Acharya Prashant responds to a questioner who asks why he works so hard if he is a Vedantic "witness," who is supposed to be detached and non-intervening. Acharya Prashant clarifies that this question is more of a taunt, based on a misunderstanding of the concept. He explains that the witness is not doing anything; all actions are performed by the physical form, which is a part of *Prakriti* (nature). The hands, lips, tongue, and brain are all in motion as part of *Prakriti*, but the Self, the *Atma*, is a non-doer and does not act. The witness is the immovable center around which all bodily and worldly movement occurs. It is by virtue of this immovable center that his words are expressed. He likens this to the eye of a cyclone, which remains still, allowing for immense activity to happen around it. The goal is not to become motionless, but for one's motion to be centered on the witness. He criticizes those who use the concept of the witness to evade right action, taking refuge in what he calls "botched-up spiritual concepts" from the mediocre spiritual marketplace. He states that people who are afraid of right action use the idea of being a witness as an excuse for inaction. He further elaborates that the witness is the seer that cannot be seen. If the witness could be seen, there would have to be another witness behind it. The only true witness is the Self (*Atma*), which is why it is described as inconceivable (*achintya*), unknowable (*agyeya*), and unimaginable (*akalpa*). He laments that sacred words like *Atma*, *Turiya*, *Sakshi* (witness), love, truth, and bliss have been corrupted. He distinguishes observation, an act in duality, from witnessing. To witness, in the technical Vedantic sense, is to not-be; when the 'you' is not, then you are the witness. The purpose of the spiritual process is to reach a state where the ego meets the True Self. Having this untouched, immovable center allows one to face any challenge without fear, knowing the real Self is indestructible, as the Gita says, "It is not slain when the body is slain." The term "witness" in Vedanta is used via negativa; it signifies a negation of participation, not an affirmation of an action of witnessing.
