Acharya Prashant: Whatever you are doing, there has to be honesty in that. What is important is that you do not say one thing and do another thing. If you look at the great scientific discoveries or inventions, the scientist or the explorer would be busy in his chosen area
So, in your day-to-day life, practically, obviously, you will have these goals—you have to go to your workplace, you have to go to this thing, that thing—fine, those goals are there. But you have to remember that, ultimately, going to your workplace yields you nothing—maybe financial or physical sustenance, that's all. So the illusion of meaning has to be destroyed. The ego will otherwise keep looking for meaning where there can be no meaning—and in that lies a lot of suffering.
आचार्य प्रशांत: सही लक्ष्य क्या होता है? सही लक्ष्य वो होता है जो आपके भीतर की कमज़ोरियों को तोड़े। आपके भीतर जो कुछ ऐसा है कि ख़त्म होना चाहिए, लक्ष्य बनाओ जो उसे ख़त्म ही कर दे। मेरे ख़याल से कार्ल जंग का है — या आप लोग जाँच लीजिएगा…
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.
Acharya Prashant: If I am incomplete, then sitting where I am, what would be the quality of my actions, thoughts, and imagination? They, too, would be of an incomplete nature.
Questioner: Sir, I am pursuing MSc in physics. After watching your videos and reading the Bhagavat Gita, I understand that whatever in this world we achieve to please ourselves does not really give us peace. I also find that doing science might be just pleasing myself or my ego. It
ये खेल ऐसा है जिसमें ये नहीं देखा जाता कि किसने अंक ज़्यादा बनाये, इसमें ये देखा जाता है कि अन्त तक डटा कौन रहा, आख़िरी घड़ी तक खड़ा कौन रहा। इसमें बात ये नहीं है कि कौन कितना तेज़ दौड़ा, कहाँ तक पहुँच गया, इसमें बस बात ये है कि कौन मैदान छोड़कर भाग नहीं गया। जो मैदान छोड़कर नहीं भागा, वो जीत गया। ये नियम है इस खेल का। इसमें हार सिर्फ़ एक तरीक़े से होती है कि तुम मैदान छोड़ दो, *नॉक आउट* (पराजित) अपनेआप को घोषित कर दो कि भैया मेरा हो गया!
Questioner: Good afternoon and Jai Hind sir. My question to you is that people define success by different terms like influence, happiness, fame, name, etc. So, sir when did you start considering yourself success?
Question : There is a state the other is in, there is a state that I think the other is in, there is a state the other thinks that I am in. What is then an appropriate action?
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
Before you excel, ask yourself, “What must I excel in? What is worth it?” Before you speed down a road, ask yourself, “Which road to take?” Speed comes later; choice of the right road comes first.
What is the nature of a gymnasium? The gymnasium only gives you obstacles. Have you ever noticed? You want to raise something—what is the gymnasium giving you? Weights, and weights are obstacles against the rise. The gymnasium really does not support you, it actually obstructs you.
Acharya Prashant (AP): The questioner is asking how to be a good entrepreneur?
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कम्प्यूटर साइंस डिपार्टमेन्ट
(संगणक विज्ञान विभाग) से। मेरे मन में एक प्रश्न है, जहाँ पर मैं दुविधा से भरा हुआ हूँ, कि मेरा इस बार अन्तिम वर्ष है और मैं कॉलेज से
पास आउट
हो (निकल) जाऊँगा। तो मेरी फैमिली
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Acharya Prashant:
Desire means that you are not alright with yourself and you want something else to happen, correct? So, we are anyway not living for ourselves. We are rather living to change ourselves. And are these not two very different things? If you are living for yourself as you
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आचार्य जी प्रणाम, आप हमेशा बोलते हैं कि ऊँचे उद्देश्य रखने चाहिए जिससे कि उसमें किसी भी तरीक़े का कोई डेविएशन नहीं होता है। अब ऊँचे उद्देश्य रखने की सामर्थ्य और साहस नहीं मिल पाता है क्योंकि अपनेआप को बहुत जगह मैं बेहोश पाता हूँ। कभी कुछ चीज़े साफ़
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Excerpts from Articles
एक विकसित मन ही दोस्ती कर सकता है
जब तक दोस्ती का अर्थ नहीं समझोगे, तब तक जितनी भी दोस्तियाँ करोगे, सब गड़बड़ होंगी। जो तुम्हारी मक्कारी या नालायकी में साथ देगा, तुम उसे ही अपना असली दोस्त समझोगे। दोस्ती का मतलब है, गहराई से एक-दूसरे को समझना, और इसका असली अर्थ वही समझ सकता है, जो वयस्क और परिपक्व होने को तैयार हो। प्यार और दोस्ती केवल एक परिपक्व मन को ही मिलती हैं।
You’re conditioned to think you can only exist with social approval. What holds you back is the fear that something devastating will happen if you don’t conform. Challenge that belief. One must have a healthy contempt for the world, which is possible only when one has deep love for what’s real. Otherwise, you'll keep bowing your head.
