How to Tell True Teachers From the False || Acharya Prashant
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00:00The real teacher has a great responsibility to make himself unnecessary.
00:08What if the teacher is known by his followership?
00:19And mind you, the real ones hardly ever had any followership.
00:28It is the primary duty of the teacher to make himself redundant.
00:33You have helped someone only if he no longer needs your help.
00:40But if the guru has his own self-interest in mind, he will continue to ensure that you
00:46return to him day after day.
00:53And you can continue to return to him only if he pleases you.
00:57That's one clear indication of the self-interest of the guru.
01:02The real ones were always myth-busters, iconoclasts.
01:08They never pleased their audiences.
01:10That is why they received the treatment that they did.
01:15Discarded, ostracized, stoned, killed, crucified.
01:21They had no concern for the status quo.
01:25They had no concern for what you like.
01:28They were not pleasant.
01:29They were not smiling.
01:32They didn't want to make you feel good.
01:41They were not bothered whether you return to them or not.
01:49They did not make arrangements that a thousand people must come to me.
02:01The teacher's role is to show that a teacher is not needed.
02:06That is the rightful role of the teacher.
02:10I repeat, the teacher's role is to show that you are unnecessarily coming to the teacher.
02:16You are self-sufficient.
02:17Are the gurus doing that?
02:24Does it happen that they ensure that people do not return?
02:29Does it happen that they attack so vigorously that people feel bad?
02:37The real teacher, at least if you look at the prominent teachers in India, the real
02:45ones have always been shown carrying weapons.
02:49They were not pleasing personalities.
02:51They were not like this.
02:58In Zen, you have stories of masters who would always be carrying a stick and hit hard.
03:03Yes, of course, they would not please you.
03:07They would not allow you to go to sleep.
03:09They would wake you up.
03:10And if you don't wake up, you get a tight slap.
03:15But if you are somebody who counts numbers, then you won't be given a slap.
03:21He won't give you a slap.
03:24You know a particular Zen story?
03:28The master asks a particular question, a mischievous student unnecessarily keeps raising his hand.
03:36There are people who are fond of talking, talking, can't listen to the teacher.
03:46So the master calls that one here and cuts off his finger, cuts off his finger.
03:53And the story says that the disciple was immediately enlightened.
04:01In Zen, that is what is there, immediate enlightenment.
04:11The real teacher would never be too acceptable.
04:16He would not look like a pleasing fatherly figure.
04:26Because only that pleases you, which allows you to continue you as you.
04:33And the teacher's responsibility is to not to let you continue as you.
04:42What is it that you find pleasurable?
04:44You find only that pleasurable, which is an extension, a continuation of your ways, of
04:50your ego.
04:52So if you really like a teacher and you say, wow, nice one, I want to go to him, it only
04:58proves that he is some kind of a plum cake for you, pleases your senses.
05:04You like going to a shopping mall.
05:06You also like going to satsangs.
05:09You are the same.
05:10The liking too is coming from the same center.
05:27I never lost it.
05:28How did you lose it, first of all?
05:32Nobody has ever lost it.
05:33You explain to me how you lost it.
05:41How did you lose it?
05:45How did you lose it?
05:48Life never allows you to lose the truth.
05:51I'm again and again saying, you cannot afford to lose the truth.
05:56You try and you had a tight slap.
05:59Now how can you lose the truth?
06:02So tell me, how did you lose the truth?
06:06You forget and you are beaten black and blue.
06:09Look at your wounds.
06:10Look at how life is beating you.
06:12Look at the scars on the psyche.
06:14Look at all the hurt, the suppression, the repression in the mind.
06:17Anyway, somebody has to remember you.
06:20Anyway, somebody has to remember you.
06:25Your hand is carrying a wound.
06:29The wound is full of pus.
06:33Hurts.
06:34Does somebody have to come to remind you that you are hurt?
06:38Yes.
06:39Explain you why is this hurt?
06:42Come on.
