Values

तीर्थयात्रा के नाम पर मज़ाक? || आचार्य प्रशांत
तीर्थयात्रा के नाम पर मज़ाक? || आचार्य प्रशांत
8 min

आचार्य प्रशांत: उत्तरांचल को बर्बाद करके उत्तर प्रदेश, बिहार, बंगाल बच लेंगे क्या? क्यों नहीं बचेंगे? एक छोटा-सा नाम है ‘गंगा’। बाढ़-सूखा कुछ भी आपने गंगोत्री का जो हाल कर दिया है उसके बाद ये आवश्यक नहीं है कि बाढ़ ही आये। जब ग्लेशियर नहीं रहेगा तो गंगा जी कहाँ

ख़ुद से ये पूछा करो || नीम लड्डू
ख़ुद से ये पूछा करो || नीम लड्डू
2 min

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

बेमतलब, निरुद्देश्य जियो
बेमतलब, निरुद्देश्य जियो
2 min

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’

इंस्टा मॉडल और एयर होस्टेस: ग्लैमर का गणित
इंस्टा मॉडल और एयर होस्टेस: ग्लैमर का गणित
22 min

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 फ़िफ़्टी पर्सेन्ट या सिक्स्टी पर्सेन्ट (पचास या साठ प्रतिशत) कह सकते हैं, एयर होस्टेस (विमान परिचारिका) बनना चाहती हैं। मैंने पूछा

Why Indians Address People as 'Ji'?
Why Indians Address People as 'Ji'?
5 min
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.
Life is for Better Things || Neem Candies
Life is for Better Things || Neem Candies
1 min

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.

“Financial independence and then still having kids, is that something that can be counted under feminism as such?”

No, you see, these

सहज जीवन जीने के सूत्र
सहज जीवन जीने के सूत्र
12 min

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।

Parents Insist on Horoscope and Find the Guy is 'Manglik'
Parents Insist on Horoscope and Find the Guy is 'Manglik'
15 min

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

Do You Know Your Value? || AP Neem Candies
Do You Know Your Value? || AP Neem Candies
4 min

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,

Can Money and Spirituality Go Together?
Can Money and Spirituality Go Together?
16 min
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.
Celebrate Diwali as a True Religion
Celebrate Diwali as a True Religion
21 min
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.
जागो हिन्दुओं || आचार्य प्रशांत
जागो हिन्दुओं || आचार्य प्रशांत
9 min

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।

Your morality is your bondage || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
Your morality is your bondage || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
6 min

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

ऐसी जवानी चाहिए
ऐसी जवानी चाहिए
4 min

प्रश्नकर्ता: नमस्ते आचार्य जी। मैं आजकल देख रहा हूँ कि युवाओं में बहुत हीनभावना बढ़ रही है और समय मिलता है, देश छोड़ देते हैं, आत्म गौरव जैसी चीज़ नहीं है। मैंने उपनिषद् का एक श्लोक पढ़ा था, वो मेरे जहन में बैठ गया है। मैं पढ़ना चाहता हूँ।

युवा

Who Is a Saint?
Who Is a Saint?
4 min
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.
प्रतीकों और रिचुअल्स का क्या महत्त्व है?
प्रतीकों और रिचुअल्स का क्या महत्त्व है?
12 min
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।
How Are the Upanishads Useful?
How Are the Upanishads Useful?
10 min
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.
How to Do Career Planning?
How to Do Career Planning?
7 min
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.
अय्याशी पूरी है, फिर भी 'बेचैनी’ क्यों है?
अय्याशी पूरी है, फिर भी 'बेचैनी’ क्यों है?
7 min
अय्याशी समाधान नहीं है। अय्याशी समाधान होती तो अमेरिका में सब एकदम प्रसन्न ही नहीं, आनन्दित होते। लेकिन मानसिक बीमारी जितनी भारत में है उससे ज़्यादा अमेरिका में पायी जाती है। सारी समस्या बस यही है कि आँखें बाहर देख पाती हैं, भीतर नहीं देख पाती | आदमी अय्याशी इसलिए नहीं करता कि उसे अय्याशी से प्यार है, आदमी अय्याशी इसलिए करता है क्योंकि वो भीतर से बहुत दुखी है। समस्या ये है कि अय्याशी कर-करके भी, कर-करके भी किसी का दुख दूर नहीं होता।अय्याशी तो पूरी कर रहे हो लेकिन उससे पा क्या रहे हो? अपनी ही ज़िन्दगी ख़राब कर रहे हो, अपना पूरा ग्रह तबाह कर रहे हो।
Does an Early Morning Routine Matter?
Does an Early Morning Routine Matter?
12 min
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.
Cosmetic Face, Cosmetic Life.
Cosmetic Face, Cosmetic Life.
8 min
Try to have real value in life, and then the misplaced emphasis on looks, etc. will be no more. By that I am not meaning that you should target looking dirty and unclean. Please don't do that. Read more....
How about Reading the Gita? || AP Neem Candies
How about Reading the Gita? || AP Neem Candies
20 min

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

Do Follow Your Passion but With Utmost Care
Do Follow Your Passion but With Utmost Care
9 min
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?
What is patriotism? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
What is patriotism? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
12 min

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

A passionate life || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
A passionate life || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
6 min

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

What matters more in work - skill or love? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
What matters more in work - skill or love? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
19 min

Speaker : Whats your name?

