Questioner (Q): Man is typically a social animal who seeks to coexist with the society around him. I am a vegan but many people around me are not, and that creates a difficulty for me. I want to speak out my thoughts on animal cruelty and get into animal activism,… read_more
Questioner: I am a research scholar. I am in my fourth year of PhD, and it is kind of my second inning. Earlier I was a teacher, I was teaching at a university, but I’ve left that and I have started my PhD.
I’ve been suffering from a condition for… read_more
A lot of progress, even in the material sense, happens only by inviting pain. That which we call as discipline, even in the loose sense, is nothing but an invitation to pain. Is there discipline without pain? You have to get up at some point in the morning—doesn’t that involve… read_more
What is the punishment of having a wrong goal? What is the punishment? You will suffer. And if you keep having one wrong goal after the other, your suffering will keep compounding, so you will be forced to give up your false goals.
And if you are not forced to… read_more
Questioner: There is a well-known saying, “Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.” My question is, Is suffering really optional? Whenever I go through persistent issues, I suffer, even after knowing.
Acharya Prashant: Yes, suffering is always optional.
But you cannot have your world and the rest of what you are,… read_more
Questioner: There is some image of something and you are not conscious, where then there is that blocked energy, so to speak? Fear or whatever it is, you act out of reaction. So, what would be… at the moment there is no choice, you are just reacting. What would be… read_more
Acharya Prashant: Had you been completely broken from the inside then there would have been nobody left inside to experience the hurt. What you call as the inside is just the ego inside and the ego is a very magical thing. It becomes stronger when it gets hurt. It is… read_more
Questioner: Is penance a mandatory step in the spiritual process? If the mind is such that there is no attachment or suffering involved in relating with objects, then should it still practice austerity or abstinence?
Acharya Prashant: Austerity is needed because you are suffering in the company of your objects.… read_more
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
Acharya Prashant: A monk met me once, I was in Dharamshala at that time. Had a very long conversation with him, he had come to visit. It’s a cold place, Dharamshala. And the fellow would be, always in just one piece of cloth. I said to him, “Why are you… read_more
Kauravas are scattered on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, not unified. Bheeshm is there because of promise. Dronocharya is there because of loyalty to the state. Karna is there to replay an old debt. Pandavas, on the other hand are unified by Dharma.
~ Acharya Prashant, commentary on Bhagavad Gita, Chapter… read_more
Acharya Prashant: The topic is the infectiousness of boredom. Not only is boredom infectiousness, anything and everything that the mind experiences is contagious, infectious. You experienced it with respect to one particular way of the mind, one particular move of the mind right now. That does not mean that only… read_more
Acharya Prashant: The question is from Sonali, “I got married after six years of relationship and five years of married life now. Due to contrasting personalities, my husband and I fight a lot. In April, we had a very big conflict and the police got involved. Now we are living… read_more
Acharya Prashant: Arjuna's hell was in his day-to-day activities, your hell too lies in your day-to-day activities. Arjuna could sense the evil in what appeared normal to the others, you must also be able to sense that there is something extremely fishy in what appears normal to others.
Do not… read_more
Questioner: You know, I would just cite this example of people from happy families or normal families, seemingly happy families, whatever, and people who have a bona fide past of a trauma like, you know, domestic violence and abuse and mind games and a lot of lowly things that do… read_more
Questioner: Pranaam Acharya Ji!, You have told that individual Liberation is not possible. Either we can go together, or nobody can go. So we have to help others to cross-over.
Acharya Ji, I can’t even help the people close to me, they are caught up either in routine work or… read_more
Questioner : I have strong ego resistance and my ego resistance is health issues. Sometimes, I wake up at 4’o clock with this heavy migraine and today I woke up with this eye infection and these things, they come and go.
So, I believe it is ego resistance to my… read_more
Questioner: What is Duḥkha ?
Acharya Prashant: The thought, the desire of all that which is fleeting, ephemeral is Duḥkha . Why is it Duḥkha ? To whom, is it Duḥkha ? Few things have to be understood. Everything likes to be in its most stress-free state. That's what even… read_more
पौर्णमास्यां यथा चन्द्र एक एवातिनिर्मलः। तेन तत्सदृशं पश्येद्द्विधादृष्टिर्विपर्ययः।।
There is only one very clear moon on the full moon night. One should perceive That (the Self) like the moon. Seeing duality is perversion.
Avadhuta Gita (Chapter 2, Verse 21)
Speaker: This one is from The Avadhuta Gita.
It says, “There… read_more
Question: Is self-realisation for everyone? Many people would choose to live a life of illusion, take comfort in that. Do we really need to wake them up? And of course, the struggles of life don’t end even after self-realisation.
Speaker: It is something like that of a mountain bus driver… read_more
Question: Why do we choose to suffer in silence, to not fight back? Does all frustration need to be voiced?
