How to come out of our comfort zone? || Acharya Prashant, at RVCE Bangalore (2022)

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant?  Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...    Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books?  Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...  ~~~~~   Video Information: 12.09.22,  RVCE, Bangalore   Context:  ~ How can we push past our comfort zones?  ~ Why are expensive things accompanied by a cost?  ~ Why are we so unaware of who we are?  ~ Why are we reliant on the community?  ~ Why are we content with our mediocre lives?   Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~

Transcript

00:00So, my question is, whenever we take decision in life, we tend to take the easier path despite

00:09it not being beneficial to us. We like to stay in our comfort zone. So, how do we come

00:14out of this? How do we push ourselves to take the difficult route?

00:20You do that because you have been convinced that you do not deserve anything beyond a

00:27point, right? The high things in life, be it within or without, they all require a price

00:41to be paid. They all require that you toil and face difficulties and suffer blows. But

00:56why will you suffer blows if you have been convinced by the environment around you that

01:03you anyway do not deserve to reach the top? So, you will say, the top is anyway inaccessible

01:12to me. I need to reach some place in between. So, I will take the shortest kind of route

01:19possible and the most economical medium possible. When you know who you really are and when

01:30you know that your potential is unlimited, then there is self-love. Then you do not want

01:40to deprive yourself of what you deserve. And then you say, I will pay whatever price

01:46it takes. I will not settle for something mediocre. But mostly our misfortune, if I

02:01may put it that way, is that the mediocre society turns its own kid into mediocre products. Right?

02:17The kid is heavily dependent on the society for information, for upbringing, for culture,

02:24for conditioning. All of that comes from the society. And the society is in itself never

02:32something of excellence. Therefore, it does not cultivate values of excellence within its kids.

02:41And the kid is made to believe that a normal kind of, as they say, run-of-mill life, that's all that

02:54there is. In fact, if you try to think big, then you are shown down. You are told to stay within

03:07your limits. No? The result is then a drop in self-love. Because there is something within

03:19all of us, remember this very clearly, that can fall in love only with absolute excellence. With

03:30anything short of the absolute, you will find yourself short of love. That absolute is also

03:38what has been sometimes called as the truth or liberation or even God. That's the reason why

03:49religions have existed since ancient times. Because something in us just very madly loves

04:00the absolute. It cannot live without the absolute. In more personal terms, that absolute is your own

04:09personal possibility. Most of us do not love ourselves. In fact, if you look at the way we

04:19behave and take decisions, you will find that in a hidden way we hate ourselves. We are anti-life.

04:25We do things, don't we, that harm us. Somebody keeps on smoking. He knows smoking is bad,

04:33still he keeps on smoking. Somebody knows he must work hard and study or something,

04:38he does not do that. What is it? Somebody continues to beer in an abusive relationship

04:48and never drops out. Why do we do that? We keep on eating all kinds of unhealthy stuff. Why do

04:59we do that? Are all these things indicators of self-love? No, they are indicators of self-hate.

05:06Why do we hate ourselves? Because we have refused our highest possibility to ourselves. Whenever you

05:17will do that, you will hate yourself your entire life. Whenever you will refuse the highest to

05:27yourself, you will become guilty in your own eyes and you will not be able to forgive yourself for

05:34that. And how can you love someone who can't even be pardoned? How can you love someone who

05:43is guilty of a very bad crime? So we don't love ourselves. We don't love ourselves. If you don't

05:54love yourself, why will you want to give yourself the best? Are we together on this? If you don't

06:03love yourself, why will you want to give yourself the best? You will settle for anything normal,

06:11usual, mediocre. You will say, but you know, this is the way the world is. I am an average bloke like

06:18everybody else. You can find some kind of false peace in calling yourself an average person. But

06:31that will be an inner death. Inwardly, you know, what is it we all live for? We live for excellence.

06:42We live for the absolute. That's what the human birth is for, to attain the absolute. Instead,

06:53if you have convinced yourself to stay mediocre within, then it's death. Because life is for the

07:02highest. Anything lower than highest, life is the same as death. Are you getting it? So choose your

07:16company with great discretion. Do not be around people who show you down. Be very clear. Be with

07:26people who ruthlessly prod you on towards betterment, who mercilessly bring out your shortcomings,

07:37and who never allow you to believe for a second that you are destined to live a mediocre life.

07:46They'll say, because you must be excellent, therefore all your mistakes must be exposed.

07:55That's the kind of people and books and environment you should choose. Inwardly,

08:07whenever you find thoughts of weaknesses dominating you, push away those thoughts.

08:12Do not allow anybody to dominate you, including your own thoughts. If even your own judgment is

08:23that you are a weakling, reject that judgment. You might be beaten and when you are beaten,

08:32accept that with honesty and courage. But if somebody tells you that it is your destiny to

08:41remain beaten and fallen, push that person away. Yes, I have fallen and I won't hide the fact that

08:48I have fallen. I am courageous enough to boldly admit that I have fallen and it's such a bad

08:56display on my part. Surely I am cultivating some nonsense within, the reflection of which is this

09:01fall. But if you are telling me that I must limit my life itself, that I must give up on

09:17the potential and the possibilities that life has to offer, then sorry, sorry, sorry. If I

09:26have to live in mediocrity, then I'll better not live. If I have to live in bondages,

09:34then life is not worth it. Getting it? See, it must be confusing because I am saying both the

09:43things. On one hand, I say you have to be very honest about your mistakes. You must know that

09:51your mistakes reveal the fact of yourself. So, they can't even be called as mistakes. On one

09:59hand, I am saying that you must really know how ugly your face has become and how weak your inner

10:07self has become. On one hand, I am saying that. That our fact is weakness. On the other hand,

10:14I am saying our potential is greatness. Both these have to be remembered at the same time.

10:20If you remember only one of these, then there will be a problem. Remember both of these. Yes,

10:25I am down and out at this moment and I'll honestly admit that. But equally, I'll always

10:32remember that each human being is born for greatness. Greatness is my destiny. Never

10:40compromise on that greatness. Never compromise on the destiny you are born for. Remember this

10:49always. Does that make sense?

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