Silence

Let Life Be a Celebration of Intelligence

A. Objective and Fear

Wherever there is an objective, there would be fear associated with it. You hope to get something, and you fear that you may not get it. Don’t you see that a man who is chasing goals has condemned himself to live in fear?

It is possible… read_more

Eating, walking, sleeping, working, dying – these alone surely cannot mean being alive. Life is much more than the physical and mental processes. Machines can walk, eat, work. The programmed analysis that computers do is no different from what we call thinking. Machines have no role in their formation, just as we have no role in our birth. And machines can be programmed to self-terminate after a certain time, just as we die.

From chaos to zeroness - the ascending levels of consciousness ||Acharya Prashant, on Lao Tzu (2015)

19 min

The highest virtue is not virtuous Therefore it has virtue The lowest virtue holds onto its virtue Therefore it has no virtue The highest benevolence acts without purpose The highest righteousness acts with purpose The highest ritual acts, but since no one cares, it raises its arms and use force … read_more

Why do we choose to suffer silently? || Acharya Prashant (2015)

22 min

Question: Why do we choose to suffer in silence, to not fight back? Does all frustration need to be voiced?

Speaker: If you will not suffer, how you will write this question? If you will not ask this question, how will this form get filled? If your form does not… read_more

The real meaning of Mauna (Silence) || Acharya Prashant (2015)

32 min

(Speaker in conversation with Shri Edson Mattos from Brazil)

Mattos : Thank you for allowing me to attend this session. I’ll be very quiet and just observe.

Speaker : In fact it would be even better if you speak. When we meet in our office, which happens twice a week,… read_more

The one answer to every question || Acharya Prashant (2016)

When you are totally silent about God, then you are in God || Acharya Prashant (2016)

Listener 1: In Avadhuta Gita, it looks like for every question, there is only one answer.

Acharya Prashant: Yes! And what is that one answer?

L1: That it is the Self.

AP: No. The answer is that ‘ the question is stupid,’ and hence there is no answer. Silence is… read_more

13 min

Acharya Prashant: The question is that how to stay at the center when there is so much that takes the mind away from the center. How do you know that you are away from the center? How do you know that?

L: By realizing sometimes…

AP: So it’s a thought?… read_more

Those who want to silence the mind will keep wanting || (2016)

6 min

Questioner: Acharya Ji, how to attain stillness of the mind?

Acharya Prashant: ‘Stilling the mind’, or ‘stopping the mind’ are very popular and lucrative catchphrases. There is a small problem. The problem is – for the mind, everything is a verb. Everything is a verb. Everything denotes action. So when… read_more

Acharya Prashant: From where do the actions of the Teachers arise?

12 min

Listener : Seeing the actions and responses that what I call a teacher gives, so the argument comes that maybe they are coming from the influential part of the mind , they are not coming from the essential just like you said that the faces are real till the time… read_more

What is silence? || (2015)

8 min

Questioner: What is Silence?

Acharya Prashant: Silence is that which you want, really-really want, when you move from one type of noise to the other type. That is Silence. But because all your experience has only been about noise, so even when you are thirsty and craving for Silence, all… read_more

Before you understand others, silence your mind || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)

When you are conscious of silence, it is noise || On Upanishad (2016)

Shri Prashant: This is a camera (holding a smartphone in hand, pointing towards the camera) and let’s say that there is something written over here (pointing at the wall) . I want to let it come to me through this camera and I record it using this camera and the… read_more

Real enquiry happens in Silence || Acharya Prashant (2014)

Acharya Prashant (AP): What do we talk about?

Questioner (Q): Silence.

AP: We can talk a lot in Silence. Talking about Silence will always be a little round-about; beating around the bush. But in Silence, which is our nature, we can talk a lot.

We can even be silently noisy.… read_more

27 min

Question: Sir,if Peace is something that the mind can never know then what is the point of all this enquiry?

