Carl Gustav Jung

Chaos inside is the catastrophe outside || Acharya Prashant, International Psychology Summit (2023)
Chaos inside is the catastrophe outside || Acharya Prashant, International Psychology Summit (2023)
1 min
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Choose Joy || Neem Candies
Choose Joy || Neem Candies
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Be compassionate towards yourself, and have faith that freedom is possible and that life can be enjoyed really. Life need not be a melancholy song; it can be a symphony of ecstasy. That faith has to be there.

Do not surrender so easily to the forces of littleness. They will

Feeling Caged in Your Chattering Mind?
Feeling Caged in Your Chattering Mind?
5 min
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.
Mind Alone Is Bondage And Liberation
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.
How To Get Rid Of Bad Habits?
How To Get Rid Of Bad Habits?
9 min
Don’t live out of habit, live out of wakefulness. Your action must not be habituated action; your thought must not be a pattern-based thought. Your thought, your action must come out of your understanding. Don’t depend on habit.
Is Your Mind Your Best Friend or Your Worst Enemy?
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.
What Does Equanimity Mean in Life?
What Does Equanimity Mean in Life?
12 min
When you know that you can not be harmed, then you let the change come to you. Then, you do not lose your inner poise in front of changing conditions. This is equanimity. For equanimity, you require a very good driver, a totally dependable driver. Our driver is the Ego. It does not allow the Absolute to drive us. The Ego is so arrogant that it goes and sits on the throne, the sacred place, that is reserved only for the Beloved, only for God. It has no right to be there. Dethrone it!
Yoga - The Biggest 'Spiritual' Myth Today
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 Do We Know Anything about Life? Where Do Our Thoughts Come from?
8 min

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

To Understand the Mind, Observe Without Concluding
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.
What Is Creativity?
What Is Creativity?
4 min
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.
How to be in a Peaceful State of Mind?
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.
How to Handle Criticism?
How to Handle Criticism?
6 min
The trouble is, we do not use our eyes to look at ourselves. We depend on others' opinions, which are totally external. If you don’t know what you are doing, how will others know? General awareness can be taken from others, but not self-awareness. If somebody comes to you, listen to them, but do not allow their words to become your self-image.
How to Control the Mind?
How to Control the Mind?
13 min
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
Relax and Let the Mind Observe Naturally
5 min
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'?
Why Indians Address People as 'Ji'?
5 min
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 a Good Habit Really Good?
Is a Good Habit Really Good?
17 min
Whatever you call a ‘good habit’ is as dead as a ‘bad habit’ because any habit is a regular pattern followed without consciousness or understanding. Habits are for those who are half-asleep, as they prevent you from living fully and acting consciously. To break it, simply pause, observe, and ask yourself, 'Is this happening because I am aware and conscious, or is it just because of my patterns?'
Fighting your Weakness is more Important than Fighting the Enemy
Fighting your Weakness is more Important than Fighting the Enemy
3 min

Acharya Prashant: A fly comes and sits on my arm here (pointing towards the arm), I reject it, I discard it – Is the game over? Is she not ever going to return? Why? Because I discarded the fly and not my arm, so irrespective of how strong your resistance

Life is for Better Things || Neem Candies
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

The Robot's ego
The Robot's ego
7 min

Questioner: Sir, I want to ask, Robot doesn’t have ego. So, now what is the intersection between the urge towards freedom and your ego?

Acharya Prashant: You could say, the robot does have an ego planted into it by its designer. Therefore, the ego of the robot is totally in

Wise Men Don’t Make Such Mistakes || AP Neem Candies
Wise Men Don’t Make Such Mistakes || AP Neem Candies
1 min

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

Drugs for Spiritual Growth || Neem Candies
Drugs for Spiritual Growth || Neem Candies
1 min

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

It's alright to have thoughts || AP Neem Candies
It's alright to have thoughts || AP Neem Candies
2 min

Acharya Prashant: Spirituality is not committing suicide, or is it? Then we do not need satsang (gathering), we need mass suicide halls. It’ll all be over! It has happened, you know? There have been cults in Japan and other places where incidents of mass suicides have been reported. They thought

Secrets of an Authentic Personality
Secrets of an Authentic Personality
5 min

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

Why Others Can't Fulfill Your Expectations
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?
Where Is the Real Me?
7 min

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

How to Respond to Life's Problems?
How to Respond to Life's Problems?
11 min

Questioner: There is some image of something and you are not conscious, where then there is that blocked energy, so to speak? Fear or whatever it is, you act out of reaction. So, what would be… at the moment there is no choice, you are just reacting. What would be

You've Had Enough of This Person
You've Had Enough of This Person
12 min

Questioner: Namaskar Acharya ji! I am reading a book called “Freedom from the Known”, where the author, Jiddu Krishnamurthi, talks about removing authority to be free from the ego. What does he mean by authority? Can we take anything to be the authority and then say, “I’m not going to

On Education, Corporate Life and Career Progress
On Education, Corporate Life and Career Progress
32 min

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

Where Science and Spirituality Converge
Where Science and Spirituality Converge
5 min

Questioner: Is there some scientific context to spirituality? Because, at the end of the day, as you said, ‘Religion forms a boundary, an outer shell, within which spirituality remains.’ Because this has to be something that stops you from doing something wrong or something that is fundamentally upsetting. So, how

Litmus Test for Exploitative Relationships || AP Neem Candies
Litmus Test for Exploitative Relationships || AP Neem Candies
6 min

Acharya Prashant: Only in aloneness can you have relationships that are not exploitative. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter what name, or what color you give to your relationship; your relationship will definitely be one of exploitation. Have you ever looked at your relationships closely? Do you ever want the other? No,

How Will You Know When Kaliyug Is Over?
How Will You Know When Kaliyug Is Over?
3 min

