Passion
Meditation
9min96reads1
प्रश्नकर्ता : आपके एक वीडियो में सुना था कि कैसे पता लगे कि हम उसके क़रीब हैं, कि हमको कुछ प्राप्त हुआ है या नहीं हुआ है। तो उसमें आपने कहा था कि अगर चीज़ों को खोने से कम डर लगने लगे तो समझ लो उसके क़रीब हो, या बेवजह…
Clarity
7min1.2kreads266
The world is full of people who pursued what they call their interest, or their hobby—or their love even—and kept feeling as frustrated as you probably do. See, the influences that others have upon us, we resist them. So, as you are saying, your parents have a certain influence upon you. You want to resist it, you don’t feel comfortable. There is a constant feeling that, “I am doing something under somebody’s influence or pressure.
Fear
14min296reads65
“मैं तो अपने पैशन पर चलती हूँ, साहब, किसी के दबाव में नहीं आती।” पर सोचिए, बेहोशी में किसी ने दिमाग़ में एक छोटी-सी चिप लगा दी हो। तब उसका हर हुक्म हमें अपनी ही पसंद लगेगा, और बाहर कोई दबाव डालता दिखेगा भी नहीं। साथ में एक डर भी बैठा दिया जाता है: लड़की हो तो हाईवे मत छोड़ना, पगडंडी पर उतरीं तो रोटी के लाले पड़ जाएँगे। जब आँखें दुनिया के साथ आईना भी देखने लगें, तो क्या बिना बिके, बिना झुके जिया जा सकता है?
Passion
20min1.2kreads826
What is life without real passion, real commitment, real love? What do you live for? Just wake up each day and say, "Another day, another day," and a day will come when you will run out of days. They will tell you, "Look at that beggar on that street, that will be you in 20 years." They will paint all these terrifying pictures. Don't listen. The real deal is work, not money. Just do not be afraid.
Passion
4min1.4kreads7210
When you are passionate about the one right thing, then you become impervious to many other things. Come pleasure, come pain, come attractions, come distractions, nothing matters to me, because now I have something extremely worthwhile in my life. One thing, one life, one love, one passion. Isn’t that a great way of living life?
Excerpts from Articles
Was Dr. Ambedkar Against Hinduism?
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.
Should Women Leave Their Parental Home?
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.
How To Stop Being Lazy?
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.
प्रूफ नहीं है, तो मानें क्यों?
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।
Break Free from the Need for Approval
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.
आँसू अगर सच्चे हैं तो भीतर आनंद ही आनंद है
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।
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.
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।
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.
यूट्यूबर बनना आसान है या कठिन?
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।
Spirituality Is Neither Culture Nor Tradition
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.”
सिगरेट, शराब, ड्रग्स - क्यों चाहिए जवानी को नशा?
ये जो पैसे की अंधाधुंध दौड़ है, प्लेसमेंट, प्लेसमेंट — ये नशा कैसे नहीं है? बताओ न!
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.
Does Self-Help Really Help?
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."
Who are You Without the Algorithm?
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?
What is Yoga?
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.
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?
How to Deal With Loneliness?
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.
Passion
7min2kreads28827
इंटरेस्ट सच्चा है या नहीं — यह जाँचने के लिए पूछो: “सिर्फ़ आकर्षित हूँ या समझता हूँ?” आप जो भी क्षेत्र चुनोगे, उसमें समय, ऊर्जा और ज़िन्दगी लगेगी। काम कोई छोटी चीज़ नहीं होती, बहुत क़रीबी चीज़ होती है। वह आपकी ज़िन्दगी का पहला रिश्ता होता है। जब काम समझदारी, गहराई और प्यार से चुनते हो, तो फिर यह नहीं होता कि हर छह महीने में जी ऊब गया।
Passion
15min2.2kreads105311
It's difficult to be born in India and have a passion for ice hockey. Few kids aspire to make a career in rugby or ice hockey, while many are passionate about cricket. Passion arises from surroundings, not internally. It may present itself as something internal and heartfelt, but it is as external as peer pressure.
