I Know What's Right But I Still Can't Act On It || Acharya Prashant, IIT Goa (2025)

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]We know what the right thing to do is, but even after the knowledge of it, we don't move on that path and we tend to make wrong decisions.

[00:00:07]>> So, if you say you have knowledge, but are unable to act on that knowledge, then you have knowledge of the external kind, but you don't have wisdom.

[00:00:17]Because fried food is bad for you. You may know and still take fried food.

[00:00:24]Smoking is injurious. You may know. You might be a nicotine specialist, actually. And still you're found smoking a pack per day. So, wisdom is not about knowing. Wisdom is about [music] and you are changing. You're looking at yourself and you're changing. And that's the magic. [music] That's the magic.

[00:00:40]>> have to conduct an experiment. The experiment is already on. What is missing is not the experiment, but the >> So, I was saying that as you've mentioned that the knowledge of oneself is very important and that can only come with wisdom. But I don't understand that how can wisdom merely cause a change in the environment and also within ourselves? Because we are wise in a lot of fields. We know what the right thing to do is and we know what the right path is. But at times we tend not to even after the knowledge of it, we don't move on that path and we tend to make wrong decisions. So, >> Oh.

[00:01:19]>> um how does wisdom play a role here?

[00:01:22]>> test there is when it comes to just knowledge, knowing is accumulating.

[00:01:33]When it comes to just knowledge of the kind found in your textbooks, then knowing equals accumulating.

[00:01:42]But when it comes to wisdom, knowing equals being.

[00:01:48]So, if you say you have knowledge, but are unable to act on that knowledge, unable to live as per that knowledge, then you have knowledge of the external kind, but you don't have wisdom.

[00:02:03]Because with wisdom, knowing automatically becomes being.

[00:02:09]Knowing automatically becomes being and doing and everything.

[00:02:13]External knowledge you can accumulate and yet not act on it.

[00:02:19]Right?

[00:02:21]Fried food is bad for you.

[00:02:25]You may know and still take fried food.

[00:02:29]Smoking is injurious, you may know and accumulate all that knowledge.

[00:02:35]You might be a nicotine specialist actually.

[00:02:38]You know the chemistry of that accurately.

[00:02:42]And still you are found smoking a pack per day.

[00:02:45]It is quite possible.

[00:02:47]There knowing becomes accumulation.

[00:02:51]You have known and taken it and kept it somewhere here. Known it and stored it.

[00:02:58]>> It's like we say "Janane me aur samajhne me fark hai."

[00:03:00]>> Very well said. So, wisdom is not about knowing.

[00:03:05]Wisdom is about seeing yourself.

[00:03:14]It's a moment of of inner You may call it transformation, you can call it beautification, you may call it refinement, or if you are courageous enough, you may call it a collapse.

[00:03:28]And it's not a particular moment. I said a moment.

[00:03:33]It's a It's a It's a continuous series. You're looking at yourself and you're changing.

[00:03:41]You're looking at yourself and you're changing and that's the magic.

[00:03:44]That's the magic.

[00:03:46]That's the magic.

[00:03:48]We say when the disease is unreal, the diagnosis is the cure.

[00:03:54]Diagnosis means knowing the disease. You are looking at the disease and the disease is disappearing because the disease was just an experience, never a reality.

[00:04:05]That's the thing about life. You can experience the unreal also.

[00:04:10]Something is not there, yet there can be an experience.

[00:04:14]Don't you experience ghosts?

[00:04:17]Don't you?

[00:04:18]There is the the foggy night and the projection of the lamp post and you feel somebody is there.

[00:04:28]That's the misleading thing with life.

[00:04:31]We experience so many things that have no existence.

[00:04:37]We can be misled. We can be made a fool of.

[00:04:43]She definitely loves me.

[00:04:46]Because she has been looking at me since 2 hours, four times.

[00:04:50]The frequency is four per minute, something something something.

[00:04:54]And next day you are running in the campus heartbroken.

[00:04:58]She slapped me in front of everybody.

[00:05:00]You experienced she is fallen for you.

[00:05:05]But that was never the reality. Which means you can even experience that which is unreal.

[00:05:13]Are you getting it?

[00:05:15]When you look at yourself, all that you have thought about yourself collapses.

[00:05:22]Aren't you a brave person?

[00:05:25]Aren't you a brave person?

