Beware of those suggesting to avoid the scriptures

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

Questioner: Sir, isn’t reading scriptures just an acknowledgment of knowledge? Why should one read scripture, if one can learn from life itself?

Acharya Prashant: It totally depends on you, rather than the scripture. It is not about whether or not scriptures are useful. It is about what you want from the scripture. If you want knowledge from the scripture, you will get that; but if you want liberation, that’s another thing altogether.

The scripture by itself is in some way powerless— you decide what to make out of it. So, I am neither against nor for scriptures.

If you go to the scriptures with the right intention, they are the biggest blessing that you can ever get. But if the intention itself is ‘mediocre’, ‘tainted’, then what can the poor scripture do? The best it can do is warn you, right at the outset; and many scriptures actually do that.

The first few verses would be warnings and disclaimers — idiots don’t proceed, if you are coming to me without having cultivated a certain detachment then don’t proceed, if you are coming to me with any desire except that of liberation kindly don’t proceed. So, all these warnings are there in advance. But why would you heed them? If you…