Human beings are born into uncertainty, surrounded by beliefs, identities, and social conditioning that offer ready-made answers to fundamental questions. Real spirituality begins not with accepting collective or personal beliefs, but with honestly examining one’s own suffering, fears, and false identities. The journey is not toward comforting ideas, but toward self-inquiry, where truth is discovered through questioning, observation, and the gradual rejection of illusion.
There is no morality really there. Though, being human beings, you want to frame it in moralistic terms. We want to kind of pretend that the action has some kind of moral basis to it. But there is no moral basis. Really, there is no moral basis.
Now, how does man relate with the world? How does man know what to do, how to approach, how to touch, how to live, how to eat, how to talk, how to connect? That, to me, is the essence of religion. Man’s relationship with himself and the world. That is religion, and that is also the essence of all organized religions.
If you are really a spiritual person, then you will find that the community that opposes you the most is not of atheists, it is of religious people. They will be the ones who would be opposing the really spiritual person the most, which is an unfortunate thing because the way religion was designed, it was designed to gradually make a person spiritual. Today, the situation is that these are not in sync or harmony with each other. Rather, these two have become greatly separated.
Acharya Prashant: Hell is a place where you get a lot of sympathy, consolation, condolence, and commiseration. You're told that we agree that you are in a miserable state. Your neighbor comes to you, puts his hand on your shoulder, and with a grave face tells you that you are…
Acharya Prashant: Progress—that’s the religion of today. Everyone wants a good life; everyone wants comfort and everything. In fact, all the old religions have been defeated. Christianity has been defeated, Hinduism has been defeated, and they all have been defeated. This one religion has defeated everything.
Acharya Prashant (AP): What is [Censored] I have not read any such thing. Do not quote this and that author here. We are talking real stuff, not entertainment. If you know, this particular author that you are talking of, for sure you will
Questioner (Q): My sister believes in Christianity and she has also changed her religion. Now, she says that I am on the wrong path. What is the right path and how religion and spirituality are connected?
Acharya Prashant (AP): When the subtle becomes gross, rather the subtle is turned into…
Once I said, your face is smeared with mud, and religion is like pure water meant to be thrown on your face so that you get cleaned up. But when that water hits your face, the water too gets muddy.
Question: Sir, going by your theory of, ‘search first, believe second’, I don’t think there is any religion left in the society. Do you think this phenomenon is an obstacle in the mental development in the society?
Question: Is there value in practicing Yoga, and meditation?
Acharya Prashant: No.
There is some physical value involved, and that is an important value. But unfortunately, the value that we are looking for is a Spiritual value. In that dimension, there is no value. It is very good if we
Man was never so powerful with respect to his environment as he is today. No virus can harm you; no bacteria can harm you; there are no plagues, no black deaths. You can produce as many objects as you want, you can order them at the click of a button;
Questioner: Sir, if I try to ensure to be aware of what is going on right now, it just takes me away from listening to you. Is there a fundamental mistake that I am making in understanding it?
Questioner: We recently celebrated our 75th Republic Day. In this context, I would like to know what were the mistakes made by our ancestors that led to the invasions and colonial rule by the Mughals, the British, and other foreign powers in the past thousand years. What can we learn…
Questioner (Q): So, this has been a phenomenal journey. Thank you so much, Acharya Ji for reinforcing so many of the points that I struggle with as I communicate and teach my students. So, many of these questions that have been put to you, and you have answered them so…
Questioner (Q): I was thinking about today's generation of youth in comparison to the Upanishadic Nachiketa. Nachiketa, where he is being offered all the great materials, sensual pleasures and as you said rightly while negating them he says ‘I'll get to them later but this is what I really want.’…
The one who is religion-less. A real Hindu does not have any religion. To go beyond all religions is to be a Hindu. There are religions that are on one plane, and then there is Sanatan Dharma, which is another dimension — the eternal religiousness. Liberation from religion is religiousness. Sanatan Dharma is awakened intelligence.
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Listener: (Reading a quote of Acharya Prashant from a quote-calendar)
What lies beyond mind?More mind.What is more mind?What and lies and mind.Questions, perceptions on the concept of the mind.
Acharya Prashant: Any question about beyondness would be a useless question because the question itself is coming…
If you are religious, then shouldn’t you be truly religious? Religion is about a total commitment to the Truth. You’ll have to recognize that the objective of religion is not to attain heaven, not to please a holy figure, but to come to your own inner Truth. All good books exist to awaken your consciousness. When it comes to you and the Truth, do you want somebody in between? And wherever you spot fakeness, falseness, hollowness or ignorance, drop it.
There is a search within the human being, always for the greatest, the absolute, and that is what differentiates humans from animals. India was fertile, and there was abundance. You had ample leisure, and in that leisure there was space for intellectual inquiry. The sages and the seers would talk to each other purposelessly. And from that purposeless discussion, from silent observation of life for hours, days, months, and years, came those insights that you today recognize as Indian philosophy.
Excerpts from Articles
Climate Change: The Solution Is a Choice
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.
