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When help comes, just don’t resist || Acharya Prashant, on Guru Kabir (2019)
Scriptures and Saints
2.8K views
3 years ago
Kabir Saheb
Bhagavad Gita
Liberation
Non-doership
Surrender
Spiritual Guide
Bondage
Truth
Description

Acharya Prashant explains that the Bhagavad Gita is a philosophical document of the highest order rather than a mere story. Using a verse by Kabir Saheb, he illustrates the relationship between a seeker and a spiritual guide, referred to as the Fakir. He emphasizes that in the process of liberation, the seeker's primary role is non-doership and cooperation. The speaker highlights that the lady in the verse does nothing to save herself; instead, it is the Fakir who wakes her from slumber, pulls her from the sea of worldly existence, and frees her from earthly bonds. The lady's liberation is a result of her lack of resistance and her willingness to let the Fakir act. Acharya Prashant describes the 'temple' mentioned in the verse as a subtle satire on self-constructed holy places where people remain spiritually asleep. When the Fakir strikes the seeker with the 'arrows of sharp words,' the seeker must resist the urge to retaliate or complain. He points out that while the world offers diverse distractions, the Fakir provides only one essential truth, which may seem repetitive or boring to the intellect. The seeker must stay put and not abandon the guide even when the answers do not satisfy their intellectual curiosity. True liberation allows one to recognize that what they previously valued as 'jewelry' or 'ornaments' were actually chains and bondages. The speaker concludes by stating that the Fakir cannot force liberation; it requires the seeker's silent cooperation. He advises that one should not raise an alarm when their worldly attachments are being removed. The divine union or 'hug' mentioned in the verse occurs only when the seeker's wish aligns with the eternal wish of the divine. Therefore, the seeker's practice should be the art of cooperation, which eventually leads to total surrender.