Be lazy, but absolutely lazy

Acharya Prashant
2 min readJun 3, 2020

Following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Questioner: How to differentiate between the one who trusts in the universe to unfold one’s destiny, goes with the flow and allows the life to unfold, and the one who is a loser, who is lazy and does nothing?

Acharya Prashant:

The lazy one does a lot.

The lazy one is lazy and inactive, only externally.

Internally, he is very active.

Please appreciate this.

The ones we call as ‘lazy’, are not lazy at all. They may not move their limbs, but their minds are very active. Absolute laziness is a supreme virtue. Sages like Ashtavakra have sung greatly in praise of ‘Divine laziness’.

‘Divine laziness’ is a total stopping of all movement; coming to that point within, where nothing moves at all.

That’s why it is being called as ‘lazy’.

You know, there is a song, a Gita. You have heard of Bhagwad Gita of Krishna, there is another Gita, called ‘the Ajgar Gita’ (The Gita of the Great Python). The python just keeps lying somewhere, doesn’t move. It’s an icon of laziness. So that Gita is known by the Ajgar (the Python). This Gita is devoted to inaction.

There is one mind that appears to be inactive, but is very active within. There is another mind that appears to inactive, but is totally composed, still, silent within.

Which one do you want?

Q: The silent one.

AP: That is the art of living — to be totally active outside, and be totally active within.

Watch the full video here.

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Acharya Prashant