Compassion

When You are Alright, then the Sound of Your Footsteps Is Compassion
When You are Alright, then the Sound of Your Footsteps Is Compassion
9 min
When you are not bothered about the other, that is when you are totally compassionate. When you are not trying to change the other, that is when you become an agent of change. Compassion is not about thinking all the time of others. You cannot try to be compassionate. When you are alright, then the sound of your footsteps is compassion. That is what compassion is.
He Chose a Wife, Not a Guru
He Chose a Wife, Not a Guru
6 min

Questioner: We have a question by Pooja. So people who try to become self-aware and you know knowledgeable of themselves. They usually became the black sheep of their families.

Question by Pooja is what can we do if our loved ones, that is spouse, parents, friends are not receptive to

This Is Why a Vivekanand Is Rare || AP Neem Candies
This Is Why a Vivekanand Is Rare || AP Neem Candies
3 min

Acharya Prashant: By looking at one Vivekanand, you start imagining, or dreaming, or expecting that all youth can be like Vivekanand. And in this lies your ingratitude and disrespect towards Vivekanand. You do not know what kind of an impossibility a Vivekanand is. You do not appreciate him, so you

Should You Sacrifice Your Pleasures - When and How Much? || AP Neem Candies
Should You Sacrifice Your Pleasures - When and How Much? || AP Neem Candies
6 min

Acharya Prashant: You have to ask yourself what your primary identity is. If your primary identity is that of the body, then do what the body commands you to do. Good. The body has an inbuilt software of its own, and it’s a self-improving software. Its capacity to keep improving

What Is Meant by ‘Leaving the World’?
What Is Meant by ‘Leaving the World’?
10 min

Acharya Prashant: Leaving what is not, That is all right, but that leaving is not done with an objective to get joy. Had the thing been so transactional that you could leave one thing and as an exchange offer get another thing, then everybody would have taken the deal. Were

If Everything is Temporary, Why Do Anything?
If Everything is Temporary, Why Do Anything?
6 min

Questioner: Good Evening Sir. My name is Tarun Singh from IIM Nagpur. Sir my question is this, actually we understand this thing that in life everything is temporary. Be it my existence on this earth, or any relationship, or my friendship, or any environment around me, everything is temporary. So,

Deeper Your Empathy, Deeper Is Your Self-Love
Deeper Your Empathy, Deeper Is Your Self-Love
5 min
Who is most like you? You, yourself. So, be empathetic to yourself first. Then, who is most like you? Your mother, father, siblings; show empathy to them. Then, your neighbors, extended family, and finally, be empathetic to all. Lacking compassion for other conscious beings will only harm you. Kill the animal, and in some way the animal is liberated of its misery, at least in the physical sense. But you, having eaten the animal, will suffer. The flesh keeps you alive, and tomorrow awaits—a dark tomorrow as your punishment.
Why Man is highly Unsettled and Restless
Why Man is highly Unsettled and Restless
6 min

Acharya Prashant: The whole issue is because you have left the jungle and yet not reached where you set out to reach; you are stuck in between.

Man is in a very precarious position. Animals are well settled; the free ones, the Buddhas are also well settled. Man is unsettled.

Role of Compassion in True Love
Role of Compassion in True Love
7 min

Acharya Prashant: Love and responsibility have to be reasonless. They have to be mad. One has to be crazy enough to put in everything for a seemingly trivial creature.

I don’t know whether you have heard this story from the life of the Buddha. One man was carrying a goat

Your Wish shall be granted against your wish || Acharya Prashant (2016)
Your Wish shall be granted against your wish || Acharya Prashant (2016)
2 min

Questioner: This is a paradox. So far, as I think, often people suffer because they are afraid of Truth. They would rather accept any kind of suffering than to seek into their life. It demands courage.

Shri Prashant: So, in fact, you see, another paradox is that while everyone is

How to help others see the truth? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2014)
How to help others see the truth? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2014)
10 min

*T ***o personally meet or connect with Acharya Prashant: click here. **

Question: Sir, is it possible to help those who are deeply blind, even if they do not agree or acknowledge that they are blind? Is it possible to help such people?

Speaker: Alok is asking that

When you are helping without reason, it is compassion || Acharya Prashant (2016)
When you are helping without reason, it is compassion || Acharya Prashant (2016)
15 min

Question: Sir, Do love and Compassion play a role in the process of awakening?

