Real change comes not from your effort but from your Surrender || Acharya Prashant (2015)

Questioner (Q): We have often discussed that one should not go to somebody with a reason. But if we discuss this in the context of a student-teacher relationship, a student goes to his teacher thinking that going to the teacher, he will probably get rid of his diseases. So, there is always a reason in this case.

So, how should be a student-teacher relationship?

Acharya Prashant (AP): See how you are framing your question. From which point are you asking? You said, “One should not go to a teacher for a reason.”

What you are saying is, “Remaining what one is, one should modify his behavior.” Do you see what you are trying to hide and protect? What are you trying to protect? What one is. You want to protect that. You didn’t say, “One should discover his nature, that particular nature which does not cater to reasons, which is not a slave of reasons.” You didn’t say that.

When one discovers his pristine nature, then one does not approach ‘anybody’, just for reasons, let alone a Teacher. It is not a question of merely one relationship. It is not merely a question of how you approach the Teacher. It is the question of how you approach anybody – that man on the street, that animal, that tea-vendor, that cart-puller, that shopkeeper, that dog on the road. The very centre from where you make relationships, changes, right? You have to talk about that centre.

Who is the one, who is approaching the Teacher? Talk about that one, not about – how remaining what you are, you should be with the Teacher. Remaining what you are, whatever you do, is not going to be fulfilling.