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Even when you are lost, you are already Home || Acharya Prashant on Khalil Gibran (2015)
Acharya Prashant
409 views
6 years ago
Truth
Longing
Ego
Liberation
Suffering
Duality
Enlightenment
Maya
Description

Acharya Prashant explains that the significance of man lies not in what he attains, but in his longing to attain. He challenges the common religious mental model that suggests there is a final destination or 'home' where restlessness is extinguished. This model is often used by the ego to legitimize its own existence by creating a false separation between the individual and the truth. In reality, truth is not the end point of a journey; it is the vast space in which all human drama occurs. One can never reach the truth because one is never outside of it. Home is not a destination but where one always is, even when identified with ignorance or restlessness. He further elaborates that the human desire for future enlightenment is often a way to postpone liberation in the present. If one were truly liberated right now, the entire structure of their false life, ambitions, and priorities would collapse. The realization that one is already 'home' would effectively end the self-composed drama of the ego. Therefore, man often prefers the relief of believing he is far from the truth, as it allows him to continue living in the kingdom of the false while maintaining a superficial longing for the divine. This longing is compared to a daughter honeymooning in pleasure while telling her father she misses him; it is a melodrama that allows one to hold onto the world with one hand and spiritual obligations with the other. Acharya Prashant emphasizes that there is no liberation to be attained because one is already liberated. He suggests that while man must act out his role of incompleteness and longing within the drama of life, he should do so without forgetting his inherent perfection. Suffering is an integral part of human life and will not be displaced by joy; rather, joy exists parallelly as the foundation of that suffering. He advises against chasing ideals like mind control or silence, as these are often just mental definitions and images. True peace or silence occurs only when one has forgotten the very concepts of peace and silence, moving beyond the need to define or achieve them.