There is no problem outside of yourself

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

Questioner (Q): Sir, mystery is unknown, and our mind is running behind them to solve them. Why?

Acharya Prashant (AP): The mind, rather the ego, does not acknowledge anything as a mystery. Mystery by definition is something that can never be…?

Listener 1 (L1): Known.

Acharya Prashant (AP): Known, solved. But the ego is arrogant. It says, ‘Everything is a problem, and every problem has a solution. So, I can solve everything.’ So it is busy trying to solve everything, trying to solve everything. In fact, the more it solves, the more it gets inflated.

So it creates more and more problems so that it can come up with more and more solutions and feel more powerful. For the ego, there is no mystery. Once it realizes that there is a mystery then the problem should anyway go because all the problems are ego created. Ego creates problems. Can you see the whole movement?

L2: Sir, the problem is a problem now.

Acharya Prashant (AP): No, the problem is not a problem. The problem is always a problem for somebody. The problem is a problem when you want something. Alright? Otherwise, there is nothing called a problem. It’s just a situation. It is happening. You call it a problem because you have a particular identity. You are somebody who is having that problem. Otherwise, it is not a problem. Nothing is a problem. It is just a situation.

A problem exists only for the ego. Otherwise, there is no problem. Are you getting this?

‘I want forty lac rupees. I have only ten lacs.’ Now, it’s a problem. Right? Why it is a problem?

L1: Because he wants more.

Acharya Prashant (AP): Is there something wrong with the figure of rupees ten lacs?

L1: No, Sir.

Acharya Prashant (AP): What is the problem then? Because ‘I am somebody who wanted forty. So, it is a problem that I have only ten.’ Otherwise, it is just a situation.

L2: So, I should try to get forty or be happy with ten?