Shiva

How to abide in the Shiva Truth? || Acharya Prashant, on Ribhu Gita (2018)
How to abide in the Shiva Truth? || Acharya Prashant, on Ribhu Gita (2018)
1 min
Death: Destiny, Karma, And Divine Intervention
Death: Destiny, Karma, And Divine Intervention
11 min
There is no divine intervention. There is prakriti. Prakriti does not brook any intervention from any quarter. Just happened. If you look for a reason, there isn’t any. Randomness is the reason.
Thinking A Lot About Future?
Thinking A Lot About Future?
7 min
Fear, you have to remember, is biological. Fear, you have to remember, is to the body. Fear is not to you. Fear is a letter addressed to the consciousness. Do you open the other's letters and read them? Do you do that? So, the letter has been delivered. The letter is coming from Mr. Fear and it is addressed to the body. So what do you do with the letter? You keep it aside. Let the body read it; I won't read it. It's not mine.
Living Without God: Principles For A Purposeful Life
Living Without God: Principles For A Purposeful Life
8 min
Any belief is stupid because all beliefs come from a lack of investigation, and a lack of investigation comes from deep fear and a feeling of insecurity. If you are insecure and afraid, then you will not dare to ask questions and investigate. And it is from that fear and insecurity that the concept of God has arisen. Now, God and reality are two different things. God and Truth are not the same thing. The mark of religiosity or true spirituality is an abiding faith in the truth.
When You Are Sure of Yourself, You Feel Less Angry at Others
When You Are Sure of Yourself, You Feel Less Angry at Others
7 min
When you are feeling inferior, then even an innocuous touch can hurt you. The other one had no intention to rub you the wrong way, but you find that you have been bruised for no reason. It has nothing to do with the intention of the other person; it has much more to do with your own self-concept.
Understanding Death Rituals: Is it Okay to Forego Them?
Understanding Death Rituals: Is it Okay to Forego Them?
5 min
Existentially and Absolutely, no issues at all. By existence, I mean this prakritik existence. Absolutely meaning at the level of the Truth, Self, Atman. No problems at all. Nobody’s going to bother. There is nobody to bother. But mentally, yes, the whole affair has to be tactfully managed. There has to be resolve within and tact outside, and then it’s alright.
What Does Equanimity Mean in Life?
What Does Equanimity Mean in Life?
12 min
When you know that you can not be harmed, then you let the change come to you. Then, you do not lose your inner poise in front of changing conditions. This is equanimity. For equanimity, you require a very good driver, a totally dependable driver. Our driver is the Ego. It does not allow the Absolute to drive us. The Ego is so arrogant that it goes and sits on the throne, the sacred place, that is reserved only for the Beloved, only for God. It has no right to be there. Dethrone it!
God's Presence Everywhere: What Does It Really Mean?
God's Presence Everywhere: What Does It Really Mean?
6 min
Gita and philosophy and Vedanta have nothing to do with God. They are in search of Truth, not God. These are different things — Truth and God. Secondly, all the objects that you look at, you look at them in search of something. In search of the Truth, you look at all these objects. In that sense you could say, I am looking at everything in search of the absolute. To the ego, everything carries a promise, a possibility of the absolute. That does not mean that all the objects that you look at contain the infinite or something.
Who Created the World?
Who Created the World?
14 min
Brahm is not the creator. When you desperately want to invent a creator, then you come up with īśvára. But Vedanta is not very enamored of īśvára. So, Vedanta says, "Īśvara is just Maya, just Maya.” Because you experience the universe, therefore, you feel the need to justify the origin of the universe. Therefore, you must have an īśvára. But how can the creator of a false universe be real? If the universe is false, what do you say about its creator?
Why Is God So Biased?
Why Is God So Biased?
5 min
Why do you think that, first of all, a creating entity, a creator, exists in the same way this world exists? Secondly, why do you think that all values that you hold dear to your chest must be espoused by that God as well? You like somebody to be merciful to you, so you say, “Oh, God is merciful.” How do you know God is merciful? Are you bigger than God? Have you penetrated God's head—if there exists somebody called God at all?
Hurt by Those Around You?
Hurt by Those Around You?
12 min
Hurt comes when you are not sure of yourself. You are saying you are all right with your habits, but not all right with people criticizing you. You feel hurt. If you feel hurt, that clearly tells you that you do not know what you do and why you do it. If you know that making the bed, for example, is the best thing you can do with your time in the morning, then why would you pay attention to someone objecting to it?
What is the 'Will of God'?
What is the 'Will of God'?
12 min
God wills that you be godly in your freedom. Because godliness, by definition, cannot be imposed. ‘God’ is patiently waiting for you to be godly. He’ll just keep showing you the mirror in some way or the other. He will keep sending you help—sometimes in the form of a situation, a book, or sometimes in the form of a person. God is nothing but your ultimate potential.
Why Can't I Leave My Comfort Zone?
Why Can't I Leave My Comfort Zone?
8 min
The body will not allow you to do things where your physical sustenance gets threatened. 'What will happen to this body?’ is the fear. The one who can go without food and sleep in the streets under the open sky can never be enslaved. Have the guts to sleep in the fields, and learn to go without comforts—then the world cannot dominate you!
Related Articles
Is Death Always There, or Is Life Itself Death?
Is Death Always There, or Is Life Itself Death?
7 min
The sword is hanging over everybody’s head. It can fall here or there. Nobody is conspiring against anybody, and nobody has been blessed with special fortune. There is a random chance it falls here; it falls there. I am not talking of cases in which, let’s say, the family atmosphere is so toxic that it compels a couple of members to commit suicide. I am not talking of such cases. I am talking of accidental deaths. Accidental deaths are exactly that: accidents.
Surprise! A Delicious Dish
Surprise! A Delicious Dish
5 min

