Saint Dharnidas

True love is not a biological instinct, emotional attachment, or social conditioning. Biology and science explain the body's drives, but they cannot explain the self that seeks freedom. Love is the inner restlessness to move from ignorance and bondage toward truth and liberation. Religion is not rituals or inherited beliefs but this personal journey of understanding. Freedom—not possession or conformity—is the essence of both love and religion.

Truth cannot be forced upon anyone, but neither should falsehood be entertained. Genuine love is not about preserving relationships at any cost; it is about helping oneself and others break free from illusion, even if that means risking the relationship itself. Spiritual growth begins by questioning conditioning, examining falsehood without bias, and choosing authenticity over comfort. Real relationships are built on the courage to seek freedom, not convenience.

True revolution begins with inner transformation, not merely with protest. Lasting social change is possible only when individuals cultivate self-knowledge, integrity, and personal responsibility. Replacing governments or demanding reforms without examining the mind that sustains the same patterns only repeats history. Awaken yourself first, educate others with clarity and compassion, and let conscious citizens, not unconscious crowds, become the foundation of a better society.

The crisis exposed by the NEET paper leak goes far beyond examination malpractice. When society teaches young people that a single rank determines their worth, corruption, desperation, and broken trust become inevitable. Lasting reform requires more than stricter systems—it demands a transformation in how education, success, and self-worth are understood by students, parents, teachers, and society.

The Bhagavad Gita is not a separate spiritual path or an escape from everyday life - it is a mirror that reveals the truth of your present life. Real spirituality begins with self-observation, not rituals or temporary practices. Lasting transformation comes when work, relationships, career, and personal growth become one integrated life driven by awareness, love, and freedom rather than ego, fear, money, or social pressure.

Vedanta reveals that freedom is impossible as long as the ego seeks to preserve itself. Meditation may bring temporary calm, but real transformation begins only when the false sense of individuality dissolves. Whether through devotion or knowledge, every genuine spiritual path culminates in the complete dissolution of the seeker into Truth. Liberation is not the experience of Truth by an individual—it is the end of the individual who wants to experience Truth.

Love is not a special emotion reserved for selected people or relationships but a way of relating free from self-interest, possession, and psychological dependence. Most relationships become transactions driven by insecurity, where the ego seeks completion through ownership and exchange. Genuine companionship arises without the urge to control or claim another, allowing affection to exist naturally, freely, and without conditions or expectations.

Human beings are born into uncertainty, surrounded by beliefs, identities, and social conditioning that offer ready-made answers to fundamental questions. Real spirituality begins not with accepting collective or personal beliefs, but with honestly examining one’s own suffering, fears, and false identities. The journey is not toward comforting ideas, but toward self-inquiry, where truth is discovered through questioning, observation, and the gradual rejection of illusion.

Modern relationships often create more insecurity, not less, because people are conditioned to seek completion, validation, and identity through another person. Social institutions, media, culture, and tradition continuously reinforce the idea that fulfillment lies in romantic attachment. As a result, relationships become driven by dependence rather than love. Real companionship becomes possible only when one is inwardly at peace and not using another person to fill an inner void.

Love is not attraction, possession, dependency, or a transaction driven by personal gain. As long as relationships arise from insecurity, ownership, or the desire for psychological completion, they remain centered on the ego. Love is simple, natural, and free of self-interest, flowing without preference or exclusion. The ego seeks security, continuity, and suffering because they preserve its identity, while freedom and joy threaten its existence. A meaningful life begins when one stops repeating old patterns, accepts uncertainty, and chooses freedom over the comfort of familiar cages.

Climate change, population policies, and social conflicts often arise from a common source: narrow love. People, communities, and nations justify actions that benefit their own group while overlooking broader consequences for humanity and the planet. True care is not exclusive or identity-based; it is expansive and inclusive. Even motherhood, patriotism, and family concern can become limiting when reduced to narrow self-interest rather than guided by wisdom, freedom, and universal responsibility.

