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What does it mean to remember God, and be lost? || Acharya Prashant, on Rumi (2017)
Acharya Prashant
1.1K views
7 years ago
Remembrance
Ego
Silence
Duality
Rumi
Kabir Saheb
Awareness
Truth
Description

Acharya Prashant explains that human remembrance and calling are typically self-centered. When we remember food, water, or even God, we are primarily remembering our own hunger, thirst, or distress. This form of remembrance is not true remembrance because it remains confined within the narrow limits of the ego. We often use others, including the divine, as tools to serve our personal needs, which makes our devotion exploitative and centered on our own false identity. True remembrance, as suggested by Rumi, involves remembering without reference, context, or a self-centered reason. It is a state where the caller and the called disappear, leaving only the call itself. He further clarifies that establishing a personal relationship with God often means establishing a relationship with one's own concepts. Real divinity exists beyond duality and relationships, which require two separate entities. Using metaphors from various saints, Acharya Prashant describes spiritual truths as absurdities to the logical mind, such as light without a sun or sound without impact. These paradoxes are meant to shock the individual out of their self-centered consciousness. He emphasizes that as long as there is a 'caller' who seeks a purpose or result, the call remains within the 'hall of mirrors' of the ego, where one only hears their own echoes. Addressing the concept of awareness, Acharya Prashant warns against 'policing' oneself or turning awareness into a thought or a state of consciousness to be achieved. He explains that true silence is not merely the absence of external noise or a state of the senses that can be packaged and sold. Instead, words like 'silence', 'truth', and 'love' are signals pointing toward a dimension beyond language and concepts. Just as the reflection of the moon in a lake points to the moon in the sky, these spiritual terms are meant to redirect one's attention toward the beyond, rather than being objects to be captured or understood intellectually.