Time shortage is often not real but a result of misplaced priorities. Social media and trivial activities consume the limited time that could be used for reading, sports, creativity, and self-development. Time flows toward what we value most. Therefore, honestly tracking where our time goes is essential, because our time profile reveals our true priorities, mindset, personality, and the direction of our life.
Detachment and ambition are not opposites. Both arise from clear insight into what is truly valuable. Detachment means naturally dropping what is seen as false, futile, or harmful, while ambition means pursuing the highest and most meaningful truth with complete intensity. Spiritual surrender is continuous: as understanding deepens, false attachments are repeatedly abandoned, until renunciation becomes natural and almost choiceless.
Social media has not destroyed attention spans; it has exposed our dissatisfaction with what we consume. The real problem is repeatedly returning to content we already know is empty instead of respecting our own intelligence. Books are only one medium for knowledge, not knowledge itself. What truly matters is reclaiming attention from distractions, demolishing the borrowed mental structures imposed by society, and creating an inner space where meaningful learning, reflection, and self-knowledge can flourish.
Acharya Prashant: We want to look at ‘ambition’. So, as I enter, I see that we have been singing Kabir; Kabir talking about achievement, about ambition, about greed and desire and he seems to be taking a clear position, it’s unmistakable. Let us not leave it ambiguous, there is a
To lead is to not be a fool. You're not there to—to charm people. You must first of all go within and figure out: what do you have for the other? It is great disrespect to the other, and injustice, to speak to him or her or even approach him before being internally sorted. I do not know my own life. I do not know the source of my own motivations. I do not know where my own desires come from, and I want to infect the other with the same desire in the name of leadership and motivation?
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.
A lot of progress, even in the material sense, happens only by inviting pain. That which we call as discipline, even in the loose sense, is nothing but an invitation to pain. Is there discipline without pain? You have to get up at some point in the morning—doesn’t that involve
Questioner: Pranam sir, I am Ram Surendra Singh, a research scholar from the Mathematics Department. Sir, we all are dealing with physical matter here but if we see a periodic table, all the elements in there, and if someone knows how to play with those elements they can all create
Questioner: Acharya Ji, I think this question may be on behalf of many of us sitting in this auditorium. Every student sitting in this auditorium had a dream not of getting admission in Lakshminarayanan Institute of Technology (where the session is being held), but getting into IITs. Then, after IIT,
Acharya Prashant: If I am incomplete, then sitting where I am, what would be the quality of my actions, thoughts, and imagination? They, too, would be of an incomplete nature.
Acharya Prashant: Whatever you are doing, there has to be honesty in that. What is important is that you do not say one thing and do another thing. If you look at the great scientific discoveries or inventions, the scientist or the explorer would be busy in his chosen area
Whatsoever affects you but happens without your choice, or without your will is luck. If you are master of your mind, then luck can have no effect upon you. Because battles are won or lost in the mind. When you are really-really enjoying, then you will find that you are doing so much of hard work without even realizing that you are working hard. Don’t work hard, enjoy what you are doing, and then a lot of hard work will happen on its own.
You've heard there's competition and you must plan to survive, but without understanding 'career' or knowing that a mind that is always competing becomes diseased. This fear is also implanted by others. It isn't yours, yet you've imbibed it. Understand the mind, the world. Then you will know what is worth doing.
Questioner: I have something to say. There is a very famous line which is called─ the survival of the fittest. Now, I am an actor, and I’m also a medical practitioner. I studied cardiology, and as an actor, I have always advocated less makeup and simpler ways of life to
Questioner: Good afternoon and Jai Hind sir. My question to you is that people define success by different terms like influence, happiness, fame, name, etc. So, sir when did you start considering yourself success?
Acharya Prashant: People feel that because human intelligence knows no limits and human desire knows no limits, therefore the human race is going to keep expanding endlessly. They are taking inspiration from history. They keep saying that if you look at history, man has kept ceaselessly inventing; if you look
Question: Sir, in the market place, everywhere, are they not selling just the ‘Identities’? For example, if we talk about a newspaper, one kind newspaper is read by one kind of intellectual people. They relate to it, they have an identity through which they relate to the newspaper.
Questioner: What are the practical ways by which we can move towards dropping personality?
Speaker: No! Going by the discussion we have had so far, look at the semantics of your question – “What are the practical ways in which we can move towards dropping personality?”
