A modern woman calls herself liberated, yet lives anxious — anxious about age, desirability, marriage, motherhood. Acharya Prashant exposes this anxiety as proof that feminism never touched the real wound: centuries of conditioning that reduced women to bodies for pleasure and reproduction. External equality isn't enough. True freedom demands she reject the entire inheritance of tradition and simply become human — not woman, not wife, not mother by decree, but free.
Migration can arise from genuine needs such as safety, education, livelihood, or environmental conditions, as well as from the ego's pursuit of greater consumption and fulfilment. The challenge is to distinguish between these motives with wisdom rather than ideology. Fair, impartial screening, mutual respect between migrants and host societies, and practical integration create a balanced approach that is both humane and responsible.
True revolution begins with inner transformation, not merely with protest. Lasting social change is possible only when individuals cultivate self-knowledge, integrity, and personal responsibility. Replacing governments or demanding reforms without examining the mind that sustains the same patterns only repeats history. Awaken yourself first, educate others with clarity and compassion, and let conscious citizens, not unconscious crowds, become the foundation of a better society.
You know, if your husband is gone, your finances are gone. Therefore, you will guard your husband very, very strongly, very possessively. It’s not love, it’s dependence. In love, you often allow the other to fly free. But if you are acting as that possessive wife or girlfriend or whatever, that is also because you are dependent, and that is violence, is it not?
The biggest problem is when we succeed in these little acts of charity, goodness, kindness. Had you succeeded in somehow persuading the kids away, you wouldn’t even have raised this question, and a self-awarded sense of morality and righteousness would have held you high. That’s the whole problem. When you said the kids wouldn’t go away because it is a festival and it is crackers, then do we really understand why the kids wouldn’t go away?
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?
Questioner: Sir, I have been reading Krishnamurti and Vivekananda for the past three years and having learned from them, I genuinely feel that the teachings of such great teachers should be at the core of our education system. I personally feel that my decisions regarding my career and life would
Rape is a state of mind; the body only expresses it. A mind that cannot love will only rape. And we all rape. Is there anything you don’t rape? Look at how we consume rivers—are we not raping them? We are bothered only when the act becomes sexual and explicit. Laws or hanging a few people won’t stop rape. Till the mind of the individual does not change, rape will not stop.
That could be one necessary mark of a true feminist: she would not be dependent on anybody else for a single rupee, especially not on the male partner.
Questioner: Good evening sir. I’m…. and I’m a PhD student here at IIT, Kanpur. Sir, I have a very personal question. Being a girl child, especially in India, comes with very different sets of consequences. Despite being given equal opportunities like education and skills, at the end where we’re supposed
Questioner: Some people say that you should live for yourself, and some people say that it gives you more happiness if you live for others. So, which of these approaches is the right one?
Acharya Prashant: Socially, we have been trained to visualize the happy family as a kid with his two arms being held by two people of opposite gender. That’s really not needed. The kid is already being held in the palm of his real Father. The real Father is not even
Questioner: Acharya Ji, if we talk about the subject matter of economics, it was said by the father of economics, Adam Smith, that economics is a science of wealth where he puts money over men. So over the years as time passed and the scope was broadened, the economist Alfred
Time is already short, and you cannot waste something you already are short on. And Duryodhana lost out on it. And it's the most regrettable thing when you observe a life gone waste, that too a life like Duryodhana's. Duryodhana is a very dark example of that wasted opportunity, and he realizes that. He was not ‘Duryodhana’ from the beginning, he was named as Suyodhana- someone who would be glorious in war-someone who could win the internal war.
Questioner: I have something to say. There is a very famous line which is called─ the survival of the fittest. Now, I am an actor, and I’m also a medical practitioner. I studied cardiology, and as an actor, I have always advocated less makeup and simpler ways of life to
The crisis exposed by the NEET paper leak goes far beyond examination malpractice. When society teaches young people that a single rank determines their worth, corruption, desperation, and broken trust become inevitable. Lasting reform requires more than stricter systems—it demands a transformation in how education, success, and self-worth are understood by students, parents, teachers, and society.
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Will another revolution really change anything, or are we just changing faces while keeping the same consciousness intact? The article argues that societies often rush toward rebellion because it feels easier than responsibility. We blame systems, governments, and institutions, but the deeper crisis lies in the collective ego that creates them. Without inner education and self-understanding, every revolution risks becoming another cycle of the same story.
Excerpts from Articles
The Secret to True Victory
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.
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।
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.
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।
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.
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.
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?
Do you still feel the need to know someone’s caste? That urge itself is the problem. Caste exists neither in the body nor in consciousness; it is a construct of the mind. Society keeps it alive because the ego thrives on division. Until you see a person simply as a person, caste will persist. The real solution lies in understanding and dropping inner ignorance.
