आचार्य प्रशांत बताते हैं कि क्यों हम सही खान-पान, स्वास्थ्य और अपने ऊपर ज़रूरी खर्च से बचते हैं, लेकिन दिखावे और फ़ालतू सामाजिक परंपराओं पर पैसा बहा देते हैं। अधिकांश लोगों के लिए समस्या सिर्फ़ पैसों की कमी नहीं, बल्कि विवेक और सही प्राथमिकताओं की कमी भी है।
A society that loses its sense of sacredness begins to see every person and profession as merely transactional. When truth is replaced by the pursuit of happiness and consumption, trust erodes and cynicism becomes the norm. Doctors, teachers, and institutions are no longer respected but viewed with suspicion. The deeper crisis is not medical or social but philosophical: without self-understanding, people become consumers first and human beings second. True respect can return only when truth, integrity, and inner education become more important than personal gain.
Questioner: Sir, I have been reading Krishnamurti and Vivekananda for the past three years and having learned from them, I genuinely feel that the teachings of such great teachers should be at the core of our education system. I personally feel that my decisions regarding my career and life would
प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी, मैं गर्ल्स हॉस्टल (लड़कियों का छात्रावास) में रहती हूँ, इंदौर में। तो वहाँ पर बहुत बड़ा हॉस्टल है। सौ-डेढ़ सौ लड़कियाँ रहती हैं तो उसमें से
That could be one necessary mark of a true feminist: she would not be dependent on anybody else for a single rupee, especially not on the male partner.
Questioner: Good evening sir. I’m…. and I’m a PhD student here at IIT, Kanpur. Sir, I have a very personal question. Being a girl child, especially in India, comes with very different sets of consequences. Despite being given equal opportunities like education and skills, at the end where we’re supposed
Acharya Prashant: The gold is not there to serve me. I am at the service of gold. The gold has to sit and I have to work for gold." Because, honestly, you do know which of these two is more valuable? Stone or gold? Gold. If gold is more valuable,
आचार्य प्रशांत: सिखों के पास अपना केंद्रीय ग्रंथ है, जैनों के पास भी अपना केंद्रीय दर्शन है। ग्रंथ, दर्शन; ठीक? ‘अहिंसा’ शब्द बोलते ही आपको जैन याद आएँगे। हिंदुओं के पास मुझे बताइए, कौनसा केंद्रीय ग्रंथ है? हिंदू माने क्या? आपने कोई ग्रंथ नहीं पढ़ा, आप तब भी हिंदू हो।
प्रश्नकर्ता: ये जो परिस्थितियाँ वर्तमान में चल रही हैं जिसमें असत्य की सत्य के ऊपर जीत देखी जाती है तो ऐसी परिस्थितियों में एक मनुष्य अपने आदर्शों को कैसे कायम रख सकता है? कैसे दृढ़ संकल्प रह सकता है? उसके लिए आप कुछ ज्ञान या दिशानिर्देश दें।
Speaker: Rohit is asking, ‘What is it about pornography and various other kinds of expressions of suppression?’ Why is there so much in our lives that we hide, that is done behind closed doors hidden from someone, and yet we all know that it is a norm that everyone engages
Speaker: The question is, “How do I know whether I am confident or overconfident? One is considered positive, the other is considered negative.” I ask you again. How can I declare a quantity ‘x’ to be positive or negative if I do not know that quantity. I must know something
You cannot love someone or something you know very little of. The nation at its root represents a community of people united through certain values. A nation does not become admirable or respectable or lovable just by the dint of being a nation.
That’s one mark of a toxic organization: people would be all required to wear a certain uniformity. Speaking your heart out would be unwelcome. You would be encouraged to be a regular fellow, you know, not one of the outliers. The moment you digress a little, you will be called
You talk of responsibility. Is your wife a duty to you? She probably is, and that is so tragic. Do you relate to that woman in love or in responsibility?