Questioner: Sir, it is also not incidental that man has, throughout history, connected other worldliness with Truth or God, I mean this is the way that things have been propounded, right, in all the religions, in all the images…
Speaker: Not really, are we saying that *Dattatrey*a is outside the
Entrepreneurship is often driven by the same urge for accumulation that shapes human life from childhood-chasing bigger numbers, status, and validation without self-understanding. This leads to hollow pursuits where profit replaces purpose. True fulfillment arises not from external success, but from inner clarity. When one understands oneself, work becomes meaningful, and money shifts from being the goal to merely a tool.
All of us want a new future. But the brain cannot want anything new. How many of you would want to taste a dish like Kakatua? Forget about tasting it, you haven’t even heard the name before. So, there is a golden rule: all desire is nothing but a stale repetition of memories. Ambition is nothing but a repetition of the past. What you didn’t know in the past, you can’t want in the future. New is new only when it is totally unrelated to the past. The truly new comes as a surprise.
Excerpts from Articles
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.
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।
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.
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।
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.
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.
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?
There is no revolution possible without the Gita. That’s the reason why even those who are not remembered particularly for their spiritual inclination, people like Subhash Chandra Bose, even they founded their core on Gita. What kind of revolution can you 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."
We love to talk of Swami Vivekananda as a youth icon. And I am asserting that were he to be here today, it is the youth that would resist him the most. When he returned from the United States, a huge procession greeted him, right at the port. But when he asked for just a hundred people who could be his soldiers, he was denied. Nobody wants to accept a Swami Vivekananda. He was resisted then, he would be resisted even today.
What does imperfection look like? The face in the mirror — that’s imperfect. Every imperfect person, according to his or her conditioning, dreams of perfection in his or her particular way. Perfection is a concept, an imagination. So, should I chase this imaginary ideal called perfection, or should I just look at my current state? We are not okay as we are. And in this lies the inspiration to get better, to move on.
Entrepreneurship is a good thing, but a small thing. The real thing is having the right relationship with work because ‘work is life.’ If the right work happens as an employee — wonderful. As a partner — wonderful. And for the right work, if you have to start a concern, become an entrepreneur. But the objective must not be entrepreneurship; it must be right work.
Can a man who is bored during the weekdays suddenly become lively over the weekend? Why is there a separation? There is work, and then there is something else. It means you do not know what you are doing. When you have no real relationship with your work, you do not have any relationship with yourself, and as a result, all your life is spent just seeking holidays.
One knows what one is getting into is definitely worth doing. It is something one can give herself to, irrespective of what comes out of it, that kind of certainty and then comes the rational planning and decision making part. To get into what is right without worrying too much about the outcome. To be sure that the effort and the process itself is worth it even if nothing or very little tangible comes out of it. That is faith.
Your responsibility is to be better than yourself, not to compare with others. Ask, “How much better am I than yesterday?” You are on your own journey. Competing with others is neither wise nor possible. Focus on where you started and where you are today. The real battle is not with others but with yourself. The question is always, “How far have I come?” That’s the essence of wisdom and bravery—being your own best self through constant self-improvement.
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Questioner (Q): I think that life is a race and a competition. If you do not compete, you will lag behind and you will have to face the consequences.
Acharya Prashant (AP): What are the consequences?
Q: If we do not compete with the rest of the students, then we…
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…
Our lives have only personal time. To be…
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.
Hunger for power comes from an inner restlessness. And a deep hunger for power indicates a deep disease. The man who is running after power is the poorest man of all, because real poverty lies within. If you must have power, you must have power over your own mind. 'Before I try to influence anybody else, can I please change my own ways?'
Leadership is doing what you must. A leader doesn’t care about followers. The common perception of leadership is nothing but ego- that I am superior, I am enlightened, I have something to give, and you all follow me. This is not leadership. The real leader is essentially self-centred. Followers may be there, but they are incidental.
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A. Objective and Fear
Wherever there is an objective, there would be fear associated with it. You hope to get something, and you fear that you may not get it. Don’t you see that a man who is chasing goals has condemned himself to live in fear?
