Questioner (Q): Sir, sometimes people ask, or are curious to know, that what are you getting from these sessions. But I do not like to share anything with them, because they do not have that understanding. They will criticize it. So, what to do?
Acharya Prashant (AP): Why do they ask?
Q: Because they want to know.
AP: Do they want to know?
Your words must have the weight of your being behind them. Otherwise, words mean nothing. The greatest words mean nothing. They are indefensible.
They are coming from ‘you’, how can they protect you? ‘You’ are bigger than your words. Your own words cannot come to your rescue. It’s the other way round. When you have 'It', then your words have 'It'. But we think, that by borrowing heavy words, we will have 'It'. No.
The heaviest words, the wisest words, mean nothing if they are uttered by 'you'. And kindly do not take that to mean, that there is something wrong with those words. There is nothing wrong with those words.
In fact, what has happened is, that those beautiful words have been borrowed, misused, even appropriated, by all and sundry, with the result that even the words have acquired an image of being nonsensical. When all the fools, are constantly repeating the same shloka (verse), the shloka itself comes to be seen as something stupid.
Are you getting it?
The most tremendous uttering of mankind has been spoilt by our touch. They were said authentically. They were spontaneous utterances of men who knew what they were saying. Those words arose from the utter core of Being, from the very Atman, and then they had some gravitas.
But today, what do we do? Plug and play, borrow and speak, copy and broadcast. Shakespeare it was, right? “The devil can cite scriptures for his purpose.” And nine hundred ninety-nine times in a thousand, it is only the devil who is citing the scriptures. So what happens to the scriptures then? They come to be seen, as the devil’s instrument.
And whenever you see somebody citing the scriptures, immediately what do you feel? “Here is the devil.” And then parents get anxious. “Is my kid in the hands of devils?” Because only the devils talk of ‘The Gita’. Great worry!
Do not quote somebody else. Keep going within. A point comes when you are your own Krishna, when whatever you say, is in itself a fresh, a new, and an authentic Gita. Then you don’t have to worry about memorizing, and quoting, this and that. Even in the general run-of-affairs, if you remember something, it is alright. Otherwise, there is no need to remember.
The disciple asks the Upanishadic sage, “Sir, please speak the Upanishad.” The sage replies, “ Ukta te Upanishad (Whatever I am saying, whatever I say, is an Upanishad) Will it be a separate, a grand, an exclusive occasion when Upanishad will be spoken? Whatever I speak, is an Upanishad. My life is an Upanishad.” Then you don’t have to memorize.
But no, the Ego says, “I want to remain what I am, let me get a few new clothes.”