Acharya Prashant: In general, human beings are not cannibals. We do not eat other men and women, do we? Why don't we ask ourselves: “Why don't we eat other men and women? If flesh is what we want to eat, then why kill animals?” There are many who say, “Eating

How to Cope with a Loved One's Death?
How to Cope with a Loved One's Death?
7 min
To the loved ones who have died, pay the holiest tribute possible. There are others still here; ensure you have right relationships with them. If a relationship is right, the end won't hurt much. The end might even be glorious, a true pinnacle. The relationship was an upward journey all along, and death now becomes the peak of that connection.
Fighting your Weakness is more Important than Fighting the Enemy
Fighting your Weakness is more Important than Fighting the Enemy
3 min

Acharya Prashant: A fly comes and sits on my arm here (pointing towards the arm), I reject it, I discard it – Is the game over? Is she not ever going to return? Why? Because I discarded the fly and not my arm, so irrespective of how strong your resistance

The Robot's ego
The Robot's ego
7 min

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

Mood Swings? || AP Neem Candies
Mood Swings? || AP Neem Candies
2 min

Acharya Prashant: Our story is that somebody says, ‘Hey! looking gorgeous today’. And we work up such a nice mood. And somebody says, ‘Hey! Where did you get this haircut from? Take two rupees from me, get a better haircut’. And we feel as if we have been put in

Understanding Guilt for True Self-Improvement
Understanding Guilt for True Self-Improvement
7 min

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

Secrets of an Authentic Personality
Secrets of an Authentic Personality
5 min

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

Where Is the Real Me?
Where Is the Real Me?
7 min

Acharya Prashant: It has been told to us that there exist two centers. I suppose it has been very freshly told to you right? Very recently. He says, “How do I know that I am living out of the right center? How does a young man know whether he’s not

Where Science and Spirituality Converge
Where Science and Spirituality Converge
5 min

Questioner: Is there some scientific context to spirituality? Because, at the end of the day, as you said, ‘Religion forms a boundary, an outer shell, within which spirituality remains.’ Because this has to be something that stops you from doing something wrong or something that is fundamentally upsetting. So, how

To Love Somebody, Love Like a Nobody
To Love Somebody, Love Like a Nobody
15 min

Questioner: (Reads out the following)

If you love, love openly

Twenty monks and one nun, who was named Eshun, were practicing meditation with a certain Zen master.

Eshun was very pretty even though her head was shaved and her dress plain. Several monks secretly fell in love with her.