[00:05:28]Aren't you an honest one?

[00:05:31]Yeah?

[00:05:31]>> We all think we are.

[00:05:32]>> Yes, you all think you are.

[00:05:33]>> We try to be.

[00:05:34]>> Yes, and then there is the moment when that dog is chasing you.

[00:05:41]With nobody else around.

[00:05:45]And no shelter in sight for the next 100 m.

[00:05:50]That's the moment to really see who you are.

[00:05:55]I'm the honest one.

[00:05:57]And I really believe I'm the honest one.

[00:05:58]You call me dishonest, I'll slap you.

[00:06:01]I'm really the honest one.

[00:06:04]Nobody in the hall.

[00:06:09]This thick a pack of currency here. And nobody in the hall, no CCTV's either.

[00:06:17]And I have been resisting it since 2 hours. Going out, coming in.

[00:06:22]And finally after 6 hours, I declare to myself, "Nobody is anyway claiming it or owning it." So, he wanted to go.

[00:06:32]Now, this is the moment to know whether or not you're honest.

[00:06:38]This is the moment of that inner clarity or inner collapse.

[00:06:43]Getting it? You were thinking of yourself as somebody, but only in the action of the self can you know the reality.

[00:06:52]Otherwise, there is just the image. Just the illusion.

[00:06:57]Just the image. I love you so much.

[00:06:59]I love you so much.

[00:07:00]But then, you you look at all the selfishness present in the relationship. And only then can you acknowledge that this is not love.

[00:07:11]There's just self-centered exploitation that I'm calling as love.

[00:07:16]Otherwise, you'll keep believing you are a loving one.

[00:07:21]Are you getting it?

[00:07:23]>> But sir, as you said that the real realization of our honesty is in the action itself when that point comes. But sometimes it >> No, no, no, no, no. It's not about doing it. You're you're getting it wrong.

[00:07:36]How you are framing it is "Now that you know it, do it." And that's the real thing. No, no, I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is that which you are doing is the real thing.

[00:07:46]You're starting from inside. You're saying, "I already know I'm honest. Now I must act honestly." That's what you're saying.

[00:07:53]What I'm saying is, "Don't assume yourself to be honest.

[00:07:58]Don't assume yourself to be anything.

[00:08:01]Like a true explorer, like a true scientist, like a true ideal, look at the evidence. Look at the fact.

[00:08:09]Why should I assume 2π √l/g?

[00:08:12]What I would rather do swing the pendulum.

[00:08:18]And note.

[00:08:19]Right? That's what is called as observation.

[00:08:22]And then I'll match it with the formula.

[00:08:25]And if it matches, I'll say, "Fine.

[00:08:27]Looks fine. Looks fine."

[00:08:29]I have taken measure of the length.

[00:08:32]The gravity constant is known.

[00:08:34]And the T has been noted using the stopwatch.

[00:08:39]And now let me match. If are they aligning? Approximately 2% error. I think that is acceptable.

[00:08:47]>> But sir, experimentation um in order to identify a thing, it's not possible in every case because those who do experiment with things >> No, you don't have to experiment. You don't have to do anything. You have to just watch. It is already happening.

[00:09:01]It is happening this moment.

[00:09:04]It is happening this There's a reason you're nodding this way. That's has That's what has to be observed. There's a reason, for example, you nodded and he didn't. There's a reason he stands with his lips parted.

[00:09:16]These are the things that tell you of who you really are. Otherwise, there is just an image, usually a very flowery image. You know, I'm just You don't have to conduct an experiment.

[00:09:29]The experiment is already on. What is missing is not the experiment but the observer.

[00:09:38]The experiment is happening right now.

[00:09:39]This is the experiment. Life, every moment of it, every turn of it is the experiment. What is missing is the >> observation.

[00:09:47]>> Observation, like pendulum continuously swinging.

[00:09:50]What's missing?

[00:09:53]The observation.

[00:09:54]That's what is needed.

[00:09:56]And it's a beautiful thing.

[00:09:58]The joy of catching yourself red-handed.

[00:10:01]I used to think of myself in such terms.

[00:10:05]Uh I just noticed something else. No, no, no. I just noticed something else.

[00:10:12]That's not who I am. And you know I can safely bet all of us are greatly deluded.

[00:10:21]You are not who you think you are.

