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When you feel inferior to your peers || Acharya Prashant, at SPIT Mumbai (2022)
26.3K views
2 years ago
Fear
Insecurity
Consciousness
Body
Physical Survival
Aham Dehasmi
Spirituality
Liberation
Description

Acharya Prashant addresses a question about the difference between insecurity and fear, and how to deal with them. He begins by stating that insecurity is much the same as fear. While a distinction can be made between physical fear, like being chased by an animal, and mental insecurity, such as the fear of losing money or prestige, he clarifies that even mental insecurity is largely physical. Ultimately, any fear, whether it's about losing marks as a student or prestige as an adult, boils down to the fear related to physical survival. Anything one is afraid of is ultimately connected to physical insecurity. To deal with fear and insecurity, Acharya Prashant explains that one must first understand the concept of the two entities within: the body and consciousness. Fear, he asserts, belongs to the domain of the body. Therefore, the way to handle it is to leave it to the body, to ignore it rather than fight it. He warns that fighting fear requires entering the domain of the body, which leads to identifying with the body. This identification, expressed by the phrase "Aham Dehasmi" (I am the body), is the fundamental problem. The moment you enter the body's domain to fight its fear, you become the body and are thus defeated. The correct approach is to let fear be and instead focus your attention on what consciousness suggests is more important. Using an example, he says if a wild beast approaches while you are with your baby sister, you would not just run away; you would first protect her. Fear will be present, but something more important—love, responsibility—takes precedence. Fear is biological and is a letter addressed to the body, not to you (consciousness). One should not open and read a letter addressed to someone else. Let the body be, and do what you must. Let jealousy, fatigue, hunger, or thirst be there, but you must do what is right. This is what makes one a human being, not succumbing to these bodily impulses. Addressing a follow-up question about making the right decisions with limited information and unsupportive friends, Acharya Prashant states that one will never know anything perfectly. The key is to keep moving and be modest enough to change course when you realize the need. One must never be rigid or permanently committed to any one thing. Life is about endless movement, correction, and development, which is liberation. He advises not to believe that the entire world is against self-development, as the same world worships the great ones. Spirituality makes one strong enough to be joyous even when alone. By moving on the right path, one will find worthy fellow travelers, and one worthy friend is better than a crowd of a hundred unworthy ones.