Patriotism

Non-violence is to fight that which makes you forget the Truth || On Advait Vedanta (2019)

Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, in few days, Republic Day, that is, the 26th of January, will be celebrated and the work that Foundation is doing is very closely linked with “The Youngsters”. So, I wish to ask you in what ways the youngsters of today have lost love for the… read_more

What is secularism? How to become secular? || Acharya Prashant (2018)

Questioner: The Sikh Gurus gave swords to the Khalsa to protect their religion. Gandhi Ji used non-violence to get freedom for the Indians. Jainism, too, gives a lot of emphasis to non-violence. I don’t understand the concept of non-violence in this context. Kindly give me clarity.

Acharya Prashant: Non-violence is… read_more

What Makes India a Nation?

Question: Acharya Ji, please tell us how we can keep a fine divide between the religious and the secular, and grow holistically as an individual and as a society?

Acharya Prashant Ji: There is no divide between the religious and the secular. True religion is about eliminating all divisions.

How… read_more

Why does man make countries? What is patriotism? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2014)

Questioner (Q): Sir, in what ways the youngsters of today have lost the love for the nation?

Acharya Prashant (AP): You cannot love someone or something you know very little of. The nation at its root represents a community of people united through certain values. For someone to… read_more

12 min

Listener: Sir, can you give your views on nationalism and patriotism?

Speaker: See, man always requires something to separate him from others. In this separation is the protection of his ego. If I were just the same as you, how will you say that I am ‘I’ and you are… read_more

How Did Bhagavad Gita Help Subhash Chandra Bose?

10 min

There is no revolution possible without wisdom literature. The quest for independence of freedom fighters was actually a manifestation of their inner quest for liberation. What kind of revolution can one do if it's the body that's always at the top of your mind? You require a Gita to tell you that this body is perishable and would anyway go. Gita only teaches you, "Endure and fight."

Forget Rituals, Embrace Wisdom: Krishna’s Powerful Words

37 min

You can either have the Gita or you can have the entirety of religion as it is practised by the common man in the common culture. These cannot go together. Totally incompatible, they are.

Why Do We Insult Our Scriptures?

27 min

In modern times, reading and respecting the Shastras is often seen in a derogatory light. An Asura disregards the scriptures, saying, “What I know is right. My own experience determines the Truth,” rejecting them because they will not allow him to do what he wants. We have come to a point where we are not merely ignoring but actually insulting the scriptures. If you're sincere about knowing life, why avoid a document with deep insights into it?

Is Vastu or Kundali Misleading Your Life Decisions?

You look at this video camera, it's a product of human ingenuity. It is not a product of rituals or beliefs. And we should be grateful. Even the astrologers are using the latest technology without being grateful at all. Latest technology that astrology didn't give birth to. And yet astrology is exploiting the technology for its own furtherance. And it has been extremely conclusively proved, demonstrated that astrology is not a science at all. It's a belief system. Belief system with no material basis at all.

A Life Like Bhagat Singh's

How occupied Bhagat Singh was. Even on the eve of his hanging, he was still reading the Bhagavad Gita. He said, "I still have a few hours. Let me spend these hours with the beloved. I have something very important to do." Or was he doing nothing in particular? Was he doing nothing in particular even in his last hours? No. He said, "Let me spend this time reading." And he was a voracious reader. At your age, he was so well read. Never had any time to waste.

What Is the Main Message of Bhagavad Gita?

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.

Spirituality Is Neither Culture Nor Tradition

4 min

Spirituality is neither a tradition nor a culture. Spirituality is not at all about following something or somebody. When it is said that you must follow the Guru, the Guru is the Truth, not a person not a man. Spirituality would never say, “Follow the words of a man.” Spirituality says, “Let the mind follow the Center, the Truth or you may call it the Heart or God.”

Living Without God: Principles For A Purposeful Life

Any belief is stupid because all beliefs come from a lack of investigation, and a lack of investigation comes from deep fear and a feeling of insecurity. If you are insecure and afraid, then you will not dare to ask questions and investigate. And it is from that fear and insecurity that the concept of God has arisen. Now, God and reality are two different things. God and Truth are not the same thing. The mark of religiosity or true spirituality is an abiding faith in the truth.

