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Freedom from conditioning || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2012)
Acharya Prashant
2.9K views
8 years ago
Conditioning
Choice
Awareness
Attention
Observation
Personality Development
Continuous Variable
Individual
Description

Acharya Prashant explains that conditioning is not something that happens to us against our will; rather, it is a result of our own choices. We often pay for our own conditioning through the books we choose to read, the websites we visit, and the environments we enter. He emphasizes that if our choices lead to our conditioning, then the solution also lies in our choices. Every moment presents an opportunity to either reinforce conditioning or to get rid of it. It is not the grand, rare decisions that define a person's life, but the small, continuous decisions made every single moment. He points out that even in a single session, some will leave with clarity while others remain confused, depending entirely on their individual choice to attend and see clearly without distraction. He challenges the common misconception that life is made of 'big days' or 'D-days' like job interviews or exams. He asserts that life is a continuous variable with no discontinuities; you are the same person in an interview room that you are in your daily life. If you have practiced hesitation and lack of awareness throughout your life, you cannot suddenly change into a confident person just by changing your clothes or blazer. True preparation does not happen for an imaginary future moment; it happens in how you eat breakfast, how you wear your shoes, and how you listen in the present moment. These everyday actions determine whether you become an individual or part of a crowd. Acharya Prashant further explains that personality development is not about superficial things like matching a tie with a shirt, but about understanding oneself in the present. He encourages the audience to observe their own reactions and choices—such as why they laugh at a joke or why they follow someone else's lead. By observing these moment-to-moment decisions, one gains immense power. This understanding makes a person so powerful that they would rather give up their life than act against their own clarity. He concludes that life provides constant opportunities for observation and that being free of conditioning requires constant attention to one's immediate choices.