Acharya Prashant explains that the key to mental peace is learning not to give importance to the various thoughts, fears, and sensations that arise in the mind. He emphasizes that knowledge and mental content will not help an individual as much as the practice of treating these disturbances as insignificant gossip or rubbish. He shares that even he experiences numerous internal disturbances, but he has learned to remain unaffected by them. By not giving importance to these distractions, they eventually vanish from one's world. This is not about forced ignorance, but a spontaneous lack of involvement where one remains fully absorbed in what is truly important. He further describes the art of being awake and meditative even while noticing external events or internal pain. He uses the example of a person being physically beaten yet remaining focused on reciting a verse to illustrate that while pain is felt, it does not have to be given priority. True meditativeness means that even if an animal passes by or an earthquake occurs, the core focus remains uncorrupted. He clarifies that ignoring something often involves a conscious effort and thus involvement, whereas his approach is about being completely uninvolved. If a thought seems particularly persistent or fascinating, he suggests facing it directly; often, such thoughts have no substance and disappear when given full, serious attention.
