Saint Sahjobai

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.”

Your Worth does not come from Bearing Babies or Breast-Feeding || AP Neem Candies

6 min

Acharya Prashant: You have said, “What kind of change our education system needs to have so that our coming generations live together in peace and fulfillment?” Live together with each other, right? You haven’t said they live together with animals. The trees, the rivers, the rabbits, and the lions. That… read_more

How to Not Be Lonely?

34 min

To be lonely is to be surrounded. Surrounded not necessarily on the outside, but surely within. Are you worried about yourself? Do memories keep haunting you? You are lonely. You are very very lonely. Who then is alone? The fellow who is alone is the one who is not with himself, just as the lonely fellow is always with himself. The fellow who is alone is rarely with himself. Because he is not with himself, he becomes available. He becomes available. Available to be with that which is.

Should Women Leave Their Parental Home?

11 min

Your only obligation is your liberation. These are just loveless social customs and economic structures where a woman is seen as a factor of production that produces babies. There’s no need to go to the husband’s place or even stay at your father’s if you are unloved and unwanted. The world is a vast opportunity. Live anywhere, stay anywhere, do whatever is the right work, and fly free—simple.

Is Religion Patriarchal? Exploring Its Impact on Women's Lives

30 min

Vedānta is about the person gaining liberation from both of these—body identification and mental conditioning. So, ideally spirituality should be the woman’s best friend. But practically, evidence has been rather mixed; in fact, evidence has been that religion historically has been on the side of the oppressors when it comes to the women, oppressors of the women. The reason is that religion itself has not been well understood. Religion itself has been a victim of contamination, and when religion is contaminated then religion becomes a tool towards exploitation of women.

Beware of Those Suggesting to Avoid Reading Scriptures

9 min

It’s far easier to sit on a greatly decorated stage and talk about the virtues of Rudrākṣa, and what kind of water to drink, and why copper is useful; and all kinds of pseudo-scientific nonsense. But to really speak upon a Kabir or an Ashtavakra requires a tremendous understanding which does not come to everybody. If you are a spiritual teacher and you are saying you have not read any scripture, that raises questions on your love for the Truth.

The Reality of Fake Feminism: Separating Fact from Fiction

10 min

True feminism is really when the woman, the female, stops taking being a female as her primary identity. If you want to talk of feminism in the context of women's liberation, then this alone is liberation. As long as she is fighting for her rights as a woman, she is not liberated. She, first of all, needs to be liberated from the concept that she is a woman. If she continues to be a woman, then her genetic conditioning and biological impulses and physical drives would continue to rule her. And that would obviously make the achievement of her potential as a human being very difficult.

Men Desperately Trying to Understand Women - and Failing!

2 min

Questioner: Thank you for meeting with me again, Acharya Ji! I have a question.

Every time I see an attractive woman, I’m gonna feel the impulse to drop everything and look at her.

Men’s headspace is occupied with conquering women. Can I train myself out of it?

But I have… read_more

Life is for Better Things || Neem Candies

1 min

That could be one necessary mark of a true feminist: she would not be dependent on anybody else for a single rupee, especially not on the male partner.

“Financial independence and then still having kids, is that something that can be counted under feminism as such?”

No, you see, these… read_more

Loneliness: Gift or Curse?

6 min

Most of us have such low tolerance for loneliness that we fill it up with crap. Either the wrong kind of job, or beliefs, or person. Loneliness is a gift because it gives you the opportunity and the freedom to go for the best. “I’m lonely,” means “I have the opportunity.” And the opportunities are available throughout life. Do you want to give that up?

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… read_more

Most Ignored Side of Women Empowerment

5 min

External freedom without caring for her internal freedom will become dangerous because it creates an illusion of freedom. They say we are empowered, but internally they are living in the jungle variety of bondage. The woman has to have self-knowledge and that's where Vedanta comes in. Vedanta tells her, ‘Learn to keep the body aside. You are not the body.’

Are Women Sexually Passive?

3 min

Man keeps on fantasizing about sex as the ultimate remedy to his mental chaos. And to get this remedy, he must have the woman’s body. To ensure that the woman’s body is available, the man must keep the woman in bondage. Otherwise, she may, or she may not acquiesce.

Is Patriarchy Hurting Men Too?

15 min

Patriarchy is the belief that one’s job is determined by gender, oppressing both men and women. It’s not about men versus women; it’s wisdom versus ignorance. If a man continues to be a man, he can only be a predator who hunts women, while women hunt passively in return. Ultimately, no one can find joy while others remain in misery.

How to surrender?

22 min

Questioner: Due to my conditioning and fear, mind tries to perceive some ‘thing’ to surrender to. This stops me from actually surrendering. With this conflict, how to understand if there is any movement towards the centre, or is it all at the periphery?

Acharya Prashant: The inner and the outer… read_more

How to Overcome Laziness?

14 min

'Laziness' is an unnecessary pejorative. You’re imposing morality on Prakriti (physical nature) and calling it laziness. There’s nothing called laziness. In nature, there’s a tendency towards work minimization, which is logical—get maximum output with minimum effort. You view it through a moral lens and call it laziness. If something gives more output with less work, you’ll choose it. You call it laziness, but it’s simply efficiency. You calculate the pleasure-to-effort ratio, and if lying in bed offers more pleasure than working out, you’ll naturally choose the bed.