Dr. Ambedkar, one of the greatest minds of modern India, had problems with Hindu culture, but not with Vedanta. Our culture is based on the very periphery of religion and does not resonate with Vedanta. That’s the reason it is in conflict with the Constitution. The Constitution and true religiosity—which you can call self-knowledge or Vedanta—go together.
कुछ नहीं होता उस कंटेंट में। इसीलिए सबको लगता है कि वो जो बकवास है, वो तो हम भी बना सकते हैं। तो हम भी यूट्यूबर बन जाएँ। वो वहाँ बैठा हुआ है, वो फूहड़ *कॉमेडी* कर रहा है। उससे अच्छी तो मैं कर सकता हूँ, तो मैं ही कर देता हूँ।
Shruti Philosophy: The Hinduism That Stands Forgotten
The test is straightforward. Whatever aligns with Shruti is dharma. Whatever defies Shruti, however old or beloved, is not. Shruti demands only one thing: self-knowledge. Everything else is ornamental. Without Vedanta, Hindu identity risks becoming ritual without philosophy, sound without meaning. Offering flowers may express devotion, but it is not Sanatan Dharma. Seeing the Self is.
How Can The Common Man Make Better Decisions In Life?
First of all, we have to realize what our life is like. You know, I can’t change something without firstly understanding its processes and its actuality.
I must know what this thing called my life is. We keep living without knowing a thing about life. And we’re blinded by names and identities.
Self-help doesn't help. Its approach is, “I am sad as my desires are not fulfilled, so the way to help myself is to fulfill desires.” They never realize their lives are driven by biological, social, and cultural forces outside of themselves. Spirituality offers the only real solution: “Before helping the self, one must know what the self really is."
J. Krishnamurti's 'The Observer Is the Observed' Explained by Acharya Prashant
'The observer is the observed; an honest observation dissolves them both.' Or, 'The observer is the observed, and both are false.' We lay a lot of emphasis on the world, assuming it to be the Truth. If the world is an entity independent of everything, then it has to be the Truth, right? Truth is that which is independent of everything.
Research has shown that loneliness is found throughout the society, including among people in marriages along with other strong relationships, and those with successful careers. As a subjective emotion, people experience loneliness even when surrounded by other people.
Those who are lazy, lack not in energy but in understanding. In physical nature, there is a tendency toward work minimization. If something gives you more output with less work, you will do it. You do not know that the right work brings benefits, dividends, and joy. Had you known it, you would have chosen the right action over laziness every moment.
अंधविश्वास या किसी दावे को केवल किताबों, परंपराओं या बड़ी-बड़ी हस्तियों के कहने से नहीं मानना चाहिए। भौतिक जगत से जुड़े हर दावे के लिए प्रमाण माँगना आवश्यक है। जो बात जाँची-परखी जा सकती है, उसे तर्क, प्रयोग और उपकरणों से जाना जाए; बिना जाने नहीं माना जाए। सच्ची जिज्ञासा वही है जो हर दावे के सामने प्रश्नचिह्न रखे और प्रमाण मिलने पर ही स्वीकार करे।
Your only obligation is your liberation. These are just loveless social customs and economic structures where a woman is seen as a factor of production that produces babies. There’s no need to go to the husband’s place or even stay at your father’s if you are unloved and unwanted. The world is a vast opportunity. Live anywhere, stay anywhere, do whatever is the right work, and fly free—simple.
