determine how did it all go wrong, you have to go right till the beginning of time. It all goes wrong when time begins. That is why the concept of ‘original sin’ is there.
Hmm?
And then you will have to go into myths. So, what is the point, in going there and building stories after stories? Instead of that, simply stop it here. Instead of asking how did it start, simply stop it here.
And when you are really interested in knowing the facts of your situation, it just stops.
The whole machine of falseness continues, sustains only as long as you are not interested in looking sharply at it, only as long as you do not have the courage, the guts, to really face your situation squarely. Then you stand up to where you really are, and acknowledge that this is what I am, this is what my situation is, this is how I live. And that acknowledgement is not something, in one moment of time; it’s a constant realization. When you do that, it all stops. And the Stopping is what is necessary.
You see, you want to ask, how did it all start. Essentially you want to ask how did all the mental activity start. How did all thought start. And in wanting to know how did all the thought start, you are thinking even more. So in wanting to know the beginning of thought, you are starting off with an infinite chain of thoughts, which is not very wise.
So simply stop it.
And stopping does not happen by trying to make it stop. Stopping happens when you come face to face with direct facts. That is when it all stops.
