Free Will

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

Questioner: What is the role of persuasion in teaching? Is it alright if teaching involves a certain degree of persuasion? If yes, why must one be persuaded?

Acharya Prashant: Freedom is available only to a free mind. A mind that has been conditioned, deeply enslaved, moves from no other factor… read_more

Questioner: Sir, youngsters in India and the world over, often rebel against rules and regulations in the name of freedom of choice or freedom of expression, the list of complaints is long and all have one bottom line: My life my rules. What do ancient wisdom and Vedanta say on… read_more

Question: Whatever I understand, I know it will vanish.

Speaker: So your question rests on an assumption that you ‘do’ understand something. Should I take it any further?

Even in our humility lies only arrogance. “Whatever I understand, it will vanish, and before it vanishes I want to give it… read_more

Question: Sir, what is freedom of a person?

Speaker: I do not know whether to laugh or lament.

The sun is asking- “What is brightness?” The flower is asking- “What is odor, what is fragrance?” A free being is asking- “What is freedom?” Flying birds are asking- “What is flight?”… read_more

Question: Why don’t we have the courage to speak the truth, to show the truth to anybody?

Speaker: It is because we have traded away our freedom to speak the truth. There is no problem in speaking the truth to anybody, there is no limitation at all. The only limitation… read_more

प्रश्नकर्ता: नमस्कार आचार्य जी! ये मेरा पहला सत्र है आपके साथ में, और पहली बार भी। बात करने का मौक़ा भी मिल गया। तो मैं बहुत खुश हूँ इस बात को ले के। सवाल इस प्रकार जब मैं आयी थी यहाँ पर तो मैं लेकर नहीं आई थी। मेरा एकमात्र… read_more

Listener: Sir, I often find myself surrounded by fears like fear of failure, fear of society. I want to know that how can I get rid of these fears? How can I develop strong will power?

Speaker: Anubhav, will power is rubbish. You do not need willpower. Willpower is a… read_more

The discourse began with a spontaneous play on the theme of FREEDOM. Enacted by volunteers of PrashantAdvait Foundation.

Acharya Prashant: Can anyone tell the storyline, please…

Listener: There is this girl and she sees, there was this group of people who were saying “Azaadi , Azaadi (Freedom, Freedom)” inside… read_more

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

Self-improvement cannot happen along with self-deception. If you don’t even admit to yourself that you are in the dumps, how would any improvement happen? You don’t really need to announce it to the world. To yourself, you must know where you really stand. And that silent realization, I assure you,… read_more

The car manufacturer wants me to be a buyer, so I look at his car and turn into a prospective buyer.

The woman wants me to be an attending man, and I turn into an attending man as per her dictate.

I become what the other wants me to become.… read_more

It is not so much about courage; it is about clarity. There are mental conditions in which one seems to become very fearless. Nothing great about those conditions. Some drugs, some weed, a bit of alcohol, and there are so many people who lose all fear. Tremendously intrepid they become.… read_more

*Questioner: Acharya Ji, Pranam.*

There is a lot happening in my life, the whole day is full of innumerable actions and reactions. What is it to be at the centre and then be doing all this?

Many times I catch myself slipping, at times, I see chaos, there are … read_more

Questioner (Q): I see myself escaping in all possible ways. I have observed that reading too has become a tool for the mind, to escape seeing itself. I have been seeing this for the past three days. What should I do?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Escaping in what way? What do… read_more

The world is your playground. So don’t be so particular about moving only within your pre-existing circle. If your cause is worth it, show some courage and move out.

If you have a tender and precious sapling in your palm, would you plant it in a desert? No. You will… read_more

The mind must be the seat of the Absolute. You must belong to the real One. And then you may be with five persons, ten persons, or no person at all.

The problem is not that the person hurts you, or dominates you, or creates problems for you. The flaw… read_more

Questioner: Acharya Ji, in the previous discourse you mentioned that one should always choose That, instead of money, or fame, or other worldly things. But who is the one who makes this choice? Is that the same ‘I’, that same Ego that makes choice? Can it ever make choice against… read_more

First and foremost, understand that others are seeing weakness in you, and that’s why they are trying to overpower you. If they don’t find you weak, they will not try to control you.

It’s not that whatever they said is right or wrong. The point is, how could they dare… read_more

Questioner (Q): Are we responsible for our actions? Or is it just happening to us? Because, if life happens to us then we are not responsible?

