Surely there is a life beyond troubles

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

Question: Can the ego ever be free of troubles?

Acharya Prashant: You need to have faith, that there is life beyond troubles; otherwise troubles are so sweet. Who am I? The troubled one.

Troubles give you so much to fill yourself up. Troubles gives you a nice identity, an identity that you can get so easily used to.

I am the one stung by problems. I am the one, who is the victim of troubles. Troubles, problems, all of them can so easily give you something to live by. You must, first of all, let yourself acknowledge that there can be life beyond problems, not without problems.

Life without problems is not possible but there can be life beyond problems.

But we have a great belief in problems. No?

In fact, it is an insult to problems, that we call them problems. Our problems are our intimate friends. The proof is that you will not let them go. Will you ever let your problems go? Even if the problem is willing to go, you will catch it by its collar and you’ll say, no, you don’t have to. Okay, you can go at a more opportune time. You have been a guest here for so long and now its late at night and out there, there are thief’s and thugs so you can go in the morning.

AP: That morning never comes. No problem, I assure you, can stay with you, without your active involvement in the problem.

The moment you withdraw from the problem, the problem will fall. There is no problem that you experience that comes to you, without your consent, participation and active involvement.

Listener: Why we can’t see life beyond the problem?

AP: Because you have been made to believe, through the whole process of your evolution, that there is no life beyond problems and if there is no life beyond problems, then problem-lessness to you means life-lessness. You do not want to die. You have a belief that the moment problems disappear, life too will disappear, and you do not want to die.

Life has become synonymous with problems. You want to live, so you want to have, problems. Your whole journey, till this point, has pre-fed you with…