Maya

Fighting your Weakness is more Important than Fighting the Enemy
Fighting your Weakness is more Important than Fighting the Enemy
3 min

Acharya Prashant: A fly comes and sits on my arm here (pointing towards the arm), I reject it, I discard it – Is the game over? Is she not ever going to return? Why? Because I discarded the fly and not my arm, so irrespective of how strong your resistance

Does Maya Really Exist?
Does Maya Really Exist?
25 min

Questioner: Acharya Ji, a good discussion happened yesterday in which many seekers participated and shared their understanding of Prakṛiti , Puruṣha and other things.

During the discussion, it was put that Prakṛiti , Puruṣha , Māyā , are mere concepts and that one is pure Ātman , never threatened and

Maya, Fully Explained
Maya, Fully Explained
13 min

Questioner: Acharya Ji, the concept of Maya, or the idea that the whole universe is an illusion, is at the core of Advait Vedant . However, Maya as a concept is unfathomable to many of us. So, how can your book help the general audience, who do not having deep

Why Is the Guru-Disciple Relationship So Special?
Why Is the Guru-Disciple Relationship So Special?
17 min
The principle of maya is founded on free choice. That's the very condition behind her existence, which is that, “I will disappear only when I choose to.” Grace is not something that happens coincidentally, randomly. Grace is a function of your own willingness. They say, “it may rain but you have to keep your umbrella aside.” The willingness to at least receive, be a recipient has to be there. Otherwise, you will remain dry and untouched.
With Kabir Saheb, I Am a Fanboy!
With Kabir Saheb, I Am a Fanboy!
6 min
I sometimes say to the ones around me, “If I am very unwell and dying don’t offer me Gangajal and all that, just sing Kabir Saheb to me, not that, that would take me to heaven, that might actually make me get up. I am not interested in heavens or swarg. But, if you bring Kabir Saheb to me chances are I will just spring back to my feet. No mambo-jambo, no miracles, no other worldly stuff. Read more....
Anti-life education || Acharya Prashant, with IIM Calcutta (2022)
Anti-life education || Acharya Prashant, with IIM Calcutta (2022)
19 min

Questioner: Namaste Acharya ji. My question is that I see many institutions are fueling the concept of Maya. Because I have seen on many premier institutions having Upanishadic phrases as their mottos—Na hi jnyānen sadṛushan pavitramih vidyate , Téjasvi nāvadheetamastu , sā vidyā yā vimuktaye . But at its

What is Duḥkha?
What is Duḥkha?
6 min

Questioner: What is Duḥkha ?

Acharya Prashant: The thought, the desire of all that which is fleeting, ephemeral is Duḥkha . Why is it Duḥkha ? To whom, is it Duḥkha ? Few things have to be understood. Everything likes to be in its most stress-free state. That's what even

Maya’s Power is Yours: Release the Handbrake and Drive Forward
Maya’s Power is Yours: Release the Handbrake and Drive Forward
3 min

Acharya Prashant: Māyā is only as powerful as you want it to be.

You are not being puppeted by Māyā ; Māyā depends totally on you for her sustenance. If you ever find her dominating you, you must know that this is what you have wanted.

Never forget your essential

From Him comes all illusion, and from Him comes redemption || Acharya Prashant (2015)
From Him comes all illusion, and from Him comes redemption || Acharya Prashant (2015)
4 min

सभि जीअ तुमारे जी तूं जीआ का दातारा

नितनेम (रहरासि साहिब)

All living beings are Yours. You are the Giver of all souls.

Nitnem (Rahraasi Saahib)

Speaker: “Sabhi jeea tumaare jee tuun jeea ka daataara (All living beings are Yours. You are the Giver of all souls).”

The question is:

When one knows only the external, then one lives only for the sake of the external || Acharya Prashant (2015)
When one knows only the external, then one lives only for the sake of the external || Acharya Prashant (2015)
7 min

Questioner : Our education system is at fault because it has been designed to make you a worker, not to live life the way it should be.