We were always algorithmic. We were always driven by instruction manuals. There was always some preset logic — inauthentic logic, borrowed logic — behind our conduct. And that’s why all that could be taken, consolidated, and put in the form of a code. Otherwise, where would the code come from?
Abortion Rights: Who Decides — Country, Religion or Society?
The building is raised on a weak foundation, and now you want to penalize everybody who comes and shakes it up even a little? You don't do this. Why did you allow this building to stand on such a weak foundation, and now you are trying to protect it through legislation? What kind of stupidity is this?
Spirituality is neither a tradition nor a culture. Spirituality is not at all about following something or somebody. When it is said that you must follow the Guru, the Guru is the Truth, not a person not a man. Spirituality would never say, “Follow the words of a man.” Spirituality says, “Let the mind follow the Center, the Truth or you may call it the Heart or God.”
Yoga is action without attachment. Yoga is to refuse everything that keeps you little and limited. To live without a reason, to love without a cause, to act without greed and desire, that is Yoga. Total purposelessness is Yoga. Yoga is freedom from all whys.
सच्चे आँसू दुख के नहीं, भीतर की जकड़ से मुक्ति के प्रतीक हैं। समाज ने रोने को कमजोरी मान लिया है, लेकिन अस्तित्व कभी रोने से नहीं रोकता। आँसू बहाना मनुष्यता की निशानी है, इससे मन और आँखें दोनों साफ होती हैं। जो रो नहीं सकता, वह भीतर से सूख चुका है। भीजापन ही जीवन की असली निशानी है।
आचार्य जी नमस्कार। आपकी शिक्षाओं की वजह से मेरी निजी ज़िन्दगी में काफ़ी परिवर्तन आया है और एक चीज़ जो मैंने सीखी है वह है वर्तमान क्षण में जीना, जो आपने बहुत दिन पहले शुरुआती दिमाग वाली बात बतायी थी, वह निजी ज़िन्दगी में बहुत अच्छी तरह से काम
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प्रश्नकर्ता:
प्रणाम आचार्य जी। जीवन में क्या लक्ष्य बनाने योग्य है? क्या है जो मन, शरीर दोनों को सुकून दे सकता है?
आचार्य प्रशांत: वह तो आप पर निर्भर करता है न। अगर बिलकुल खरी बात पूछेंगे तो जीवन को किसी लक्ष्य कि ज़रूरत ही नहीं है। पर वह इतनी…
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Questioner (Q): Good evening, sir. In many places, especially in college, it is seen that the person starts drinking or smoking just because of peer pressure because he has a fear that if he doesn't do this, his group will throw him out. So, what are your views regarding this…
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प्रश्नकर्ता: 'मैं ये नहीं हूँ' ये बात मुझे मन के तल पर तो समझ में आ गयी है, लेकिन ये मेरे जीवन में कैसे उतरे?
आचार्य प्रशांत: 'मैं नहीं' एक निगेशन (नकार) है। वो निगेशन किसी चीज़़ का ही हो सकता है, कुछ होगा तभी तो उसे निगेट करेंगे। जैसे…
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बार-बार लक्ष्य छोड़ देने का कारण इच्छाशक्ति की कमी नहीं, बल्कि गलत और उधार लिए हुए लक्ष्य हैं। जिन उद्देश्यों का जन्म प्रेम, समझ और आत्मबोध से नहीं होता, वे बोझ बन जाते हैं। सही लक्ष्य भीतर की स्पष्टता से निकलता है और वही व्यक्ति को स्वाभाविक समर्पण देता है। इसलिए प्रेरणा खोजने से पहले स्वयं को जानना, आत्म-अवलोकन करना और यह समझना ज़रूरी है कि वास्तव में हमारे लिए क्या मूल्यवान है।
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True dedication does not feel like painful sacrifice. When a goal becomes love, unnecessary distractions quietly lose importance instead of being forcefully abandoned. Personal growth and contribution to society are not separate; meaningful work naturally benefits both oneself and others. Real freedom is not outward performance but inner clarity. Life should be measured by inner elevation, not by comparison with others’ achievements.
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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.
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Procrastination is nothing but the postponement of misery. ‘If I do it right now, I will feel miserable.’ So I try to escape by sending the thing into the future. But if I loved what I did, would I still procrastinate? After all, one never delays love.
