Fighting faithlessly is worse than cowardice || Acharya Prashant, on Adhyatma Upanishad (2019)
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00:00 Jai Me Sarath is asking, Pranam Acharya ji, here is a quote from Adhyatmik Nishad.
00:23 Just as a pulled up water reed stays not still even for a moment, so does Maya ceaselessly
00:35 envelop even a wise man if he averts his face from the truth.
00:55 The next verse, "Whosoever wins absoluteness while alive continues to be absolute even
01:04 after death, rooted in concentration, O sinless one, remain steadfast."
01:13 So, can you please elaborate on what the Nishad describes as averting one's face from the
01:27 truth and remaining steadfast.
01:38 There are always two directions to look at, who is the looker, the one who abides in twoness,
02:02 in choices and has therefore two choices available.
02:13 This must be clear.
02:19 Who is the one who has these two directions, two options available to him?
02:32 The one that we are, the one that we usually identify with, the usual ego state.
02:42 So, if the ego has two directions to look at, what are these two directions?
02:59 First, the easiest, the obvious direction is its own direction.
03:11 The ego loves to go its own direction.
03:31 What is the other direction?
03:36 Accurately speaking, it is just the direction that does not lead to itself.
03:50 It is the direction in which the ego is not being itself.
03:59 Euphemistically, it has been called the direction of truth.
04:07 Really it is not any specific direction.
04:12 It is just the denial of the tendency of the ego to go its own way.
04:24 So who is the goer?
04:25 Who is the chooser?
04:26 The ego.
04:32 What is its usual and obvious choice?
04:37 Itself.
04:42 The other choice is difficult, counterintuitive, countercultural, against itself.
05:03 The ego going against itself is a difficult thing, almost magical.
05:11 Therefore, one says that it requires grace.
05:23 So now you know what is it that we commonly refer to as the direction of the truth, not
05:30 any specific direction.
05:37 It is enough that the ego does not choose itself.
05:42 It does not really have to choose the truth.
05:45 Choosing the truth is just a metaphor.
05:54 It's a word play.
06:01 Actually it is an impossibility.
06:06 Only something limited can be chosen.
06:21 So the two choices really available to the ego are choose oneself and not choose oneself.
06:36 Go one's own way and not go one's own way.
06:48 Live by one's own center, do not live by one's own center.
06:55 And when I say one's own center, what do I mean?
06:58 The center of the ego.
07:00 Because we are clear that the one having the choice is the ego.
07:07 So when the one having the choice is the ego, obviously its center is the ego center.
07:20 Now you know why it is not very important to know.
07:29 What to do, what to become.
07:36 Rather it is much more relevant, practical and useful to ask what not to do, how not
07:49 to live, what not to become.
07:53 There is one choice in which you become yourself.
08:01 The ego lives as itself and the other choice is not to remain what you have been, what
08:11 you have taken yourself to be.
08:18 It is not useful to ask if not the ego, what else?
08:28 It is a mysterious question because that what else cannot be described in words.
08:38 So you will never get the answer.
08:42 It is such a mysterious question.
08:44 It cannot have an answer and when you will not get the answer, you will feel entitled
08:50 to continue as you are.
08:53 Never ask if not the ego, what else?
08:57 The answer will not come.
08:58 Even if it comes, it will not satisfy you.
09:00 So those who are looking for an alternative will always stand disappointed.
09:09 Those who say I am prepared to leave my egoistic ways but give me an alternative will find
09:20 that the alternative never comes.
09:25 Therefore faith is needed.
09:28 One has to leave what one has without knowing anything about that which would now come.
09:39 It is a blind dive.
09:41 You cannot ask for security in advance.
09:45 You cannot have a blueprint or a map ready.
09:55 The choice is me or not me.
10:01 Not me.
10:02 That's all that words can say.
10:06 The words fail and mean nothing when they say God or truth.
10:17 God cannot be contained in three letters.
10:20 Truth cannot be contained in five letters.
10:25 But when you say not me, that is perfectly expressible in words because the me is limited.
10:41 So not me is very apt as an expression.
10:47 It's honestly put.
10:55 It's a practical thing to say not me.
10:59 What then?
11:00 Don't ask that question.
11:04 Your cleverness will make you ask that question.
11:06 The moment you say not me, what pops up?
11:13 Who else?
11:16 If not you, then who?
11:19 Immediately that question arises.
11:24 It's an evil question.
11:28 It's a question that will make you seek security assurance and that security, that assurance
11:34 you will really never get.
