You are wonderful, beautiful, awesome, simply as you are || Acharya Prashant (2015)

Speaker: Virah wo aag hai jise parmaatma swayam fuunkta hai. Parmaatmaa ke liye hai, aur use phuunkta bhee wahi hai. (Longing is the fire which is stoked by God Himeslf. It is for God, and is stoked by God.)

Virah corresponds to any feeling of incompleteness, anything that you want. Whenever there is a want, it ought to be remembered, that – you do not want what you think you want, but you want That who makes you want.Should I repeat?

Whenever there is want, it ought to be remembered, that you do not really want, what you think you want, but you want That, who makes you want.

When you want something, ask yourself, “Getting this, will that give me what I want?” There is no point trying to fight the desire. How can you fight something that you do not understand?

Just ask, “Is this what I really want? If I do, then I will pursue it. Do I really want this?”

Spirituality is not about giving up your desires. It is rather about…?

Listeners: Knowing your desires.

Speaker: If you have to chase, chase a Big desire. Right now all we know is…?

Listeners: Small desires.

Speaker: What does knowing your desire mean? That when you go close to the small desire, what do you find? Oh! The small desire is actually just a small reflection of a big desire. So, going close to the desire actually inflates the desire.

“It’s not that I wanted this, I wanted something bigger.” Now you know why the petty desires fail to quieten you. Because you are investing your energy in the wrong direction.

See, even this gathering here is such a good example. In fact wherever you are, that place, that occasion is always a good example, of anything. Without reservation, use it. It will never fail you.

If you can be here, and you could be busy with this and that, as I look at one of my friends here, even when I was speaking, he was busy in investigating the audience, turning rightwards once, turning leftwards once, trying to see who is present, who is not present, counting maybe it’s another occasion for networking.

It’s alright, the others are important. Whosoever is here, is important. But whosoever is here, is for the sake of the Truth. So, when I look at the face of one of the co-attendees, I should ask myself, “Do I really want this person? Why is even this person here? For the sake of the Truth. So, my primary responsibility is to attend to the Truth.”

If not for the Truth, then this place would be vacant, right? Would any of us be here, had it not been for the Truth. So, if the fellow standing at the back is for the sake of the Truth, who is more important- the fellow or the Truth?

Listeners: The Truth.

Speaker: The Truth. So, who should I look at, the fellow or the Truth?

Listeners: The Truth.

Speaker: So, when you feel like looking at the faces of people, please know that they are here for the sake of That. And if there are here for the sake of That, then That is more important than the people.

Why do we feel that we do not deserve the highest? Why do we convince ourselves to make do with a little bit, with parts?

You wanted love, are you satisfied? What makes you think that more of it, is not possible?

What makes you tolerate life?

That session happened, are we seriously settled with it? Have we had the maximum, the session could give us? Yet we are prepared to go home, are we not? What makes us think, what has convinced us, that nothing more was possible in these two hours?

I am so sure many of us must be having things to say, you couldn’t be here without that. You have come so far, you have invested many hours, and then, with all the possibilities within you, you will…? Go back.

Why is here not a deep confidence that you deserve the Highest, the Best, the Total, the very summit of things? Why not? Why stop at some place? Why say that, “I was destined to have only this much,” why?

Listener 1: Sir because of comparisons that are made in the outer world, with some other person.

Speaker: We don’t even compare fully, do we?

Compare yourself to the man whose portrait is in the background. (Pointing at Bhagwan Sri Ramana Maharshi’s portrait placed in the room) Compare. I am talking of basic material comparison. Compare, compare just as you compare yourself with your neighbour and your cousins. See, how rich a life he lived, and then look at your life.

We don’t even compare.

Listener 2: What makes us compare ourselves not with him, but with other people who are so full of bling? What makes us do that? Why is there a choice which is so much towards that bling, and not towards the man like Sri Ramana Maharshi?

Speaker: You don’t have the confidence that you can rise above your immediate surroundings. You look at yourself, and then you look at somebody who is incrementally ahead – with that much you are contended.

But, when you look at a Buddha, or a Mahavir, or a Maharishi, that is totally different. Going to them is a different dimension altogether. You know your face, the prospect of total defeat, when it comes to comparing yourself with Maharshi Ramana. Infact, it would be a humiliation.

How can one make so much of his life? And then you look at your life. That’s why even if the Maharshi is present here, you would not look at him. Your eyes would start feeling sleepy. The moment you turn your face towards him you will feel like…dozing off. But, why must that be so?

Don’t we know Death?

Don’t we know how close it is? Don’t we know that we will be no more?

What are you waiting for really? What are we conserving ourselves for?

You will not be carrying this stuff across to the other world, would you be? Then, what are you saving it for? Invest it. Expend it. Burn it.

It would be any way of no use to you after a few years, or a few decades. Who knows after a few days…? So why not invest it fully, and get the maximum returns possible?

Listener 3: Sir, as you told that, take fully. Whenever somebody wants to come here, sit here, whether the intention is to take it fully or not, I am not sure.

But whenever there is a task at hand, and if the task needs forty units, I will very agreeably give it thirty units, but that last ten units, I always want to hold back. So, is it mere conditioning, or is it that there is…?

Speaker: No task ever demands forty units. Even the simplest tasks demand your total immersion, and that is immeasurable. Whenever you will assess the requirement of the task to be forty units, you will end up giving it twenty, or thirty, or maximum forty. That would not suffice!

Even the most routine and mundane of tasks, demand an infinite immersion. You call it ‘passion’ or ‘ambition’, whatever. But it becomes a habit with us, to come to some measure in numerical terms. So that we know that there is a point where one can stop, so that one can have limits.

