Love

The saints don't display affection at all. Affection actually means disease. Affection means disease. The saints have no affection. The saints have love and love has nothing to do with affection. Affection and affliction go together. It is not affection that characterizes a saint. It is love that characterizes him. Affection and dryness, they go together. Together always. And affection and love, they never go together. So you have to be very clear about what accompanies what.

हमारी ज़िंदगी में प्यार क्यों नहीं है?

20 min

हमारे जीवन में किसी भी क्षेत्र में, किसी भी तार में प्रेम नहीं होता है। हम काम से कैसे प्रेम कर लेंगे? कोई नहीं मिलेगा आदमी। होगा, हजारों-करोड़ों में कोई एक होगा। जो कहे कि काम काम के लिए करता हूं। उसमें से जीविका चल जाती है, वह अलग बात है। पर पैसे नहीं भी मिल रहे होते तो काम तो मैं यही कर रहा होता। तो जहां मौका मिला नहीं वहां काम बंद। बारिश हो रही है काम बंद। कुछ हो रहा है काम बंद। कोई त्योहार आया है उसके दस दिन पहले से काम बंद। उसके दस दिन बाद काम शुरू होगा। और ज़िंदगी जितनी मीडियोक्रिटी की होती है ना आदमी काम उतनी जल्दी बंद करता है।

Message For the Youngsters

There has to be a love for freedom. Especially as a young person, one should remain young all his life. You see, but you know, at least when you are in your 20s or 30s, you need to have a burning desire to to live as a sovereign entity. And when that is there, then anything that comes your way would be rightfully utilized, including crutches.

क्या छुपा रहे हो शब्दों के पीछे?

15 min

मुझे बड़ा आनंद रहेगा अगर आप कहो कि नहीं मात्र परमात्मा ही मात्र चाहिए, सत्य के अलावा कोई कामना नहीं है। पर जब तक आप उस स्थिति में न पहुँच जाओ जहाँ सत्य के अतिरिक्त कोई कामना नहीं, तब तक जो चाहिए वो साफ़-साफ़ जानो और साफ़-साफ़ बताओ भी, क्योंकि अगर साफ़-साफ़ नहीं बताओगे तो बात खुद से ही छुपी रह जाएगी। जब जो चाह रहे हो, वो बता पाना थोड़ा लज्जास्पद लगता है तो हम ऐसे जताते हैं कि जो हम चाह रहे हैं वो बात बताई ही नहीं जा सकती।

कितने तरह के प्रेम?

स्नेह, प्रेम, श्रद्धा, भक्ति समझाने के तरीके हैं। मन का मतलब होता है गति। या तो वो किसी दिशा में बढ़ता है, क्योंकि जो उसके सामने है वो उसे आकर्षक लग रहा है, या वो किसी दिशा से भागता है, क्योंकि जो उसके सामने है उससे उसे भय या विकर्षण हो रहा है। गति के यही दो कारण होते हैं — या तो राग या द्वेष, या तो आकर्षण या विकर्षण। तो विषय के आधार पर समझाने के लिए भेद किया जा सकता है, उसी प्रकार का एक भेद आपके द्वारा पढ़े गए साहित्य में उल्लिखित है।

क्या प्रेम जाति देखकर करना चाहिए?

18 min

जो लड़की अपने प्रेमी से जाकर बोले कि ‘मेरे पिताजी तुम्हारी जाति को पसंद नहीं करते,’ वो लड़की क्या किसी की जीवनसाथी बनेगी? या फिर वो लड़का? शारीरिक और जन्मगत श्रेष्ठता एकदम व्यर्थ की बात है। यह कौन-सा प्यार है जहाँ समाज, वर्ग, जाति और परिवार बीच में आ जाएं? साथी चुनने से पहले बोध, गहराई और समझदारी की बातें करनी होती हैं। ज़िंदगी, आशिकी और रिश्ते इतनी सस्ती नहीं होते कि कहीं भी जाकर बंध जाओ।

Is Self-Love About Being Happy?

Making yourself happy isn't self-love. Self-love is gifting yourself the highest possible. If you do not know what to give yourself, at least abstain from giving yourself toxic and harmful things. Real love is always tough. Self-love is an exercise in reduction, not accumulation. When you work to make your life beautiful, you are truly loving yourself.

The Joy of Being Drenched in Love

Usually our love is about one special thing or person. But Kabir Sahab is saying, "Hari bhai ban rai—the entire jungle has turned green. I see greenery not merely in one tree, but in the entire jungle.” That’s the difference between common love and Kabir Sahab’s love. In your love, there is just one green tree; in Kabir Sahab’s love, the entire world has turned green: there is nothing dry anywhere anymore.

