Thoughts

Why Bad Thoughts Never Really Go Away
Why Bad Thoughts Never Really Go Away
6 min
If you know that a thought is not beneficial to you, you won't support it, and it cannot survive. So, if a bad thought continues in your mind, it means you're only calling it a "bad thought," yet deep down, you support it. Deep down, you think it is a ‘good thought.’ Had you really known it was ‘bad', it would have gone. But our minds are full of so-called bad thoughts. What does that mean? We call them ‘bad', but we do not truly consider them bad. We enjoy them.
Are Your Thoughts and Emotions Just Words?
Are Your Thoughts and Emotions Just Words?
5 min
All words have existential connotations to the ego. That existential connotation is the meaning. If that connotation is removed, words will do nothing. All words carry something that impinges on your very existence. If you can clear the word of that, then words will remain just words, and no words will have the power to shake you up or disturb you.
Can Thought Truly Be Selfless?
Can Thought Truly Be Selfless?
13 min
Thought is a servant; thought is a shadow. The shadow cannot betray its owner, its master. So, what changes is the nature of the ego itself, not the nature of thought. So when we say, for example, selfless thought, that primarily implies that the ego has improved, loosely put. Since I have become better, so have my thoughts. Now, I cannot remain the same and say my thoughts have become selfless, and if I do that, then I'm being pretentious and just fooling myself.
Connection Between Thoughts and Wrong Relationships
Connection Between Thoughts and Wrong Relationships
13 min
I’m already bad, and through the thought process, I make a choice that makes my condition worse. I will always choose a woman who does me no good. And if a woman exists, coincidentally, who can be of real help to me, the job of thought will be to push that woman aside. Ditto for the other combination. As a woman, you don’t want a man who will challenge your most fundamental beliefs.
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