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मूलभूत शिक्षा लेनी ज़रूरी होती है। कुछ बातें हैं दुनिया की, जो नहीं पता होंगी तो पूरे इंसान भी नहीं बन पाओगे। विद्या-अविद्या दोनों चाहिए। अविद्या माने सांसारिक भौतिक शिक्षा और विद्या माने आध्यात्मिक शिक्षा। उपनिषद् कहते हैं, जिनके पास विद्या नहीं होती, वो गहरे कुएँ में गिरते हैं। लेकिन जिनके पास सांसारिक ज्ञान नहीं होता वो और ज़्यादा गहरे कुएँ में गिरते हैं। और जिनके पास दोनों हैं, वो मृत्यु को पार करके अमर हो जाते हैं।
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Be in love with your work and give it just everything that you have. The quality of the relationship must be so high that you are left choiceless in attending to it. Once you have given it all that you have, you will be left with very little time, space, or energy to bother about the result. “I gave everything that I had; now it is difficult to differentiate between defeat and victory.” Live so intensely that, in the end, you are left with no energy to be concerned with the result.
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Those who work towards 'an end' find that they are defeated both in the work and in achieving 'the end' because even if they somehow manage to reach that end, they find that it's not really what they wanted. So, they proceed to the next destination; this is a vicious cycle. On the other hand, those who work because the work itself is a celebration, they win doubly because the work itself is the end, and they celebrate all the way to success.
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By all means, have goals. But the goal should not be more important than the game itself. If there is any meaning, the meaning is in the game. The goal might be achieved in the process of the game—fine. But the meaning does not lie in the goal. The meaning lies in the game. Play with abandon. You’ll forget to count the number of goals. Somebody will have to draw your attention towards the scoreboard. "I got so much into the game, I lost count of goals." This is not some impractical, utopian fiction. This is what the greats have lived by. This is the very substance of greatness.
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A worthy motive would always have something to do with your current condition. It would either be something that gives you joy, or it would be something that gives you liberation. And even these two, after a point, you will see, are identical. It would either be something that gives you unconditional joy—purposeless joy. It is something you can do without getting any reward. If there is something that attracts you this way, then it's fit to be your goal.
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If you choose a goal that's not worthy, you'll try hard to concentrate on it, but you'll invariably get distracted. That's not because the distractions are powerful; it's because your goal is powerless. If your goal offers you unconditional joy or leads to your freedom and liberation, you will never be distracted.
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हमारे लक्ष्य हमारे नहीं होते इसीलिए हमारे कोई लक्ष्य पूरे नहीं होते। किसी भी लक्ष्य की ज़िम्मेदारी तुम तभी उठा पाओगे जब वो तुम्हारे ह्रदय से आया हो। जो तुम्हारे ह्रदय से नहीं आया उसकी ज़िम्मेदारी उठाओगे तो बोझ लगेगी। सही लक्ष्य प्रेम प्रसंग की तरह होता है, वो पकड़ लेता है। आप उसे छोड़ना चाहोगे, पर वो आपको नहीं छोड़ेगा। खुद को देखो, अपनी हालत देखो और दर्पण जैसे लोगों के साथ समय गुज़ारो, फिर सही लक्ष्य निर्धारित कर पाओगे और समर्पित रह पाओगे।
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Choose the goal extremely wisely and then it does not matter whether you are failing or succeeding or what. Obviously, you do not want to keep failing continuously. So, you look at the process of living, the process through which you wanted to move towards whatever you chose. And then you make continuous improvements in the process. But all this talk of improvement and everything make sense only if, first of all, the goal is right.
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A goal that is too far away in time is a false goal. The goal has to be extremely immediate. By having a false goal, you give yourself the luxury of not doing the right thing right now. By placing your goal five years into the future, you have given yourself the freedom— the false freedom— to do any random stuff right now.
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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…
And if you are not forced to…
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'Laziness' is an unnecessary pejorative. You’re imposing morality on Prakriti (physical nature) and calling it laziness. There’s nothing called laziness. In nature, there’s a tendency towards work minimization, which is logical—get maximum output with minimum effort. You view it through a moral lens and call it laziness. If something gives more output with less work, you’ll choose it. You call it laziness, but it’s simply efficiency. You calculate the pleasure-to-effort ratio, and if lying in bed offers more pleasure than working out, you’ll naturally choose the bed.
