How to drop all fakeness and masks? || Acharya Prashant, on ‘The Madman’ by Khalil Gibran (2018)

Acharya Prashant

🧔🏻‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquiry-gita-course?cmId=m00051  📚 Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?cmId=m00051  📝 Read 3 handpicked wisdom articles, just for you: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articles?cmId=m00051  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Video Information:  Shabdyog session, 19.11.2018, Advait Bodhsthal, Greater Noida, India   Context:   ~ What is fakeness? ~ What are seven masks? ~ How to find out our mistakes? ~ How to get rid of all illusions? ~ How to drop all fakeness and masks?   Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .

Transcript

00:00You ask me how I became a madman.

00:04It happened this.

00:05One day, long before many gods were born, I awoke from a deep sleep and found all my

00:11masks were stolen.

00:13The seven masks I have fashioned and worn in seven lives, I ran maskless through the

00:19crowded streets shouting, thieves, thieves, the cursed thieves.

00:24Men and women laughed at me and some ran to their houses in fear.

00:29And when I reached the marketplace, a youth standing on a housetop cried, he's a madman.

00:35I looked up to behold him.

00:37The son kissed my own naked face for the first time.

00:41For the first time, the son kissed my own naked face and my soul was inflamed with love

00:44for the son.

00:45And I wanted my masks no more.

00:49As if in a trance, I cried, blessed are the thieves who stole my masks.

00:54Thus, I became a madman.

00:58And I found both freedom and safety in my madness, the freedom of loneliness and the

01:03safety from being understood.

01:06For those who understand us, enslave something in us.

01:09But let me not be too proud of my safety, even a thief in a jail is safe from another thief.

01:18Your masks are stolen because only when you are a little careless about them.

01:28How can somebody steal away your masks if you keep them safe in your deep lockers?

01:40Become a little careless, give the thieves a chance.

01:52And if they still do not respond to your invitation, tempt them, hang your masks out

02:15on your gate.

02:25It is never accidental that you lose your masks.

02:32It requires a certain frustration, a certain disappointment.

03:00You need to turn heedless.

03:05You must become unconcerned with the value of the masks.

03:16Thought comes to you and says, oh, your masks can be taken away and you say two hoots.

03:25It is then that somebody would support you by robbing you of your masks.

03:55A mask that is right and tight on the face, ever heard of it being stolen?

04:13If you are wearing a mask right on your face, tight.

04:40Who will dare to touch you?

04:49Your mask will remain secure.

04:56You have plastered it to your face.

05:06You have used all kinds of adhesives.

05:14It is well stuck and you are wearing it to perfection.

05:28It's your face.

05:30Who will take away your face?

05:38You must become a little forgetful.

05:44Go visit a jungle.

05:48And then because you want to watch the birds and it is not possible through the tiny slits,

05:59of the mask, you take the mask off.

06:10And you keep the mask under the tree and you are engrossed watching the birds.

06:21And the birds are birds, they fly.

06:23And as they fly, they take you further and further away from that tree.

06:28Captivated by the birds, you keep following them and following them.

06:41And now it's sunset.

06:42The birds decide to go home.

06:45And it's then that you remember that you have come very far away from your mask.

06:50Now, there is some possibility that the mask would be taken away by somebody.

07:00You will have to enable the thief.

07:05You will have to encourage the thief.

07:14Or if you really fall in love.

07:21Really, madly.

07:26And the one you are in love with has no taste for things fake.

07:34And she says, the mask won't do.

07:40I need real lips.

07:43And you say, no, you know, this is all I have.

07:48And it's quite a handsome face, is it not?

07:51That's what I've been told.

07:56And I tell you, you know, these lips, they're not plastic, they're real.

08:03Let's proceed to kiss.

08:06She says, no.

08:09Fakeness just doesn't go with me.

08:12I'll have to go.

08:15This mask thing and I do not sit well.

08:25And now you have to make a choice.

08:30It's either the mask

08:35or her.

08:37And she just won't tolerate

08:40fakeness.

08:52So you have to

08:55pull off the mask.

09:00And then you have to

09:01let go of the mask.

09:07And then the sweet kiss turns into a long embrace.

09:13And then from there, you

09:16keep sinking

09:19into the

09:20depths of memorylessness.

09:26And after many long hours in trance,

09:29when you recover,

09:32you find that

09:35you have had bliss and lost the mask.

09:43Some

09:47fellow came over,

09:53found you lost in union.

09:59And did away with the mask.

10:03Oh, wait.

10:10Was it you who

10:18invited the theft?

10:20Was it you who

10:26did not want to ever

10:32be out of the union again?

10:34Did not want to ever

10:39be out of the union again?

11:04It feels strange

11:07in the beginning as it felt to the man in the story.

11:20Your skin has become accustomed to protection.

11:24It has become

11:26thin and tender.

11:29When you

11:32pull off the mask,

11:34the wind touches your face for the first time.

11:41The sun shines on your face for the first time and it feels very odd.

11:47You want to return to the safety of the mask.

11:58It's then that you

12:04require somebody like the youth in the story.

12:10Somebody who gives you

12:13a cute quaint name.

12:19Then you require somebody who without

12:24repugnance,

12:26without rejection,

12:30calls you the madman.

12:33You love the name.

12:37You love your maskless face and you love your new name.

12:49And now who are you?

12:51You are nobody.

12:53The masks were somebody.

12:56They are all gone.

12:57You are nobody.

12:58And then there is great freedom.

12:59Why?

13:02Because the world knew only the masks.

13:07And because the world

13:09knew the masks, the world was able to manipulate the masks.

13:18Your own face is so entirely new and unexpected.

13:23Nobody knows it.

13:25And since nobody knows it,

13:27nobody can own or possess or comprehend it.

13:34Freedom from masks is freedom for yourself.

13:39Ah, freedom from masks is freedom for yourself.

14:06So because it is not a matter of luck,

14:08it is a matter of love. First of all, you must love something, somebody so much

14:20that you are forced to take off your masks and then you must love your

14:27maskless state so much that you decide to remain maskless. The first step is

14:47typically the love for the guru or a mortal beloved. The second step is the

14:55love for truth. The first step has been called as Ishq-e-Majazi and second

15:06step is Ishq-e-Hakiki. First of all find someone on this earth who makes you drop

15:17your masks by any means. Since you understand the language of temptation

15:22and fear, so he will have to sometimes tempt you, sometimes threaten you. But

15:33whatever be his instruments, he succeeds. You do away with the masks. But that is

15:46not sufficient because the masks can be put back. You may still decide to return

15:58to the old masked self. Therefore, then you must develop a great love for

16:10maskless nothingness. Unless you have a great love for the nothingness that

16:21your unmasked face is, you will find back your old masks or maybe new masks to put

16:31on. Love, difficult love, demanding love, that's what is needed. Easy love is puppy

16:53love of no avail. May you choose a very very difficult one to fall in love with.

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