06:43Why is that hurt?
06:44Does not matter.
06:45First of all, the acknowledgement that there is hurt.
06:50Does somebody have to come to tell you that you are hurt?
06:53It is paining and aching and it is killing you.
06:57Do you need somebody else to come and tell you, see, see, see, you are bleeding.
07:00See, see, see, it is swollen.
07:02Does that happen?
07:03You can ask what is a myth and what is not a myth.
07:07Everybody knows that.
07:08The arm is hurting me.
07:11So this is a myth.
07:14The arm is hurting you.
07:15That is a myth.
07:16You came to tell us it is a myth.
07:20Whenever something is a myth, then it can go away without any loss to you.
07:29If the hurt in the arm is a myth, then it should disappear immediately.
07:36Do your wounds, answer honestly, do your wounds keep disappearing immediately or do we keep
07:41carrying them as memories, identities?
07:44Oh, do not shrug it away in laughter.
07:47It is an important matter.
07:49If I think that it is real.
07:51Do not talk in terms of if.
07:53Do you think they are real or not?
07:56Nothing is real.
07:57Are you saying that now or do you say that in moments when you are angry, frustrated,
08:01depressed and violent?
08:02Do not laugh it away.
08:05It is easy to intellectualize stuff here.
08:08I am talking of real life.
08:14It is very easy to say, you know, if you are the Sachidanand Brahm, then anger does not
08:18matter.
08:19Does anger not matter really when you are fighting and negotiating with the man on the
08:22street?
08:23Does it matter to you or not?
08:26So do not just give hypothetical and ideal answers, answer from your life, answer from
08:34the way you interact with your boss, your wife, your kid, the man on the street, the
08:39stranger, the robber.
08:42Look at that.
08:43Stare the facts in the face.
08:44Look at the way the world is, violent, chaotic, anarchic.
08:51What is the point in talking of great ideals?
08:55Huh?
08:56You hear this sound.
08:59This is what the world is.
09:00This is celebration for us.
09:03Noise.
09:04Why talk ifs and buts?
09:08The fact carries no ifs and buts.
09:10That is just there.
09:11Not conditional.
09:12Not if.
09:13You cannot be told that, you know, if you think of yourself as pure consciousness, then
09:27you will feel peace.
09:29If you think of yourself as pure consciousness.
09:34The bugger does not even know that every thought is a disturbance.
09:40Every thought is a disturbance.
09:42Peace is when thoughts are not there, not needed.
09:49And the remedy that he is suggesting is, no, if you think of yourself as pure consciousness
09:54and what exactly is that pure consciousness?
09:58Some great, pristine image.
09:59I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
10:00Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
10:01Huh?
10:02If.
10:03I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
10:04Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
10:05I have already said.
10:06I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
10:07Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
10:08I have already said.
10:09I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
10:10Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
10:11I have already said.
10:12I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
10:13Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
10:14I have already said.
10:15I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
10:16Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
10:17I have already said.
10:19I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
10:20Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
10:21I have already said.
10:22I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
10:23Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
10:24I have already said.
10:25I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
10:26Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
10:27I have already said.
10:28I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
10:29Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
10:30I have already said.
10:31I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
10:32Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
10:33I have already said.
10:34I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
10:35Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
10:36I have already said.
10:37I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
10:39I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
10:40Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
10:41I have already said.
10:42I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
10:43Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
10:44I have already said.
10:45I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
10:46Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
10:47I have already said.
10:48I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
10:49Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
10:50I have already said.
10:51I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
10:52Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
10:53I have already said.
10:54I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
10:55Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
10:56I have already said.
10:57I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
10:58Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
10:59I have already said.
11:00I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
11:01Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
11:02I have already said.
11:03I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
11:04Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
11:05I have already said.
11:06I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
11:07Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
11:08I have already said.
11:09I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
11:10Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
11:11I have already said.
11:12I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
11:13Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?
11:14I have already said.
11:15I feel everything you say is true and it pleases me.
11:16Does it mean I shouldn't come here tomorrow?