U. G. Krishnamurti

J. Krishnamurti's 'The Observer Is the Observed' Explained by Acharya Prashant

'The observer is the observed; an honest observation dissolves them both.' Or, 'The observer is the observed, and both are false.' We lay a lot of emphasis on the world, assuming it to be the Truth. If the world is an entity independent of everything, then it has to be the Truth, right? Truth is that which is independent of everything.

Is Meditation Really as Beneficial as People Claim?

13 min

Meditation is a way of life. Meditation is the most beautiful love affair you can have. People talk of romance, why not romance the truth? Romance is your unending date with the truth. You see, when you are on a date, it’s not as if you are looking at the other person all the time. Especially if you are meeting that person frequently. It could be a working date then. “Fine let’s meet somewhere, let’s sit across a table, you have your own laptop, I have mine and we work.“ And that’s a date.

Knowing When To Exercise Patience And When To Pursue Goals Aggressively

4 min

Choose the goal extremely wisely and then it does not matter whether you are failing or succeeding or what. Obviously, you do not want to keep failing continuously. So, you look at the process of living, the process through which you wanted to move towards whatever you chose. And then you make continuous improvements in the process. But all this talk of improvement and everything make sense only if, first of all, the goal is right.

The Means Is as Important as the End

3 min

And then there are those who actually really practically want liberation. Those who really and practically want liberation, find out the means to be liberated. The Guru is the means. Nanak sahab says, “Now that you know so much about God, the absolute, you must also know how the absolute is to be reached.”

Mind Alone Is Bondage And Liberation

29 min

The mind is the entire set, the whole universe of objects that the ‘I’ has a relationship with. Not the entire set of everything that is there in the universe. One does not have a relationship with everything. But whatsoever one develops a relationship with becomes mind. An object untouched by the self, the ego is just an object. But the moment the object is touched by ‘I’, it becomes vishay or mind. And, mind is an accumulation, a congregation of objects that it is in relationship with.

Decoding the East: Insights Ignored by the West

8 min

Before trying on your own, you do not even know the problem in its entirety, and you are going to somebody and the whole process demands time, energy, space and sometimes even money. So, before you engage, obviously you need to have tried your uttermost. So, that’s something obviously to be supported, but equally, we all know how limited we are beyond a point, and when we come to that point, it becomes obvious that one needs to look beyond herself, that one needs to seek help.

Clear Your Dues Before Checking Out

19 min

It’s not as if you have to indefinitely stay dithered or bonded, not really. At the same time, it does not mean that the relationship has to be so material or so transactional, that once the money has been squared off or once you are sure that I have given them the requisite care, attention and emotional support, now I can just break away and separate them from my life. We are talking of neither of these ends.

What Is Rest?

11 min

Rest is to realize that whatever you are doing is ultimately not going to benefit you in terms of result. Rest is to not to hope for a result, but to be already there and because you are already there, so the activity is happening. Now the activity is a game, a pass time, just for fun. You can indulge yourself or you can change the activity. The activity doesn’t really mean much.

Beliefs: Reconciling Perception & Reality

20 min

We all are such wicked creatures. We feign helplessness just to exhort, extort pleasure. We cannot even be honest enough to say that I am a pleasure seeker; therefore, I'm doing all those things. All your helplessness results in pleasure. All your assumptions lead to pleasure. All your dishonesty leads to pleasure. So everything is just for the sake of pleasure. If somebody comes and says, “You know, I'm helpless,” Just figure out where the pleasure is, and you will know the dishonesty.

Stop Asking These Spiritual Questions

4 min

Think of yourself. Even the Supreme or the Absolute that you think of is just something within the universe, so stop caring or wondering so much about it. Look rather at your own life, your own daily actions. What do you work for? Who are the people you relate to? Where does your bread come from? These are the questions that matter much more than any of the traditional, spiritual queries or you could say that these daily mundane questions are the ‘Real Spiritual’ ones.

When You are Alright, then the Sound of Your Footsteps Is Compassion

9 min

When you are not bothered about the other, that is when you are totally compassionate. When you are not trying to change the other, that is when you become an agent of change. Compassion is not about thinking all the time of others. You cannot try to be compassionate. When you are alright, then the sound of your footsteps is compassion. That is what compassion is.

Is Your Mind Your Best Friend or Your Worst Enemy?

10 min

The mind is both your best friend and your worst enemy. It’s your friend when it operates with intelligence and attention, but when there is no attention, when there is no care or love, then intelligence does not function. And then, the mind is your worst enemy. A prisoner knows no joy, no freedom, no love. Your own sleep keeps you imprisoned. The moment you wake up, you are free.

The Multitasking Debate: Efficiency vs. Presence

12 min

Even when you think you are not multitasking, you are actually multitasking. Multitasking is an imperative, but don’t be a multiple-divided person. Multiple selves are not welcome; multitasking is alright. We live lives of multiple selves. One self, other self, and all those selves are all fake, borrowed.

Do Love And Attachment Go Together?