Why Become a Woman, Why Become a Man?

6 min

Acharya Prashant: What if you were never, never trained in womanhood? How would you live? You can’t even think because right now, every bit of you is a trained bit. How do you know that a woman must have long hair? How do you know? That’s how it is! Nine… read_more

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?… read_more

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… read_more

The Difficult Call of Dear Love

12 min

Questioner: Acharya ji, today I realized that without love in my heart, I cannot find joy in my life, however wonderful my external situations are. Just listening to, and singing a Kabir bhajan brings me so much joy, love, and tears, I really want to know this Love, and what… read_more

Women in Revealing Dresses: Liberation or Titillation?

9 min

To those who articulate that women should mind their clothes and dressings, the question arises: what kind of person are you, man or woman, if anything is able to disturb or provoke you so easily? The allegation is that when watching a woman dressed skimpily, it becomes a disturbance, a distraction, even a provocation. How will you insulate yourself, and how much will you insulate yourself from the world? And what are the limits to what you want to see and not see? Today, it is said that a woman’s legs or thighs provoke you. What prevents you from saying tomorrow that her ankles and fingernails provoke you? Would you then demand that she should cover up from head to toe?

Why Do We All Act so Blindly?

18 min

Questioner: * I am Darshan, and my question is very simple yet complicated. So why do we not work? So even after knowing that if we work, we will get something that we are looking for. So, to take an example, I had the opportunity to interact with a lot… read_more

A Single Mother with a 4-year-Old Kid, Is She Helpless? || AP Neem Candies

3 min

Acharya Prashant: Socially, we have been trained to visualize the happy family as a kid with his two arms being held by two people of opposite gender. That’s really not needed. The kid is already being held in the palm of his real Father. The real Father is not even… read_more

The Helpless Teacher || AP Neem Candies

4 min

Acharya Prashant: I was six years old. My sister Pragya was three and my younger brother was being born, mother was in the maternity ward. So, we two kids were having good fun. We had been relieved from school for a month because mother had gone to another city to… read_more

What Actually Holds Women Back?

18 min

Questioner: Just a thought. I have seen that the basic approach, the very base of how a woman is looking at the world, as well as I have come near to a woman’s mind and I’ve tried to understand is that they think through a lens that I cannot even… read_more

Look at the Eyes, Before You Look Through the Eyes || AP Neem Candies

3 min

Acharya Prashant: Those of you who have tried to chase success in this world know very well that all that you have received is fear. Kindly do not punish your children now. Kindly do not push them to make the same foolish mistakes that you kept making all your life.… read_more

Loneliness and Love

13 min

Questioner: I have a question on an excerpt from you.

“Aloneness is not about being free of others and living without others. Aloneness is to live without oneself. Aloneness does not have much to do with the so-called others; aloneness has everything to do with the one called oneself.”

I’d… read_more

Rise Above Failure: Claim Your Success Today

12 min

Questioner: My name is Rohit. My question is related to failures. At certain moments of life we feel that we have had enough of failures and we are tired of it. Similar goes with me, like I have been trying my best in my life to do everything that I… read_more

Finally, What Takes the Seeker to the Truth?

8 min

Acharya Prashant: A quiver full of the best of arrows but no bow, how do you fight the battle of life? Can you imagine the amusing as well as tragic situation of the person who has a great arrow without a bow? He will be sharpening and sharpening his weapon,… read_more

Met Countless Enlightened Masters, Yet Confusion Remains!

4 min

You say that you have met many enlightened masters. If Enlightenment is what it is as traditionally asserted, then even one should have been sufficient. And even meeting one is considered a rare occurrence. And here you are, having met many and still confused. Without being Enlightened yourself, how did you discover that those masters were Enlightened? The Right One comes to you as a matter of chance. He does not come to you as a matter of planning.

The One Thing Women (Especially) Should Avoid

11 min

Questioner: Hi Sir. My name is Vaishnavi Gaikwad. I would like to ask that when sometimes I do some things and my parents don’t like it, of course they will scold me. So, sometimes the matter goes too far and they hurt me and then I don’t talk back to… read_more

Discipline and Dedication - Are They Really Virtues? || AP Neem Candies

7 min

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… read_more

How to Overcome Loneliness?

7 min

You are lonely, so you go and tie a knot with someone because you are not alright with yourself. One does not like looking at oneself. It is rare when the ego acknowledges that it is an idiot, but it does sometime happen that one looks at oneself. And when one starts looking at oneself, it’s a new thing that is happening because what one sees is worthless, but the seeing is not worthless. And then, one reaches the state of aloneness where one doesn’t hate oneself so much anymore.

Why Are Women So Emotional?

4 min

The usual feminism always proceeds keeping the man at the center. The woman is saying, “The man is alright and I want to be like the man.” This is such a low standard to set, whereas true feminism would proceed keeping the person that the female is, her real potential at the center. Real feminism is raising to your own individual center, called the true self or Atman.

How to Identify the Real Master?

