Market, Money, Food, and Liberation || Acharya Prashant (2018)

Question: Acharya Ji, which are the industries I should invest my money in?

Acharya Prashant Ji: There are two industries that are not going to fail. First, that thrives on kids. Second, that thrives on sickness. And the two are one.

The school industry is never going to starve, and they will always make very big bucks. What else do we earn for? To pay to the schools. And the hospital industry is also always going to prosper, and they will make very big bucks. What have we earned for? To pay to the hospitals.

You can avoid spending anywhere else, but these two places, you will not only spend, you will always overspend – kids education, and health.

And it should be obvious to you that these both have to do with your deepest vrittis (latent tendencies). We began this evening talking of what this prakriti (nature) relies on. It relies on continuation of this body, and procreation. This body should continue, and more bodies should keep coming. So, these two are also the two ways to loot away your hard earned money.

I recently found out that the apparels of a fully grown-up man, are only as expensive as apparels of a two-month old. If you purchase something for yourself for two-thousand rupees, and that thing is this big, size forty-four, rest assured that if you buy something for your infant who is one month old, that too will cost equally the same. And you will not be able to question it. It’s a matter of love, you know. Don’t you love your child? Can you question the fees that the schools charge you? It’s preposterous.

Questioner: It’s a matter of pride now-a-days to say that our kid’s fees is higher than the fees of your kid.

Acharya Prashant Ji: You are being looted in broad daylight in the name of your kid’s fees, and you will accept it even if you happen to be the intellectually strongest person in the world. The fellow is IQ 140, emerging from the best institute of the world, a post-graduate in Astrophysics. But the moment he gets a kid, he can be looted in broad daylight. And he won’t be able to resist it, because he is hitting you where it hurts the most. You might be very-very smart, but you can still be looted, because now you have a kid.

Same with the doctor. It doesn’t matter who you are, if he says, “Twenty lakhs,” twenty-lakhs is ‘twenty-lakhs’. You don’t argue with him.

It’s actually not the doctor, it’s the hospital. Just as it’s not the teacher, it’s the school. If the hospital says, “Twenty lakhs,” it is twenty lakhs. It’s all spiritual, if you can see.

This is what tells you, how prakriti fails you. Man gets attached to continuation, and in the name of continuation man is robbed of the precious resources, that should have gone towards his Liberation. Your precious resources, that should have been invested towards your Liberation, rather go towards your continuation. To hell with such continuation.

I don’t even have an insurance. I have no mediclaim. I am very clear, the day she (death) comes and says, “I have to take you away,” I will say, “Why wait? I don’t even have to pack up. Come, let’s go! I am done.”

I neither have life-insurance, nor medical insurance. For my small medical needs, I have enough. And if a giant medical need comes up, I will not meet that need. I will not allow prakriti to rob me of my real occupation.

My real work is not to save for the furtherance of my physical life. My real work is not to fill and bloat my bank account for the sake of my physical security, and physical continuation. My real work is – this. My real work is – Liberation. My Liberation, your Liberation. I must work for that.

Getting it?

Questioner: There is no point in living on, if you cannot live for Liberation.

Acharya Prashant Ji: Wonderful! There is no point in living on, even for one day more, if Liberation is no more possible, or if you have no desire for Liberation. Kabir Sahib has put it so succinctly in so many verses.

“Jaa tan prem na sanchare, so tan jaan masaan. Jaise khaal luhaar kii, saans letu bin praan.”

“(If you do not have love for Him, then your body is just a graveyard. You are breathing, but you are really not alive).”

Life should either be a great rhapsody in Love, or otherwise it is just a spell of irritating noise. Who wants to tolerate it? There is no valor or pride in continuing to live. Finish-off your work, and retire. Go away! Go to sleep! There is no great virtue in living for a hundred years, and living like a maggot. Turtles, crocodiles, they all live longer than men. So what?

Question 2: Acharya Ji, does poor food habit become an obstacle in the path of Liberation?

Acharya Prashant Ji: In general, you eat badly only when only food starts becoming meaningful to you. The body knows it’s food. Does it not? Do you have to teach the cow to take grass and not flesh? Do you see any animal species that needs to be tutored on the topic of food? Monkeys, mosquitoes, they all know the kind of food that is right for them. Why does this question become pertinent for ‘man’? Because man identifies himself with just about everything.

Man is different from mosquitoes, in the sense that man has more heightened desire for Liberation. So he searches for Liberation, everywhere. Even in paani-puri he searches for – Liberation. In titillation of taste buds, he assumes liberation.

If paani-puri becomes Liberation for you, then your kidney will complain. So rather than regulating your food habits, you should rather ask the question: “Who am I?” Once you know that you are the one who can never be satisfied through paani-puri, you will lose all fascination for paani-puri. You don’t need to be tutored on what to eat and what not to eat. All that is largely useless.

Why do you get attracted to mithai (sweets) , or pizza?

Questioner 2: Because of desire.

Acharya Prashant Ji: And desire is really for?

Questioner 2: Liberation.

Acharya Prashant Ji: And that has to be realised – “That that which I really want, will not come to me, through mithai .” And then mithai (sweets) will lose its charm.

Questioner 2: That is known, but for now instant gratification is demanded.

Acharya Prashant Ji: That you have to remember, at that moment. As you said that, one has to be constantly reminded. That is why ‘ing’ is needed. You will have to create mechanisms that will keep constantly reminding you.

Have somebody by your side who shouts into your ears, right when you are about to pop in the next puri . This is not ‘That’. That’s the mantra that you need.

What?

Listeners: This is not ‘That’.

Acharya Prashant Ji: This is not ‘That’.

So, you will just spoil the body and get nothing in return.

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