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Yoga is the intensity of your want to live without fear || Acharya Prashant, on Bhagwad Gita (2017)
Acharya Prashant
1.3K views
9 years ago
Yoga
Mind
Shri Krishna
Bhagavad Gita
Stillness
Maya
Kabir Saheb
Conditioning
Description

Acharya Prashant explains that Yoga is attained when the mind, which is typically perplexed and burdened by sensory information and conditioning, becomes steady and still. He emphasizes that the human condition is defined by an occupied mind, where even the words of Shri Krishna or holy scriptures can become a burden if they are merely stored as mental content. True Yoga is not about adding more knowledge or practices, but about the cessation of the mind's restless movement. The mind is constantly running in space and time, seeking the unlimited through limited objects, which is a futile endeavor because the mind can only perceive the finite. This constant chase for completion through external achievements, relationships, or even spiritual concepts only leads to further dissatisfaction and grief. He further elaborates that the mind's desire for pleasure, such as in the example of an orgasm, is actually a desperate attempt to stop its own movement. Acharya Prashant suggests that instead of trying to reach a destination through effort, one should embrace a state of total hopelessness regarding the world's ability to provide contentment. He clarifies that the mind cannot be forced into thoughtlessness; rather, one should allow thoughts to exist without attaching importance to them or expecting them to provide ultimate fulfillment. By letting go of the sense of doership and trusting the inherent intelligence of existence—which manages complex physical and environmental processes without our interference—one can find the peace that is already present. Yoga is thus the realization that nothing needs to be searched for because the 'unlimited' is our very nature, and stillness is the natural state when the false chase for objects is abandoned.