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.