You Don't Understand the Bhagvad Gita, But You Still Claim That You Love Krishna?
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.
कई तरह के डर—अकेले पड़ने, छवि खोने या छोटा समझे जाने—की जड़ अक्सर अतीत में बनी पहचान और कहानियों में होती है। शरीर की हाइट जैसी चीज़ों को समस्या मानकर उनसे जूझने के बजाय उनकी अप्रासंगिकता को समझकर आगे बढ़ना चाहिए। अतीत को दबाने से मुक्ति नहीं मिलती; उसके करीब जाकर अपनी स्मृतियों, धारणाओं और पुराने पैटर्न को निष्पक्षता से देखना ज़रूरी है।
Animal cruelty: Who deserves mercy, and who doesn’t?
Violence begins long before the knife or the slaughterhouse—it begins with the ego, the one that draws boundaries, seeks justification, and decides who deserves compassion. Laws and reforms may reduce suffering, but they cannot end violence while the ego remains intact. When the ego dissolves, exploitation ends naturally, and compassion no longer depends on regulation or moral boundaries.
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.
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।
This has always been a hugely profit-making sector of all economies, just that it has always been a small sector controlled by the priestly class. Now the attempt is to make this sector really big and on an organized scale, because the profits are very tempting, and there is no quality control. There can be no external auditor. All kinds of objections, audits, and scrutinies are ruled out. Getting it? So it’s a very tempting sector.
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Shri Krishna is saying: the mind is conditioned to move towards objects and perceive only their surface, periphery, or form. Develop the practice of penetrating further. Let Truth be your practice. The moment you would look at something, and you are in no position not to look at things being embodied, you would look at things. Nobody said that you have to practice lust. Lust just comes. You might be a total fool, an utter retard, and still you will find yourself getting sexually excited once you reach a particular age. Did you need some practice? No, you didn’t. It just happened. But if you are to understand lust, if you are to cross over, if you are to be a master of your body, then it will require a lot of practice, and that will necessarily and obviously tell you about your predicament.
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A lot of negative attitudes towards women today are claimed to be sanctioned by religion. The reason is that religion has been a victim of contamination. And this contaminated, mainstream, and false religion becomes a tool to exploit women. On the other hand, real religion is a woman's best friend because its effects are emancipation and empowerment. Therefore, when real religion shows up, it will deeply frustrate the traditional kind of religionists.
The human mind suffers because it does not understand what’s going on within itself. The mind longs for understanding and liberation from bondage. And the responsibility is on the human being to gain that understanding and that freedom from bondages. This responsibility is called Sanatan Dharma — founded on self-inquiry, ‘Atma-Jigyasa.’ It is a philosophy of the mind that gives a purpose to life.
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What’s happening in the Israel–Iran case is mostly about religion. Israel–Iran relations were far more cordial until 1979, when Iran got a new Islamic constitution, and Iran declares Israel as the “Little Satan” because Israel is a Jewish country. Had both these countries been Muslim, would there be a strife? Had both these countries been Jewish, again, would there be a strife? But we want to close our eyes to the bare fact that religion gone wrong is the worst thing possible to human beings.
Now comes the deeper symbolism of Shivlinga. It says—look, if you have taken birth, then you are there in the body. But even while living in the body, you have to live as if you are without a body. So, the shape of the Yoni that you see in the Shivalinga is actually the world or the body, and this Lingam that you see in the middle of it is the Consciousness—the Consciousness which is located in the body.
Religion concerns itself with ‘Ego and its liberation!’ That’s all. In the name of religion, if you are talking about planets and stars, about fruits and vegetables, wear this, don’t wear that, eat this, don’t eat that, the house should face this direction, and a thousand other things that you associate with it, then all that is some kind of tribal superstition. Religion has nothing to do with these things.
Religious violence is not about a handful of terrorists; it's an entire ecosystem of passive toxicity supported by lakhs of people. When toxicity is beamed to you on TV and social media, you don't resist. And one day, it explodes into active violence. This is because we're still animals who live without understanding ourselves — this is called ignorance. Therefore, we need wisdom literature to help us transcend our animal disposition.
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Before you go to the Quran, you must first be in a condition to understand what it is saying. The center of the Quran is Tauheed – Oneness. The Quran can be understood only when you, as the ego-mind, are connected to the same source that blessed the Prophet. Otherwise, you will misinterpret it. You are so full of ego that you want to remain what you are. By remaining what you are, if you apply your intellect to the scriptures, you will obviously distort them.
Some say 'God', others say 'Allah', and some say 'Ram'; all three refer to the same entity. If a name or sound reminds you of the nameless one, it's wonderful. The problem arises with self-appointed meanings. The purpose of religion is to convey the truth, not obstruct it. You have a variety of flutes, but there is one music. Religion is that music.
A secular person is one who does the right thing irrespective of his religious association. And if you want this, then you should be deeply religious. Because in secularism, you want equanimity, a certain detachment, respect towards divergent opinions, and non-violence; but who teaches these things? Religion. Therefore, if secularism is in strife with religiosity, it means both are misplaced. The religiosity is fake, and the secularism is shallow.
