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The hurt that you have received is a result of your own lack of understanding about the nature of life. This is an opportunity to understand life. It is an opportunity to not let the previous mistakes be repeated.

What Is the Purpose of Life, When Death Is Certain?

8 min

Death is a point in time, right. That’s what you call the incidence of death. And life you call a stretch in time. Isn’t time an opportunity then, for change, real change? Time is anyway defined as change in space. Isn’t time also an opportunity for genuine change? Before time ends for the physical organism and the moment of death arrives. Isn’t time an opportunity to move into the timeless? And if one hasn’t done that before his physical death. Hasn’t he just wasted his life?

Loneliness: Gift or Curse?

Most of us have such low tolerance for loneliness that we fill it up with crap. Either the wrong kind of job, or beliefs, or person. Loneliness is a gift because it gives you the opportunity and the freedom to go for the best. “I’m lonely,” means “I have the opportunity.” And the opportunities are available throughout life. Do you want to give that up?

There Is No Liberation for the Dead

12 min

Organized religion is just an elaborate conspiracy to keep you away from Mukti. And you put it very nicely: nobody talks of Mukti when they are alive. Now, after they are gone, their kith and kin are supposed to be worried about their Mukti, which is all quite nonsensical. Once you are gone, the opportunity is gone. There is no liberation for the dead. No liberation at all for the dead. And that is why the opportunity called life is so precious.

Most people Labour, Very Few Work

15 min

If the intention is right, then one can convert labor into work. And if the intention is misplaced, then even a great opportunity for work can be degraded into mere labor.

You Want to Save Your Child? First, Let It Hurt – Children’s Day Special

9 min

It’s not going to be right when the patient starts playing the doctor. We need to grow up; and having a kid, in that sense, is an opportunity. You want to be of some use to the kid, then grow up with the kid.

How to Raise a Daughter?

21 min

Please be an observer and a compassionate witness. Keep watching, watch from a distance. Meddling is not needed. Being a parent of a girl child today is a humongous opportunity. You have the chance to give rise to a new world—if you can truly raise one girl as a free girl.

Have It All But Still Unfulfilled?

For those who already have a certain level of financial, social, intellectual, and familial attainment but are still not satisfied, the only thing that can fulfill them is forgetfulness towards their personal success. Serve a cause bigger than yourself, and there will be no time or opportunity to keep wondering whether your demands have been met. This is when you have really succeeded.

When Merit Is Dethroned, a Nation Withers

9 min

A nation does not fall only to war. It crumbles when its own people begin to lose trust in it. When the youth no longer believe that merit leads to opportunity, they begin to lose faith in the very idea of a nation. The social contract is not printed on paper; it lives in the heart. When that heart withdraws, the contract collapses.

10 New Year Resolutions Suggested by Acharya Prashant

Man has always been attracted to the new. But attraction alone is not enough, especially when one is resistant to leaving the old ways. 'New' comes with an opportunity to change, and equally with a responsibility to act upon that change. Bridging this gap between attraction and action, Acharya Prashant guides us with practical resolves that possess the potential to bring real development—if followed honestly!

Should Women Leave Their Parental Home?

11 min

Your only obligation is your liberation. These are just loveless social customs and economic structures where a woman is seen as a factor of production that produces babies. There’s no need to go to the husband’s place or even stay at your father’s if you are unloved and unwanted. The world is a vast opportunity. Live anywhere, stay anywhere, do whatever is the right work, and fly free—simple.

The Enemy Falls Outside. The Enemy Rises Inside.

15 min

The difference between the dictator and the ordinary citizen is not one of kind but of opportunity. The protester who has not seen through her own craving for power is not the tyrant's opposite. A society of inwardly unexamined people will produce corrupt systems as reliably as a diseased root produces bitter fruit. A complete revolution would require something far more demanding than the willingness to face tear gas.

Duryodhana's Mental State in the Mahabharat Battlefield

63 min

Time is already short, and you cannot waste something you already are short on. And Duryodhana lost out on it. And it's the most regrettable thing when you observe a life gone waste, that too a life like Duryodhana's. Duryodhana is a very dark example of that wasted opportunity, and he realizes that. He was not ‘Duryodhana’ from the beginning, he was named as Suyodhana- someone who would be glorious in war-someone who could win the internal war.

Lack of Research Culture in India

13 min

The very nature of research is that there is uncertainty. It’s a dive into the unknown. We fear the unknown so much that we want to stick to known lanes throughout; that’s what explains the lack of a research culture. There are just so many masters all around and over you. Don’t listen to them. All those who stop you from flying high, they are being irresponsible, because they in no way can compensate for the opportunity you lose.