Speaker : Yes, yes. It is designed to make you into ‘something’. At some places, it is designed to not to make you

(Gita-2) Our strong tendency to resist the Truth || Acharya Prashant, on Bhagavad Gita (2023)
(Gita-2) Our strong tendency to resist the Truth || Acharya Prashant, on Bhagavad Gita (2023)
77 min

Acharya Prashant (AP): Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā , chapter one, verse 21.

We have seen so far, the predicament of the one who finds himself hopelessly caged against the Truth. We have seen the anxiety and the nervousness of Duryodhana in the first half of the first chapter. In spite of

Brahm, God, Guru, Maya, and you — don't get lost
Brahm, God, Guru, Maya, and you — don't get lost
14 min

Questioner (Q): Isn't everything just Māyā ? Then what is God? What is the relationship of God with Māyā ?

Acharya Prashant (AP): You see, Māyā becomes all things, correct? Māyā becomes all things. So, you find it expressed in both ways. Sometimes, it is said—Māyā becomes all things

In the right battle, defeat is victory
In the right battle, defeat is victory
17 min

Questioner (Q): My question is about renunciation. I find within me the response about what I have to do, like renunciation and poverty. I see in myself inside but somehow I am fighting very strongly with the opposite in the opposite direction. And I never find the bravado to really

Even the wise ones behave according to their Prakrati || Acharya Prashant, on Bhagavad Gita (2020)
Even the wise ones behave according to their Prakrati || Acharya Prashant, on Bhagavad Gita (2020)
12 min

सदृशं चेष्टते स्वस्याः प्रकृतेर्ज्ञानवानपि।

प्रकृतिं यान्ति भूतानि निग्रहः किं करिष्यति।। 3.33 ।।

sadṛiśhaṁ cheṣhṭate svasyāḥ prakṛiter jñānavān api

prakṛitiṁ yānti bhūtāni nigrahaḥ kiṁ kariṣhyati

Even a man of wisdom behaves according to his own nature. Being follows by their nature. What can restraint do?

~ Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 3,

Never be afraid, young girl (Just fight the nodes of evil) || Acharya Prashant, at BITS Goa (2023)
Never be afraid, young girl (Just fight the nodes of evil) || Acharya Prashant, at BITS Goa (2023)
11 min

Questioner (Q): When I read what is happening in the environment, about the irreversible damages and how it is in the end my generation and the people who are going to come that have to suffer because of this; there is this kind of anxiety that you know, occurs from

The animal inside us - what to do with it? || Acharya Prashant, with IIT Delhi (2022)
The animal inside us - what to do with it? || Acharya Prashant, with IIT Delhi (2022)
8 min

Questioner: Earlier you were talking of our current systems being a whitewashed extension of what already exists in the jungle. My question is, if the animal nature is so innate, natural and core to the human experience, then does one need to embrace it and perhaps enhance it in one’s

The feminine smell and the snake || Neem Candies
The feminine smell and the snake || Neem Candies
1 min

Yesterday I was reading that the male snake chases the female snake following her scent, the trail of her odor. Snakes can’t generally see much. They can’t even hear much. So, the deodorant that you use is Prakriti and the purpose, too, is prakritik . The odor of the female

Want to know what attachment is? || Acharya Prashant (2019)
Want to know what attachment is? || Acharya Prashant (2019)
8 min

Question: Acharya Ji Pranaam! Once we are attached to anything, there is so much of suffering.

Please help me understand this.

Acharya Prashant Ji: End of suffering is just an idea for us. Let’s rather talk about suffering – that is a fact, that is our daily experience. The questioner

The origin of Maya
The origin of Maya
5 min

Acharya Prashant: Māyā and Brahm are beginningless for you. ‘For you’ because the question is coming ‘from you’. So, to you, these two are beginningless. Why are these two beginningless? Why can’t their origin be known? Because Māyā does not comprise of an entity called ‘Māyā * ’. *

Most spirituality is either self-delusion or self-deception
Most spirituality is either self-delusion or self-deception
5 min

Questioner: My question is not about concept, it's more about attitude. I see in the spiritual community, normally we spend a lot of time talking about thoughts, about god, about concepts, about the subjectivity of things and when we go back to our daily life, we just do as everybody

