Life is uncertain, unpredictable. How do I remain at peace? || Acharya Prashant, with IRMA (2023)

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: 13.04.23, IRMA (Online), Greater Noida   Context:  ~ What aspects of life are uncertain?  ~ What aspect of life is the most uncertain?  ~ How is it that life is so erratic?  ~ Why is life filled with uncertainty?  ~ How should one handle uncertainty?    Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~

Transcript

00:00Namaste Acharyaji. I've been pondering over this for a while now. How does one deal with

00:09uncertainty? And I'll tell you where I'm coming from. So, over the course of my life, I have

00:19changed. I mean, the streams of whether it is my occupation. I mean, like I've jumped

00:28from field to field to field to field. And there has been no clear set linear path. Not

00:35that the linear path is a problem, I mean, that I'm seeking a linear path. But the uncertainty

00:41that comes with it, that what is coming next, has always left me a little worried, anxious.

00:50At the same time, I think, since I'm at this stage in life, so perhaps my, I mean, worries

00:56are majorly related to career. But even otherwise, I have felt that even when it comes to

01:04family, when it comes to like, you know, my friendships, relationships, everything, there

01:10has been so many kinds of uncertainties. So, yeah, how could one deal with them? And how

01:20does one put oneself at peace with all of the uncertainty?

01:24See, the problem is not that life is uncertain. What makes us suffer is that we try to look for

01:48certainty where it just cannot exist. And that's a very unrealistic expectation, is it not? The

02:05world around is a flowing mass. It's a flux. They have said it's a stream of time where every

02:24nanosecond everything is changing. So much so that it's not very proper to even say that things

02:40exist. Because for a thing to exist, it must have stability, continuity, unchangeability,

02:54even for half a second. Well, nothing remains the same even for a split second, even for

03:04the millionth portion of a second. And that has to be realized. In that realization is acceptance.

03:25Then the question is, why do we want the uncertain to be certain? Why do we want the changing to

03:37become unchangeable? Why does the human being try so much for security?

03:43That is because we are, by our internal constitution, designed to love security.

04:02The mind needs a point of no change. And it's a very genuine, the most fundamental need of the

04:12mind to come to something that really is and won't change that exists for good. That is not merely an

04:26apparition. Something that has truthfulness. We all want that. If we do not get that,

04:38then we feel deceived. It's a world of apparitions in which things appear but they are not.

04:48And therefore, when you trust a thing, you find your trust betrayed.

04:56And that hurts, does it not? You leaned on something and that thing changed.

05:08You started trusting something and then that thing was no more.

05:16You made something or somebody a part of your life, your existence, your identity,

05:21and that person walked away. It hurts, does it not? And that's a situation

05:31common to all human beings. We all want good things to last.

05:40Don't we? Once you get something that you like, love, desire, whatever, you want it to stay.

05:48And you want it to stay not only in this lifetime, you also say,

05:54if there are other lifetimes, I want it to be with me, even then, even there.

06:07There have been cases, rich people have tried to somehow

06:12seek an assured place in a luxurious heaven.

06:24They will enter after death and they have said, we are prepared to pay the price. You tell me

06:29how much donation do I need to make and to which temple, which Baba, which ashram,

06:35and I'll happily donate.

06:37And

06:41Babas have been making meri and money. That's the urge to have security.

06:53Have security.

07:02Why can't we give the mind what it wants? It wants security. It wants something that does not change.

07:12Can't there be something in life that truly does not change?

07:16Why do you want to depend on a piece of cloth or a moment in time?

07:27They will change, will they not?

07:31And that would be another episode of hurt in our

07:38in our

07:41unending stories.

07:47All wisdom is about coming to the fully secured one,

07:57that which is timeless, changeless, nameless, formless.

08:01Only there can you have total certainty.

08:10As long as for certainty you are looking at the world, all you will get is deception and betrayal

08:18and suffering in its wake.

08:21So the wise man, first of all, realizes the nature of Prakriti, which is the world, and says, no, no, no, no, no.

08:29I know what this world is like.