Acharya Prashant: Love and Compassion are not instruments. Love and Compassion are not stuff that can be used as a means or as a method. Awakening , Love , and Compassion are all synonyms. They are

Only a Buddha can really help others || Acharya Prashant (2017)
Only a Buddha can really help others || Acharya Prashant (2017)
8 min

Question: “My understanding is that the right battle is the one fought not for self but for others. Is my understanding right? Please elaborate more on right battles. Is it so that most of the battles we fight day to day are wrong battles?”

Acharya Prashant: You may fight for

How does one's Self-realization help others? || Acharya Prashant (2015)
How does one's Self-realization help others? || Acharya Prashant (2015)
8 min

Acharya Prashant: When you do not realize, you constantly live in a feeling that you are a separate entity. You are asking, how does self-realization help others?

When you keep feeling that you are a separate entity and that others are separate, that others ‘are’, that there is an ‘otherness’,

Man exploits man, how will he spare animals? || Neem Candies
Man exploits man, how will he spare animals? || Neem Candies
1 min

Veganism cannot succeed if you just keep talking of animals. You keep saying, “Oh, it is bad to look at animals as a commodity. It is bad to exploit animals.” If man is exploiting man, why will man refrain from exploiting animals?

So, veganism has to be holistic, comprehensive. You

The real meaning of help || IIT Kharagpur (2022)
The real meaning of help || IIT Kharagpur (2022)
19 min

Questioner (Q): I have discovered that being a little altruistic, a little selfless makes me feel that I am elevating my consciousness. That is what works for me. But one problem associated with this is the problem of the violation of boundaries. So, suppose I want to help a person

Big bodies, small men || Neem Candies
Big bodies, small men || Neem Candies
1 min

Before you gain health, must you not gain the wisdom to use health? Unfortunately, with the rise in income levels and the availability of knowledge and food supplements, the average height of human beings are rising across all nations, the average weight of human beings is rising across all nations,

Do dogs trouble you? || Neem Candies
Do dogs trouble you? || Neem Candies
1 min

The world is all yours if you are first of the world’s master. Have you gone to people who have dogs? If you are on good terms with the master of the dog, the dog comes and wags its tail in front of you. The dog says, “If you are

Today's Buddha || Acharya Prashant, with IIT-Ropar (2022)
Today's Buddha || Acharya Prashant, with IIT-Ropar (2022)
11 min

Questioner (Q): Good afternoon to one and all present here, warm greetings. ‘Buddha Poornima’ marks the birth of Gautam Buddha and we are so lucky to celebrate this auspicious day with someone who is wisdom personified in today’s time—Acharya Prashant.

Acharya Prashant needs no mention. From being an acclaimed Vedanta

What is humbleness? || Acharya Prashant (2019)
What is humbleness? || Acharya Prashant (2019)
4 min

Question: Acharya Ji, what is humbleness?

Acharya Prashant Ji:

‘Humbleness’ is required, or is meaningful, only in the context of an inflated ego. Because most of us live in stories about ourselves, and those stories cause us a lot of misery, therefore freedom from those stories is needed. A mind

Trying to give spiritual help to your family? || Acharya Prashant (2019)
Trying to give spiritual help to your family? || Acharya Prashant (2019)
9 min

Question (Q) : Dear Acharya Ji, pranam. Since the last few days, I have been sharing my learnings with my parents. Every time I discuss something with them, I have to deliberately attack their conditioned mind to make them aware of their conditioning. I feel sorry for them, and I

Growing together in love || Neem Candies
Growing together in love || Neem Candies
1 min

If the two of you could together shout and scratch and bite and tear and break—if all those things could be done together, why not meditate and be loving and compassionate together? Or is companionship only for biting into each other?

So, having been companions, now it is your responsibility

Two basic things about love || Neem Candies
Two basic things about love || Neem Candies
1 min

Love is not about admiring somebody’s physicality, or using someone for some means. Love has to be an exercise in compassion. So, I often say, when you relate to the other, relate either to uplift or to be uplifted.

Only two kinds of associations are right in this world. If

How to really help someone? || Acharya Prashant (2016)
How to really help someone? || Acharya Prashant (2016)
15 min

Acharya Prashant: The question is, if one wants to help, how does one go about helping? How does one create the right conditions for the other? Good, practical question.

