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… read_more
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?… read_more
Questioner: A lot of students that I talk to, it’ s the fear of the society, it’ s the fear of the unknown, it’ s fear of the expectations that they are carrying, that pushes them to become an engineer and then they figure out that probably this is not… read_more
Acharya Prashant: Losing something requires a method, an application only if that something is either central to you or sticks to you on its own. Fear is neither central to you, nor does fear say that “I want to stay with you.” All fear is acquired and external.
So, rather… read_more
Acharya Prashant: Man bows down to only two things, you know—either to fear or to beauty. Today the world has neither of these. There is very little to be afraid of, you know. If the Earth is being destroyed, you can colonize another planet. “So, don’t worry, we will fly… read_more
Questioner: Sir, you have said that “right action is its own reward; the wrong action is its own punishment.” Basis your quote, the common man must choose right action and be naturally aversive to the wrong action but that does not happen. Kindly, throw some light on it.
Acharya Prashant … read_more
Questioner: So, do you teach any Sādhanā through which your disciples and followers can access this inner Witness through which they can constantly de-attach themselves from the world which they are experiencing.
Acharya Prashant: Know what you are doing currently, first of all, that’s what is needed. Anything begins when… read_more
Acharya Prashant: We need a mind that is not eager to react. That does not mean that it does not act. It acts beautifully, but it does not react. In fact, these two things go together: the ability to act beautifully, and the lack of tendency to react. The more… read_more
Questioner: Pranaam Acharya Ji. Why do I get nervous in situations where I have to express myself or when I have to talk to people?
Acharya Prashant: What do you talk to people about?
Questioner: Public speaking.
Acharya Prashant: What do you speak about?
Questioner: Anything related to school work,… read_more
Acharya Prashant: You are in front of food and you see how your body wants to lunge towards food. And do you know why the body wants to lunge towards food? Especially, let’s say, sweetmeats or high-calorie items? Why? – Because evolution taught it to, because the survival of the… read_more
Questioner: How to control fear and panic?
Acharya Prashant: Obviously panic is a state when you feel…
(The questioner interrupts and completes his question)
Q : How to control fear and panic, and move towards our objectives?
AP: Ah! Now you have made it very difficult for me!
You are… read_more
Speaker: Mind has so much stored, that it does not even know how much is stored. There are two portions to the storage. There are two parts of this godown. One part is – where you know that you have something stored. And the other part is – where you… read_more
Question: For a mind that is always fearful, what would saadhana (practice) be?
Speaker: Does fear remain the same, if it is no more an object to be loathed, an object that is spiteful, that must be gotten rid of?
Listener 1: One does not remain fearful.
Speaker: So what… read_more
Acharya Prashant: Anuj is asking, ‘*What is insecurity? Why do we experience it? And essentially how to get rid of it?*’
Insecurity is fear. Go into the word ‘secure’. ‘Secure’ means that which cannot go away, which cannot be taken way. It is secure; it cannot go; it cannot be… read_more
Acharya Prashant: We have heard of the beggar, who used to sit at the main crossing in the city. He had been begging since many years, rather decades. He had been begging since so long that it could be said that he had been begging all his life. People had… read_more
When you are speaking to a friend, do you need confidence? You don’t need confidence in the everyday situations at your home or with your friends. But in the interview room everybody says, “I need confidence,” right?
When do you need confidence? When does the question of confidence arise? The… read_more
आज्ञाभयसंशयात्मगुणसङ्कल्पो बन्धः ।
ājñābhayasaṁśayātmaguṇasaṅkalpō bandhaḥ
Bondage is to imagine that Ātman has qualities like doubts, fear, etc.
