Spirituality and Wisdom

The prerequisite is love, and love is an openness. Love is a vulnerability. Without that, all you will have is dry and meaningless and violent argumentation that yields nothing.

Death Is a Teacher

8 min

Death comes to teach us. Let's learn the lesson. Death is a liberator — not so much to the one who has died, but to the one who is still alive. Your normal work, relationships, worldview — all these will appear hollow when you're struck by the fragility of everything. Death disturbs us precisely because it challenges the assumptions on which we base our day-to-day life. Once you have seen something, you cannot be the same ignorant mind.

You Are in Prison

11 min

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.

There Is No Liberation for the Dead

12 min

Organized religion is just an elaborate conspiracy to keep you away from Mukti. And you put it very nicely: nobody talks of Mukti when they are alive. Now, after they are gone, their kith and kin are supposed to be worried about their Mukti, which is all quite nonsensical. Once you are gone, the opportunity is gone. There is no liberation for the dead. No liberation at all for the dead. And that is why the opportunity called life is so precious.

Superstition in The Name of Rituals

17 min

Religion does not deal with gases and material and fire and oxidation. All that is not the rightful domain of religion. Religion deals with only one question: What is this "I"? What is it up to? What does it want? And why does it suffer? Religion deals only with ego and the liberation of ego. If, in the name of religion, you find other things being discussed, then this is the work of some fraud.

My Life, My Rules

8 min

‘My life, my rules’. Whose life? Whose rules? Even this phrase, ‘my life, my rules’ is not coming from your own life. Even this rule, that if it’s my life, it has to be my rules, even this rule is not your own. So, you are being ruled by someone else when you say ‘my rules’. Even in saying ‘my rules’, it is somebody else’s rules that you are following and you still remain a slave, a slave by another name.

In the Right Battle, Even Defeat Is Victory

17 min

We all have our moments, our episodes of failures. We all let ourselves down at some time or the other. What to do then? Rule number one – do not go down tamely. If there is an inner conflict, and you know which side should win, fight hard to ensure that the right side prevails. Rule number two – keep fighting till your victory and keep fighting in your defeat. Even in defeat, remain a winner.

Will AI Take Away My Job?

11 min

AI has no consciousness; it can only do what it is programmed to do. These are just programmed reactions. If you are in a job that involves this kind of programmable role, your job would be threatened by AI. Human beings, by definition, must be in actions that involve creativity. Machines can never understand. Why were you not into jobs that involved understanding or creativity?

Watching the movie, keep popping popcorn || Acharya Prashant, on Vedanta (2021)

8 min

Acharya Prashant (AP): Great things are happening on the screen, don't get so excited, it's just the screen. Irrespective of what happens on the screen, it's not real. That's how you have to look at things. Great silence on the screen. Is it silence? No, it is the silence of… read_more

To questions of your life, who else would know the answers? || Acharya Prashant (2014)

11 min

Questioner: How should I identify my calling? If I have two options in front of me – I am doing engineering but I want to know and go for film-making. Would it be okay if I go in that direction? I like both the ways, Engineering as well as film-making.… read_more

'Free will' is an Entertaining Myth

10 min

Even if there is suffering, observation is just about observing the suffering—just witnessing it without getting engaged with it, without having a stake in it, without having a stake in it . And that is possible. That can be done.

Want to Learn True Meditation?

13 min

The truth that we all inwardly love without even knowing we are in love. That truth is independent of time. It is independent of everything that's temporal, geographical, spatial, cultural. Spirituality has nothing to do with the clothes that you choose to wear, the language you speak, the way you behave, whether you address someone as this or that. facing a particular direction while eating or sleeping. No.

Are You Ready For True Love?

11 min

The wise ones say, “Love arrives only when the right, clean, and honoured space has been prepared for it.” So, you can never find love — you can only rid yourself of all that blocks it; all that is needlessly and coincidentally present in your mental space. And you can’t predict how love will arrive, but you can do your homework to clear the inner clutter.

Love Versus Desire

9 min

Love is always dedicated to the purpose of liberation, whereas desire forgets the highest and remembers only the object. If, in the process of love, desire, or attraction, you find that you have never lost sight of the Truth — rest assured, you are loving. But if the object becomes so dominant that you have totally forgotten the Truth, know that this is not love.

How free are your thoughts and life? Let's test

35 min

Inquiry is the only route. Otherwise, there is no way you can ever detect whether your thoughts, internal processes, feelings and importantly conclusions and decisions are your own, really original or whether they are products of an implanted process. You will never come to know what has been implanted within that which you are calling as conditioning is an implanted thing and once it has entered your insides it will always appear innate.

Stay Away From 'Pop Spirituality'

17 min

‘Pop spirituality’ can include anything — some kriya, snakes, spirits, ghosts — things that can neither be verified nor negated. India had a better name: ‘Adhyatma’, which means ‘self-knowledge’, not ‘spirituality’. And once you realize it's about knowing yourself through self-inquiry, it becomes the ruthless negation of all imaginary products of the ego — with deep respect for facts.