11:46 When you will not get that assurance, you will never leave yourself.
11:51 The not me will not materialize.
11:55 Me will stay secured and that's a common demand.
12:06 You say, oh, I am prepared to not remain myself.
12:12 I am prepared to give myself up.
12:22 But give me a good deal.
12:29 If I am giving this up, what am I getting?
12:33 If you are remaining to still get, what have you left behind?
12:44 On one hand, you say I am leaving myself behind.
12:48 In the same breath you say, leaving myself behind, what next will I have?
12:53 If you are asking what the next thing that you will have, have you really dropped yourself?
13:01 If you have dropped yourself, who is still remaining to talk of the future and become
13:08 something else?
13:09 So you have really not dropped yourself.
13:12 One has to drop the stink, the rot without any cover, without any backup.
13:41 The rot stays because we insist on a backup.
13:48 You say I can leave this and give me a backup, an alternative.
13:56 An alternative that I will assess to be better than myself.
14:01 Who is the assessor?
14:03 I.
14:04 And who will assess the quality of the alternative?
14:08 And what am I going to assess the alternative against?
14:12 Myself.
14:13 Will I ever find any alternative better than myself?
14:21 I am the judge, judging whether you are better than me.
14:35 File closed?
14:45 Even if I do judge that you are indeed better than me, who has judged?
14:51 Myself.
14:52 So I am at least good enough to judge you.
14:56 Even if I am judging that you are better than me, I am good enough to judge you.
15:01 So practically what have I asserted?
15:05 I am better than you.
15:07 Even if I concede that you are better than me, being the judge who has delivered this
15:16 verdict, I have proven that I am one up over you.
15:24 There are two lawyers who stand in front of the judge.
15:29 Doesn't matter which of them wins the case.
15:34 The fact is both of them bow down to the judge.
15:37 Among the three of them, who is the highest?
15:41 The judge.
15:42 The two lawyers may keep quarrelling and arguing, but the judge will remain higher than both
15:48 of the lawyers.
15:50 When you assess the alternative to the ego, according to yourself, the position of the
15:59 judge, then who is the highest among these three?
16:09 Which three?
16:10 The two alternatives and the one who is assessing the alternatives.
16:14 Who is the highest one?
16:16 You.
16:17 So now look at the absurdity of the situation.
16:22 There is the ego as the judge and what is the ego judging?
16:27 Whether I should have myself or I should have the truth.
16:34 The ego is judging whether I should stay as myself or whether I should have the truth
16:40 or surrender to the truth.
16:42 So there are these three.
16:43 Ego, the judge, ego, the choice and truth, the choice.
16:53 Irrespective of which of these two choices prevail, who is the real winner?
16:58 The judge.
17:02 Therefore one keeps as one is.
17:11 One stays trapped within oneself.
17:19 Most of us are just too smart for our own good.
17:26 We judge, we assess, we decide.
17:27 So, Jami, it is not about turning your face to the truth.
17:54 The Upanishad says that Maya seizes the man who averts his face from the truth.
18:09 That does not mean that the Upanishad is asking you to turn your face towards the truth.
18:14 The truth is not standing anywhere in any particular direction.
18:18 How will you turn your face towards the truth?
18:22 What is being implied is, do not keep looking at yourself.
18:26 Now don't ask me what else do I have to look at.
18:35 The question is irrelevant.
18:36 Just don't look at yourself.
18:37 I know it's not a very comforting answer.
18:44 It leaves one in the middle of nowhere.
18:49 We want certainty.
18:50 We will agree to not look at ourselves provided one tells us in a definite sense what else
19:00 is there to look at.
19:02 Then we will agree.
19:03 But no, that is not the way.
19:11 You don't have to look at the truth.
19:14 You have to just stop looking at yourself.
19:19 You don't have to abide by the truth.
19:21 You just have to stop abiding by yourself.
19:25 You don't have to follow the truth.
19:27 You don't have to surrender to the truth.
19:31 You just have to stop surrendering to yourself.
19:39 Most of us are our own slaves.
19:42 Who enslaves the ego?
19:43 Nobody else.
19:44 The ego is its own slave.
19:46 The ego cannot defy itself.
19:52 The ego is its own compulsive victim.
19:59 The ego is helpless in front of itself.
20:09 That's spiritual practice.
20:12 Not to seek the truth, but to overcome oneself.
20:20 But most of us rather try to overcome the truth.