[00:10:25]You are just not who you think you are.

[00:10:30]Who are you?

[00:10:32]Look at your thoughts, actions, feelings, reactions, desires, hopes, and you will know.

[00:10:38]Slowly, gradually. It is not something that you can come to to conclude. It's not something that you can end somewhere.

[00:10:47]Continuously you will keep knowing who you are.

[00:10:52]>> But sir, like uh looking at our thoughts and actions, uh like as you said, we can know ourselves, but in in many in case of many people, they their opinions, their thoughts and uh like they are not constant. They keep on changing.

[00:11:07]>> Yes.

[00:11:07]>> At one time they like for example, I am there. At one time I may find one ideology to be good.

[00:11:13]>> Yes.

[00:11:13]>> At the other time I may find the other one to be good.

[00:11:16]>> So, I'm a pendulum.

[00:11:17]>> Yes, sir.

[00:11:18]>> Yes. But I thought of myself as a stationary stick.

[00:11:22]And I discover I'm a pendulum, and I do not even know the pivot.

[00:11:26]I'm swinging from this extreme to that without knowing what is causing the swing. Do I really know how I pivoted from this one to that?

[00:11:37]I don't know, but it just happens. Right now I'm thinking about my career. Next moment I'm thinking about some political matter. Next moment I'm thinking about the next movie to watch. Next moment I'm thinking about this fellow who is my competition. Next moment I'm thinking about that woman I dote over.

[00:11:54]Who am I?

[00:11:56]Who am I?

[00:11:58]Something happens and I change.

[00:12:01]Something happens, anything happens, I change. I'm continuously changing, not just in terms of ideology, but in terms of identification.

[00:12:11]Right? This form of body, it appears stationary, but this one is also changing continuously.

[00:12:18]Even as you're sitting here, cells in your body are continuously being replaced.

[00:12:23]Just because we cannot look at that that microscopic, that granular level, so you think this is one stationary object seated on this chair. The fact is he is already changed. Is he the same one? No.

[00:12:37]72 hours.

[00:12:39]That's the life cycle of your skin cells, and there are some cells that that last only 2 hours.

[00:12:46]How are you the same person?

[00:12:49]How are you the same person? And they are not just being replaced, they are multiplying.

[00:12:54]And the cells that are now coming forth are not exactly the same as the previous ones. Otherwise, you wouldn't have aged.

[00:13:01]You've seen how your face changes as you grow up, which means the new cells are not exactly the same as the previous ones.

[00:13:08]So, how are you the same person?

[00:13:10]Your brain is changing, everything about you is continuously changing. Who are you?

[00:13:15]Your ideology is changing, your shirt is changing, your food is changing.

[00:13:20]Your girlfriends are changing. Who are you?

[00:13:24]Your preferences are changing, your desires are changing, everything about you, inner or outer, is changing. Who are you?

[00:13:31]I don't have an answer.

[00:13:34]You figure out.

[00:13:39]>> But just knowing ourselves took a lot of time. Lot of time. It's a take over a year.

[00:13:44]>> it doesn't take a lot of time. It takes infinite time.

[00:13:47]>> Yes, sir, but after we knowing what we do the life the time got >> No, no, no, it's not that after What is after infinity, by the way?

[00:13:56]I said infinite time, and you said after that, you know, it might be too late. I said after infinity, it might be too late.

[00:14:03]It's a process. It's a continuous process, beautiful to be with.

[00:14:08]You don't have to wait for it to end.

[00:14:10]You'll not say, "Once I have done the practice of self-observation, then I'll take a particular decision."

[00:14:17]It is not something that you come to an end of.

[00:14:21]It is not something that ever concludes.

[00:14:24]It's a way of living. Almost like your breath.

[00:14:27]Do you wait for your breath to stop, and then after my breath stops, then I'll go and eat?

[00:14:33]Do you say that?

[00:14:34]So, you're breathing even as everything else is happening.

[00:14:37]Right? It's a It's a concurrent happening. This and that. The experiment is already on. Along with that, now the observer is also there.

[00:14:48]The two are simultaneous.

[00:14:50]Mhm, yeah.

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[00:14:57]And you have live testimonials streaming in at the rate of one every 5 minutes. I'm seeing lives change in thousands, if not millions, every day in front of my own eyes. We're doing it. We have actually done it.

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