The Making of a Rare Vivekananda: The Role of Ramakrishna

Swami Vivekananda was an ordinary man—Narendra, and he too had his ordinary pursuits. It was the magical touch of Paramhans, that turned him into Vivekananda. And he wasn't too eager either. Many times, he ran away from Ramakrishna. It is a gigantic task, it doesn't just happen on its own. If you leave the youth to how they are, it is not liberation that would happen.

How Not to React?

6 min

The things that happen within you — anger, lust, disappointment, greed — are conditioned chemical reactions. It is the mark of a wise person not to be driven by one’s own reactions. Chemicals are reactive; consciousness can wait. Let the elements do what they are doing — 'I am not wedded to the limitations of this chemical godown.' This is what the knowers have called ‘detachment'. They have also called it ‘witnessing'.

Shraddh: How To Satisfy Your Ancestors?

13 min

Liberate yourself of ignorance and help the entire planet. That should be the meaning of Shraddh. Instead, Shraddh has become an entire elaborate ceremony of superstition. This is that souls are floating in some other universe, and they come down, and they are hungry, and they are this, and there is talk of crows and sparrows and all kinds of crude superstition. That is not at all to be called as religious.

Gita Is Not This

To qualify an entrance exam, and work towards it, without thinking of the results, that’s not what Karma Yoga is. Karma Yoga is not about setting tangible worldly targets and going after them. It’s a moment-to-moment thing in which you are very conscious whether the objective of your action is personal ingratiation or larger welfare. You are acting all the time, you are not acting merely when you act towards a distant and a larger cause.

Why Isn't the Gita for Everyone?

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.

Astrology: Science or Superstition?

10 min

Anybody who believes in astrology cannot be rational. All you have is a set of beliefs—the belief that this thing will happen. There is no logic in it, only fear and insecurity. Science is based on verifiable and falsifiable experiments, whereas astrology is not subject to verification; hence, it is just a story. It's a story that is making big money for a lot of storytellers.

What is Yagya?

11 min

In the name of yagya, if you continue to burn wood, you are doing no good to anybody. Yagya must be understood in its true spirit. Shri Krishna says, “Do not act for yourself or for your personal gain. Act for a higher cause; higher than yourself, beyond yourself. Do that action that takes you to your Niyati, which is your end. Yagya is that which dissolves you; that which reduces you.”

Can the Materialistic Man Be Spiritual?

4 min

Whatsoever is precious will be non-dualistic, and if it is non-dualistic, it cannot have an object. Totally, if you are anything, then you are spiritual. The totality itself is spirituality. The emphasis, then, will not be on materialistic totally. The totality is important. Being total means you are total—not divided, not limited, not small.

Where Is the Kurukshetra of Your Life?

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.

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.

What Does Jesus Represent?

4 min

Jesus is not a mere mortal. He is the source of light, the root of all flowers and beauty. Jesus stands for the Truth, and Truth is omnipresent. In one form, he disappears; in another, he arises again. Prophets don’t come and go—they live forever. Going back into the past to look for them is the tragedy of the living. He is here, right now, in the hearts of those who love him.

How to Live Fully?

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?

How to Act Without Caring About the Result?

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 Gita does not say that you must do whatever you do without caring for the result; it is also impossible to execute. That’s also the way so many popular gurus have sold the Gita. It’s very harmful. With false action, you will always have one eye on the result. The first thing is the right action; only right action can give you detachment from the result.

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 Be Happy Everyday?

Happiness is just a glimpse of the absence of suffering. Real happiness comes when you cultivate it, just like a gardener cultivates his flowers. Our normal happiness is ephemeral, preceded and succeeded by sorrow, whereas Ananda (Joy) is freedom from both. Real happiness is freedom not merely from sadness, but also from superficial happiness.

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 does “Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya...” mean?

24 min

We love saying, 'Yada-yada hi dharmasya – whenever there is evil, then Krishna comes.' The Lord does not physically drop from the heavens. The metaphor must be understood. It simply means that whenever the ego inflates, it results in suffering, and suffering itself calls for its cessation. This call for cessation of suffering itself is the coming of the Lord.

Alasinga Perumal - Swami Vivekananda's most loved disciple

What Is Yoga According to the Bhagavad Gita?

We all know Swami Vivekananda. But have you heard about 'Shri Alasinga Perumal'?

