Question: I want to know why the world is at the moment so harsh?
Acharya Prashant: There is nothing that one group, one community or one person experiences that the other has never experienced or is not experiencing even to the slightest degree. Fundamentally we are all one. As human…
Acharya Prashant: Do not think that all the care that one takes to appease his body, all the lust, and all the bodily vanity is for nothing. It is a very, very calculated thing. Lust is needed so that you never get liberated. One requires one episode after the other
Human beings spend five years, seven years in courtship, knowing fully well that the objective is just one, but neither the man nor the woman—assuming it’s a man-woman relationship—would dare confess it to the other. Especially not in India. Read more....
When I say that your love has to include even animals and plants and ecologies, do I mean that your love would exclude women, or that a woman’s love will exclude men? Obviously not. But then, this is pathological—sticking to a woman or sticking to a man, inwardly aiming for
Men and women are different; their biologies make them different. But what we have is a hyper genderization, a hyper sexualization. The differences are there, but little. Society has hyper-inflated those differences. The woman has been turned into a hyper-woman, and the man has been turned into a hyper-man. And
You need to pass through the entire spectrum of living. You need to experience maddening anger. You need to experience the rising force of lust. You need to experience the terrible temptation to be dishonest. You need to go through all of this without suppressing it, without being equivocal about
The moment you turn thirteen or fourteen, lust arises on its own. That’s what you experience without any effort or discipline, correct? You don’t require to be disciplined or determined for your pubic hair to grow or your periods to start. Stuff just flows on its own!
You do not need to wait for your encounters with women to know whether or not you are sexually motivated. Just see whether leather seats attract you. Just see whether furniture and garments and carpets and upholstery and wall-hangings and curtains and sofa sets attract you. Just see whether you…
Be the user of the car, not the doll in the car. Learn to be on the driver’s seat, not on the rear seat, or the seat next to the driver. Learn to hold the steering. Get out of your nest, and don’t be some damn particular about your sexuality
As some of us know, the best of sessions by Acharya Ji are the unplanned ones.Free Hearts Camp, December, has a two-year-old participant. She is just too ‘cute’ to be ignored. Acharya Ji glanced over this little girl, observed her style of walking, and blessed us with a spontaneous
Some psychedelics, some drugs, some excitement, some women, some booze—that’s what your pleasure is, right? High-speed driving, somehow managing a room in a posh hotel, walking into it with a girl—that’s what your pleasure is.
All the fun and merry-making will never give you what you really want. So have…
Dogs do it on roads, and no dog first allures the bitch with gifts or promises or rounds, or stuff over the fire, or holy chants. All that doesn’t happen. The dog knows what it wants, the bitch knows what it wants, and they just get over it quite quickly.
We are told that cleaner technology will solve the climate crisis. But emissions begin before any fuel is burnt, in a life that has no joy and so keeps reaching for the next lower pleasure: the party, the trip, the purchase. The demand for pleasure is not wrong. What matters is which pleasure we seek. Music, books, sport and real company cost the planet almost nothing. Can we look honestly at what our own consumption is trying to fill?
Many Indian parents keep their children, and especially their daughters, away from sport, even where coaches and facilities exist. The barrier is often not outside but in the parent’s own ideas: poor returns, uncertainty, and fixed notions of what a girl’s life must be. Blaming our own parents does not help either; our life is now our responsibility. Parenting is a decision of the greatest responsibility, and it begins with self-love. Can we love a child if we cannot love ourselves?
Many of us promise our parents high marks, and when the result falls short, the guilt can feel heavier than the exam itself. But no one controls results; they depend on far too many things outside us. What is in our hands is our intent, our effort and our honesty with what we study. The Bhagavad Gita says the same: our right is to action alone, never to its fruit. What if the only promise we made was to study honestly and with love?
True love is not a biological instinct, emotional attachment, or social conditioning. Biology and science explain the body's drives, but they cannot explain the self that seeks freedom. Love is the inner restlessness to move from ignorance and bondage toward truth and liberation. Religion is not rituals or inherited beliefs but this personal journey of understanding. Freedom—not possession or conformity—is the essence of both love and religion.
Truth cannot be forced upon anyone, but neither should falsehood be entertained. Genuine love is not about preserving relationships at any cost; it is about helping oneself and others break free from illusion, even if that means risking the relationship itself. Spiritual growth begins by questioning conditioning, examining falsehood without bias, and choosing authenticity over comfort. Real relationships are built on the courage to seek freedom, not convenience.
