Many of us promise our parents high marks, and when the result falls short, the guilt can feel heavier than the exam itself. But no one controls results; they depend on far too many things outside us. What is in our hands is our intent, our effort and our honesty with what we study. The Bhagavad Gita says the same: our right is to action alone, never to its fruit. What if the only promise we made was to study honestly and with love?
Companionship is wonderful. Companionship with the opposite gender too might be wonderful. But what is this idea that unless you are in a long-term relationship with somebody, there is something missing? Long-term relationships are not a problem. A planned, thought-out, constructed-in-advance relationship is a problem.
We want to do good to the ones we are related to and we have long stretches of memories with all kinds of identifications. I fully appreciate that. But I also know that it doesn't always work this way. Sometimes what works better is shifting of focus to more appropriate areas. Remember, nobody can be helped beyond their consent. That's the nature of life.
Those who want to travel long distances and fight important battles, they don’t carry baggage - they travel light. You must know which responsibilities rightfully belong to you and which ones you must disown. You are not obliged to fulfill all the so-called traditional responsibilities. Therefore, you’ll need a total revolution in your inner world before you can fearlessly do something in the outer world.
Nobody can prepare you for anything that is against the law of freedom. Especially when you are an adult irrespective of where the childhood was; irrespective of how the conditions back then, where one lives in this particular moment and there is no obligation to carry the load of the past. There is absolutely no need. When I say need, what I mean is something that you cannot dispense away with. If this thing is happening to you, there surely is choice involved in it. And if it is your choice, it can be reversed.
Acharya Prashant: Have you seen how much of the parents’ time, especially the mother’s time, gets spent on the kid? It has to be done; it is a thing of justice. It is not a favor to the kid; the parents owe it to the kid. And the kid is
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
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
Questioner: What is the role of persuasion in teaching? Is it alright if teaching involves a certain degree of persuasion? If yes, why must one be persuaded?
Acharya Prashant: If you look at knowledge that man has gathered in various fields, you will easily see that all of man’s knowledge is related to man’s desire. Man does not try to gain knowledge in fields that have absolutely no connection with man’s fundamental desires.
Acharya Prashant: If you will observe, you will find that people who are living most contented lives do not find it necessary to intrude in the lives of their kids, their sons and daughters. Because they are complete and satisfied in themselves. If they have to do something, or get
Acharya Prashant: If material attracts you, sooner than later, women too would be a dominant factor in your life. And if you are chained to women, then sooner than later you will have to go after material also. That is why people start earning more aggressively and more helplessly after
As long as you are trying to locate love outside of you in the world, as long as you are trying to find a lovely object somewhere out there, it would remain a reason for disappointment. Love is not something that you discover in another person, thought, idea or object. Love is something that you carry with yourself, wherever you go.
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Feeling lonely on campus after being disappointed by friends? Acharya Prashant explains why loneliness should not push you into accepting the wrong company or remaining attached to relationships that pull you away from what is right. One person’s wrongdoing does not justify condemning everyone, nor does friendship mean supporting a friend in what is wrong.
Learn why the right company is the company that helps you move toward truth rather than merely giving you temporary relief from loneliness.
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Parental expectations, peer comparison, and academic pressure can overwhelm you only when you allow others’ desires to dictate your life. As an adult, you are responsible for discovering your own potential and making choices through your own understanding. Love is not about fulfilling each other’s expectations or keeping someone happy. True love requires freedom—giving others the space to live and grow, while living according to your own inner clarity.
There is no compulsion, it's either a slavery you buy into or just an expensive luxury that the rich afford. All this that we are doing: success, marriage, fidelity, money, prestige, whatever, all these are founded on self-ignorance. Somebody tells you, “Go get married, bear kids.” What do you know? You don't know your own birth, and you are giving birth. No point playing blind. Before you start walking, start opening your eyes.
