Mandukya Upanishad

The Real Meaning of the Four Yugas
The Real Meaning of the Four Yugas
13 min
We believe that the four yugas represent time spans on the calendar as an external entity. Vedanta just does not look at time as an external entity. Time is a state of mind. So, these four *Yugas*, they surely are states of mind. Satya Yuga is when the mind is totally centred in the Self, the Truth. Treta is when the mind is identified with thoughts. Dvapara is the body, and Kali Yuga is saṃsāra.
Advait or Dvait?
Advait or Dvait?
4 min
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.
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.
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Acharya Prashant: It is a thing that is useful

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Questioner: Acharya Ji, a good discussion happened yesterday in which many seekers participated and shared their understanding of Prakṛiti , Puruṣha and other things.

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The Mind Is Not Your Own
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The ego likes to settle matters too soon, the ego likes to conclude too soon. Wherever there is a conclusion, wherever there is a settlement, wherever there is an ending that thought can grasp, it is a false ending, it is a false realization. I have no interest in talking about what true realization is like. True realization is anywhere not a subject matter of this course. We should rather warn of that which is false. Read more....
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He has to be cunning in the service of the Truth;

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Prakriti and Purusha
11 min

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Finally, What Takes the Seeker to the Truth?
Finally, What Takes the Seeker to the Truth?
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Acharya Prashant: A quiver full of the best of arrows but no bow, how do you fight the battle of life? Can you imagine the amusing as well as tragic situation of the person who has a great arrow without a bow? He will be sharpening and sharpening his weapon,

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The Storm Kept Raging, the Sky Didn't Utter a Word
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Acharya Prashant: Chandogya Upanishad — Chapter 3, part 11, verses 2 and 3:

न वै तत्र न निम्लोच नोदियाय कदाचन । देवास्तेनाहंसत्येन मा विराधिषि ब्रह्मणेति ॥ ३.११.२ ॥

na vai tatra na nimloca nodiyāya kadācana | devāstenāhaṃsatyena mā virādhiṣi Brahmaṇeti || 3.11.2 ||

Never does this happen there; never did

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Acharya Prashant: I might be a very violent man. And my goal is to blast a building off. To learn how to do it, I have to live through stern discipline. I will have to build my body, I will have to learn several skills. I may have the discipline

How to Know Shri Krishna?
How to Know Shri Krishna?
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'I Want to be Free'- Your Eligibility for Spirituality
'I Want to be Free'- Your Eligibility for Spirituality
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Niralamba Upanishad: What Is Heaven and What Is Hell?
Niralamba Upanishad: What Is Heaven and What Is Hell?
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Waiting for the Right Partner?
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Let the Words Take You to Silence – Baba Bulle Shah
Let the Words Take You to Silence – Baba Bulle Shah
23 min
There is such great fun in leaving yourself behind and turning a servant to the Truth. It’s almost like Krishna advising Arjuna, “Talk in everlasting words and dedicate them all to Me—*mām ekaṃ śaraṇaṃ vraja, sarva-dharmān parityajya*.” And at numerous places in the *Bhagavad Gita*, he says, “Arjuna, you are not fighting for yourself, you are fighting for Me. As long as you fight for yourself, if you win, you suffer, and if you lose, you suffer. And when you fight for Me, then you are a victor even before the fight begins.”
How to Identify the Real Master?
How to Identify the Real Master?
26 min
It is not others that you have to be cautious of. You have to be cautious of that within you which gets influenced by others, which does not know others but gets influenced by others. It does not live in knowing. It lives in indoctrination. How to know the real master? See, who is treating your disease. How do you know a doctor? Not by his degrees but by his ability to treat you.
Is Enlightenment More Difficult for Women?
Is Enlightenment More Difficult for Women?
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A man has to give up on greed, on this and that. A woman has to give up on the feelings related to the body. On all the assumptions and other stuff related to the body. Leaving the house, for her, is like becoming naked. And then the rest of the journey is very easy for her. If you have a woman who can drop her physicality, who can get rid of the basic woman-ness, then you have a great saint in front of you.
What Is Meant by ‘Leaving the World’?
What Is Meant by ‘Leaving the World’?
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Acharya Prashant: Leaving what is not, That is all right, but that leaving is not done with an objective to get joy. Had the thing been so transactional that you could leave one thing and as an exchange offer get another thing, then everybody would have taken the deal. Were