It is possible…
Questioner: Good evening everyone, my name is Saurabh Sardana and you are watching the first episode of season 2, ‘Recast.’ I’m so glad to have you with me today, Acharya Prashant Ji. I’m pretty sure, that most of you that most of you sort of follow him on one of…
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
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So, incompleteness is projecting more incompleteness for itself and then trying with all its might to reach more incompleteness. How…
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How can you lead others if you are still dependent on others? The leader must first and foremost be a person who has attained his inner completion. Only then he can be of genuine use to anybody. “If I need others, I will exploit others. If I do not need others then I can give something to others. If I do not need others then I am in a position to give something to them and that is a healthy relationship”.
You think that since you have dropped a lot of material stuff behind, you can live at ease without any worry but that's not how it is. One central belief that does not allow man to live freely and fully – “I will be my own master. My intellect will decide the next step.” If you keep thinking about what you need to do next via the intellectual route, then you still haven’t dropped your misplaced belief, in your power to take care of yourself.
Every human being wants to feel special, and therefore we want to believe that our own conditions are extraordinary. Competitiveness is there in our genes. We bring competitiveness to the corporate world, to the world of trade, business, governance, education, etc. from the jungle. If you go to the jungle—the place we all come from—what do you find there? Continuous competition. And if you listen to Darwin, he says evolution itself is a result of competition.
It is primarily not about the span of attention. The important thing is not really for how long you can hold your attention on an object. The important thing is, what is the quality of the object you are attending to, and the nature of the human consciousness is such that, only very specific type of objects can really hold your attention for long.
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Acharya Prashant:
First of all, thanks for inviting me here. I don't consider myself a success
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When Shankaracharya says “Dissolve the mind by concentrating it in the Supreme Self” , what he is saying is that your mind is anyway always concentrated and the type of concentration that you have will not help. This verse just tells you that whatsoever you are concentrating on is going to disappoint you. The mind is always concentrated in all the worldly and miscellaneous things. It is beyond the mind to concentrate on the Truth. Because the Truth is not an object. So, concentration doesn't help, it is not a matter of concentrating, it is a matter of seeing the futility of concentration.
Questioner: Hello sir, my name is Pradeep. I am a third year student from IIT, Hyderabad. So, my question is — In spite of being told that we shouldn't compare ourselves with others, it's told, that everyone is different and they have their own journey, but still, we tend to…
Smart work means being a little cunning, chalu (street smart), knowing shortcuts, and having connections in the right places. That’s what the world means by ‘smart work’. Unfortunately, choosing between hard work and smart work is like choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea. Whichever way you go, you are doomed. Hard work and smart work—what does hard work mean?
Hard work means I do not know what I am doing, why I am doing it, or who is doing it, but I have been told that doing is important, so I am just doing and doing; that is hard work.
Time management is actually value management. If you know the value of something, you will give time to it. If you’re not giving time to something, it means you’re placing higher value on something else. Your time profile is a clear reflection of your mental and value profile. If you want to know who you are, write down where your typical day goes. The time distribution will reveal who you truly are. You are where you are spending your time—that's your identity, your name, your personality.
There are far more important things in life to give importance to, and also if you are leading a truthful life then you can’t be too short of money. You will do something, right? Otherwise, you will gain weight. And if you are a little intelligent, a little creative, why would you not earn anything? You would earn something and that would keep you going. Fear about one’s financial future is proportional to one’s disbelief in one’s own worth. Otherwise, one says, “We will see when we come to that, will be able to manage something. We are not so very unskilled or stupid or useless, we will do something, we will manage.
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Question: We generally say, “Let me do this task and then I will be in awareness.” Why do we defer awareness? Why do we keep on postponing awareness?
Why are there forces, psychological and physiological, that work against awareness? If one must live in awareness, then why is maya against…
Speaker:
The word ‘vulnerability’ is not a very likable word. ‘Vulnerability’ to us is a consequence of the fact that there are forces outside of us that are hostile, aggressive and inimical, because we need to protect and defend ourselves against these
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Speaker: There was a lot that was asking to be changed. Leaving the corporate was not really an objective. I wanted to do something, and if it could have been nicely done…
The solution is here,
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Question: Sir, I understand that the work we are doing these days will help us. But, mostly I get the feeling that everyone in Advait has become too ambitious. They say do this, get that done. The office seems so much like a corporate.
Speaker: You do not know ambition;…
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Questioner (Q): In this present college scenario, there is one thing, which is the academics which I focus on, and there is an equivalent pool of activities which will help me develop my personality, in the sense that if I get better in a specific activity, it might help me…