How can consciousness arise from a material body?||AcharyaPrashant,with Virat Hindustan Sangam(2021)
How can consciousness arise from a material body?||AcharyaPrashant,with Virat Hindustan Sangam(2021)
5 min

Questioner (Q): I want to know, essentially, the relationship between the material world and consciousness. Is the body, you know, just like putting together a few chemicals? And, how does consciousness come from an unconscious body? Or.. is it the other way around?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Obviously. Yeah, yeah! Obviously,

So, life is sorted? || Acharya Prashant, with BITS Pilani (2022)
So, life is sorted? || Acharya Prashant, with BITS Pilani (2022)
7 min

Questioner (Q): When we were studying for IIT, we used to think that everything would be sorted after getting into IIT or BITS. But it didn’t happen. Can such a thing actually happen at some point in life? Can I come to a point in my life where I can

In spiritual practice, why do we often just succumb? || Acharya Prashant ( 2011)
In spiritual practice, why do we often just succumb? || Acharya Prashant ( 2011)
3 min

Question: Sir, daily life puts forth so many insane demands and expectations that it becomes difficult to understand what to follow and what not to follow.

Answer: We all have felt that occasional boredom while reading our texts. We all have often felt that inertia to stay back at home

All change is towards reality; the reality itself cannot change || On Vivekachudamani (2018)
All change is towards reality; the reality itself cannot change || On Vivekachudamani (2018)
17 min

Questioner (Q): All experiences unfold in consciousness and are fundamentally subjective in the sense that there is no objective world out there independent of consciousness. This brings me to the concept of illusion. If the world and our experiences of it are illusions, then the world is devoid of meaning;

It is only with the eyes of Truth that you see the false as false || (2016)
It is only with the eyes of Truth that you see the false as false || (2016)
5 min

Questioner (Q): Lots of layers of Ego are dropping and I wake up in the middle of the night and realize that I cannot trust anyone, anything including myself. My mind is going crazy and underneath it, I think I know all the answers to my questions. It feels so

What is this world? || Acharya Prashant, on Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (2017)
What is this world? || Acharya Prashant, on Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (2017)
1 min

ब्रह्मब्रह्म तं परादाद्योऽन्यत्रात्मनो ब्रह्म वेद क्षत्रं तं परादाद्योऽन्यत्रात्मनः क्षत्रं वेद लोकास्तं परादुर्योऽन्यत्रात्मनो लोकान्वेद देवास्तं परादुर्योऽन्यत्रात्मनो देवान्वेद भूतानि तं परादुर्योऽन्यत्रात्मनो भूतानि वेद सर्वं तं परादाद्योऽन्यत्रात्मनः सर्वं वेदेदं ब्रह्मेदं क्षत्रमिमे लोका इमे देवा इमानि भूतानीद सर्वं यदयमात्मा॥

~ बृहदारण्यक उपनिषद (श्लोक ०६)

Context:

What these Verses mean? What is this world? How

Why do we enjoy being with 'nature' (Prakriti)? || Acharya Prashant (2019)
Why do we enjoy being with 'nature' (Prakriti)? || Acharya Prashant (2019)
7 min

Question: When I sit in open Sky, I see the vastness, and the vastness feels like Freedom to me. It gives me lot of calmness and peace. The cool breeze, the rains, the Sun, these elements of physical nature give a lot of peace.

These elements of nature, especially the

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.
Suffering under peer pressure? || IIT Bombay (2022)
Suffering under peer pressure? || IIT Bombay (2022)
9 min

Questioner (Q): Man is typically a social animal who seeks to coexist with the society around him. I am a vegan but many people around me are not, and that creates a difficulty for me. I want to speak out my thoughts on animal cruelty and get into animal activism,