Women Empowerment
8min162reads226
35 की उम्र आते ही खिलाड़ी महिला से कहा जाने लगता है कि अब खेल छोड़ो, बच्चों को मौका दो। हम मान लेते हैं कि यह उम्र और शरीर की मजबूरी है। पर ध्यान से देखें तो शरीर का तर्क टिकता ही नहीं। असल दबाव उस सिखाई गई मान्यता का है जो महिला को उसके शरीर और उससे जुड़ी भूमिकाओं से ही तौलती है, और जिसे हम अपनी ही सोच मान बैठे हैं। जो आवाज़ें हमें बताती हैं कि हमारी ज़िंदगी का क्या करना है, क्या हम ईमानदारी से देख पाएँगे कि वे आवाज़ें किसकी हैं?
Passion
21min389reads1013
सच्चा जीवन समाज के दबाव या तथाकथित “पैशन” के पीछे चलने से नहीं, बल्कि भीतर और बाहर दोनों प्रकार की गुलामी से मुक्त होने से शुरू होता है। अक्सर जिसे अपनी पसंद या पैशन समझा जाता है, वह भी सामाजिक संस्कारों का परिणाम होता है। जब व्यक्ति स्वयं को गहराई से समझकर स्वतंत्र निर्णय लेता है, तब उसका कर्म स्वाभाविक, सार्थक और समाजोपयोगी बनता है। भय और सुरक्षा की मानसिकता से ऊपर उठकर भी गरिमापूर्ण, संतुलित और आर्थिक रूप से पर्याप्त जीवन जिया जा सकता है।
Passion
14min381reads6
You are born in India — hardly anyone does not play cricket and what if you go to Brazil or Argentina? So, is cricket a choice, or is it rather an imposition of the circumstances? I’m asking you. You say you love cricket. Do you really love cricket? Love involves a very, very conscious choice. If cricket has come to you only because you are born in a particular country, how is cricket a choice? Now, cricket is some kind of helplessness, choice-lessness. What do I do, being born in India, I’ll have to love cricket. Is it a choice then?
Passion
11min310reads41
चाहे वो मेरी रूचि हो, चाहे मेरी पसंद हो, चाहे मेरे लक्ष्य हों; हम हमेशा पाते हैं कि हम कभी भी उसमें पूर्णता से अपनेआप को डुबो नहीं पाते, क्योंकि वो हमारे होते ही नहीं हैं। वो कहीं बाहर से आये होते हैं। हमने बस मान लिया होता है कि वो हमारे अपने है। मेरे अपने वो होते ही कहाँ हैं? मेरा अपना तो तब कुछ हो जब पहले मैं स्वयं को जानूं। कि जब ये शब्द बना था, जिन्होंने ये शब्द बनाया था, वो अच्छी तरह जानते थे कि पैशन-वैशन कुछ होता नहीं है।
Desire
1min594reads13
Questioner: Is it possible to live without a target in life? I set a target for myself so that I have something to strive for, so that I have a sense of direction, but the thought of not achieving this target also brings sorrow and fear. So how can a…
Success
32min935reads144
Questioner: Good evening everyone, my name is Saurabh Sardana and you are watching the first episode of season 2, ‘Recast.’ I’m so glad to have you with me today, Acharya Prashant Ji. I’m pretty sure, that most of you that most of you sort of follow him on one of…
Clarity
5min484reads72
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…
Passion
4min831reads154
आचार्य प्रशांत: सवाल है, ‘ये टैलेंट, प्रतिभा नाम की चीज़ क्या होती है? और कैसे पता करूँ कि मुझेमें क्या प्रतिभा है?’
निशांत, जिसको तुम प्रतिभा बोलते हो, यह तो आदमी की बनाई हुई धारणा है न, तुम अगर भारत में हो और तुमको एक लकड़ी से एक गेंद को…
Clarity
9min1.5kreads292
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?
Passion
6min1.9kreads659
Smart work means being a little cunning, chalu (street smart), knowing shortcuts, and having connections in the right places. That’s what the world means by ‘smart work’. Unfortunately, choosing between hard work and smart work is like choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea. Whichever way you go, you are doomed. Hard work and smart work—what does hard work mean? Hard work means I do not know what I am doing, why I am doing it, or who is doing it, but I have been told that doing is important, so I am just doing and doing; that is hard work.
