Paramhans Gita

To qualify an entrance exam, and work towards it, without thinking of the results, that’s not what Karma Yoga is. Karma Yoga is not about setting tangible worldly targets and going after them. It’s a moment-to-moment thing in which you are very conscious whether the objective of your action is personal ingratiation or larger welfare. You are acting all the time, you are not acting merely when you act towards a distant and a larger cause.

Why Isn't the Gita for Everyone?

8 min

It depends on the pain you are willing to take. Sometimes Duryodhanas have to be turned into Arjunas. It’s just that, it’s relatively easier with an Arjuna. But what to do when even Arjunas are not present to receive the Gita? As long as somebody has anything, anything that resembles consciousness, as long as somebody has even the faintest remnant of consciousness left, Gita can be brought to that person but it will be tough, difficult.

What is Yagya?

In the name of yagya, if you continue to burn wood, you are doing no good to anybody. Yagya must be understood in its true spirit. Shri Krishna says, “Do not act for yourself or for your personal gain. Act for a higher cause; higher than yourself, beyond yourself. Do that action that takes you to your Niyati, which is your end. Yagya is that which dissolves you; that which reduces you.”

Where Is the Kurukshetra of Your Life?

Arjuna’s hell was in his daily tasks, and so is yours. Arjuna could sense the evil in what appeared normal to others; you must also be able to sense that there is something extremely fishy in what seems normal to others. Your house, your workplace, your society—these are your Kurukshetra. That’s where you have to fight your Mahabharata. That’s where you need Shri Krishna and the Gita.

Yoga - The Biggest 'Spiritual' Myth Today

You have ample gurus who come over and say, “You know, you do this and then you can do whatever you want to do.” Now the moment you hear this kind of philosophy that Yoga will help you do better whatever you want to do, I suppose one must run away. Because that’s exactly antithetical to Yoga. Yoga is not about doing whatever you want to do; it’s the ego that says that, not the dedicated, devoted, wise mind. That does not come from there.

Freedom From Expectations

Nobody can make you a slave without your consent. You withdraw your consent, and you are free. But withdrawing that consent would mean moving out of your comfort zone. Freedom does not come free. Freedom has to be earned. "The day you decide, the day you see that I am free and I deserve a free life, you will actually be free." But first, let that realization come. Unless that realization comes, nothing can happen.

Why Does One Desire Liberation while the Other does not?

Questioner: Why is there a difference of intensity and love for mukti (liberation) between different human beings?

Acharya Prashant: The differences that you are talking of all relate to time; therefore, they all will be resolved in due course of time. Time gave rise to all those differences, and those… read_more

How To Be Confident?

We are born confident. Do you see how a kid is so immensely full of confidence? None of us are born afraid. When we are afraid, we ask for confidence. Do not ask for confidence; instead, ask for freedom from fear. Fear is a thought given to you by society. It is not what you are. Just as you picked it up, you can drop it back. Exercise that power.

To Understand the Mind, Observe Without Concluding

Just know that this is what is there in the mind. And that is the appropriate mental activity. The mind is the machine, well tuned, nicely designed for both analysis and observation. Use it for observation. You use it only for analysis and comparisons. Use it for observation. And if the observation is honest, then the object of observation will drop.

How to Act Without Caring About the Result?

The Gita does not say that you must do whatever you do without caring for the result; it is also impossible to execute. That’s also the way so many popular gurus have sold the Gita. It’s very harmful. With false action, you will always have one eye on the result. The first thing is the right action; only right action can give you detachment from the result.

Are You in a Right Relationship?

12 min

There are only two kinds of relationships that are right in this world. If you connect with someone at a higher level of consciousness, hold their hand so they can uplift you. If you connect with someone at a lower level of consciousness, hold their hand to uplift them. Any other kind of relationship is junk.

What Is Creativity?

Creativity is the action of a fresh and free mind. With a fresh mind, whatever you do is creative. We have equated creativity with brilliance and dynamism, whereas it can be very ordinary. It’s like love—where something totally new comes from nowhere, where one is not overly concerned about results, and where one is not caught in mundane distractions. It's an expression of freedom and fearlessness.

What does “Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya...” mean?

24 min

We love saying, 'Yada-yada hi dharmasya – whenever there is evil, then Krishna comes.' The Lord does not physically drop from the heavens. The metaphor must be understood. It simply means that whenever the ego inflates, it results in suffering, and suffering itself calls for its cessation. This call for cessation of suffering itself is the coming of the Lord.

What Is Yoga According to the Bhagavad Gita?

