Begin with Knowledge || Acharya Prashant

I greet some of my friends randomly with Assalamualaikum. Assalamualaikum is a Muslim greeting. It is actually an Arabic word which means stay in peace. But when I do that, they don’t like it. See, they will not like it because they have their own religious compulsions. But my question to you is do you know what peace means? Those who dislike it just because probably it has an Arabic sound to it, fine.

Let’s keep them aside. But you are the one initiating the conversation. Do you know what peace is? We use these words so frequently every day, don’t we? Very frequently and equally casually. Love, peace, welfare, friendship, life. Do we know their meaning? I love you. What exactly has been said? You have your personal concept of what you have said. Nothing absolute about it. You have a feeling, a vague woolly feeling. I want to be happy.

Now, what is this happiness? Do we know any of these words that we hold very central to life to our being but we are familiar with them and that familiarity breeds a confidence of knowledgeability. When you say Assalamualaikum they don’t know what they’re resisting but they are not here right let them meet their fate.

My question to you is when you greet someone with what you call as a religious…