Excerpts from Articles
Why Do We Hide Things In Relationships?
Cultures place too much value on conforming to relationship stereotypes. These dogmas and rigid opinions do not easily accept reality. And so, to please them, you become a habitual liar. But good relationships are founded on freedom; they are not based on obligations, and they are not afraid of reality. In good company, the other might frown, but less on what you did, and more on what you hid.
आश्रित महिलाएँ और अध्यात्म
जो आश्रित महिलाएँ हैं, इनको सबसे बड़ी सज़ा यह मिलती है कि इनका अध्यात्म की तरफ़ बढ़ने का रास्ता बिल्कुल रोक दिया जाता है। परमेश्वर की ओर कैसे बढ़ोगे अगर पति ही परमेश्वर है? जो कैद में है, उसके लिए साधना है — दीवारों को तोड़ो और बाहर आओ। बाहर निकलकर कोई नया ज्ञान, कला, या कोई कुशलता सीखो।
कॉमेडी हो तो ऐसी
हमारी ज़िंदगी में तो लगातार वही सबकुछ हो रहा है जो होना नहीं चाहिए। आप लोगों को हमारी ज़िंदगी का ही आईना दिखा दो न। हम सब अपने गधों को अपनी पीठ पर बैठाकर चल रहे हैं। इतनी जोर की हँसी आएगी कि मज़ा आ जाएगा। कुछ ऐसा है जो बेमेल है, विसंगत है, और हमारी ज़िंदगियाँ मूर्खता की ही एक अंतहीन कहानी हैं। ये एब्सर्डिटी दिखाओ न लोगों को, खूब हँसेंगे।
Living Without Illusions: A Lesson on Expectations and Reality
It is not that the way the world is, the ignorance, the stupidity, the suffering, the perverseness of it all. It's not that that hurts or surprises you. What shocks is that adverse things come from people you think of as decent, respectable and wise. It is not events or people, therefore, who are shocking you, it is the expectations that you hold of them.
The Female Body, Chastity and 'Rape Culture'
Rape is happening all over the place. A husband raping a woman is not something new. Public apathy—nobody reporting the rape—that is again not something new. What is new is the woman standing up. And not just standing up in a way that displays raw courage, but standing up in a way that displays something deeper. She is challenging the very notion of female honor.
Leadership and Spiritual Insights from the Bhagavad Gita
My concern is the way we are. My concern is the face of the human being. My concern is the little sparrow. I'm not here to tell people what God has said. I'm here to take care of the sparrow. That's my concern. And the sparrow cannot be taken care of unless we go to the Gita. Hence, the Gita.
How Can The Common Man Make Better Decisions In Life?
First of all, we have to realize what our life is like. You know, I can’t change something without firstly understanding its processes and its actuality. I must know what this thing called my life is. We keep living without knowing a thing about life. And we’re blinded by names and identities.
What Makes a Woman Beautiful?
The woman is not beautiful; the man is not beautiful either. Truth and compassion are beautiful. The compassionate one stands head and shoulders above the gorgeous woman or the handsome man. And this is possible only when love and appreciation for the right, gender-independent values are fostered in both the man and the woman.
इंसान हो तो ज़िंदगी से जूझकर दिखाओ
दुनियादारी सीखो, भाई! और मुझसे अगर प्रेम है या कोई नाता है, इज्जत है, तो मेरी अभी स्थिति क्या है, वो समझो। प्रेम अगर है, तो प्रेम यह देखता है ना कि सामने वाला क्या चाहता है, उसकी क्या जरूरत है? प्रेम आत्म-केंद्रित थोड़ी हो जाएगा कि "मैं अपने तरीके से!" अपने तरीके से है, तो फिर प्रेम नहीं है, स्वार्थ है ना!
How to Break Free from the Trap of Seeking External Validation?
The relationship can be very strong, but the strength of the relationship may not necessarily be an auspicious thing. You can have a very, very strong relationship with the external, and yet it could be from a very wrong center. And what do we mean by wrong? The center of inner ignorance.
Kids and Anxiety: What’s Going Wrong?
If a kid has been continuously told that the world is everything, how will an untouched point remain within? The world, as we know, is quite fickle, while our real nature is stability or permanence. It is this dichotomy that pushes us into stress and anxiety. A big portion of the mental health problem can be addressed if we provide the right value system to the kid—the right literature.
Astrology: A Myth People Believe
It has been extremely conclusively proven, demonstrated that astrology is not a science at all. It's a conjecture. It's a belief system. Belief system with no material basis at all.
How Influencers Fool Us So Easily
We have reserved critical thinking only for problems related to science and technology, but not for life itself. Why can’t the same spirit of inquiry be present in everything? Without the filter of thought and inquiry, you will be enslaved and exploited. So, pause at every sentence, analyze, and refuse to move on until you are satisfied.
How to Raise a Daughter?
Please be an observer and a compassionate witness. Keep watching, watch from a distance. Meddling is not needed. Being a parent of a girl child today is a humongous opportunity. You have the chance to give rise to a new world—if you can truly raise one girl as a free girl.
Science and Spirituality Always Go Hand in Hand
The most common thing in spirituality and science is 'an honest urge to know the Truth.' Science observes the external universe, and spirituality observes the mind. These two have to be in tandem. The one thing that enables true knowledge in any field is honesty and integrity.
कुसंगति कैसे दूर करें?
कुसंगति कैसे दूर करें?
9 min
पहली कुसंगति आंतरिक होती है। मन ऐसा कुसंगी है जिसे बाहर कुसंग नहीं खोजना पड़ता। मन को अगर मन का साथ मिल जाए तो इससे बड़ा कुसंग नहीं। बाहर का कुसंग हटाना आसान है, पर भीतर वाला कुसंग, जहाँ आदमी अपने ही विचारों में फँसा है, "मैं हूँ और मेरे विचार हैं" - इससे बड़ी कुसंगति क्या हो सकती है? आंतरिक कुसंगति न हो तो बाहर का कुसंग कुछ नहीं कर सकता।
Wise Men Don’t Make Such Mistakes || AP Neem Candies
Wise Men Don’t Make Such Mistakes || AP Neem Candies
1 min

It indeed does help to feel like a victim. It does not help you , but it helps that within you which is a product of victimization. Because if you are a victim, then you are entitled to certain rights. All victims get entitled to special rights.

