Motivation

Mood Swings? || AP Neem Candies

Be compassionate towards yourself, and have faith that freedom is possible and that life can be enjoyed really. Life need not be a melancholy song; it can be a symphony of ecstasy. That faith has to be there.

Do not surrender so easily to the forces of littleness. They will… read_more

2 min

Acharya Prashant: Our story is that somebody says, ‘Hey! looking gorgeous today’. And we work up such a nice mood. And somebody says, ‘Hey! Where did you get this haircut from? Take two rupees from me, get a better haircut’. And we feel as if we have been put in… read_more

How to Overcome Laziness?

14 min

'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.

Freedom from Ego is Freedom from Fear

24 min

Acharya Prashant: What to do when you encounter a person with a lot of ego? He has used two words: High ego and bad ego. Let us understand this. When you use the term ‘bad ego’, you necessarily mean that there is something called ‘good ego’ as well. Correct? Logical?… read_more

Look at the Eyes, Before You Look Through the Eyes || AP Neem Candies

3 min

Acharya Prashant: Those of you who have tried to chase success in this world know very well that all that you have received is fear. Kindly do not punish your children now. Kindly do not push them to make the same foolish mistakes that you kept making all your life.… read_more

Rise Above Failure: Claim Your Success Today

12 min

Questioner: My name is Rohit. My question is related to failures. At certain moments of life we feel that we have had enough of failures and we are tired of it. Similar goes with me, like I have been trying my best in my life to do everything that I… read_more

How to Always Be Inspired?

23 min

To go as far as possible for a human being. Do you know how far a human being can go? Do you know what heights can be scaled? That’s what I call real ambition. We live lukewarm lives. Two kids’, two BHK flat, two cars, two air conditioners, two husbands that’s all. Is there anything more that you want? Anything more? Two jobs from the campus that will fill up your heart; two wives, maybe a mistress or a concubine, it’s alright. Anything more that you want? Two bank accounts, one for white money, one for black money; two flats, one for living, one as an asset.

Lack of Motivation: Does It Mean You're Not Capable?

Only a worthy cause can inspire the best within you || NIT Jamshedpur (2020)

In our times, everybody is more or less familiar with the concept of motivation. Whether it is the lack of it, excess of it, or just the desire to stay motivated about something, motivation is considered a necessary virtue. We all have various goals dictated by… read_more

4 min

Questioner: I worked as a software developer for three and a half years, but then I moved to soft-skills training due to job dissatisfaction. Then I left that as well, and worked in sales for three to four years. I was always interested in the field I was changing my… read_more

Does spirituality hinder us from being motivated and effortful? || Acharya Prashant (2016)

7 min

Acharya Prashant (AP): Are we able to actually put in efforts into anything? Is there really that we have ever given our heart and soul to something? We are talking as if we let effort freely flow through us and what I’m saying would block that flow. Your question assumes… read_more

Searching for one's missing part || (2020)

How to remain motivated and excel every moment? || IIM Ahmedabad (2020)

Questioner (Q): I'm not feeling completely good with myself. So, I'm trying to search for that missing part in others. Every single time I see someone, and I think, “Oh maybe I can be complete with this guy or with that guy”, and it comes irrationally, and I get sick… read_more

The way of assured success || IIT Kharagpur (2020)

Questioner (Q): How can one find direction in life? How to find a mission worth pursuing? How to find excellence in every second?

Acharya Prashant (AP): You have to know what you are doing. Once you know what you are doing, then the knowledge itself is the motivator. Whereas, if… read_more

Chasing your goal ||Neem Candies

Questioner: How to get success in whatever I do?

Acharya Prashant: Success does not lie in doing any random thing. That is the first, the most important, and probably the last thing. The game is not at all about picking up some arbitrary thing to do and then investing yourself… read_more

Fight the right battle || Neem Candies

There is no success in chasing a stupid goal and managing to attain it. If the goal in the first place is unworthy, what glory is there in attaining it more speedily than others?

So do not ask, “How do I get success in whatever I do?” You are trivializing… read_more

This person will help you || Neem Candies

Real courage is needed only when you fight the real battle, and the real battle is against yourself.

Not all problems are worth facing. Most problems you must totally avoid, even if that means that you will be called a coward by others.

Not all battles are worth fighting. In… read_more

A mystical Temple like this || Neem Candies

We do not do what we can. We do not challenge ourselves enough. We do not make the best, utter and desperate use of our own personal limited resources, but we want some kind of a helping hand to descend from the heavens. It won’t.

And this is good news,… read_more

How to survive hopeless periods? || Acharya Prashant, with MMMUT (2023)

A temple must really be a university in the purest sense of the word. When people go to a temple, they must return enriched. You are able to listen to a profound lecture, or to an animated debate. You come to know of things that you otherwise do not know.… read_more

Let’s beat fear || Neem Candies

Questioner (Q): Sir, many times in life we go through such periods where we lose our hope, and there's absolutely no motivation and we feel very down. And no matter how much harder we try, nothing works out. So sir, how do you push yourself through these worst phases of… read_more

How to remain motivated and excel every moment?