On Suicide

24 min

A suicide is a sad event because it prevents us from realizing our possibility and potential — there was an opportunity to live, learn, grow, realize, and be liberated, but it was wasted. But how many of us actually manage to realize our potential even if we live to 80 years? Hardly anybody. For our species, the extent of aliveness is proportional to the freedom and height of our consciousness. So ask yourself honestly: How close am I to the best I could have been?

The Gift of Genuine Guilt

11 min

It's probably a blessing when we commit blunders that can no longer be hidden or justified because only then are we forced to admit to ourselves that we are operating from the wrong centre. When this happens and our act of ignorance harms a loved one, we cannot undo it, but there is something within us that can be undone — that's the opportunity. When guilt is real and complete, it shows you the completeness of your unconsciousness and becomes an agent of change. When it is superficial, it becomes an agent of defence.

AI: The Revolution You Cannot Miss

9 min

The kind of knowledge that AI puts in the hands of the common man today is unprecedented. And it must be put to the best possible use. Think of all the evils that we suffer from. Don't they come from our false beliefs? AI is the litmus test. If you believe in something, go test it with AI. You may not get the veritable Truth itself, but the chances are that you will get something much better than what you currently believe in. AI is a huge opportunity and those who are missing out are doing themselves a great disservice.

How to Utilise One's Time During the Corona Lockdown Period?

5 min

Questioner: How do I utilise my time better during this self-isolation period so that my devotion in him is strengthened and what are the things that I need to keep a check upon during this free time?

Acharya Prashant: All right. Keep a check upon yourself. There’s nothing else to… read_more

Why Others Can't Fulfill Your Expectations

The movies tell us that unless there is a special person in your life, you are really missing out on something big and you are seized by FOMO. What is FOMO? Fear of missing out. "Oh my god! Everybody has that. I am the only one left behind. I must also have a partner, a girlfriend, a boyfriend, a husband, a wife, something. Hey, go grab somebody." So you go out and grab some Johnny next door. He was busy washing his sandals, and you went up to him and threw your most seductive smile and then he too was infected by FOMO. He said, "Now that I have the opportunity, why shouldn't I capitalize?" And thus, came about the relationship. And you call it a holy bond made in heaven. Why do we do that?

Farid on awakening

Don't be so serious; nothing is too important || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)

*farida jaaganaa ee taan jaag, hoiaa ee parbhat*is jaagan noo pachhtaayengaa ghanaa savenga raat

This is the only time when awakening is possible. The dawn is right Now. Avail the great opportunity or remain a loser.

Farid says that you have anyway been sleeping since a really long time.… read_more

No action in continuation of restlessness will take you to rest || Acharya Prashant (2015)

Speaker: How many of you feel this way that when the time is there, the opportunity is there, you feel blank? The mind experiences a blackout. Do you understand a blackout? There is nothing. And when the moment is gone then the thoughts arise. In the moment of action, you… read_more

Impossible situation? Good! || Neem Candies

Question: Sir, as you said right now that when I am really here, then there is no opportunity for restlessness. But when I am really here, a restlessness, an inner thirst, is there. And this thirst is unbearable.

Shri Prashant: No, you call that restlessness. It is never there on… read_more

Living fully does not mean adding something to life. It means recognizing that life is already complete, and you must not disrespect that fullness. It is not about going out and consuming life. The volume or quantity of experiences doesn’t matter; what matters is the quality. There is nothing but fullness—just go close to it.

Even in those situations that we call as utterly woeful, utterly hopeless, if we just do that which we are capable of doing, would there be space and opportunity and time to despair? If you do what you must, where is the time to suffer?

In fact, the more impossibly… read_more

How to Live Fully?

3 min

One can be purposeless only when the purpose of life has been met || (2019)

What does future mean to you? || Neem Candies

Questioner: Acharya Ji, what is the purpose of life?

Acharya Prashant: The purpose of something, is the end of that thing. And life, as we know it, anyway has a predefined end; predefined end is physical death. It's well known, it's an obvious thing, no? But, we still ask this… read_more

Remember that great victory? || Neem Candies

Unfortunately, this is the way most people look at the future: not with an intent to become better or improve, but with the intent to remain exactly as they are. That’s why future is such a big issue.

Then there is the other kind of mind. It says, “Obviously, I… read_more

Can one get rid of mental patterns even at an advanced age? || (2017)

The ego will forget 999 defeats and remember that one game when it was able to win a game in spite of being 0-9 down. The memory of that one game keeps your false confidence alive.

Then you repeatedly keep slipping to 0-9 positions.

It is 0-3; you say, “Not… read_more

3 min

Questioner (Q): All the wisdom is available to us only after a certain age. But the dye is prepared early in the childhood. How does one change his dye at an advanced stage of his life?