20:28 When you say, "I want the truth.
20:29 I must get the truth.
20:30 I must own the truth.
20:31 I must reach the truth."
20:34 It's the truth you seem to be grappling against.
20:42 That's nice.
20:47 The ego enjoys nothing more than that.
20:55 Dealing with the truth, declaring that it wants the truth.
21:19 Look at yourself.
21:20 Don't try to look at the truth.
21:27 Truth is nowhere to be looked at.
21:31 You have only yourself.
21:38 Sort yourself out.
21:39 So, then, Jami will ask, "If it's about me not being myself, it's about me looking at
22:00 myself, it's about me getting just sorted, then what's all this thing about truth and
22:09 grace and mysticism and spirituality?
22:12 Then it's just about me and me.
22:14 I look at myself.
22:18 Why bring in the truth?
22:21 Why raise a song and a dance?
22:31 What is all this about worship and prayer and transcendence?
22:40 It seems it's just a thing between the ego and the ego.
22:47 Where is God in this?
22:51 Is it spirituality?
22:54 Then needlessly bringing in the God element.
23:01 I'll tell you why the God element is not only important, but rather central.
23:10 It is impossible for the ego to look at itself.
23:15 I did say not me, not me, but that's easier said than done.
23:22 The fundamental characteristic of ego is its self-obsession.
23:28 It knows nothing beyond itself.
23:30 So it will keep favoring itself.
23:34 If the ego is the judge, it will always be biased towards itself.
23:38 It's a prescripted judgment.
23:41 So, you do have to look at yourself, but it is very difficult to honestly look at oneself.
23:51 The ego will not look at anything that offends it.
24:03 The ego will not look at anything that proves it to be false.
24:15 Therefore something quite surreal is needed for the ego to actually turn inwards.
24:27 A magic is needed.
24:30 Otherwise, it cannot happen.
24:39 It is like suicide.
24:41 You are asking the ego to look at itself, figure out its falseness and then openly declare
24:50 itself to be false.
24:52 Why would the ego do that?
24:56 It neither has the capacity to honestly look at itself.
25:01 It does not have the intention to honestly look at itself and it does not have the guts
25:06 to openly declare its falseness.
25:10 Capacity is not there, intention is not there, courage is not there.
25:14 How will the ego ever say, "Not me, I am false"?
25:21 So the ego requires a great deal of help.
25:29 So some people who were fun loving, they said if the ego requires help, surely there must
25:39 be a helper as well and they named the helper as God.
25:47 That's why in the spiritual process you require the God element.
25:56 Without God, the ego remains as helpless as ever.
26:02 It can look at everything but not at itself.
26:09 It can choose everything, remaining itself, it will never unchoose itself.
26:19 And if that magic is to happen, surely some help from somewhere is needed, some blessing,
26:27 some grace.
26:31 That's Godliness.
26:36 When you are to do the impossible and you have no option but to attempt the impossible,
26:44 then you have to bring in a factor that makes the impossible possible.
26:54 That's God.
26:59 So God's the name for the element that renders the impossible possible.
27:09 Without God, only the ego remains possible.
27:15 Freedom, liberation, love, they all remain totally impossible.
27:42 Then you are asking what does it mean to remain steadfast.
27:56 The Upanishad is saying, "Whosoever wins absoluteness while alive continues to be absolute
28:01 even after death, rooted in concentration, O sinless one, remain steadfast."
28:11 You know, it is not without reason that the ego does not want to exercise any choice outside
28:22 of itself.
28:25 The moment the ego says, "Not me", it experiences deep inner convergence.
28:43 As we said, "Not me" is almost like suicide, painful, frightful.
29:01 So even if the ego turns a little playful and tries to experiment and says, "Not me",
29:09 the result is so drastic that the ego cannot hold on to this experimental position for
29:25 long.
29:31 It tries, it gets punched and it returns to its shell.
29:47 Having inferred from the experience that "Not me" is dangerous and is not to be tried again
29:55 in the future, the ego says, "You know, I tried it and I felt such fear and I went through
30:06 such agony that now I know that it is never to be tried again."
30:12 Therefore, Jaimi, the importance of steadfastness.
30:25 It is not important merely to say, "Not me".
30:31 One has to keep saying, "Not me, not me" till the "me" itself is no more there to say, "Not
30:48 me".
30:54 Who is saying "Not me"?
30:58 Me, the ego.
31:02 Therefore till what point do you have to keep saying "Not me"?