If you are in charge of a kid, then you have to be very sensitive, very careful, and loving. Just being with the kid in a loving way, not even having planned what to teach him, is sufficient. Instead of teaching kids, I have been learning from them, and they have given my ego great lessons by exposing me. No kid needs any training; we need de-training.
Excerpts from Articles
Animal cruelty: Who deserves mercy, and who doesn’t?
Violence begins long before the knife or the slaughterhouse—it begins with the ego, the one that draws boundaries, seeks justification, and decides who deserves compassion. Laws and reforms may reduce suffering, but they cannot end violence while the ego remains intact. When the ego dissolves, exploitation ends naturally, and compassion no longer depends on regulation or moral boundaries.
Justice Without Boundaries: Why Compassion Cannot Stop at Species
Oppression should not see caste, gender, creed or colour, and it should not see species either. The moral threshold is sentience, not intelligence. An animal feels pain as fully as a human does, whether or not it can explain its suffering.
You Don't Understand the Bhagvad Gita, But You Still Claim That You Love Krishna?
The Bhagavad Gita deserves reverence not because of inherited beliefs about its author, but because of its power to dissolve falsehood and reveal Truth. Real devotion is not ritual or blind faith—it is understanding, inquiry, and living the wisdom of the Gita. Through sincere study, one discovers the true meaning of Krishna, making the Gita the most authentic path to knowing and worshipping Him.
ज्योतिष कितना सच है? कुंडली, ग्रह-नक्षत्र: इनका क्या अर्थ है?
वेदांत को केवल इसलिए सही या श्रेष्ठ नहीं माना जा सकता कि वह किसी विशेष परंपरा से आता है। विज्ञान जहाँ भौतिक जगत की वस्तुनिष्ठ जाँच करता है, वहीं अद्वैत वेदांत सीधे मनुष्य के ‘मैं’, उसके दुख, बंधन और मुक्ति की पड़ताल करता है। इसकी कसौटी वैज्ञानिक प्रमाण नहीं, बल्कि अपने जीवन में इसकी सच्चाई को देख पाना है। किसी दर्शन को मान लेना नहीं, बल्कि उससे स्वयं को मुक्त करना ही उसका वास्तविक उद्देश्य है।
Struggling to choose between a secure job and the path you actually feel drawn to? This isn't really a question about careers. It's about why other people's opinions have so much power over you in the first place. Real clarity doesn't come from finding the 'right' choice. It comes from honestly looking at your own fear, again and again, until it stops running the decision for you.
कई तरह के डर—अकेले पड़ने, छवि खोने या छोटा समझे जाने—की जड़ अक्सर अतीत में बनी पहचान और कहानियों में होती है। शरीर की हाइट जैसी चीज़ों को समस्या मानकर उनसे जूझने के बजाय उनकी अप्रासंगिकता को समझकर आगे बढ़ना चाहिए। अतीत को दबाने से मुक्ति नहीं मिलती; उसके करीब जाकर अपनी स्मृतियों, धारणाओं और पुराने पैटर्न को निष्पक्षता से देखना ज़रूरी है।
Climate change is more than an environmental crisis—it is a crisis of human choices. Our patterns of consumption, consumerism and endless pursuit of more are putting increasing pressure on the planet. But meaningful change does not necessarily begin with new technology or stricter policies. It begins with a deeper question: what are we willing to change within ourselves?
A friend is someone you can relate to in a way that uplifts your life, gives you clarity and insight. So, why isn't it possible to be with a person of the opposite gender who gives sharpness to your consciousness and a better understanding of life? If you cannot be friends with a person of the opposite sex, an important part of you will remain unnourished, unawakened, uneducated, and unaddressed. It is the mark of an awakened and spiritual society that men and women will be freely mingling with each other.
One attractive and glitzy role model can influence your daughter toward the wrong attitudes, lifestyle, and ultimately, wrong life decisions. Just give your daughter the right role models. Give her great books; take her to the right documentaries, the right movies. Introduce her to glorious women in history. Once she’s spent a week reading the life story of Marie Curie, how will she respect Pari, who is admired because of her style and dressing? Education is the real thing.
