Destiny

Destiny is the inviolable thing. You cannot get rid of it. You have to reach there. So, better choose in favour of your destiny. Now, destiny is something that can, at most, keep waiting till eternity. But you can never dismiss it. So, make a choice in the favour of destiny. Bow down to your destiny, surrender to your destiny. If it has to happen, why keep postponing it? Because that postponement is just suffering. Destiny is love. Destiny is what each of us craves, is crazy for.

What Is the Main Concept of Bhagavad Gita?

26 min

So, when you have to decide what to do, when you are in a mess like Arjun, respond to the call of love, respond to the call of freedom. Go in that direction where truth lies even if it costs you a lot, even if it seems unreasonable, even if it scares and terrifies you, even if you cannot explain to others or even yourself, “Why are you moving in such a way or in such a direction? Still move in that way. Read more....

Worldly man- Slave of destiny || Acharya Prashant (2014)

What is destiny? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2015)

Question: Whatever we are doing in this life, whatever is happening in the universe, is this already defined by God, and we being mere players? Or is God nowhere in the picture?

Speaker: These are the two options that your mind has come up with. One- all is predestined, with… read_more

The relationship between freewill, destiny, and law of attraction || (2016)

Question: Is there anything called ‘destiny’?

Speaker: There is surely destiny. There is no doubt about it. You are born in a particular home, you are born as a human being, the color of your eyes, the situations of your birth, everything that goes around you in the universe, all… read_more

8 min

Questioner (Q): Can you talk about the relationship between free will, destiny, and the law of attraction?

Acharya Prashant (AP): All three do not exist.

(Laughter)

Free will belongs only to the Truth. Your destiny is to reach the Truth. And only the Truth really attracts you.

Free will —… read_more

Is life destined and pre-planned? || (2016)

Your wishes are not granted so that you may be granted your destiny || Acharya Prashant (2016)

Questioner (Q): Is our life destined?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Of course it is destined. Don’t you see that? Otherwise, why would life exist? Life exists, so that it may meet its destiny. And as long as it doesn’t, it remains restless. Mind exists, so that it may meet its destiny.… read_more

Feeling powerless? || Neem Candies

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Question: Are we born with destiny or choices? Why don’t things happen as per our wish?

Acharya Prashant: Is it not a great mercy that things don’t happen as per our wish? Do you really want existence to punish you by granting all your wishes?

Your wishes… read_more

Avoid these foolish influences || Neem Candies

All powerlessness is just a pretense. Even in your feeblest moment, you are still powerful enough to exercise choice, and you must always hold this very close to your heart.

The world can take anything, everything away from you, but nothing and nobody ever can take away from you your… read_more

Which actions must one never renounce? || Acharya Prashant, on Bhagavad Gita (2020)

We are being continuously told that there is something seriously wrong with us and we must do something about it.

You don’t have a house? There is something wrong with you.

Your car is small? There is something wrong with you.

Come buy our new product! Oh, you don’t wear… read_more

Force luck to honor your determination || Neem Candies

यज्ञदानतप:कर्म न त्याज्यं कार्यमेव तत् ।

यज्ञो दानं तपश्चैव पावनानि मनीषिणाम् ।। 18.5 ।।

yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-karma na tyājyaṁ kāryam eva tat

yajño dānaṁ tapaśh chaiva pāvanāni manīṣhiṇām

The work of Yagna, gift, and austerity should not be relinquished, but it should indeed be performed; (for) Yagna, gift, and austerity are purifying… read_more

Destiny is not what you will be, Destiny is what you really are || Acharya Prashant (2015)

Luck means that you are getting something unexpected and big, right? That’s what you call as being lucky.

Keep working hard. Do not wait for luck. You can force luck. You can tell him, “I am working so hard that you will have to come to me.”

Force luck. Don’t… read_more

44 min

Acharya Prashant: The topic today is ‘Destiny and Freewill’. The mind has always been interested in knowing about these. The individual that we sometimes call as man, sometimes refer to as ego, sometimes as the self – the fragmented self – is always curious about this particular topic, because it… read_more

Is life predestined? || IIT Bombay (2021)

8 min

Questioner (Q): There are some scriptures in the Hindu tradition which suggest that everything we do is predestined and we are actually being controlled by Brahman . If that is the case, what is the incentive for me to put any hard work into my life?

Acharya Prashant (AP): No,… read_more

Don’t be satisfied || Neem Candies

Destiny and fate || Acharya Prashant (2017)

We have a very unfortunate ability to make peace with our circumstances, to settle down wherever luck situates us. You do not find many people fundamentally dissatisfied with life. Superficially, everybody is dissatisfied; that’s not really the case. People lead very satisfied lives at very wrong places. There are very… read_more

Does Self-Help Really Help?

