How to go closer to the Truth?

Know yourself equal in pain and in pleasure, equal in hope and in disappointment, equal in life and in death, and complete as you are, you can go to your rest.

~ Ashtavakra Gita (Chapter 5, Verse 4)

Question: How can we in daily-life practice this and go closer to the Truth? Is that through sitting, walking, working, meditation? Is that through living mindfulness in the present moment?

Acharya Prashant: You gave me a bad taste at the end of your question. All else was proceeding almost rightly. ‘Living mindfulness in the present moment’ — bad words! Avoid them.

You’re asking for a method. You’re asking, “How can we in daily-life practice this and go closer to the Truth? Is that through sitting, walking, working meditation?” The method is already there in the verse, in the quote. Please read carefully.

“Equal in pain and in pleasure, equal in hope and in disappointment, equal in life and in death, and complete as you are, you can go to your rest.”

What is the method? This equality is the method. But you’ll have to understand.

Equality does not mean deadness here. To a cave, to the insides of a cave, day and night are equal. We are not talking of that dark, damp, dead situation. Not that kind of equality. To the dead man, beauty and ugliness are equal. We’re not talking of that kind of equality. We are talking of remaining untouched. We are talking of remaining equally untouched by this and that. We are talking of remaining equally aloof. We are talking of remaining equally secure in ‘this’ and ‘that’.

What is ‘this’ and what is ‘that’? Pain is ‘this’, and pleasure is ‘that’. What is ‘this’ and ‘that’? Hope is ‘this’, and disappointment is ‘that’. What is ‘this’ and ‘that’? Life is ‘this’, and death is ‘that’.

You have quoted Ashtavakra saying, “Remain equal in this and that.” Life is there, death is happening. Life is apparent, death is not so apparent. But they both are happening simultaneously. If pleasure is there, pain too is happening — one is apparent, the other is hidden. In a while, the other will become apparent, and this one will become hidden. So, ‘this’ and ‘that’ are there; always there. You remain well-seated in your restful place.