सौ बार दिल तुड़वा के भी

Why Does One Desire Liberation while the Other does not?

प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी, अभी प्रेम प्रसंग की आप बात कर रहे थे तो मेरे कुछ मित्र हैं, मेरे एक मित्र हैं पर्टिकुलर , तो हर टाइम क्या रहता है कि कोई रिलेशनशिप में जब एंटर करतें है, तो काफ़ी उम्मीद के साथ एंटर करते हैं रिलेशनशिप में कि काफ़ी कुछ… read_more

सच्चा प्रेम कैसे पहचानें?

Questioner: Why is there a difference of intensity and love for mukti (liberation) between different human beings?

Acharya Prashant: The differences that you are talking of all relate to time; therefore, they all will be resolved in due course of time. Time gave rise to all those differences, and those… read_more

तुम्हें कैसे पता चले कि कोई तुमसे प्यार करता है या नहीं? प्रेम क्या है? तुमने कुछ व्यवहारों की सूची बना रखी है, जैसे ही किसी ने तुम्हारे गले में बाँह डाली, तुम कह देते हो, “यह करता है मुझसे प्यार!” प्रेम का मतलब यह नहीं है: मैं तुम्हें खुश रखूँ, तुम मुझे खुश रखो। अगर कोई तुम्हें सच में प्यार करता है, तो तुम्हें बंधन से मुक्ति की ओर, भ्रम से सत्य की ओर लेकर चलेगा। बस तुम विरोध मत करना, यही उसकी माँग होती है।

Are You in a Right Relationship?

12 min

There are only two kinds of relationships that are right in this world. If you connect with someone at a higher level of consciousness, hold their hand so they can uplift you. If you connect with someone at a lower level of consciousness, hold their hand to uplift them. Any other kind of relationship is junk.

अपनी जेल के भीतर हम बिल्कुल स्वतंत्र हैं, जैसे खूँटे से बँधा पशु आज़ाद है || आचार्य प्रशांत (2023)

19 min

आचार्य प्रशांत: आप स्वतंत्र हो ये आपको पता ही कैसे चलेगा?

श्रोतागण: ज्ञान से।

आचार्य: आपका दिल कितना स्वतंत्र है बीमारी से, उसके लिए एक चीज़ कराते हैं, उसको बोलते हैं ‘*स्ट्रेस ईसीजी*’। स्ट्रेस आता है तभी तो पता चलता है कि हाल क्या है। आप कुछ स्ट्रेस ही नहीं… read_more

Is Sex and Meditation Just an Escape of Ego?

The ego says that my first priority is to remain, exist, and after that comes everything else. Even the Truth must be subservient to my first priority. So, liberation is alright as long as it is a second of liberation. Peace is alright as long as it is five minutes of peace. But if silence threatens to take over the entire life, if peace starts dominating noise to the extent that the noise might be completely annihilated, then the ego rejects. The ego wants Truth, but only a modicum of Truth. The ego wants peace, but only a sliver of peace.

प्यार माँगा नहीं जाता, प्यार के काबिल हुआ जाता है

28 min

प्रश्नकर्ता: प्रणाम आचार्य जी। मैं ‘स्नेह’ या यूँ कहूँ तो ‘अटेंशन’ की प्राप्ति के लिए कभी-कभी अपने आप को कमज़ोर दिखाती हूँ। मैं ऐसा क्यों करती हूँ?

आचार्य प्रशांत: हम सब पूर्णता में जीना चाहते हैं। हम सब स्वास्थ्य में जीना चाहते हैं। हम चाहते हैं कि हमारे अनुभव में… read_more

असली प्रेम की क्या पहचान है?

9 min

प्रेम की कसौटी यह है कि दूसरे के लिए जो हम कर रहे हैं, वह वास्तव में उसके हित का है कि नहीं। और बड़ा मुश्किल होता है निरपेक्ष आँखों से देख पाना कि दूसरे का हित कहाँ पर है। जितना आप अपने साथ सहज और सन्तुष्ट होते जाएँगे, उतना आप समझते जाएँगे कि दूसरा कौन है, कैसा है और इसीलिए उसके लिए क्या उचित है।

बाल शोषण रोकने के उपाय

17 min

प्रश्नकर्ता: प्रणाम आचार्य जी। सबसे पहले तो मैं आपको बहुत ज़्यादा थैंक्यू बोलना चाहती हूँ। ढाई साल से मेरी डिप्रेशन की दवाइयाँ खत्म हो चुकी हैं। मैं नहीं ले रही हूँ जब से आपसे कनेक्ट हुई हूँ। शुरुआत में आपकी बात नहीं समझ आती थी, तो कई बार मैंने आपके… read_more

Love or Knowledge: Which is More Powerful for Liberation?

