Acharya Prashant: ‘We are two’. And, there are always two ways to look at our existence. One is to look at our physical body and say we are purely physical, material. Who am I? This (referring to the body). The other way is to see that you are probably not the body, rather, you are with a body or you have a body. Don’t you say ‘my body? We don’t say ‘me body’.
Out of these two ways, the first way is more common, more straightforward, and easier to take. This duality in our existence is the fundamental reason behind all human suffering. On one hand -there is this preprogrammed body that has its own processes and intentions as well. On the other hand, there is the invisible consciousness that is related to this body, attached to this body. But, at the same time has an objective very different from that of the body, hence, the twoness.
This twoness is not greatly experienced by animals. It is not experienced by any life form apart from human beings. Animals really do not have a force of consciousness that may potentially rally or revolt against their physical being. Or, you could say that in animals, consciousness is almost in agreement with its physical being. What the animal's body wants, its consciousness readily agrees too. If the animal wants to eat because its body, its stomach is now in need of food, then its mind immediately starts finding ways to get food. Without questioning, without resisting. If the body needs food then the only purpose and objective of the mind is to seek food. That’s how an animal lives.
But, in the case of human beings, there is a clear dissonance, hence, I said ‘we are two’. The body may want one thing but, the mind may want something totally different. The body may say that ‘I need sleep’ but, the mind may say ‘no I am in the middle of the movie, I want to finish the movie off.' Or, the mind may say ‘I am driving now, I need to complete the journey. I can’t go to sleep’. Or, the mind may say ‘I have a very very critical task to complete, I can’t go to bed’. Right?