Acharya Prashant (AP): No, you are responsible, you are responsible to let it happen through you. Your only responsibility is towards the Truth. That… read_more

Passion is as much an external thing as, let’s say, peer pressure. Somebody chooses his work or occupation going by market forces or peer pressure or family pressure, and then there is someone who says, “I am choosing my passion for my livelihood”; these two are hardly different. Even if… read_more

You got into the traps of wrong kinds of work because you were tempted by results. “Let me take up this work. On the 30th day of the month the result will be good. What will be the result? A nice paycheck.”

Now ask yourself, what if it is certain… read_more

Acharya Prashant: Sushmita asks, “What does it mean to look at anything, or anyone, afresh? Memories, inkling, or a very basic thought, always persists”.

Dhirendra says, “Sir, you said that look at everything and everybody as if it is for the first time. How is it possible? How can one… read_more

Questioner: Dear Acharya Ji, you have said that what is healthy is forgotten, what is sick is remembered. If something is bothering me and making me restless, is it always that I am sick? Can there be also a way where I am healthy, but the sickness of another person… read_more

Questioner: Is there anything as total free will or is there only free will according to conditioning?

Acharya Prashant: You know, the general concept of freedom, what does it entail? The general concept of freedom is all about being free to act as per my conditioning. "I want to buy… read_more

Questioner (Q): You said that when there are options, choices, there can be no freedom. Earlier I used to think that I am free if I have choices, but Vedanta says that freedom can be only in choicelessness.

Acharya Prashant (AP): And isn’t there great joy in being choiceless? You… read_more

If God has given you anything, it is just the freedom, the power, and the responsibility to create yourself. You are your own father. God is just the background. God is just the canvas on which you paint yourself. God is the brush, God is the color, God is the… read_more

At some point the chick has to discover that the shell of the egg is just too small to spend a life in. How do you think the shell cracks? The baby grows big enough to crack the shell. It’s just that the chick has just one shell to break.… read_more

“To do as I want to do”—is that not what freedom means to us? The ones who have better sense, they say this is nothing but the freedom to remain a slave. “So, I will be a slave of my choice.” Everybody is free. In the country of slaves, everybody… read_more

Relationships are great when they help elevate your consciousness, and that’s the only purpose of relationships in life. If relationships are not fulfilling that purpose, then relationships are just a big waste, a great drag.

There is no better way, more effective way to waste life than to make a… read_more

Questioner: The question is, how to reach the stage of ‘vulnerability’. Because if I become vulnerable, people’s behavior towards me does not bother me. There is no ego, no expectation left. Even if there is something that hits me, then also I remain normal so easily as if nothing has… read_more

Speaker: The reason why people get in love with their conditioning, they get totally attached to their slavery; the reasons are simple, they have developed an identification with that; family, society, nation, I have developed such a deep identification with that, that today if someone comes and shows their falseness,… read_more

There is no great virtue in courage. Courage is momentary, and after that it subsides. Are you always equally courageous? The jails of the world are full of very, very courageous people. At least in their moment of madness, you could say they were not short of courage.

When you… read_more

Teach the girls that their body is not an instrument to bear kids. Teach them that their self-worth is not at all linked to their motherhood. Teach them where the real fulfillment of life lies, and teach them that it is not in birthing or breastfeeding.

Teach them creativity, teach… read_more

प्रश्नकर्ता: सर हम चीज़ें अट्रैक्ट (आकर्षित) करते है। अगर हमारा कोई एक्सीडेंट भी हुआ है तो वो हमने अट्रैक्ट किया है। सर, ये बात समझ नहीं आती।

आचार्य प्रशांत: नहीं, ऐसा कुछ नहीं है। ये ऐसे ही है। अट्रैक्शन (आकर्षण) वगैरह कुछ नहीं है। ये तो कॉज़ एंड इफ़ेक्ट (कार्य-कारण)… read_more

प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी, कोई भी अपने विचार हमपर थोप देता है, उसी विचार को हम फिर अपना बना लेते हैं और उसी के अनुसार जीने लगते हैं। दूसरों के विचारों को अपने ऊपर आने से कैसे रोकें?

आचार्य प्रशांत: क्या ये सवाल भी दूसरों ने कहा है पूछने को?

