Do you overthink? Here is a beautiful solution || Acharya Prashant, Sir J.J. College, Mumbai (2022)

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/enquir...   Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...  ~~~~~  Video Information: 08.12.2022, Sir J.J. College, Mumbai   Context: ~ How do I stop overthinking?  ~ How to deal with anxiety and fear?  ~ Why do we keep thinking of little things?  ~ How to stay away from trivia in life? ~ What is important to do in life?  ~ How to not be bothered by every little thing?  ~ What is worth doing?  ~ How to not waste my life?   Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, sir. I am Tuhina Chatterjee and I am in first year. So, I usually tend

00:11to overthink everyday things like everyday situations, like even if it's just my bus

00:17not reaching the destination and things like that. So, how do I not let this fear take

00:22over myself? Think of better things. Think of more important things. I fall into this

00:30loop of thoughts where I just think about it instead of actually doing it. Have something

00:36in life that overpowers all the random thoughts. I am talking to you, right? Yes, sir. I happen

00:46to be a busy person. There are so many things that I can alternately think of at this moment.

00:55What makes me forget all those things? And frankly, to me, right now, you're a stranger. All I know

01:07of is your name, to some extent your age, the institutions you are affiliated to. That's all

01:13that I know about you. Compared to this, there is so much else that I am involved in. There is

01:22my mission, there's my work and this is a working day and so many people are dependent on me for

01:29what they are doing. Why am I not thinking of them at this moment? Because this is important.

01:42That's all. When you do not have that in your life, which is important, when you do not have

01:49a sense of the worthy, the result will be that a lot of little things will invade the mind. There

02:03is no way to keep those little things away. They are like germs. They constantly keep attacking you.

02:17You cannot keep them away. You can only have a strong inner immunity. Is there a way to keep

02:24germs away? Virus or bacteria or other kinds of pathogens? Is it possible? No, they are everywhere.

02:32I keep my hand here, they are here. This air that I breathe in, they are in the air. How do I ensure

02:42I am 100% shielded against them? Not possible. However, there is one thing that is possible,

02:50which is my inner immunity and that inner immunity is called importance. Know what is

02:59important and then random things will cease to matter. If you find yourself thinking about

03:09unimportant matters too much, it just means that there is a huge inner vacancy for something

03:17important and that vacancy has not been filled. The mind cannot tolerate a vacuum, a vacancy.

03:28The mind needs something to chew. You cannot just abruptly bring the mind to a thoughtless state.

03:40Not possible. So what to do? As students, as beginners, what to do? Determine what is important.

03:57Honestly, give it due credit. And I like to say, fall in love with it. Make it your life. Then

04:08there will be no space to think of random things. And is that not beautiful? Life is pestering you

04:18with all the normal trivia and yet you are not bothered. Why? Because there is a mighty inner

04:28thing you have embraced and you simply don't have the time, the space to look towards anything else.

04:38Is it hot? Yes, it is. Is it cold? Might be. Are you hungry? Probably yes. Do you need a little

04:56more money? Of course I do. Care for better clothes? Why not? But so sorry, in spite of all

05:08these things that I might potentially care for, I am occupied. Nobody will ever have enough money.

05:20Nobody will ever be able to say I do not need more clothes or better clothes. Nobody will

05:27ever say all my desires are now satisfied. That's not going to happen. Nobody will ever

05:36say the situations are all perfect. No. Those things will continuously remain,

05:46just like the pathogens we talked of. But along with them, taking precedence over them,

05:59an inner sense of importance can remain and that has to be developed. It won't just come.

06:12As a young person, you need to figure out very clearly what is worth doing. What is

06:22important in life. Else you are travelling to the college and you are looking out of the bus

06:32window and you see something happening, something by chance, the usual trivia and it will capture

06:42you and you will find yourself thinking about it 30 minutes. 30 minutes of life gone on nothing.

06:53And that's how most of us simply waste away our entire life on nothing in particular. So,

07:07what did you do your entire life? Nothing in particular. Though I was always occupied.

07:13I was always occupied. But what did you do? Okay, let's say you get a one-week break,

07:24a Diwali break, 10 days break. And somebody asks you what did you do actually? Is that not

07:34an honest answer? Nothing in particular. And that's what happens when you have nothing

07:44really important to do. You do nothing. At least nothing in particular. And it's unimaginable the

07:55lengths of time that you can simply squander doing nothing in particular. Two months summer

08:05holidays spent doing nothing in particular. Nothing in particular. My driver, I make it a

08:17point he drives slowly so that sitting on the rear seat I do not get disturbed. Why? Because

08:30commutes take long, one hour, two hour and I want to read. That's a dedicated time I get to complete

08:44my reading list. Else it's very possible to simply say I was traveling so I was doing nothing in

08:54particular. And it's not that you are doing nothing at all when you are traveling. You are

08:58doing something. What are you doing? Staring out of the window, looking at something random,

09:05in between you just scroll through the feed, Facebook or something. Type something random

09:15on Instagram. Ogle at some nice faces passing by. You don't know their name. The fellow will be in

09:28visual range for 2.2 seconds. And yet the fellow becomes so important. Two seconds you stare and

09:42then for two minutes you think. By the time the next pretty face comes, you have already forgotten

09:51the previous one. And the world can be an unending succession of pretty faces. Two hours will fly

10:08away. You did your entire journey doing nothing in particular. The name of the journey is life.