26 min

It is not others that you have to be cautious of. You have to be cautious of that within you which gets influenced by others, which does not know others but gets influenced by others. It does not live in knowing. It lives in indoctrination. How to know the real master? See, who is treating your disease. How do you know a doctor? Not by his degrees but by his ability to treat you.

Is Enlightenment More Difficult for Women?

17 min

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.

Why Is the Guru-Disciple Relationship So Special?

17 min

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.

Three Grades of Ego

13 min

“Before I can drop the ego, before I can disassociate myself from the incompleteness, I, the one attached to incompleteness, have to first get attached one last time.” And this last attachment is the attachment to the Guru. It is the end of all attachments. That’s the Guru. Read more....

Do We Have the Choice to Surrender?

3 min

You never go and ask real questions. You ask, “How to surrender to the Truth?” but you never ask, “How to surrender to money?” There you very conveniently and easily surrender. Anybody who has faced difficulty in surrendering to fear? Have you seen how easy that is! But in surrendering to Truth you say, “It is so impossible, how do I make that choice?”

How to Deal With Loneliness?

8 min

Research has shown that loneliness is found throughout the society, including among people in marriages along with other strong relationships, and those with successful careers. As a subjective emotion, people experience loneliness even when surrounded by other people.

How to Surrender?

5 min

Acharya Prashant: So, you are asking, ‘How to surrender’?

If I say you can surrender by jumping from that hill top, you won’t take the advice, right? It would be foolish advice if I say that. If I say, you can surrender by jumping into leaping flames, that is again… read_more

If You Love Krishna, Why Avoid/Distort the Gita?

15 min

So, if I really love Krishna, obviously I will be going through the Gītā 2000 times. And in the light of Gītā , I will then read *Bhagavat Purana* , *Harivansh Purana* , many other *Puranas* ; and then I will be able to understand the stories in the Puranic way. Without understanding the Gītā , how will you understand the *Purana* ? Read more...

Sir, From Where Do You Get This Wisdom?

6 min

The fact is that Vedant is obviously wonderful. I live by it. I definitely see that Vedant is the basis of all great philosophies of East and West. It is the foundation of everything that is beautiful. Vedant brings me to a deep peace and silence. But it is Saint Kabir precisely among all the Saints who reduces me to tears. Read more....

What Makes You Do This?

61 min

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… read_more

How to Always Be Inspired?

23 min

To go as far as possible for a human being. Do you know how far a human being can go? Do you know what heights can be scaled? That’s what I call real ambition. We live lukewarm lives. Two kids’, two BHK flat, two cars, two air conditioners, two husbands that’s all. Is there anything more that you want? Anything more? Two jobs from the campus that will fill up your heart; two wives, maybe a mistress or a concubine, it’s alright. Anything more that you want? Two bank accounts, one for white money, one for black money; two flats, one for living, one as an asset.

Deh Shiva bar mohe ihai (The spiritual battle within) || Acharya Prashant, on Guru Gobind Singh (2019)

1 min

Verse: Deh Shiva bar mohe ihai

देह शिवा बर मोहे ईहे, शुभ कर्मन ते कभुं न टरूं न डरौं अरि सौं जब जाय लड़ौं, निश्चय कर अपनी जीत करौं, अरु सिख हों आपने ही मन कौ इह लालच हउ गुन तउ उचरों, जब आव की अउध निदान बनै अति ही… read_more

Do Men Fool Women or Do Women Fool Themselves?

5 min

The man says, “Darling, why do you have to work? You stay at home, I’ll work. You take care of the bed, babies, and mother-in-law. My money is your money.” Never accept this temptation. His money is never your money. If you don't earn anything, you are a beggar. He might be earning millions, but if you don’t earn, you have nothing. Emotions, tears, biology, nest—that's the woman's world, and she is so easy to fool. Men have been fooling women forever, and women still don’t want to wake up.

Acharya Prashant: The Only Male Spiritual Teacher for Women’s Empowerment

26 min

Real women empowerment isn't about simply making choices, but about making wise ones. If you do not know how to make decisions, autonomy in decision-making becomes a curse, doesn’t it? Today, many teens and college-going girls embrace a radical mindset: 'I’ll live life my own way, I decide for myself.' 'You only live once, my way or the highway,' and similar attitudes stem from the same center of ignorance as previous generations. Now, the exploiter is within, and this false sense of freedom leads to disastrous choices. True women empowerment demands wisdom, not just autonomy. Spiritual education is crucial, especially for girls.

Objectifying Women with Her Consent: Acharya Prashant on Women Empowerment

9 min

Questioner (Q): All the forms of multimedia — the film industry and the advertisements have presented images of both sexes which are very often unrealistic and debatable. The very quality of femininity has been portrayed in the film industry, ironically, as victims, as mere pretty faces and sidekicks. Why do… read_more

Acharya Prashant Explains Why Feminism Needs Vedanta

11 min

Questioner (Q): We are very grateful and honoured to have you here and have this discussion with you. I have been watching your videos, and your thoughts on women’s empowerment. So, being a man, conditioned to this patriarchal Indian society, what sensitized you towards women's issues and what made you… read_more