Values
6min299reads62
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…
Passion
1min238reads2
Man wants progress, and progress means an ascension, an elevation. It is as if man wants to be elevated to some high sky. That’s what you say, right? “I am rising up, I am progressing.” What is the intention of this tendency to keep progressing? The intention is to progress…
Suffering
1min556reads3
Ashish Nehra retired and he said, “It isn’t as if there was pain in my body; sometimes I was searching for my body in the pain. Pain is everywhere—where is the body?” He used to have one surgery every two days. You get the idea, right? So many surgeries he…
Passion
4min319reads1
Listener: It is disappointing to see that the way I sit in your session and in a movie theatre is predetermined and hence conditioned. And that affects the learning.
Acharya Prashant: And then your learning would remain incomplete because a movie has as much to teach as a session like…
Motivation
4min201reads11
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…
Clarity
7min300reads42
Acharya Prashant (AP): Ekansh is saying, “Sir alright, you said my work should come from my calling.” He is saying, “But today I am interested in one thing, five years later I might be interested in another thing. Then what will happen? Should I change my work, my trade, my…
Passion
9min229reads3
Question: Pranaam Acharya Ji. From other’s perspective I look like a cool and calm person, which I think I am at times. But I do have a good amount of ego inside. How can I be the same ‘cool and calm’ person from inside as well?
Please guide me on…
Happiness
1min492reads
How much to spend on oneself? As much as is needed to extract the maximum work and value from oneself. There might be times when you need to spend on servicing the car. Fine, that much expense is needed. Otherwise, the car will not be helpful anymore. I need to…
Goal
1min254reads11
When you are serious about victory, you do not strike at the enemy without being fully prepared. Those who just plunge themselves into battles without having checked their preparedness are the ones who don’t love victory too much. Because this battle is important, and because this battle must be won,…
Passion
1min338reads11
Passion is as much an external thing as, let’s say, peer pressure. Somebody chooses his work or occupation going by market forces or peer pressure or family pressure, and then there is someone who says, “I am choosing my passion for my livelihood”; these two are hardly different. Even if…
Self Enquiry
1min172reads2
What do you mean by supporting others? Providing them with crutches? Is that what you mean by support?
The greatest support you can offer to others is your own excellence. The greatest support you can offer to others is your own love and passion and determination and creativity and freedom.…
Liberation
7min400reads8
Questioner (Q): Sir my question is, whenever we take decisions in life, we tend to take the easier path despite it not being beneficial to us. We like to stay in our comfort zone. So how do we come out of this? How do we push ourselves to take the…
Passion
1min354reads5
Luck means that you are getting something unexpected and big, right? That’s what you call as being lucky.
Keep working hard. Do not wait for luck. You can force luck. You can tell him, “I am working so hard that you will have to come to me.”
Force luck. Don’t…
Beliefs
1min334reads41
You have to fight without strength. It is only then that you realize that you are not without strength. If you keep waiting for strength before getting into the fight, then you will never have the strength to put up any fight. Had Arjuna never made himself available to the…
Confusion
2min231reads11
Passion, too, comes from surroundings, but passion becomes dangerous because it presents itself as if it is something internal. Not only does it present itself as something internal, it decorates itself as something of the heart.
The fellow will say, “My heart beats for cricket.” You must ask him: Why…
Clarity
1min274reads
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…
Passion
1min467reads1
Keep fighting. Keep fighting till your victory, and keep fighting in your defeat. The second part is more important. Keep fighting even when you have been beaten down. Keep fighting even when yours looks like a hopeless cause, a lost battle. Don’t just start wallowing in self-pity and self-abuse. “Oh!…
Passion
2min341reads22
Question: Acharya Ji, my family keeps asking that my I am never interested in doing general stuff. They keep asking what I want to do, and where I want to go. My reply to them always is, that – “I do not know.”
I don’t want to do this, that…
Clarity
15min263reads4
Questioner (Q): During our preparation for IIT JEE, we had to pass through a phase where we were not socializing much in order to focus on our studies. But as soon as we enter IIT, we are faced with a scenario where we are required to be a social person,…
Goal
1min550reads29
जो आदमी साहस के साथ अपने लिए एक सही लक्ष्य, सही काम, सही अभियान खोज लेता है, वो आदमी फिर बहुत मुश्किल से रुकता है। रुकेगा भी तो, पल-दो-पल को रुकेगा, हफ्ते-दो-हफ्ते को रुकेगा, महीने-दो-महीने को रुकेगा। वो कमर कस कर फिर आगे बढ़ जाएगा। हो सकता है वो आगे…
Passion
9min313reads2
Question: The creator is in every bit of the creation, then why do we call the world illusionary?
