That’s what the entire spiritual process is about, collecting the airfare. So that you can rise up, otherwise, you stay crawling on the highway. Life is not so that you just remain a crawler, a creeper. Life is so that you can take off.
If your trust has an object, it is mere belief, like saying, "I’ll be rescued because my friend will come." Faith is: "I do not bother whether I’m rescued; I am alright either way." Faith is not dependent on a person or reason; it reflects a fulfilled Self that is unbothered, when you are alright without an objective reason to be alright.
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
“The will to live.” “The will to just continue.” That, he said, is the basic human existential tendency. I’m asking, “Don’t animals have that tendency?” At the root of all consciousness; is the will to survive and continue. We don’t want to die; the animals, too, don’t want to die, right? We feel pain, we suffer; so do animals. The reasons might be very different. Often the reasons are, in fact, not too different. Separate a human mother from her baby and you see the suffering. It’s very apparent. Separate a cow from her calf, and the suffering is much the same. Read more...
Acharya Prashant: Desire means that you are not alright with yourself and you want something else to happen, correct? So, we are anyway not living for ourselves. We are rather living to change ourselves. And are these not two very different things? If you are living for yourself as you
Such fantastic mastery is rarely seen elsewhere. Obviously, you get glimpses of it in many other places as well. I respect all of them; all of them are very, very dear to me; I worship them. But when it comes to Kabir Sahib, I said I am a fanboy. When
Kabir Saheb's message questions the very act of searching for fulfilment outside oneself. Whether through religion, relationships, success, possessions, or identity, people keep assuming that what is missing lies somewhere else. The problem is not the destination but the belief that fulfilment exists at a distance. Real freedom begins when the search turns inward, recognising that the seeker and the sought were never truly separate.
1
Truth enlightens, so it is attractive. Maya enthrals, so it is sometimes even more attractive. Where to go — that is the battle.
6
DANCE NAKED
Dance, Lalla, with nothing on
But air: Sing, Lalla,
wearing the sky.
Look at this glowing day! What clothes
Could be so beautiful or
more sacred?
~Lal Ded
Acharya Prashant- what does it mean to dance with nothing on?
L1- No causes.
AP- What does it mean to…
Excerpts from Articles
Animal cruelty: Who deserves mercy, and who doesn’t?
Violence begins long before the knife or the slaughterhouse—it begins with the ego, the one that draws boundaries, seeks justification, and decides who deserves compassion. Laws and reforms may reduce suffering, but they cannot end violence while the ego remains intact. When the ego dissolves, exploitation ends naturally, and compassion no longer depends on regulation or moral boundaries.
You Don't Understand the Bhagvad Gita, But You Still Claim That You Love Krishna?
The Bhagavad Gita deserves reverence not because of inherited beliefs about its author, but because of its power to dissolve falsehood and reveal Truth. Real devotion is not ritual or blind faith—it is understanding, inquiry, and living the wisdom of the Gita. Through sincere study, one discovers the true meaning of Krishna, making the Gita the most authentic path to knowing and worshipping Him.
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.
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?
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।
कई तरह के डर—अकेले पड़ने, छवि खोने या छोटा समझे जाने—की जड़ अक्सर अतीत में बनी पहचान और कहानियों में होती है। शरीर की हाइट जैसी चीज़ों को समस्या मानकर उनसे जूझने के बजाय उनकी अप्रासंगिकता को समझकर आगे बढ़ना चाहिए। अतीत को दबाने से मुक्ति नहीं मिलती; उसके करीब जाकर अपनी स्मृतियों, धारणाओं और पुराने पैटर्न को निष्पक्षता से देखना ज़रूरी है।
The one who takes great pride in his self and knowledge won’t be able to walk towards the Truth. But the one with humility, truly surrendered, sees things clearly. He realizes there are forces within him—his own physical system—working against the Truth. Humility is the hallmark of Sainthood. It comes with the honesty to accept one’s flaws.
Acharya Prashant: Suffering is a fire that burns down a lot. It brings along a certain purification. One of the poets gave the example of a snowball. Snowball that is cleansing itself in its own blood; by melting down. When a snowball starts melting, it starts becoming cleaner. And the…
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.
