ये जीने का एक नया तरीक़ा है, क्योंकि हम तो हासिलियत की ही भाषा और ज़िंदगी जानते हैं न। हम कहते हैं, कहीं गए हैं, तो वहाँ से कुछ प्राप्ति हो जाए। यहाँ खेल प्राप्ति का है ही नहीं। यहाँ से भी उठ के जाओ तो ये मत कहना, कि ये प्राप्ति हो गई, ये जान लिया, ये समझ लिया। तुम थे, वो ज़रूरी है, तुम्हारा होना क़ीमती है, वही निष्कर्ष है।
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.
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: 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
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
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: 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…
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
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.
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
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.
Thinking, thinking, continuously thinking, you comfortably let days, months, years, decades slip away, and then you are so thankful that death arrives.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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
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…
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Excerpts from Articles
Stuck Between Job Security and Your Real Passion?
Struggling to choose between a secure job and the path you actually feel drawn to? This isn't really a question about careers. It's about why other people's opinions have so much power over you in the first place. Real clarity doesn't come from finding the 'right' choice. It comes from honestly looking at your own fear, again and again, until it stops running the decision for you.
Justice Without Boundaries: Why Compassion Cannot Stop at Species
Oppression should not see caste, gender, creed or colour, and it should not see species either. The moral threshold is sentience, not intelligence. An animal feels pain as fully as a human does, whether or not it can explain its suffering.
ज्योतिष कितना सच है? कुंडली, ग्रह-नक्षत्र: इनका क्या अर्थ है?
वेदांत को केवल इसलिए सही या श्रेष्ठ नहीं माना जा सकता कि वह किसी विशेष परंपरा से आता है। विज्ञान जहाँ भौतिक जगत की वस्तुनिष्ठ जाँच करता है, वहीं अद्वैत वेदांत सीधे मनुष्य के ‘मैं’, उसके दुख, बंधन और मुक्ति की पड़ताल करता है। इसकी कसौटी वैज्ञानिक प्रमाण नहीं, बल्कि अपने जीवन में इसकी सच्चाई को देख पाना है। किसी दर्शन को मान लेना नहीं, बल्कि उससे स्वयं को मुक्त करना ही उसका वास्तविक उद्देश्य है।
Climate change is more than an environmental crisis—it is a crisis of human choices. Our patterns of consumption, consumerism and endless pursuit of more are putting increasing pressure on the planet. But meaningful change does not necessarily begin with new technology or stricter policies. It begins with a deeper question: what are we willing to change within ourselves?
फ़ालतू खर्च छोड़िए, अपनी ज़िंदगी पर खर्च करना सीखिए
आचार्य प्रशांत बताते हैं कि क्यों हम सही खान-पान, स्वास्थ्य और अपने ऊपर ज़रूरी खर्च से बचते हैं, लेकिन दिखावे और फ़ालतू सामाजिक परंपराओं पर पैसा बहा देते हैं। अधिकांश लोगों के लिए समस्या सिर्फ़ पैसों की कमी नहीं, बल्कि विवेक और सही प्राथमिकताओं की कमी भी है।
एक पुजारी जो रोज़ भूत-प्रेत, तंत्र-मंत्र और वशीकरण के नाम पर आए लोगों से मिलता है, आचार्य प्रशांत से पूछता है: जब वो ख़ुद जानता है कि कुछ भूत-चुड़ैल नहीं होता, तो लोग बार-बार इसी झूठ की शरण में क्यों जाते हैं? जवाब अंधविश्वास से कहीं गहरा निकलता है — यह हमारे भीतर के उस झूठ की कहानी है, जिसे हम हर कीमत पर बचाना चाहते हैं।
Acharya Prashant: You talked of simple living and high thinking, and you said that it's well-known that simple living and high thinking…
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।
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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…
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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।…
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Acharya Prashant: It is apparent that this silence is conducive to understanding. It…
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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.
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…
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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.
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…
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.
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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…
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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,…
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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…
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....
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.....
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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.
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…
…
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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…
No, there is no question of believing in the past or not believing…
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…
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
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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…
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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…
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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…
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…
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…
Since then I have read the full document more than five times, and it is difficult…
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…
Thought has its uses. The emotional ones need to be the thoughtful…
It has to be so big that you forget about your failures, your happiness, your sadness.
Somebody comes and tells you, “But you…
Swami Vivekananda was no soccer evangelist. His…
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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.…
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Acharya Prashant: Yes, Parmeshwari (Questioner), of course. There is no more a final arbiter than action, deeds, life.…
