Buddha

Live against yourself || AP Neem Candies

It indeed does help to feel like a victim. It does not help you , but it helps that within you which is a product of victimization. Because if you are a victim, then you are entitled to certain rights. All victims get entitled to special rights.

Operate from a… read_more

Is Your Work Driven by Self-Love or a Desire for Self Liberation?

Acharya Prashant: One hallmark, one unmistakable quality of right action would be that it would require all your guts. It is only a false action that you can comfortably undertake. Falseness is never troublesome; Truth always is. Whenever you would be doing something that would be real, you would know… read_more

9 min

Questioner: Pranaam Acharya Ji!, You have told that individual Liberation is not possible. Either we can go together, or nobody can go. So we have to help others to cross-over.

Acharya Ji, I can’t even help the people close to me, they are caught up either in routine work or… read_more

Trying to 'Be Your Own Light'? || AP Neem Candies

Man’s Evolutionary Instincts for Love and Sex

Acharya Prashant: I know it's a fad currently, “the in thing” to say, be your own light, don’t depend on anyone, decide for yourself, whatever. It's a very ignorant thing to say with all due respect to the Buddha.

Such advice is meant only for very selected disciples. And even… read_more

Why Man is highly Unsettled and Restless

Acharya Prashant: You are in front of food and you see how your body wants to lunge towards food. And do you know why the body wants to lunge towards food? Especially, let’s say, sweetmeats or high-calorie items? Why? – Because evolution taught it to, because the survival of the… read_more

6 min

Acharya Prashant: The whole issue is because you have left the jungle and yet not reached where you set out to reach; you are stuck in between.

Man is in a very precarious position. Animals are well settled; the free ones, the Buddhas are also well settled. Man is unsettled.… read_more

Role of Compassion in True Love

Grace waits only for your consent

Acharya Prashant: Love and responsibility have to be reasonless. They have to be mad. One has to be crazy enough to put in everything for a seemingly trivial creature.

I don’t know whether you have heard this story from the life of the Buddha. One man was carrying a goat… read_more

Only a Buddha can really help others || Acharya Prashant (2017)

Questioner: Acharya Ji, if the decisions that one takes in one’s life is a matter of choice, then what is Grace?

Acharya Prashant: Grace is that which is available free of cost, grace is that which comes to you unconditionally, grace is not something that you receive unconditionally. There’s many… read_more

What is Vipassana meditation? What is it to watch the breath?

Question: “My understanding is that the right battle is the one fought not for self but for others. Is my understanding right? Please elaborate more on right battles. Is it so that most of the battles we fight day to day are wrong battles?”

Acharya Prashant: You may fight for… read_more

On Anger, observation, middle path, and right action || Acharya Prashant, on Mahatma Buddha (2016)

Acharya Prashant (AP): That which you call “Vipassana” today, is a very recent phenomenon. They claim that it comes from the Buddha, actually, it is not. The stream flowing from Buddha got extinct around the 8th or 10th century AD. This modern Vipassana came up in Burma, just around a… read_more

15 min

Question: It is said that the sage doesn’t get angry for long time. Can you talk about this?

Speaker: Do you bother about how other people love? If you have a real relationship with anybody; with a child, with a dog, with a woman, do you bother about how other… read_more

Today's Buddha || Acharya Prashant, with IIT-Ropar (2022)

11 min

Questioner (Q): Good afternoon to one and all present here, warm greetings. ‘Buddha Poornima’ marks the birth of Gautam Buddha and we are so lucky to celebrate this auspicious day with someone who is wisdom personified in today’s time—Acharya Prashant.

Acharya Prashant needs no mention. From being an acclaimed Vedanta… read_more

No spiritual miracles suddenly happen || Acharya Prashant, in conversation (2022)

While talking of the Buddha, keep eating your sandwich || Acharya Prashant (2015)

Questioner (Q): Yes, so just again we haven't been able to talk about this conversation prior to this, but I’m sure you got a sense of it. What we like to do in this conversation is keep it very transparent and conversational. But what we like to believe is different… read_more

57 min

Acharya Prashant: Mind of the so called ordinary Sansari (worldly man), is full of thoughts about obtaining power, prestige, comforts, money and such things. And often the mind of the so called spiritual seeker is filled with thoughts of obtaining liberation.

Right?

The concept of liberation is such that it… read_more

आत्मा माने क्या? शुद्ध धर्म कैसा? || आचार्य प्रशांत, वेदांत महोत्सव ऋषिकेश में (2021)

38 min

प्रश्नकर्ता: प्रणाम आचार्य जी, मेरा प्रश्न है कि भगवान महावीर आत्मा को मानते हैं और भगवान बुद्ध आत्मा को अस्वीकार करते हैं। एक आत्मा को सत्य बोलते हैं और एक असत्य बताते हैं तो इन दोनों के बीच में अंतर क्या है?

आचार्य: जब कोई बात हमको बताई जाती है… read_more

Can Thought Truly Be Selfless?

Thought is a servant; thought is a shadow. The shadow cannot betray its owner, its master. So, what changes is the nature of the ego itself, not the nature of thought. So when we say, for example, selfless thought, that primarily implies that the ego has improved, loosely put. Since I have become better, so have my thoughts. Now, I cannot remain the same and say my thoughts have become selfless, and if I do that, then I'm being pretentious and just fooling myself.

Connection Between Thoughts and Wrong Relationships

I’m already bad, and through the thought process, I make a choice that makes my condition worse. I will always choose a woman who does me no good. And if a woman exists, coincidentally, who can be of real help to me, the job of thought will be to push that woman aside. Ditto for the other combination. As a woman, you don’t want a man who will challenge your most fundamental beliefs.

