When there is innocence in the Heart only then there is intelligence in the mind || Acharya Prashant (2015)
Question: Sir, can there be a ‘conscious innocence’?
Speaker: No, but there can be ‘innocent consciousness’. In the same way as there can be no ‘worldly God’, but there can be a ‘Godly world’ .
Innocence is your center. Innocence is far above consciousness. In fact, innocence means a point that is not stained by consciousness. With innocence in your heart, you can be conscious in the mind and it will be an ‘innocent consciousness’. With God in your heart, you can have the world in your mind and it will be a ‘Godly world’. But if you try the opposite then you are inviting hell. If you make God a thing of the mind then, not only have you lost touch with God but even this mind, that dares to contain God, becomes a petty mind and suffers.
You have talked of ‘conscious innocence’. ‘Conscious innocence’ is pretended innocence. ‘Conscious innocence’ is the mask of innocence. ‘Conscious innocence’ is fake innocence. Just as a ‘worldly God’ is a fake God. You cannot be conscious first and then decide to be innocent. Innocence is not a decision of your consciousness. Innocence is the very environment, the very ambience in which the game of consciousness can play out. The entire game is going on, and it is being played out in the arena of innocence. Innocence has to be bigger than consciousness, just as the arena of the sport has to be large enough to contain all the sportsmen, the entire game.
Keep the First things first, always. Innocence is first. Consciousness comes much later. Innocence is your root and later on you acquire this thing called consciousness. Innocence is your foundation, and then you build this worldly mansion of consciousness. Let the Foundation remain the foundation. Let the First, remain the first . Innocence is nothing short of Truth, nothing short of God. They are one and the same. They are the First. They must remain the First. And when they are the First, then let consciousness be free to play, whatever and whichever games it pleases to play. Go play! But you can give consciousness this freedom to play, only when the foundation is absolutely sure, firm and unmovable. Innocence is that unmovable firmament.
Listener: Sir, with knowing, innocence is no more innocent. If you have known something, can you still be innocent? Innocence comes out of spontaneity. The moment there is consciousness, morality comes in. How can one be still innocent even after knowing things?
Speaker: When you enter a building, does the foundation disappear? There is the foundation, then there is the building, and the building is populated; just because the building is populated, does the foundation disappear? Consciousness is mind. Mind can be populated by thoughts, ideas, people, and the entire world. What effect does that have on the rock solid foundation?
Innocence does not come out of anything. I am repeating: Innocence is the foundation. Innocence is the beginning and the dissolution . Innocence does not mean “I do not know”, because in saying “I do not know”, you are saying “I am waiting to know. I exist and knowing is not far away.” Innocence is being untouched by the feeling of “I am.” That is innocence.
Innocence is not to be taken in the normal usage of the world. Your courts call somebody ‘innocent’ if it is proven that he has not committed a crime. You start calling small children as ‘innocent’. It should be obvious that I am not using the word ‘innocent’ in the same way as the courts and mothers do. I am using the word ‘innocent’ in its purest meaning. Understand that .
Innocent means uncorrupted. Innocent means ‘One with the Source’. That is innocence.
Listener: Non-manipulative?
Speaker: You are still taking innocence as something of the mind. Whatever I am talking is not in the realm of the mind. But you are so habituated and insecure that whenever something comes to you, you do not let it go to the Heart. You pass it through the mind and your mind corrupts it. I want to talk to your Heart and you bring your mind in between. Now, no real communication is possible. I might be saying something, but it doesn’t reach you. What do you mean by non-manipulative? I’m talking of God! Is there a manipulative or non-manipulative God? I am talking of the Source, the Foundation. Where is the question of manipulation?
Innocence does not mean something that has been cleaned. Innocence points towards something that cannot be dirtied. What has been cleaned will be dirtied again by time. Innocence points to your deep real nature. Innocence points to the foundational truth of existence. It is that silence, that background that doesn’t change, no matter how much the voices change. It is that emptiness that remains no matter how many universes come and go . It is that sky which cannot be stained, even if you emit the entire world’s smoke into it. It simply cannot be dirtied . Air can be polluted, sky cannot be. Innocence is like that, something that cannot be dirtied, because it is Not . Because it is Not! Air Is , so you can corrupt it.
Innocence is an absence; an absence of all that can be perceived, of all that is within the mental and sensual domain. That is innocence. Innocence, in that sense, is not merely health. Innocence is the inability to fall sick. What you normally call as health is just the gap between two periods of sicknesses. You are healthy and you are moving towards sickness. It is dualistic. Innocence is the absence of that which can fall sick. Innocence is the inability to fall sick. Even if you want, you cannot fall sick, that is innocence. It is an absence. From that absence, from that clear emptiness, whatever you do remains clear. Now you can let the whole game of consciousness be. You can freely let it continue. You need not be alert. You need not be prohibitive. You need not be sanctimonious. There is no need for morality. Let the game be . Secure at the Heart, taking risks on the outside becomes fun. There are no more risks, nothing is at stake. They are just games now. Consciousness is no more suffering. With innocence at the Heart, consciousness is a sport.
Innocence of the Heart, translates into cleverness of the mind. Only an innocent Heart will give rise to a really sharp and intelligent mind. Now you should understand why most people are dull and cannot see even the obvious. Now you will understand why most people appear so dumb and unintelligent; because intelligence and innocence go together. There is no way the mind can be intelligent without the Heart being innocent. When the Heart is not innocent, you can be shrewd but not intelligent. And shrewdness and intelligence are very-very different. The difference between shrewdness and intelligence is like the difference between Shakuni and Krishna .
Try it, let your Heart remain unstained, clean, surrendered; and then see how naturally, spontaneously your mind operates in intelligence. You will not even know how you are making such good decisions. You will not even know how everything in your life will start falling in place. You will be stepping in the right direction without even knowing why and how. Your relationships, your aims, targets will all just settle down beautifully in harmony. You will know what to do and what not to do. You will know when to act, and when to just stand still. Everything that the mind does will be in a beautiful rhythm. Like a dance, the dance of intelligence . I’m repeating: ‘The dance of intelligence is possible only with an innocent Heart.’
