Life Is Uncertain, Unpredictable — How Do I Remain at Peace? || Acharya Prashant, with IRMA (2023) - video Dailymotion

Acharya Prashant

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00:00I've been pondering over this for a while now how does one deal with uncertainty and I'll tell you

00:12where I'm coming from so over the course of my life I have changed I mean the streams of whether

00:24it is my occupation I mean like I jumped from field to field to field to field and there has been no

00:31clear set linear path not that the linear path is a pro I mean that I'm seeking a linear path

00:39but the uncertainty that comes with it that what is coming next has always left me a little worried

00:47anxious at the same time I think this is since I'm at this stage in life so perhaps my

00:55I mean worries are majorly related to career but even otherwise I have felt that

01:02even when it comes to family when it comes to like my friendships relationships everything

01:09there has been so many kinds of uncertainties so yeah how could one deal with them and how does one

01:20put 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

01:47for certainty where it just cannot exist

01:56and that's a very unrealistic expectation is it not

02:04the world around

02:11is a flowing mass

02:12it's a flux they have said it's a stream of time

02:23where every nanosecond everything is changing

02:32so much so that it's not very proper

02:36to even say that things exist

02:42because for a thing to exist it must have

02:46stability

02:48continuity

02:52unchangeability even for half a second

02:58well nothing remains the same even for a split second even for

03:04the millionth portion of a second

03:12and that has to be

03:14realized in that realization is acceptance

03:24then the question is why do we want

03:26why do we want the uncertain to be certain

03:30why do we want the changing to become unchangeable

03:38why does the human being try so much for security

03:46that is because

03:47because we are

03:53by our internal constitution

03:57designed

04:00to love security

04:04the mind needs

04:06a point of no change

04:10and it's a very genuine

04:11the most fundamental need of the mind

04:14to come to something

04:18that really is

04:21and won't change

04:22that exists for good

04:25that is not merely an apparition

04:29something that has truthfulness

04:34we all want that

04:35if we do not get that

04:38then we feel deceived

04:39right

04:40it's a word of apparitions

04:42in which things appear but they are not

04:47and therefore when you trust a thing

04:50you find your trust betrayed

04:55and that hurts does it not

04:59you leaned on something

05:02and that thing changed

05:08you started trusting something

05:10and then that thing

05:12was no more

05:15you made something or somebody

05:17a part of your life

05:18your existence

05:19your identity

05:21and that person walked away

05:26it hurts does it not

05:29and that's a situation

05:32common to all human beings

05:35we all want good things to last

05:38don't we

05:41once you get something

05:44that you like

05:45love

05:45desire

05:46whatever

05:47you want it to stay

05:50and you want it to stay

05:51not only in this lifetime

05:52you also say

05:54if there are other lifetimes

05:55i want it to

05:57be with me

05:58even then

05:59even there

06:00there have been cases

06:07rich people have tried

06:10to somehow

06:14seek

06:15an assured place

06:19in a luxurious heaven

06:23they will enter after death

06:24and they have said

06:26we are prepared

06:27to pay the price

06:28you tell me

06:28how much donation

06:29do i need to make

06:30and to which temple

06:31which baba

06:32which ashram

06:34and i'll happily donate

06:40and

06:44babas have

06:47been making merry

06:48and money

06:48that's the urge

06:52to have security

07:01why can't we give the mind

07:03what it wants

07:05it wants security

07:07it wants something

07:08that does not change

07:11can't there be something in life

07:13that truly does not change

07:16why do you want to depend

07:19on a piece of cloth

07:22or a

07:24moment in time

07:27they will change

07:28will they not

07:31and that would be

07:33another episode of hurt

07:37in our

07:40unending stories

07:46all wisdom

07:47is about coming

07:51to the fully secured

07:52one

07:57that which is timeless

07:58changeless

07:59nameless

07:59formless

08:02only there

08:04can you have

08:05total certainty

08:11as long as

08:12for certainty

08:12you are looking

08:13you are looking at the world

08:14all you will get

08:15is deception

08:16and betrayal

08:19and suffering

08:20in its wake

08:25so the wise man

08:27first of all

08:28realizes the nature

08:29of prakrati

08:30which is the world

08:31and says no no no no no

08:33i know