If you look at fear with fear, then you will never know fear. You will have to fearlessly penetrate fear.

So, when you say, for example, that you are afraid of something, you will have to ask, “What am I really afraid of?” Penetrate it.

Fear tells you, “Something wrong… read_more

Motivation and ambition, symptoms of suffering || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2014)

Questioner (Q): Sir, I wanted to know how do you find direction in your life? How do you find the mission that you want to pursue and how do you find excellence in every second? That's my question.

Acharya Prashant (AP): You have to know what you are doing. You… read_more

Motivation is slavery || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)

Questioner (Q): Sir, how to stay motivated and ambitious even after repeated failures in life?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Our friend is asking that how to stay motivated and ambitious even after repeated failures.

Do you understand what is ambition? Do you understand what is motivation? Do you understand what is… read_more

Who is the first student? || Neem Candies

Acharya Prashant: The question is that it is alright to motivate somebody but for a real, permanent effect to take place, and for that the motivation should turn into a habit. What should be done to bring this into effect?

Firstly, why must you believe that the HIDP is about… read_more

Fight a high battle ||Neem Candies

When does one finish being a student? When the resistance to being a student is finished.

Who is the teacher? The teacher is the most obedient and voluntary of all students. The teacher is not a non-student; the teacher is the first student, the best student, the most voluntary student.… read_more

Why am I unable to be involved in my work? || Acharya Prashant (2015)

Set high standards and live up to them. And in living up to them, if you have to fail many a times or pay a high price, be prepared.

Fight a high battle. Be your own hero. Heroes don’t have to cry in loneliness on their pillows, right?

That’s one… read_more

Failing with your To-Do list? || Acharya Prashant, at SPIT Mumbai (2022)

Listener 1 : Work is to be completed and there is the habit of seeking pleasure too, because of which work gets neglected, so a dilemma is there. How to come out of this?

Acharya Prashant: Why are these two different? There is work and then there is something else,… read_more

Why does motivation fail? How to be constantly motivated? || Acharya Prashant, at LIT-Nagpur (2022)

Questioner (Q): So, we often have many tasks to do in our day-to-day life and we make a to-do list, but we fail to complete it and the loop goes on every time. So, what can be the other ways to overcome this?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Right the right things… read_more

(Gita-6) The Mind's Battle: Arjuna's Search for Liberation

Questioner (Q): How can we remain constantly motivated throughout the academic year and throughout our life also? There are a lot of motivational videos out there, but their effect is short-lived; we remain motivated for a while and then go back to feeling demotivated. But we want to remain constantly… read_more

27 min

The word for a Guru does not really exist in the English language. So, they have borrowed Guru itself, Guru. But they have borrowed the word Guru and rather misunderstood it and misapplied it. So, anybody who seems to be an expert at anything, can be justifiably called a Guru in the English language. Now that's not the proper usage in spirituality or in Sanskrit.

How Did Bhagavad Gita Help Subhash Chandra Bose?

10 min

There is no revolution possible without wisdom literature. The quest for independence of freedom fighters was actually a manifestation of their inner quest for liberation. What kind of revolution can one do if it's the body that's always at the top of your mind? You require a Gita to tell you that this body is perishable and would anyway go. Gita only teaches you, "Endure and fight."

Forget Rituals, Embrace Wisdom: Krishna’s Powerful Words

37 min

You can either have the Gita or you can have the entirety of religion as it is practised by the common man in the common culture. These cannot go together. Totally incompatible, they are.

Why Do We Insult Our Scriptures?

27 min

In modern times, reading and respecting the Shastras is often seen in a derogatory light. An Asura disregards the scriptures, saying, “What I know is right. My own experience determines the Truth,” rejecting them because they will not allow him to do what he wants. We have come to a point where we are not merely ignoring but actually insulting the scriptures. If you're sincere about knowing life, why avoid a document with deep insights into it?

What Is the Main Message of Bhagavad Gita?

14 min

You have to fight. The world is the battlefield. To be born is to be born as a warrior, to be born is to be born with weapons and armour. That is the message: you cannot run away. Shunning action is not possible.

Big Fat Salary, Or Stable Job?

8 min

Work is the most important component of your life, it will take away all your time. You cannot approach work with these considerations: salary & stability. Discover your calling, not just a job, a calling. What is it that calls you as a lover? What kind of work that would be which you are ready to do even without being paid? If that work can be your life, then life is beautiful.

Feeling Caged in Your Chattering Mind?

The mind chatters only about little and inconsequential things. First of all, the matter would be a petty one; secondly, irrespective of how long the chatter is, the matter can never be brought to an end; so it is inconsequential. The mind loves to engage itself with itself. The mind loves to roll in its own stuff. Give the mind a proper purpose. Let the entire body, your entire system, everything in your existence be focused, be channelized towards the right purpose in life.

