Who is really a wise man? || Acharya Prashant, on Sage Ashtavakra (2014)

prakṛtyā śūnyacitto yaḥ pramādād bhāvabhāvanaḥnidrito bodhita iva kṣīṇasaṁsmaraṇo hi saḥ.

(Ashtavakra Gita 14.1)

Translation: He indeed has his recollections of worldly life extinguished – who becomes void-minded spontaneously, who thinks of sense objects only by chance, and who is, as it were, awake though physically asleep.

Question: Why is it being said that the wise man thinks of sense objects only by chance?

Speaker: Only by chance, not by memory. Only by chance, not by memory. Not by a compulsive tendency to ponder. We do not think by chance, we are slaves to our compulsive tendencies to keep brooding. Now the event has not yet chanced. There is nothing in the surrounding, or in the situation to necessitate thought, and yet thought is there. You are thinking about an event that is probably going to happen six months down the line. The chance has yet not occurred, the happening is yet distant, and no one knows whether the happening would occur at all. But you are constantly contemplating. It is not by chance but by some kind of an inner compulsion – slavery. Our mind is hostage to its latent tendencies – vritti.

You come in front of me, then thought is activated, and that is alright. If you come in front of me, eyes have a look at you, then I must recollect your name at least. And to recollect your name, the apparatus will get functional, the mental apparatus will get functional. And that is called ‘thought’. Right? A few things from the memory are bound to arise, and that is alright. That is alright because right now you have chanced. So it’s okay.