Sanatan Dharma is not about following traditions in the name of Dharma. It is about constantly moving towards that which will take you beyond your mind: the Sanatan. All our beliefs and rituals might be religious, but they are not Sanatan because they are just mind stuff. Since both Sanatan Dharma and Vedanta discard mind stuff as trivial, one cannot be a Sanatani if one is not a Vedanti.
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Vedānta is about the person gaining liberation from both of these—body identification and mental conditioning. So, ideally spirituality should be the woman’s best friend. But practically, evidence has been rather mixed; in fact, evidence has been that religion historically has been on the side of the oppressors when it comes to the women, oppressors of the women. The reason is that religion itself has not been well understood. Religion itself has been a victim of contamination, and when religion is contaminated then religion becomes a tool towards exploitation of women.
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Is ‘Diwali’ about going back home, indulging again in your set routines that you anyway follow, eating a lot of sweets and oil, then using small electric bulbs to light up your home, then bursting crackers, then unnecessarily saying ‘Happy Diwali’ to everybody, when there is, in fact, hardly anything happy about it? In the name of religion, all that we know is rituals, rituals, and rituals.
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There is only one Dharma. And that is to attain liberation or peace, to gain freedom from your bondages, to gain freedom from your inner chaos and noise, to gain freedom from your inner falseness. Gaining freedom from inner falseness is more commonly known as Truth realization. It is a euphemism—a very decorated euphemism. It’s not really Truth that is really realized; it is falseness that is dropped.
We did not come to the cities so that we could please our ego all the more, that was not at all the objective, though that’s what we might be doing today. The objective was to have more peace in our external space, so that we can devote ourselves to higher pursuits in life. ‘Sanatana Dharma’ really is the authentic thing. Or else, tomorrow you too will become ancient like everybody who is gone and done and dusted.
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In understanding, there are no meanings left. Understanding is the dissolution of all meanings.
When you decode it, you decode it only to see that it is just coming to a certain end, a certain clarity. By itself, it means nothing. When Krishna says 'Nishkaam Karma', it means no expectations associated with actions. The right teaching can never be affirmative. It will only be a revelation of your falsenesses.
Greed is today’s religion.…
Speaker: No significance at all. Zero! ‘Om’ or any other word does not matter because every word is merely a sound, a product of the human mind. What do you do? You take a sound and you attach a certain meaning…
Shri Prashant:
There are a few things that are very simple. But a lot many complications, noise has been introduced around it, thus making it very much polluted. As for example, Love. It
…
(Continuing conversation with one of the listeners)
In fact, just a few days back I was saying to somebody, that the first leg of the battle I have been fighting has been with the commoners.
I have talked so much about the society, I have talked about what…
…
Falling on your face, the water has cleared away some…
Speaker: I do not think that young people like you are very interested…
…
…
Acharya Prashant Ji: Indira, do you see where this question is coming from? It is coming from the popular notion of Spirituality which has turned Spirituality into a body of exotic, unquestionable, esoteric knowledge, not as something that is raw,…
Acharya Prashant: Not really a great mistake but still unless one reaches…
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Om! Puurnnam-Adah ||
That is that, full, complete, ultimate.
Puurnnam-Idam ||
This is that, full, complete, ultimate.
Puurnnaat-Purnnam-Udachyate||
Full expresses itself, as fullness. Puurnnasya Puurnnam-Aadaaya ||
From full, all fullness arises.
Puurnnam-Eva-Avashissyate || And full, remains full. Full complete ultimate. Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih ||
So, is it not wonderful…
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Questioner: Can I say that intelligence is greater than knowledge, or vice-versa?
Acharya Prashant: They are incomparable.
To say one is greater than the other, you have to bring them to the same plane, have the same unit, the same benchmarks, and the same scale to compare them. They are…
Acharya Prashant:
What do you mean by
religion?
If religion just means following a particular code of conduct, if it means that I am loyal to a particular book, if it means that such and such will…
Answer:
There was a group of people A who deeply believed in white. They worshipped white and denied black. They forgot the black background the white is written on. They declared that white is the absolute Truth.
There was a group…
L1: I do feel a sense…
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What is it that Shri Rama stands for? He stands for detachment. He stands for fearlessness. He stands for compassion. He stands for Dharma.
Is there Dharma really in your life? And by Dharma I do not mean a creed or a cult, or observation of certain rituals, or the…
Acharya Prashant (AP):
If India was enslaved for so long, if the people here could be conquered and banished, and be made to live against their will, it was not because they were
…
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Questioner (Q): ‘*Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu Guru Devo Maheshwara.*’ Can you explain this?
Acharya Prashant (AP): ‘Guru’ stands for that which calls, the force that which pulls you inwards from darkness into light. Now you worship ‘Brahama’, ‘Vishnu’, and ‘Mahesh’ and the various deities; this verse says that the Guru…