I have often and repeatedly said, that to help the other, you have to be a nobody. Now, that sounds quite

Veganism is the strongest name for compassion || Acharya Prashant (2018)
Veganism is the strongest name for compassion || Acharya Prashant (2018)
9 min

Question: Acharya Ji, what is the reason which made you go vegan?

Acharya Prashant Ji: The same reason that makes you ask these questions, and makes me answer them – Wisdom, Love, Truth.

One is fettered, one is shackled, and consciousness is one’s only hope – deep, deep consciousness that

Do you know what love actually is? || Neem Candies
Do you know what love actually is? || Neem Candies
1 min

Is there anybody who wants bad things to happen to him? No. The other is just the same as you.

Love has to be understood. To love is to see that the other is in trouble. To love is to extend a helping hand. Love is not about admiring somebody’s

I don’t care || Neem Candies
I don’t care || Neem Candies
1 min

You just want good to happen to the next generations of Homo sapiens. And what about the millions of other species? Where is your compassion?

But such is man’s lot: he cannot do anything selflessly. If he talks of saving the rivers, he says, “Let’s save the rivers so that

True love || Neem Candies
True love || Neem Candies
1 min

To love is to see that the other is in trouble. To love is to extend a helping hand. Love is not about admiring somebody’s physicality or using someone for some means. Love has to be an exercise in compassion.

Only two kinds of associations are right in this world.

The source of all excellence || On Vivekachudamani (2018)
The source of all excellence || On Vivekachudamani (2018)
8 min

Questioner (Q): I have a question related to work. You shared an inspiring story of Guru Kabir and his profession. I want to have the same level of inspiration and energy in my profession. Your teaching has helped me to understand a lot about my concept of work and getting

I love you. I also love chicken || Acharya Prashant, with MMMUT Gorakhpur (2023)
I love you. I also love chicken || Acharya Prashant, with MMMUT Gorakhpur (2023)
15 min

Questioner (Q): Hello sir, Valentine's Day is coming and for the past few days in our College there has been a an environment of romance and every day there is a new celebration. There is Teddy day, then Rose day and then chocolate day and we often see that these

Living in the Present, Resistance, Concentration, Compassion and Pity
Living in the Present, Resistance, Concentration, Compassion and Pity
6 min

A. Living in the Present

The Present is not an object of thought. To live in the Present, first of all you must know what is really ‘Present’. You know what is meant by Present? What really is ‘Presence’? Living in the Present means living in the Truth, because only

Mr. Shakeable? ||Neem Candies
Mr. Shakeable? ||Neem Candies
1 min

Consider yourself shakeable, and everything will shake you up.

Consider yourself unshakeable, and see the magic.

Consider yourself little, and everything will be big enough to tease you.

Consider yourself immense, and see whether the world can bully you.

But this thing that I am calling as ‘core belief’ or

Forget Rituals, Embrace Wisdom: Krishna’s Powerful Words
Forget Rituals, Embrace Wisdom: Krishna’s Powerful Words
37 min
You can either have the Gita or you can have the entirety of religion as it is practised by the common man in the common culture. These cannot go together. Totally incompatible, they are.
Do Vegan Athletes Really Avoid Animal Cruelty?
Do Vegan Athletes Really Avoid Animal Cruelty?
6 min
If you can deal with human ignorance only then there is the chance, we will be more friendly, more compassionate towards animals. Otherwise, a sectoral approach, a fragmented approach will at most make you feel good about yourself. But in the bigger picture, it does no favor to the animals or to the environment.
Why do we suppress sexuality? || Acharya Prashant (2016)
Why do we suppress sexuality? || Acharya Prashant (2016)
20 min

Questioner (Q) : Acharya Ji, I want to talk about sexuality. Are there ways in which a person can healthily express sexuality?

Acharya Prashant (AP) : Whatever we do is an expression. Breath is an expression, eating is an expression, these hand gestures they are an expression, and the way

Why Do We Insult Our Scriptures?
Why Do We Insult Our Scriptures?
27 min
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?
Letting Go of Habitual Affirmations: Is It Key to Spiritual Growth?
Letting Go of Habitual Affirmations: Is It Key to Spiritual Growth?
23 min
The purpose of all instruments of religion, methods of religion is to unblock. The truth is here, there, inside, outside, everywhere. But there is a blockage. That blockage is called the ego. The ego prevents the truth from coming to itself. So, religion is a device, a tool so that Truth can flow to the ego. The ego wants to defend itself against the truth because once the truth flows in, it dissolves the ego.
Who Is a Hindu?
Who Is a Hindu?
8 min
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.
Living a selfish life? || Neem Candies
Living a selfish life? || Neem Candies
1 min

People talk of personal time as opposed to professional time, right? They forget that the profession that they have chosen has also been chosen by the person. So, even that which they are mistakenly calling as professional time is only personal time.