One

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,

Your Best Kept Secret is Out || AP Neem Candies
Your Best Kept Secret is Out || AP Neem Candies
3 min

Acharya Prashant: You can not win the mind, you can not cater to the mind, you can not control the mind. And you are not responsible for everything that this ancient mind does. A thousand squirrels are sitting here, and five hundred monkeys, and the extinct dinosaur, and all the

Freedom from Ego is Freedom from Fear
Freedom from Ego is Freedom from Fear
24 min

Acharya Prashant: What to do when you encounter a person with a lot of ego? He has used two words: High ego and bad ego. Let us understand this. When you use the term ‘bad ego’, you necessarily mean that there is something called ‘good ego’ as well. Correct? Logical?

Vedanta and Bhakti (Devotion)
Vedanta and Bhakti (Devotion)
17 min

Questioner: Namaskar Acharya ji. Acharya ji, I have been listening to you for quite some time now, and one thing that I have noticed is that whenever you speak on any topic, you always speak in the light of Advait Vedant. One thing also on which you have spoken a

Want Satisfaction? Maximise Consumption || AP Neem Candies
Want Satisfaction? Maximise Consumption || AP Neem Candies
7 min

Acharya Prashant: You might just say, “Well, no I am not looking for flesh, I am looking for money. I am looking for material success. I am looking to have another factory. I am looking to have a bigger house with better furniture.” You might talk of material things other

We forced the virus to come to us || AP Neem candies
We forced the virus to come to us || AP Neem candies
5 min

Acharya Prashant: What’s worse, there might be much more lethal and incurable viruses to come in the future.

We talk of the virus as the problem. In fact, if you go to social media to get a hang of how we are looking at the whole thing in a cultural

Afraid of Being Judged by Others?
Afraid of Being Judged by Others?
8 min
Put your heart fully into your work, and your mind will no longer be in the audience. When there is no heart in your work, then your mind wanders in the world. Love your work, and you will forget the world. Your problem is not that you are too concerned with people’s opinions. Your problem is that there is no heart in your work.
Your Anger contains a Secret || AP Neem Candies
Your Anger contains a Secret || AP Neem Candies
6 min

Acharya Prashant: If anger besets you, look at your entire life, the full spectrum. Nothing short of that would do. Anger is not a disease in itself; anger is an indicator. And, anger is a very powerful and gross indicator.

Anger becomes necessary so that you may see how bad

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

Should I Express My Emotions?
Should I Express My Emotions?
19 min
Expression is a relationship you establish with the world. It becomes a gift you give to others. What gets expressed, gets amplified. Anger expressed is anger amplified; attachment expressed is attachment multiplied. Do you want to gift chains and shackles, or something that helps and liberates?
What Is the Ego Tendency?
What Is the Ego Tendency?
5 min
Ego tendency is when things start dancing all over the mind. Kabir Sahab says, “Maya is that which occupies your mind.” You are attached to the brain. The “I” tendency attached to the brain is called the mind, and therefore she comes to the mind. To merely the brain, she will not be big trouble, but to the mind, she is a big attraction or distraction. One question that needs to be asked to all the unwelcome guests, “So many unwelcome guests have arrived, but Who is the host?" And then, you will hear a resounding order, ‘I am.’
Still living in the jungle? || Neem Candies
Still living in the jungle? || Neem Candies
1 min

If you say that you must provide your daughter with a protein rich diet, why does the protein have to come from dairy? When everything in your life is anyway factory produced, why not use factory produced protein as well? People say, “Oh! But that would be unnatural.” Hello? If

Feeling Jealous of Your Friend's Success?
Feeling Jealous of Your Friend's Success?
10 min
Comparison is not the problem; the problem is when it affects your self-worth. If your marks are lower, it doesn’t mean you are lowly. Remember, 'Your performance is bad, your potential is not bad.' None of us perform to our full potential most of the time. Acknowledge that your friend has done better. You can look at them to see where your performance stands, but beyond that, others are not a benchmark.
Career Crossroads: Finding the Right Path Forward
Career Crossroads: Finding the Right Path Forward
11 min

Questioner: A lot of students that I talk to, it’ s the fear of the society, it’ s the fear of the unknown, it’ s fear of the expectations that they are carrying, that pushes them to become an engineer and then they figure out that probably this is not

Inviting Fear || AP Neem Candies
Inviting Fear || AP Neem Candies
4 min

Acharya Prashant: Losing something requires a method, an application only if that something is either central to you or sticks to you on its own. Fear is neither central to you, nor does fear say that “I want to stay with you.” All fear is acquired and external.