Living a selfish life? || Neem Candies

What Is the Main Message of Bhagavad Gita?

People talk of personal time as opposed to professional time, right? They forget that the profession that they have chosen has also been chosen by the person. So, even that which they are mistakenly calling as professional time is only personal time.

Our lives have only personal time. To be… read_more

14 min

You have to fight. The world is the battlefield. To be born is to be born as a warrior, to be born is to be born with weapons and armour. That is the message: you cannot run away. Shunning action is not possible.

Feeling Caged in Your Chattering Mind?

The mind chatters only about little and inconsequential things. First of all, the matter would be a petty one; secondly, irrespective of how long the chatter is, the matter can never be brought to an end; so it is inconsequential. The mind loves to engage itself with itself. The mind loves to roll in its own stuff. Give the mind a proper purpose. Let the entire body, your entire system, everything in your existence be focused, be channelized towards the right purpose in life.

Is Meditation Really as Beneficial as People Claim?

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.

Thinking A Lot About Future?

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.

Advait or Dvait?

It doesn’t matter whether you talk of *Advait* or *Dvait*. Do you finally admit that you cannot proceed any further with words? If your *Advait* says that I have come to the final truth, then your *Advait* is bogus. If your *Dvait* says that this is the ultimate expression, then your *Dvait,* too, is a fallacy. You may say *Advait,* you may say *Dvait,* you may even say *Trait,* or you may say anything of your choice. You are free to say whatever you want to, but all of that must surrender.

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.

Is the world real, unreal, both, or neither? || Acharya Prashant, on Zen Koan (2019)

6 min

THE SHORT STAFF

Shuzan held out his short staff and said,

“If you call this short staff, you oppose its reality.”

“If you do not call it a short staff, you ignore the fact.”

“Now what do you wish to call this?”

Questioner: Acharya Ji, Pranaam! Please help me understand… read_more

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.

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.

How To Avoid Distraction?

14 min

You say you want something, but you are distracted easily. Ask yourself, "Why am I attracted to anything?" Unless you find that, you are just a plaything in the hands of situations. If you really know, then knowing itself decides for you. Then there is no question of indecision or distraction because there are no options left.

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?

How to Deal with Attachment?

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

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.

Why Does One Desire Liberation while the Other does not?

Why Can't I Leave My Comfort Zone?

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

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!

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.

How Can We End War?

Wars first start in the mind. Without inner education, all the scientific knowledge and technological advancements merely provide more sophisticated tools to those who are internally ignorant. Mass awareness is the solution. It must begin with you; it must begin with me. There is no other way.

What Is Creativity?

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.

Wisdom Through Songs

27 min

AIR host (AIR): A very good morning to all our listeners tuned in! And a warm welcome to the brunch time show this Saturday morning with your friend Kiran! And this morning we have a very, very enlightened guest with us who is going to be sharing his views and… read_more

How to be in a Peaceful State of Mind?

14 min

Peace is your destiny, everybody's destiny but that destiny is a timeless destiny. You do not reach there after ten years, you are there right now. And because you are there right now, hence this drama of not being there can continue endlessly.

Does Following Myself Lead to Freedom?

If following others is slavery, the mind quickly wants to conclude that following oneself is freedom. No, following oneself is deeper slavery because what we call the 'self' is just an aggregate of internalized, pervasive influences, like a crow mistaking a cuckoo’s eggs for its own. True freedom is to be free of others and, more importantly, yourself.

How to Control the Mind?

Mind control is not about suppressing the mind; it is about supporting it to take the right route and reach the right destination. The mind does not really need control; it needs peace. But the mind is a little foolish. If the mind were not foolish, why would it leave its peaceful state, which is its natural state?

Relax and Let the Mind Observe Naturally

When you are relaxed, then there is no need to observe. Observation is not a need. It cannot happen because you are telling yourself to observe. It cannot happen out of some purpose. When you are internally relaxed, then a subtle observation is automatically happening.

Why Indians Address People as 'Ji'?

In our daily lives, we find people using the word Ji as an affirmative statement or while addressing people. Though, it has just become as social norm, there is a profound meaning behind it that conveys of beauty and auspiciousness. It is a reminder that one is beyond the body and the mind; beyond all names and forms. And instead of being identified with the body and the mind, there is something better to be identified with—‘Sri’- a Sanskrit word standing for Ji in vernacular.

Is Sex and Meditation Just an Escape of Ego?

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.

What’s True Thanksgiving About?

6 min

“I thank the Lord for all that he has given me.” This is a totally nonsensical prayer. You should thank for what he has not given you. "Thanks for not giving me disease." It's very easy to miss that you do not have a disease. Truth is so easy to miss because it is an absence. Truth is always ‘not’ something. It is the absences that you must be thankful for.

The Biggest Obstacle to a Spiritual Life || AP Neem Candies

Drugs for Spiritual Growth || Neem Candies

Fulfillment is what you want, don’t you? There won’t be any fulfillment until you break your inner bondages. And the most central, critical, and primary bondage is body-identification.

Use everything that your birth, your body, and Prakriti (physical nature) have given you. Use all of that for the sake of… read_more

How to Control One’s Anger? Best Ways Explained By Acharya Prashant

The world is a habit, but drugs are a worse habit. The one who is finding refuge in drugs is fed up of the usual stuff of consciousness, that is certain, but he is taking a very wasteful route. It’s like feeling cold in Delhi in the month of December… read_more