2
If you cannot win the love of the Lord, so what if you can lord over your neighbor?
What is the good of dressing your hair and donning your feet with jingling jewelry?
What is the value of all your makeup with kajal to your eyelids and vermilion to your…
Prayer is not an activity; it is your very being. "So you cannot pray; you can only be full of prayer." Prayer is the silent call of the mind. The deeper the silence, the truer the prayer. The noisier the mind, the more it is desire, not prayer. True prayer asks for nothing; it’s simply being prayerful in every movement of the mind—eating, walking, talking.
2
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…
~ 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…
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…
(Only those whose karma You have pre-ordained from the very beginning, O Lord, meditate on You.
~ Asa di Vaar (Guru Granth Sahib)
Questioner: What does Karma being…
Do not use your life as a waiting room. Do not wait even a second for things that merely promise but won’t deliver, as it's in the future which is unseen. Having seen that what you hope and expect will never materialize, do not wait another moment. Drop what is false. Don’t be kind or liberal; have no patience with falseness.
…
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.”
A man has to give up on greed, on this and that. A woman has to give up on the feelings related to the body. On all the assumptions and other stuff related to the body. Leaving the house, for her, is like becoming naked. And then the rest of the journey is very easy for her. If you have a woman who can drop her physicality, who can get rid of the basic woman-ness, then you have a great saint in front of you.
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.
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....
…
Questioner: Whenever I succeed in achieving something, I immediately start looking for something else, and when I succeed in finding that something else, again I find myself in the same situation. What am I really looking for?
Acharya Prashant: That which you commonly look for and that which you achieve…
3
Questioner: How can we expose the subconscious mind?
Acharya Prashant: By watching your daily actions very, very closely.
Alright, somebody comes to you and says, ‘Namaste'. Quickly show me how you respond.
[Listeners: Namaste (keeping hands together and smiling)]
So, you are smiling. And the moment the fellow is gone,…
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,…
3
The real solution to a problem is a real change in who you are. If who you are has changed, then it cannot continue to have an attraction towards who it once was. So, if you go back, no problem has ever been solved. If you think that your problem is now solved and you can go back, then actually nothing has ever been solved. Read more...
Acharya Prashant: Latha is saying, why does she get angry so often even over small matters? Especially with some people, she is unable to control anger and she says she tried to change her attitude but hasn’t been quite successful. She is saying, now, how to change myself. Because anger…
Questioner: Sir, when you were growing up, is there any special memory, or any time you realized and had this aspiration to become, or go on the spiritual path? Is there something interesting related to your life, from your childhood, that you want us to know?
Acharya Prashant: First of…
1
Questioner: Namskar Acharya ji. Pardon me for not remembering exactly but in one of the shivirs where we had read ‘Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna’ to come to terms with this expression called ‘Adhikar Bhed.’
So therein Ramakrishna was saying that, “now in modern times there cannot be any Adhikar Bhed,…
4
They kept coming, they kept coming, now they’ve got to go.They’ve got to keep moving, day or night,and where they came from, there they’ve got to go.From nothing to nothing to nothing and why?
Lalleshwari
There is nothing called the ‘world’. What you call as the ‘world’, what you call…
1
Question: ‘What is bitter at first is sweet in the end, What is sweet at first is poison in the end. To everyone is given the choice. It all depends on the effort put in, and the unflagging determined will; for whoever strives must soon arrive at the city of…
Questioner: I have a question about Kabir. As I know, he was also a kind of Sufi, not just Hindu or Muslim, he…
Speaker: See, the heart of Sufism and the heart of Vedanta, the heart of Hasidism, the heart of Christian mysticism, they are all one Heart.…
1
‘In what direction am I going, how shall I find that road? I hope they will send me a map before it’s too late, or it is all over for me. My breath all gone to waste.’