Life is not at all livable. But many of us might be thinking that – “You know, we think we have already have gathered a lot today, we think we already benefited, we think we have enough value for our Sunday morning.” Now you are so easily contended.

You have had not even a drop of the ocean, the ocean is possible, not even a drop has come yet. Why not ask for more? Why so easily settle for peanuts?

Do you know how much is your capacity to take? Do you know how big is your Heart? Do you know how much you can hold? And do you know how little do you offer yourself? And then is it any wonder that our eyes looks so thirsty?

You deserve an ocean, and you are giving yourself a few droplets. Will you not be thirsty?

When you look at the faces of people around, what else do you see except a very pronounced thirst?

You wanted much more, and you deserve much more. Give that to yourself.

Listener 4: If I observe myself, I see that the fear is coming, and probably the personality doesn’t want to give its total.

Speaker: But at the same time, the personality is not happy with itself. So, one has to talk to it.

Listener 4: That’s why I am here!

Speaker: One has to ask the mind, “ If you are happy as you are, then promise me that you will not disturb me anymore. And if you are not happy as you are, then promise me you will be prepared to change.”

“If you are happy as you are, then no more noise. Just shut up! Live and let live. You need not keep bugging me with desires, and disquiet.”

“And if you accept that you are not happy, then simply follow. Accept that you have failed, accept that you could not get you wanted, and so politely now listen to ‘me’. You will no more be the authority, because you failed in your own most important mission. You have been wanting happiness since day one, and it’s never been sufficient for you.”

“You cannot have both. On one hand you are saying that you are not happy, you want to change. On the other hand you are saying that you want to change remaining as you are. That obviously cannot happen.”

Further, this change is fun . The scary part of it is not really factual, the scary part is mostly imaginary. When it comes to the Truth, people shiver as if some great treasure that they are carrying will be taken away. “Oh my god! Spirituality! My great worldly possessions will be taken away.”

All that doesn’t necessarily happen. Yes, of course there are changes, but those changes are not the same as what you postulate them to be. Spiritual outlook does bring about changes in life, but you cannot predict those changes. And if you cannot predict them, then why are you afraid of them?Why are you unnecessarily imagining? And those imaginations are so stale and predictable, are they not?

“This will be lost, that will be lost. What will happen to my kids? What will happen to my reputation? Can I earn a little more money and then get into all this? May be I will lose the drive for worldly achievement?”

Why are you unnecessarily dreaming? You are imagining all this, given the worldly mind that you are. When you will not be the same worldly mind, would you still be imagining all this?

The non-spiritual mind likes to imagine a lot about spirituality. So, staying at a safe distance, it projects – “I have never entered that house, but I like to posit. And based on my suppositions, I come to the conclusion, that it is not safe to enter that house.”

“It is another matter that I am looking at that house through the hazy, cracked, dusty windowpanes of my current house. So, the image I have of the other house, is coming to me through the hazy, cracked, dirty window panes of my current house. But yet I am so convinced of my conclusions!”

You know, as I look at your faces right now, I wonder what would happen, if you take selfies and put them on your Facebook account. That’s what the world does to you! The world does not like your faces in immersion and silence .

( Referring to some listeners ) Anuradhaji would lose lot of her friends and clientele. Pankajji’s social reputation and network would collapse.

(The listener being referred to smiles) Now it won’t! This face is his regular professional face, and it is a totally fake face.

But the face that you had, just thirty seconds back, was not a social face. And so you would not put it on your social accounts. In fact that face is such a dangerous face, it has no trace of pleasure in it, you might be smiling right now but you were not smiling a minute back. (Referring to another listener) Look at Richa’s face right now. Is she smiling? Eyes closed.

You look beautiful when you are not smiling. You look beautiful when you are a little awake.

Listener 5: Sir, though we know that Silence needs to be the unification of everything, but still we fear to test that Silence. Why?

Speaker: You are unnecessarily carrying an image of Silence. I do not know whether Silence needs to be the unification of…whatever. Who has the time and the burden to think so much? Silence is Silence, why conceptualise it?

I just want to say that – don’t be afraid of the world. Right now there is much less of the world in you, than it probably would be in a couple of hours later, or during the rest of the week. And you are wonderful as you are right now. There is nothing wrong with this. You have no obligation to keep smiling to people. You are alright as you are right now, as you look right now.

Stay. Stay this way, stay in your fundamental nature. You have no responsibility to conform to the standards of the world. There is a certain gravity on your faces right now. Don’t trade it away, don’t start living cheap again.

( Referring to a listener ) See how still you are standing and there is nothing wrong with it or is there? Must you be rushing towards your car. Standing still, isn’t that so nice? With nothing to do. Letting life come to you, unpredictable life, unpredictable words, and with no obligation to make sense of anything.

I am pretty sure that you not making much sense of what I am saying, in any case. Just standing without the need to interpret, just standing without the need to interpret. There is traffic on the road, there are clouds in sky, birds on the trees, a garland here, a cup of tea. Why interpret anything? They are just there.

Is there a need to draw meaning out of everything? Is there a need to put everything in boxes of right and wrong?

(Again referring to one of the listeners) See how devastatingly handsome our friend is looking there. No more! No more! Gone! You lost it!

You came back.

Go away!

When you go away, you are so handsome!

(Referring to of the volunteers) Kundan wanted to click my pictures, I said that if you really want to click, then don’t tell me. Just keep clicking, without telling me. I should not know.

Can I do something more to reassure you that you are wonderful, beautiful and so very nice, without thinking, without planning, without speaking, without smiling, without achieving, without running, without reaching, without even wondering? Just with nothing. With absolutely nothing, you are still so nice!

Don’t go away. You will be enslaved so quickly. Stay, stay, stay!

I pray we all have the strength.

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