What does man really want? Why does he not get it? || Acharya Prashant, on Guru Kabir (2019)

Acharya Prashant

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00:00Lust and ire, two enemies dire, Plunge one in the sea of vice,

00:18And when all the five in jealousy join, You lose all your zeal for him,

00:24Says Kabir, O gentle folk, do ponder, Can leaf once detached, re-join the tree?

00:38Pranam Acharya ji, kindly help me understand these lines.

00:43Kabir seems to be giving the reasons for losing the zeal for one's beloved.

00:52Does this mean everyone has the yearning already?

00:55Obviously, your movements throughout the day, your gossip, your work, your pastimes, your

01:08pleasures, your sadnesses, your goals, your targets, it doesn't matter what you are thinking

01:19of, it doesn't matter what you are wanting, you are wanting nothing but fulfillment, aren't

01:30you?

01:31God is the name for the final fulfillment.

01:35What do you want when you wear a new dress?

01:39What do you want when you watch a movie?

01:42What do you want when you try a new dish?

01:46That's God's name, fulfillment, nobody has ever wanted anything but that, it's just that

02:06we are creatures of flesh and blood.

02:14So even as we want that, we want that in flesh and blood, in material, because we know of

02:27nothing else, given our physical condition, given our mental limitations, we cannot want

02:40God the absolute, we cannot want God the infinite, God the formless.

02:50So we keep wanting a thousand miscellaneous things in a thousand forms, but actually we

02:56are wanting just one, you know, I don't know whether you have seen,

03:10newborns, kids, the very small ones, you know, their language is very limited, all they know

03:28is crying, so that's our situation, we may want anything, but our expression is very

03:55very limited, the little kid wants to be comforted, he will cry, the little kid wants

04:05his diaper to be changed, he will cry, he wants milk, he will cry, the temperature is

04:10too high, he will cry, the humidity is too high, he will cry, the expression is very

04:24very limited, such are we.

04:31Even when we want God, we shop, the little kid wants milk, it cries, the little kid wants

04:44the mother to be beside him, he cries, the kid wants the fan to be turned on, he cries,

05:00same is with us, our expression is limited to worldly exchanges, so we keep exchanging

05:12stuff in the world, assuming that one of those exchanges would give us what we are

05:27really looking for, unfortunately that does not happen.

05:35Kabir Sahab has listed the reasons, lust and ire, two enemies tire, basically desire,

06:01be it lust, be it ire, both are related to desire, you want something and you desire

06:17something else, how will you ever get what you really want, that's the thing with desire,

06:27it never fetches you what you really want, alright I will make it more palatable, you

06:37need something and you desire something else, how will desire ever fetch you what you really

06:44need, desire is such a bad servant, it is always present at your disposal, but it doesn't

07:05give you what you need, it gives you what it can give, it's like having a servant who

07:24knows only the shopping mall, you ask the servant to get you some love and quickly it

07:54gets on with the project and fetches you some tomato ketchup, you ask him to fetch some

08:08contentment and the servant says, yes sir, thy bidding be done and in no time the servant

08:30comes to you with a pair of shoes, the servant of yours knows only shops and material, he

08:50appears very obedient, he never refuses your commands, but have you ever noticed that anything

08:59that he brings to you is never really of any use, what do you want to do with such a servant,

09:07one likes to keep such a servant, having such a servant is a great ego boost, you can boast off,

09:15you can say, you know I have a servant who never says no, you know I have a servant who

09:22always fetches me goodies, you know I have a servant who has at his disposal all the material

09:31of the world, that might be the case, but is your servant really giving you that one thing that you

09:42need, that's the question to be asked. Lust and ire, two enemies dire, plunge one in the sea of

09:58vice and when all the five and jealousy join then you lose all your zeal for him, all the five relate

10:10to the world, lust, ire, desire, the five, all point to the expanse of the sensual universe, this is where you

10:33are seeking solace, this is where you are not getting it, this is where you are insistent you

10:42would get it, this is where you are going wrong, and do not forget that Kabir Sahib has mentioned

10:55jealousy separately, jealousy must be something so important that it deserves a separate mention,

11:09Wow, must be holding a prime position in the list of the reasons that take you away from truth,

11:23jealousy, yes, you know what jealousy does, it fills your mind up with someone you despise,

11:43how good is that, how pleasant is that, the mind that should have been the abode of truth, the house

12:01of peace, is now being occupied by someone you hate, someone you disgust, that's jealousy.

12:19In jealousy you make the despised one your God, who is God, the one who deserves to have the prime

12:38position in your mind, and what is the jealous mind always thinking of, the object of his jealousy,

12:46look at the honor you have given to the one you are jealous of, you think you are bringing him

13:01down, no, you have turned him into your God, you have made him so important that you are

13:12constantly letting him occupy the topmost position, the center most position in your consciousness.