You may not want to admit to the other that you are actually neurotic—which most people are. I am not talking of the fringe five percent. I am talking of the bulk of the world’s population. We all are neurotic. So, that disease has been there all throughout. It’s just
Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, I watch stand-up sometimes to check what's going around, I see comedians using satire and sarcasm for India in their comedy. Big companies like Amazon, Netflix are hiring big content creators for promotions and making videos and they are shifting from their channels to the company's
You have to see what the other person has started meaning to you. Has the other person assumed some kind of a larger-than-life importance in your eyes? Ask yourself, if someone else were to objectively evaluate this person, what kind of value would he give to him, be it purely
सत्य के मार्ग पर चलने के लिए सबसे बड़ी आवश्यकता बाहरी समर्थन नहीं, बल्कि भीतर की निष्ठा और साहस की होती है। जब व्यक्ति स्वार्थ, भय और सामाजिक दबाव से ऊपर उठकर न्याय का साथ देता है, तभी वास्तविक स्वतंत्रता जन्म लेती है। जीत या हार से अधिक महत्वपूर्ण है सत्य के प्रति अडिग रहना। इतिहास उन्हीं को याद रखता है जो अन्याय के सामने झुकने के बजाय अकेले खड़े होने का साहस रखते हैं।
अगर जीवन में अनुशासन नहीं है, तो मतलब साफ़ है कि तुम जिस विषय के पास हो, उसमें इतनी जान ही नहीं है कि वह तुम्हें अनुशासित कर पाए। अधिकांशतः हमारे जीवन में एकाग्रचित्तता नहीं रहती, उसका कारण यह है कि हमने अपने लिए लक्ष्य ही मूल्यहीन चुन लिए होते हैं। स्वयं को अनुशासित करने की चेष्टा मत करो, उपयुक्त विषय ढूँढो। जब तुम सच के पास होते हो, तो अनुशासन अपने आप हो जाता है। तुम उसके निकट रहो, वो तुम में अनुशासन ला देगा।
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प्रश्नकर्ता: सर, नमस्कार। सर, बारह तारीख को स्वामी विवेकानन्द जी की अभी जयंती आने वाली है। तो बचपन से काफ़ी उनको पढ़ा है, उनकी जीवनी के बारे में। हमेशा काफ़ी अट्रैक्टिव(आकर्षक) रहा है उनको पढ़ना, उनको जानना। हालाँकि जितना मैंने उनकी जीवनी पढ़ी तो उनके बारे में पता लगा…
Excerpts from Articles
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।
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.
एक पुजारी जो रोज़ भूत-प्रेत, तंत्र-मंत्र और वशीकरण के नाम पर आए लोगों से मिलता है, आचार्य प्रशांत से पूछता है: जब वो ख़ुद जानता है कि कुछ भूत-चुड़ैल नहीं होता, तो लोग बार-बार इसी झूठ की शरण में क्यों जाते हैं? जवाब अंधविश्वास से कहीं गहरा निकलता है — यह हमारे भीतर के उस झूठ की कहानी है, जिसे हम हर कीमत पर बचाना चाहते हैं।
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.
रक्षाबंधन केवल भाई-बहन के रिश्ते और सुरक्षा की रस्म तक सीमित नहीं होना चाहिए। आज असली रक्षा उन चीज़ों की ज़रूरत है जो कमज़ोर और संकट में हैं—गौरैया, नदियाँ, पहाड़, पेड़, महासागर और पृथ्वी। साथ ही ईमानदारी, आत्मज्ञान और मानवीय मूल्यों की भी रक्षा जरूरी है। धर्म कर्मकांड नहीं, अपनी शक्ति और उससे जुड़ी व्यापक ज़िम्मेदारी को समझना है।
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?
फ़ालतू खर्च छोड़िए, अपनी ज़िंदगी पर खर्च करना सीखिए
आचार्य प्रशांत बताते हैं कि क्यों हम सही खान-पान, स्वास्थ्य और अपने ऊपर ज़रूरी खर्च से बचते हैं, लेकिन दिखावे और फ़ालतू सामाजिक परंपराओं पर पैसा बहा देते हैं। अधिकांश लोगों के लिए समस्या सिर्फ़ पैसों की कमी नहीं, बल्कि विवेक और सही प्राथमिकताओं की कमी भी है।
Good spirituality is good economics. We do not know what to purchase. We do not know what really is valuable, even in the material domain. The punishment of not being spiritual is that you lead a very bad, a very ruined worldly life and that includes an economic life, a ruined economic life. It is not merely the person, even nations, actually the entire world suffers when the one making the economic decision is spiritually bankrupt.
…
किससे मिल रहे हो? किससे नहीं मिल रहे हो? कहाँ रोज़ पहुँच जाते हो? कहाँ से पैसे ला रहे हो? पहली बात – क्या ईमानदारी से काम रहे हो? दूसरी बात – जो कमा रहे हो, उसको खर्च कहाँ कर रहे हो? छः घण्टे से कोई खबरिया चैनल लगा कर…
प्रश्न: मनुष्य ‘स्वार्थी’ है या ‘मतलबी’?
