Niralamba Upanishad

The Bhagavad Gita deserves reverence not because of inherited beliefs about its author, but because of its power to dissolve falsehood and reveal Truth. Real devotion is not ritual or blind faith—it is understanding, inquiry, and living the wisdom of the Gita. Through sincere study, one discovers the true meaning of Krishna, making the Gita the most authentic path to knowing and worshipping Him.

Victory is not decided by the trophy you hold but by the battle you choose to fight. Real strength lies in making the right decisions, staying true to your deepest values, and refusing to be ruled by fear or circumstances. When your actions arise from clarity rather than ambition, the outcome loses its power over you. The moment you choose the right path, you have already won.

Real change begins not by changing the world alone but by understanding the one trying to change it. Laws, technology, policies, and scientific progress have value, yet they cannot solve problems rooted in human consciousness and endless desire. Truth remains the same across cultures and disciplines, requiring only a change in language, not in essence. Lasting solutions emerge through honesty, self-inquiry, and inner transformation, because no external system can replace a change in the human mind.

Operating from the highest inner point means living with honesty rather than self-created illusions. The ego becomes “higher” not through mystical growth but by dropping false self-images and testing its claims against reality. When honesty weakens, lower motives take control, creating inner conflict and disorder. Real growth lies in continuously questioning oneself, facing uncomfortable truths, and preventing the ego from being driven by comforting but deceptive beliefs.

You really think the world is being run by an authority outside of yourself? No. We are the ones running this world, and we have made a mess of it. But we don’t want to own the responsibility, so we bring somebody else in between. And that somebody else, poor God, cannot even come and argue for Himself, defend Himself, and claim innocence and say, “No, no, no, no. I have not brought the world to such a pathetic position. You have done it.”

Beliefs can’t talk to each other. You will say, ‘The world was created on a Sunday.’ He’ll say, ‘No, on a Monday.’ He’ll say, ‘Tuesday.’ He’ll say, ‘Wednesday.’ Now talk, how will you reconcile this? You can only fight. Why do you need to believe? You look at the question, "What should I believe in?” Well, nothing.

We teach our kids to write applications: “Humbly I beg to submit that today I have an ache in my tooth.” “Humbly I beg to submit!” If you are stating a fact, if the toothache is real, why the hell are you groveling? If that is the Truth, why are you begging? Drool, drool, drool. That’s become our culture. If your philosophy tells you to submit and surrender to several masters, you will never be a truthful person, because in Truth there is no authority but the Truth.

This in itself is a philosophical question. This is why you should study philosophy, because you already have this question. Philosophy is your affection for the Truth, your leaning towards the Truth. Don’t you want to know the Truth? How many of you are happy with lies? Nobody. So, it is this love for Truth that we all innately have; that’s called philosophy.

Karma is a reflection of who you are. You are the doer. Karma means action. You are the actor. The principle of karma is: do not focus on karma; focus on karta, the doer, the actor. That is karma, that’s all. There is nothing mystical about it.

Can you go to the past and choose something or unchoose something? And life is happening right now. So your power to respond to life is right now. But the moment you say it is happening due to the past, then you have surrendered your power to choose, because you cannot do anything with the past. You cannot change the past. You can’t choose the past. You can’t unchoose the past. You can’t modify it. You can do nothing.

Drop the center of confusion, come to the center of clarity. Drop what the masses practice, come to the direct route of self-realization. That’s what it means.

In the rule books of the courts, there are offenses of a thousand kinds, but when it comes to life, there is just one offense, ‘Did you live by the Truth or did you betray it?’ Remember that chap called Bhagat Singh and his associates. The courts declared they were guilty, and they were still joyful because they were absolutely not guilty in front of life. Live rightly, and then don’t apologize. That’s it.

The Bhagavad Gita, in essence, is a struggle of mukti (liberation) against sanskriti (culture). Shri Krishna urges Arjun to discard misogyny and cultural superstitions; the only thing that matters is mukti — liberation. Culture and traditions are time-bound; they hold meaning only when they point towards Truth — timeless, Sanatan. Have great traditions, and always be careful that your traditions are pointing towards the Truth. Only then do the traditions have life.

