Concentration can be easy || Acharya Prashant, at BITS Pilani, Goa (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?...   ~~~~~   #acharyaprashant   Video Information: 18.07.2022,  BITS Pilani, Goa   Context:  ~ How to concentrate?  ~ What is concentration?  ~ How to be free?  ~ How to focus on one task at a particular time?  ~ Why the one within doesn't co-operate in what I want to do?   Music Credits: Milind Date

Transcript

00:00Pranam Acharya ji. Sir, my question is what is going on in our mind constantly. We students

00:17of age 18 to 22. Sir, we have certain goals fixed in our life. We have made by themselves

00:24or by our parents. And we need to achieve them. We think like this. But sir, then there

00:31is emotional breakdown. There is constant chaos in our mind. In particularly, I am talking

00:36about myself. There are so much things that are going inside mind that we can't really

00:42focus on a single task at a particular time. Sir, how to overcome that overthinking? And

00:50I know that we have to do, I have to do certain things, but that the perception of time fades

00:56away. There is so much of overthinking all the time, sir. You fail at accomplishing a

01:00particular task in a given time. Which particular task? Which particular task? Remember, the

01:11one sitting within is very stubborn. That one is thirsty and desirous and there is one

01:22deep desire. If you involve yourself in fulfilling other desires or doing other things, attempting

01:31other tasks, the one within will not cooperate. You will fail. And that's when people say,

01:37I can't concentrate. I can't concentrate. I ask them on what? First of all, are you

01:43concentrating on the right thing? Are you concentrating on the right thing? Imagine

01:48a kid you have with you. Little kid. The kid is thirsty. The kid is thirsty. And you take

01:59the kid to a toy shop and you think that the toy is quite important, at least for the kid.

02:07Will the kid be able to concentrate? Even in a toy shop, will the kid be able to concentrate?

02:16No concentration. The kid is thirsty. You are not taking him to a stationary shop. You are

02:24saying you will get the best kind of pencil and eraser and tell me the fanciest notebook

02:29I'll give to you. And it's important to buy these things because the teacher has asked for them.

02:34Will the kid be able to concentrate? The kid is thirsty. And you are so ignorant you do not

02:43realize the one fundamental thing you first of all need to give to the kid. It's neither toys

02:51nor sweets, nor stationary, not clothes, not entertainment, nothing. The kid is sitting

03:01inside you. The kid is thirsty. Do you realize it's thirst? It is that thirst that expresses

03:10itself in lack of concentration. See what you really want and then there will be no need to

03:21practice concentration. Otherwise concentration will remain a lifelong problem. The ones who are

03:29into real things never need to concentrate. Concentration just comes to them running,

03:37a begging. The ones who are into unreal things keep trying to concentrate and still fail.

03:44The mind is distracted and running in 40 other directions. You need to value the right desire.

03:57You need to put your time where your real value is. On one hand you think, for example,

04:07that studies are just a way to secure placements. Then what is it that you are putting value on?

04:16Placements. Now how will you concentrate on studies? Tell me. You have already taught

04:26yourself to value money. How will you value academics now? Your mind will go where your

04:37values are. And what do you want to do with money? You want to entertain yourself, right?

04:46I'll roam the world, I'll visit all kinds of scenic places and next to you is your mobile phone.

04:55And scenes from those places are being flashed on the mobile screen. Now would you ever want

05:05to concentrate on your studies? If the ultimate value lies in entertainment and that's what you

05:14are studying for so that you may get placed and then earn money and then entertain yourself.

05:21Then the mind says, if entertainment is the final and highest value, why not have

05:27entertainment right now? So close the book and jump into entertainment. And that's what

05:33we experience all the time. Do we even know what to desire? That's the question. That's

05:40the question. And that's called crisis of values. We do not really know what is desirable. We do not

05:48know what to put value on. You put value on one thing and you try to give your time to

05:57something else. Obviously you'll be bored, distracted, energyless. In business parlance

06:06they say, put your money where your mouth is, right? Invest where you believe in, do what you

06:20profess. Tell me honestly, if today you are told that you can have great placements even without

06:31studying and you can have your degree with 9.5 CGPA without studying, honestly please tell me,

06:44who would not agree? Who would not agree? And that's the reason why in the hinterlands such

06:54shops actually do exist. You enroll, you pay money and you then don't need to be in the campus.

07:01They'll courier you your degree. You don't even need to come for the convocation. They are happy.

07:12That's also, now you would understand the thing behind cheating in examinations. Because the

07:21whole process, the value that you put on is not learning. The process is not about learning.

07:29The process is about securing marks. So if marks can be secured by copying rather than learning,

07:35pretty fine, no? Concentration is a problem because we live loveless lives. When you love

07:50something, I'm asking you, do you face concentration issues? Whatever you value,

08:01you find yourself concentrated there. And if you cannot concentrate at the right places,

08:07then you have to question your values. Ever faced a problem of concentration sitting in

08:15the cinema hall? Who has faced such a problem? Nobody. Nobody comes and says, but sir, you know,

08:23I cannot concentrate on this song and dance sequence. Then you are, you have a laser like

08:34focus. You'll burn the screen with your sight. Is concentration a problem then? Having the right

08:50desire is the problem. Having the right values is the problem. Concentration is not a problem.

08:56I keep a huge note of, a whole bundle of currency notes here. Who will face problems

09:08in concentrating? Not on me, on that. Immediately you will concentrate. I put up a collage of very

09:22exciting pics for youngsters over here. Who will not concentrate? Who will not concentrate?

09:29Immediately you will concentrate. You will concentrate so much, you will forget everything

09:34else. And then you say you have concentration problems. No. The crisis is of values. We do

09:45not know what is important. And we do not know what is important. Rather, we have taken all

09:55kinds of nonsensical things as important. Things that have zero value, we have imbibed them as

10:05valuable. Question your values. Write down all the things that you take as important and then

10:15objectively, with all your brain power, ask yourself, are these things really important?

10:21That's something that you need to do right now in your life. Once you are 25, you might find it's

10:29too late. There are so many things that you get irretrievably into. The process is one way.

10:38Irreversible reaction. Right now is the opportunity when you should decide what really is important in

10:49life. And if you can see that, you won't need to ever concentrate again. If you don't see that,

10:57you will bear the consequences all your life. Because you will get into all kinds of wrong

11:04stuff. And many of those things you will never be able to extract yourself from. Once you have

11:11gone in, you will remain in. Won't be possible to change tracks. You know what I am talking of,

11:25right?

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