If you are in Love, then why are you asleep? || Acharya Prashant, on Guru Kabir (2018)

last month

‍♂️ 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?...

Read 3 handpicked wisdom articles, just for you: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articl...
➖➖➖➖➖➖

Video Information: Shabdyog Session, 29.12.2018, Advait BodhSthal, Greater Noida, India

Context:
What is divine Love?
How to love God?
What is real love?
Why Guru Kabir is saying that, " If you are in Love, then why are you asleep?"
What is love? And who else would it happen to?

“Oh Friend, I love you,
Think this over, carefully.
If you are in Love,
Then why are you asleep.
If you have found him,
Give yourself to him.
Take him.
Why do you loose track of him again and again.
If you are about to fall,
Into heavy sleep anyway,
why waste time smoothing the bed and arranging the pillows?
Kabir will tell you the truth,
this is what Love is like;
Suppose you have to cut your head off,
and give it to someone else,
what difference would that make?”

~ Guru Kabir Saheb .

Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~

Transcript

00:00Oh friend, I love you. Think this over carefully. If you are in love, then why are you asleep?

00:17If you have found him, give yourself to him, take him. Why do you lose track of him again

00:25and again? If you are about to fall into heavy sleep anyway, why waste time smoothing the

00:34bed and arranging the pillows? Kabir will tell you the truth. This is what love is like.

00:43Suppose you had to cut your head off and give it to someone else, what difference would

00:49that make? So, Alok Ji is saying, Acharya Ji, reading this poem, I felt Kabir Ji is

01:00encouraging everybody to be in devotion 24x7. Is that so? What Kabir Saheb means when he

01:09refers to smoothing the bed and arranging the pillows? Does he mean household life of

01:15sansari, where falling into sleep every now and then is almost given?

01:23Alok, in studio Kabir is saying, bin jage na milenge, sajan sakheer. That's what Kabir

01:39Saheb is again saying here. If you are in love, why are you asleep? About sleep he says,

01:52if you are about to fall into heavy sleep anyway, why waste time smoothing the bed and

01:58arranging the pillows? Sleep of any kind, sleep at any place, sleep at any time, means

02:14distancing yourself from the beloved. Sleep implies distance from the beloved.

02:29Now what kind of a lover are you that you are preparing bed and pillows so that you

02:37slip into even deeper sleep? What kind of lovelessness is this? Please understand this.

02:51You know, in the old days, the students in India were required to keep a shikha. You

03:11know what a shikha is? What is shikha? The entire head would be shaved off and there

03:22would be a tail here. What do you call it? A choti. It's just called shikha. There are

03:38no hair, but on the top of your head, there is a thick bunch of long hair and you have

03:55tied that bunch of hair together. It's a shikha, choti. So the student was supposed

04:09to study his lessons, memorize them and all that. And one of the things that would prevent

04:24him from going deeply into the lessons was sleep. Sleep would bother him. So the student

04:34would sit with his back to the wall and tie his shikha to a nail in the wall. As long

04:54as he is sitting straight and doing the lessons, reading, meditating, memorizing, things would

05:03be alright. But the moment sleep would take over and his head would swing downwards, the

05:16nail would pull the shikha and so he would wake up. Those who are in love with awakening,

05:33create methods against sleep. Don't they? What does this student want? He wants awakening.

05:42So he is creating a method whereby he would not fall asleep. It's such a simple method

05:48and an effective one. The head must stay still and then it would not hurt. But the moment

05:57your head swings, especially if it swings downwards, it would appear as if somebody

06:02has just pulled your hair. And how hard would be the pull? As hard as your downward swing.

