Then, don't sleep at all || Acharya Prashant, with IIT Bombay (2022)

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...   Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...  Video Information: Shastra Kaumudi, 20.12.2021, Rishikesh, India  Context: ~ Why an IITian loses focus - and what's the purpose of life ~ Why there is so much suffering in life? ~ Do we suffer by our own choice? ~ How to avoid pain and suffering? ~ How to not distracted in our life?   Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Transcript

00:00Namaste Acharyaji. My name is Savita. I am a PhD student in the Department of Mathematics.

00:09So we all know that if we have a better and beautiful goal in our life, then we should

00:17not be distracted in our life. So how to train our mind so that we have a say over our senses

00:24or we have a say over our thoughts. Suppose we know that we have an aim, we have to achieve

00:30it and let's say for example waking up early is a good habit but then also still in the

00:36night many thoughts will come up and we will keep on watching some videos or we will just

00:42pass time on Netflix and then after sometime we regret the same. So how to get out of this

00:48cycle? Don't sleep at all. Don't sleep at all. There would be no problem such as waking

01:00up at the right time or missing waking up at the right time. See you cannot be trained

01:06into these things. It's a matter of love. The thing is that our entire system, our education,

01:19our neighborhood, the way we are brought up, it stifles all spontaneity. In fact we become

01:31afraid of our spontaneity. More so if I may say as a woman. So we want to be educated

01:45even in love. We want to be trained even in these matters. If you know something is right,

01:55if you really know something is right, you just do it. You don't wait to be trained for

02:00it. Maybe this is something I just cannot wrap my head on but I have always failed to

02:10comprehend how one can claim that one knows something to be right and still does not do

02:16it or does not commit herself to it. The only explanation can be that you really do not

02:24know it fully yet and knowing something cannot really happen without coming very close to that

02:35thing. To come close to something is to drop what you know about that thing, your images of that

02:42thing and to really, really, really be intimate with it. That's love. And when love is there,

02:50then you just bulldoze your habits, your tendencies and such things. Maybe you cannot,

03:01maybe you cannot force yourself to sleep at the right time, 10 p.m., 11 p.m. but you know

03:07that getting up in the morning is something of beauty, something of love. So what do you do then?

03:14You say, fine, if I can't get up at the right time, I won't sleep at all. Let these habits do

03:22what they want to do, I will do what I want to do. The habits tell me, we will not allow you to sleep

03:32at the right time and I am telling the habits, I don't mind whether I sleep or not, I must be awake

03:40at 5 a.m. because sunrise is just so special. So if you will keep me awake till 2.30 in the morning,

03:50I will say, fine, two and a half hours more, I won't sleep at all. And funnily, if you sleep

04:02through the, if you wake through the entire night, next day you find that you are anyway sleepy at

04:088 p.m. So you will have to just crash on your bed. See these two things are concurrent, that's a law.

04:21Real knowledge and real action. If you find someone saying, I know, but I cannot act,

04:36then you must immediately know that the fellow does not know. Had he really known, he would have

04:45become helpless. Real knowledge, you could call it realization, renders you totally helpless,

04:58your free will is gone. The choosing agency, the ego is no more. It has surrendered. It has

05:06surrendered to the immensity, the beauty, the reality of what you have just known. Now you

05:11are left optionless. You don't have a choice to not to act. You will have to act. And if you

05:21repeatedly find yourself not acting, then go close to the thing you claim to know of. There

05:30is still some distance, you need to bridge that. Am I making sense or I am just being too poetic or

05:40something? Yes, certainly, it is very beautifully explained. So, I just want to know that how to

05:49close about it, as you said that go and know about the same, know the benefits. If you are

05:55not acting on what you know, that means you are still very, like a little distance of that thing.

06:02You know, there must be some object you are referring to. Ask yourself, do I really know

06:09that object? That object could be sunrise, that object could be, could be the fact that you want

06:19to jog, that object could be a purpose in life, that object could be a person. If you say that

06:30particular object exists and still you cannot act decisively with respect to that object,

06:38then tell yourself that you do not know that object. Once you know something, there are no

06:47two options left. You either act or you don't act. Either you say I will get up at 5 a.m. come

06:57what may or you say it's not worth it, I am not getting up. You don't remain lumbering on that

07:08petty middle path kind of thing where you say I want to get up, I am still not getting up and

07:14finally somehow you drag yourself out of the bed at 7.30 a.m. No, none of that. So, my advice is,

07:24if you set targets for yourself and you find that you are repeatedly distracted in pursuit

07:34of those targets, honestly ask yourself, are those targets even worth it? Maybe you are just

07:42going for those targets due to social pressure or in your ignorance or in some kind of fear and

07:52that's why all the inner power is not coming into play. Your self is not assisting you with

08:10its boundless energy because the self does not act as per the dictates of the world.

08:20The only thing that can make it move is true love or you could say true realization,

08:34crystal clear knowing and then it moves and the power is awesome. You forget all these things

08:43about sleeping, eating, bathing, this, that, looking good, being in others good books,

08:54maintaining your personality as it is, all these things just disappear. Only one thing remains,

09:06the thing that is important and you commit yourself totally to it and you are not bothered

09:12about other things then. So, know fully and keep knowing till your knowledge becomes loving action

09:31and my advice to you as a young student is don't get into things that you have not really understood.

09:51There can never be perfect understanding, one can never be 100% clear on anything but

10:01to the maximum extent possible, seek clarity and that will solve a lot of problems. Clarity

10:11will become your driver, you won't need to be motivated, you don't need to push yourself anymore.

10:18See, I would be sounding strange, I know, but I am doing my best to be comprehensible.

10:32Beyond this is action and practice, beyond this words and counseling cannot help,

10:44beyond this you have to really act and do it on your own.

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