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?
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?
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
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
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
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?
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…
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
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!
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,
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
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…
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.
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?
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?
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?
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
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।
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?
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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.
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।
Excerpts from Articles
अंधविश्वास असल में झूठ को स्वीकृति पाने की चाह है
एक पुजारी जो रोज़ भूत-प्रेत, तंत्र-मंत्र और वशीकरण के नाम पर आए लोगों से मिलता है, आचार्य प्रशांत से पूछता है: जब वो ख़ुद जानता है कि कुछ भूत-चुड़ैल नहीं होता, तो लोग बार-बार इसी झूठ की शरण में क्यों जाते हैं? जवाब अंधविश्वास से कहीं गहरा निकलता है — यह हमारे भीतर के उस झूठ की कहानी है, जिसे हम हर कीमत पर बचाना चाहते हैं।
ज्योतिष कितना सच है? कुंडली, ग्रह-नक्षत्र: इनका क्या अर्थ है?
वेदांत को केवल इसलिए सही या श्रेष्ठ नहीं माना जा सकता कि वह किसी विशेष परंपरा से आता है। विज्ञान जहाँ भौतिक जगत की वस्तुनिष्ठ जाँच करता है, वहीं अद्वैत वेदांत सीधे मनुष्य के ‘मैं’, उसके दुख, बंधन और मुक्ति की पड़ताल करता है। इसकी कसौटी वैज्ञानिक प्रमाण नहीं, बल्कि अपने जीवन में इसकी सच्चाई को देख पाना है। किसी दर्शन को मान लेना नहीं, बल्कि उससे स्वयं को मुक्त करना ही उसका वास्तविक उद्देश्य है।
Justice Without Boundaries: Why Compassion Cannot Stop at Species
Oppression should not see caste, gender, creed or colour, and it should not see species either. The moral threshold is sentience, not intelligence. An animal feels pain as fully as a human does, whether or not it can explain its suffering.
रक्षाबंधन केवल भाई-बहन के रिश्ते और सुरक्षा की रस्म तक सीमित नहीं होना चाहिए। आज असली रक्षा उन चीज़ों की ज़रूरत है जो कमज़ोर और संकट में हैं—गौरैया, नदियाँ, पहाड़, पेड़, महासागर और पृथ्वी। साथ ही ईमानदारी, आत्मज्ञान और मानवीय मूल्यों की भी रक्षा जरूरी है। धर्म कर्मकांड नहीं, अपनी शक्ति और उससे जुड़ी व्यापक ज़िम्मेदारी को समझना है।
फ़ालतू खर्च छोड़िए, अपनी ज़िंदगी पर खर्च करना सीखिए
आचार्य प्रशांत बताते हैं कि क्यों हम सही खान-पान, स्वास्थ्य और अपने ऊपर ज़रूरी खर्च से बचते हैं, लेकिन दिखावे और फ़ालतू सामाजिक परंपराओं पर पैसा बहा देते हैं। अधिकांश लोगों के लिए समस्या सिर्फ़ पैसों की कमी नहीं, बल्कि विवेक और सही प्राथमिकताओं की कमी भी है।
Climate change is more than an environmental crisis—it is a crisis of human choices. Our patterns of consumption, consumerism and endless pursuit of more are putting increasing pressure on the planet. But meaningful change does not necessarily begin with new technology or stricter policies. It begins with a deeper question: what are we willing to change within ourselves?
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.
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.
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।
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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…
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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…
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…
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?
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.
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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.
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
Please guide me on…
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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 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…
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.
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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…
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…
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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…
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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…
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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
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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.…
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Fight a high battle. Be your own hero. Heroes don’t have to cry in loneliness on their pillows, right?
That’s one…
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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…
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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.…
Acharya Prashant: Jugaad! Nothing else!
That’s what the world means by smart work.
Be a…
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
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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’…
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आचार्य प्रशांत:
मेरे घर में
लाइब्रेरी
(पुस्तकालय) थी। उसमें कुछ क़िताबें तो चलो मैं बच्चा था तो मेरे स्तर की थीं, पर ज़्यादातर क़िताबें वो थीं जो आप पढ़ा करते थे और आपके ज़माने की, आपके कॉलेज के दिनों की (वयस्कों की ओर इंगित करते हुए)। मैं वो भी पढ़
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प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी प्रणाम, मेरा प्रश्न है कि दुख बहुत ज़्यादा आता जा रहा है, जैसे-जैसे मैं सत्य के निकट आ रही हूँ, मुझे बहुत ज़्यादा उदासीनता, बहुत ज़्यादा आ रही है।
मतलब मैं बहुत ही स्पीड (गति) से चीज़ों को त्यागती जा रही हूँ, ये भी नहीं चाहिए, वो…