Will another revolution really change anything, or are we just changing faces while keeping the same consciousness intact? The article argues that societies often rush toward rebellion because it feels easier than responsibility. We blame systems, governments, and institutions, but the deeper crisis lies in the collective ego that creates them. Without inner education and self-understanding, every revolution risks becoming another cycle of the same story.

Do you still feel the need to know someone’s caste? That urge itself is the problem. Caste exists neither in the body nor in consciousness; it is a construct of the mind. Society keeps it alive because the ego thrives on division. Until you see a person simply as a person, caste will persist. The real solution lies in understanding and dropping inner ignorance.

The one who is religion-less. A real Hindu does not have any religion. To go beyond all religions is to be a Hindu. There are religions that are on one plane, and then there is Sanatan Dharma, which is another dimension — the eternal religiousness. Liberation from religion is religiousness. Sanatan Dharma is awakened intelligence.

Listener: (Reading a quote of Acharya Prashant from a quote-calendar)

What lies beyond mind?More mind.What is more mind?What and lies and mind.Questions, perceptions on the concept of the mind.

Acharya Prashant: Any question about beyondness would be a useless question because the question itself is coming…

Questioner (Q): Why do we forget?

Acharya Prashant (AP): The question is, "Why do we forget? Why forgetting is a property of the mind?"

Do not ask, "Why do we forget?" Just remember that we forget. Because when you forget then you don’t ask this question that, "Why do we…

Love has to be seen as the need of the mind, the attraction of the mind towards Peace, towards rest. All attraction is there only with a desire; the hope is of fulfilment. So when the mind says ‘love’, along with love it has a picture of love. How do you know that somebody loves you? Only if he behaves according to set patterns. When real love comes to us, we close our gates to it. Love is not with a particular man or woman; Love is the natural state of the mind.

The kinds of meanings that we associate with love are actually quite demeaning. It’s not your own self-interest that you think of in love. Love is not an emotion; love primarily is a spiritual understanding. Saint Valentine would not be quite pleased with the meanings we have associated with his name and his day. The saints laid down their lives so that our faulty definition of love could be corrected, and that is probably the best use this day can be put to: correcting the definition of Love.

Real Love is a very pure thing. It is pure and it purifies. If you really love her, forget about the families, you won’t even bother whether she loves you, because Love does not demand anything in return. Forget about marriage or anything else. You love, you know love, and that is all, sufficient. Love unconditionally, and then a way will emerge. Unconditional Love is very, very intelligent, and knows no fear. It knows where the solution is, it will find a solution.

If you are religious, then shouldn’t you be truly religious? Religion is about a total commitment to the Truth. You’ll have to recognize that the objective of religion is not to attain heaven, not to please a holy figure, but to come to your own inner Truth. All good books exist to awaken your consciousness. When it comes to you and the Truth, do you want somebody in between? And wherever you spot fakeness, falseness, hollowness or ignorance, drop it.

There is a search within the human being, always for the greatest, the absolute, and that is what differentiates humans from animals. India was fertile, and there was abundance. You had ample leisure, and in that leisure there was space for intellectual inquiry. The sages and the seers would talk to each other purposelessly. And from that purposeless discussion, from silent observation of life for hours, days, months, and years, came those insights that you today recognize as Indian philosophy.

This has always been a hugely profit-making sector of all economies, just that it has always been a small sector controlled by the priestly class. Now the attempt is to make this sector really big and on an organized scale, because the profits are very tempting, and there is no quality control. There can be no external auditor. All kinds of objections, audits, and scrutinies are ruled out. Getting it? So it’s a very tempting sector.