उत्तर: तुमने ‘स्वार्थ, मतलब’ के बारे में जानना चाहा है।
अर्थ माने कुछ ऐसा जो तुम्हें लुभावना, प्रिय लगता हो।
(यहां पर) ‘स्व’ माने अहंकार।
स्वार्थ माने वो जो अहंकार को प्यारा लगे।और मतलब माने भी अर्थ।
सत्य मात्र ‘होता है’, और उसका ‘मतलब’…
फ़िफ़्टी पर्सेन्ट
या
सिक्स्टी पर्सेन्ट
(पचास या साठ प्रतिशत) कह सकते हैं,
एयर होस्टेस
(विमान परिचारिका) बनना चाहती हैं। मैंने पूछा
…
In our daily lives, we find people using the word Ji as an affirmative statement or while addressing people. Though, it has just become as social norm, there is a profound meaning behind it that conveys of beauty and auspiciousness. It is a reminder that one is beyond the body and the mind; beyond all names and forms. And instead of being identified with the body and the mind, there is something better to be identified with—‘Sri’- a Sanskrit word standing for Ji in vernacular.
“Financial independence and then still having kids, is that something that can be counted under feminism as such?”
No, you see, these…
प्रश्नकर्ता: मेरा प्रश्न नोट्स में से है:
"बीइंग अवेयर ऑफ़ डिमांड्स ऑफ बॉडी, बीइंग अवेयर ऑफ़ स्ट्रे थॉट्स, दिस इज़ इंटेलिजेंस। इट ऑकर्स थॉट् इज़ एन इनेडिक्वेट रिस्पांस टू स्टिमुलस। एन एडीक्वेट रिस्पांस इज स्पॉनटेनिटी।" ("शरीर की माँगों के प्रति जागरूक होना, आवारा विचारों से अवगत होना, यह बुद्धिमत्ता है।…
…
…
Is ‘Diwali’ about going back home, indulging again in your set routines that you anyway follow, eating a lot of sweets and oil, then using small electric bulbs to light up your home, then bursting crackers, then unnecessarily saying ‘Happy Diwali’ to everybody, when there is, in fact, hardly anything happy about it? In the name of religion, all that we know is rituals, rituals, and rituals.
…
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Acharya Prashant (AP): Tell me all of you, what is right and what is wrong? How do you know, what is right and how do you know, what is wrong?
Someone told you what is right and someone told you what is wrong and not only that, someone also told…
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.
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हम अकसर प्रतीकों को यह बोलकर ठुकरा देते हैं कि यह सब तो यूँ ही है, आचरण गत बातें है इनमें कुछ रखा नहीं है। उनमें ही बहुत कुछ रखा है। आप मंदिर के बगल से निकल रहे हो और आपके मन में दुनिया भर के अंट-संट विचार उमड़-घुमड़ रहे हैं, जैसे कि आमतौर पर चलते रहते है मन में, लेकिन मंदिर को देखते ही आप एक क्षण को रुके और आपने नमस्कार कर लिया मंदिर को, तो जो विचारों का पूरा बहाव है, जो पूरी शृंखला है वह टूट जाती है, क्योंकि वह एक लगातार बहने वाला निरंतर प्रवाह था न, एक निरंतरता थी।
You’re anxious, you’re stressed, you’re confused, you’re agitated, or you are depressed. In either case, your mind is not healthy. Sometimes you find yourself excited; sometimes you’re dejected and desolate; sometimes you are extremely hopeful, and sometimes you’re the epitome of nihilism. And with this, and due to this diseased and centerless mind, one goes to the Upanishads. They address your fear, they address your insecurity, they address your inner conflicts, they help you in matters of the mind.
You've heard there's competition and you must plan to survive, but without understanding 'career' or knowing that a mind that is always competing becomes diseased. This fear is also implanted by others. It isn't yours, yet you've imbibed it. Understand the mind, the world. Then you will know what is worth doing.
If there is work to do, how do I say that my routine necessitates going to bed at 11 pm. When you say routine that means, these are the hours I will study, these are the hours and I’ll do this, do that and these are the hours when I will have my spare time for leisure etc. So, a routine is some kind of luxury, you require a discipline beyond a routine. A successful life, in some sense, is about dancing to somebody else's tune. Who’s tunes? Something bigger than yourself. Something bigger than yourself.
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Acharya Prashant: How can I identify a master with my limited knowledge? How can I judge his words to be true or false? If I go by faith or seeing their simplicity or innocence, I’m labeled as a blind believer. What should I do?
