Why the Rājasika Mind is better than the Tāmsika Mind?
Acharya Prashant: That's why the rājasika mind is better than the tāmsika mind. The rājasika says, “I’m not alright. I need to do something to become better. I feel inferior. I feel incomplete. I need to rise. I need to achieve.” That’s the rājasika mind. The rājasika mind at least admits that it is not alright. The rājasika mind at least admits that it needs to change and improve. Though it tries to improve in an unwise and foolish way, but at least that admission is there. “I’m not okay.”
The tāmsika mind is a tough nut to crack. “I’m alright.”
“But you’re not alright.”
“But I’m alright!”
“But you are unhappy.”
“Oh, I am joyful.”
“But then, yesternight you were wailing and sobbing.”
“In that is my pleasure!” That kind of an argument.
“I made a video. You are frothing in the mouth and flowing in the eye. Your face was just froth and tears, and you were cursing your life. Here, I shot it.”
And what does the fellow say? “In that is my pleasure. I love to wail. I love to yell. I love to shriek. I love to cry. Tears give me a high.”
And now, how do you talk to this fellow? He says, “I’m alright. I’m alright as I am.” In his own eyes, he is some goddamn philosopher, especially after he is a bit high. It's very very important for him—it's a matter of survival—not to care about the results, not to even inquire into the results. The day he starts inquiring into the results, he will be forced to change.
Therefore, I deeply oppose this neo-pop spiritual culture of living in the present. I do not want people not to care about the results because not caring for results is alright if you are a sāttvika mind or if you have transcended the ego. Then it is alright not to care for results. But if you are a rājasika person or a tāmsika person, as 99.9% of people are, then you need to be very very conscious of the future and of the results of your actions.
The tāmsika mind desperately wants to avoid looking at the consequences of his actions. And that is the reason why the saints, if you visit their literature, constantly, repeatedly reminded us to think of the results of our actions and they reminded us to think of death. They constantly kept saying, “Think of death.” Now, all that is in the future, but today’s pop spirituality is about ignoring the future totally. "Don’t think of the future, live in the present. Don’t think of the future, live in the present." Then why were the saints continuously telling us to think of death? Death is always in the future. Right now, you aren’t dead.
It is because the saints knew better. They knew who they were talking to. They knew they were talking to rājasika and tāmsika minds. And the rājasika and tāmsika minds need to be cautioned of the future. That’s the tāmsika mind’s ultimate fantasy—to do what he wants to do and then not bear the consequences. Is that not a great fantasy? “I’ll do what I want to do. I’ll consume what I want to consume and I won’t even have to foot the bill.” The saints are saying the bill will need to be paid with due interest—mind the bill!
