Saint Namdev

Red roses or books? || Neem Candies
Red roses or books? || Neem Candies
1 min

Does the person you are with encourage you to read? You have to ask, “What does he bring for me, roses or books?”

Be very cautious of those who bring roses for you, especially red roses. Books are what we all need, and books are dangerous. Books are dangerous because

Related Articles
Finding God Is Easy, Tolerating Him Is Difficult
Finding God Is Easy, Tolerating Him Is Difficult
19 min

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

To help the other is to help oneself || Delhi University (2022)
To help the other is to help oneself || Delhi University (2022)
5 min

Questioner (Q): Sir, if we do something to make someone else happy by deceiving our own self, is it worth it?

Acharya Prashant (AP): No, you cannot make someone else happy by deceiving your own self. That kind of a thing cannot exist; that kind of a thing exists only

Can Multiple Sexual Partners Fulfill You?
Can Multiple Sexual Partners Fulfill You?
8 min
All your relationships are deeply your attempts to fill an inner void. Whether you relate sexually to one person or many — will sex give you what you truly want? The body is a shallow means to attain that which your consciousness craves. There are beautiful ways of relating to men and women; relate to them in higher ways.
Your Worth does not come from Bearing Babies or Breast-Feeding || AP Neem Candies
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

Prakriti, Attention and Truth
Prakriti, Attention and Truth
5 min
You rather have to be relaxed and just receptive. It comes to you. You don't have to chase it. You simply have to unlock your door, and these two are very different approaches. What does the devotee do? He just opens his doors and waits, calmly waits. He doesn't want to enforce his will. Non-resistance. Active pursual would all be within yourself. You are actively pursuing the beyond within yourself.
Why Do Partners Cheat?
Why Do Partners Cheat?
20 min
Marriage founded on the body alone is bound to suffer from cheating, as one body can never satisfy anyone. Your association with the other person should be based on love, friendship, and inner fulfillment, not the body. If you are physical and bodily, no loyalty is possible. Loyalty is fundamentally spiritual.
Is Self-Love About Being Happy?
Is Self-Love About Being Happy?
8 min
Making yourself happy isn't self-love. Self-love is gifting yourself the highest possible. If you do not know what to give yourself, at least abstain from giving yourself toxic and harmful things. Real love is always tough. Self-love is an exercise in reduction, not accumulation. When you work to make your life beautiful, you are truly loving yourself.
The Joy of Being Drenched in Love
The Joy of Being Drenched in Love
13 min
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.
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.
Live-in Relationship or Marriage?
Live-in Relationship or Marriage?
11 min
There is not much difference between a live-in relationship and marriage. When you are living with somebody, that person gains enormous power to affect your life in all kinds of ways, and you too gain that power. You cannot do justice to that responsibility if you are not a spiritually evolved person. Be very, very conscious of your personal space. It is sacred; not everybody must be allowed to enter it.
Without this, all is worthless || Acharya Prashant, on Guru Kabir (2019)
Without this, all is worthless || Acharya Prashant, on Guru Kabir (2019)
5 min

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

Why Are You Scared of Truth?
Why Are You Scared of Truth?
8 min
There is nothing more scary than the Truth. The primary function of Truth is to negate all your falseness, to show you that you are living in lies. Truth supports you in the sense that, without its help, you cannot even see falseness. Truth cannot be pleasant to what we are. Truth can only be pleasant to the Truth. Before the Real can come, this false one must disappear.
How to Handle Disagreement in Relationships?
How to Handle Disagreement in Relationships?
10 min
Whenever disagreement arises, don’t see it as something unwanted. A conflict of opinions can help broaden one’s perspective, provided the intention is to reach the fact. Most often, however, the intention is to defend one’s position, which is driven by ego. Talk and don’t take it personally. If you don’t know how to interact—even with the best of people—you won’t grow. You must know what to take and what to totally ignore.
Why Does One Desire Liberation while the Other does not?
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

Why Do We Need the Society?
Why Do We Need the Society?
8 min
Society is not a curse; nothing is a curse. If you are aware that the milk is stale, can it harm you? No, because you wouldn’t drink it. Society cannot harm you if you are aware. So try to find things with clarity. This is not the time to complain about the rottenness or falseness in society. Be true, rise up, and let action happen.
Are You in a Right Relationship?
Are You in a Right Relationship?
12 min
There are only two kinds of relationships that are right in this world. If you connect with someone at a higher level of consciousness, hold their hand so they can uplift you. If you connect with someone at a lower level of consciousness, hold their hand to uplift them. Any other kind of relationship is junk.
How to Save Your Relationship?
How to Save Your Relationship?
7 min
Relationships get spoiled when people cling to each other. If you truly want heart-to-heart contact, give each other adequate space. At times, disappear from each other’s lives—go on a vacation alone. Then, when you vacation with your partner, it will be delightful. We all need space, and only a free mind has the right and the capacity to love.
The Sixth Mass Extinction has started!
The Sixth Mass Extinction has started!
4 min

To date, mass extinction has occurred five times on Earth. Mass extinction means the complete destruction of all living beings. Five times in history, the Earth's temperature increased beyond limits, and life on the planet came to an end.