Why Others Can't Fulfill Your Expectations

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 movies tell us that unless there is a special person in your life, you are really missing out on something big and you are seized by FOMO. What is FOMO? Fear of missing out. "Oh my god! Everybody has that. I am the only one left behind. I must also have a partner, a girlfriend, a boyfriend, a husband, a wife, something. Hey, go grab somebody." So you go out and grab some Johnny next door. He was busy washing his sandals, and you went up to him and threw your most seductive smile and then he too was infected by FOMO. He said, "Now that I have the opportunity, why shouldn't I capitalize?" And thus, came about the relationship. And you call it a holy bond made in heaven. Why do we do that?

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

Please Remain without Love || AP Neem Candies

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

3 min

Acharya Prashant: Do not think that all the care that one takes to appease his body, all the lust, and all the bodily vanity is for nothing. It is a very, very calculated thing. Lust is needed so that you never get liberated. One requires one episode after the other… read_more

Do you Know what to Love? || AP Neem Candies

Afraid of Being Judged by Others?

Acharya Prashant: Do you love the flesh called the eyes or do you love the sparkle in the eyes? Do you love these hollows called the eyes or do you love the light that shines through these hollows? Do you love the window or do you love the sun shining… read_more

Put your heart fully into your work, and your mind will no longer be in the audience. When there is no heart in your work, then your mind wanders in the world. Love your work, and you will forget the world. Your problem is not that you are too concerned with people’s opinions. Your problem is that there is no heart in your work.

The Joy of Being Drenched in Love

Do Attractive Girls Get More Love?

Love clouds have gathered, it is raining down on me; my entire soul is soaked in it, all around there is greenery.

~ Kabir Sahab

Questioner: Could you please elaborate on the meaning of this poem?

Acharya Prashant: Just sing what Kabir Sahib is saying. Just sing! I may keep… read_more

If the girl is physically attractive, the boy will feel physical attraction. Where does love come into the equation? Love is harder towards someone attractive because physical attractiveness overpowers everything else. If someone comes for your body, it’s not love. A wise woman laughs when a suitor praises her beauty.

Career Crossroads: Finding the Right Path Forward

11 min

Questioner: A lot of students that I talk to, it’ s the fear of the society, it’ s the fear of the unknown, it’ s fear of the expectations that they are carrying, that pushes them to become an engineer and then they figure out that probably this is not… read_more

Love is Enough. Hari Om!

Great love; Greater Love || AP Neem Candies

Acharya Prashant: The disappearance of sound into silence, as it happens in Om , is analogous to the disappearance of the arrow mind into the Brahman target. What is Om ? Sounds finely dissolving into, tapering off into silence. That's how it happens.

And then figuratively, we say that Om … read_more

Acharya Prashant: We want something, right? We want the Ultimate. There’s nobody who wants to stop at something small. We want something as big as possible, right? That’s the nature of desire, correct? It doesn’t want to stop anywhere. Probably it can stop only when it gets something immeasurable, infinite.… read_more

Loneliness and Love

Embrace the Dangers of Love

Questioner: I have a question on an excerpt from you.

“Aloneness is not about being free of others and living without others. Aloneness is to live without oneself. Aloneness does not have much to do with the so-called others; aloneness has everything to do with the one called oneself.”

I’d… read_more

16 min

Acharya Prashant: Most people are not liberated by suffering, instead they are pushed into deeper suffering by suffering. One wrong relationship does not kindle wisdom in a person to stay cautious of any more wrong relationships. Instead, what we see happening is that one wrong relationship breeds a hundred more… read_more

दूसरे के जीवन में हस्तक्षेप से बचो

20 min

प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी! मेरा सवाल रिलेशनशिप्स (सम्बन्धों) को लेकर है और शादी को लेकर है और मतलब सम्बन्धों को लेकर के बहुत कनफ्यूज़ हो गया हूँ लाइफ़ में। पहले एक अभी रिलेशनशिप में था, कई सालों से। उसमें एक-दूसरे की हम मदद भी करते थे बहुत जो एक ज़िन्दगी को… read_more

Only for Those Seriously Suffering in Relationships

20 min

Acharya Prashant: The question is from Sonali, “I got married after six years of relationship and five years of married life now. Due to contrasting personalities, my husband and I fight a lot. In April, we had a very big conflict and the police got involved. Now we are living… read_more

This Is the Love We All Live For || AP Neem Candies

11 min

Acharya Prashant: Everybody in his own personal way is seeking fulfillment and that is love. If you are young you may seek fulfillment in somebody's body, if you are middle-aged you may seek fulfillment in wealth and prestige, if you are old you may seek fulfillment in security and property… read_more

Janmashtami Special: Now, Arjun, Fight! || AP Neem Candies

7 min

Acharya Prashant: Where Arjun was standing, Krishna could see that the right action for him was to fight.

