Patience

Do not use your life as a waiting room. Do not wait even a second for things that merely promise but won’t deliver, as it's in the future which is unseen. Having seen that what you hope and expect will never materialize, do not wait another moment. Drop what is false. Don’t be kind or liberal; have no patience with falseness.

A bloody nose rather than a bleeding heart || Neem Candies

When parents keep fighting || Neem Candies

I tell everybody that small defeats are inevitable. You will have them. Let them not mean too much. If you are too disturbed by small defeats, you have had it; you won’t stay put for long. You would be so embarrassed and so ashamed of yourself that you will quit.… read_more

Are you a loser? ||Neem Candies

If you are in a railway coach, and that too an enclosed cabin with two fellow passengers, and it’s just a journey, let’s say, ten hours long, and those two guys are constantly squabbling, what would it do to you? If you are very patient, you will try to sleep.… read_more

2 min

You are doing the right thing but not finding validation of it from your peers. So, in spite of doing the right thing and living rightly, or at least beginning to live rightly, you feel as if something deeply wrong is happening with you. It’s a bad situation.

Change your… read_more

How to decide the highest work to do? || Acharya Prashant, at BITS Goa (2023)

बच्चियों की परवरिश में एक ज़रूरी बात

Question (Q): Sir, you always talk of filling life with the highest work possible. I want to know what exactly is that highest work you repeatedly refer to?

Acharya Prashant(AP): We know of what is not high, right? When we are talking of filling our lives with the highest possible,… read_more

9 min

प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी प्रणाम। मेरा सवाल ये है कि मेरी दो बेटियाँ हैं, एक तेरह वर्ष की है और एक ग्यारह वर्ष की है। आचार्य जी, अभी तो मुझे ही चीज़ें स्पष्ट नहीं हुई हैं, न ही अपने बारे में, और न ही समाज से सम्बन्धित चीज़ों के बारे में।… read_more

Acharya Prashant on Two Kinds of Hope

7 min

The first kind of hope says, "I want to get something," while the second says, "I want to get rid of something." Most of us focus on the first kind, which keeps us dependent and afraid. The second kind urges us to shed everything and discover our true nature. If you must hope, hope for the second kind—hope to free yourself from societal bondage, fear, and all that’s accumulated. You are already perfect, like a diamond. What can a diamond want? What more can be added to it? Just remove the dirt. Hope to get rid of the dirt.

The Great Power That 'Om' Points To

11 min

In the Upanishads, "Om" is used as a powerful symbol of transcendence. It consists of three sounds: "A", "U" and "M". These correspond to the three states of consciousness. "Om" begins where one currently is—obviously, there can be no other place to begin with. You can only begin from where you are. So "Om' begins with "A", which is your current state of consciousness.

Parents, Apologize to Your Children!

Give Birth, and Pay the Penalty

Questioner: If a child, because of his suffering, asks his parents, “Why did you give me birth?” then what should the parents answer? Giving birth to the child is easy, but dying and mukti (liberation) is difficult.

Acharya Prashant: First of all, if the child says, “Why did you bring… read_more

The Gap Between Understanding and Action

Acharya Prashant: Have you seen how much of the parents’ time, especially the mother’s time, gets spent on the kid? It has to be done; it is a thing of justice. It is not a favor to the kid; the parents owe it to the kid. And the kid is… read_more

Understanding expresses itself through action. And understanding knows no other expression. Words are a very poor substitute for the right action and that is what Gibran is talking of here. He says that which is understood claim for its final expression as action in life. The poet often lets his understanding become his words. To that extent, there is a flow but if the words remain mere words and do not turn into life then there is no freedom yet. The imprisonment continues. Live what you love, otherwise, the punishment is tremendous.

Why Do People Commit Suicide?

9 min

Questioner: Why do people commit suicide?

Acharya Prashant: They still have a lot of hope. They feel that suicide would redeem them. They have not given up everything. They are still carrying a lot of hope. If I do not know what is beyond life, how can I enter that… read_more

How to surrender?

22 min

Questioner: Due to my conditioning and fear, mind tries to perceive some ‘thing’ to surrender to. This stops me from actually surrendering. With this conflict, how to understand if there is any movement towards the centre, or is it all at the periphery?

Acharya Prashant: The inner and the outer… read_more

Love or Knowledge: Which is More Powerful for Liberation?

Secrets of an Authentic Personality

Acharya Prashant: Love is the fire that melts down the bondage that is you. Knowledge is merely the light in which you can see your bondages. Even if you are able to look at your chains in the light of knowledge, that does not rid you of the chains. In… read_more

How to Overcome Perfectionism?

A. Objective and Fear

Wherever there is an objective, there would be fear associated with it. You hope to get something, and you fear that you may not get it. Don’t you see that a man who is chasing goals has condemned himself to live in fear?