And now, the sixth mass extinction has begun! The reason for

Mahatma Jyotiba Phule
Mahatma Jyotiba Phule
3 min
Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Opened the first indigenous school for girls at the age of 21. He worked all his life against evils like child marriage, suppression of women's education, casteism, prohibition of widow remarriage, and infanticide. Babasaheb Ambedkar called him his guru and intellectual father.
Suicides in Educational Institutions
Suicides in Educational Institutions
7 min
From all the directions, the message that is coming to you is, there is this particular definition of success; and if you cannot measure up to it, then life is not worth living. So, some of our friends, unfortunately, take it very literally. They say, “If life is not worth living, why should we anyway continue living at all?” You could say, “They are more logical than the rest of us.”
Is Sex and Meditation Just an Escape of Ego?
Is Sex and Meditation Just an Escape of Ego?
8 min
The ego says that my first priority is to remain, exist, and after that comes everything else. Even the Truth must be subservient to my first priority. So, liberation is alright as long as it is a second of liberation. Peace is alright as long as it is five minutes of peace. But if silence threatens to take over the entire life, if peace starts dominating noise to the extent that the noise might be completely annihilated, then the ego rejects. The ego wants Truth, but only a modicum of Truth. The ego wants peace, but only a sliver of peace.
How To Build Healthy Relationships?
How To Build Healthy Relationships?
6 min
A healthy relationship is possible only when you are healthy. A healthy being is not restless, not continuously suffering, and not wandering in tension. When you are settled within, this sureness, power, peace, and completeness reflect in your relationships. What I have within me shines through all my relationships. The relationship of a healthy being is called Love.
Fight, and Fight So Hard That You Either Win or Perish (On Guru Tegh Bahadur)
Fight, and Fight So Hard That You Either Win or Perish (On Guru Tegh Bahadur)
9 min
Fight, and perish fighting. If you win, glory is yours. If you perish, at least all suffering is gone. Is that not a great way to live? Fight, and fight so hard that you either win, or perish.
The Role of Love and Acceptance in Defining Your Relationships
The Role of Love and Acceptance in Defining Your Relationships
11 min
You decide with whom to spend your time. You choose your boyfriend or your girlfriend, right? So, all of this, at least most of this, is happening as a result of my own decisions, my own choices. If I do not like my choices, then de-facto what is it that I dislike? The one who is making the choice.
Are We All Rapists?
Are We All Rapists?
10 min
Rape is a state of mind; the body only expresses it. A mind that cannot love will only rape. And we all rape. Is there anything you don’t rape? Look at how we consume rivers—are we not raping them? We are bothered only when the act becomes sexual and explicit. Laws or hanging a few people won’t stop rape. Till the mind of the individual does not change, rape will not stop.
Men Desperately Trying to Understand Women - and Failing!
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

Life is for Better Things || Neem Candies
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

‘I want’ versus ‘I must’
‘I want’ versus ‘I must’
1 min

Questioner: Is it possible to live without a target in life? I set a target for myself so that I have something to strive for, so that I have a sense of direction, but the thought of not achieving this target also brings sorrow and fear. So how can a

The Total Is Neither Masculine nor Feminine, Hence the Search and Summit of Both
The Total Is Neither Masculine nor Feminine, Hence the Search and Summit of Both
8 min
There is hardly any need to give special attention to the so-called masculine and feminine because neither the masculine really exists nor the feminine really exists. We talk about them because our mind is obsessed with gender, with sex; with women, with men; all dualities are the same. In fact, there is only one duality, called “duality”. The two ends of that duality can be given any name.
How to surrender?
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

What Is Prayer? Acharya Prashant on Guru Nanak
What Is Prayer? Acharya Prashant on Guru Nanak
7 min
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.
Is Knowing the Truth a Never-Ending Quest?
Is Knowing the Truth a Never-Ending Quest?
41 min

“The significance of a man is not in what he attains, but rather what he longs to attain.” -Khalil Gibran, ‘Sand and Foam’

