In response to a question about the fleeting nature of peace experienced while reading the Ashtavakra Gita, Acharya Prashant advises the questioner to consider even a little peace to be a significant achievement. He questions the expectation of being so deserving as to attain constant spiritual bliss immediately. He points out that the question contains a hidden complaint: receiving only momentary relief instead of infinite, limitless joy. Acharya Prashant asks, "Why should you experience it? Who are you?" Acharya Prashant explains that the teachings of the Ashtavakra Gita are conditional. He refers to the verse cited by the questioner, "You are not the body, nor is the body yours," and asks if this has become a living reality. Since it is a reality for only a few moments, bliss will also be present only for those moments. Similarly, when Ashtavakra says to be without modification and expectation to be happy, one will be happy only when those conditions are met. Whenever one breaks these conditions, one will miss out on the promised bliss. He advises against constantly checking, "What did I get?" Instead, he urges the questioner to investigate the "checker" itself. The entire purpose of the Ashtavakra Gita, he explains, is to put this internal "officer" or "clever businessman," who is always calculating gains, in its place. He concludes that investigating this checker is the ultimate eligibility, and one must get rid of this very entity.