This evening in Delhi, a new book steps into the world—Truth Without Apology by Acharya Prashant. The launch takes place amidst seekers, readers, and companions of his work. In times when words are often polished to please and truths are dressed in comforting disguises, Truth Without Apology arrives like an uninvited storm—direct, raw, and uncompromising.

Life comes to us in an unending number of ways and you never know what's going to happen next. We are starved of something that really penetrates the surface. So, it is the intensity that this book brings — arrow-like depth, striking like lightning, immediately, so you don't have a chance to escape away from it. Like a Zen koan: very brief, very effective, and does its work in a snap. You could open just any chapter from anywhere and find it as if it was written just for you.

Opinions are opinions. There is nothing called ‘my opinion.’ All opinions are alien, foreign to you. They are always others. Even if they happen to be present in your mind, they are still others. It is just that you are so brain-identified that when an opinion is present in your brain, you start thinking that it is your opinion. And from where did that opinion come to your brain? It came either from biology or from society. How is the opinion yours then?

The Truth is not a complicated puzzle. Everything is laid open, right in front of you. So, if it is not happening even now, then it is just because of your own mischief. We give preference to the trivial and miss out on the important. We drift from one thing to another, with no thing meaning anything to us. You are not missing the secret; you are missing the obvious.

When words arise from an honest observation of life, then those words are called "divine."

The distinction between spiritual life and worldly life is a false distinction. Spirituality is not morality or a set of commandments. It is never instructive. You do not need great formulations or special practices. Spirituality is basic honesty. Just see and acknowledge what is going on, and then the right action follows. Nothing else is needed.

Overview

Fighting Duryodhana is Dharma. Fight Duryodhana in the way you can, that is swadharma. Dharma is the same for everybody, but swadharma varies according to your physical, social, temporal conditions.

But remember that swadharma can never be in contradiction of Dharma; swadharma will always be something…

DANCE NAKED

Dance, Lalla, with nothing on

But air: Sing, Lalla,

wearing the sky.

Look at this glowing day! What clothes

Could be so beautiful or

more sacred?

~Lal Ded

Acharya Prashant- what does it mean to dance with nothing on?

L1- No causes.

AP- What does it mean to…

All forms of gods and goddesses have emerged from man's mind — they are our own projections. Even if you show a god in the form of an animal, the animal will still be anthropomorphic, very closely related to human beings. So, this proves that we are worshipping our own form. Therefore, if any form does not remind you of a Truth beyond the form, then the form has not succeeded on you. This is why the highest spiritual philosophies have always said that the Truth is formless.

Shakti represents everything in motion, everything that can be experienced, everything in space-time. We move in search of a final destination. That point is symbolically represented by Shiva. Those who are inclined towards having the right kind of movement worship Shakti. Those who have fallen in love with the destination itself, worship Shiva. The fact is that the two are inseparable.

Human beings are in a peculiar situation. They can choose to side with their animalistic conditioning or they can choose something higher. They can choose freedom, joy, love, liberation, compassion. Therefore, humans have a responsibility. Animals don't have that responsibility.

In our entire life, in this entire world, whenever we have remembered something or somebody, we have remembered that thing, that person, for our own personal reasons. I do not remember you. I remember what I get from you. You are not important. What is important is what I seek to have from you. This is not only loveless but also quite exploitative. It is equally truthless and foolish.

To the one who believes in ghosts (Bhūta-Piśāca) — for him, they exist. When you are asleep and are engaged in some nightmare, you feel it actually exists. Bhūta-Piśāca Nikata Nahiṁ Āve, Mahāvīra Jab Nāma Sunāve: Mahavira Hanuman, devoted to Shri Ram, is to be taken as the representative of Truth. If you can be close to the representative of the Truth, you will get rid of all nonsensical and horrifying imaginations.

Practice means incremental improvement, daily improvement, moment-to-moment improvement. That's what we started this session with. Step by step you have to move — even towards the absolute. No one step can take you to the absolute. Not even a million steps can take you to the absolute. But still, there is no way except the million steps.