If you leave yourself weak and vulnerable, you are submitting to the ecosystem of rape. What’s worse? It won’t even be reported. The first thing is: empower yourself through education, through exposure, through wisdom. When it comes to sexual urges, no lessons of morality really succeed. You’ll just be left complaining to the benevolent power up there, “You know, I’m such a pious woman. Why was I violated?” Because that’s how it happens in the jungle. That’s the answer. That’s all.
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You have inflated the reproductive process much beyond its worth. Psychologically, a girl carries it throughout her life as something big, whereas it's nothing — just another process in the human body. And because of the stigma you have attached to this purely biological thing, countless women suffer silently because they can't openly talk about gynaecological problems. Indian philosophical systems have zero space for any belief, assumption, or tradition. So, obviously, this culture has to be outrightly rejected.
Just because we don't hear gunshots doesn't mean that things are peaceful between partners or between parents and kids — especially daughters. Not at all. There are clear boundaries and those boundaries have been mined. As long as you remain within the boundaries, you will entertain the illusion that you are free and loved. Try to step out, and you'll be blown to pieces. So, the violence was always cooking but you didn't see it because you were blinded by your emotions, need for security, and conditioning.
Vedanta says that the body of the woman is her cage, just as the body of the man is the man's cage. Vedantic feminism would say, ‘Disown your physical self — you are much beyond that, girl.’ As long as you identify with the body, enjoy being called a girl or woman, there’s no freedom for you, and the same goes for the man. Saying, ‘I am the woman, I am the man’ is the real problem. Equality is a high ideal, but liberation is the purpose of life.
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We don't really look at a woman as a human being, but rather as her physical identity. Even in murder, we fail to see the human being. The sexual lenses are always on. Sri Ramakrishna Paramhans, the great saint, used to say that the ordinary person is driven by two objectives — kanchan (money) and kamini (lucrative girl). Sex is not so much a need of the body, it's a need of the mind. Unless this thinking changes, we'll have to live through the pain of seeing more such incidents.
It is our animal tendency to be territorial and to really want to control the other gender — so that we can maximize our own pleasure. When you own something, then there is a sense of security and that's why men want to control women's sexuality. You can dispel that by understanding that you can have no lasting pleasure by owning anything — including a person of the other gender.
Acharya Prashant (AP): The Ego wants to hedge its bets. Because it is born in insecurity and gains its sustenance from insecurity, therefore insecurity is its very life-stuff. Now look what happens, if insecurity is the life-stuff of the Ego then what kind of security will it seek? It…
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Questioner (Q): Good evening, sir. My question is, recently there were huge protests going on in Iran against the imposition of the hijab. There were many people who talked about the hijab as an imposition on women; while others, including women, consider it to be their right of choice—whether…
Caste is something that the Upanishads actively dismiss. So many of our saints came from the so-called lower castes and tried to purge Hinduism of its nonsense, but still, caste continues for two reasons. First, a human is born with an innate tendency to divide and separate. And second, a light has to be awakened in him, and that effort is called real education. We do not receive that education today.
Caste is not in the body, it is just in the mind. If you are interested in somebody’s caste, you are a casteist! You meet someone, the person is standing in front of you — assess him as good, bad, or whatever — but why do you want to know his caste? Caste should have been relegated to the museums and the history books by now. Drop it right now! But to drop it, you will need to have self-knowledge.
We talk about the 10, 20, or 100 indulging in active rioting but not the thousands and lakhs passively supporting them. If those thousands disappeared, would these few rioters survive? Had they known that displaying perverse attitudes in religion’s name would lead to social rejection, would they still dare? We fight because we are animals from jungles, sharing instincts with beasts. We require the Bhagavad Gita to transcend our animal disposition. Otherwise, we will remain violent.
No woman ever chooses to menstruate. It happens. So how can she be held guilty, responsible, or unclean? It is quite unfortunate that it has become a taboo for so many women. The genesis of the whole thing lies in the concept of physical purity. And that refers not merely to menstrual discharge but to all kinds of discharges that the body emits. It’s not a matter of spirituality; it’s a matter of hygiene and aesthetics.
Rape is not just sex without consent. Even if consent is given out of fear or greed, the act should still be called rape. And this is happening everywhere. Human beings can behave far better—or far worse—than animals. Animals mate for reproduction, but rape, from the rapist’s perspective, is recreation or entertainment for pleasure.
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Acharya Prashant: You have said, “What kind of change our education system needs to have so that our coming generations live together in peace and fulfillment?” Live together with each other, right? You haven’t said they live together with animals. The trees, the rivers, the rabbits, and the lions. That…
Society is not a curse; nothing is a curse. If you are aware that the milk is stale, can it harm you? No, because you wouldn’t drink it. Society cannot harm you if you are aware. So try to find things with clarity. This is not the time to complain about the rottenness or falseness in society. Be true, rise up, and let action happen.
Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Opened the first indigenous school for girls at the age of 21. He worked all his life against evils like child marriage, suppression of women's education, casteism, prohibition of widow remarriage, and infanticide. Babasaheb Ambedkar called him his guru and intellectual father.
From all the directions, the message that is coming to you is, there is this particular definition of success; and if you cannot measure up to it, then life is not worth living. So, some of our friends, unfortunately, take it very literally. They say, “If life is not worth living, why should we anyway continue living at all?” You could say, “They are more logical than the rest of us.”
“Financial independence and then still having kids, is that something that can be counted under feminism as such?”
No, you see, these…
Acharya Prashant: Before we say love for the country, we should know what is this thing called country. If we don’t know what is country then whom do we love? If we don’t know what country is then what do we call love as?
This is just a machine (pointing…
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Questioner:
Acharyaji, my question is that the greed of getting more and more pleasure is increasing with time, and finally I’m finding myself getting stuck in the vicious circle of getting more and more pleasure. Sir, what are the ways that you could suggest to me to get out of
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Acharya Prashant: Parents have first of all committed the mistake of bringing another person into this world of agony, longing, and suffering that they compensate for by investing themselves in raising the kid. That is why it is imperative for parents to bring education to the kids, give food to…
Acharya Prashant:
So, she is asking whether to live for oneself or others, right? That’s the
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To those who articulate that women should mind their clothes and dressings, the question arises: what kind of person are you, man or woman, if anything is able to disturb or provoke you so easily? The allegation is that when watching a woman dressed skimpily, it becomes a disturbance, a distraction, even a provocation. How will you insulate yourself, and how much will you insulate yourself from the world? And what are the limits to what you want to see and not see? Today, it is said that a woman’s legs or thighs provoke you. What prevents you from saying tomorrow that her ankles and fingernails provoke you? Would you then demand that she should cover up from head to toe?
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Technology cannot substitute real-life interactions, and planned statements or responses can never carry the authenticity of something spontaneous. It can become a habit to hide behind text. Do not let that become a habit—that habit simply means fear. Do not protect fear.
Cancel culture arises when one's fundamental identity is social. If you take your identity from society, you've given them the right to cancel it. Don’t let anyone control your centre. Be your own master. Be of the world and live yet, independently of the world. Let them cancel what they can! That’s what spirituality blesses you with—your real identity, which no one can dare cancel.
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Formal education is important to the extent the body is important. The less the body-identification, the less is the importance of object-centric education. A person's attachment to material possessions, driven by societal values, leads to poverty and duality. Poverty, unlike the natural world, is man-made and rooted in the desire to accumulate. While education enables material progress, it doesn’t address deeper issues of self-identity and existence.
In the contemporary current intellectual discussions that happen in India, there is often a lack of, or at least an inadequate importance that is put upon the role that social media plays in our current consciousness. It's seen that they do discuss it, but they hand-wave it as a technology—that it is there and it has some influence. But we rarely see that in Indian discussions. We rarely dive into it—of what the problem it is creating or its benefits.
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Real women empowerment isn't about simply making choices, but about making wise ones. If you do not know how to make decisions, autonomy in decision-making becomes a curse, doesn’t it? Today, many teens and college-going girls embrace a radical mindset: 'I’ll live life my own way, I decide for myself.'
'You only live once, my way or the highway,' and similar attitudes stem from the same center of ignorance as previous generations. Now, the exploiter is within, and this false sense of freedom leads to disastrous choices. True women empowerment demands wisdom, not just autonomy. Spiritual education is crucial, especially for girls.
Acharya Prashant:
Rejection might be simple, but do you keep it simple? Do you allow it to remain simple? Do you know what ‘simple’ means?
Simple means, direct. Simple means, it is
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Questioner: Namaste Acharya ji. My question is that I see many institutions are fueling the concept of Maya. Because I have seen on many premier institutions having Upanishadic phrases as their mottos—Na hi jnyānen sadṛushan pavitramih vidyate, Téjasvi nāvadheetamastu, sā vidyā yā vimuktaye. But at its…
Questioner: Sir, first of all, thank you for taking out your time for this discussion. A few days back, the nation somehow woke from its sleep, when a case happened in Hyderabad—a woman was brutally raped and murdered. People started asking for justice in their own ways; somebody for lynching,…
Speaker: Our entire constitution is like that. Our entire configuration is like that. Everything in nature just lives dependent on everything else. Your eyes do not mean anything if they do not look outwards. Right? Which direction do the eyes look…
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Question: At times morality is a prerequisite to real spiritual freedom.
Speaker: Yes it is a prerequisite, just as disease is a prerequisite to health.
Listener 1: Disease is a prerequisite to health?
Speaker: It is. What is a prerequisite? A prerequisite is something that you would go and acquire.…