Acharya Prashant (AP): The dye is no good. The dye does not help you.… read_more

What you're using AI for?

12 min

It totally depends on what you're using AI for. You use AI to educate yourself about the climate, and then if AI takes energy to run on the net, still the deal is beneficial. Maybe by educating yourself using AI, you have consumed x units of energy, but the education would mean that you will now save 5x units of energy. So, on the whole it's a favorable deal.

How to Cope with a Loved One's Death?

To the loved ones who have died, pay the holiest tribute possible. There are others still here; ensure you have right relationships with them. If a relationship is right, the end won't hurt much. The end might even be glorious, a true pinnacle. The relationship was an upward journey all along, and death now becomes the peak of that connection.

Get sex, breakup, repeat ||Neem Candies

Love or business? || Neem Candies

You are lonely, so you go and tie a knot with someone who is as lonely as you are. Then there are mutual expectations, which obviously cannot be fulfilled because neither of you are capable of fulfilling them.

In a series of failed expectations, in a series of failed relationships,… read_more

What is liberation from the cycle of birth and death? || Acharya Prashant, on Nitnem Sahib (2019)

We talk of the mother-child relationship as a classic case of love, at least that is the convention. But see what happens when the child doesn’t live up to the parents’ expectations or, worse still, actively breaches what the parents want. There can be murders.

When the mind is such… read_more

Does Vedanta Inspire the Indian Constitution?

ਕਰਮੀ ਆਵੈ ਕਪੜਾ ਨਦਰੀ ਮੋਖੁ ਦੁਆਰੁ ॥

karmee aavai kaprhaa nadree mokh du-aar

By good karma, the Saropa, which is this body, the robe of honor, is obtained, and by His kindness, the door to salvation opens.

~ Guru Granth Sahib 2-5 (Japji Sahib, Nitnem)

✥ ✥ ✥

Questioner (Q):… read_more

18 min

We say the Constitution of India is inspired from the outside and lacks indigenous origins. That’s not right. Go close to its spirit and you’ll find nothing alien in it. To know who I am and reach the place of my purity, ‘Justice, Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity’ are needed. The Constitution arises from the very spirit of freedom, which is the only goal of all spirituality, particularly Vedanta.

Suffering from FOMO? || Neem Candies

Turn coronavirus lockdown days into a blessing

The movies tell us that unless there is a special person in your life, you are really missing out on something big, and then you are seized by FOMO. What is FOMO? Fear of missing out.

“Oh my God, everybody has that! I am the only one left behind! I… read_more

The coronavirus lockdown can be seen not merely as suffering, but as a mirror of humanity’s own ego, violence toward nature, and disconnection from Truth. Isolation offers a rare chance for self-observation, solitude, and spiritual learning. Instead of resenting it, the wise can use this time to turn inward and reconnect with great teachings.

Are you living rightly? || Neem Candies

Going beyond words || Acharya Prashant (2017)

Ask yourself this one question: The way I am living, is it reducing my inner darkness? This question, only this question, determines whether you are living rightly.

It doesn’t matter how well fed you are, how well clothed you are, how well monied you are, how reputed, how respectable you… read_more

The language of emotions || (2016)

Questioner (Q): What is beyond the words?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Words will always belong to the mental realm, to the path. What is beyond the path? The destination. Whatever is being said, is being said so that you can be close to the destination. Words are for the sake of… read_more

A huge kitchen called life || Neem Candies

Questioner: Is getting devoid of all emotions a part of feeling contented?

Acharya Prashant: Can you do that?

Why must we give importance to hypothetical questions? Can you really get rid of all emotions? And if you do, would that person be the same as this one? And if not,… read_more

Children’s Day: Unpopular opinion but true || Neem Candies

Cooking, cooking, cooking, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, washing, washing, washing—is this what you are born for? Three kids are there, somebody needs footwear, somebody needs underwear—that is all there is to your life? Footwear for the younger one, underwear for the elder one, thermal wear for the husband—is this what you… read_more

Man is a restlessness || Acharya Prashant (2016)

If it were a perfect world, kids would be born only to Buddhas because only they know what parenting is. Only they, in the real sense, deserve to be parents. But we do beget kids. And if you are a father or a mother—could be any reason, random chance of… read_more

14 min

Acharya Prashant (AP): A small particle of snow starts falling from a hillside. As it keeps rolling down the slope what does it gather?

Listener 1 (L1): More snow

AP: More snow. And ultimately it becomes quite big. So, if you ask, “Who is it that has become big?”

Has… read_more

Loneliness, Hurt, Conflict... || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2015)