Acharya Prashant: Don’t call the world illusionary. “The creator is the creation” is not merely an aphorism. If you can look at the wall and see just creativity here, then wonderful, continue…
Goal
1min201reads
When you stand in front of a client and make an important presentation, what is it that makes you go weak in the knees? Expectations, greed… And there is only one solution to greed: Rama.
You try to feel like a champion. But in front of your boss, you discover…
Passion
3min182reads21
Questioner: How do we understand the purpose of our being?
Yesterday we had a puja at our place and the priest said that even when the leaf moves, it moves due to the will of God. So, everything that exists has a purpose and there is a will of God.…
Clarity
1min176reads
Even when you are identified with being the winner or the loser, still there is something within you which can neither be a winner nor a loser. It is your fundamental nature. It is your fundamental nature that gets hidden when you are obsessed with winning or losing.
The fact…
Motivation
1min163reads1
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…
Goal
10min776reads122
Questioner (Q): What does Khalil Gibran mean, when he says, “He who works in marble, and finds the shape of his own soul in the stone, is nobler than he who ploughs the soil.”
Acharya Prashant (AP): What is work?
All work involves action.
As human beings, we are beings…
Passion
8min151reads
Question: Acharya Ji, we remain attached to the material things and eventually it all leaves us when we die. How do I detach myself from this old and disappointing pattern of material based existence, that I need a job and money, so that I can be happy?
Acharya Prashant Ji:…
Passion
5min298reads51
Questioner: I am at a stage in my life, where I lack passion in everything. Be it my intimate relationships with my loved ones, or be it my career, I feel numb. It is like life has become a movie or a moving painting, and I am a detached viewer.…
Passion
5min153reads1
Questioner: Sir, nowadays it is said that it is not the hard work that can lead you to achieve whatever you want it is actually the smart work. What is this smart work actually?
Acharya Prashant: Jugaad! Nothing else!
That’s what the world means by smart work.
Be a…
Desire
15min240reads7
प्रश्नकर्ता: आईआईटी पटना के कुछ छात्रों के प्रश्न थे। जैसे काफ़ी सारे विद्यार्थी ये जानना चाह रहे थे कि सक्सेस (सफलता) क्या है, और ऐसा करियर कैसे चुना जाए कि हमें सक्सेसफुल (सफल) महसूस हो? अगर हम उदाहरण के तौर पर देखें कि किसी की इच्छा अगर पेंटर बनने में…
Passion
11min813reads56
आचार्य प्रशांत: समझ में नहीं आ रहा क्या कि जब भगत सिंह कहते थे कि वो नास्तिक हैं तो वो वास्तव में परंपरागत धर्म, सड़े-गले धर्म, संस्थागत धर्म को नकार रहे थे। नहीं तो एक ऊँचे आदर्श के लिए शरीर की आहुति दे देने से बड़ा धार्मिक काम क्या होगा?…
Ego
5min242reads31
आचार्य प्रशांत: अहंकार कहता है – रुचि को प्रधानता दो।
अध्यात्म कहता है – धर्म प्रधान है।
अध्यात्म का अर्थ ही है – रुचि की परवाह ही न करना, और उस तरफ़ चलना जिस तरफ़ धर्म है, जिधर सत्य है।
रुचि की तरफ़ चलना माने वृत्तियों के चलाए चलना।
‘रुचि’…
Women Empowerment
3min302reads1
आचार्य प्रशांत: दुनिया की कुल संपत्ति दो-चार प्रतिशत महिलाओं के पास है, पच्चानवे प्रतिशत पुरुषों के पास है। दुनिया की संसदों में और विधान सभाओं में स्त्रियों का अनुपात पाँच-दस प्रतिशत, नब्बे प्रतिशत कौन हैं? पुरुष हैं। दुनिया की कंपनियों में, शीर्ष पदों पर जो लोग हैं—'सी एक्सओज़' बोलते हैं…