It is possible… read_more

To Give Birth is to Take Debt

Questioner: I want everything that I do to be perfect. Because of this, I end up procrastinating a lot of things and focus only on the minor ones that I can do almost perfectly and feel satisfied about. I am not happy about this tendency. How should I get out… read_more

Vedanta and Bhakti (Devotion)

Acharya Prashant: Parents have first of all committed the mistake of bringing another person into this world of agony, longing, and suffering that they compensate for by investing themselves in raising the kid. That is why it is imperative for parents to bring education to the kids, give food to… read_more

17 min

Questioner: Namaskar Acharya ji. Acharya ji, I have been listening to you for quite some time now, and one thing that I have noticed is that whenever you speak on any topic, you always speak in the light of Advait Vedant. One thing also on which you have spoken a… read_more

Why Do We All Act so Blindly?

18 min

Questioner: * I am Darshan, and my question is very simple yet complicated. So why do we not work? So even after knowing that if we work, we will get something that we are looking for. So, to take an example, I had the opportunity to interact with a lot… read_more

How to Be Good Parents?

11 min

The child is a reflection of who the parent is. The growth of the child, is the barometer of the growth of parents. The state of the child is the litmus test on the state of the parents and the teachers.

Freedom from Frustration || AP Neem Candies

2 min

Acharya Prashant: What is the fact of life? How do you react to your own sweat? Have you seen how one reacts when one is sweating? The trickle can be quite unnerving. Have you seen the aggression with which one often wipes out his sweat? The aggression, the frustration, the… read_more

Confront Yourself before you Confront Others || AP Neem Candies

Afraid of Being Judged by Others?

Acharya Prashant: You must never be afraid of questioning others. More importantly, you must never be afraid of questioning yourself. The second part is tougher. It is easy to question others, relatively easy at least. Questioning oneself hurts the ego, but that’s what one must practice.

Question yourself: “What am… read_more

Put your heart fully into your work, and your mind will no longer be in the audience. When there is no heart in your work, then your mind wanders in the world. Love your work, and you will forget the world. Your problem is not that you are too concerned with people’s opinions. Your problem is that there is no heart in your work.

The Joy of Being Drenched in Love

13 min

Love clouds have gathered, it is raining down on me; my entire soul is soaked in it, all around there is greenery.

~ Kabir Sahab

Questioner: Could you please elaborate on the meaning of this poem?

Acharya Prashant: Just sing what Kabir Sahib is saying. Just sing! I may keep… read_more

Does Maya Really Exist?

25 min

Questioner: Acharya Ji, a good discussion happened yesterday in which many seekers participated and shared their understanding of Prakṛiti , Puruṣha and other things.

During the discussion, it was put that Prakṛiti , Puruṣha , Māyā , are mere concepts and that one is pure Ātman , never threatened and… read_more

Conflict Among Parents, and Effect on Child

7 min

Question: Acharya ji, what happens when parents are in conflict? What happens to the child? How can two people, the husband and the wife, love the child very much, but between them there is a lot of conflict?

What is the impact on the child? And how can the parent… read_more

When Things Don't Go Your Way Despite Effort

Karma Yog, and the matter of being good

Questioner: I believe a lot in execution. I keep saying sometimes when I’m in private that I’m a doer; I do things.

Acharya Prashant: Yes.

Questioner: And I believe that I am dedicated to God. I believe that I try a lot of things, but you know some things happen,… read_more

For the Right Reason, Be Tactful and Clever || AP Neem Candies

Questioner: I just wanted to request you to help us in knowing something about being Yogi and how it is different from being Karma Yogi?

Acharya Prashant: Yog is one. It's just that it is expressed in various ways; Yog is union, coming together of the many. So, when you… read_more

Parents Don't Care for Your Interests?

Acharya Prashant: The spiritual soldier, the religious warrior has to be extremely intelligent. You could go to the extent of saying that he has to be cunning in the service of Truth; I’m choosing this word with all deliberation.

He has to be cunning in the service of the Truth;… read_more

10 min

Questioner: Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity. Good Evening, Acharya Prashant Ji. I have been listening to you for the last one year, I have been listening to your You tube videos as well as your courses, and you have helped me a lot. Recently I have… read_more

Are There Any Benefits to Gossiping?

12 min

So many love affairs are actually based on not much more than gossip. What do the couples mostly do? Do they discuss wisdom? Do they discuss the renaissance enlightenment? They gossip and they gossip like hell. But that gossip is so fruitful; they get sex. Kids are born and mind you, rarely would you find a man and a woman who would be able to trust each other without gossiping, without engaging in small talk, loose talk.

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

Finally, What Takes the Seeker to the Truth?

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

How to Correct a Bad Decision?

Acharya Prashant: A quiver full of the best of arrows but no bow, how do you fight the battle of life? Can you imagine the amusing as well as tragic situation of the person who has a great arrow without a bow? He will be sharpening and sharpening his weapon,… read_more

Do not focus on the decision. Rather, look at the decision-maker. The decision is not bad, humbly accept that the decision-maker is bad. Without this acceptance, the series of bad decisions will continue. When one realizes that the decision-makers' mind has been full of beliefs, past, and fear, then there is radical transformation in one’s being. The old, frozen, conditioned decision-maker simply evaporates.

