– Acharya Prashant

That is a surprise how in the movement of hurt we see only that which has been hurt and we totally ignore that which has been NOT and both are always there. That’s the thing about humanness.

Never would come a time when a thorn would fail to prick you. Even your most impenetrable armors are vulnerable to being at least scratched by the impact of thorns and such things. Man will always be susceptible to hurt.

As long as the body is there, there is bound to be at least a remnant, the faintest shadow of the psychological self. Prick a thorn the body bleeds, prick the ego and the mental body bleeds. So, that happens.

Why do we look at this happening? Why don’t we look at changes? Why don’t we look at that, which hasn’t changed, even after billions of awful and billions of awesome experiences?

But there is something about our apparatus of perception. It is designed to perceive only change. So, you were feeling alright about yourself before you stumbled and injured your knee. Your apparatus of perception registers that. You’re feeling alright about yourself, till you see something on social media and get agitated. Again, your apparatus of perception would register the change in your mental state and say, something bad has happened to me, I got hurt.

But actually, only the outermost flimsiest skin of yours got hurt, the rest of you never gets hurt. But since we look AS the skin, all that we look AT is the skin. So, you feel as if only hurt prevails.

It’s almost as if a small blade of grass has been plugged from the soil of one of the Himalayan mountains and the Himalayas start hollering – we’ve been brought down, we’ve been brought down.

So, nothing has happened to you. Look at your worth. Look at your might. Your claim is self-deprecating. You’re humiliating yourself by saying that you are wounded.

This is self-ignorance and lack of gratitude. Self-ignorance because you do not know who you really are. So, the loss of that little thing bothers you. And gratitude, because you are not at all thankful for all that you actually and totally are. So that little loss becomes too heavy on you.

That’s a punishment for the ungrateful man. Because he does not know that he has been blessed with immensity, so, all the little losses and shocks of life totally ruffle him up.

I acknowledge that hurt is inevitable. Hurt is there, it’s part and parcel of living as a human being and hurt happens.

Acknowledging hurt is akin to acknowledging that the mountain did lose the blade of grass. As long as there are mountains, there are cattle grazing. And as long as there are cattle grazing, there are blades of grass continuously being lost. All that is part and parcel of mountain hood, that happens. Not only are blades of grass lost, but plants and trees are also lost. And when you think of the Himalayas, you also think of your hill slides, don’t you? Relatively, big chunks of rocks, soil, and land are also lost, all that happens.

And still, the Himalayas stand tall. What do you want to look at? The landslides or that which stands tall pointing at the skies. I’m not denying that so-called bad stuff doesn’t happen in life. It does happen. Why don’t you admit that you are unshakable, invincible?

Nothing bad ever really happens to you. Nothing good ever really happens to you. Deep
within you are the one to whom nothing ever happens.

(Acharya Prashant is a Vedanta teacher, author, and the founder of the PrashantAdvait
Foundation)