Ancient Spiritual Practices Relevant Today?
Ancient Spiritual Practices Relevant Today?
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Practices do not determine the core of spirituality; consciousness does. If someone is feeding you practices in the name of spirituality, then that fellow is either ignorant or cunning or both, which is actually the same thing.
The Secrets of the World
The Secrets of the World
6 min
The world is like an open book to the one whose eyes are open; if you cannot read the world, then you have to look at yourself first, then you have to be mindful of your own condition. Read more...
When Friends Prefer Nonsense
When Friends Prefer Nonsense
6 min
People come, take the Upanishads from here and then feel depressed, their parents or spouses are not heeding to the Upanishads. So, I ask them, “Why must your spouse or your parents be the first ones to gain this knowledge from you?” If they’re not listening to you, go and teach this to your neighbour, or to some random person on the street, no? There are so many eligible and willing people, they’ll be very happy to receive this knowledge from you. Read more...
Advait or Dvait?
Advait or Dvait?
4 min

Questioner: Shankaracharya proclaimed the Advait (non-dualism) philosophy and Madhavacharya proclaimed Dvait (dualism) philosophy. We cannot say who is correct and who is incorrect. That was their truth. These two are extremely opposite. Which is the exact Truth?

Acharya Prashant: One may put it in words of his personal choice. And

Chandogya Upanishad: Learning to Dismiss the Mind
Chandogya Upanishad: Learning to Dismiss the Mind
31 min
The mind of a sage is continuously sensing a reality beyond appearances, a reality beyond limits. There is a constant realization that all the diversities share commonalities and there is something beyond the diversities that contain all the diversities. This feeling is being given a poetic manifestation in this particular verse. What matters here is the sense that there is something definitely beyond; that which is perceivable, all that which can be experienced between the Earth and the sky is of little importance compared to that.
Do We Have the Choice to Surrender?
Do We Have the Choice to Surrender?
3 min
You never go and ask real questions. You ask, “How to surrender to the Truth?” but you never ask, “How to surrender to money?” There you very conveniently and easily surrender. Anybody who has faced difficulty in surrendering to fear? Have you seen how easy that is! But in surrendering to Truth you say, “It is so impossible, how do I make that choice?”
Having Achieved a lot, why Am I Still Dissatisfied?
Having Achieved a lot, why Am I Still Dissatisfied?
17 min

Questioner: Whenever I succeed in achieving something, I immediately start looking for something else, and when I succeed in finding that something else, again I find myself in the same situation. What am I really looking for?

Acharya Prashant: That which you commonly look for and that which you achieve

How to Uncover the Unconscious? Do Tendencies of the Mind come from Past Lives?
How to Uncover the Unconscious? Do Tendencies of the Mind come from Past Lives?
15 min

Questioner: How can we expose the subconscious mind?

Acharya Prashant: By watching your daily actions very, very closely.

Alright, somebody comes to you and says, ‘Namaste'. Quickly show me how you respond.

[Listeners: Namaste (keeping hands together and smiling)]

So, you are smiling. And the moment the fellow is gone,

Talk Later of the Truth, First Rebel Against the False
Talk Later of the Truth, First Rebel Against the False
10 min

Questioner: In Katha Upanishad, young boy Nachiketa attained the highest wisdom and immortality by the virtue of dispassion and the firm resolve to know the Truth. Unless I resolve to know the Self, there is no other way it seems. Acharya Ji, kindly speak on the virtues of determination and

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Acharya Prashant: Nachiketa is a mere boy dependent on his father, and he has the honesty and the guts to go to his father and say, “Of what use is all this that you are doing? Who will benefit from these old and sick and milkless cows?” I assure you

Kabir Sahab Asks: ‘If You Are in Love, Then Why Are You Asleep?’
Kabir Sahab Asks: ‘If You Are in Love, Then Why Are You Asleep?’
8 min
Those who are in love with awakening create methods against sleep, don’t they? What does this student want? He wants awakening. So, he is creating a method whereby he would not fall asleep. It is such a simple method and an effective one: the head must stay still and then it would not hurt. But the moment your head swings, especially if it swings downwards, it would appear as if somebody has just pulled your hair. And how hard would the pull be? As hard is your downward swing. So, the more deeply you are asleep, the more unconscious you have become, the harder will be the pull, and so you will be compelled to stay awake. Do you get this?