10 min

Attachment is just a promise. A lack of fulfilment. It is a substitute for love because the real thing is not available. If you find yourself attached, it means there is a desire for love; it means there is a call for love. Know that a fake is presenting itself as a substitute for the real thing.

The Biggest Act of Cruelty Today

8 min

Spirituality is about realizing that all nonsense emanates from the DNA. You are born with nonsense that body identification is the fundamental problem and the root cause of all violence. It’s the body that is violent because it is the body that is coming from the jungle. We share this body with the chimpanzees, with the dinosaurs, with the lions, tigers, every single animal in the jungle is this body and therefore, all the problems of the jungle are contained in this body.

How Do I Really Know Somebody?

6 min

Because we all carry identities wherever we go, from these identities come ready-made opinions, and these opinions never allow us to look at the truth. We have no understanding of who we are, and all over, self-knowledge is limited to these identities that have been handed over to us by the environment, by others, by parents, by society, by education, by others, and it’s a very funny situation. You are unable to know the reality because you are determined not to know the reality.

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!

Stop Calling These as Scriptures

8 min

A scripture is a book that tells you about yourself. A scripture has to deal essentially with self-knowledge. A book that talks of dietary choices cannot be called a scripture. A person who talks of the kind of things you must eat to enhance your health and such things cannot be called a Guru. Shastra is what deals with self-knowledge; a guru is one who encourages self-knowledge in you.

Why Isn't the Gita for Everyone?

8 min

It depends on the pain you are willing to take. Sometimes Duryodhanas have to be turned into Arjunas. It’s just that, it’s relatively easier with an Arjuna. But what to do when even Arjunas are not present to receive the Gita? As long as somebody has anything, anything that resembles consciousness, as long as somebody has even the faintest remnant of consciousness left, Gita can be brought to that person but it will be tough, difficult.

The Life Journey of Acharya Prashant

11 min

I didn’t try to sweep things under the carpet. If I have seen something, I have seen it. I didn’t try to pretend that I understand when I didn’t. I didn’t try to trivialize something just because I couldn’t wrap my head around it. If something was beyond my comprehension, I let it stay there. And the process remained continuous, in that sense, not the exact word, but, a bit laborious, and demanded patience.

Mind Work Ends When True Realization Takes Hold

18 min

Realization is extremely powerful. You cannot realize and not act. It is impossible. You cannot realize and not act. Action follows realization. So if you come and say, “I realize, I understand but I cannot act,” then you are mistaken; you actually do not realize at all! The action after realization is not time-bound; it does not even have a time lag. It is instantaneous and spontaneous.

How to Set Priorities in Life?

9 min

You ask about balancing priorities, but "balance" is a very violent word. It denotes competition. ‘Or’ denotes either this or that — this is conflict. Life does not proceed like this. A polymath, like Leonardo da Vinci, mastered many fields. There was no ‘or’ in his life. His life was full of ‘And’. Most of us live a life of poor man. Life can be very, very, very rich. But not when you say “Either this, or that.” Life is rich when you say, “And, And, And.”

Where Is the Kurukshetra of Your Life?

5 min

Arjuna’s hell was in his daily tasks, and so is yours. Arjuna could sense the evil in what appeared normal to others; you must also be able to sense that there is something extremely fishy in what seems normal to others. Your house, your workplace, your society—these are your Kurukshetra. That’s where you have to fight your Mahabharata. That’s where you need Shri Krishna and the Gita.

How to Set Goals in Life?

20 min

A goal that is too far away in time is a false goal. The goal has to be extremely immediate. By having a false goal, you give yourself the luxury of not doing the right thing right now. By placing your goal five years into the future, you have given yourself the freedom— the false freedom— to do any random stuff right now.

Yoga - The Biggest 'Spiritual' Myth Today

17 min

You have ample gurus who come over and say, “You know, you do this and then you can do whatever you want to do.” Now the moment you hear this kind of philosophy that Yoga will help you do better whatever you want to do, I suppose one must run away. Because that’s exactly antithetical to Yoga. Yoga is not about doing whatever you want to do; it’s the ego that says that, not the dedicated, devoted, wise mind. That does not come from there.

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… read_more

How to Deal with Attachment?

12 min

Attachment is not a problem; the problem is being attached to something totally unworthy. If you are attached to someone, check out the facts of their importance. Ask yourself, “Does this person bring Truth, Fearlessness & Light into my life?” If you have been wise enough, or simply lucky enough to have the right person in your life, then continue to remain attached. But assess them well with Truth at your core.

Trouble or Just a Story?

6 min

It is not events, but the meanings that you hold of them that agitate you. A great happening in the world that you do not take to be related to yourself, does it bother you greatly? It doesn’t because you do not enforce the ‘outer equals inner’ rule in such cases. But the moment you bring about, bring in that dangerous equation, that dubious identity, ‘outer is inner,’ that is the moment you start shivering and panicking. We decide our triggers, they don’t just happen.

