Won't living freely make me self-centred? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)

Question: Sir, are you saying that we should not be bothered with what the others are saying? If I do not care about what others are saying, would I not be leading a self-centered life?

Speaker: We are already self-centered. Do you know what does being self-centered mean? It means that I am always thinking of myself. This ‘self’ is always in my mind. ‘How am I looking? What am I saying? What will somebody think of me? Am I doing the right thing?’ We are not talking of not being bothered of what others are saying. We are saying that understand what is happening. ‘I am greatly bothered with what you are saying. I am bothered in the sense that I am paying attention and I really want to understand, I want to know the truth. Only when I understand what you are saying, only then I can respond to you. Won’t I?’ But do we really understand what someone is saying?

You are following so many roles in life, so many rules in life. Do you really understand those roles and rules? You are following so many beliefs, so many conventions. Do you really understand them?

Before you accept something, examine it and understand it. Do not just surrender to it. Examine it fully and when you examine it fully, it will become a part of you. You will come to learn its truth. When you examine it fully, what is to be rejected will be rejected. You cannot allow somebody to become your master. yo cannot say that whatever master will say must be acceptable to me. No, that cannot be a way of life. We all are free beings and to be free means to be free in mind. It means I am not a slave to anything. It means that I am not a slave to anybody’s word, anybody’s opinion. It means that I will hear everything what you say, but I will first understand it. And how will I understand it? When I pay…