08:37It's okay to deal with it. I get my food from here. I get my money from here.

08:42It's okay to deal with it. I get my food from here. I get my money from here.

08:48My body arose from this soil. So I'll continue to deal with it.

08:52But I will not harbor unrealistic expectations.

09:00My company is doing well today. I cannot keep wishing and dreaming that it will keep doing

09:07well the same way. Obviously, I do not want it to fail.

09:13The company is founded with a good purpose. I want the company to keep doing well.

09:19But equally, I will not think of my concern as immortal. It will die one day.

09:26Are you getting it? So the wise man stops situating the truth

09:38or timelessness or unchangeability in the world. He looks at the world and says, well, well, well.

09:48It cannot survive without changing.

09:50It cannot survive without changing.

09:55Just as I change moment to moment, so does the world.

10:03And having lost the tendency to depend on the world for certainty,

10:12you become then very deeply rooted within.

10:19You no more have the need to lean on the world to fulfill your security needs.

10:30It's a strange thing that happens when you are no more dependent on the world for security.

10:35You become very secure within.

10:41And then uncertainties become your joy.

10:49Because now you know that you are so anchored, so safe, so secure, so immortal within

10:59that the changing situations outside cannot really affect you. So that total

11:12security within allows you to become very vulnerable outside.

11:21Now you are no more in need of armors all the time.

11:26Now you no more dread hurt.

11:34Now you say, OK, fine. Let the change come. Let it hit me. Let it wound me. It's OK.

11:46You remember that one? I'll be wounded. I won't be hurt because now I am very safely ensconced within.

11:55I'm cool. I'm good. I'm inside. I am me.

12:09I'm in the embrace of something that will never desert or deceive me.

12:19So the man of wisdom then becomes available to uncertainties.

12:26He does not deal with uncertainties. He does not devise a system to manage uncertainty. He says,

12:34bring it on. Give me more uncertainties. Show me the complete spectrum of uncertainties.

12:44I relish it.

12:46I relish it.

12:52I relish it. The more you show me the diverse aspects of situations possible,

13:02the more it pleases me to realize that I'm capable of dealing with all situations and all their

13:10aspects. Like an accomplished tennis player. What do you want to throw at me? Forehand, I'm good at it.

13:26Backhand, I'm equally good. A drop? See how I'll respond. A lob? No, no, I won't be found wanting.

13:38Slice? I'm game. Come on. Topspin? Yeah, why not?

13:49And think of a rookie, a beginner.

13:58All he has, let's say, is the forehand and he does not know how to handle spin, especially on the

14:04backhand. He's all the time afraid of uncertainty. He does not know where the next thing is going to

14:13come from and what will happen to him if the opponent decides to test him on his backhand.

14:20Think of his trepidation. Continuously, he is worrying and wondering what's happening.

14:28I just hope the next one comes to my area of security. And the area of security is so limited.

14:40And life is so vast.

14:44The next ball can come to any side, at any pace, with any kind of spin.

14:50No point asking, how do I limit the uncertainty? No,

14:54uncertainty cannot be limited. Uncertainty is the very nature of life and this world.

15:03You have to be secure within. Are you getting it? Let life take away whatever it can. Let you be

15:11totally robbed.

15:14And then you say, not much has been taken away. I have been totally robbed. Yes, true. Still,

15:20not much has been taken away.

15:24Then a strange thing happens. Those who have been totally robbed,

15:32still not much has been taken away.

15:37Then a strange thing happens. Those who have realized what life is like, what the world is like,

15:50they remain

15:54and they retain

15:55a very special sense of poise, even in the moment of death,

16:06even in the face of death, if not the moment of death.

16:15They say, even this thing cannot take away much.

16:18Otherwise, you see, commonly death is the biggest scare, is it not?

16:25You're all the time afraid something will be lost, something will be taken away.

16:32As if life came with some kind of insurance or commitment that it will stay put, as if.

16:40Did somebody give you a promissory note when you were born that you will not die

16:45and that you will not accidentally die? Most people die accidentally.

16:50Who has foreseen his death? It's always an accident.

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