Wise dumbness, Sharp stupidity, Creative laziness || Acharya Prashant, on Ashtavakra Gita (2018)

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: Advait Learning Camp, 26.08.2018, Mandu, Madhya Pradesh, India   Context: This awareness of the truth makes an eloquent, clever and energetic man dumb, stupid and lazy, so it is avoided by those whose aim is enjoyment. ~ Ashtavakra Gita (Chapter-15, Verse-3)  ~ Will the knower of the Truth become dull and lazy?   ~ Is the doer exists at all? ~ Why man of Truth not afraid anymore? ~ What is the real meaning of dullness, stupidity and laziness in this verse? ~ Why do we want to speak a lot?  Music Credits: Milind Date ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Transcript

00:00Dear Acharyaji, Pranam.

00:10In chapter 15, verse 3, Ashtavakra says,

00:17This awareness of the truth makes an eloquent, clever and energetic man dumb, stupid and

00:23lazy.

00:25So it is avoided by those whose aim is enjoyment.

00:29Acharyaji, Ashtavakra is pointing at what kind of dullness, stupidity and laziness.

00:43Will the knower of truth become dull, stupid, lazy?

00:48Surely, it has to be something else.

00:53Is it not so, that rather the people seeking enjoyment are dull and stupid?

01:02Thank you with love and gratitude, Pradeep from Pune.

01:16When Ashtavakra says, Dumb, that has to be read as an absence of the tendency to be verbiose.

01:41Ashtavakra says that truth turns the eloquent man dumb.

01:50Dumb not in the sense of mental inadequacy.

01:56Dumb in the sense of disappearance of the tendency to be profligate with words.

02:06We want to speak a lot, right?

02:08And why do we want to speak a lot?

02:11Because when we speak a lot, it convinces us that we know.

02:19Because when we speak a lot, it convinces us that we exist.

02:26The knower of truth abides in his deep self-assurance.

02:37He has no need to insecurely boast.

02:47So the man of words becomes a new man of silence.

02:58Those who had an itch in the lips, find now they have a twist in the tongue.

03:18The very need to keep expressing through words diminishes.

03:43The very need to assure oneself that one is knowledgeable and existent diminishes.

04:04Similarly, the clever man Ashtavakra says becomes stupid.

04:23Stupidity here should be read just as a healing of the tendency to act cleverly.

04:42Stupidity here is not the opposite of cleverness.

04:47Stupidity here is the absence of cleverness.

04:53Pradeepji, this is the thing with words.

05:03Words operate in the dualistic domain.

05:10It becomes difficult to convey the non-dual truth through them.

05:20Ashtavakra could have just said a clever or not clever.

05:34Probably that would not have driven home the point.

05:39So he instead chooses a more provocative word.

05:44He says stupid.

05:46Why does he say stupid?

05:47Why doesn't he simply say that the clever man will not remain clever anymore?

05:53Why does he say that the clever man will turn stupid by the touch of the truth?

06:01Why does he say so?

06:02He says so that Pradeepji asks Acharyaji this question.

06:13If he doesn't provoke you, why will you ask this question?

06:16If he won't ask this question, how will Ashtavakra become clear to you?

06:25If Ashtavakra just says that the eloquent man will lose his eloquence, you will say

06:34fine, he was eloquent, he is not eloquent anymore.

06:42It doesn't hurt you so much.

06:45But when Ashtavakra tells you that truth turns the eloquent man dumb, then you are provoked,

06:54hurt.

06:55You feel offended because you too call yourself a seeker of the truth and you don't want to

07:01call yourself dumb.

07:03And Ashtavakra is saying that the truth will turn the eloquent man dumb.

07:20So a question arrives.

07:22And that gives me an opportunity to be eloquent.

07:31Ashtavakra is not against eloquence.

07:34Ashtavakra is against the compulsive tendency to seek security in words.

07:44Ashtavakra himself is so very eloquent.

07:48And here is your Acharyaji eloquently coming forth on Ashtavakra.

08:04Truth does not cause or diminish a particular kind of behavior.

08:13Truth just dissolves your insecure tendencies.

08:20Once you are not insecure, you may go right or you may go left, it doesn't matter much.

08:28And if you remain insecure, then whether you go right, whether you go left, it won't make

08:35a difference.

08:40Similarly, he says, truth turns the energetic man lazy.

08:55And again that offends.

08:58Truth turns the energetic man lazy.

09:07Not only lazy, Pankaj has done well to point out, you become the lord of the lazy people.

09:25Shiromani.

09:26Amongst the lazy people, you become numero uno.

09:35Now many people are put off.

09:37They say if this is what spirituality does to us, why should we turn spiritual at all?

09:42And that's exactly what Ashtavakra wants to do, to put you off.

09:52You are an unnecessarily burning flame with a lot of smoke and very little light or purpose.

10:08He wants to put you off.

10:11Where is all your energy coming from?

10:20You are burning and that's where your energy is coming from.

10:23Have you seen when you are afraid, how energetic you become?