Operate from a

It's alright to have thoughts || AP Neem Candies
It's alright to have thoughts || AP Neem Candies
2 min

Acharya Prashant: Spirituality is not committing suicide, or is it? Then we do not need satsang (gathering), we need mass suicide halls. It’ll all be over! It has happened, you know? There have been cults in Japan and other places where incidents of mass suicides have been reported. They thought

सहज जीवन जीने के सूत्र
सहज जीवन जीने के सूत्र
12 min

प्रश्नकर्ता: मेरा प्रश्न नोट्स में से है: "बीइंग अवेयर ऑफ़ डिमांड्स ऑफ बॉडी, बीइंग अवेयर ऑफ़ स्ट्रे थॉट्स, दिस इज़ इंटेलिजेंस। इट ऑकर्स थॉट् इज़ एन इनेडिक्वेट रिस्पांस टू स्टिमुलस। एन एडीक्वेट रिस्पांस इज स्पॉनटेनिटी।" ("शरीर की माँगों के प्रति जागरूक होना, आवारा विचारों से अवगत होना, यह बुद्धिमत्ता है।

How to Respond to Life's Problems?
How to Respond to Life's Problems?
11 min

Questioner: There is some image of something and you are not conscious, where then there is that blocked energy, so to speak? Fear or whatever it is, you act out of reaction. So, what would be… at the moment there is no choice, you are just reacting. What would be

Litmus Test for Exploitative Relationships || AP Neem Candies
Litmus Test for Exploitative Relationships || AP Neem Candies
6 min

Acharya Prashant: Only in aloneness can you have relationships that are not exploitative. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter what name, or what color you give to your relationship; your relationship will definitely be one of exploitation. Have you ever looked at your relationships closely? Do you ever want the other? No,

How do I Retain this Beautiful Silence?
How do I Retain this Beautiful Silence?
6 min

Questioner: While writing the questions about our lives, we were silent and it feels very peaceful right now. But how to maintain this silence? How to make sure that this silence holds, that it is not momentary?

Acharya Prashant: It is apparent that this silence is conducive to understanding. It

Is This What Makes You Special? || AP Neem Candies
Is This What Makes You Special? || AP Neem Candies
8 min

Acharya Prashant: Man is the only one who has a worrying ego. Man is the only one that has an ego that looks into the future. Other living beings on the earth have a very nominal and minimal ego. All that it wants is to be alright currently, so some

Are You Choosing Your Thoughts?
Are You Choosing Your Thoughts?
4 min
Because of the stimulus, a thought arises. There is an external stimulus, and because you have an inherent tendency to think, you are conditioned to think. That is the maximum that the external stimulus can do. It can provoke a thought within you. But then you provide fuel to that thought; you provide energy to that thought. And then the thought becomes a fixation with you. Now you are thinking the entire day.
What Is the Ego? || AP Neem Candies
What Is the Ego? || AP Neem Candies
4 min

Acharya Prashant: You are walking along an empty street in the middle of the night—nobody around you, nobody to really disturb you, nobody to talk to you, nobody to point to you, nobody to intercept you, nobody to remind you of anything, and still do you see how much keeps

Do These Thoughts Trouble You?
Do These Thoughts Trouble You?
15 min

Questioner (Q): I am troubled by nihilistic thoughts. I feel that nothing in this world has any real existence or importance. Sometimes when I study, I start questioning its importance and start thinking that I should abandon the studies. I sometimes think about abandoning the material world altogether, but I

How to Stop Thinking About the Future?
How to Stop Thinking About the Future?
20 min
You think that since you have dropped a lot of material stuff behind, you can live at ease without any worry but that's not how it is. One central belief that does not allow man to live freely and fully – “I will be my own master. My intellect will decide the next step.” If you keep thinking about what you need to do next via the intellectual route, then you still haven’t dropped your misplaced belief, in your power to take care of yourself.
Intellectual gorilla or a simple human being? || Neem Candies
Intellectual gorilla or a simple human being? || Neem Candies
1 min

Acharya Prashant: If you find religion bad, then just honestly consider a world totally without religion. Then probably you will not find religion so bad.