31:08 Till the "me" remains.
31:15 So if the "me" is there, it must keep saying, "Not me, not me".
31:23 When must "Not me" cease?
31:28 When "me" ceases, "me" is there, "me" is saying "Not me".
31:31 "Me" is there, "me" is saying "Not me".
31:35 Till "me" is there, "Not me" must continue steadfastly.
31:45 It cannot be a periodic or episodic thing.
31:49 You cannot say that once a week I say "Not me" or when I am in trouble I say "Not me"
31:57 or when I am in the church I say "Not me".
32:07 The "me" has to abide in "Not me".
32:11 The "me" has to live not at itself.
32:17 The "me" has to live in its own denial, continuously.
32:26 Because till "me" is there, it will experience a huge motivation to come out of "Not me".
32:41 It's almost like holding somebody's neck and keeping him fully immersed in a tank of
33:04 water.
33:06 Till the time he is alive, he will continuously keep trying to come out.
33:18 Therefore, if you really want to get rid of him, you have to not only hold him down, you
33:27 have to steadfastly hold him down.
33:31 If he manages to come to the surface even for a while, he will be able to breathe and
33:39 normalcy will be restored.
33:46 He has to be continuously kept down.
33:52 Even a moment of respite to him is like a new life to him.
34:02 All the effort, practice, sadhana will go waste.
34:09 You were strangulating your enemy, which is you, and then in the middle of strangulation
34:17 you allowed him to breathe.
34:23 What happened to all your effort?
34:26 What happened to all your effort?
34:32 So the wrestler has pinned down the other wrestler to the ground and the referee is
34:40 counting 10, 9, 8, 7 and the wrestler on top is exerting all his force, all his might to
34:55 keep the opponent down.
35:04 And when the referee in his countdown reaches 1, the wrestler on top loosens his grip.
35:20 The one who had been pinned down gets up.
35:27 What happened to all the effort that the wrestler on top had made?
35:38 It goes totally waste.
35:41 The one who could have been defeated by keeping him down steadfastly has now been given new
35:49 life.
35:51 All is back to normal.
36:00 Both return to square one.
36:07 The referee will say, "Alright, now both of you stand up again."
36:14 And the bout resumes again.
36:17 Just a little more perseverance, just a little more steadfastness and the dominant wrestler
36:28 could have won the fight for good forever with just a little more patience, but he gave
36:37 up.
36:39 Not that he didn't work hard enough, he gave up.
36:42 He gave up at just the wrong time with the result that all the good work that he had
36:48 done became neutralized.
36:52 Now he stands at zero.
37:00 So it's not sufficient just to throw your opponent down on the mat.
37:08 You must also display the patience and the stamina to keep him down on the mat.
37:18 Throwing him down on the mat is not sufficient.
37:26 He has to be continuously kept glued to the mat for a time sufficiently long enough to
37:43 exhaust him out.
37:49 Jeremy, kabaddi is a nice Indian sport.
38:06 I am not sure whether Australia knows kabaddi at all.
38:21 You enter the half of the opponent.
38:25 There are two halves.
38:29 The kabaddi court consists of two halves.
38:34 Watch a few kabaddi matches tonight Jeremy.
38:38 It's all there on YouTube.
38:42 Now once you have reached there and touched the opponent, one of two consequences
39:04 will follow.
39:07 Either the opponents will display enough stamina and might to hold you and clutch you till
39:23 you exhaust your breath and then you have lost the point and you are out.
39:30 Or having touched the opponents, you run back to your own half and then the opponents are
39:43 out.
39:55 From your perspective, it is not sufficient merely to touch the opponent.
39:59 You must also be able to escape.
40:03 From the opponent's perspective, it is not sufficient merely to clutch the raider.
40:12 The raider has to be steadfastly held down till his breath expires.
40:30 Otherwise it is a great loss.
40:34 The raider came to your half, you held him but you didn't hold him steadfastly.
40:48 You held him, you did hold him for a while but you allowed him to slowly escape away
40:56 and touch the center line.
41:00 All of you are gone.
41:18 Therefore when you tackle the raider, make sure that you do it fully or don't intercept
41:30 him.
41:31 Let him come, say kabaddi, kabaddi, kabaddi, kabaddi, kabaddi.
41:36 You stay behind at the baseline, play defensive.
41:44 He will utter his kabaddi for a while and find that you are not lured, you are not up
41:50 for a fight and he will retreat to his half.
