Acharya Prashant states that India's crime has been that it has known certain truths of life. Whoever knows these truths becomes dangerous, and it becomes very necessary to suppress them. India has understood how much substance and how much worthlessness this entire world, this entire physical realm, and its expanse contains. And whoever understands this becomes a great danger to those who are eager to enjoy and lick the world itself. The speaker illustrates this with an analogy. A young man, with the desires, passions, and frenzies of youth, stands before a large shop of sensory objects. In that shop, everything one could want to enjoy is available: food, clothes, women, men, money, respect, and adventure. This young man has not received any education in spirituality or religion. He is physically young but mentally a child, ignorant. He is repeatedly tempted to go inside, and the shopkeeper tells him to come in and give all his life's savings in exchange for whatever he wants to enjoy. Next to this young, fair-skinned, tall, and attractive man—an Englishman, in our language—stands a middle-aged, ordinary-looking, thin, medium-height, dark-skinned farmer wearing saffron clothes. This farmer is a renunciate while farming; he runs his household but wears saffron. He has seen the world, meditated, practiced devotion, and understands life. Every time this young Englishman enters that shop of pleasure, this saffron-clad farmer appears from somewhere. He doesn't say much, he just smiles. He is content with his simple food and sings, "My heart is set on renunciation, my friend." Our young Englishman faces a great dilemma. He understands that there is a secret that this mature, saffron-clad farmer knows. But inside, the illusion of pleasure he sees is unique. This local elder is very carefree. He doesn't say anything, just sings something, sometimes reciting a couplet of Kabir Saheb, or telling a short story from the Puranas. It becomes very difficult for the young man to enjoy the shop. The presence of the saffron-clad man is fatal if your intention is to spend your life in ignorance and indulgence. The saffron-clad man knows the world, he knows the reality of pleasure. He will not let you enjoy it in peace. He will just show you that even by living simply, one can attain the joy that is not found in wealth. He says, "In my hand is a bowl, by my side a staff, and all four directions are my domain." And when the young man shows what he has, the farmer laughs even more. He takes out his French pistol and shoots him in the head. And even while dying, the farmer says, "I am Atman, I am Brahman. Fire cannot burn me, water cannot wet me, arrows cannot pierce me. I am That, Soham." He has been killed, but now you can dance in peace. Inside, there is a lot of knowledge—worldly knowledge, ways to achieve prosperity. Now, enjoy whatever you want to enjoy. If the supremacy of the ego is to be established, it is very important to humiliate India. And when I say India, I am not talking about a political or social entity, or any particular religion or sect. I am talking about that mind which is a connoisseur of Truth because that mind is the real identity of India. All other things are secondary. India's only real identity is spirituality. When I say saffron, I mean spirituality.
