A pursuit of God is the most ungodly pursuit
By: Acharya Prashant
Tags: Spiritual Growth, Prayer, Faith, Spirituality, God

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

jaag (arise) dard-e ishq (pain of love) jaag, dil (mind) ko bekrar (restless) kar Chhed de aansuon ka raag, jaag, jaag, Jaag dard-e ishq jaag, dil ko bekrar kar Arise, oh pain of love, I do not want a comfortable state of mind, I would rather have the mind become restless in love, Let there be the music of tears, Arise, pain of love. ~ Excerpts from a Song in the movie Anarkali (Lyricist: Rajendra Krishna)

Acharya Prashant (AP): He is not asking for peace, he is asking for disturbance. He is saying I have had enough superficial peace, it’s useless, I would rather want to be disturbed.

When you are deeply in peace, then you do not fear being disturbed. Now, you can take on disturbances, now you can invite disturbances. Only the superficial mind begs for peace and joy, the really brave ones, pray for troubles, for disquiet, for disturbances. The spiritual mind does not ask for peace, it already has peace; it asks for troubles. It does not ask for love, it is already secure in love. It says fine, let there be separation, I do not want love, I want separation, let me see whether I can brave the separation.

Only the timid ones, cowards, ask for such things as liberation, joy, peace. The real one does not ask for these things, they are in his pocket, he cannot lose them, so how can he ask for them.

When you are really centered in peace, then you do not ask for peace. Then you, in fact, actively invite disturbances. You are so sure about peace that you go and jump into all kinds of involvements, engagements, identifications, and attachments. Now you are not afraid, now you do not call those things unspiritual. When you have peace then you can invite disturbances.

What about those who are asking for peace? Who is more spiritual — the one who asks for disturbances, or the one who asks for peace? Who is a more Godly man? How can one ask for disturbances if all your life is spent chasing peace?

Peace is not the end, peace is where you must begin.

“Okay, now I am peaceful, what am I to do in this world?” That’s the beginning but instead, so-called spirituality tells you to chase peace all your life. And also tells you that peace is so distant that you cannot have it, even in five births, and you must get a very able master then maybe you can have it in the next two decades.

Peace is the instantaneous beginning.

Listener (L): Can we use a better word than peace, say, aliveness?

AP: Yes, it’s a beautiful word to use. Life, vitality, liveliness. When you are firmly rooted in Life then you are prepared to take all the impacts, all the bruises, all the rubbish, then you are willing to brave all this. You are so secure within, so anchored within that you can now let yourself lose, travel far and wide, allow yourself to wander. You know that you are always anchored to home, so you can now go anywhere.

Life is not about chasing God. Life begins with God.

Now, what are you chasing? God is already there, if not God what else is there? Now do whatever you want to do.

In that sense, a pursuit of god is the most futile pursuit. Most futile and most ungodly one. Because it rests on the assumption that you are missing God. You can go and pursue a pancake, you can go and pursue a man, or a woman, why are you pursuing God? Here we have entire countries chasing God. He too must be fed up with stalkers. Wherever he goes, there are these religious people.

Forget God, relax. That Relaxation is Godly. Enter life. And enter life with all passion, zest, immersion, intensity; that intensity is Godly, that throbbing vitality is Godly. The commitment that you bring to life, is Godly. Now, instead of living, all that you are doing is, chanting God, God, God.

The mind wants to live. The very centre, very nature of the mind is God. Don’t teach it insecurity. Whenever you will teach the mind insecurity, you will find the mind restless.

Figure this out, test this. The mind would be restless only when you put it in situations of insecurity. It knows insecurity to be false, how can it put up with insecurity. It already has God, and you want to feed more God to it. Like a pampered child, the father comes and gives him a full diet, the mother comes and mother again gives him a full diet; the priest, the grandparents, the neighbor, all of them are feeding God, and then you wonder why the child runs away. It can’t even run away, it's so full that it is rolling away.

Never for a moment should you instruct or suggest yourself that you lack the essential. Even in your worst moment when you are shaking, trembling, doubtful, still steadfastly hold your position. You may have made the worst mistake you may have lost everything, still, you cannot lose the essential, so maintain your self worth, maintain your self-love and self-respect. Don’t allow yourself to fall in your own eyes. Never call yourself unworthy.

You can chase this or that but never chase self-worth. The very chase of self-worth is an indication of its absence.

You can chase all the trivial things but never chase the essential. Chase monkeys, chase money, it’s trivial, immaterial, chase it for fun, chase success, keep failing, but never chase the Truth, never ask for God. You are free to ask spiritually inappropriate questions, You are even free to make morally indecent comments.

L2: What if your parents have a belief system that they put on you?

AP: If it is just a belief system it is always a little lame. It does not have too much power. Only Truth has that much power that it can call and beckon. Beliefs you have to forcibly impose, so they don’t have any charm, any magnetism of their own. So, even if a child gets them from parents or somewhere, they are easy to dispose of. Like old clothes, you are just wearing them from the outside. They may belong to family tradition, but it’s easy for you to put them away, they don’t really touch your soul. I too had beliefs but they really never appealed to me.