On YouTube
What is it to always remember God’s name? || Acharya Prashant, on Guru Kabir (2018)
Scriptures and Saints
714 views
1 year ago
Kabir Saheb
Remembrance
Shri Krishna
Mindfulness
Negation
Affirmation
Devotion
Spirituality
Description

Acharya Prashant explains the concept of remembrance as taught by Kabir Saheb and other saints, categorizing it into four distinct stages. At the zeroth stage, most of humanity exists in a state of forgetfulness, failing to learn from past experiences and repeatedly falling into the same painful traps. The first stage of remembrance is one of negation, where an individual becomes mindful of what is hurtful and untrustworthy. In this stage, one remembers the history of deceptions and painful encounters to avoid repeating them, actively working to evict harmful memories from the mind. The second stage is an exercise in affirmation and refined love. Here, the devotee willfully remembers a special figure or symbol, such as Shri Krishna or a mantra, that brings peace and displaces miscellaneous worldly preoccupations. This single, sublime focus acts as a cleanser, driving out nonsense and making the individual forgetful of the mundane. However, Acharya Prashant warns that one must not become attached to this form, as attachment can lead to a regression back to the zeroth stage, similar to a game of snakes and ladders. The final stage is the culmination of remembrance, where the distinction between the rememberer and the remembered dissolves. In this state, the object of remembrance completely absorbs the individual, leading to a state of unity where no one remains to remember. Acharya Prashant concludes that the meaning of remembrance depends on the listener's spiritual standing, and the quality of what the mind remembers must continually elevate until it reaches the ultimate level of 'level-lessness'.