The role of the parents is to give birth — to not only give the body, but also then unburden the child of the body. When parents operate through their conditioned patterns, those kids turn violent, loveless, and insecure when they become adults. Your relationship with the kid cannot change till you continue to be what you are.
Acharya Prashant:
It is because we don’t comprehend the nature of duality, so we want to have one side of duality while trying to avoid the other side. And
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Acharya Prashant: ‘How can I get my ex-girlfriend back?’ The question comes from Shubham. Shubham you will have to die (audience bursts into laughter). There is no other way, you will have to die.
You know, it was Kabir Sahab who said: ये तो घर है प्रेम का, खाला…
If the two persons who are in this social arrangement of marriage are also spiritual friends, then they rise above the social arrangement. The social arrangement by itself is a recipe for disaster. But when the social arrangement is purified, consecrated by the spiritual touch, then the poison in it is neutralized. In fact, there is only one antidote and that is spiritual association between the man and the woman.
Please be an observer and a compassionate witness. Keep watching, watch from a distance. Meddling is not needed. Being a parent of a girl child today is a humongous opportunity. You have the chance to give rise to a new world—if you can truly raise one girl as a free girl.
In our country, most people marry because that is sometimes the only way of getting some good sex—good and assured sex. Otherwise, the fellow would either have to spend a lot of money or a lot of time, or both, and then still return empty-handed. Isn’t that so?
Now, if…
People expect because they feel that something is missing from life. They expect from the world, from others, from situations, from luck, and also from themselves. The root of all these expectations is an inner feeling of lack of fulfillment. Meeting others’ expectations is a false treatment where you allow illusions to persist. If you love your dear ones, bring the Truth closer to them.
Friendship is nothing; friendship is a state of being in which you are concerned not with what you can get from the other person, but in the real advancement of the other person. And the real advancement is, discovering the Truth. So, a friend is a friend only if he brings you closer to the Truth; in whose presence you become less agitated, in whose presence a silence comes. Find out such friends, and then, there will be real magic.
We are all born married to our desires, despair, and desperation. A woman or a man is not responsible for making us feel bonded or suffocated. It is the feeling of attachment, loneliness, and dependency that troubles you. Get rid of these, and then, if someone comes into your life, it’s alright. If you feel like marrying them, do it; if not, don’t.
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.
Nobody can make you a slave without your consent. You withdraw your consent, and you are free. But withdrawing that consent would mean moving out of your comfort zone. Freedom does not come free. Freedom has to be earned. "The day you decide, the day you see that I am free and I deserve a free life, you will actually be free." But first, let that realization come. Unless that realization comes, nothing can happen.
Freedom is not when all your roles evaporate; Freedom is the foundation of all roles. If you have Freedom in your Heart, if you worship Freedom, then you will find that all your roles are getting sanctified; there will be a touch of purity in all your roles. You will change as a mother, with God in the Heart; you’ll change as a mother. With spirituality as the foundation, the family will change.
प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी प्रणाम। मेरा सवाल ये है कि मेरी दो बेटियाँ हैं, एक तेरह वर्ष की है और एक ग्यारह वर्ष की है। आचार्य जी, अभी तो मुझे ही चीज़ें स्पष्ट नहीं हुई हैं, न ही अपने बारे में, और न ही समाज से सम्बन्धित चीज़ों के बारे में।…
Questioner: If a child, because of his suffering, asks his parents, “Why did you give me birth?” then what should the parents answer? Giving birth to the child is easy, but dying and mukti (liberation) is difficult.
Acharya Prashant: First of all, if the child says, “Why did you bring…
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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?
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…
Questioner: I was in a relationship with a person from the last eight years. Last three years while being with me, he was also seeing and dating other women. I have always been honest and loyal to him. After knowing that he is so mean, so dishonest, why am I…
The child is a reflection of who the parent is. The growth of the child, is the barometer of the growth of parents. The state of the child is the litmus test on the state of the parents and the teachers.