10:23Now death has arrived. And death asks, so tell me, how was it? What did you do? Well, nothing in

10:44particular. Though I was always busy. Always busy. You'll never find anyone saying I have so much

11:02time. Kindly assign me some task. I have found somebody begging for work. Everybody is running

11:14behind on schedule, right? If you happen to have a to-do list at all of any kind, you're always

11:25behind the list. Are you not? So everybody is occupied doing nothing in particular. Have one

11:37thing worth living for. You'll forget when you board the bus. You'll forget when the destination

11:47has arrived. Somebody will have to prod you to get down. You'll be so immersed. That's a beautiful

12:02word, no? Immersion. How do you like it? Immersion. How about that? Does that appeal to you? Immersion?

12:12Have you experienced that sometimes? Immersion? That alone is the way to live. If you are not

12:24immersed, you are scattered. How does it feel to be scattered? Have you experienced that? A state

12:35of being scattered inwardly? Have you? Isn't immersion beautiful? Have you seen how time

12:48stops when you are immersed? And if you can have immersion in your everyday life, that alone is the

13:03best meditation. Are you getting it? And if you can have that immersion, that is an antidote to

13:14all kinds of mental troubles. Otherwise, there is the menace of depression, anxiety and all kinds of

13:25mental things, especially among the young. The one who has something to live for will never be

13:42mentally sick. And mental illness is a pointer that life is devoid of essence. I have no time

14:05to be anxious. How about that? Are you suffering from anxiety? What's the answer? I have no time

14:15to be anxious. Even anxiety requires time. I don't have time. How can I be anxious? Are you afraid?

14:24I have no space for fear. When fear comes, I say, sorry, no vacancy. Not that you aren't great.

14:34Obviously, you are great and powerful. The entire world kneels to you. You're wonderful. But as far

14:41as I'm concerned, no vacancy. Give all your inner space to something that is beautiful for you.

14:52Let there be no vacancy. Get a headband, no vacancy. Or have a t-shirt, straight on your

15:12heart here, no vacancy. Occupied, engaged. The knowers in the spiritual domain, they have said,

15:37we are wedded already. And not only in the spiritual domain, obviously you know of Bhagat Singh.

15:46So he was just 22 or 23 when he laid down his life. His mother had approached him once,

16:00you'll have to marry. You'll have to marry. He said, but I already am. And she was shocked. How

16:14can my son do that? What's her name? And what did he say? What did he say? Azadi. So no vacancy.

16:23The girls are all beautiful, but sorry, no vacancy. What's your bride's name? Azadi. Already

16:43married, no vacancy. And that's why you remember him today. And that's why all others have become

16:53the dust of time. And Bhagat Singh is immortal. Even though he left his body at 23, yet he is

17:01immortal. And there were those who lived long lives for 90, 100 years and yet as we say are

17:11just the dust of time. Who cares for them? That's the difference. Have an early wedding,

17:27as early as possible. Not the kind of wedding that requires social, religious and legal

17:41sanction and ceremonies. An internal wedding. Let nobody know of it. Freedom. Azadi. What do you think?

18:01Bhagat Singh had time to think of miscellaneous things? How occupied he was, you know of it,

18:12even on the eve of his hanging, he was still reading the Bhagavad Gita. A copy of that,

18:31that particular copy is still preserved. Was he thinking, tomorrow I'll die, what will happen

18:40then? Was he thinking? No. He said, but I still have a few, I still have a few hours. Let me

18:49spend these hours with the beloved. I have something very important to do. Was he doing

18:59nothing in particular? Was he doing nothing in particular even in his last hours? No. He said,

19:08let me spend this time in reading and he was a voracious reader. At your age he was so well read.

19:17Never had any time to waste. I don't know, this one is from Bhagat Singh or one of the

19:37other great revolutionaries. But they actually marked the last page they read in their favourite

19:47book. And somebody out of curiosity asked them, tomorrow you are going to be hanged,

19:53you will be no more. Why are you marking this page? And very mystically he said,

20:01because I have to continue from there. No time for self-pity, inner misery, sad thoughts. No time.

20:20I'm busy with the right thing, even in my last moment. How about such a life? Does it not excite

20:43you? It does not it seems. Or does it? It does be extremely occupied. Don't be like these

21:08wanton flies or insects. Seen how a mosquito behaves? Sitting here, sitting there or a fly,

21:16hopping from here to there. Doing? Don't be like that, please. Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.

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