The worldly philosophy says, “Even if you lead a corrupt life, at the last moment you utter ‘Ram, Ram’, and you are redeemed.” I say just the opposite. Even if you have lived a life of wisdom, you can still lose it in your last breath. Even your wisdom requires a supporting and nourishing ecosystem. You can never afford to be complacent.
भ्रांति यह है कि मनुष्य जीव कभी भी अपनी मूल-वृत्ति से समूल मुक्त हो सकता है। हम सबकी इच्छा रहती है कि किसी ऐसी प्रक्रिया से गुज़र जाएँ जो हमें एक-बारगी ही सदा के लिए मुक्ति दे दे। वैसा नहीं हो सकता। जिस दिन तक शरीर है, उस दिन तक तुमको साधना भी करनी पड़ेगी। वृत्ति का हमला चूँकि निरंतर है, इसीलिए साधना भी प्रतिपल चाहिए। मुक्ति उनकी है जिन्हें मुक्ति प्यारी है, मुक्ति उनकी है जो मुक्ति में चल रहे हैं लगातार मुक्ति की ओर।
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
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.
Questioner: Does the continuous remembrance of liberation lead one to the right way?
Acharya Prashant: One has to be reminded of it. It’s a very strange thing. One need not be reminded of the false, the false is anyway always ready to tempt you, assault you. One does not need…
Question: Sir, how does a mind that is enlightened look at life? What happens to its thoughts? Does its wiring change in response to fear? Does it change its response to emotions?
Question: I have been reading Buddha and Kabir for long, and both are my favorite. While reading them I realized that both had different methods to get enlightenment.
Acharya Prashant: She said that she feels worst today. She told that she came to India in 1989. Experience creates respect for her, the kind of commitment she has shown, the devotion she has put in all these years. And at the same time I found it quite tragic that
Question: What is the most fundamental step in the liberation of the Self? Is liberation of the Self a gradual process or is it instantaneous like switching on a light?
Question: Today I saw some children roaming outside my hostel. They were trying to get some money or food but no one came out to help them. In what ways can we help others?
Acharya Prashant: The thing is realization, enlightenment or sahajta, this is nothing objective, you doesn’t have to look at others, one cannot even know whether the other is realized or enlightened or not; that is not at all the way to go about it; because looking at the other you…
Acharya Prashant: If it’s a model, an idea, if it’s a thought then you can very easily say what is it that you have known; because then you have concluded something. When it comes to the Truth, when it comes to the Heart, you know that you can never say
Questioner (Q): Yes, so just again we haven't been able to talk about this conversation prior to this, but I’m sure you got a sense of it. What we like to do in this conversation is keep it very transparent and conversational. But what we like to believe is different…
Limit yourself to consciousness and learn about the ways of consciousness. If you can learn the ways of consciousness, that is the blessing of the Absolute.
The Absolute is not just another thing in the consciousness. The Absolute is when you go to the very root of consciousness. And how…
Question: I have a confused question. Can I confess that I don’t know if I want to be awakened or not! I am afraid to realise myself. I am curious but I am stepping back from the Truth.
Acharya Prashant: “I am afraid of being awakened!” You must be afraid.
Questioner (Q): It's an overwhelming moment of joy to have my revered teacher Acharya Prashant come here at such a short notice and share his wisdom with you all. I’ve had the privilege of listening to him for the past one year and also attending in-person Q&A questions which have
प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी प्रणाम। मेरा प्रश्न ये है कि मैं जिस राह में बढ़ रही हूँ मुक्ति को लेकर, तो वो दिशा मेरी सही है या नहीं इस चीज़ का पता कैसे चलेगा मुझे कि मुक्ति को लेकर मैं सही दिशा में जा रही हूँ या नहीं?
प्रश्नकर्ता: जब आपसे लोग पूछते हैं कि क्या आप एनलाइटेंड (प्रबुद्ध) हैं, तो आप बार-बार एक ही जवाब देते हैं, न हूँ, न कभी होने वाला हूँ। कहीं ये वही बात तो नहीं कि हमें किसी चीज़ का अनुभव न हो, तो हम कह दें कि वैसी कोई चीज़ होती…
प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी। मैं आइआइटी कानपुर से हूँ, और जीवन के प्रति एक तर्कवादी रवैया रखता हूँ, चीज़ों को समझने की कोशिश करता हूँ। आपको सुनता हूँ और आपका बहुत सम्मान करता हूँ। मेरे कुछ मित्र भी हैं जो आपको सुनते हैं, और और भी आपको सुनने वाले हैं जो
प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी, जितनी भी बात आपने बतायीं उसके मूल में यही था कि अध्यात्म का उद्देश्य तो मन को शान्त करना है, सरल करना है। आज का जो अध्यात्म है उसका उद्देश्य मन की शान्ति और सरलता नहीं, बल्कि कुछ और ही है। और क्योंकि उद्देश्य बदल चुका है
प्रश्नकर्ता: कि जैसे हम आंतरिक रूप से अप्रभावित रहें, बाहरी चीज़ें हमें प्रभावित न कर पाएँ। तो जब हम कर्म करते हैं, तो यह सारे कर्म हमें बाहरी दुनिया में ही करने पड़ रहे हैं। तो यह तो सुनने के बाद हम समझ पाते हैं कि हमें अप्रभावित रहना है,
The wish remains unfulfilled because that which we want by extending our dead life cannot be had through extension. It can be had only through termination of the dead life. So our ways are stupid. That which must be terminated is rather extended by us. We need to give death to death. This dead life needs to be brought to death, and then you will give death to a dead life, death to death, which is good. Instead we keep trying to prolong the dead life. And if you are prolonging a dead life, you are only prolonging the death that you are living.