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

Your Best Kept Secret is Out || AP Neem Candies
Your Best Kept Secret is Out || AP Neem Candies
3 min

Acharya Prashant: You can not win the mind, you can not cater to the mind, you can not control the mind. And you are not responsible for everything that this ancient mind does. A thousand squirrels are sitting here, and five hundred monkeys, and the extinct dinosaur, and all the

Why Become a Woman, Why Become a Man?
Why Become a Woman, Why Become a Man?
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

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

Acharya Prashant: A mind free of stories about itself, is a humble mind. The story could say everything. The story does not always say, “I am the king of the world.” Often the story says, “I am the most wretched person on this earth.” Nevertheless, irrespective of its content, a

To be at Rest is to be at the Destination even in the Middle of the Journey
To be at Rest is to be at the Destination even in the Middle of the Journey
11 min

Questioner: Sir, when you say rest, what do you mean by that, because something is always going-on, in the periphery, some or other activities are always being carried out?

So what is rest?

Acharya Prashant: Rest is to realize that none of those activities, which continue on the periphery, have

Freedom from Ego is Freedom from Fear
Freedom from Ego is Freedom from Fear
24 min

Acharya Prashant: What to do when you encounter a person with a lot of ego? He has used two words: High ego and bad ego. Let us understand this. When you use the term ‘bad ego’, you necessarily mean that there is something called ‘good ego’ as well. Correct? Logical?

Spontaneous, or Carried Away?
Spontaneous, or Carried Away?
11 min

Questioner: Why think so much about decisions? Shouldn’t our decisions be spontaneous? I like to decide in a free flow.

Acharya Prashant: So the questioner is stressing on the spontaneity of decisions. He says that he likes to decide in a flow. It's a good thing, your intention is good.

How do I Retain this Beautiful Silence?
How do I Retain this Beautiful Silence?
6 min

Questioner: While writing the questions about our lives, we were silent and it feels very peaceful right now. But how to maintain this silence? How to make sure that this silence holds, that it is not momentary?

Acharya Prashant: It is apparent that this silence is conducive to understanding. It

Is This What Makes You Special? || AP Neem Candies
Is This What Makes You Special? || AP Neem Candies
8 min

Acharya Prashant: Man is the only one who has a worrying ego. Man is the only one that has an ego that looks into the future. Other living beings on the earth have a very nominal and minimal ego. All that it wants is to be alright currently, so some

Why most People Fail in their Goals || AP Neem candies
Why most People Fail in their Goals || AP Neem candies
3 min

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.

So, incompleteness is projecting more incompleteness for itself and then trying with all its might to reach more incompleteness. How

The Prettiest Girl, and the Ugliest Woman || AP Neem Candies
The Prettiest Girl, and the Ugliest Woman || AP Neem Candies
8 min

Acharya Prashant: A king once asked his favorite painter, the royal painter to paint him the face of the most beautiful individual in the kingdom. So, the painter set out looking for the most innocent face in the kingdom. And he chanced upon a little girl, he chanced upon a

We forced the virus to come to us || AP Neem candies
We forced the virus to come to us || AP Neem candies
5 min

Acharya Prashant: What’s worse, there might be much more lethal and incurable viruses to come in the future.

We talk of the virus as the problem. In fact, if you go to social media to get a hang of how we are looking at the whole thing in a cultural

Are You Choosing Your Thoughts?
Are You Choosing Your Thoughts?
4 min
Because of the stimulus, a thought arises. There is an external stimulus, and because you have an inherent tendency to think, you are conditioned to think. That is the maximum that the external stimulus can do. It can provoke a thought within you. But then you provide fuel to that thought; you provide energy to that thought. And then the thought becomes a fixation with you. Now you are thinking the entire day.
That One Great Desire
That One Great Desire
14 min
There is a desire that gives birth to the worlds and then there is a desire that gets fed up with the worlds and returns to the pure, the original, the immutable. You have already come to a long distance, cannot undo the journey, you cannot un-travel the distance, what do you do then? Complete the cycle. Have the right desire that stimulates you into the right action. The right work, the right action that will lead you into immortality, that’s what you need to do now.
What Is the Ego? || AP Neem Candies
What Is the Ego? || AP Neem Candies
4 min

Acharya Prashant: You are walking along an empty street in the middle of the night—nobody around you, nobody to really disturb you, nobody to talk to you, nobody to point to you, nobody to intercept you, nobody to remind you of anything, and still do you see how much keeps

Do These Thoughts Trouble You?
Do These Thoughts Trouble You?
15 min

Questioner (Q): I am troubled by nihilistic thoughts. I feel that nothing in this world has any real existence or importance. Sometimes when I study, I start questioning its importance and start thinking that I should abandon the studies. I sometimes think about abandoning the material world altogether, but I

The Mind Is Not Your Own
The Mind Is Not Your Own
13 min
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....
What Is the Ego Tendency?
What Is the Ego Tendency?
5 min
Ego tendency is when things start dancing all over the mind. Kabir Sahab says, “Maya is that which occupies your mind.” You are attached to the brain. The “I” tendency attached to the brain is called the mind, and therefore she comes to the mind. To merely the brain, she will not be big trouble, but to the mind, she is a big attraction or distraction. One question that needs to be asked to all the unwelcome guests, “So many unwelcome guests have arrived, but Who is the host?" And then, you will hear a resounding order, ‘I am.’
The Mind Is Not Your Own
The Mind Is Not Your Own
12 min

Acharya Prashant: The topic is the infectiousness of boredom. Not only is boredom infectiousness, anything and everything that the mind experiences is contagious, infectious. You experienced it with respect to one particular way of the mind, one particular move of the mind right now. That does not mean that only