Speaker: If you will not suffer, how you will write this question? If you will not ask this question, how will this form get filled? If your form does not… read_more
Questioner (Q): Put in some difficult situations and old locations, I am surprised to see my old tendencies of hurt and dependence are back; they never did leave. I am selfish, difficult and stubborn. Help me Acharya Ji. Help me move ahead of this pettiness. Please!
Acharya Prashant (AP): You… read_more
Questioner (Q): My question is related to failures. I’ve been a very positive-minded person, and I’ve been trying my best to do everything that I can, give my best in everything; but I’m disappointed with myself - not disappointed with others - but with myself. Now, I feel that there’ve… read_more
Questioner: Acharya Ji, If we see things and move quickly, are we not observing them?
Acharya Prashant: See, it's like this when you're not observant and you look at something, you go back into your own world or into the thousands other worlds that you have, and then with a… read_more
Questioner (Q): I had been part of the last Delhi Camp, IIT Delhi Camp. During those three days, I have seen that you have spoken to the participants continuously for 6 hours, then later in the evenings, with hostel students, for another two, to three hours till 2 a.m. in… read_more
Immersion is not in itself a virtue. You have to find out what you are immersing yourself in. The wrong kind of immersion is like anaesthesia: you will feel no worries because you are rendered unconscious. The wrong kind of business or immersion operates by lowering your consciousness. And when… read_more
Is there discipline without pain? You have to get up at some point in the morning—doesn’t that involve pain? Pleasure is to keep sleeping even after the alarm has rung—is that not pleasurable?
So, all discipline is nothing but pain. It’s very well-directed pain, it’s very discrete pain, but nevertheless,… read_more
Those who suppress their loneliness become victims of suppression. Those who keep in touch with their loneliness come up with great creativity.
Beautiful songs have risen out of human melancholy. People talk of songs written in joy. I say that all songs that have any truth in them have actually… read_more
You’re asking me, “Is it possible to act rightly with trembling hands?” I am saying, you can act rightly only with trembling hands.
One unmistakable quality of right action would be that it would require all your guts. It is only false action that you can comfortably undertake. Falseness is… read_more
Questioner (Q): Non-duality is not generally accepted in the West or even in India. So, what can be done to push people towards the Vedantic thought?
Acharya Prashant (AP): You see, we need to revisit the fundamentals. Why is Vedanta or Dharma needed at all? Why can’t man do without … read_more
Most of us are not the bunnies our parents want us to be. Whose problem is it? Yours? Let it be their problem! Why do you worry?
First of all, you unnecessarily give birth to a child, and then you burden him with your expectations. Instead of apologizing to him… read_more
Question: I feel blessed to be a person who is already on another side. Religion doesn’t affect me. The job doesn’t affect me. The family doesn’t affect me. All the barriers, most of them don’t affect me. Only the one factor is the law of the land I live in,… read_more
Questioner (Q): Sir, I understood one more thing. As you said in the last session that we wish to walk on this path and we also wish the praise from others. We don’t want our loss. And that is not possible.
Acharya Prashant (AP): Yes. You are asking that does… read_more
Question: Acharya ji, would it be an act of compassion, to suffer with the one who is already suffering?
Acharya Prashant ji: It depends totally on you. There can be no principles in this matter.
The one who is suffering, is suffering, because he is deluded. Remember that suffering is… read_more
Do not just keep saying, “Oh! I get hurt. I need to be handled with kid gloves.” Have you seen those boxes? On top of them it is written, ‘Fragile. Handle with care’. Are you that box? Wear a T-shirt. On the front, it should read ‘fragile’; on the back,… read_more
Life will certainly teach you, but at the cost of great suffering. And there is no guarantee you will be able to learn in a lifetime, because when your life teaches you then life has no conscious agenda to teach you. Life just operates on the principle of result of… read_more
There is no remedy against any of the torments of our lives except calling them out. You have to expose them. You have to name them. You have to call them out.
You already know. It’s a matter of acknowledgment rather than realization. Acknowledge it.
There is nothing greatly mystical… read_more
See how much of our energy rises from suspicion. See how uncertainty and doubt motivate us so much. See how people are rushing around in their cars, and the fuel is doubt.
Doubt kills. It will not let you sleep. You cannot relax in doubt.
Is there anything in your… read_more
Questioner (Q): I see that I want to say a lot of things but I don’t, and I just be a coward. So, for example, I saw a man whip a bull with a stick but he was doing it behind the ears, under the chin where it really hurts,… read_more
The first thing to be known is, where do I stand? Only when I clearly see that I stand at a point of tension, confusion, inner conflict, jealousy, hatred, lovelessness, do I realize that I want to reach a point where I would be free of all these things. If… read_more
The more your inner dissatisfaction grows, the more becomes the importance of diverse objects in your life, and vice versa, mind you. The more the prevalence and production and consumption of objects will grow, the more the dissatisfaction in your life will grow.
Now do you see why neurosis has… read_more
