Hollow trees are so easily felled by winds

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

Question (Q): Sir, my question is that how can one realize a thing to such an extent that he starts applying it in his life?

Acharya Prashant (AP): We had said that to realize something, two steps are needed:

1. Attentive observation of the mind and the world.

2. Faithful reading of wisdom literature.

Both these steps need to be carried out continuously and patiently for some time.

There have been rare people who refused to accept conditioning and suffering as their destiny. They put in everything they had to really understand what is going on. They said they cannot waste life living without knowing.

They realized, and then in compassion, helped others realize.

Mankind is grateful that their words exist in a recorded form for us. Whatever precious that we have today comes from them.

Upanishads, Ashtavakra, Kabir, Sufis, Buddha, Lao Tzu, and many others have left their precious words. To miss them is to miss life. No man can be called educated if he has not read them.

Q: Sir, these days people do not have faith in god and on their inner strength. They go to…