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

Why is it so difficult to trust? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
Why is it so difficult to trust? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
10 min

Speaker: The question is, ‘Why do I find myself unable to trust?’

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

What is 'Self and Value-clarity'? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2015)
What is 'Self and Value-clarity'? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2015)
4 min

Questioner: Sir, what is the exact definition of Self and Value-clarity?

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

बड़ा मकान, महँगी शादी और कम तनख्वाह
बड़ा मकान, महँगी शादी और कम तनख्वाह
15 min

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

What is professionalism? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
What is professionalism? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
13 min

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

ऐसी शिक्षा चाहिए इंसान को || आचार्य प्रशांत, वेदांत महोत्सव ऋषिकेश में (2021)
ऐसी शिक्षा चाहिए इंसान को || आचार्य प्रशांत, वेदांत महोत्सव ऋषिकेश में (2021)
22 min

प्रश्नकर्ता: प्रणाम आचार्य जी। मैं तेईस वर्षीय हूँ। मेरा नाम शैलेश है। मेरा सवाल 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

धर्म विषयक विस्तृत चर्चा || आचार्य प्रशांत (2017)
धर्म विषयक विस्तृत चर्चा || आचार्य प्रशांत (2017)
25 min

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।

आचार्य प्रशांत: पहली

Porn and guilt, physical and social conditioning || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
Porn and guilt, physical and social conditioning || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
7 min

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

Of Confidence, Falseness and the Idea of Perfection || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
Of Confidence, Falseness and the Idea of Perfection || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
15 min

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

On Introversion, Expectations and Duality || (2013)
On Introversion, Expectations and Duality || (2013)
4 min

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

What is Republic Day really? || Neem Candies
What is Republic Day really? || Neem Candies
1 min

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.

If you are to fall in love

Knowing right and wrong || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
Knowing right and wrong || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
6 min

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

What is reflected awareness? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
What is reflected awareness? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
3 min

Speaker: The question is, ‘what is reflected awareness?

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

Beware of such a job || Neem Candies
Beware of such a job || Neem Candies
1 min

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

Proof of love || Neem Candies
Proof of love || Neem Candies
1 min

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?

If you have little love for your wife, would it pay to arrange for her security through another house, or

Are we truly alive? || Neem Candies
Are we truly alive? || Neem Candies
1 min

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

Were you born with a sword? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
Were you born with a sword? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
3 min

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

Loss of time is the biggest loss || Neem Candies
Loss of time is the biggest loss || Neem Candies
1 min

You have to be cautious towards the investment of all your resources. But among all the resources, the prime one is time.

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

Market-driven comedy: Make fun, nothing is sacred || Acharya Prashant, Advait Mahotsav (2021)
Market-driven comedy: Make fun, nothing is sacred || Acharya Prashant, Advait Mahotsav (2021)
12 min

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

Let nobody overwhelm you so much || Neem Candies
Let nobody overwhelm you so much || Neem Candies
1 min

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

This is how the devil corrupts you || Neem Candies
This is how the devil corrupts you || Neem Candies
1 min

You have been entrusted with time not so that you while it away.

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

On Idols, Goals, Hardwork and Fulfillment || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
On Idols, Goals, Hardwork and Fulfillment || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
6 min

Question: Sir, I want to know what does the word ‘Hard Work’ mean? Does it mean studying 16-18 hours a day?

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

Just give up your profession || Neem Candies
Just give up your profession || Neem Candies
1 min

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.

Change the profession

What is real beauty? || Neem Candies
What is real beauty? || Neem Candies
1 min

Beauty is the eye that doesn’t label the world and people into beautiful and ugly. When the beautiful is beautiful and the ugly is equally beautiful, then there is a beauty in your heart, not in the object, not in the hillside. When there is beauty in the heart, then

How do I stay in the present? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
How do I stay in the present? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
3 min

Question: Sir, my question is, ‘How to focus on the present?’

Acharya Prashant: Do you need to focus on the present?

Listener: Sir, that is my only problem. When I study, all the shortcomings of my past keep coming to my mind.

AP: Present is there. You don’t need to