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I don't love her, but my parents want me to concentrate on her || Acharya Prashant
11.9K views
1 year ago
Concentration vs. Attention
Love
Desire
Parental Influence
Vedanta
Ego
Sahaj (Effortlessness)
Worthy Object
Description

Acharya Prashant begins by addressing the questioner's premise, stating that the fundamental problem is why a 22 or 25-year-old would quote his parents when asking a question. He explains that love and parental instruction do not sit well together, comparing it to being told by parents to marry someone and then trying to concentrate on that person. He asserts that the success of parenting lies in leaving the son or daughter free after a certain point. If a child remains mentally or financially dependent at 25 or 28, the parents have failed. The speaker then distinguishes between concentration and attention, noting that scriptures talk about attention, not focus or concentration. He explains that the ego is the entity that focuses, and one concentrates on something only when it seems to fulfill a desire. Since desire is by nature insatiable and incomplete, concentration that follows desire is always fickle and temporal. It shifts to whatever seems more promising, which is why people struggle to concentrate. This is a prescription for a loveless life, where one follows trends or advice without genuine interest. In contrast, attention is a different quality with the purpose of self-dissolution. It involves putting aside one's opinions and desires to truly know something. In attention, there is love. The speaker clarifies that one cannot just love anything randomly; one must find something worthy of attention and love. Attention is akin to service. The problem of concentration is essentially the problem of not having a worthy object in life. When you find something you can truly love, something you can die for, you will not have to try to concentrate; you will simply be concentrated. This effortless state is called 'Sahaj'. In a loveless life, one has to try too hard, but in love, things are smooth and just happen.