Acharya Prashant: What is enquiry ? How does knowing happen? Does enquiry mean that one keeps asking questions? Does enquiry mean that one is looking for particular answers within obviously… read_more

Each experience shows its own hollowness || Acharya Prashant, on Raman Maharishi (2019)

They will not listen to your words unless your words come from Silence || Acharya Prashant (2015)

One must be free to do as one pleases and should not be served by others.‘No want’ is the greatest bliss. It can be realized only by experience. ~ Sri Raman Maharishi

Questioner: Acharya Ji, Pranaam ! Please elaborate on the above, especially with regard to what it means that… read_more

Hear noise? Both hearing and noise are proofs of Silence || Acharya Prashant (2016)

Questioner (Q): Sir, sometimes people ask, or are curious to know, that what are you getting from these sessions. But I do not like to share anything with them, because they do not have that understanding. They will criticize it. So, what to do?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Why do they… read_more

Krishna, Shiva, words, and Silence || Acharya Prashant (2016)

Acharya Prashant: You are talking about the sound of the naad and you are wondering whether that can be used as a technique.

What will you use as a technique?

There has to be something to be used. The naad is not the sound at all. What will you use… read_more

What is Joy?

20 min

Listener: What is joy?

Speaker: It is an absence. Absence of everything. It an absence of both pleasure and pain, nothing that excites the mind. Joy is not something that you can think of as something wonderful. Joy is nothing that you can conceptualize as being pleasurable. Joy is just… read_more

18 min

Listener 1: Sir how can words have such a cleansing effect, don’t you think Silence speaks louder?

AP: Is there a contradiction between silence and words? Is there really? We have been silent since the last one hour. It’s such an eloquent Silence.

Listener 1: It’s still secondary.

AP: No,… read_more

If not Silence, then music. Nothing else || Acharya Prashant (2016)

9 min

Listener 1 (L1): Since the last few days, I have been with you, taking in what you say and the result is that I am clearly able to see the fakeness contained in the world in the ways of mankind. And that makes me ask what is the point of… read_more

The silence of wisdom is not a product of civilizational noise

19 min

Questioner: Sir, who is the uncivilized one? Whom is it that the civilization disowns and calls it savage?

Acharya Prashant: Civilization is a product of man’s fight; it is man-made. The uncivilized-one runs counter to civilization. What is man-made will be countered by something which again is man-made. So there… read_more

Is a spiritual mind a compromising mind? || Acharya Prashant (2020)

To maintain silence is to maintain yourself; your silence is the noise that you are||AcharyaPrashant

Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, I would like to raise a notion of compromise, and specifically in its primary dictionary definition, according to which, it is disagreement where both parties being unable to solve a problem settle on making concessions, so in a way, reaching a middle way.

Acharya Prashant (AP): … read_more

11 min

Question: Why is it so difficult to give up on yourself even though it is the cause of so much suffering?

Acharya Prashant : It might become easier had we not been using these attractive names. Knowledge is such an attractive name. Is it not? Now suffering is called knowledge… read_more

How to Wake-Up Early?

Don’t sleep at all, and there would be no problem waking up at the right time. See, you cannot be trained in these things. It’s a matter of love. If waking up feels beautiful and full of love, you can bulldoze your habits. If you truly know something is right, you just do it. Keep knowing it deeply until your understanding transforms into loving action.

Does Self-Help Really Help?

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."

Rapid Fire Round with Acharya Prashant

10 min

Man and woman, classically, both are just Prakriti. So, both come under the umbrella name of woman, which is the human state, which is the human state. In some sense, all of us are women. You are a woman in just the biological sense; I too am a woman in the mental sense, right? So, the word woman describes entire mankind; you could say, “Womankind.”

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

Alasinga Perumal - Swami Vivekananda's most loved disciple

What does “Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya” mean?

We all know Swami Vivekananda. But have you heard about 'Shri Alasinga Perumal'?

Probably not. But if Alasinga Ji had not been there, Swami Vivekananda would never have been able to give that historic speech in Chicago, due to which he brought fame to Vedanta and Hinduism throughout the world.… read_more

24 min

We love saying, 'Yada-yada hi dharmasya – whenever there is evil, then Krishna comes.' The Lord does not physically drop from the heavens. The metaphor must be understood. It simply means that whenever the ego inflates, it results in suffering, and suffering itself calls for its cessation. This call for cessation of suffering itself is the coming of the Lord.

Why Fast Minds Need to Master Slowness?