06:10So the more deeply you are asleep, the more unconscious you have become, the harder will

06:21be the pull and so you will be compelled to stay awake. Do you get this? Now what kind

06:33of an idiot would want to do his lessons and also keep a soft and nice and scented

06:55bed with pillows ready nearby? You are making an arrangement to fall into sleep when you

07:09are professing that you love awakening. That's what the Guru is saying. That if you know

07:22that you are in love and you know that you must stay awake to greet the beloved, then

07:30why are you deliberately creating conditions that would induce you to fall asleep? The

07:46one who wants to stay awake must create harsh conditions around him. Shouldn't he? Those

07:54who want to stay awake drink black coffee without sugar. Right? Or do they drink strawberry

08:13shake? You are already so nebulant and what would a little more sugar inside you do? It

08:28would make you simply collapse. So if you want to stay awake, you give yourself a cup

08:37of hard steaming black sugarless coffee. That's the arrangement you make and that's the arrangement

08:49the seeker of truth must make in his worldly life. He must push away all those things that

08:59offer him comfort, ease, pleasures and sleep. That is sadhana. You have to stay awake. Why are

09:18you purchasing that new bed? You are a lover of freedom. Why are you creating more obligations

09:28upon yourself? What is it that you are doing? Look at these loan papers that you are signing

09:34and you say that you are a lover of freedom. Are you?

10:04There were those who wanted to

10:34get up without fail at the break of daylight. You know what they would do? They would sleep

10:53with their face to the east and they would sleep by the window. The first rays of the

11:14sun should fall on their eyes. They have already ensured that because they love to

11:21be awake and see what kind of sleeping arrangement you have created for yourself. Sleep is a

11:33metaphor here. I hope you get it, Alok. Of course, you do. Look at all the luxuries you

11:42have entitled yourself to. Would they help in your awakening? Look at all the stuff in your

11:49house. Look at everything around you and ask yourself, why is it present in my life if it

11:54does not contribute to my awakening? If you are really in love, would you want to surround yourself

12:00with stuff that impedes your love? No, you would just throw it away and you would angrily throw it

12:06away. If your beloved somehow hates to see you in a particular dress, would you still wear that

12:24dress? Would you even keep it in your cupboard? But forget about dresses, we have masks upon masks

12:35with which to conceal our face to the beloved. Why are you keeping those things in your cupboards,

12:43in your almirahs, in your lockers, in your life, in your house? Why don't you throw all these things

12:50away? When I talk of things, I'm not only talking of material things, you understand that. I'm

13:06talking of mental stuff as well. When you fall in love even with a mortal man or woman, you ensure

13:25that your mouth is not full of foul breath. You don't want to smell foul. And if you have

13:49fallen in love with the truth, why do you allow your mind to be full of foul thoughts? Do these

14:05things help you in going to him? Now that gives you a very definite answer as to what is worth

14:19keeping with you. Keep that with you which helps you stay awake. Keep that with you which helps you

14:29go to the beloved and throw all the things away that keep you separate from the beloved. You must

14:40very ruthlessly question. Why is this thought present? Is it helping me? Why is this tendency

14:51present? Is it helping me? Why is that thing present? Why is that relationship present? Why

14:57are such actions present? Are they taking me there? And if they are not, why am I clinging to them?

15:03Not only am I clinging to them, I am actively paying for them and it is such stupidity to pay

15:12for one's own destruction, to pay to stay loveless.

15:42Saints say you anyway have to sleep for very long ultimately. You will get enough time

16:11to sleep for decades, centuries, sleep right till the end of time and nobody is going to

16:24come and disturb you. Right now is the time to stay awake. Sleep is anyway going to overpower

16:39you. Remember our friend on the buffalo? The buffalo man is gonna get you all. His is the

17:04oldest taxi service and a very reliable one. The buffalo man never misses a pickup. He is

17:31far better than the Ulas and the Ubers. He never cancels a ride. He never cancels a ride. He will

17:43never disappoint you. And it's always a solo ride you know. It's never a buffalo share. You die

18:08alone. So the saints say you will have enough time to keep sleeping. Now wake up. Kabir

18:32has sung so much about awakening. There is a great relation between love and awakening.

If you are in Love, then why are you asleep? || Acharya Prashant, on Guru Kabir (2018)

Category

Transcript

Recommended