I assure you, there is nothing in man’s physical constitution that prevents him from being envious or lustful or tense or attached. In fact, man

Are There Any Benefits to Gossiping?
Are There Any Benefits to Gossiping?
12 min
So many love affairs are actually based on not much more than gossip. What do the couples mostly do? Do they discuss wisdom? Do they discuss the renaissance enlightenment? They gossip and they gossip like hell. But that gossip is so fruitful; they get sex. Kids are born and mind you, rarely would you find a man and a woman who would be able to trust each other without gossiping, without engaging in small talk, loose talk.
Getting Rid of Recurring Thoughts and Mental Patterns
Getting Rid of Recurring Thoughts and Mental Patterns
7 min

Questioner: Hello sir, my question is that I’m fully aware of the thoughts that I’m having, most of the times. So, I feel like, ever since so for a year and a half, I have been going through something, it’s a low phase. I acknowledge the suffering and I know

How Can You Stop Overthinking?
How Can You Stop Overthinking?
11 min
When you do not have a sense of what is worthy, little things will invade your mind, like germs constantly attacking you. There’s no way to keep them away. Give all your inner space to something that is beautiful to you. Let there be no vacancy. Get a headband — No Vacancy! Or wear a t-shirt — No Vacancy! Occupied. Engaged.
How to Respond to Life's Challenges?
How to Respond to Life's Challenges?
6 min
Life continuously presents us with situations that appear as challenges. Challenges in the form of conditioning, continuous thoughts, and resistance. Conditioning goes in the mind without any barriers or checks only because you considered it important. Similarly, a thought comes and we do not like that thought and you resist it. The resistance that you give to any particular thought is exactly the energy that, that thought carries. You give no resistance to it and thought will fall down on its own.
What Are High Thoughts and Low Thoughts?
What Are High Thoughts and Low Thoughts?
9 min
All thoughts come from the past. There is no new thought because every thought is fundamentally grounded in the past. New means freedom from the past. High thoughts are those in which thinking happens in such a way that thinking stops and an understanding happens. This can be done only when there is impartial observation. Poor thinking is an untamed thought which goes on expanding madly like a cancer and destroys everything.
Free Thinking and Free Thinkers?
Free Thinking and Free Thinkers?
26 min
Free thought as a tool to negate frozen thought, stale thought, is good, is useful, but it needs to know its place. It needs to have some humility. Thought is just thought, movement of the brain. It won’t get you too far.
How to Stop Taking Things Personally
How to Stop Taking Things Personally
10 min
When you stop taking yourself seriously, the world loses its power to hurt you. If someone can hurt you, they can also control and possess you. But you don’t want to be controlled, right? You are not the person who is controllable. The real ‘you’ is beyond hurt and domination. Ask yourself, do you want to be dominated? No! You are the one who cannot be controlled, and that is your true strength.
The Madness called Man
The Madness called Man
9 min

How do you, ask the chief of police, patrol a city, where the butcher shops are guarded by vultures, where bulls get pregnant, cows are barren, and calves give milk three times a day, where mice are the boatmen, and tomcats row the boats, where frogs keep snakes as watchdogs,

To Witness Is Not to Think about Witnessing
To Witness Is Not to Think about Witnessing
6 min

Questioner: Sir, so one when day I was taking a bath, I was applying soap so there was a moment when I realized - the one who is applying the soap, and to whom it is getting applied to, both are somewhere different but both are one. But there is

What do Radha and Krishna Represent?
What do Radha and Krishna Represent?
4 min
The character of Radha is not present in any of the Upanishads, obviously, not in the Vedas. It is not sufficiently present even in the Puranas. With respect to the character of Sri Krishna, there are two Puranas mainly. There is the Shrimad Bhagavad Puran and there is the Harivansh Puran. These two are dedicated to Sri Krishna. Even in these two, Radha is scarcely mentioned. Read more....
Fall in Love with Joy
Fall in Love with Joy
8 min
There is pleasure in being defeated by yourself, if you fall to your tendencies, for pleasure, for rest, all you get is happiness, ordinary pleasure. When you lose to yourself, there is just pleasure; when you beat yourself, there is joy. Practice joy! Become obsessed. I’ll go to the extent of saying, become addicted. Read more.....
Empowered Decision Making for Student Life: Acharya Prashant
Empowered Decision Making for Student Life: Acharya Prashant
8 min
This age, when you are in your late teens or early twenties, is the time when life is constantly and rapidly changing around you, without giving you a moment to take stock of things and feel assured, even briefly, that things will stay as they are. Because they do not continue as they are now, everything is unpredictably changeable. What does one do? One needs some anchor, something unchanging, or else there’s too much insecurity. If everything can change and one’s existence depends on these things, it feels deeply unstable.
Why Does the Mind Wander? - Part 1
Why Does the Mind Wander? - Part 1
8 min

Questioner: Why does the mind wander when we sit to study? How to control the mind?

