Questioner (Q): I have a bad habit of masturbation. How to overcome this addiction?
Acharya Prashant (AP): When the inner energy has gone mad, there are only two options left - either to go fully mad or to give that energy the highest expression, the highest vent, the highest exit. It would either be a very lowly exit - in ejaculation, or it would be the highest expression – energetic, devotional surrender to godliness. The choice is yours. Only these two options are there. One of the two has to be exercised, otherwise, the energy will madly roam within and won't let you settle down in peace. A channelization is needed. The channel could either be very lowly or the highest. In-between channels won't suffice.
Decide for yourself, whether you have the guts, the desire, the patience, to go for the highest channel. And if you find yourself unwilling or incapable, then the lowermost channel is always available. It is an easy vent. One can ejaculate himself out of restlessness. Too much restlessness, masturbate and you'll have a period of rest. You can go for that if that's what you want. It doesn't suffice to merely nod in disapproval. The other option will require tremendous effort. Are you ready for that? And if you are not, then the other option is a certainty.
Fill up your day, your time, your mind with the highest. Let the truly deserving one occupy you fully. If you reserve even a small corner of your being, then it will be taken over by these stinking tendencies that you have written of. Don't reserve anything. Let the highest occupy you totally. If you steer away even a bit of your time, that time will be your hell. Don't have any private time left. Don't have any personal corners left. If you have a private time and personal corners, then those corners will be used in that time to conquer you. Give the evil neither time nor space. The concept of personal and private time is nothing but the devil himself.
People talk of personal time as opposed to professional time, right? They forget that the profession that they have chosen, has also been chosen by the person. So even that which they are mistakenly calling as professional time is only personal time. Our lives have only personal time. To be in that office and earn money is your personal desire, is it not?
Q: Yes.
AP: So that time which you are spending in the office, is it not personal time? Your time in the office is personal, your time at home is personal, your time in the market is personal, your time during vacations is personal, your life is full of the personal. And I said, “Personal time and personal space is where you are getting conquered, beaten, and destroyed”. Do not give value to the personal.
Q: Acharya Ji, what is the source of strength feeling this kind of highest?
AP: Source of strength is your resistance towards suffering. When a mad dog chases you, how fast do you run? From where did the strength come?
Q: Resistance. The real source.
AP: You simply are resistant to suffering. That is the source of strength. See that you are surrounded by mad dogs, and run. You will have divine strength in your legs. You will break all records.
Q: So, if I don’t feel any strength?
AP: It means you are not seeing.
Q: Dogs.
AP: The ones who are surrounding you. You are not realizing where you are and what you are doing and who is surrounding you. The result is a body full of dog bites. And rabies is infectious. It spreads from the dog to the man, from the teacher to the student, from the student to the teacher.
Q: I have one question about this. When I was learning how to swim, my coach threw me in the pool. At such times our survival instincts come to the fore. So, we don’t have any option but to use them, we become stronger than ever. But this, if we apply the same scenario somewhere else, like at the workplace, why can’t we have the same strength, when we work at a workplace or do normal work?
AP: Because when you are drowning in water, it is gross death, it is the death of the body. And we are gross people. So gross death is easily detected and easily avoided. Gross death scares us. When your body is attacked, you can see that with your gross eyes.
When your body is threatened, you can see that with your gross eyes. When your mind is threatened, then you don't see that.
If a dog chases your body, you will be able to see the dog. But if an inner dog is chasing inner peace, you are unable to see that. Because that is a subtle attack. When the body is attacked or violated or raped, see how resistant you become. But when the mind is violated and raped, nobody says anything. We are gross people. Only gross events matter to us. Love the subtle and then the violation of the subtle would not be tolerated by you.