Knowing When To Exercise Patience And When To Pursue Goals Aggressively

4 min

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.

The Means Is as Important as the End

3 min

And then there are those who actually really practically want liberation. Those who really and practically want liberation, find out the means to be liberated. The Guru is the means. Nanak sahab says, “Now that you know so much about God, the absolute, you must also know how the absolute is to be reached.”

The Making of a Rare Vivekananda: The Role of Ramakrishna

Swami Vivekananda was an ordinary man—Narendra, and he too had his ordinary pursuits. It was the magical touch of Paramhans, that turned him into Vivekananda. And he wasn't too eager either. Many times, he ran away from Ramakrishna. It is a gigantic task, it doesn't just happen on its own. If you leave the youth to how they are, it is not liberation that would happen.

Mind Alone Is Bondage And Liberation

29 min

The mind is the entire set, the whole universe of objects that the ‘I’ has a relationship with. Not the entire set of everything that is there in the universe. One does not have a relationship with everything. But whatsoever one develops a relationship with becomes mind. An object untouched by the self, the ego is just an object. But the moment the object is touched by ‘I’, it becomes vishay or mind. And, mind is an accumulation, a congregation of objects that it is in relationship with.

Two Types of Hope

4 min

Most of the times, we are preoccupied with the first kind of hope, which says, “Get something, get something.” That kind of hope will keep me dependent and afraid. The second kind of hope which says, “I just want to get rid and discover my true nature, discover my aloneness and freedom." In this hope you say, “I am already a diamond. Just that a lot of dirt has gathered on the diamond, and I want to get rid of the dirt.

Is Your Mind Your Best Friend or Your Worst Enemy?

10 min

The mind is both your best friend and your worst enemy. It’s your friend when it operates with intelligence and attention, but when there is no attention, when there is no care or love, then intelligence does not function. And then, the mind is your worst enemy. A prisoner knows no joy, no freedom, no love. Your own sleep keeps you imprisoned. The moment you wake up, you are free.

How To Avoid Distraction?

14 min

You say you want something, but you are distracted easily. Ask yourself, "Why am I attracted to anything?" Unless you find that, you are just a plaything in the hands of situations. If you really know, then knowing itself decides for you. Then there is no question of indecision or distraction because there are no options left.

Gita Is Not This

7 min

To qualify an entrance exam, and work towards it, without thinking of the results, that’s not what Karma Yoga is. Karma Yoga is not about setting tangible worldly targets and going after them. It’s a moment-to-moment thing in which you are very conscious whether the objective of your action is personal ingratiation or larger welfare. You are acting all the time, you are not acting merely when you act towards a distant and a larger cause.

Why Isn't the Gita for Everyone?

8 min

It depends on the pain you are willing to take. Sometimes Duryodhanas have to be turned into Arjunas. It’s just that, it’s relatively easier with an Arjuna. But what to do when even Arjunas are not present to receive the Gita? As long as somebody has anything, anything that resembles consciousness, as long as somebody has even the faintest remnant of consciousness left, Gita can be brought to that person but it will be tough, difficult.

What is Yagya?

11 min

In the name of yagya, if you continue to burn wood, you are doing no good to anybody. Yagya must be understood in its true spirit. Shri Krishna says, “Do not act for yourself or for your personal gain. Act for a higher cause; higher than yourself, beyond yourself. Do that action that takes you to your Niyati, which is your end. Yagya is that which dissolves you; that which reduces you.”

Where Is the Kurukshetra of Your Life?

Arjuna’s hell was in his daily tasks, and so is yours. Arjuna could sense the evil in what appeared normal to others; you must also be able to sense that there is something extremely fishy in what seems normal to others. Your house, your workplace, your society—these are your Kurukshetra. That’s where you have to fight your Mahabharata. That’s where you need Shri Krishna and the Gita.

How to Set Goals in Life?

20 min

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.

Yoga - The Biggest 'Spiritual' Myth Today

17 min

You have ample gurus who come over and say, “You know, you do this and then you can do whatever you want to do.” Now the moment you hear this kind of philosophy that Yoga will help you do better whatever you want to do, I suppose one must run away. Because that’s exactly antithetical to Yoga. Yoga is not about doing whatever you want to do; it’s the ego that says that, not the dedicated, devoted, wise mind. That does not come from there.

The Real Meaning of Devoting One's Action to Shri Krishna

7 min

You are too small to conceive or imagine who Shri Krishna really is. How then will you devote your actions to him? You can only devote something to an object, and the real Shri Krishna is not an object. So, limit yourself to just practising a certain casualness. A certain beparwahi. You must never accord too much value to your desires and opinions. And if possible, crack a joke or two about yourself. It’s great to be the butt of one’s own jokes!

Why Does One Desire Liberation while the Other does not?