13:18So, Kabir Sahib says when the five and the jealousy join, you lose all your zeal for him,

13:26he is gone, he is gone, and do not forget that even when you are being jealous,

13:37you are really, really looking for God, just as we said that when you are desirous,

13:52then what you really want is God, similarly when you are jealous of someone, you want to be bigger,

14:06you want to be better than him, don't you, that is because you actually won't be contended till

14:20you are so big, so good, so great that you are beyond comparison, you compare because your need,

14:29your deep need is to go beyond all comparisons, but it is such a foolish way to get what you want,

14:43you want to go beyond comparison and to achieve that end, you are indulging in comparison,

14:49would this method give you what you want, that's the thing with the mind, it's not as if it does

15:01not want the right thing, it does, but it wants the right thing through self-appointed ways,

15:06it insists that it is clever enough to devise ways to reach the truth and that's where it fails,

15:14it's not as if it doesn't want to reach the truth, it does, but it has great confidence

15:21in its own ability, it says I am the one who will decide how to get there, this is where calamity

15:33strikes, it is very paradoxical, on the other, on the one hand you say that the one I want to

15:50reach is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, extremely compassionate, if he is really how you

16:08describe him, then is he not fit enough to be left with all the responsibilities pertaining to your

16:19welfare, if he is really all-potent, if he is really unconditionally loving, then why don't

16:33you leave the matter of your welfare to him, which means why don't you leave the matter of finding

16:43right way to reach him to him, let him decide how you would reach him, this is such a central and

16:52a common mistake, it is like trying to reach light using your darkness, how do you reach a

17:13lighthouse, using your darkness or using the light of the lighthouse, please, but you say

17:27that you are in love with light and in the same breath you say that you will reach light using

17:37your darkness, your darkness implies your methods, your cleverness, your calculations,

17:43if you really want to reach the lighthouse, let the lighthouse dictate your path, no,

17:52isn't that commonsensical, but you keep looking at the lighthouse and keep consulting and referring

18:06to your own cleverness to devise a way to suggest a path, it is extremely foolish, he knows the way

18:31to reach him and only he can tell, you reach an unknown city, your beloved resides there,

18:41how do you reach his house, you ask him the way to his house, don't you, because it is his city,

19:00only he knows how to reach his house, but on one hand you say that you love him, on the other hand

19:10you distrust him so much that you do not want to follow the map that he provides you, it is so

19:16paradoxical, so paradoxical, it's like this, you love him and you have just deboarded from the

19:31train, it's 2 a.m., call it 2 in the night or 2 in the morning, whatever, thick fog, a January night,

19:46and all the way you have been singing that your lover is all yours, truly yours, he is so very

20:04caring, sensitive, compassionate, he has been calling you since midnight to ask you when

20:27the train would be arriving and you refuse to tell him, you say no, I'll figure out.

20:43Now you have deboarded, the train is gone and you are on the platform, his house is

20:54at a fair distance and he again calls you up and says, I'll come to pick you up, you

21:00say no, no, no, I'll manage, I'll figure things out, he says fine, if you want to do that,

21:11but let me at least tell you the way, I'll tell you where to get the cab from, I'll tell

21:19you the route and you say no, who do you think I am, a fool, I'll determine the path.

21:35Now are you in love with him or are you suspicious of him? If we go by your conduct,

21:45it appears that you are really suspicious that he wants to misguide you and the fact

21:54is you cannot reach him, it's his city, it's a special city, without his support how will

22:03you reach him, but you are a very self-confident person, aren't you?

22:16You like to boast that you are self-made, what's more you do not want to give the beloved

22:28a chance to ever tell you that he helped you because that hurts your ego, why does

22:42that hurt your ego? Even in that, is there an insight? You must pay attention.

22:53You have not come to the beloved taking him as your Lord, you come to the beloved taking

23:01him as your equal, now if you accept his help then it would be proven that he is not your

23:08equal but your Lord, so you do not want to take his help, you are genuinely afraid that

23:15if you take his help then the secret would be out, the ego wants to get the truth but

23:22it does not want to merge into the truth, it does not want to merge and dissolve and

23:29disappear into the truth, it wants to get the truth, you know the difference between

23:35getting and dissolving? The husband gets the wife, the wife gets the husband, they get

23:45each other because even after they have had each other they still retain their personal

23:52identities, they don't disappear, whereas the seeker must disappear into the sort, the

24:01seeker doesn't want to disappear into the sort, the seeker wants to retain himself,

24:09therefore the seeker looks at the sort as some kind of peer, as some kind of equal and

24:17if your beloved is equal to you, why must you accept his guidance, so you continuously

24:24defy him, you continue to defy him even if you are lost in his city and he keeps calling

24:32you, allow me to guide you, allow me to guide you and you will say no, are you any superior

24:40to me that I should accept your guidance, you are not superior to me, we are both one,

24:49now why must you insist that you and he are one, one not in the sense of oneness, one

24:56in the sense of being equal, why must you insist that because you are again afraid and

25:09insecure, what is the insecurity, the insecurity is if I take him as my Lord rather than my

25:17equal, then I would be obliged to follow his instructions because the devotee must follow

25:28the Lord and you are suspicious that if you take him as the Lord, then one day he may

25:36instruct you to leave him and you do not want to let that situation come, why?

25:43Because you love him a lot, so because you love him a lot, you ensure that you do not

25:49love him, that's the cycle, stupid cycle, but still a very poignant story because this

25:59cycle is the cycle of all human suffering, on one hand you do not trust anybody as much

26:12as you trust him, on the other hand you are deeply suspicious of him and whatever opinions

26:20you have with respect to him have very little to do with him, those are all products of

26:26your own insecurities.

26:33You want me to take the story forward, now you are lost in a city and who do you blame?

26:43Says Kabir, O gentle folk, do ponder, can leaf once detached rejoin the tree, Shweta

26:57is asking do the tree and leaf represent the individual and the source, no, no, no, here

27:06Kabir is talking of the limited lifetime that the person has, once you are gone, you are

27:17gone, life won't return, so make best use of your time.

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