Question: Acharya Ji, what is the meaning of non-duality? Does it mean that we have to drop our judgments?
Acharya Prashant Ji:
Non-duality does not mean that you have to drop judgments. Non-duality means that – the ego is always judging, and that is inevitable.
Ego is always acting as a judge. And as long as ego is there, it would continue to judge. You cannot tell the Ego, “Kindly don’t judge.” That is so idealistic, that is stupid. You are telling the lion to not to eat meat, that won’t happen. You are telling the ego to not to judge, that won’t happen. The ego would keep judging. That’s it’s prakriti (nature), it’s constitution.
Now that the ego is known to judge, there is only one hope left for the ego. And that is – that the ego judges rightly.
Judge rightly. If I tell you, “Don’t judge,” then you will end up either disappointed, or a hypocrite. If you are honest, you will find that in spite of your efforts to not to judge, you are anyway, always judging. So you will be disappointed. And if you are not very honest, then you will falsely declare that you do not judge. And therefore, you will be a hypocrite. It’s better then to know, that given how we are, we are continuous judges.
Judge rightly!
What does it mean to judge rightly? *In every situation, see where fear is, see where temptation is, see where limits are, see where the blind force of habit is.*** Don’t go towards that direction. That is what is – ‘right judgement’.
If habit, time and tradition are taking you somewhere, pause!
If the habitual rush of tendencies is taking you somewhere, pause!
That’s enough.