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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…
So, incompleteness is projecting more incompleteness for itself and then trying with all its might to reach more incompleteness. How…
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Work. Where is the time to devote to anxiety? Where is the space to be anxious? If you are anxious about something, that thing is obviously important to you. Else you wouldn’t be anxious and if that thing is important, work. Work for that thing. The thing is not only important but also stands incomplete. That’s the reason you are anxious. Correct? If it stands incomplete, work, bring it to completion. Somebody said action is the antidote to despair. Action. Don’t just sit and brood, work. And life will become intolerable if you are not a worker.
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प्रश्नकर्ता: मैं एक मध्यम वर्गीय परिवार से हूँ और बचपन से ही बहुत कम महत्वाकांक्षी रहा हूँ। खेल-खेल में ही मैंने जेईई का एग्ज़ाम क्रैक किया (परीक्षा उत्तीर्ण की) और आइआइटी खड़गपुर में इलेक्ट्रॉनिक्स इंजीनियरिंग (अभियान्त्रिकी) करने का मौका मिला।
इंजीनियरिंग के दूसरे वर्ष में ट्रैकिंग (पर्वतारोहण) करने का मौका…
Acharya Prashant: How to get success in whatever I do? The questioner says, “How do I get success in whatever I do?” Success does not lie in doing any random thing. That’s the first, the most important and, probably, the last thing. The game is not at all about picking…
Acharya Prashant: First of all, thanks for inviting me here. I don't consider myself a success…
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Death is a point in time, right. That’s what you call the incidence of death. And life you call a stretch in time. Isn’t time an opportunity then, for change, real change? Time is anyway defined as change in space. Isn’t time also an opportunity for genuine change? Before time ends for the physical organism and the moment of death arrives. Isn’t time an opportunity to move into the timeless? And if one hasn’t done that before his physical death. Hasn’t he just wasted his life?
Speaker : When one is in a mental state, it is never…
Question:
Sir, there is a common notion that if I go about consuming things, then there would be a time when I will see the uselessness of these things. And ultimately this would help me to go to the other center, the immensity. I have a strong belief in that,
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Question :
You said that we all have either same or similar kind of goals. But we are deciding our goals on our own. How can they be similar?
Speaker : How is it possible that two-hundred students sitting here, two hundred individuals sitting here, have the same goal in…
1
प्रश्नकर्ता: सर, प्रणाम! आपका पुराना छात्र हूँ। दो-हज़ार-दस से आपको सुन रहा हूँ, देख रहा हूँ। आप नहीं बदले, सब बदल गया। ज़माना बदल गया! आपके भीतर इतना जज़्बा आता कहाँ से है?
आचार्य प्रशांत: मुझे तो नहीं पता चलता कि मुझमें कोई जज़्बा है। तुमने कहा, ‘इतना जज़्बा! विशेष…
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It is far better to be slow on the right road than to be…
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Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, you often talk about the importance of time, and that is something that bothers me in the context of my career. I don’t know if I should continue in my current job or not. I took the job for very ordinary reasons: money and position in…
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Questioner: Acharya Ji, it is a question about selfless goals. I have not understood ‘goals’ yet. The freedom fighters, social workers, humanitarians are all working tirelessly to achieve something. What’s my responsibility towards country, people, and religion? For example, our culture and tradition need to be preserved. Is it not…
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Intention, goal, purpose, desire, clinging, attachment, attraction—none of these are bad, provided they are towards the right object, right end. Please be attached, please be greatly attached, please be desirous, please feel the attraction, the pull towards liberation, towards Truth.
It is not for nothing that your mind is vested…
I might be a very violent man, and my goal is to blast a building off. To learn how to do it, I will have to live through stern discipline. I will have
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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…
Your mom is beautiful, great, good, lovely. Is she the right person to tell you of so many other things in life? Please avoid. Does your…
The world is anyway…
Entrepreneurship is about initiating something, right? Doing something, beginning something. Before you become a good entrepreneur, must you not ask what is worth doing? Or is entrepreneurship merely about collecting profits rather than salaries? To many people,…