~ Lalleshwari
Questioner (Q): Lalla had surrendered all her life to That. Now…
6
Acharya Prashant: Lal Ded is the most remarkable name not only in Kashmir, not only in India. She defies being confined to a particular area, or time, or category. Physically, she was born in thirteenth century Kashmir. An ordinary girl, as ordinary as all of us are. Medieval India, she…
1
Question: Acharya Ji, how is music related to Spirituality? What do Bhakti Saints sing of?
Acharya Prashant Ji: Sing with a Kabir, or sing Kabir with yourself. That’s the best thing.
The best thing is to sing.
The best thing is to – sing.
But you know, we have become…
1
Life is given. Nothing is earned.
So, learn to serve others, not your own desire, greed, and ego.
They steal your energies.
Whereas devotion builds your strength and protects the intelligent flame that leads to the Truth within.
~ Saint Lalleshwari
Acharya Prashant: So, the Questioner is asking, ‘Is the…
1
Oh Friend, I love you.Think this over, carefully.If you are in Love, then why are you asleep?If you have found him, give yourself to him, take him.Why do you lose track of him again and again?If you are about to fall, into heavy sleep anyway,…
1
Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, Pranam,
“Love is an egocentric manifestation:
The Essential Oneness of all life has no room for love.”
~Wei Wu Wei
Acharya Ji, kindly shed light on this quote. In my first camp, I asked ‘How to be loving’, without knowing what that word meant. Now, I…
1
Questioner (Q): I read some couplets by Saint Kabir and they touched me deeply. He wants to become one with God or Truth so much, but he is pained that he is unable to do that. At times I feel like meeting Him is the only thing left for me…
4
Questioner (Q): Namaste, sir. My question is, in these teenage years, how do we avoid social evils like bad addiction and bad activities which exist in society and just focus on our goal?
Acharya Prashant (AP): For that, the goal has to be alluring enough. The goal has to be…
“You failed to know your Love in your youth
Wake up and see your Love is gone.”
~ Saint Kabir
Acharya Prashant (AP): Youth refers to a time when you are physically neither dependent nor incapable. After a particular time, you become physically incapable. And what happens to the rest…
1
Tohi more lagan lagaye re fakirwa
Sovat hi main apne mandir meinShabd baan mari jagaye re fakirwa
Tohi more lagan lagaye re fakirwa
Doobat hi bhav ke saagar meinBahinyan pakari samajhaye re fakirwa
Tohi more lagan lagaye re fakirwa
Ek vachan vachan nahi duja,bandhan mohe chhudaye re…
1
पानी बीच बतासा संतों,
तन का यही तमासा है।।
क्या ले आया, क्या ले जाएगा,
क्या बैठा पछताता है।।
मूठी बाँधे आये जगत में,
हाथ पसारे जाता है।।
किसकी नारी, कौन पुरुष है,
कहाँ से लगता नाता है।।
बड़े निहाल, खबर ना तन की,
बिरही लहर बुझाता है।।
इक दिन…
1
Questioner (Q): Most often we are asked to live in the present and be here and now and mindful. Can you talk to us about that?
Acharya Prashant (AP): The same thing, I mean, when we were talking about what to do with knowledge, I said it depends on the…
…
1
Jo main piyake man nahin bhaayeTo kaa padosin kaie dulrayeKahaa chudaa paayal jhamkaaye kahaa bhaye bichuaa thankaayeKahaa kaajar sindoor kaie diyyaie solaah singaar kahaa bhaye kiyaieAnjan manjan karaie thagauree ka pachi maraie thagauree baureeJo patibrataa hai naree kaisehi raho so pihayee piyareeTan man jeevan…
2
प्रश्नकर्ता: सर, जो पुनर्जन्म की बात की जाती है, क्या हम उसको समझ सकते हैं?
आचार्या प्रशांत: देखो, पुनर्जन्म तो ठीक है, लेकिन ज़रूरी है यह पूछना – पुनर्जन्म किसका? आवश्यक है कि आप समझें कि पुनर्जन्म है, लेकिन कोई पर्सनल सेल्फ (व्यक्तिगत स्व) नहीं होता है जिसका पुनर्जन्म हो…
1
THE GOLDEN RULE
“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”“Enter by a narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it…
5
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?