Acharya Prashant: Well, here is this flower, it’s been plucked, its fate now is to shrivel down, lose its moisture, tenderness, and then meet the soil. If I toss it up, its fate is to? It’s entirely predictable. If I tell you, how much force I exert in tossing it… read_more

Self-help doesn't help. Its approach is, “I am sad as my desires are not fulfilled, so the way to help myself is to fulfill desires.” They never realize their lives are driven by biological, social, and cultural forces outside of themselves. Spirituality offers the only real solution: “Before helping the self, one must know what the self really is."

Wisdom Through Songs

27 min

AIR host (AIR): A very good morning to all our listeners tuned in! And a warm welcome to the brunch time show this Saturday morning with your friend Kiran! And this morning we have a very, very enlightened guest with us who is going to be sharing his views and… read_more

Acharya Prashant on Two Kinds of Hope

The first kind of hope says, "I want to get something," while the second says, "I want to get rid of something." Most of us focus on the first kind, which keeps us dependent and afraid. The second kind urges us to shed everything and discover our true nature. If you must hope, hope for the second kind—hope to free yourself from societal bondage, fear, and all that’s accumulated. You are already perfect, like a diamond. What can a diamond want? What more can be added to it? Just remove the dirt. Hope to get rid of the dirt.

Does Following Myself Lead to Freedom?

8 min

If following others is slavery, the mind quickly wants to conclude that following oneself is freedom. No, following oneself is deeper slavery because what we call the 'self' is just an aggregate of internalized, pervasive influences, like a crow mistaking a cuckoo’s eggs for its own. True freedom is to be free of others and, more importantly, yourself.

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.”

Vedanta: The Bridge Between Philosophy and Spirituality

Why do we need to talk of the purpose of life? Because we don’t feel alright as we are and where we are. Because we don’t feel alright where we are, therefore we need to be somewhere else. Because we don’t feel good about the way our self-concept and our self-image is, therefore there is a need for change, right?

What’s True Thanksgiving About?

“I thank the Lord for all that he has given me.” This is a totally nonsensical prayer. You should thank for what he has not given you. "Thanks for not giving me disease." It's very easy to miss that you do not have a disease. Truth is so easy to miss because it is an absence. Truth is always ‘not’ something. It is the absences that you must be thankful for.

The Gap Between Understanding and Action

Understanding expresses itself through action. And understanding knows no other expression. Words are a very poor substitute for the right action and that is what Gibran is talking of here. He says that which is understood claim for its final expression as action in life. The poet often lets his understanding become his words. To that extent, there is a flow but if the words remain mere words and do not turn into life then there is no freedom yet. The imprisonment continues. Live what you love, otherwise, the punishment is tremendous.

‘I want’ versus ‘I must’

The Biggest Obstacle to a Spiritual Life || AP Neem Candies

Questioner: Is it possible to live without a target in life? I set a target for myself so that I have something to strive for, so that I have a sense of direction, but the thought of not achieving this target also brings sorrow and fear. So how can a… read_more

Not Enlightened, Not Even a Seeker || AP Neem Candies

Fulfillment is what you want, don’t you? There won’t be any fulfillment until you break your inner bondages. And the most central, critical, and primary bondage is body-identification.

Use everything that your birth, your body, and Prakriti (physical nature) have given you. Use all of that for the sake of… read_more

2 min

Acharya Prashant: “He who claims liberation as his own, as an attainment of a person is neither enlightened nor a seeker. He suffers his own misery.”

Beautiful. “He who claims liberation as his own, as an attainment of a person is neither enlightened nor a seeker. He suffers his own… read_more

Understanding Guilt for True Self-Improvement

Love or Knowledge: Which is More Powerful for Liberation?

Acharya Prashant: What does guilt say? Let’s first of all look at it. Guilt says, “I am better than how and what I did”, right? Guilt says, “I am better than my actions”, or “I am better than my thoughts. I am better than the account I gave of myself… read_more

4 min

Acharya Prashant: Love is the fire that melts down the bondage that is you. Knowledge is merely the light in which you can see your bondages. Even if you are able to look at your chains in the light of knowledge, that does not rid you of the chains. In… read_more

The Hypocrisy of Climate Warriors

4 min

Acharya Prashant: The very urge for liberation, when it doesn’t find an outlet, becomes the urge to consume. Do you see this? Where does the tendency to consume so much come from? It comes from the misidentified and thwarted urge toward liberation. If you will not provide liberation to a… read_more

You've Had Enough of This Person

To Love Somebody, Love Like a Nobody

Questioner: Namaskar Acharya ji! I am reading a book called “Freedom from the Known”, where the author, Jiddu Krishnamurthi, talks about removing authority to be free from the ego. What does he mean by authority? Can we take anything to be the authority and then say, “I’m not going to… read_more

15 min

Questioner: (Reads out the following)

If you love, love openly

Twenty monks and one nun, who was named Eshun, were practicing meditation with a certain Zen master.

