Acharya Prashant addresses a question about the tendency to procrastinate, explaining that we only postpone tasks for which we lack genuine understanding (bodh) and love (prem). He asserts that a task known to be right and necessary is never delayed. The root of procrastination lies in a flawed relationship with the work, where understanding and love are absent. Instead, two other forces dominate our lives: our physical past, which is the primitive, animalistic nature of the body, and social conditioning. The speaker elaborates that our body, including the brain, is an ancient, primitive machine hardwired for reaction, not understanding. It has been conditioned over millions of years of evolution in the jungle to react based on survival instincts like fear, greed, and lust. This primitive machine assumes that modern situations are the same as ancient ones and reacts with old, ingrained patterns. This biological conditioning, which was once useful for survival, is now a hindrance in the modern world. The second force is social conditioning, where we are given ready-made answers and beliefs by society, which we accept out of trust or laziness. This happens even before we develop the intelligence to question them. Neither the body nor society wants us to think and understand for ourselves. The body wants to react, and society wants us to conform to its rules. Consequently, both understanding and love are suppressed. Without understanding, true love for a task cannot arise; what remains is mere attachment or attraction, which is a form of lust. The body offers lust as a substitute for love, and society offers rules and morality. We procrastinate on tasks that require consciousness because we are driven by our animalistic nature and social conditioning. The solution is to recognize that our thoughts and feelings often stem from this primitive, jungle-like past, not from some divine source. By questioning and understanding our relationship with the task and its real importance to us, we can cultivate a genuine love for it. This love becomes the ultimate motivator, eliminating the need for external pressure and ending the cycle of procrastination.