That’s the purpose of life, no? To know your real destiny beyond your physical limitations and social conditioning. Most people do not know that such a dangerous thing is surreptitiously happening to them. I have found that we are quite big on media and social media now, so comments flow in their hundreds. And women actually have a self-righteous position when they say that we are not supposed to work and you better not expect that from us. Equally, men are conditioned about the roles they are supposed to play in life at home, in society, and how they are supposed to feel about themselves.
That’s what the entire spiritual process is about, collecting the airfare. So that you can rise up, otherwise, you stay crawling on the highway. Life is not so that you just remain a crawler, a creeper. Life is so that you can take off.
You were one person when, let’s say, the relationship started, and now you are another person, and this change must reflect in the nature of the relationship. You cannot say, “Because I used to behave in this way with this person five years back, I’ll continue to hold the same practice, the same mood, the same ritual, the same identity, the same mask,” even after you have graduated to being somebody else. There’s no need to do that. If you have evolved, improved, let that show in the relationship.
Search
…
If the girl is physically attractive, the boy will feel physical attraction. Where does love come into the equation? Love is harder towards someone attractive because physical attractiveness overpowers everything else. If someone comes for your body, it’s not love. A wise woman laughs when a suitor praises her beauty.
Does this process of transformation of lust into love occur in moments when one joins hands and gratitude and in moments of complete attention or peace?
It…
Excerpts from Articles
कद नहीं, अपनी कहानी बदलो
कई तरह के डर—अकेले पड़ने, छवि खोने या छोटा समझे जाने—की जड़ अक्सर अतीत में बनी पहचान और कहानियों में होती है। शरीर की हाइट जैसी चीज़ों को समस्या मानकर उनसे जूझने के बजाय उनकी अप्रासंगिकता को समझकर आगे बढ़ना चाहिए। अतीत को दबाने से मुक्ति नहीं मिलती; उसके करीब जाकर अपनी स्मृतियों, धारणाओं और पुराने पैटर्न को निष्पक्षता से देखना ज़रूरी है।
Struggling to choose between a secure job and the path you actually feel drawn to? This isn't really a question about careers. It's about why other people's opinions have so much power over you in the first place. Real clarity doesn't come from finding the 'right' choice. It comes from honestly looking at your own fear, again and again, until it stops running the decision for you.
Justice Without Boundaries: Why Compassion Cannot Stop at Species
Oppression should not see caste, gender, creed or colour, and it should not see species either. The moral threshold is sentience, not intelligence. An animal feels pain as fully as a human does, whether or not it can explain its suffering.
Climate change is more than an environmental crisis—it is a crisis of human choices. Our patterns of consumption, consumerism and endless pursuit of more are putting increasing pressure on the planet. But meaningful change does not necessarily begin with new technology or stricter policies. It begins with a deeper question: what are we willing to change within ourselves?
ज्योतिष कितना सच है? कुंडली, ग्रह-नक्षत्र: इनका क्या अर्थ है?
वेदांत को केवल इसलिए सही या श्रेष्ठ नहीं माना जा सकता कि वह किसी विशेष परंपरा से आता है। विज्ञान जहाँ भौतिक जगत की वस्तुनिष्ठ जाँच करता है, वहीं अद्वैत वेदांत सीधे मनुष्य के ‘मैं’, उसके दुख, बंधन और मुक्ति की पड़ताल करता है। इसकी कसौटी वैज्ञानिक प्रमाण नहीं, बल्कि अपने जीवन में इसकी सच्चाई को देख पाना है। किसी दर्शन को मान लेना नहीं, बल्कि उससे स्वयं को मुक्त करना ही उसका वास्तविक उद्देश्य है।
Questioner: Sir, what pleasure is and what is its place in life?
Speaker: Khalil Gibran is saying, “Pleasure is a freedom song, But…
Questioner: Isn’t lust a demand of the body and mind while true self keeps connecting with love?
Acharya Prashant: No sir, this distinction is unfounded. What we call as lust is not at all bodily or mental or physical. It is a little deeper than that. Lust is a misplaced…
…
…
…
2
Questioner: We treat sex as fun, as food, and nothing more than that. Is that why sex converts into lust?
