Questioner: How to keep our priorities right in every situation? I am frequently confused in a situation where I have to prioritize one thing over the other. For example, work vs family, work vs rest, saving money vs spending money, etc. There never seems to be a clear answer in such situations. Please guide.
Acharya Prashant: How can anybody prioritize anything over the other? To know whether one thing is more important than other, you have to know whether one thing is more important for you than the other. If I am feeling cold, then the hot beverage becomes important. Whereas if it is all hot and humid and I am sweating, then I will want to sip something cold.
What is good or important for me at any moment depends on my need, my requirement. But what if I am totally out of touch with myself? What if I do not know at all what my inner condition is, then how will I prioritize? How will I be able to make any decision at all?
That's the situation of most people. We have very little self-awareness. Fearlessly and honestly, we rarely observe ourselves, we rarely spend time with ourselves and ask ourselves pointed questions. Therefore we don't know what the inner situation is like, and the inner situation definitely is not good.
Inwardly we all require healing, treatment, and completion. A lot of stuff is needed in the inward sense, so there is a yelling demand within for something specific. But we are totally deaf to that demand. Why? Because the ears are all tuned to the external world. Therefore they are unable to hear anything of the inside.