Our lives have only personal time. To be

Red roses or books? || Neem Candies
Red roses or books? || Neem Candies
1 min

Does the person you are with encourage you to read? You have to ask, “What does he bring for me, roses or books?”

Be very cautious of those who bring roses for you, especially red roses. Books are what we all need, and books are dangerous. Books are dangerous because

A Life Like Bhagat Singh's
A Life Like Bhagat Singh's
5 min
How occupied Bhagat Singh was. Even on the eve of his hanging, he was still reading the Bhagavad Gita. He said, "I still have a few hours. Let me spend these hours with the beloved. I have something very important to do." Or was he doing nothing in particular? Was he doing nothing in particular even in his last hours? No. He said, "Let me spend this time reading." And he was a voracious reader. At your age, he was so well read. Never had any time to waste.
What Is the Main Message of Bhagavad Gita?
What Is the Main Message of Bhagavad Gita?
14 min
You have to fight. The world is the battlefield. To be born is to be born as a warrior, to be born is to be born with weapons and armour. That is the message: you cannot run away. Shunning action is not possible.
What Sanatan Dharma Is Not
What Sanatan Dharma Is Not
10 min
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.
Finding God Is Easy, Tolerating Him Is Difficult
Finding God Is Easy, Tolerating Him Is Difficult
19 min

Acharya Prashant: Suffering is a fire that burns down a lot. It brings along a certain purification. One of the poets gave the example of a snowball. Snowball that is cleansing itself in its own blood; by melting down. When a snowball starts melting, it starts becoming cleaner. And the

To help the other is to help oneself || Delhi University (2022)
To help the other is to help oneself || Delhi University (2022)
5 min

Questioner (Q): Sir, if we do something to make someone else happy by deceiving our own self, is it worth it?

Acharya Prashant (AP): No, you cannot make someone else happy by deceiving your own self. That kind of a thing cannot exist; that kind of a thing exists only

J. Krishnamurti's 'The Observer Is the Observed' Explained by Acharya Prashant
J. Krishnamurti's 'The Observer Is the Observed' Explained by Acharya Prashant
8 min
'The observer is the observed; an honest observation dissolves them both.' Or, 'The observer is the observed, and both are false.' We lay a lot of emphasis on the world, assuming it to be the Truth. If the world is an entity independent of everything, then it has to be the Truth, right? Truth is that which is independent of everything.
Acharya Prashant Interviewed By Kip Andersen (#Christspiracy) || Religion And Animals
Acharya Prashant Interviewed By Kip Andersen (#Christspiracy) || Religion And Animals
7 min
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.
Can Multiple Sexual Partners Fulfill You?
Can Multiple Sexual Partners Fulfill You?
8 min
All your relationships are deeply your attempts to fill an inner void. Whether you relate sexually to one person or many — will sex give you what you truly want? The body is a shallow means to attain that which your consciousness craves. There are beautiful ways of relating to men and women; relate to them in higher ways.
Advait or Dvait?
Advait or Dvait?
4 min
It doesn’t matter whether you talk of *Advait* or *Dvait*. Do you finally admit that you cannot proceed any further with words? If your *Advait* says that I have come to the final truth, then your *Advait* is bogus. If your *Dvait* says that this is the ultimate expression, then your *Dvait,* too, is a fallacy. You may say *Advait,* you may say *Dvait,* you may even say *Trait,* or you may say anything of your choice. You are free to say whatever you want to, but all of that must surrender.
Decoding the East: Insights Ignored by the West
Decoding the East: Insights Ignored by the West
8 min
Before trying on your own, you do not even know the problem in its entirety, and you are going to somebody and the whole process demands time, energy, space and sometimes even money. So, before you engage, obviously you need to have tried your uttermost. So, that’s something obviously to be supported, but equally, we all know how limited we are beyond a point, and when we come to that point, it becomes obvious that one needs to look beyond herself, that one needs to seek help.