Face the problem, and the solution will be evident || On Vivekachudamani (2018)
Questioner (Q): How to live my daily life regardless of my family, job, financial situation, mood or body, and reach the Truth? Ramana Maharshi says, “One’s duty is to practice continuous self-enquiry.” The mind is so used to its tendencies that this is hard for me; it hijacks my attention in a split-second. I forget self-enquiry all the time and remember it only for a few minutes a day.
Acharya Prashant (AP): I want to enquire into your question. You are asking how to live a life dedicated to Truth irrespective of one’s family, job, financial situation, mood or body. I want to ask, why do you want to keep these things outside the purview of self-enquiry or Truth? You are saying, “Let these things be there, let these things be there as they are, and let me reach the Truth.” Why are you asking that? Please.
The real seeker is prepared to devote, sacrifice everything that he has to his enquiry. He can dedicate everything to the Truth. Why are you keeping these things secure? Why do you want to reserve them? How are they so important? Truth should be the center of your life; only then is self-enquiry possible. With Truth at the center of your life, you look at your life, your job, your wife, your family, your body, your moods, everything. In fact, the one who is looking is the Truth. There is no difference between Truth and the witness. Satya and Sākṣī are one. With your utter devotion to the Truth, you become a witness of everything in your life. You cannot say that “I am not prepared to look at my finances or my family or my job or my mood or my body.” That’s exactly what you have to look at; that’s not what you have to ignore.
Spirituality is not about ignoring your daily life. Spirituality is about enquiring into your daily life, and that alone is self-enquiry. Self-enquiry does not mean enquiring into the Truth. The mind cannot enquire into the Truth; that’s the fundamental message of Vedanta. The mind is incapable of venturing into the Beyond. But the mind can surely look at its own projections. The mind can surely look at the family, the job, money, relationships, tea, coffee, house and car, kids and measles. That’s what the mind can definitely look at.
