Acharya Prashant responds to a question about the object of witness-consciousness (Sakshi-bhav). He begins by stating that Truth has no form, but life does. Therefore, one can observe life. One can see what is happening in life, and one is also aware of the experiences in the mind. He advises to take care of these aspects of life. One should observe how their life is being spent. If the entire system of life is wrong, then what benefit can be gained from the practice of witness-consciousness or any other spiritual practice (sadhana)? He explains that any spiritual practice is done for a part of the day. If, in that part of the day, you are pursuing a goal, but for the rest of the day, you forget, disregard, or even insult that goal, then what result will any spiritual practice yield? First, one must pay attention to what they eat, how they earn, how they speak, and their general conduct. Any spiritual practice is something you will do in a fraction of the day. If you forget it in the remaining parts of the day, or even disrespect it, then what fruit will that practice bear? While God (Parmatma) cannot be remembered as He has no form, the absence of God is experienced in numerous ways. When you experience the absence of God, you should understand that your life is going wrong, and this itself is the spiritual practice. When you realize that life is going wrong, the responsibility to correct it arises. It's the other way around: when we realize life is going wrong, instead of correcting life, we start paying more attention to the one or two hours of spiritual practice. The problem is in life, and its treatment will also be in life. Spirituality is not a part-time activity. Is life part-time or full-time? If life is full-time, then spirituality must also be full-time. The speaker uses the analogy of a sick person who only remembers they are sick in front of the doctor but forgets otherwise; their illness will only increase. The proof that you are sick is evident; life itself is the proof. You don't know health, but you see the disease daily, you live in its experience. The issue is that you are so far from the Self (Atma) that you are entirely what the world has made you. And the world doesn't let you believe that your sickness is a sickness; in the world's dictionary, the name for sickness is health. So even when you experience sickness, you don't acknowledge it as such. Acharya Prashant explains that we are slaves to conditioning. The same forces that teach you to be unruly outside also teach you to be quiet and composed in a spiritual setting. It's like a child taught to be disruptive at home but to sit quietly in the temple. This is not spirituality; it is social conditioning. The issue is that you are not trapped by any external force; you are doing what you are doing by your own will. You have chosen noise over peace. Both shores are available on this river—one with noise and one with silence. The choice is yours. The problem is that you are not even your own; you are a slave. Your mischief is not your own, and your spirituality is not your own either. You do mischief when others make you do it, and you practice spirituality when others make you do it. How will this work?