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In Zen, the student asks a question to the master, and the reply brings sudden enlightenment. It means something had long cluttered the mind, and in one deft stroke, like a genius, the master cuts the relationship between the ego and its belief. What Vedanta does through persuasive argument, the koan does through an abrupt shock.
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So many books and gurus have created a very wonderful image of the enlightened one, and it is a totally unrealistic image. There is no scripture worth the name which gives any image of enlightenment. The realised one lives a very ordinary life, simply in the ‘facts.’ There is no spiritual or religious duty as such to become enlightened. No, not at all. You can be shamelessly unenlightened, and that is enlightenment.
‘अप्प दीपो भव’ — ‘अपने प्रकाश स्वयं बनो’ — यह एक बहुमूल्य वक्तव्य है, लेकिन आख़िरी है। उससे पहले बड़ी साधना करनी पड़ती है। ‘कोई गुरु आवश्यक नहीं है’, यह जानने के लिए भी कोई गुरु चाहिए। जब पूरी साधना, पूरी दीक्षा हो जाए और शिष्य की विदाई का समय आए तभी गुरु को कहना चाहिए — ‘अप्प दीपो भव’। और तभी शिष्य के कान में ये शब्द पड़ने चाहिए। भूलना नहीं, ये ‘आख़िरी’ शब्द हैं।
Excerpts from Articles
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।
फ़ालतू खर्च छोड़िए, अपनी ज़िंदगी पर खर्च करना सीखिए
आचार्य प्रशांत बताते हैं कि क्यों हम सही खान-पान, स्वास्थ्य और अपने ऊपर ज़रूरी खर्च से बचते हैं, लेकिन दिखावे और फ़ालतू सामाजिक परंपराओं पर पैसा बहा देते हैं। अधिकांश लोगों के लिए समस्या सिर्फ़ पैसों की कमी नहीं, बल्कि विवेक और सही प्राथमिकताओं की कमी भी 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.
Justice Without Boundaries: Why Compassion Cannot Stop at Species
Oppression should not see caste, gender, creed or colour, and it should not see species either. The moral threshold is sentience, not intelligence. An animal feels pain as fully as a human does, whether or not it can explain its suffering.
एक पुजारी जो रोज़ भूत-प्रेत, तंत्र-मंत्र और वशीकरण के नाम पर आए लोगों से मिलता है, आचार्य प्रशांत से पूछता है: जब वो ख़ुद जानता है कि कुछ भूत-चुड़ैल नहीं होता, तो लोग बार-बार इसी झूठ की शरण में क्यों जाते हैं? जवाब अंधविश्वास से कहीं गहरा निकलता है — यह हमारे भीतर के उस झूठ की कहानी है, जिसे हम हर कीमत पर बचाना चाहते हैं।
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?
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.”
Beautiful. “He who claims liberation as his own, as an attainment of a person is neither enlightened nor a seeker. He suffers his own…
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प्रश्न: आचार्य जी, हम पूर्णता के भाव तक कैसे पहुँचे?
आचार्य प्रशांत: पूर्णता के भाव तक पहुँचे कैसे, शुरुआत यहाँ से करते हैं। पूर्णता कोई भाव है ही नहीं, तो उस तक पहुँचने का भी कोई प्रश्न नहीं है।
आप (प्रश्नकर्ता) कहते हैं कि आपने मेरा लिखा पढ़ा है, थोड़ा…
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…
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The world might be stamping its feet in front of you, angrily,…
A man has to give up on greed, on this and that. A woman has to give up on the feelings related to the body. On all the assumptions and other stuff related to the body. Leaving the house, for her, is like becoming naked. And then the rest of the journey is very easy for her. If you have a woman who can drop her physicality, who can get rid of the basic woman-ness, then you have a great saint in front of you.
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Acharya Prashant: Nachiketa is a mere boy dependent on his father, and he has the honesty and the guts to go to his father and say, “Of what use is all this that you are doing? Who will benefit from these old and sick and milkless cows?” I assure you…
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You go to a Dattatreya, or a Ribhu, or an Rishi Ashtavakra—they all will be quick to denounce virtues as much as they denounce vices because they focus on the actor and not the action. They focus on the doer and not on the deeds. Because they do not focus on the deeds, so for them, pious deeds are only as good or bad as profane deeds. For them, pious deeds or profanity both belong to the same dimension. They are talking of something beyond that dimension.
Answer: Assuming sufficiently good understanding of the brain and sufficiently developed scientific processes, anything can surely be done…
Buddha said, “Renounce the world and be a monk.”