Remember that it is already a battleground. Remember that Krishna himself has tried the utmost to avert war. He himself has gone as a messenger to the court of Duryodhana and tried… read_more

Discipline and Dedication - Are They Really Virtues? || AP Neem Candies

7 min

Acharya Prashant: I might be a very violent man. And my goal is to blast a building off. To learn how to do it, I have to live through stern discipline. I will have to build my body, I will have to learn several skills. I may have the discipline… read_more

Worse Than a Dog, Higher Than a God || AP Neem Candies

If dogs were to write a holy text, would they say that “We are inferior to humans”? If chickens were to write a Bible of their own, would they say that “We exist so that we may be slaughtered in factories and packed”? Read more....

Don't Chase, She Is Yours (What Is It that Slips Away?) || AP Neem Candies

Are You Looking for Love?

Acharya Prashant: Observing the daily ordinary actions of the mind, that is the only way. Observing it as an impartial observer. There is no other method that is going to work because all other methods are ‘isolations.’ The method does something to life . The method excludes life; the method… read_more

As long as you are trying to locate love outside of you in the world, as long as you are trying to find a lovely object somewhere out there, it would remain a reason for disappointment. Love is not something that you discover in another person, thought, idea or object. Love is something that you carry with yourself, wherever you go.

'I Love You’ में ‘I’ पहले क्यों है?

17 min

‘आइ लव यू' कहने के लिए पहले ‘आइ’ को जानना होगा | तुम ठीक हो जाओ उसके बाद सामने वाले के दस चेहरे तुम्हारे लिए समस्या नहीं रह जाऍंगे। अभी तुम्हें उसके दस चहरों से इसलिए समस्या हो रही है क्योंकि तुम्हारे भी अपने दस चेहरे हैं। ‘आइ’ की, ‘मैं’ की, ‘अहम्’ की, अपनी बात हम नहीं करना चाहते। |‘यू’ ऐसे है, ‘यू’ ऐसे है, प्रेम ऐसा है। अरे वो ‘यू’ तो बहुत-बहुत बाद में आता है, शुरुआत किससे होती है? ‘आइ’ से। इस ‘आइ’ को ठीक करो पहले।

अपने डर को कैसे जीतें ?

9 min

डरों को जीता नहीं जाता, "डरों को भूला जाता है।" बहुत सारे जो डर होते है न, वो प्रेम में ही तिरोहित होते हैं। अपने आपको प्रेम में पड़ने का अवसर तो दो। जो सत्य के प्रति जो परम प्रेम होता है, वो ऐसे साहस से भर , जिसे मैं कह रहा हूँ "साहस कहना भी ठीक नहीं है", वो एक तरह की सहजता है। तुम सहज ही बहुत सारे साहसिक काम कर डालोगे, बिना साहस का उपयोग किए। प्रेम साहस से ऊपर का होता है। जहाँ प्रेम है, वहाँ साहस चाहिए ही नहीं।

Waiting for the Right Partner?

16 min

Companionship is not the final thing. The final thing is something else. The companion has to be a medium towards that thing, otherwise the companion is toxic. When you say love is essential, then you get into love of the totally wrong kind because you have taken love as the final thing. Then attraction, sensuousness and attachment become the names of love. So, love is not essential. What is essential is being attracted to someone who elevates you. If your love is of that kind, wonderful.

Let the Words Take You to Silence – Baba Bulle Shah

23 min

There is such great fun in leaving yourself behind and turning a servant to the Truth. It’s almost like Krishna advising Arjuna, “Talk in everlasting words and dedicate them all to Me—*mām ekaṃ śaraṇaṃ vraja, sarva-dharmān parityajya*.” And at numerous places in the *Bhagavad Gita*, he says, “Arjuna, you are not fighting for yourself, you are fighting for Me. As long as you fight for yourself, if you win, you suffer, and if you lose, you suffer. And when you fight for Me, then you are a victor even before the fight begins.”

What Is My Destiny? How Do I Achieve It?

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.

How Can a 20-Year-Old Find the Purpose of Life?