प्र … read_more

संजोगु विजोगु दुइ कार चलावहि लेखे आवहि भाग। ~ जपुजी साहिब (नितनेम)

आचार्य प्रशांत: फ़्री विल (मुक्त इच्छा) भी एब्सोल्यूट्ली फ़्री (पूर्णत: मुक्त) है। आपकी जो फ़्री विल है, वो भी इस मामले में तो बाउन्डेड (सीमित) है ही कि वो आपकी नहीं है। जो आपकी इच्छा है वो तो… read_more

प्रश्नकर्ता: प्रणाम आचार्य जी। आचार्य जी, फ्री विल (मुक्त इच्छा) कहीं नहीं है। सब अपने गुण व धर्म के अनुसार चल रहे हैं; मैं भी। और अहम् का यानी मेरा कोई चुनाव नहीं है। जैसे नदी की धारा एक साल तक बहकर कहाँ पहुँचेगी यह हम अभी तय कर सकते… read_more

आचार्य प्रशांत: अ फ़्री विल (मुक्तेच्छा) माने उसका कर्म उसकी समझ से निकलता है। ही अंडरस्टैंड्स एंड फ़्रॉम दैट अंडरस्टैंडिंग, हिज़ एक्शंस अराइज़। एंड देन, देअर इज़ नो क्वेश्चन ऑफ़ लैक ऑफ़ कॉन्सेंट्रेशन, देअर इज़ नो क्वेश्चन ऑफ़ टाइम मैनेजमेंट। (वो समझता है और उसका कर्म उसकी समझ से निकलता… read_more

प्रश्नकर्ता: प्रणाम आचार्य जी। हमें अपने कैरियर का चुनाव किस आधार पर करना चाहिए? क्या हमें अपना कैरियर अपने व्यक्तित्व के आधार पर चुनना चाहिए, या जिसमें रुचि हो और सफ़लता मिले उस आधार पर?

आचार्य प्रशांत: नहीं, आमतौर पर हम जिसे कैरियर कह रहे हो, वो चुनते ही ऐसे… read_more

प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी, जिस प्रकार का जीवन मैंने अब तक जिया है, उसमें आपका आना बिलकुल अनपेक्षित था। कुछ चीज़ों का तो पता था कि ग़लत हैं और इसका परिणाम क्या होगा, पर आपका जीवन में आना क्या था?

आचार्य प्रशांत: यह दुर्घटना हुई।

प्र: क्योंकि मैं इस तरह का… read_more

कोई तुम्हें तुम्हारी ग़लती दिखाए और बुरा अगर तुम्हें लगता है, तो तुम जवान कभी-भी होने से रहे। जिसे जवान होना होता है वो अपनी ग़लतियों का सामना करता है। बहुत होते हैं मोटी खाल के बेशर्म टट्टू, उन्हें कोई फ़र्क ही नहीं पड़ता। उन्हें दिख रहा होगा कि ज़िंदगी… read_more

अकेले रह जाना कहीं अच्छा है साँप-बिच्छुओं के साथ रह जाने से, है न? भूखे रह जाना कहीं अच्छा है ज़हर पी जाने से। प्रतीक्षा कर लो, इंतज़ार कर लो, प्रतीक्षा में भी परमात्मा होता है। जब तुम कहते हो, ‘कोई मिला नहीं ऐसा जो तेरी तरफ़ ला सके इसलिए… read_more

प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी, यदि जब सत्य पूर्ण है तो उसी स्रोत से जब चेतना आती है तो वो अपूर्ण क्यों है?

आचार्य प्रशांत: चेतना अपूर्ण होती नहीं है। चेतना के पास चुनाव होता है पूर्ण या अपूर्ण होने का। वास्तव में सत्य और चेतना अलग-अलग नहीं है। सत्य ही जब… read_more

प्रश्नकर्ता: मेरा एटिट्यूड रहता है कि अगर कोई बंदा है उसमें कुछ अच्छाईयाँ हैं कुछ बुराइयाँ भी हैं; एवरीथिंग इज देअर (सब कुछ है)। तो उसके अंदर जो अच्छाइयाँ हैं उसके उस अच्छाई को बढ़ावा दिया जाए और तारीफ की जाए, जिससे उसमें सकारात्मक बदलाव हो। और 'किसी को जज … read_more