10:30That's where your energy comes from.

10:33Ashtavakra is saying the man of truth loses all such energy because he is not afraid anymore.

10:46Have you seen when you are jealous, how energetic you become?

10:52Have you seen when you are missing a train or a flight, how energetic you become?

10:59Have you seen when you are angry, how energetic you become?

11:04Ashtavakra is saying the man of truth loses all these energies.

11:14These are the energies of devil.

11:17He instead becomes lazy.

11:21What does Ashtavakra mean by laziness?

11:23He means the man of truth loses the motivation to secure himself or gain for himself.

11:37For himself now he is totally lazy because the self is self secure.

11:44There is no need to work for it.

11:51Does that mean that the man of truth does not work at all?

11:56No.

11:58The man of truth does not work for the self.

12:03He rather works by the self and in the self.

12:09It's a different dimension of energy, it's a different quality of energy.

12:15It is pure energy, uncontaminated.

12:20It is not energy directed at someone, it is not energy directed at a purpose.

12:28It is just energy expressing itself for its own sake.

12:36The man of truth is not energetic because his energy, his race, his dive, his plunge

12:47will fetch him something.

12:48He is energetic because it is great to express energy.

12:56His energy is the energy of a little bird playing around like this, see, no purpose.

13:09You see, even these little birds might probably have some latent purpose.

13:18Maybe if you investigate deep, you will find out that they are also looking for some food.

13:30But the man of truth has no purpose at all.

13:35His energy is free energy.

13:40You get this?

13:41Free energy.

13:42A lot of energy, but free and purposeless.

13:50Works a lot for the sake of working, does a lot for the

14:09sake of doing.

14:13He doesn't work or do to reach or gain or achieve.

14:22All achievement has already happened.

14:34He is already home, but he still works because working is good fun.

14:47So he is not a compulsive worker.

14:50There is no compulsion upon him anymore.

14:58He retains the freedom to rest and he is always restful where rest must be.

15:12As for the body, the body must work and the body keeps working.

15:18It is not the mandate, the constitution, the prakriti of the body to keep resting.

15:38You have hands so that they work.

15:48And when you work, rest comes on its own, does it not?

15:54You need not say that there must be a balance between rest and work, no?

16:04Hands must work.

16:05If hands work, they get tired and if they get tired, they sleep and then there is rest.

16:12Work and rest are one.

16:14Rest is automatically guaranteed to the one who works.

16:20The harder you work, the deeper is your sleep, is it not?

16:29So as far as prakriti is concerned, rest and work go together.

16:35And as far as you are concerned, the real one, the truth, your nature is nothing but

16:43rest.

16:49You abide in your nature and don't even think of providing rest to the hands.

17:00The one who is resting is anyway resting.

17:06The body is not meant to rest.

17:13So don't get alarmed Pradeepji.

17:19Ashtavakra is not asking you to let your hands turn lazy.

17:26The hands must keep working.

17:33That is quite within, the restlessness within must get extinguished.

17:40I ask you, can't you work energetically without restlessness or do you necessarily need a

17:53chaos within, a cyclone within, unrest within to work at all?

18:05Is it necessary?

18:14The Buddha used to quote three types of horses.

18:21Coming from his palatial background, it seems he was fond of horses.

18:32So he would say that the worst type of horses are those that move only when spanked.

18:42And that's how our energy rises.

18:47It rises upon spanking.

18:50When there is trouble, we work.

18:56When the horse is spanked, it runs.

18:59We work to avoid trouble.

19:03For us work is trouble.

19:05Only when there is trouble do we work.

19:14So most people necessitate trouble in order to work.

19:20If there is no trouble, they won't work at all.

19:26So they bring their situations deliberately down to the point of trouble.

19:40Now when there is trouble, they will be forced to work.

19:49This is deep, deep slavery.

20:00The fellow knows that no gentle methods will work upon him.

20:10So he plots against himself.

20:16He turns his situation bad and worse to the extent that he must now necessarily rise into action.

20:38Pradeep ji, is that really needed?

20:56Is it not possible that one works with some dignity?

21:04Is it necessary that the horse runs only when spanked?

21:16Is it necessary that only fear and greed and insecurity and nonsense of all kinds are able

21:25to elicit some movement from you?

21:29Can't you work in joy?

21:43Buddha would say that the highest kind of horses are the ones who run when just whispered

22:00to run.

22:03You need to give them the slightest pointer and move.

22:14The worst kinds require to be beaten up.

22:20Those of the middle kind required to be shown the whip.

22:26Show the whip to them, bring the whip close to them, they then sense the danger and then

22:39they move.

22:41And then there are those of the top quality, you just go close to them, touch them, maybe

22:54gently massage them and they know that it's time to run.

22:58They don't require to be slapped or whipped.

23:15Atma is dignity.

23:20Those who live by the true self live a life of dignity.

23:27Those who live by their falsenesses live a life devoid of all grace, all dignity.

23:42No respect, no glory is available to them.