Feeling Caged in Your Chattering Mind?
Feeling Caged in Your Chattering Mind?
5 min
The mind chatters only about little and inconsequential things. First of all, the matter would be a petty one; secondly, irrespective of how long the chatter is, the matter can never be brought to an end; so it is inconsequential. The mind loves to engage itself with itself. The mind loves to roll in its own stuff. Give the mind a proper purpose. Let the entire body, your entire system, everything in your existence be focused, be channelized towards the right purpose in life.
How to Overcome Sadness?
How to Overcome Sadness?
6 min
Why do you have so much personal time? How are you available to grief? Your consciousness is too self-centered; it needs expansion. Even as you grieve over one death, billions of goats, rabbits, lambs, fish, cows, and chickens are slaughtered. Commit your time. Dedicate it to a higher purpose. We attach great sanctity to our personal lives. Give it up!
How to Handle Insults?
How to Handle Insults?
20 min
Any kind of harm that comes to you can only come due to a lack of self-knowledge. If you do not know who you are, you will be forced to believe whatever others tell you about yourself. We don’t even realize how big a slavery that is! Every time you allow circumstances to rule you, you are actually acting like a dead object. You are alive only if you have something within that circumstances cannot touch.
Mind Alone Is Bondage And Liberation
Mind Alone Is Bondage And Liberation
29 min
The mind is the entire set, the whole universe of objects that the ‘I’ has a relationship with. Not the entire set of everything that is there in the universe. One does not have a relationship with everything. But whatsoever one develops a relationship with becomes mind. An object untouched by the self, the ego is just an object. But the moment the object is touched by ‘I’, it becomes vishay or mind. And, mind is an accumulation, a congregation of objects that it is in relationship with.
Two Types of Hope
Two Types of Hope
4 min
Most of the times, we are preoccupied with the first kind of hope, which says, “Get something, get something.” That kind of hope will keep me dependent and afraid. The second kind of hope which says, “I just want to get rid and discover my true nature, discover my aloneness and freedom." In this hope you say, “I am already a diamond. Just that a lot of dirt has gathered on the diamond, and I want to get rid of the dirt.
Is Your Mind Your Best Friend or Your Worst Enemy?
Is Your Mind Your Best Friend or Your Worst Enemy?
10 min
The mind is both your best friend and your worst enemy. It’s your friend when it operates with intelligence and attention, but when there is no attention, when there is no care or love, then intelligence does not function. And then, the mind is your worst enemy. A prisoner knows no joy, no freedom, no love. Your own sleep keeps you imprisoned. The moment you wake up, you are free.
What Does Equanimity Mean in Life?
What Does Equanimity Mean in Life?
12 min
When you know that you can not be harmed, then you let the change come to you. Then, you do not lose your inner poise in front of changing conditions. This is equanimity. For equanimity, you require a very good driver, a totally dependable driver. Our driver is the Ego. It does not allow the Absolute to drive us. The Ego is so arrogant that it goes and sits on the throne, the sacred place, that is reserved only for the Beloved, only for God. It has no right to be there. Dethrone it!
Gita Is Not This
Gita Is Not This
7 min
To qualify an entrance exam, and work towards it, without thinking of the results, that’s not what Karma Yoga is. Karma Yoga is not about setting tangible worldly targets and going after them. It’s a moment-to-moment thing in which you are very conscious whether the objective of your action is personal ingratiation or larger welfare. You are acting all the time, you are not acting merely when you act towards a distant and a larger cause.
How to Get Rid of Pain and Suffering?
How to Get Rid of Pain and Suffering?
17 min
If you are suffering, all that you need to be told is that freedom from disease is possible. No positive, affirmative statement needs to be given. If you are really crying out of pain, do you need to be given dreams of the pink of health? No, You only need to be assured that this pain is not your nature, and that is all.
Why Isn't the Gita for Everyone?
Why Isn't the Gita for Everyone?
8 min
It depends on the pain you are willing to take. Sometimes Duryodhanas have to be turned into Arjunas. It’s just that, it’s relatively easier with an Arjuna. But what to do when even Arjunas are not present to receive the Gita? As long as somebody has anything, anything that resembles consciousness, as long as somebody has even the faintest remnant of consciousness left, Gita can be brought to that person but it will be tough, difficult.
How to Utilize Time?
How to Utilize Time?
13 min
The real issue is not about time at all. You are spending time exactly according to your values. Don’t ask how to utilize time. Ask yourself, "Do I know what is truly valuable?" When you are clear about what is truly valuable in life, all your time will be devoted to that. Become clear. Know what is truly valuable.
Is Life Just Deja Vu?
Is Life Just Deja Vu?
9 min
Deja vu is not surprising. There is no newness here, only repetition. You are caught in a circuit, and everything is being rehashed, recycled, and repeated. Life itself is deja vu. It's just that you don't realize it. Those who realize this are the ones who, for the first time, come to something new and original. Discover your originality and write a new story of your own. Otherwise, there is nothing but deja vu!
Who Created the World?
Who Created the World?
14 min
Brahm is not the creator. When you desperately want to invent a creator, then you come up with īśvára. But Vedanta is not very enamored of īśvára. So, Vedanta says, "Īśvara is just Maya, just Maya.” Because you experience the universe, therefore, you feel the need to justify the origin of the universe. Therefore, you must have an īśvára. But how can the creator of a false universe be real? If the universe is false, what do you say about its creator?
What is Yagya?
What is Yagya?
11 min
In the name of yagya, if you continue to burn wood, you are doing no good to anybody. Yagya must be understood in its true spirit. Shri Krishna says, “Do not act for yourself or for your personal gain. Act for a higher cause; higher than yourself, beyond yourself. Do that action that takes you to your Niyati, which is your end. Yagya is that which dissolves you; that which reduces you.”
Where Is the Kurukshetra of Your Life?
Where Is the Kurukshetra of Your Life?
5 min
Arjuna’s hell was in his daily tasks, and so is yours. Arjuna could sense the evil in what appeared normal to others; you must also be able to sense that there is something extremely fishy in what seems normal to others. Your house, your workplace, your society—these are your Kurukshetra. That’s where you have to fight your Mahabharata. That’s where you need Shri Krishna and the Gita.
Yoga - The Biggest 'Spiritual' Myth Today
Yoga - The Biggest 'Spiritual' Myth Today
17 min
You have ample gurus who come over and say, “You know, you do this and then you can do whatever you want to do.” Now the moment you hear this kind of philosophy that Yoga will help you do better whatever you want to do, I suppose one must run away. Because that’s exactly antithetical to Yoga. Yoga is not about doing whatever you want to do; it’s the ego that says that, not the dedicated, devoted, wise mind. That does not come from there.
How Do We Know Anything about Life? Where Do Our Thoughts Come from?
How Do We Know Anything about Life? Where Do Our Thoughts Come from?
8 min