28 min

Shri Krishna is saying, “As long as you are the actor, please forget Yoga. Yoga is not for you.” Yoga is freedom from the false actor. The Yogi is the one who has realized that Yoga cannot be attained through any method. A yogi is healthy and alright with himself.

How to be in a Peaceful State of Mind?

14 min

Peace is your destiny, everybody's destiny but that destiny is a timeless destiny. You do not reach there after ten years, you are there right now. And because you are there right now, hence this drama of not being there can continue endlessly.

Ashtavakra Gita: Live in the World, Don’t Be Worldly

What is the world? You will see the world exactly as you are. As the subject changes so do the world. As the subject becomes lighter and lighter, the world also keeps becoming lighter and lighter. And as the subject dissolves totally, the world too, in its present form dissolves totally.

How to Control the Mind?

13 min

Mind control is not about suppressing the mind; it is about supporting it to take the right route and reach the right destination. The mind does not really need control; it needs peace. But the mind is a little foolish. If the mind were not foolish, why would it leave its peaceful state, which is its natural state?

Relax and Let the Mind Observe Naturally

When you are relaxed, then there is no need to observe. Observation is not a need. It cannot happen because you are telling yourself to observe. It cannot happen out of some purpose. When you are internally relaxed, then a subtle observation is automatically happening.

What Are the Four Ways to Krishna Darshan?

13 min

The first way, the topmost one, is the Sahaja way (natural way). Krishna prescribes no method there. He says, “Arjuna, just come to Me and be seated in Me, be affirmed in Me, pretty steadfastly. Just do it. Simply, obviously, instantly.” That is the Sahaja way. “Do it directly, Arjuna. If you really are sincere, and if you really have love for Me, then do it right now, right here, right away. What are you waiting for? What do you require a method for? Nothing is needed. You have the intention, you really want it, you aren’t fooling yourself. I am here, come and be settled in Me and that’s it.”

Is Your Expensive Lifestyle a Trap?

If you want money, you'll have to trade your body, time, and effort. No one will pay you a fortune and let you enjoy liberty. Learn to survive at the minimum, and then money is not a burden. But when money sticks to the mind, when it becomes a part of the mind, and when you become money-minded, it is bad. Keep your costs low, and no one can enslave you.

Fighting your Weakness is more Important than Fighting the Enemy

Acharya Prashant: A fly comes and sits on my arm here (pointing towards the arm), I reject it, I discard it – Is the game over? Is she not ever going to return? Why? Because I discarded the fly and not my arm, so irrespective of how strong your resistance… read_more

The Robot's ego

You May Be Wrong About Death: Bhagavad Gita’s Answer

Questioner: Sir, I want to ask, Robot doesn’t have ego. So, now what is the intersection between the urge towards freedom and your ego?

Acharya Prashant: You could say, the robot does have an ego planted into it by its designer. Therefore, the ego of the robot is totally in… read_more

We have to investigate the meaning of the word ‘death’. When Shri Krishna says ‘death’, what does he mean? Is Shri Krishna looking at himself as a body? No. There is no way the author of these lines takes himself as a corporal being. Is Shri Krishna referring to himself as merely the Ātmān here? Well, yes and no. He does refer to himself as the Ātmān here, but the role that he is playing is not of Ātmān but of Avatar. Had he been merely the non-doer, Supreme Truth, then he would not have been found mortally present on the battlefield instructing Arjuna. So, discount these two and see what you are left with.

Drugs for Spiritual Growth || Neem Candies

1 min

The world is a habit, but drugs are a worse habit. The one who is finding refuge in drugs is fed up of the usual stuff of consciousness, that is certain, but he is taking a very wasteful route. It’s like feeling cold in Delhi in the month of December… read_more

How to Earn a Higher Salary?

If you are really immersed in what you are doing, would you have time and inclination to worry about salary? The work itself is its own reward. There are people, who work to get paid. And there are people who work and get paid. An amusing thing is, those who stop worrying about salary, often start getting unexpected salaries.

Why Others Can't Fulfill Your Expectations

The movies tell us that unless there is a special person in your life, you are really missing out on something big and you are seized by FOMO. What is FOMO? Fear of missing out. "Oh my god! Everybody has that. I am the only one left behind. I must also have a partner, a girlfriend, a boyfriend, a husband, a wife, something. Hey, go grab somebody." So you go out and grab some Johnny next door. He was busy washing his sandals, and you went up to him and threw your most seductive smile and then he too was infected by FOMO. He said, "Now that I have the opportunity, why shouldn't I capitalize?" And thus, came about the relationship. And you call it a holy bond made in heaven. Why do we do that?

Where Is the Real Me?

How to Respond to Life's Problems?