The Real Meaning of Devoting One's Action to Shri Krishna

7 min

You are too small to conceive or imagine who Shri Krishna really is. How then will you devote your actions to him? You can only devote something to an object, and the real Shri Krishna is not an object. So, limit yourself to just practising a certain casualness. A certain beparwahi. You must never accord too much value to your desires and opinions. And if possible, crack a joke or two about yourself. It’s great to be the butt of one’s own jokes!

How to Live Fully?

3 min

Living fully does not mean adding something to life. It means recognizing that life is already complete, and you must not disrespect that fullness. It is not about going out and consuming life. The volume or quantity of experiences doesn’t matter; what matters is the quality. There is nothing but fullness—just go close to it.

Why Does One Desire Liberation while the Other does not?

5 min

Questioner: Why is there a difference of intensity and love for mukti (liberation) between different human beings?

Acharya Prashant: The differences that you are talking of all relate to time; therefore, they all will be resolved in due course of time. Time gave rise to all those differences, and those… read_more

Why Do I Hate Mondays?

10 min

If you are someone who is always looking forward to the coming weekend, it means trouble. Be engaged in a kind of work that does not make it necessary for you to seek relief or relaxation over the weekend. Work is life. Work must not be something that taxes you, drains, or saps your energy. Work must be something that really rejuvenates you. You must be looking forward to Monday.

Beware such energies || Acharya Prashant, at BITS Pilani, Goa (2022)

6 min

Questioner (Q): My question is that I heard there are two cosmic energies that will take out all the sufferings of the people. We heard from Treta Yug of lord Shri Ram and Lakshman received the cosmic energies from Sage Vishvamitra. Those are called Sambala and Atibala . If he… read_more

How to Overcome Perfectionism?

6 min

Making the perfect choice is far more important than being perfect at the perfect choice. Pick up the right project even if you can’t initially excel at it. Instead, you are taught to choose as per your strengths because that is what society and the body want. They say, “Identify your strengths and make your decisions based on your strengths.” No, what you are actually saying is, “I cannot tolerate being bad at what I do, therefore I will pick up something I can be good at.” You are giving prime importance to your ego.

How Does One Stay Calm?

5 min

Do not allow anything worldly to become too important for you. I know that it is not easy. It is because we have practised the opposite since many years. It is easy, but we have lost that ease. Till the time anything is important to you, tension, nervousness, panic, anxiety are inevitable. The world itself is the reason. Live in the world, talk, eat, sleep, do whatever you want, but do not let anything become important for you. Have a certain disregard, and you'll naturally stay calm.

To Understand the Mind, Observe Without Concluding

17 min

Just know that this is what is there in the mind. And that is the appropriate mental activity. The mind is the machine, well tuned, nicely designed for both analysis and observation. Use it for observation. You use it only for analysis and comparisons. Use it for observation. And if the observation is honest, then the object of observation will drop.

Superficial Differences, Deep Commonalities: 6 Human Tendencies

9 min

We are at a very peculiar point in the history of mankind. We are extremely close to devastation rather, total annihilation. We need to be shaken up. In fact, we need to be hit before we are bulldozed by the inevitable role of time and the principle of results of action— karmphal. So, that's the kind of public policy environment we need today. At every point, the individual needs to be reminded, all the stuff that pushes us deeper into a stupor needs to be checked, regulated, taxed.

What Makes You Feel Bored?

6 min

Boredom arises because you are somewhere else. We have been taught to be result-centric, to be future-centric. When you are always focused on the future, the present automatically becomes boring. It’s like a great party is happening here, right now, but you are somewhere else, missing out on all the action and fun. Be here!

How to Live and Not Just Survive?

13 min

If most of your waking time is spent in pursuit of physical sustenance or physical pleasure, then you are just surviving. Real life is when the body, the physicality are not the end but the means. Of what use is life, then, if all you have to look for is physical-mental security, and fulfilment of blind desire? You live when there is something beyond physicality to live for. That's the defining and exclusive characteristic of a truly alive human being - Freedom.

Who Is Today’s Ravana? What Evil Does Man Needs to Fight Today?

35 min

If somebody would declare himself as an enemy of God, as Ravana did, as Kamsa did, oh they were very innocent fellows, they did, then you could fight him. But today's Ravanas do not declare themselves as enemies of god, they declare themselves to be surrendered to god. Today's Ravana would probably be found in Rishikesh teaching Hatha Yoga. And saying, “This is yoga. This is yoga.” Now whom are you going to fight? They’ve all assumed the name of God. Man is god.

What Is Creativity?

4 min

Creativity is the action of a fresh and free mind. With a fresh mind, whatever you do is creative. We have equated creativity with brilliance and dynamism, whereas it can be very ordinary. It’s like love—where something totally new comes from nowhere, where one is not overly concerned about results, and where one is not caught in mundane distractions. It's an expression of freedom and fearlessness.

Living a Life of Dignity

3 min

Acharya Prashant: The Buddha used to quote three types of horses. Coming from his palatial background, it seems he was fond of horses. So, he would say that the worst type of horses are those that move only when spanked. That’s how our energy rises—it rises upon spanking. When there… read_more