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Be wary of thinking itself || Acharya Prashant (2015)
Acharya Prashant
1.2K views
6 years ago
Surrender
Ego
Duality
Silence
Thinking Process
Restlessness
Liberation
Spirituality
Description

Acharya Prashant explains that being tired of thinking about a specific subject, such as love, is an illusion because the mind simply hops from one topic to another. The second topic is merely a shadow of the first, existing only because the mind wants to avoid the original thought. He emphasizes that there is no fundamental difference between thinking about love and thinking about hatred, as both exist within the same network of thought and duality. True change does not come from replacing depressed thoughts with excited ones, as the underlying ego and the tendency to think remain intact. The mind is not truly tired as long as it seeks a new object or direction to move toward, whether that be detachment, spirituality, or a new relationship. Surrender is described as a space of silence and non-thinking that arises when one is genuinely tired of the entire thinking process and the stupidity of mental effort. It is not a virtuous act or a calculated decision, but a realization that peace cannot be found within the mind's material domain or through its own efforts. Acharya Prashant clarifies that 'killing oneself' means stopping the restless jumping from one object to another. He points out that many people mistakenly turn to spiritual questions with the same arrogant ego that previously sought worldly pleasures, believing that a new direction will finally bring peace. True surrender occurs only when one is tired of movement itself and realizes that no direction of the ego is the right direction. Ultimately, the speaker suggests that the mind's belief that the next object or effort will bring solace is a deception that keeps life in a state of restless rush. Surrender is the realization of non-interference, where one stops trying to use the mind to reach a point beyond the mind. It is the total exhaustion with oneself and the recognition that all thoughts, regardless of their content, stem from the same root tendency that cannot provide liberation. Only when the mind refuses to take on the next object of hope does it come to stillness and true rest.