Questioner (Q): If my parents tell me to concentrate on my studies but I fail to do so, does it mean that I don’t find it worth concentrating on or interesting enough?
Acharya Prashant (AP): The question that I must first of all address is, why must a twenty-two or… read_more
Questioner: Sir, as you said that if the person is free he will be joyful, he is joyful in every task he is doing. So, how will he choose the task?
Shri Prashant: No, he will not feel joy in every task he is doing, the joy is irrespective of… read_more
Questioner: I get very tensed whenever I face any conflict. I find that definitely there is an underlying fear that I will lose something, which causes anxiety. But, just being able to pinpoint doesn’t help much.
Very often, my mind says that I should let go of, whatever I am… read_more
Speaker: The question is, ‘What should we do to be more attentive?’
First of all, I understand that why Aman is asking this question in this language; because all our lives we have seen that we get something only by doing.
So, Aman thinks that attention is to do something.… read_more
Question: Sir, can I be in attention even when mindis distracted? Does attention also depend on whether I am loving the thing that I am doing or not?
Answer: Prashant,
Attention is a quality of the mind. Attention is the deep desire of the mind to understand. Understanding means settling… read_more
Question 1: What is ‘*Tapasya*‘ (austerity)? Why is ‘*Tapasya*‘ necessary?
Acharya Prashant (AP): In the cold areas of the country, it becomes important, especially in winters, to let the sunlight in. Quilts etc. are kept out in the open so that they receive the Sun treatment. The Sun must beat… read_more
Question: Why can’t I concentrate on anything?
Shri Prashant: Because those things are not worth concentrating. When you will meet something that deserves all your immersion, then you will not be left to ask this question. So, till the time you are not meeting that, it is good that… read_more
A. Living in the Present
The Present is not an object of thought. To live in the Present, first of all you must know what is really ‘Present’. You know what is meant by Present? What really is ‘Presence’? Living in the Present means living in the Truth, because only… read_more
People talk of personal time as opposed to professional time, right? They forget that the profession that they have chosen has also been chosen by the person. So, even that which they are mistakenly calling as professional time is only personal time.
Our lives have only personal time. To be… read_more
Questioner: It’s well known that simple living and high thinking are what we should aim at, but how do we know what is simple living and high thinking?
Acharya Prashant: You talked of simple living and high thinking, and you said that it's well-known that simple living and high thinking… read_more
We all know Swami Vivekananda. But have you heard about 'Shri Alasinga Perumal'?
Probably not. But if Alasinga Ji had not been there, Swami Vivekananda would never have been able to give that historic speech in Chicago, due to which he brought fame to Vedanta and Hinduism throughout the world.… 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
Questioner: Acharya Ji, which direction to take in life?
Acharya Prashant: What is it, that matters to you?
The direction in which you must go is determined by where you will feel the pain.
And if you feel no pain, no discomfort, why must you go in any direction?
You … read_more
It indeed does help to feel like a victim. It does not help you , but it helps that within you which is a product of victimization. Because if you are a victim, then you are entitled to certain rights. All victims get entitled to special rights.
Operate from a… 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
The world is a habit, but drugs are a worse habit. The one who is finding refuge in drugs is fed up of the usual stuff of consciousness, that is certain, but he is taking a very wasteful route. It’s like feeling cold in Delhi in the month of December… read_more
Acharya Prashant: Spirituality is not committing suicide, or is it? Then we do not need satsang (gathering), we need mass suicide halls. It’ll all be over! It has happened, you know? There have been cults in Japan and other places where incidents of mass suicides have been reported. They thought… read_more
Acharya Prashant: It has been told to us that there exist two centers. I suppose it has been very freshly told to you right? Very recently. He says, “How do I know that I am living out of the right center? How does a young man know whether he’s not… 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
Questioner: Namaskar Acharya ji! I am reading a book called “Freedom from the Known”, where the author, Jiddu Krishnamurthi, talks about removing authority to be free from the ego. What does he mean by authority? Can we take anything to be the authority and then say, “I’m not going to… read_more
Questioner: Is there some scientific context to spirituality? Because, at the end of the day, as you said, ‘Religion forms a boundary, an outer shell, within which spirituality remains.’ Because this has to be something that stops you from doing something wrong or something that is fundamentally upsetting. So, how… read_more
Acharya Prashant: Only in aloneness can you have relationships that are not exploitative. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter what name, or what color you give to your relationship; your relationship will definitely be one of exploitation. Have you ever looked at your relationships closely? Do you ever want the other? No,… read_more
Acharya Prashant: The four yugas in the Vedic tradition have been Satyug, Treta, Dvapara, and Kaliyug. Now, what do they represent? Do they represent the passage of time? Do they represent something historical? We have been led to believe that way, right? We believe that time is something external that… read_more
Questioner: Acharyaji, my question is that the greed of getting more and more pleasure is increasing with time, and finally I’m finding myself getting stuck in the vicious circle of getting more and more pleasure. Sir, what are the ways that you could suggest to me to get out of… read_more
Acharya Prashant: You can not win the mind, you can not cater to the mind, you can not control the mind. And you are not responsible for everything that this ancient mind does. A thousand squirrels are sitting here, and five hundred monkeys, and the extinct dinosaur, and all the… read_more
Acharya Prashant: A mind free of stories about itself, is a humble mind. The story could say everything. The story does not always say, “I am the king of the world.” Often the story says, “I am the most wretched person on this earth.” Nevertheless, irrespective of its content, a… read_more
Questioner: Sir, when you say rest, what do you mean by that, because something is always going-on, in the periphery, some or other activities are always being carried out?
So what is rest?
Acharya Prashant: Rest is to realize that none of those activities, which continue on the periphery, have… read_more