23:58The only song they dance to is the song of whiplashes, otherwise they do not know any

24:09music, any dance.

24:22Do you want to dance to this gentle breeze or do you want to dance to the music of whiplashes?

24:28Tell me.

24:36That's the truth, that's the Atma that Ashtavakra talks of.

24:50Atma leads to desirelessness.

24:58Do not ask where to begin.

25:01Because you are in middle of that which you keep beginning and ending.

25:15You are asking for a starting point.

25:17Does desirelessness lead to Atma?

25:19Do I begin with desirelessness?

25:23Had you been stationary, I would have told you how and where to begin.

25:28But are you stationary?

25:30Haven't you already begun?

25:33If you have already begun, no point asking where and how to begin.

25:42Look at how you keep beginning.

25:46Look at how all beginnings keep ending.

25:50Where is desirelessness?

26:01There are only desires, right?

26:05Acknowledge that.

26:08These are nice words.

26:12They should encourage us to look at our current state.

26:21Desirelessness must encourage you to look at desires.

26:29Desirelessness by itself is nothing.

26:36Desires is the world of desires.

26:46We have been so convinced of the idea of the desire-action duality that we find

27:13it impossible to conceive that there can be action without desire.

27:29Whenever we have seen, everywhere we have seen just one thing.

27:37When a man is desirous, he acts.

27:46And when there is no desire, then there is no action.

27:59So the desirelessness that you talk of will scare you away.

28:10Because the mind has only seen the desire-action causality.

28:21To the mind, only this exists, the desire-action causal link.

28:27The mind says where there is desire, it causes action.

28:34The more you will talk of desirelessness, the more difficult it will become for you

28:39to look at your desires.

28:45There is a reason.

28:50As long as there is the body, it must act.

28:58Zero action means death.

29:02And if desire means action to the mind, if desire means action, desirelessness means

29:11actionlessness.

29:12And to the body, actionlessness is death.

29:16The more you will talk of desirelessness, the more you will make desirelessness impossible

29:22for you.

29:24The body does not want to die.

29:30The psyche is even more afraid of dying.

29:40And you are talking of desirelessness.

29:44The mind says if no desire, then no action.

29:48And no action means death.

29:52Why do you want to make it difficult for you?

30:10Why don't you begin towards Ashtavakra from where you are?

30:15Ashtavakra is wonderful.

30:18But from where would you go to Ashtavakra?

30:21You are neither Ashtavakra nor Janaka, you are Parameshwari.

30:31And Parameshwari must start from Parameshwari.

30:35Parameshwari must start from where she is.

30:42And where Parameshwari is?

30:46From where Parameshwari is, all that can be seen is the desire, action, causality.

30:56Desire causes action.

30:59And action is life.

31:02So desire is life.

31:04Desirelessness therefore is death.

31:11You may keep saying anything.

31:14The body and the mind do not want death.

31:27So rather look at desires.

31:31Desires are there, already there.

31:39The world is so afraid of true spirituality because of words like desirelessness.

31:56I don't want to become desireless.

32:01If I enter spirituality, I'll become desireless.

32:06I'll have no desires left.

32:09And that's very scary to say, let alone experience.

32:23You go and tell somebody, come, I'll give you desirelessness.

32:29How likely is he to come with you?

32:44Does the spiritual man have desires?

32:49Does the spiritual man not have desires?

32:52The answer to both is no.

33:00Desires are there, but the spiritual man does not have them.

33:03So the answer is both yes and no.

33:07Does the spiritual man have desires?

33:10Yes and no.

33:11Does the spiritual man not have desires?

33:13Yes and no.

33:22In your case, what happens is that there is an identification with what you are wearing.

33:34So if the kurta is brown, you start saying I am brown.

33:44You have a great identification with the mind.

33:46So if the mind has desires, you start saying I have desires.

33:52In the case of the spiritual man, the natural man, the mind does what it must.

34:10But the self remains where it must.

34:22There is no conflation, no identification.

34:25So are desires there?

34:28Yes.

34:30Does the spiritual man have desires?

34:32No.

34:34So the answer is yes and no.

34:36Desires are there, but I don't have them.

34:42Would the desires be actionated and fulfilled?

34:46Again yes and no.

34:49Some of the desires might indeed get fulfillment.

34:53I want water, I may get water.

34:55In a limited sense, the desire has been fulfilled.

34:59But have I been fulfilled?

35:01No.

35:02The desire has been fulfilled, I have not been fulfilled.

35:05I am always fulfilled.

35:10Do you get this permission?

35:20Are desires there?

35:21Yes.

35:22Do I have desires?

35:23No.

35:24Did the desire get fulfilled?

35:25Probably yes.

35:26Did I get fulfilled?

35:27No.

35:28Sometimes the desire will get frustrated also.

35:41The mind does not get what it wants.

35:45That's rather the norm.

35:47So did the mind get frustrated?

35:49Yes.

35:50Did I get frustrated?

35:53No.

35:55Desirelessness is not the opposite of being desirous.

36:14It's something different.

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