Speed comes later. The choice of the right road comes first. It’s far better to be slow on the right road, than to be lightening quick down the wrong road towards your own destruction!

What Is Yoga According to the Bhagavad Gita?

28 min

Shri Krishna is saying, “As long as you are the actor, please forget Yoga. Yoga is not for you.” Yoga is freedom from the false actor. The Yogi is the one who has realized that Yoga cannot be attained through any method. A yogi is healthy and alright with himself.

Who is the real disciple?

12 min

The real disciple is the one who already knows the essential, full stop. And then, goes on to do whatever he wants to do, learn, unlearn, forget, remember. The real disciple cannot be a learner. He is the learned one. In fact, the word ‘learner’ is a very dangerous word because it’s a word of imperfection. The real disciple is the one who already knows.

Empowering Choices: Impact of Knowing What to Do and What Not to Do

9 min

We often say, ‘Oh, there is that little voice inside us; we call it conscience.’ Wisdom is to realize that your conscience is all artificial. 100% influenced. And that’s why the so-called inner conscience is totally outer and varies from person to person. People have done horrible deeds based on the advice of their conscience. Hitler, too, in his own eyes, must have been a man of conscience.

Ashtavakra Gita: Live in the World, Don’t Be Worldly

4 min

What is the world? You will see the world exactly as you are. As the subject changes so do the world. As the subject becomes lighter and lighter, the world also keeps becoming lighter and lighter. And as the subject dissolves totally, the world too, in its present form dissolves totally.

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

14 min

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?

Is Sex and Meditation Just an Escape of Ego?

8 min

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.

What’s True Thanksgiving About?

6 min

“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.

‘I want’ versus ‘I must’

1 min

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

The Robot's ego

You May Be Wrong About Death: Bhagavad Gita’s Answer

Questioner: Sir, I want to ask, Robot doesn’t have ego. So, now what is the intersection between the urge towards freedom and your ego?

Acharya Prashant: You could say, the robot does have an ego planted into it by its designer. Therefore, the ego of the robot is totally in… read_more

17 min

We have to investigate the meaning of the word ‘death’. When Shri Krishna says ‘death’, what does he mean? Is Shri Krishna looking at himself as a body? No. There is no way the author of these lines takes himself as a corporal being. Is Shri Krishna referring to himself as merely the Ātmān here? Well, yes and no. He does refer to himself as the Ātmān here, but the role that he is playing is not of Ātmān but of Avatar. Had he been merely the non-doer, Supreme Truth, then he would not have been found mortally present on the battlefield instructing Arjuna. So, discount these two and see what you are left with.

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

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

Drugs for Spiritual Growth || Neem Candies

1 min

The world is a habit, but drugs are a worse habit. The one who is finding refuge in drugs is fed up of the usual stuff of consciousness, that is certain, but he is taking a very wasteful route. It’s like feeling cold in Delhi in the month of December… read_more

The Total Is Neither Masculine nor Feminine, Hence the Search and Summit of Both

8 min

There is hardly any need to give special attention to the so-called masculine and feminine because neither the masculine really exists nor the feminine really exists. We talk about them because our mind is obsessed with gender, with sex; with women, with men; all dualities are the same. In fact, there is only one duality, called “duality”. The two ends of that duality can be given any name.

How to surrender?

22 min

Questioner: Due to my conditioning and fear, mind tries to perceive some ‘thing’ to surrender to. This stops me from actually surrendering. With this conflict, how to understand if there is any movement towards the centre, or is it all at the periphery?

Acharya Prashant: The inner and the outer… read_more

Is Knowing the Truth a Never-Ending Quest?

41 min

“The significance of a man is not in what he attains, but rather what he longs to attain.” -Khalil Gibran, ‘Sand and Foam’

Question: Once during a discourse on the Bible, you too have said, “The more you know the Truth, the more you want to know; such is … 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

How to Overcome Overthinking and Anxiety?

4 min

Acharya Prashant: Immerse yourself in the right action, then where are space and the time to worry? Indeed you are stealing time away from work. So that you can indulge in worries and anxiety and fancy and all kinds. Young people fantasize, don't they?

Some fantasize about beautiful, pretty exciting… read_more

Why Lack of Clarity Complicates Life