How to differentiate right thinking from wrong thinking? || Acharya Prashant,on Shri Ashtavakra Gita
śuddhamadvayamātmānaṁ bhāvayanti kubuddhayaḥna tu jānanti saṁmohādyāvajjīvamanirvṛtāḥ-Ashtavakra Gita(18-43)
Translation: The stupid one thinks of himself, and lives in the confusion of concepts.The wise one knows himself and lives in the joy of clarity.
Speaker: The question is: If one doesn’t meditate upon the aatman and still be redeemed, then what to meditate of. Those of dull intellect meditate upon the aatman as pure and one but they do not realize it. Through delusion they remain unhappy as long as they live.
The exact word used is ‘kubuddhi’, the one with impure intellect. What is the difference between sadbuddhi(pure intellect) and kubuddhi(impure intellect)? ‘The man with kubuddhi(impure intellect)’, Ashtavakra says, ‘even if he meditates upon the supreme truth, even if he says technically all the right things, that the aatman is pure, the aatman is one, that the aatman is without a second, he doesn’t realize it. He remains deluded and he consequently remains unhappy as long as he lives.’
What is this kubuddhi(impure intellect)which is responsible for his deluded state throughout his life? Buddhi(intellect)is the movement of mind from one state to the other. The mind is constantly in a flux, always moving, thoughts rising and falling, images coming and going. No state of mind is permanent, and if it is looked at closely, it would seem that it doesn’t survive even for a moment.
