Questioner: Namaskar Acharya Ji, in ‘Listen Little Man’, ‘great man’ tries to expose the problems of the little man and help him understand them. But ‘little man’ continuously rejects ‘great man’, and does not even put a thought towards what is been told. I find it difficult to agree if someone tries to expose my littleness and help me, especially if it is coming from people close to me. What does it take for the ‘little man’ to understand his littleness and to grow from it?
When somebody is trying to show that pettiness in me, immediately I try to move back. I mean, I don’t feel like accepting it right away, it takes some time. Over a period of time only, I will try to think over it. But at that moment, I don’t feel like giving it a thought.
Acharya Prashant: That’s alright. It takes some time, yes. Remember that the first reaction comes from that which is prone to react. Consciousness is not reactive. Consciousness can wait. Chemicals are reactive. This body is made of chemicals, they react. A certain word falls upon your ears, and there is an instant reaction. Is there not? Your entire body can get heated up. One word falling on your ears can raise your temperature by two degrees within two minutes. Is it not a chemical reaction?
This body is a bunch of chemicals and they immediately show their chemistry. That is bound to happen! Yes. You have to wait because you are not merely the chemicals or the body. Let the chemicals and the body proceed with their chemistry. Why can’t you wait? It is the mark of the wise person to not go by her own reactions, especially if you know about yourself that your system is highly reactive. And experience will tell you that. You will know that there are a lot of free radicals inside, a lot of highly reactive ions, a tonne of sodium sitting here (Pointing to the head). All it requires is a sprinkling of water and a thousand kinds of other glands, hormones, secretions; that is what the body is all about. Correct?
It is actually just a chemical reaction that keeps happening within us as we go through the various situations in life. And the poor chemicals have no choice, so do not ask me how to stop the reaction. It is almost like asking; "How to ensure that ammonia does not dissolve in water?" Or "sodium does not explode with water."
What can Acharya Ji do about it? It is a choiceless situation. Similarly, the things that happen within you; anger, lust, disappointment, greed - they are conditioned chemical reactions. Not much you can do about them. Even if you can do something about them, it is a gradual process, a gradual thing that happens in the long run.
The inner chemistry cannot be easily modified and even if it can be modified a bit, it would still remain just chemistry. There is nothing called 'holy chemistry'. You can have very dangerous chemistry within you and using some tricks, tactics; you can somewhat assuage your inner chemistry so that it does not remain that very reactive, or that very explosive, that very dangerous. But still, chemistry is just chemistry.
There is nothing called joy, or freedom, or holiness in chemistry. There is no sacredness in chemistry. Where does sacredness lie then? Where do joy and freedom lie then? They do not obviously lie in chemistry, they lie in your separation from the chemistry.
Let the elements do what they are doing, I will enjoy life. I have my own stuff to do. I am not wedded to the limitations of this chemical godown. So many things keep happening here, there is no element in the world that is not present here and present without my permission or consent.
I don't even know how these various things are configured. Even their configuration is often random and keeps changing. The air quality changes a little, your chemical composition also changes a little. Your chemical composition keeps varying by the hour. If you are a woman, your composition is different. If you are a young woman it is different, if you are a little girl it is different, and if you are old it is again different.
It is different between every two persons. You eat something and you find that the inner chemistry has undergone a change. Now what to do with this thing? As I said, a little bit of course you can do. Just as you pop pills, don’t you? If your body is displaying chemistry of an adverse kind, you go to the doctor and what does he do? He gives you a chemical solution. Or this (Gesturing getting an injection). All of these are chemical solutions. So you employ these chemical solutions and they are helpful, but they are helpful only to a very small extent.
What is the one thing that you really need to do? You need to say, “I am not a chemical”. “I am not a chemical”. Otherwise, Sandhya Raipally (Questioner) will become ‘Sa2Ri3’. How cool does that sound? And when she is angry, she becomes ‘Sa2Ri2O4’. In anger, you burn and get oxidised, right? So now oxygen has been added to your chemical formula. ‘Sa2Ri3’? Not cool, is it? So, I am not a chemical.
Let the chemicals do what they would. To hell with them! Sometimes they react when they should not, sometimes they do not react when you think it is proper that there must be a reaction. Let the chemicals be. You are not a lab supervisor. Or, are you? You cannot spend your entire life just pouring this thing into a beaker and that thing into a test tube and tasting some aquilegia. Nice!
This is what the knowers have called ‘detachment'. They also called it ‘witnessing’. Let the body be. Let the chemical thoughts, chemical feelings be. Let the chemical emotions be. Let the chemical sentimentality be. Let this chemical sexuality be. Let the chemical fears be. Let the chemical hopes and ambitions be. Let the chemical love be. Let the chemical death be. Let chemical life be, I am free. All this is so chemical. What is the point in getting engaged in all this? Sandhya is in love, ‘Sa2Ri2L4’.
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