What Does It Mean to be Superconscious?

10 min

Superconsciousness is not in another dimension; it belongs to this world that we are in. It is a word to emphasize that it is possible to rise above ordinary consciousness. Ordinary consciousness is a state of mental slavery. The more liberated one is internally, the higher is said to be the state of consciousness. And beyond a certain point, you may say that a fellow is superconscious.

Hiding Behind Makeup?

8 min

It's one thing to take care of the body so that it doesn't interfere with your creative endeavours. And it is another thing entirely to put on makeup to enhance your value in other people's eyes. When you don't have value within, you put artificial value upon yourself as a compensation. But looking colourful on the outside does not help with the inward barrenness. And ultimately, it is the inner colour, vigour, truth, and love that we are all looking for.

The Trap of Positive and Negative Attitudes

6 min

There is nothing called ‘positive attitude’ or ‘negative attitude’. All attitudes are enemies of understanding and reality. An intelligent man lives a life free of attitude. Within attitude, you approach reality with a fixed, frozen mindset. When you come to a situation, come to it afresh—not with a ‘positive’ or a ‘negative’ attitude, but with real intelligence.

Spirituality Is Basic Honesty

9 min

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.

Is Time Travel Possible?

13 min

The future comes from the choices that you make today, because you are a creature of choice. If you were not a creature of choice, then everything would have been predetermined. But you are a conscious person, and by definition, consciousness is choice. So, if you say that you are travelling into the future, which particular future are you travelling into? Time travel is just a fantasy—a nice thing to entertain the mind. There’s not much more in it.

Does corporate life dehumanize the workers? || Acharya Prashant, at IIM Bangalore (2022)

11 min

Questioner (Q): I watched your recent video - “Loving your fake lifestyle.” In that video you talked about two things. One is abuse of consciousness and another was that corporates are dehumanizing the employees.

In that context I wanted to ask you, this dehumanization actually is not only happening in… read_more

The Afterlife Myth

11 min

Afterlife is not even philosophy; it’s simply theology, present in every major religion. Science today confirms that there is nothing that survives the body. So, for whom are heaven and hell? It only takes one away from the direct realities of life because one is constantly dreaming of the afterlife. It is just an extremely venomous belief system.

How To Be Non-Violent In Today's World?

8 min

Non-violence does not mean being good to others or turning the other cheek; this is a naïve interpretation of non-violence. In fact, non-violence does not have much to do with the "other" at all. It is actually about self-knowledge. If you know yourself, then you’re not afraid. And if you’re not afraid, you don’t treat the other as the "other" at all. With this realization, do what you must—this is non-violence.

There Are No Imperfections, There Are Only Illusions

6 min

Achievement is the central disease, there is something to be achieved. So, develop whether as a verb indicating yourself or your students is actually not very appropriate. There is no question of development. There can only be a realization, that I am already developed. There can only be a realization and that realization; believe me, changes everything. Do not think that after that realization things will remain the same. In a very fundamental way, things will change.

New Year And New Beginnings Will Not Help You

21 min

One seeks change because one is not satisfied. One is attracted to new beginnings because one is not quite alright with his current state. No activity, no beginning, nothing new will help. The past that shapes us does not end but continues by renaming itself as the future. You do not need the beginning of a new pattern; you need termination from all patterns.

Is Sartre’s Existentialism Contradicting Gita?

7 min

They don't contradict each other. Existentialists like Sartre argue that humans cannot suppress consciousness and are 'condemned to be free.' We are born without a predetermined purpose—existence precedes essence. You exist first and must then discover your essence. In the spirit of 'Neti Neti' (neither this nor that), no external force can define your essence; it is your freedom to consciously determine what life is for.

Reincarnation: Science or Myth?

6 min

The scientific community takes reincarnation as something of a joke. Studies have been done but those studies have amounted to nothing. When you are living an unfulfilled life then the concept of reincarnation comes as a savior because you think you deserve the bondage and there is no need to fight. It prevents you from bringing meaning to this one life that you have. The Gita too, very forcefully destroys this concept.

Trick Your Habits Before They Trap You

8 min

As long as one is alive, habits will remain. Nature gave us habits for the sake of efficiency. In habits, there is no decision-making involved. You just do it. So habit is not a problem, the problem is that we are habituated in the wrong things. Be habituated towards the Truth. Towards Freedom. Be habituated towards keeping it simple and straight. Let these be your habits.

Learn to cheat the ego || Acharya Prashant (2019)

8 min

Question: Pranam Acharya ji. Acharya ji, allow me to apologize for the abrupt question last time. I was a little afraid of writing another question. However, I do wish to write. Please talk about it—as I am an avid listener—on what you consider shall be good for me.

Here is… read_more