Shri Krishna is saying: the mind is conditioned to move towards objects and perceive only their surface, periphery, or form. Develop the practice of penetrating further. Let Truth be your practice. The moment you would look at something, and you are in no position not to look at things being embodied, you would look at things. Nobody said that you have to practice lust. Lust just comes. You might be a total fool, an utter retard, and still you will find yourself getting sexually excited once you reach a particular age. Did you need some practice? No, you didn’t. It just happened. But if you are to understand lust, if you are to cross over, if you are to be a master of your body, then it will require a lot of practice, and that will necessarily and obviously tell you about your predicament.

That’s the purpose of life, no? To know your real destiny beyond your physical limitations and social conditioning. Most people do not know that such a dangerous thing is surreptitiously happening to them. I have found that we are quite big on media and social media now, so comments flow in their hundreds. And women actually have a self-righteous position when they say that we are not supposed to work and you better not expect that from us. Equally, men are conditioned about the roles they are supposed to play in life at home, in society, and how they are supposed to feel about themselves.

I have desires and you are the means to fulfill those desires. That’s why I come to you and I say I’m a loving person. This is not love. Most of that which we call love is actually just self-interest. A lot of our comforts, conveniences and identities depend on the other; therefore, we want to hold the other. Real love is possible only when you know that the other cannot bring anything to you. You relate to the other to share, not to gain.

If you leave yourself weak and vulnerable, you are submitting to the ecosystem of rape. What’s worse? It won’t even be reported. The first thing is: empower yourself through education, through exposure, through wisdom. When it comes to sexual urges, no lessons of morality really succeed. You’ll just be left complaining to the benevolent power up there, “You know, I’m such a pious woman. Why was I violated?” Because that’s how it happens in the jungle. That’s the answer. That’s all.

The tiger chases the buffalo calf and brings it down. Does that disappoint you? No, because that was expected. Similarly, expect animal behavior all the time from everyone around you, including yourself. Everything we do comes from the jungle, so don’t be disappointed. Disappointment always arises from expectations. You really have to strive to be someone who is not an animal. And the first step in that striving is to address your own inner animal.

Manifestation is simply an expression of your desire. You desire something, and then you imagine your desire has been fulfilled. What does the common man desire? ‘Give me more money.’ What will the politician desire? ‘Finish off democracy and give me power for life.’ We have very stinking desires. Do we ever desire anything that is really good for everybody? The question remains: Was that thing worth it? You gave it so much time, so much respect, did it deserve that?

“I love my job as long as I'm paid for it.” Can you work without being paid? If yes, then probably there is some beginning of love. There are ten things we all like, and all liking or disliking is conditional, and the mark of love is that it survives all conditions. If you come to something that is dearer to you than life itself, then you know what love is. Love is dangerous, because it would mean you have come to something that's more precious to you than life itself.

You know, if your husband is gone, your finances are gone. Therefore, you will guard your husband very, very strongly, very possessively. It’s not love, it’s dependence. In love, you often allow the other to fly free. But if you are acting as that possessive wife or girlfriend or whatever, that is also because you are dependent, and that is violence, is it not?

The biggest problem is when we succeed in these little acts of charity, goodness, kindness. Had you succeeded in somehow persuading the kids away, you wouldn’t even have raised this question, and a self-awarded sense of morality and righteousness would have held you high. That’s the whole problem. When you said the kids wouldn’t go away because it is a festival and it is crackers, then do we really understand why the kids wouldn’t go away?

When you do not like human beings, you must also remember that they do carry the potential to be lovable. Not just the potential to be loved, but the potential to be lovable. Beyond likable, lovable. So, along with not liking humanity, also comes the responsibility to maybe help them become lovable, to whatever extent one can.

The object of love is so big, so total, so filling, so occupying that it leaves no space for the subject to hide and survive. The task is so damn big that it can’t be done if you protect yourself. If you protect yourself, it won’t happen. Love involves a lot of bloodshed and demolition. And there are fireworks. Great structures collapse. Formidable enemies have to be defeated. All that is love.

Acharya Prashant (AP): Jayant has initiated, and he is saying that he used to lead a mechanical life that starts the story, and then he got into spirituality, now he wants to be in love always but that does not always seem possible. Right?

