On YouTube
What is thought? What is Peace? || Acharya Prashant (2020)
3K views
4 years ago
Thought
Peace
Materialism
Disturbance
Duality
Non-duality
Mind
Prakriti
Description

Acharya Prashant explains that thought is unequivocally material. He states that there is no doubt about this because the content of thought is never anything except material. In purely scientific and material terms, the activity of thought can be measured on a material scale. For instance, when one is thinking, a needle can sketch a graph of their brainwaves, and a graph is a material thing. Only what is material can be accurately described on a piece of paper, not the para-material. Therefore, thought is a subtle form of matter. In contrast, peace is not material. One cannot think about peace itself, but only about one's definition of peace. Peace cannot be depicted on a piece of paper in the way that thought can. The speaker clarifies that peace and disturbance are not on a continuum; it is not that as disturbance reduces, peace increases. There are levels of disturbance, but peace does not lie within the dimension of disturbance. Peace and disturbance are not a dualistic concept like happiness and sadness. Acharya Prashant introduces the idea of non-dual peace, which is different from the commonly understood dualistic peace. He explains that there are levels of disturbance, but not levels of peace. Peace and disturbance are not a continuum. One cannot say that as disturbance reduces, peace increases. Peace does not lie in the dimension of disturbance. The challenge is to be peaceful even in the presence of disturbance. This requires dislocating oneself from the axis of disturbance. The things of Prakriti (material nature) will continue to happen on their axis, but you must not happen on that axis. The question is not whether there is disturbance, but whether you must identify with the disturbed one. When there is peace with disturbance, the disturbance becomes a harmonious, musical movement. This is the state of Sahaj (naturalness), where you are what you are, and everything else is at its rightful place.