Reclaim your mind from the society

Question: I left corporate career after five years of exploitation. The day before yesterday I got a call from some company. I was somewhere out on the road. I was not able to respond to that call. I asked the caller to shut up. This made me uncomfortable until I slept. I felt as if I must switch-off my phone, must run away from this city so that nobody can catch me even on the phone, or meet me.

Acharya Prashant: Sounds wonderful. But where would you go? You see, every square inch of land on this earth has been claimed by some or the other country. Where would you go? These people are everywhere. You would be fortunate if you can find a sanctuary somewhere. I wish we all were that lucky, that we could find a sanctuary somewhere, where these corporations and these pesky phone calls were just not at all there. But you will have to be extremely lucky for that to happen. They are everywhere.

You are born at a time where they are everywhere. And the disease of progress, that creepy thing, is taking everything in its fold very swiftly. Mobile signals are everywhere. You are always reachable. So the options of escaping are reducing by each passing day. The option to not to confront is becoming less and less available. The space to which you can simply recede, retreat, is sinking. Only one option is there. The only remaining option is to reclaim the space that you deserve. And we all need to do that because running away is hardly an option. I wish it was possible to run away somewhere.

There were times when it was possible. But slowly, in fact, very rapidly, it has become less and less feasible. Where would you go? They are everywhere. The government, its laws, the people with their concepts, the reach of the television, the internet, the waves: they are everywhere. It’s actually a global village today. There is hardly any diversity left. People everywhere are living in the same way. The same greed, the same urge to rise, to achieve. The same ambition, the same fantasies, even the same language. It’s everywhere. Where to go? So, you will have to put your foot down and fight.

It is just the right moment to fight. Because anyway there is no place left to go. So fight! Declare your territory. Do not run away. Stay where you are. The roads don’t belong to them. The earth is not owned by them. And if they are owning it, then it is an unethical occupation. Existence never said that countries must own land. Existence gave it to you. If today countries are owning it, it is deeply, deeply unethical. It may not be illegal, no code will call it illegal, but it is surely unethical.

When I was born on this land, I was not born with the need for a passport or with the need to secure a visa. If today somebody can prevent me from moving to another corner of the land, by saying that I don’t hold the right visa, then it is unethical. Who are you to prevent me from moving on this earth? This earth was granted to me. The air was granted to me. The seas were granted to me. The sunlight was granted to me. Who are you to stop me? So reclaim them. Take them back. They are all yours. The Himalayas are yours and the Alps are yours. Ganga, Yamuna, Mackenzie, Mississippi, they are all yours.

They are stupid people who have created the boundaries and they are behaving as if they own these things. Let them own their stupid possessions. Let them own the money and the riches, and the buildings. But let them not be allowed to own your mind. Your mind should be your own fiefdom. Your mind is your territory. You rule it. That is the way to start. Later on, maybe you will also be able to reclaim that which is physical. But start with the mind.

That is the first and the most important step — the mind. Reclaim it. See how they have occupied your mind. Take it back. They have used greed and fear to occupy your mind. Don’t succumb to greed. Don’t fall prey to fear. And it’s a real battle. It is the only battle worthy of being fought. Fight it!

They are trying to break into your home. You will have to fight. They are trying to spoil the most sacred core of your being. You will have to fight. And you must fight. How can you give in? There can be no reconciliations, no compromises, no half-steps. You must fight with all your might. Don’t fall prey to their markets, to their propaganda, to their advertising, to all that they teach you. Don’t fall prey to all their conditioning, to the way of life they lure you with. Don’t fall prey to all that.

It’s a battle. A real battle, a bloody battle. Don’t prove to be a coward. Remember what Kabir said?

“Bhaage bhalaa na hoyega, kahaan dharoge paanv,
sir saunpo seedhe lado, kahe karo kudaanv”

(Running here and there will not do you any good. Surrender and jump into the fight)

His words are more true today than they probably were in his time.

Where will you go? The rascals are everywhere. So don’t run away. Fight where you are.