Love is neither molecular nor even…

Truth enlightens, so it is attractive. Maya enthrals, so it is sometimes even more attractive. Where to go — that is the battle.

Religion is the way that brings the lost mind back to its center, its home. That is religion.

An ignorant person is a dangerous thing, made even more dangerous by a relationship. An ignorant person, even if he is walking alone on a road, is a dangerous thing. What if you bring that person to your bedroom? How does it matter? You start calling him your husband or wife. He has remained equally ignorant. Or, does wedding change things so much? It doesn't. Very stupidly you can go round and round the fire, how will that change anything within?

You have inflated the reproductive process much beyond its worth. Psychologically, a girl carries it throughout her life as something big, whereas it's nothing — just another process in the human body. And because of the stigma you have attached to this purely biological thing, countless women suffer silently because they can't openly talk about gynaecological problems. Indian philosophical systems have zero space for any belief, assumption, or tradition. So, obviously, this culture has to be outrightly rejected.

A lot of negative attitudes towards women today are claimed to be sanctioned by religion. The reason is that religion has been a victim of contamination. And this contaminated, mainstream, and false religion becomes a tool to exploit women. On the other hand, real religion is a woman's best friend because its effects are emancipation and empowerment. Therefore, when real religion shows up, it will deeply frustrate the traditional kind of religionists.

Try it out, go get an experience. But you must have the intent to really test it for what it really is. Experience is one thing and realization is a totally different thing. You can live your entire life without knowing even a moment of love. Real love is a purely spiritual thing. You cannot have real love without having paid the price to earn spiritual education.

Just because we don't hear gunshots doesn't mean that things are peaceful between partners or between parents and kids — especially daughters. Not at all. There are clear boundaries and those boundaries have been mined. As long as you remain within the boundaries, you will entertain the illusion that you are free and loved. Try to step out, and you'll be blown to pieces. So, the violence was always cooking but you didn't see it because you were blinded by your emotions, need for security, and conditioning.

Vedanta says that the body of the woman is her cage, just as the body of the man is the man's cage. Vedantic feminism would say, ‘Disown your physical self — you are much beyond that, girl.’ As long as you identify with the body, enjoy being called a girl or woman, there’s no freedom for you, and the same goes for the man. Saying, ‘I am the woman, I am the man’ is the real problem. Equality is a high ideal, but liberation is the purpose of life.

The human mind suffers because it does not understand what’s going on within itself. The mind longs for understanding and liberation from bondage. And the responsibility is on the human being to gain that understanding and that freedom from bondages. This responsibility is called Sanatan Dharma — founded on self-inquiry, ‘Atma-Jigyasa.’ It is a philosophy of the mind that gives a purpose to life.

The building is raised on a weak foundation, and now you want to penalize everybody who comes and shakes it up even a little? You don't do this. Why did you allow this building to stand on such a weak foundation, and now you are trying to protect it through legislation? What kind of stupidity is this?

We don't really look at a woman as a human being, but rather as her physical identity. Even in murder, we fail to see the human being. The sexual lenses are always on. Sri Ramakrishna Paramhans, the great saint, used to say that the ordinary person is driven by two objectives — kanchan (money) and kamini (lucrative girl). Sex is not so much a need of the body, it's a need of the mind. Unless this thinking changes, we'll have to live through the pain of seeing more such incidents.

Love and realization are things that roar aloud. They are extremely intimate, yet if they are there, there is no way you can hide them. These are not things that you can ever prevent from getting expressed. So, don’t even try. This expression means living it. Every thought is an expression, every action is an expression. You just express. By blocking it, you are blocking the thing itself. You don’t allow it to be expressed, and it’s gone.

You have to be dismissive of any talk of the afterlife. Only then the Gita will make sense to you. Those who have a battle at hand, those who are living in matters of the moment, those who are engaging deeply with the world as it is right now — present to them — they are the ones who will find the Gita useful, indispensable rather.