Remaining Yourself, How Will You Change Your Actions? (The Actor Is the Action) || AP Neem Candies

Why Do We Crave Holidays?

Acharya Prashant: We do not just act; we act with the intention of obtaining the fruit of the action.

So, the actor is there, and the actor acts as per his own personal intellect, desires, calculations, and projections. He speculates, calculates that his action will get him a particular result.… read_more

The mind is fed up of its daily, boring, routine, fettered and frustrated life. But it has no faith or courage to break away from this life. It is very necessary for it to keep looking towards the future. Some special day must always lie ahead: New Year, Valentine’s, Holi, your birthday, Diwali and so on. This cycle keeps up the illusion that something great is coming.

What Is Faith?

15 min

If your trust has an object, it is mere belief, like saying, "I’ll be rescued because my friend will come." Faith is: "I do not bother whether I’m rescued; I am alright either way." Faith is not dependent on a person or reason; it reflects a fulfilled Self that is unbothered, when you are alright without an objective reason to be alright.

Why Have Religions Emerged Only From a Few Places in the World?

The Real Meaning of the Four Yugas

Questioner: Namaste Sir. So, I have observed one thing: if we look at the major religions and spiritual traditions around the world that are well accepted, we see that they emerged from certain places only. For example, the Abrahamic religions—all of them happened in the Arab world and around Israel… read_more

13 min

We believe that the four yugas represent time spans on the calendar as an external entity. Vedanta just does not look at time as an external entity. Time is a state of mind. So, these four *Yugas*, they surely are states of mind. Satya Yuga is when the mind is totally centred in the Self, the Truth. Treta is when the mind is identified with thoughts. Dvapara is the body, and Kali Yuga is saṃsāra.

Discipline and Dedication - Are They Really Virtues? || AP Neem Candies

7 min

Acharya Prashant: I might be a very violent man. And my goal is to blast a building off. To learn how to do it, I have to live through stern discipline. I will have to build my body, I will have to learn several skills. I may have the discipline… read_more

Who Is a Saint?

Walking in the street, sitting in your office, driving your car, typing an e-mail, what are you waiting for? You are waiting just for those few moments when you can be Kabir. Is it not happening? Don’t we spend the entire day just in hope of those few moments of sanity? What are those few moments? Let those moments not remain so rare, support them. When they call you, respond affirmatively.

Feel Nice Wasting Yourself Away?

11 min

The man of knowledge will just not waste his precious moments, his energy, his words. Don’t leave the mental space vacant. When you have the highest object in the mind, you will not tolerate somebody substituting it with something inferior.

Three Ways To Fool Oneself

20 min

Acharya Prashant: ‘Karma’ or doing, or action is easier to understand. That, with which you associate yourself as the doer is karma. Remember you are not the doer; you are associating yourself with the action. Where is the action happening? The action is happening in the domain of the senses.… read_more

What Is the Main Concept of Bhagavad Gita?

26 min

So, when you have to decide what to do, when you are in a mess like Arjun, respond to the call of love, respond to the call of freedom. Go in that direction where truth lies even if it costs you a lot, even if it seems unreasonable, even if it scares and terrifies you, even if you cannot explain to others or even yourself, “Why are you moving in such a way or in such a direction? Still move in that way. Read more....

Why Is the Guru-Disciple Relationship So Special?

17 min

The principle of maya is founded on free choice. That's the very condition behind her existence, which is that, “I will disappear only when I choose to.” Grace is not something that happens coincidentally, randomly. Grace is a function of your own willingness. They say, “it may rain but you have to keep your umbrella aside.” The willingness to at least receive, be a recipient has to be there. Otherwise, you will remain dry and untouched.

The One Most Important Thing About Life

34 min

“The will to live.” “The will to just continue.” That, he said, is the basic human existential tendency. I’m asking, “Don’t animals have that tendency?” At the root of all consciousness; is the will to survive and continue. We don’t want to die; the animals, too, don’t want to die, right? We feel pain, we suffer; so do animals. The reasons might be very different. Often the reasons are, in fact, not too different. Separate a human mother from her baby and you see the suffering. It’s very apparent. Separate a cow from her calf, and the suffering is much the same. Read more...

With Kabir Saheb, I Am a Fanboy!

I sometimes say to the ones around me, “If I am very unwell and dying don’t offer me Gangajal and all that, just sing Kabir Saheb to me, not that, that would take me to heaven, that might actually make me get up. I am not interested in heavens or swarg. But, if you bring Kabir Saheb to me chances are I will just spring back to my feet. No mambo-jambo, no miracles, no other worldly stuff. Read more....

When Life Gives Bad Results Inspite of Good Actions

Vedanta does not talk of a personal past life, the person that you are or I am, we have no past or future life. Rebirth or reincarnation happens at a general, at a macro level, not at a personal level. It’s the “I” tendency that exists and keeps repeating its existence. Read more...

Trying to Remove the Flies while Retaining the Dirt? Smart! || AP Neem Candies