Acharya Prashant: What’s your name?

Questioner: Aman.

Acharya Prashant: Aman is asking, “How to control the mind.” What he is saying is we sit down to study, right? And the mind wanders here and

The Illusion of Positive Thoughts
The Illusion of Positive Thoughts
2 min

Acharya Prashant: Thought serves a great purpose: it eats away your time. Otherwise, time will become such a burden. Thinking, thinking, continuously thinking, you comfortably let days, months, years, and decades slip away. And then you are so thankful that death arrives; otherwise living 80 years and that too in

Nihilism Explained: Why Thoughts Are Material and How to Overcome Them
Nihilism Explained: Why Thoughts Are Material and How to Overcome Them
15 min

Questioner: I am troubled by nihilistic thoughts. I feel that nothing in this world has any real existence or importance. Sometimes when I study, I start questioning its importance and start thinking that I should abandon the studies. I sometimes think about abandoning the material world altogether, but I am

Past is past || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
Past is past || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
3 min

Acharya Prashant: In these matters a little twist and turn of the words creates a huge gap in understanding. Let’s go into it. You say that you can’t understand why we must not believe in the past.

No, there is no question of believing in the past or not believing

Intelligence is not a thought
Intelligence is not a thought
8 min

Questioner: Sir, what is an ideal?

Speaker: You tell me. What is idealism?

Listener: It is a prescription by the society in regard to how we should be.

Speaker: For an idealism to exist, there must be an ideal, and for an ideal, there should be an idea. Let’s see

I see that I think, therefore I am || Acharya Prashant (2015)
I see that I think, therefore I am || Acharya Prashant (2015)
7 min

Question: Sir, you say in one of your quotes, “I see that I think, therefore I am.” Please explain.

Speaker: I had said this in response to that famous quote of Descartes that the West so admiringly seems to follow. Descartes has said, “I think, therefore I am.” So I

बुद्धि के दोषों को हटाने का उपाय क्या? || आचार्य प्रशांत, रामगीता पर (2020)
बुद्धि के दोषों को हटाने का उपाय क्या? || आचार्य प्रशांत, रामगीता पर (2020)
6 min

देहेन्द्रियप्राणमनश्चिदात्मनां हसड्भादजस्त्र परिवर्तते धियः। वृत्तिस्तमोमूलतयाज्ञलक्षणा यावद्धवेत्तावदसौ भवोद्धव: ।।

बुद्धि की वृत्ति ही देह, इन्द्रिय, प्राण, मन और चेतना आत्मा के संघातरूप से निरन्तर परिवर्तित होती रहती है। यह वृत्ति तमोगुण से उत्पन्न होने वाली होने के कारण अज्ञानरूपा है और जब तक यह रहती है, तब तक ही संसार में

बुद्धि के तीन तल || आचार्य प्रशांत, हंस गीता पर (2020)
बुद्धि के तीन तल || आचार्य प्रशांत, हंस गीता पर (2020)
16 min

श्री भगवान् उवाच सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति गुणा बुद्धेर्न चात्मन:। सत्त्वेननान्यतमौ हन्यात् सत्त्वेन चैव हि।।

भगवान श्रीकृष्ण कहते हैं — प्रिय उद्धव! सत्त्व, रज और तम — यह तीनों बुद्धि (प्रकृति) के गुण हैं, आत्मा के नहीं। सत्त्व के द्वारा रज और तम — इन दो गुणों पर विजय प्राप्त कर

बदल-बदल के भी क्या बदला? || आचार्य प्रशांत, युवाओं के संग (2015)
बदल-बदल के भी क्या बदला? || आचार्य प्रशांत, युवाओं के संग (2015)
8 min

प्रश्नकर्ता: हमारे जीवन में परिवर्तन कैसे सम्भव है?