41:56 But in case you decide to tackle him, intercept him, it has to be done fully.
42:04 Bring him down and keep him down.
42:12 Simply bringing him down is not sufficient.
42:15 In fact it will prove suicidal.
42:17 You brought him down but he stretched his hand and touched the line and what happens
42:23 to you then?
42:24 You are gone.
42:27 That's the fate of most spiritual seekers.
42:32 They do manage to bring Maya down.
42:33 She is the raider.
42:37 They do manage to bring Maya down and Maya is smiling.
42:40 She is saying, "Yes, yes, five of you come and put me down".
42:48 And all five are upon her and she invites two more, "Two more, you two come".
43:02 All of you must collectively ensure that I have been held to the ground and just when
43:16 the half a dozen of them are all over her, she stretches her extensible hand and it goes
43:27 right up to the center line and the whole team is wiped out.
43:39 This is what happens to spiritual seekers.
43:42 They try to tackle Maya.
43:47 Don't try to mess with her.
43:55 If you cannot steadfastly hold her down, give her half a chance and she will decimate you.
44:07 If you are not sure of yourself, then just stay behind.
44:10 Don't touch her.
44:13 But if you have touched her, then you have to fully dominate her.
44:19 That is what is meant by steadfastness.
44:30 Touching her is like declaring war upon her.
44:34 And you cannot fight wars half-heartedly.
44:41 If you are not man enough to declare a war, then just stay mum.
44:52 But once you declare the war, then you have to be fully in the war.
45:03 Not fighting is bad.
45:10 Fighting with anything less than absolute dedication is far worse.
45:21 That's why the fate of most spiritual seekers is worse than those fate of those who do not
45:30 seek at all.
45:35 Those who do not seek at all are playing it safe.
45:42 They are saying we are not trying to mess with Maya.
45:50 She can have her way.
46:01 But those on the path of liberation have picked up a fight.
46:16 Why did you pick up a fight?
46:18 Look at the opponent, look at her might, and look at your vacillation, your half-heartedness,
46:35 your lack of determination.
46:46 Now she'll beat you down very, very badly.
46:50 Don't challenge her.
46:52 Challenge her only when you have no other preoccupation.
47:02 If you are entangled in five things, then you are not the one who should challenge her.
47:13 The moment you get occupied in anything other than beating her down, that will give her
47:26 the space she needs to resurrect herself.
47:40 When you are jostling with her, then defeating her has to be your only occupation.
47:52 If you have other things to do, then the moment your attention shifts to those other things,
48:00 she will spring back to her feet and beat you down mercilessly.
48:10 And Maya takes no prisoners.
48:18 She is extremely ruthless.
48:23 Once she knows that this fellow is dangerous, he troubled me, he challenged me, he declared
48:31 war on me, she will not just warn you and let you go.
48:45 She will kill you, not physically, but actually.
48:52 She takes no prisoners.
48:55 She kills.
49:10 The spiritual universe is full of those who overestimated their intention, their capacity
49:21 and their honesty and tried to take Maya on.
49:27 Where do you find such people? In the spiritual graveyard, dead.
49:43 Maya shows no mercy.
49:51 So if you do manage to clutch her throat, keep strangulating her
50:19 with all your might till you know that now she is finally gone.
50:33 And when you know that she is finally gone, strangulate her even more.
50:43 This is called steadfastness, Jami.
50:48 Either don't touch her or if you touch her, then keep upon her till she is totally and
51:01 fully annihilated.
51:25 What do spiritual novices do?
51:30 In their enthusiasm to take on Maya, they just try to cross her and then they come in
51:46 her bad books.
51:49 She notices, this one, don't get noticed.
51:58 Keep mum, stay underground, keep preparing and then declare yourself with one grand explosion.
52:07 Catch her unawares.
52:12 Don't keep issuing her advance warnings.
52:20 Catch her unawares and then snuff the life out of her.
52:28 It's not going to happen.
52:35 Just saying.
52:36 There have been too many before me who had the same intention.
52:45 Catch her, kill her.
52:48 Doesn't happen so far, except maybe in a few rare handful of cases.
53:03 But there is no harm in just entertaining yourself with the idea.
53:08 It's a nice idea, catching hold of Maya, remaining steadfastly at her throat, seeing the light
53:19 go out of her eyes and saying, "Yes, I did it".
53:26 And just as you raise one hand to say, "I did it" and you loosen your grip on her throat,
53:51 she will say, "Yes, I did it".
53:58 (electronic music)