08:35what

08:36this world is like

08:41it's okay to deal with it

08:42i get my food from here

08:44i get my money from here

08:47my body

08:48arose from this soil

08:49so i'll continue to deal with it

08:51but i will not harbor

08:53unrealistic expectations

08:59my company is doing well today

09:01i cannot

09:03keep wishing and dreaming

09:04that it will

09:05keep doing

09:06well the same way

09:09obviously i do not want it to fail

09:13the company is founded with a good purpose

09:16i want the company to keep doing well

09:19but equally i'll not think of my concern as immortal

09:23it will die one day

09:28i'm getting it

09:30so the wise man

09:32stops

09:33situating

09:37the truth

09:41or timelessness

09:42or unchangeability

09:44in the world

09:45he looks at the world and says

09:46well well well

09:49it cannot survive without changing

09:55just as i change moment to moment

09:57so does the world

09:58and

10:06having lost

10:08the tendency

10:09to depend on the world for

10:11certainty

10:12you become then very

10:14deeply rooted within

10:19you no more have the need

10:22to lean on the world

10:23to fulfill your security needs

10:29it's a strange thing that happens

10:31when you are no more dependent on the world for security

10:35you become very secure within

10:37and then uncertainties

10:45become your joy

10:49because now you know that you are so anchored

10:52so safe

10:53so secure

10:54you are so immortal

10:58within

11:01that the changing situations outside

11:04cannot really affect you

11:08so that total

11:09security within

11:14allows you to become very vulnerable outside

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

11:24now you

11:28no more

11:29dread

11:30hurt

11:34now you say okay fine

11:36let the change come

11:38let it hit me

11:39let it wound me

11:42it's okay

11:46you remember that one

11:47i'll be wounded i won't be hurt

11:50because now i am very safely ensconced within

11:54i'm

12:03i'm cool i'm good

12:05i'm inside

12:07i'm me

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

12:18so the man of wisdom then

12:21becomes available to uncertainties

12:24he does not deal with uncertainties

12:28he does not devise a system to manage uncertainty

12:32he says

12:34bring it on

12:37give me more uncertainties

12:39show me the complete spectrum of uncertainties

12:43the more it pleases me to realize that i am capable of dealing with all situations

12:56and all their aspects

13:10like an accomplished tennis player

13:14like an accomplished tennis player

13:21what do you want to throw at me forehand i'm good at it

13:23backhand i'm equally good

13:27a drop

13:30see how i'll respond

13:32a lob

13:35no no i won't be found wanting

13:40slice

13:40i'm game come on

13:44topspin

13:45yeah why not

13:46and think of a rookie

13:54a beginner

13:55all he has let's say is the forehand

14:01and he does not know how to handle spin especially on the backhand

14:06he's all the time afraid of uncertainty he does not know

14:14where the next thing is going to come from and what will happen to him

14:18if the opponent decides to test him on his backhand

14:21think of his trepidation

14:26continuously he is worrying and wondering what's what's happening

14:32i just hope the next one comes to

14:36my area of security

14:39and the area of security is so limited

14:43and life is so vast

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

14:57no point asking how do i limit the uncertainty no uncertainty cannot be limited

15:02uncertainty is the very nature of life and this world

15:10you have to be secure within are you getting it

15:15let life take away whatever it can let you be totally robbed

15:24and then you say not much has been taken away

15:29i have been totally robbed yes true still not much has been taken away

15:37then a strange thing happens

15:39those who have realized

15:43experienced what life is like what the world is like

15:49they remain

15:54and they retain

15:58a very special

16:02sense of poise even in the moment of death

16:04even in the face of death if not the moment of death

16:14they say even this thing cannot take away much

16:18otherwise you see commonly death is the biggest scare is it not

16:22you are all the time afraid something will be lost something will be taken away

16:31as if life came with some kind of insurance or commitment that it will stay put

16:36as if

16:39did somebody give you a promissory note when you were born

16:42that you will not die or and that you will not accidentally die

16:47people most people die accidentally who has foreseen his death

16:52it is always an accident

17:05you

Life Is Uncertain, Unpredictable — How Do I Remain at Peace? || Acharya Prashant, with IRMA (2023)

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