Probably not. But if Alasinga Ji had not been there, Swami Vivekananda would never have been able to give that historic speech in Chicago, due to which he brought fame to Vedanta and Hinduism throughout the world.… read_more

28 min

Shri Krishna is saying, “As long as you are the actor, please forget Yoga. Yoga is not for you.” Yoga is freedom from the false actor. The Yogi is the one who has realized that Yoga cannot be attained through any method. A yogi is healthy and alright with himself.

The Many Images of Krishna: Their Utility and Limits

If you're obsessed with the lover-boy image of Krishna, then you will miss Krishna when he does not come as a charming lover. And he will not always come as a charming lover. If you are obsessed with Krishna, the male, then you will miss Krishna when he comes as a woman. Because, in your imagination, Krishna is the one wearing the peacock feather with the flute at his lips, appearing in attire that belonged to those ages, enjoying milk and butter, speaking Sanskrit.

Is Krishna Available Only to Arjuna?

14 min

Remember, it is not as if Krishna did not try with Duryodhana. Krishna goes to Duryodhana and what does Duryodhana do? He tries to arrest him. Krishna goes as the messenger of peace and Duryodhana says no, no, no! The action of Love is still taking place. He is not saying that I will leave Duryodhana to his fate. He says it is my responsibility to teach even Duryodhana. But when Duryodhana proves it beyond doubt, that he is incorrigible, then Krishna says, “Fine, now that the battle is destined, let the blows rain.”

What Are the Four Ways to Krishna Darshan?

13 min

The first way, the topmost one, is the Sahaja way (natural way). Krishna prescribes no method there. He says, “Arjuna, just come to Me and be seated in Me, be affirmed in Me, pretty steadfastly. Just do it. Simply, obviously, instantly.” That is the Sahaja way. “Do it directly, Arjuna. If you really are sincere, and if you really have love for Me, then do it right now, right here, right away. What are you waiting for? What do you require a method for? Nothing is needed. You have the intention, you really want it, you aren’t fooling yourself. I am here, come and be settled in Me and that’s it.”

What Is Auspicious and Why Do We Avoid It?

18 min

There is an innate inauspiciousness inbuilt in my existence. I am not good. And that’s the reason why man must seek improvement; that’s the reason why man seeks liberation; that’s the reason why man endeavors; that’s the reason why man has to look for successful navigation through life; that’s the reason why has man to look for success at all in some or the other field of life; that’s the reason man has desires. Because we are fundamentally not alright.

Fight, and Fight So Hard That You Either Win or Perish (On Guru Tegh Bahadur)

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.

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

You May Be Wrong About Death: Bhagavad Gita’s Answer

17 min

We have to investigate the meaning of the word ‘death’. When Shri Krishna says ‘death’, what does he mean? Is Shri Krishna looking at himself as a body? No. There is no way the author of these lines takes himself as a corporal being. Is Shri Krishna referring to himself as merely the Ātmān here? Well, yes and no. He does refer to himself as the Ātmān here, but the role that he is playing is not of Ātmān but of Avatar. Had he been merely the non-doer, Supreme Truth, then he would not have been found mortally present on the battlefield instructing Arjuna. So, discount these two and see what you are left with.

What Is Sin and Repentance if Aham Brahmasmi?

12 min

There is no way to rid yourself of sins except by coming very close to God, so close that you lose your individual identity. This is why the Upanishadic Mahavakya, 'Aham Brahmasmi' (I am Brahma), is central to all spirituality. Without this realization, no redemption is possible. No matter what you say about yourself, Truth, God, or the world, nothing will bring you peace. Only the declaration ‘I am That and That am I’ can offer true rest. Everything else is sin.

What Is Prayer? Acharya Prashant on Guru Nanak

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.

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?

Where Is the Real Me?

Acharya Prashant: It has been told to us that there exist two centers. I suppose it has been very freshly told to you right? Very recently. He says, “How do I know that I am living out of the right center? How does a young man know whether he’s not… read_more

What Is Desh Prem Divas?

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

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 … read_more

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… read_more

How Will You Know When Kaliyug Is Over?

Why Become a Woman, Why Become a Man?

Acharya Prashant: The four yugas in the Vedic tradition have been Satyug, Treta, Dvapara, and Kaliyug. Now, what do they represent? Do they represent the passage of time? Do they represent something historical? We have been led to believe that way, right? We believe that time is something external that… read_more

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

Real Humility - It Will Surprise You || AP Neem Candies