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Question: Acharya ji, what happens when parents are in conflict? What happens to the child? How can two people, the husband and the wife, love the child very much, but between them there is a lot of conflict?
What is the impact on the child? And how can the parent…
Cancel culture arises when one's fundamental identity is social. If you take your identity from society, you've given them the right to cancel it. Don’t let anyone control your centre. Be your own master. Be of the world and live yet, independently of the world. Let them cancel what they can! That’s what spirituality blesses you with—your real identity, which no one can dare cancel.
Studies and friendships should not be mutually exclusive. Why can’t you have friends who have fun with books? Drop the word ‘balance’ from your mind entirely. Balance simply means fragmentation and division: this is to be done, that is not to be done, and I’m balancing both. Joy lies in absolute immersion.
If the girl is physically attractive, the boy will feel physical attraction. Where does love come into the equation? Love is harder towards someone attractive because physical attractiveness overpowers everything else. If someone comes for your body, it’s not love. A wise woman laughs when a suitor praises her beauty.
The ‘Law of Attraction’ is based on the premise that you know what is truly worthy to attract. But do you really know? If a drunkard uses it, he would attract a truckload of beer, making things worse for him. Often, what you try to attract is just your disease. Can you use this law to bring peace to you? The real thing is not an object of attraction.
Questioner: Acharya Ji, Pranaam. Currently, there is a lot of pressure on me to get married. I am completely confused about this decision, I am not mentally prepared for it right now. I feel incompleteness in my life, and I want to settle things in my life.
There is a…
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Acharya Prashant: Women like burly guys. Why do they like burly and big and muscular guys? Because they are likely to have a higher level of testosterone. Unless you have testosterone, you cannot build muscles, right? And that is why you cannot build muscles, let's say after 50 or 60.…
Acharya Prashant: The punishment for not having a girlfriend is that you will keep fantasizing about girls. Does that not happen? Who are the ones who always keep salivating? The singles. And you meet someone who is in a relationship, he won't want to look at girls or boys, for…
Acharya Prashant:
Freedom is available only to a free mind. A mind that has been conditioned, deeply enslaved, moves from no other factor
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Questioner: We have a question by Pooja. So people who try to become self-aware and you know knowledgeable of themselves. They usually became the black sheep of their families.
Question by Pooja is what can we do if our loved ones, that is spouse, parents, friends are not receptive to…
Man desires, man gets…
You feel bad when your expectations are not fulfilled, because you are assuming that your expectations are good for you. The fact is not this. The fact is: Your expectations are bad for you. So, some wise man has said, “If I want to curse you, I will say, ‘May all your desires come true’.” That is the worst way of cursing somebody – “May all your desires come true. Now live with them, now bear the consequences.” That’s a curse. So, this is always to be kept in mind – “I do not know my own good.” Can you remember this?
The resistance close ones often show towards a family member's spiritual journey comes from fear of losing them, thinking they'll turn ascetic. True goodness is never exclusive; it can't be good for one and bad for another. You have to very subtly and tactfully, demonstrate that what you’re doing or reading is for general good, not just personal.
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Wherever you spend your time and whatever you spend your time with is called attachment and the brain is very eager to get attached. Once attached, it wants to remain attached. And this want that the old pattern must continue is called expectation. So, expectation arises out of attachment. Out of that dead coincidence arises the dead attachment, and out of this dead attachment arises the dead expectation. Now, when the expectation is something so mechanical, so dead, is it wise on our part to run after expectations?
If you have been with someone in periods of your unconsciousness, then don’t just drop them as you grow more conscious. If you were them in the periods of your inner darkness, try to share the light with them if and when you receive it. You have to ask yourself, “Have I tried hard enough to somehow save the relationship? Have I given the relationship its due?”
