Where Is the Real Me?

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 being made a fool of? That the ego is not taking him for a ride. How does a young man know that?” You cannot know the truth, the reality, what you call the right unless you first know what is false. And that must be the first step. You cannot directly jump to the truth.

The reason is simple. Our lives and our minds are full of the false. You say ego, the false center. And what is this ego about? This is about acquiring an identity given by the external. Someone comes and tells you that you are brilliant. This is a statement made by an external agency. You are brilliant. And what do you do? You say I am brilliant. This is what ego is right? Internalizing an external influence. Do you see this? Yes? So, something external has been taken in by me and I’ve started believing that this is me. That this is me. This is what that false center is. And unfortunately, our minds are full of imported beliefs. Our minds are full of imported beliefs, to be more accurate, all beliefs are imported beliefs, taken from outside. Someone comes and tells you something and you take it in. You take it in. Our minds are full of that only.

Our religion has been given to us by somebody else. Name, way of life, definitions of what life is, success is, livelihood is, work is, career is, love is, freedom is, all of these have come from the outside, we have not understood them on our own. The entire script is coming from outside and we’re just living that script. That’s what our life is. When life is like this, why should we ask for what is real? The first step is to look at this life that we are leading. Why ask for a real, which would be nothing but an imagination for you right now? Understand this. Considering the kind of false lives that we are leading currently, even if the real is brought to you, it would not mean anything to you.

The first step hence is to look sharply at this life and see what is unreal. Do not ask for the real center Pranav. Look clearly at the false center, first thing. Do not ask for the truth, look clearly at the false because your lives are full of the false only. And that’s easier to look at. That’s much more available. That’s there. Morning till evening. Falseness, falseness, falseness, imported ideas, beliefs, borrowed ways of living, habits. That’s the way we are living, day in and day out. It’s easier to look at that. That must be the first step, in fact, you can look only at that right now.

Look at that. Find out that falseness. Point it out, wherever you see it. See how your thoughts are influenced by others. See how your very concept of life is a borrowed one. See what you mean by a good life, and who told you that, this is what constitutes a good life? See how you have been duped into believing that respectability, reputation, power, and money are what make a good life. Don’t you see that this is a borrowed belief? You didn’t investigate it. You didn’t find out on your own. You have been told that such and such are the ways of living, and you run after this. If you get all this then you had a successful life. A good fellow is one who does this, that, and that. And you have got that. You’ve accepted that you’ve believed that.

Enquire into all this, this is what is the false center. Once this false center is relieved, once you look into the falseness of this, in that looking, in that knowing itself is reality, the truth. Are you getting it? So, at every moment do not be bothered with what is the right, what is the right. Just catch yourself, whether you were acting out of intelligence or acting out of conditioning. Don’t just react in situations. Catch yourself, catch the falseness and that is sufficient. You need not do anything more. The truth is not an object to be obtained from somewhere. You cannot go and fetch truth from that room. The truth does not lie there or there that I’m acting from the right center, from the true center. The true center cannot be obtained. It is there within you. It is just covered layer upon layer by falseness. The moment you are able to look at those layers, the truth will reveal itself for you.

Truth is nothing to be obtained, truth is nothing to be sought, falseness goes truth is there. You are acting out of the right thing. So, what does that mean? That means, that from the morning till the evening, find out what is the reality of what you’re doing. Look sharply at how you attend sessions, and how you come to the college. This is what you do every day. With what kind of thoughts is your mind filled always? Your insecurities, look at the truth, look honestly at the truth of your relationships. See what you spend your time doing and that is what will reveal the falseness to you. See how afraid you are, see how insecure you often are about the future. And look into the falseness of all that and that is sufficient, that is sufficient. That is what ego is.

None of the fears are real. Somebody has surely planted the fear in you. And that is the false center, that is the false center. That fear is the false center. That belief is the false center. Anything coming from outside and striking roots within your mind is the false center. When you identify it as false when you catch it as being false, you’re free from it, you are free from it. You need not do anything extra.

Are you getting it?

Just watch out for what is happening. See why you’re studying. See who gave you your concept of career and from where that come. See how you’re influenced by the crowd. See how difficult you find it to remain alone. Go into these things. See how ambition and desire take control of you. Go into these things. These things happen to you every day. When you catch them like an intelligent person, when you look into them, when you investigate, like a student of science in an unbiased way, just as one conducts an experiment without imposing his beliefs upon the equipment, without imposing his prejudices upon what is happening, that’s how you conduct an experiment right, that’s how you stand in the lab. Do you impose your desires upon the equipment? No. You only observe what is happening.

When you observe all this happening, then the falseness is completely revealed and that is the truth. The revelation of the falseness itself is the truth and then you’re free. Then you’re really young and then you will find a lot of energy, you will need no habit. Energy will flow spontaneously; it will not require the momentum of habit. Right? Yes Pranav, that’s it.

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