Eshun was very pretty even though her head was shaved and her dress plain. Several monks secretly fell in love with her.

One … read_more

Science or Upanishads: Who Explains Existence Best?

Hurt by Those Around You?

Questioner: Who can best answer the basic questions related to human existence or reasons for survival, our life, our emotions, and our death? Can science with its metanarratives answer these questions, or will the Upanishads answer them?

Acharya Prashant: Science does not even look into these questions. Science is considered,… read_more

We Exist, and We Do Not

23 min

Questioner: Sir, it is pretty evident that I exist and you exist, but you have also stated that the ego does not exist. So, when someone calls you Acharya Prashant and you reply, isn’t that an identification that reflects an ego?

Acharya Prashant: It is a thing that is useful… read_more

How to Make Oneself Do the Right Thing?

Questioner: I’ll start by introducing myself. I’m a second-year graduate of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. So, in my daily life, my habits that I think have morphed into compulsion with time, and it disturbs me when people don’t do the same as I do. Like for example, I have… read_more

Identity, Ambition, and the Search for Fulfilment

Questioner 1: In my experience, what’s happening is that I really like reading scriptures, so I’ve been reading them for quite some time. But with time, what I’ve observed is that earlier there used to be a freshness and it would stay with me. There was a sense of excitement… read_more

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

Questioner: Pranam sir, I am Ram Surendra Singh, a research scholar from the Mathematics Department. Sir, we all are dealing with physical matter here but if we see a periodic table, all the elements in there, and if someone knows how to play with those elements they can all create… read_more

Influencer Chronicles: Your Social Media Following

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

11 min

Acharya Prashant: If there is a problem in physics, mathematics, or engineering in front of you and somebody offers you a particular solution, do you just go to the last step and accept the conclusion? Is that scientific or rational? Do we do that? No, we don’t do that. What… read_more

For Those who Want Freedom

11 min

Questioner: Namaskar Acharya Ji. You talked of Mukti. So, I would like to know, is it a Mukti from life and birth? I mean, more, If you can elaborate?

Acharya Prashant: Mukti from internal compulsions. The goal of life can be talked of as Mukti which is Liberation, which is… read_more

Stay Cautious with Such Energies

Questioner: My question is that I heard that there are two cosmic energies, these two Cosmic energies will take out all the sufferings of the people, which are from treta yuga of Lord Sri Ram and Lakshman get received the cosmic energies from Sage Vishwamitra, those are called some bala… read_more

What is Clarity?

Spontaneous, or Carried Away?

Questioner: Sir, what is clarity?

Acharya Prashant: Clarity is two things together: One, it is the absence of readymade concepts based on which one lives, one reacts, one sees the world, and parallelly, simultaneously, on the other hand, it is the ability to respond greatly. So, on the one hand,… read_more

11 min

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

Can There Be Self-Love Without Self-Knowledge? || AP Neem Candies

5 min

Acharya Prashant: Pleasing oneself is not at all an example of self-love; if at all, it is an example of lack of self-knowledge. You cannot have self-love without self-knowledge; it is a great misconception that must be cleared very very thoroughly, very very finely. Making yourself happy is not at… read_more

Women in Revealing Dresses: Liberation or Titillation?

9 min

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?

The One Mistake We Keep Repeating

4 min

If you see that certain things happen through you in your so-called unintentional state, then affirm to yourself, be resolute that you will never allow things to happen unintentionally through you. This resolution is the best repentance. Now you are not merely atoning for the mistake; now you are no more remaining the mistaken one. To fight against the mistake is a small battle. Totally transform the mistaken one, let him not be, let him not exist at all.

Freedom from Frustration || AP Neem Candies

2 min

Acharya Prashant: What is the fact of life? How do you react to your own sweat? Have you seen how one reacts when one is sweating? The trickle can be quite unnerving. Have you seen the aggression with which one often wipes out his sweat? The aggression, the frustration, the… read_more

Want Satisfaction? Maximise Consumption || AP Neem Candies

Do I Know You? || AP Neem Candies

Acharya Prashant: You might just say, “Well, no I am not looking for flesh, I am looking for money. I am looking for material success. I am looking to have another factory. I am looking to have a bigger house with better furniture.” You might talk of material things other… read_more

Acharya Prashant: We anyway live in attitudes, try to have a carefree attitude. Try to have an attitude of reasonless security, try to have an attitude in which you don't get daunted easily, you don't start shivering easily.

The world might be stamping its feet in front of you, angrily,… read_more

That One Great Desire