While Kabir said, “Don’t renounce the world, be in this world, face…
आचार्य प्रशांत:
निरंजन क्या है कि जो निकलेगा?
प्र: या फिर मतलब उसमें...
आचार्य प्रशांत: निरंजन कुछ है कि जो निकलेगा?
प्र: यहाँ पर आप इतनी देर से एक्सप्लेन (समझा) कर…
How many hours do you spend meditating each day?
This is a trick question!
Whether you are “meditating” one hour per day or six, you are not truly meditating. This is because meditation is not something you do to escape life.…
Is life not ultimately a hall of mirrors?
Acharya Prashant (AP): No, what is meant by that? There is somebody outside the hall who can see that all this is happening. Yes, you project your world, it’s possible to see that you are doing that. So, life is…
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Acharya Prashant: It is neither. Liberation is just another name for the Self. The Self by nature is liberated. Hence…
Speaker: Helping others is great. But to help others, we must first be free of our…
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Human beings are not born human beings; they have to be educated to become human beings.
A human baby needs to take two births before it can be rightfully called as a human being. There is ignorance, there is greed, there is envy, there is lust, there is fear, there…
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Acharya Prashant:
What you call as ‘knowing’ is just thinking. It is a mental activity. Do you know of anything that is beyond the mind? You know of so many things in this world. Right? List them and see whether anything that
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Acharya Prashant Ji: It’s like a jigsaw puzzle. (Pointing at the arrangement of posters on the wall) Do you see this arrangement there? Let us say that this is…
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Questioner (Q): Is ego pride? What is enlightenment?
Acharya Prashant (AP): Ego is the ‘I’-feeling that causes you suffering.
Pride causes you suffering, but it is not merely pride that causes you suffering: even the opposite of pride causes you suffering. Taking yourself as too big will cause suffering, but…
I know what you meant when you said, the last stage is the absence of the thinker. “To study the way of the Buddha is to study oneself. To study
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आचार्य जी: हमको…
मीट
(माँस) क्यों खाते थे।
क्योंकि कोई भी व्यक्ति पूर्ण, माने परफ़ेक्ट नहीं होता। तुम उनसे या तो वह सीख लो जो चीज़ें सीखने लायक है या उन बातों पर ध्यान दें लो जिन पर ध्यान नहीं दिया…
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आचार्य प्रशांत: तिरसठवाँ श्लोक उद्धृत किया है, पिंगलागीता से। भीष्म कहते हैं, युधिष्ठिर से - “राजन्! ब्राह्मण द्वारा कहे गए इन युक्तियुक्त वचनों से राजा सेनजित् का चित्त स्थिर हो गया। वे शोक छोड़कर सुखी हो गए और प्रसन्नतापूर्वक रहने लगे।”
तो कह रहे हैं प्रश्नकर्ता कि यहाँ तो ऐसा…
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डिप्रेशन
(अवसाद) है, वो अध्यात्म की ओर भाग रहा है। तो उसमें क्या कमी रह जाती है कि वो
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प्र:
आचार्य जी, अगर
एनलाइटनमेंट
नहीं होता है, कोई
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सभ महि जोति जोति है सोइ
सब में प्रकाश है
~ सोहिला (नितनेम)
आचार्य प्रशांत: कल दोपहर जब हम लौट रहे थे कॉलेज से तो गाड़ी में कृष्ण कुछ बातें कह रहे थे, फिर मैंने सी.डी. प्लेयर बन्द कर दिया। जब तक वो जो कह रहे थे, वो चल रहा…
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प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी, आप हमें जो ज्ञान देते हैं, वह कहाँ से आता है?
आचार्य प्रशांत: कल कहा था न मैंने कि आप मुझसे सीख रहे हो और मैं आपसे सीख रहा हूँ। ज़िन्दगी देखता हूँ, और ज़िन्दगी में वो सारे गुरुजन शामिल हैं जो इस संसार में रहे और…
प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी जीवन को जानना क्यों ज़रूरी है?
आचार्य प्रशांत: एकदम ज़रूरी नहीं है!
प्र: लेकिन मैंने यूट्यूब और कहीं-कहीं से देखकर कई बार जानने की कोशिश किया कि ये शरीर नहीं है, मन नहीं है, विचार नहीं है और उसके बाद फ़िर अटक जाता हूँ।
आचार्य: यूट्यूब देखना…
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प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी, क्या हममें क्षमता नहीं है जीवन को समझने की? क्या गुरु का होना ज़रुरी है?
आचार्य प्रशांत: ये नहीं कहना चाहिए कि हममें क्षमता नहीं है तो हमें गुरु का सहारा लेना चाहिए। इसको ऐसे कहते हैं कि हमारी ही जो क्षमता है वो हमारे सामने गुरु…
आचार्य प्रशांत:
जब उसको अपने ख़त्म होने में कोई रुचि न रह जाए। आपका सवाल बताता है कि अभी उसके ख़त्म होने में रुचि है आपको। किसके ख़त्म होने में रूचि होती है? जिसके होने का एहसास होता है।