Question: Once during a discourse on the Bible, you too have said, “The more you know the Truth, the more you want to know; such is

Love or Knowledge: Which is More Powerful for Liberation?
Love or Knowledge: Which is More Powerful for Liberation?
4 min

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

Why Others Can't Fulfill Your Expectations
Why Others Can't Fulfill Your Expectations
6 min
The movies tell us that unless there is a special person in your life, you are really missing out on something big and you are seized by FOMO. What is FOMO? Fear of missing out. "Oh my god! Everybody has that. I am the only one left behind. I must also have a partner, a girlfriend, a boyfriend, a husband, a wife, something. Hey, go grab somebody." So you go out and grab some Johnny next door. He was busy washing his sandals, and you went up to him and threw your most seductive smile and then he too was infected by FOMO. He said, "Now that I have the opportunity, why shouldn't I capitalize?" And thus, came about the relationship. And you call it a holy bond made in heaven. Why do we do that?
You've Had Enough of This Person
You've Had Enough of This Person
12 min

Questioner: Namaskar Acharya ji! I am reading a book called “Freedom from the Known”, where the author, Jiddu Krishnamurthi, talks about removing authority to be free from the ego. What does he mean by authority? Can we take anything to be the authority and then say, “I’m not going to

There Is an Elephant in the Room (We Smoothly Ignore It)
There Is an Elephant in the Room (We Smoothly Ignore It)
23 min

Questioner 1 Thank you Acharya Ji for taking the time and giving us this opportunity to sit down with you and discuss climate change, veganism, and a lot of other questions that we have for you. With me I have on the panel today, Niharika Raizada Ji, a renowned actress,

What Is Desh Prem Divas?
What Is Desh Prem Divas?
8 min

Acharya Prashant: Before we say love for the country, we should know what is this thing called country. If we don’t know what is country then whom do we love? If we don’t know what country is then what do we call love as?

This is just a machine (pointing

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

Parents Insist on Horoscope and Find the Guy is 'Manglik'
Parents Insist on Horoscope and Find the Guy is 'Manglik'
15 min

Questioner: Good evening sir. I’m…. and I’m a PhD student here at IIT, Kanpur. Sir, I have a very personal question. Being a girl child, especially in India, comes with very different sets of consequences. Despite being given equal opportunities like education and skills, at the end where we’re supposed

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,

Want More Pleasure?
Want More Pleasure?
9 min

Questioner: Acharyaji, my question is that the greed of getting more and more pleasure is increasing with time, and finally I’m finding myself getting stuck in the vicious circle of getting more and more pleasure. Sir, what are the ways that you could suggest to me to get out of

We Exist, and We Do Not
We Exist, and We Do Not
23 min

Questioner: Sir, it is pretty evident that I exist and you exist, but you have also stated that the ego does not exist. So, when someone calls you Acharya Prashant and you reply, isn’t that an identification that reflects an ego?

Acharya Prashant: It is a thing that is useful

Why Is It so Difficult to Forgive and Forget?
Why Is It so Difficult to Forgive and Forget?
8 min

Questioner 1: Why can’t we forgive some people, even though I know that thinking about them, I’ll hurt only myself? How to forgive and forget them, so that it will bring me peace?

Acharya Prashant: You see, you’ve checked into a hotel, the experience there is not good enough, right?

How Will You Have a Fairy-Tale Affair? || AP Neem Candies
How Will You Have a Fairy-Tale Affair? || AP Neem Candies
5 min

Acharya Prashant: Had you been completely broken from the inside then there would have been nobody left inside to experience the hurt. What you call as the inside is just the ego inside and the ego is a very magical thing. It becomes stronger when it gets hurt. It is

To Give Birth is to Take Debt
To Give Birth is to Take Debt
4 min

Acharya Prashant: Parents have first of all committed the mistake of bringing another person into this world of agony, longing, and suffering that they compensate for by investing themselves in raising the kid. That is why it is imperative for parents to bring education to the kids, give food to

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

Living for Others?
Living for Others?
16 min

Questioner: Some people say that you should live for yourself, and some people say that it gives you more happiness if you live for others. So, which of these approaches is the right one?

Acharya Prashant: So, she is asking whether to live for oneself or others, right? That’s the

Can There Be Self-Love Without Self-Knowledge? || AP Neem Candies
Can There Be Self-Love Without Self-Knowledge? || AP Neem Candies
5 min

Acharya Prashant: Pleasing oneself is not at all an example of self-love; if at all, it is an example of lack of self-knowledge. You cannot have self-love without self-knowledge; it is a great misconception that must be cleared very very thoroughly, very very finely. Making yourself happy is not at