Acharya Prashant: It has been told to us that there exist two centers. I suppose it has been very freshly told to you right? Very recently. He says, “How do I know that I am living out of the right center? How does a young man know whether he’s not… read_more

Where Science and Spirituality Converge

Questioner: There is some image of something and you are not conscious, where then there is that blocked energy, so to speak? Fear or whatever it is, you act out of reaction. So, what would be… at the moment there is no choice, you are just reacting. What would be… read_more

How Will You Know When Kaliyug Is Over?

Questioner: Is there some scientific context to spirituality? Because, at the end of the day, as you said, ‘Religion forms a boundary, an outer shell, within which spirituality remains.’ Because this has to be something that stops you from doing something wrong or something that is fundamentally upsetting. So, how… read_more

Your Best Kept Secret is Out || AP Neem Candies

Acharya Prashant: The four yugas in the Vedic tradition have been Satyug, Treta, Dvapara, and Kaliyug. Now, what do they represent? Do they represent the passage of time? Do they represent something historical? We have been led to believe that way, right? We believe that time is something external that… read_more

Real Humility - It Will Surprise You || AP Neem Candies

Acharya Prashant: You can not win the mind, you can not cater to the mind, you can not control the mind. And you are not responsible for everything that this ancient mind does. A thousand squirrels are sitting here, and five hundred monkeys, and the extinct dinosaur, and all the… read_more

To be at Rest is to be at the Destination even in the Middle of the Journey

Acharya Prashant: A mind free of stories about itself, is a humble mind. The story could say everything. The story does not always say, “I am the king of the world.” Often the story says, “I am the most wretched person on this earth.” Nevertheless, irrespective of its content, a… read_more

Freedom from Ego is Freedom from Fear

Questioner: Sir, when you say rest, what do you mean by that, because something is always going-on, in the periphery, some or other activities are always being carried out?

So what is rest?

Acharya Prashant: Rest is to realize that none of those activities, which continue on the periphery, have… read_more

24 min

Acharya Prashant: What to do when you encounter a person with a lot of ego? He has used two words: High ego and bad ego. Let us understand this. When you use the term ‘bad ego’, you necessarily mean that there is something called ‘good ego’ as well. Correct? Logical?… read_more

Spontaneous, or Carried Away?

How do I Retain this Beautiful Silence?

Questioner: Why think so much about decisions? Shouldn’t our decisions be spontaneous? I like to decide in a free flow.

Acharya Prashant: So the questioner is stressing on the spontaneity of decisions. He says that he likes to decide in a flow. It's a good thing, your intention is good.… read_more

Is This What Makes You Special? || AP Neem Candies

Questioner: While writing the questions about our lives, we were silent and it feels very peaceful right now. But how to maintain this silence? How to make sure that this silence holds, that it is not momentary?

Acharya Prashant: It is apparent that this silence is conducive to understanding. It… read_more

8 min

Acharya Prashant: Man is the only one who has a worrying ego. Man is the only one that has an ego that looks into the future. Other living beings on the earth have a very nominal and minimal ego. All that it wants is to be alright currently, so some… read_more

How we Love to be Enslaved! || AP Neem Candies

We forced the virus to come to us || AP Neem candies

Acharya Prashant: Ask yourself, would you be equally anxious to buy a flat, if you didn’t have that flesh in your life? Consumption promotes further consumption. So, if you are already addicted to one form of consumption, know that many other forms of consumption are just waiting to leap into… read_more

Afraid of Being Judged by Others?

Acharya Prashant: What’s worse, there might be much more lethal and incurable viruses to come in the future.

We talk of the virus as the problem. In fact, if you go to social media to get a hang of how we are looking at the whole thing in a cultural… read_more

8 min

Put your heart fully into your work, and your mind will no longer be in the audience. When there is no heart in your work, then your mind wanders in the world. Love your work, and you will forget the world. Your problem is not that you are too concerned with people’s opinions. Your problem is that there is no heart in your work.

Are You Choosing Your Thoughts?

Because of the stimulus, a thought arises. There is an external stimulus, and because you have an inherent tendency to think, you are conditioned to think. That is the maximum that the external stimulus can do. It can provoke a thought within you. But then you provide fuel to that thought; you provide energy to that thought. And then the thought becomes a fixation with you. Now you are thinking the entire day.

That One Great Desire

14 min

There is a desire that gives birth to the worlds and then there is a desire that gets fed up with the worlds and returns to the pure, the original, the immutable. You have already come to a long distance, cannot undo the journey, you cannot un-travel the distance, what do you do then? Complete the cycle. Have the right desire that stimulates you into the right action. The right work, the right action that will lead you into immortality, that’s what you need to do now.

What Is the Ego? || AP Neem Candies