What you call as God is a concept; Truth is not a concept. Therefore, you can have stories about God, various religions, and their miscellaneous beliefs. But you can have no story at all about Truth because it is that which is invariable. Time cannot change it, and it doesn't vary from person to person. Irrespective of your subjective state, it remains as it is. Truth just turns you silent.

The Truth cannot be objectified as a thing, place, person, or book. So, don't be too quick to accept your own assessments, judgments, likes, dislikes, and experiences. Whatever you're seeing is seen by "you" — the Ego — and you are no absolute. Everything must be available to enquiry, investigation, and questioning — and questioning cannot happen if you declare that you’ve already come to the Truth. Never believe that the journey has ended or that the ego itself is the Truth.

Never forget who you are — you are someone in prison. Talk of exits, and if doors do not exist, blast the damn walls. That's the reason why you need power. You should honestly and realistically seek freedom from your current bondages. Your responsibility is not to acquire something more. Your responsibility is to drop a lot of things. Drop what you know to be needless and harmful.

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.

The most common thing in spirituality and science is 'an honest urge to know the Truth.' Science observes the external universe, and spirituality observes the mind. These two have to be in tandem. The one thing that enables true knowledge in any field is honesty and integrity.

The one you love must be worthy of worship, and the one you worship you must be in love with. If there is a difference between the two, then there is a problem, a big problem. If you can’t worship your lover, then drop him or her, whatever, I don’t know. And if you can’t love your gods, those gods must be thrown away.

So 'know', don’t try to know about Shiva. Shiva is not furniture. Shiva is not a tree. Shiva is not a cloud, not even the sky. How will you know Shiva? Do you know of anything that has no shape, no form, and is eternal? How will you know Shiva? But know, do know. What can you know? This world and yourself. Know that. That knowing is Shiva-ness. Shivatva.

Do the utmost that you must in any situation, and you will find only the joy of right action. Tears are for those who turn away from their responsibility. If you were truly dedicating your energy rightly, how would you have any left to weep? So fight so hard that you either win or perish. If you win, the glory is yours. If you perish, at least all suffering is gone.

Amrit is at the center of the story. And where can we get Amrit from? By self introspection. The more a person knows himself, the more he will become free from himself. Free from death. What you think of yourself is known as death. And the more you look at yourself, the more you understand that what I think of myself is all futile. I'm actually not that. Negation, Neti Neti. Amrit does not mean gaining something. Amrit means being free from death.

Desirelessness is not about not wanting anything. “The one who is preaching Nishkam Karma is right in the thick of action.” Nishkam Karma is not for absconders. Nishkam Karma means, I am a human being, I have discretion, and my desire will follow my discretion. I’m not an animal. I’ll not blindly run after instinct. Not that I won’t have desire, but my desire will be secondary to my discretion. That’s desirelessness. Desirelessness is not when you do not have desire. Desirelessness is when you do not give desire the top position. When you do not put desire at the helm, when you do not make desire the master — that’s called desirelessness.

The ego seeks security from the world and even when it comes to the truth, it still wants to somehow uphold its security. It is all right if one wants to guarantee one's security against the world. But when it comes to truth and beauty, that's when one should just drop the defenses. It is all right to be immersed. It is all right even to be drowned. It is all right even to die. What is the point in conserving something that is anyway imperfect?

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?

People expect because they feel that something is missing from life. They expect from the world, from others, from situations, from luck, and also from themselves. The root of all these expectations is an inner feeling of lack of fulfillment. Meeting others’ expectations is a false treatment where you allow illusions to persist. If you love your dear ones, bring the Truth closer to them.

Any belief is stupid because all beliefs come from a lack of investigation, and a lack of investigation comes from deep fear and a feeling of insecurity. If you are insecure and afraid, then you will not dare to ask questions and investigate. And it is from that fear and insecurity that the concept of God has arisen. Now, God and reality are two different things. God and Truth are not the same thing. The mark of religiosity or true spirituality is an abiding faith in the truth.