What is all spirituality about? If…
First of all consider the reality of what you are passionate about. The questioner is saying that in moments of decision-making, do we go with our passion, or with our logic and rationality as the mind suggests it to us? So, I begin with passion. First of all, enquire into it, and that should be the first thing because one is obviously biased towards her passion. Even if the mind is suggesting other things, we all feel like following the course of our passion. Since passion appeals so much to us and we feel like leaning towards it very automatically, why not figure out the truth of the passion? What makes you passionate about something? From where did one pick up her passion? Was one always passionate about such a thing?
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Questioner (Q): Sir, how to differentiate between these two things – being patriotic, and to not to identify with an identity?
If we say that we are patriotic to our country, this means that we are involved with an identity that is – being an Indian. So how to differentiate…
2
Question: How do I explore my passion?
Speaker: I am sure this question is relevant to many others if not everybody. First of all this question has to be asked on a clean slate. Those of us who have already believed some external passion to be the real passion, they…
Listener :
Venugopal.
Speaker : Venugopal, repeat your question for everybody. Which instrument did you initially had a liking for?
Listener : Tabla.
Speaker : But you say that you were forced to play……?
Listener : Violin.
Speaker : And today you say that you…
I could see that he was feeling a little awkward while raising this question, even a little apologetic. You feel that maybe there is something in wrong with you that you find yourself unable to trust but let
…
Speaker:
You want me to talk on Self, value and clarity?
Questioner: Yes sir.
Speaker: Self means who you really are, as simple as that. Self means me, I. So, why is it necessary to talk of the…
प्रश्नकर्ता: सर, मेरे पेरेंटस (माता-पिता) फ्यूचर को लेकर डराते हैं कि अभी यू आर थिंकिंग लाइक दैट, व्हेन यू विल बी ऐज़ ओल्ड ऐज़ अस, यू विल रिग्रेट, यू विल बी डिप्रेस्ड, यू विल बी अलोन (मेरे अभिभावक भविष्य को लेकर डराते हैं कि अभी तुम ऐसा सोचती हो पर…
1
Questioner (Q): What is the meaning of being a professional?
Acharya Prashant (AP): What is meant by being professional? What is this thing called professionalism about? Is it just about serving your profession with excellence, or is it something more than that? Whenever we hear this word, ‘professional’, an image…
एज्यूकेशन सेक्टर
(शिक्षा के क्षेत्र) से
रिलेटेड
(सम्बन्धित) है। मेरे पहले के दो
स्टार्टअप्स एज्यूकेशन
में ही थे। उस दौरान मैंने
स्पेसिफिकली
(खासतौर पर) तीन से पन्द्रह साल के बच्चों के
एज्यूकेशन सिस्टम
(शिक्षा व्यवस्था) को
…
आचार्य प्रशांत: पहली…
…
…
1
Questioner (Q): Sir, can an introvert become more communicative?
Acharya Prashant (AP): Why does an introvert need to be more communicative?
Q: He has some fears and doubts when he talks to someone.
AP: Who is an introvert?
Q: The one who is afraid of asking doubts.
AP: That is…
If you are to fall in love…
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Acharya Prashant: Can intelligence be wrong sometimes?
Tell me, all of you, “What is right and what is wrong?” How do you know what is right? And how do you know what is wrong? Someone told you what is right and someone told you what is wrong and not only…
There are two ways to know yourself. I will first take up the way we commonly know ourselves. What is that way?
So, here is Preeti and someone comes up to her and says, ‘Preeti, you are brilliant’. Right? And this sentence…
…
If you have little love for your wife, would it pay to arrange for her security through another house, or
…
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Speaker: Do you see the difference between these two approaches?Model 1 says, ‘I study so that I can get a particular result’. Model 2 says, ‘I study because I love to study’.
Now in which case are the results going to be better? And even if the results are not…
Be careful about everything that you spend. The other things that you spend can be regained—money lost can probably be regained—but there is one resource that is not
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Somebody once asked the Satan, “How do you corrupt a being?”
He says, “It’s easy. I just whisper into his ears: your time is your time.”
And that’s the assumption we all have bought into: “I have…
Speaker: I go jogging in the morning and I don’t really enjoy it. It is lot of hard work for me. There is a colleague who goes along with…
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There is nothing sacred as such about any profession. A profession is made sacred by the touch of reality. If your profession is arising from your reality, then the reality renders it, bestows upon it a sacredness. Otherwise, there is nothing great about any profession—any profession.