आचार्य प्रशांत: हर समय हो तो रहा है परिवर्तन। अभी बैठे थे, अब खड़े हो गये। हो गया परिवर्तन। और कैसा परिवर्तन चाहते हो? टीशर्ट पहने हो, थोड़ी देर में उतार दोगे, तो हो गया परिवर्तन। परिवर्तन क्या है? दायें को अटके

How to keep the mind centered?
How to keep the mind centered?
9 min

Acharya Prashant (AP): (Reading question) “Acharya Ji, please show me the light, so that I could be at my center. Sometimes, I feel, when I listen to you or when I read the verses, a certain centeredness within me. What is that? And, how can I remain centered? Please explain

Shocking facts about thinkers || Neem Candies
Shocking facts about thinkers || Neem Candies
1 min

Thinking, thinking, continuously thinking, you comfortably let days, months, years, decades slip away, and then you are so thankful that death arrives.

Thought serves a great purpose: it eats away your time. Otherwise, time will become such a burden.

Someone comes to you and demands, “Now is the time to

Is the world just an illusion? || Acharya Prashant (2018)
Is the world just an illusion? || Acharya Prashant (2018)
10 min

Question: Acharya Ji, Pranaam! I came to know you through your videos on YouTube. I am very grateful that I came to know about the Ribhu Gita from your session organised on Mahashivratri day.

Since then I have read the full document more than five times, and it is difficult

All thoughts arise from external influences || Acharya Prashant (2013)
All thoughts arise from external influences || Acharya Prashant (2013)
7 min

*Questioner : Most of the thoughts are coming from society and family. So, how can I judge that which thought is mine or not?*

Acharya Prashant: No thought is yours; no thought is ever your own. You have very rightly said that all thoughts come from this place or

Learn to think rightly ||Neem Candies
Learn to think rightly ||Neem Candies
1 min

Is lust a thought, or is lust more or less instantaneous? Does lust even give you space to think? In fact, if you could think in the moment of great lust or anger, then you would act better.

Thought has its uses. The emotional ones need to be the thoughtful

Then you have succeeded || Neem Candies
Then you have succeeded || Neem Candies
1 min

When thoughts of your personal success stop mattering to you, when you say, “There is something more important than my personal success,” then you have really succeeded.

It has to be so big that you forget about your failures, your happiness, your sadness.

Somebody comes and tells you, “But you

What is National Youth Day? || Neem Candies
What is National Youth Day? || Neem Candies
1 min

Swami Vivekananda has said, “First of all, our young men must be strong; religion will come afterwards. Be strong, my young friends; that is my advice to you. You will be nearer to heaven through football than through the study of the Gita.”

Swami Vivekananda was no soccer evangelist. His

Thoughts, Understanding and Realization || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2012)
Thoughts, Understanding and Realization || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2012)
9 min

Acharya Prashant: We rarely understand. We only keep thinking. And we think that we are understanding.Naresh, there is a humongous difference between ‘thinking’ and ‘understanding’.

We ‘think’, but we rarely ‘understand’.When you look at that mobile phone, you are ‘thinking’, you are not ‘understanding’. ‘Understanding’ is a totally different thing.

Thought and the thinker are both not needed || Acharya Prashant (2017)
Thought and the thinker are both not needed || Acharya Prashant (2017)
25 min

Acharya Prashant: Azaz is saying, “I think a lot in relationship, no matter whom I am related to. Even when I am sitting here, I am thinking a lot about how to frame a question. How to know the right response while being related? How do I know my right

Find your place || Neem Candies
Find your place || Neem Candies
1 min

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

When to think and when to act? || Acharya Prashant (2018)
When to think and when to act? || Acharya Prashant (2018)
3 min

Questioner: Acharya Ji, all my thoughts are unable to come to expression because of fear of judgement or social restraints. Should I free them only by deeds? Kindly throw light on this.

Acharya Prashant: Yes, Parmeshwari (Questioner), of course. There is no more a final arbiter than action, deeds, life.