Question : Why does the mind fear change?
Acharya Prashant :
Mind does not fear change. Mind is afraid that it will lose what it has.
Were the mind to know that it will get something more valuable as a result of change, it will welcome change. Mind’s problem is it has something which it has acquired from outside and it has no control over what it has acquired.
What does the mind have? – Object. What kind of object? – Money, Relationships, Respect, Body. All of these are subject to disappearance in time. Money came from outside and can go back, respect is given by others and they can withdraw the respect. The body too, will fall in time.
That is the reason mind is afraid, mind wants some content; that contents is its very existence, its very identity. But that content is borrowed content. And when I am living on borrowed content I will be afraid that this will be taken away. But the mind will not be afraid if you tell it that, “If this content goes away, something more valuable is waiting for you.” Then the mind will not resist change.
Mind resists change because it thinks it will be impoverished, “I have respectability; it will be taken away. I have some kind of security; it will be taken away. What about all my accomplishment of the past; they will be taken away.” And that is all that it knows, these little things, “I have all these they might be taken away.” And they actually can be taken away. The mind is not mistaken, we know they can be taken, they will be taken away.
Let the mind come upon that which cannot be taken away and then see. The mind will welcome change, the mind will play with change. You will be a fearless mover. “Let this change! let that change! I am not losing anything.”
You will dance around in change. But for that the mind first has to come upon that which cannot be taken away. If you are dependent on all that which you have acquired from outside, then you will live in constant fear. The more you are dependent upon your acquisitions, the more afraid your life will be.
So, those who pride themselves on their status, their position, their respectability; they will be deeply afraid people. Those whose lives are centered on money they will be deeply afraid people. Those who draw their sustenance from their relationships, will again be deeply afraid people. The only fearless man; who does not resist change is the one who does not draw his sustenance from others and situations.
The one who has it within himself, “I have come upon that I have come close to that, which nobody can take away – no wimps of society, no vicissitudes of time. Take away everything but still what is valuable will remain with me now this is fearlessness. Take away everything but what is really valuable will remain with me”, when you live in this realization then you are not afraid.
Listener : Sir, you said that, “Experience is nothing but the experiencer and he is made of all his believes that he has picked up over the time. How we can get rid of all the belief that we have developed over 22 years of life? ”
AP : Not 22 years! 22 billion years. Oh! What you think you are just 22 years old? The entire history of mankind is there in your DNA, 22 years is such a small time span. You have not acquired it so recently, the disease is primitive. There was a song recently which said, “Main pyaas puraani ( I am the ancient thirst), Tu noor ka dariya hai main pyaas puraani .”(You are the river of lights, I am the ancient thirst) Heard of that?
You are an ancient thirst, an ancient thirst. You are the result of the entire process of evolution, you contain within yourself all the wars that mankind has fought. You contained within yourself all the stardust. There is nothing in the entire universe which is not present in your being.
Now, How to get rid of it?
You don’t need to get rid of it you just need to realize that, “It is there! It is there!”You don’t need to get rid of your body, the body is there. It is there! And it is conditioned. Why do you have two eyes? Why do you think you have certain complexion of the hair and the face? Where did you get it from? This is the result of very long process. Do you want to get rid of it? How can you get rid of it? Nobody can get rid of it.
You can only realize and in that realization you become free of it. It is there and yet you are standing free. You are with it yet you are not bound to it like your clothes. Would you say that you are a slave to your clothes? No, you wear your clothes because you want to wear them. And you take off your clothes when you want to take them off, they are there with you yet they are not too much upon you.