Acharya Prashant: No, wrong. We do not treat sex just as fun and as food. Your longing for sex is far more intense, far more aggressive, far more meaningful, rather…
So, don’t say…
1
Questioner (Q): I have a bad habit of masturbation. How to overcome this addiction?
Acharya Prashant (AP): When the inner energy has gone mad, there are only two options left - either to go fully mad or to give that energy the highest expression, the highest vent, the highest exit.…
Share
…
…
Share
1
Questioner (Q): Pranam Acharya Ji, please help me understand deeply the futility of chasing bodily pleasures. Looking back, my love for pleasures has always been above everything. There is the very strong feeling of pull, of missing out when I don’t act on my urges, which makes me act eventually.…
…
Share
1
A young athlete says she knows she should not be attached to winning, yet she is, because her coach, family and country are invested in it. Wanting to win on the court is fine; that is what a contest is for. But we never know who the next opponent will be, and the one opponent always present is ourselves. She also fears that starting at 14 was too late. The past is fixed, so what is left is to play the cards we are dealt. Where does our real contest lie?
1
We often defend a bad choice by pointing to a worse one: stay dishonest or starve, keep the wrong grip or stop playing. But the real trouble is not the option we picked. It is the option we never let ourselves see. Action does not need greed or attachment to find its energy. The third way begins by rejecting both false choices, without knowing what comes next. Which of our everyday choices are really false dilemmas?
6
Parental expectations, peer comparison, and academic pressure can overwhelm you only when you allow others’ desires to dictate your life. As an adult, you are responsible for discovering your own potential and making choices through your own understanding. Love is not about fulfilling each other’s expectations or keeping someone happy. True love requires freedom—giving others the space to live and grow, while living according to your own inner clarity.
2
We often call something “help” or “love” while secretly expecting something in return. When that return does not come, we feel hurt, revealing that the relationship was a trade, not genuine help. The ego, being unfulfilled, cannot truly love or share. Likewise, desperation to be loved makes us controllable. Real love emerges when we stop seeking validation, work on ourselves, and become so inwardly fulfilled that we no longer need to be loved.
1
The Bhagavad Gita is not a separate spiritual path or an escape from everyday life - it is a mirror that reveals the truth of your present life. Real spirituality begins with self-observation, not rituals or temporary practices. Lasting transformation comes when work, relationships, career, and personal growth become one integrated life driven by awareness, love, and freedom rather than ego, fear, money, or social pressure.
Love is not a special emotion reserved for selected people or relationships but a way of relating free from self-interest, possession, and psychological dependence. Most relationships become transactions driven by insecurity, where the ego seeks completion through ownership and exchange. Genuine companionship arises without the urge to control or claim another, allowing affection to exist naturally, freely, and without conditions or expectations.
2
Modern relationships often create more insecurity, not less, because people are conditioned to seek completion, validation, and identity through another person. Social institutions, media, culture, and tradition continuously reinforce the idea that fulfillment lies in romantic attachment. As a result, relationships become driven by dependence rather than love. Real companionship becomes possible only when one is inwardly at peace and not using another person to fill an inner void.
1
Love is not attraction, possession, dependency, or a transaction driven by personal gain. As long as relationships arise from insecurity, ownership, or the desire for psychological completion, they remain centered on the ego. Love is simple, natural, and free of self-interest, flowing without preference or exclusion. The ego seeks security, continuity, and suffering because they preserve its identity, while freedom and joy threaten its existence. A meaningful life begins when one stops repeating old patterns, accepts uncertainty, and chooses freedom over the comfort of familiar cages.
1
Climate change, population policies, and social conflicts often arise from a common source: narrow love. People, communities, and nations justify actions that benefit their own group while overlooking broader consequences for humanity and the planet. True care is not exclusive or identity-based; it is expansive and inclusive. Even motherhood, patriotism, and family concern can become limiting when reduced to narrow self-interest rather than guided by wisdom, freedom, and universal responsibility.
Love has to be seen as the need of the mind, the attraction of the mind towards Peace, towards rest. All attraction is there only with a desire; the hope is of fulfilment. So when the mind says ‘love’, along with love it has a picture of love. How do you know that somebody loves you? Only if he behaves according to set patterns. When real love comes to us, we close our gates to it. Love is not with a particular man or woman; Love is the natural state of the mind.