So, rather

The Lion Is Never Violent. Man Always Is. || AP Neem Candies
The Lion Is Never Violent. Man Always Is. || AP Neem Candies
10 min

Acharya Prashant: Man, as he is, is bound to kill. Killing is necessarily associated with the human form. That’s how we are, and that’s why the saints loathed the human form. They didn’t say that it is a great joy to be born as a human body. They said, “Please,

Man Bows Only to Fear, or to Beauty || AP Neem Candies
Man Bows Only to Fear, or to Beauty || AP Neem Candies
4 min

Acharya Prashant: Man bows down to only two things, you know—either to fear or to beauty. Today the world has neither of these. There is very little to be afraid of, you know. If the Earth is being destroyed, you can colonize another planet. “So, don’t worry, we will fly

The Storm Kept Raging, the Sky Didn't Utter a Word
The Storm Kept Raging, the Sky Didn't Utter a Word
12 min

Acharya Prashant: What's the relationship between immortality, deathlessness, and knowing the Ātmā as the container of the material and the mental world? Not that they are really distinct, still. So, what's the relation between knowing Ātmā as the container of the world and keeping all other thoughts aside, and immortality?

This Is Where We Went Wrong
This Is Where We Went Wrong
5 min
We came from the jungle in the hope of doing better in our villages and cities, but our villages and cities have failed. Man had the potential to either rise above the animal or fall way below it. Man has continuously been making the wrong choice. If you cannot build your cities and your social systems on spiritual foundations, then it is better to stay in the jungle. If your family, your workplace, your institutions do not run on spiritual grounds, then they better not run at all.
Procrastination vs Having a Good Time
Procrastination vs Having a Good Time
7 min

Questioner: Sir, you have said that “right action is its own reward; the wrong action is its own punishment.” Basis your quote, the common man must choose right action and be naturally aversive to the wrong action but that does not happen. Kindly, throw some light on it.

Acharya Prashant

Why are People so Insecure? || AP Neem Candies
Why are People so Insecure? || AP Neem Candies
4 min

Acharya Prashant: So, we find two processes always and concurrently at work in the domain of the Ego. One, the Ego says, "It feels insecure." So, it is constantly seeking vistas of security, that's the first thing. And secondly, all the securities that the Ego arranges for itself are necessarily

Old Boy! Drop Those Wild Tricks || AP Neem Candies
Old Boy! Drop Those Wild Tricks || AP Neem Candies
5 min
The difference between your intellectual position and your evolutionary position is increasing day by day. So, technology is giving you great stuff, but you are responding to it in a chimpanzee way. So, here you have these cameras, wonderful things, but what do you do with this? What do you do with this technology? You do all the monkey stuff with this technology. Read more.....
Should You Sacrifice Your Pleasures - When and How Much? || AP Neem Candies
Should You Sacrifice Your Pleasures - When and How Much? || AP Neem Candies
6 min

Acharya Prashant: You have to ask yourself what your primary identity is. If your primary identity is that of the body, then do what the body commands you to do. Good. The body has an inbuilt software of its own, and it’s a self-improving software. Its capacity to keep improving

What is Arrogance?
What is Arrogance?
9 min
It is not arrogance to expect the highest for yourself. It is not at all your destiny to remain small. Arrogance lies in expecting the highest while remaining exactly as one is. The Vedas say, “If you underestimate yourself, you are doing a disfavor to yourself. If you overestimate yourself, you are still giving yourself a raw deal.”
Who Am I?
Who Am I?
21 min
Who am I?' arises from a relatively unconscious state, simply meaning, 'I will not remain the one who asked it.' You will have to become conscious. So the one who asks this question will have to disappear to get the answer. 'Who am I?' is for the wise, who are no longer interested in remaining troubled.
Is Anger Really the Problem?
Is Anger Really the Problem?
12 min
Anger is not a disease in itself. Anger is an indicator. If we could have anger without any side effects, how about that? Exciting? Anger becomes necessary so that you may see how bad your condition is. Anger is a message that the entire spectrum of twenty-four hours is going wrong. A message that you are not living rightly.