Questioner: It’s well known that simple living and high thinking are what we should aim at, but how do we know what is simple living and high thinking?

Acharya Prashant: You talked of simple living and high thinking, and you said that it's well-known that simple living and high thinking

Why Lack of Clarity Complicates Life?
Why Lack of Clarity Complicates Life?
5 min
What is clarity? To be immediately certain. Certain of what? That which is certain, that which is unchangeable. Obviously, without knowing the airline schedule, you cannot be immediately certain of that. And why must and why cannot you be immediately certain of things like train schedules? Because they keep fluctuating anyway. Therefore, clarity is not being cocksure about things that are anyway volatile and changeable. Clarity is about being certain of that which ‘is’, that which is unchangeable. Therefore, clarity has a direct relation with faith; you cannot be clear without having faith in the heart.
Why Does One Desire Liberation while the Other does not?
Why Does One Desire Liberation while the Other does not?
5 min

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

To Understand the Mind, Observe Without Concluding
To Understand the Mind, Observe Without Concluding
17 min
Just know that this is what is there in the mind. And that is the appropriate mental activity. The mind is the machine, well tuned, nicely designed for both analysis and observation. Use it for observation. You use it only for analysis and comparisons. Use it for observation. And if the observation is honest, then the object of observation will drop.
How to Act Without Caring About the Result?
How to Act Without Caring About the Result?
7 min
The Gita does not say that you must do whatever you do without caring for the result; it is also impossible to execute. That’s also the way so many popular gurus have sold the Gita. It’s very harmful. With false action, you will always have one eye on the result. The first thing is the right action; only right action can give you detachment from the result.