10
The kinds of meanings that we associate with love are actually quite demeaning. It’s not your own self-interest that you think of in love. Love is not an emotion; love primarily is a spiritual understanding. Saint Valentine would not be quite pleased with the meanings we have associated with his name and his day. The saints laid down their lives so that our faulty definition of love could be corrected, and that is probably the best use this day can be put to: correcting the definition of Love.
7
Questioner: All the forms of multimedia, the film industry and advertisements, have presented images of both sexes that are very often unrealistic and debatable. The very quality of femininity has been portrayed in the film industry, ironically, as victimizing them, merely pretty faces, and sidekicks. Why do you think women…
Real Love is a very pure thing. It is pure and it purifies. If you really love her, forget about the families, you won’t even bother whether she loves you, because Love does not demand anything in return. Forget about marriage or anything else. You love, you know love, and that is all, sufficient. Love unconditionally, and then a way will emerge. Unconditional Love is very, very intelligent, and knows no fear. It knows where the solution is, it will find a solution.
6
You have to get into your own life, thoughts, feelings, actions, decisions, and see what holds you back. And freedom from what holds you back is the most important. That is what is most important. And then you can accept whatever price you have to pay for that most important thing. So it all starts from you. what is really important is a subjective thing. It depends on you. Nobody else can tell it.
I have desires and you are the means to fulfill those desires. That’s why I come to you and I say I’m a loving person. This is not love. Most of that which we call love is actually just self-interest. A lot of our comforts, conveniences and identities depend on the other; therefore, we want to hold the other. Real love is possible only when you know that the other cannot bring anything to you. You relate to the other to share, not to gain.
We keep carrying the unexamined burden of the past all our life. That’s a great problem that we have. If you want to carry something from the past, if you want to remain related to it even today, then you have to ask: how does it benefit you? Because it’s an expensive decision to make. The purpose of life is to unburden yourself. Relate to something or somebody in a way that will help you clear away a lot of useless relationships.
13
Women, the way they are brought up in our country, anyway do not have much to lose. If I do not have much in life, and then there arrives a person who is attractive, earns well, is strong, then why, as a woman, will I not go for him? Your body is impelling you to take a particular decision, and you don't even know that it's coming from the body. The only solution is understanding, real, deep, honest observation of life. And this you could also call spirituality.
The tiger chases the buffalo calf and brings it down. Does that disappoint you? No, because that was expected. Similarly, expect animal behavior all the time from everyone around you, including yourself. Everything we do comes from the jungle, so don’t be disappointed. Disappointment always arises from expectations. You really have to strive to be someone who is not an animal. And the first step in that striving is to address your own inner animal.
14
Manifestation is simply an expression of your desire. You desire something, and then you imagine your desire has been fulfilled. What does the common man desire? ‘Give me more money.’ What will the politician desire? ‘Finish off democracy and give me power for life.’ We have very stinking desires. Do we ever desire anything that is really good for everybody? The question remains: Was that thing worth it? You gave it so much time, so much respect, did it deserve that?
5
"As long as you are giving me pleasure and satisfying my needs, there will be peace. The day you stop, there will be war.” This is the usual social contract in which we exchange pleasures and dependencies. This is why there is a lot of violence. But there can be another way of relating to the other, where you are existentially complete within. There can now be beautiful, loving, compassionate relationships because you are not looking to be a parasite or a commander.
“I love my job as long as I'm paid for it.” Can you work without being paid? If yes, then probably there is some beginning of love. There are ten things we all like, and all liking or disliking is conditional, and the mark of love is that it survives all conditions. If you come to something that is dearer to you than life itself, then you know what love is. Love is dangerous, because it would mean you have come to something that's more precious to you than life itself.
11
The other must exist in your life, and vice versa, only for the sake of internal elevation, to make you into a better person. Don't you see the impact the other one is having on your life? Seeing is the key. What does seeing mean? Seeing implies understanding. See and ask yourself: What is the impact upon me? And if you see that, you'll just push it aside. It will be spontaneous. You won't even require to think, because now you have seen.
The fellow is the worst kind of human being possible. But you will not accuse him of disloyalty, infidelity, or cheating, because he still reserved his body for you. This simply tells that the relationship is founded on the body. The woman has been trained to consider herself the body, and so has the man. Why don't we broaden our definition of loyalty? Please ask, “You couldn’t be loyal to any kind of virtue. How will you ever be loyal to me?”