~ Niralamba Upanishad, Verse 25
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Acharya Prashant (AP): “Bondage is to imagine that Ātman has qualities like doubts or fear etc. Bondage is to imagine that Ātman has doubt or… read_more
Love knows on its own. Love needs no instructions. Hence, we are so afraid of it. We cannot control it. We do not know where it would go and what trouble it might lead us into. So, we say, keep your hands off this dangerous thing! Better be in formal… read_more
Do not just keep saying, “Oh! I get hurt. I need to be handled with kid gloves.” Have you seen those boxes? On top of them it is written, ‘Fragile. Handle with care’. Are you that box? Wear a T-shirt. On the front, it should read ‘fragile’; on the back,… read_more
See how much of our energy rises from suspicion. See how uncertainty and doubt motivate us so much. See how people are rushing around in their cars, and the fuel is doubt.
Doubt kills. It will not let you sleep. You cannot relax in doubt.
Is there anything in your… read_more
Questioner(Q): Hello, sir. Today's session is on Fearless Living. So, with respect to this topic, I would like to ask you, aren't we going against nature if we try to be fearless? Because in the course of evolution, the emotion of fear has never been eliminated. Also, it helps many… read_more
Question: I often find my life revolving around petty issues, issues around ‘me’, mine’. And there is a deep frustration because of this. I feel that I want something more. Is that just an ideology, or there is something more to it?
Speaker: Life is not something, cast in stone.… read_more
Choose a person who will challenge you, not someone who will pamper you, console you, tell you, “You are beautiful as you are.” And in the very same way, choose work. Choose work that will really be difficult to handle. Because if it is difficult to handle, then maybe it… read_more
The movies tell us that unless there is a special person in your life, you are really missing out on something big, and then 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… read_more
Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, what is the source of fear?
Acharya Prashant (AP): Before I begin, I’ll like to tell you a small story. I just mentioned all the big animals that went extinct when man first reached Australia from Indonesia; that’s how Australia got colonized. Man reached Indonesia, and… read_more
Speaker: How many students are sitting here? Around eighty, ninety, some number. I said to all of you to get up and ask your question. Who is the one who displays courage and instantly gets up and asks me a question? Who is the one?Listeners (everyone): Aviral (The one … read_more
Questioner (Q): Namaste Acharya Ji! Firstly, thank you so much! You have helped me in ways which I cannot explain. So, I am basically a student. I am 26, and I am a student of Philosophy. I completed my M. Phil sometime back.
My problem is that I have a… read_more
Questioner: Sir, I experience fear a lot of times. How to get rid of it?
Acharya Prashant: As long as it’s just an experience and you honestly acknowledge it, every such experience will burn away the seed from where this fear comes. Every time you experience without yielding to the… read_more
Questioner: Acharya Ji, what is the difference between Loneliness and Aloneness?
Acharya Prashant: Simply put,
Loneliness is when you are not alright with yourself.
Loneliness is when you are just not okay with yourself.
Aloneness is when you are alright with yourself.
When you are not alright with yourself, you… read_more
Acharya Prashant (AP): The question is that 'why doesn’t one experience so much of fear?' He is quoting a specific incident from yesterday when he saw a large dog and that aroused fear in him. Tell me – what is it that you take as a problem – the fact… read_more
Questioner: Sir, you said that life is going from the last two thousand years or so, and we are here for just sixty or seventy years. So, how can we change anything?
Acharya Prashant: Do you require two thousand years? Do you require sixty years? If you really, really want… read_more
You are actually so powerful that you are scared of yourself. The ego doesn’t want to give up. That’s what the scare is all about, because betterment of the ego is nothing but the reduction of the ego. Who wants to reduce?
We all want to accumulate. We all want… read_more
Questioner(Q): Namaskar Acharya ji, it’s my privilege to ask my doubt from you. My name is Paramjit Singh. I am from IIT Bombay, Metallurgical Engineering, 2nd year. So, my question is related to, at some point in life we get some opportunity that we are so overpowered by that we… read_more
Wherever you are, that is where the door will open for you. You need not go to any other place. If you are bored, then boredom is the door. If you are attached, then that attachment itself is the door. If you are angry and fearful, then the anger and… read_more
Listener : I was reading a book and I see you put very much attention to fear. I find it interesting because others put emphasis on following time.
Acharya Prashant: All the spiritual teachings, this entire domain has one single objective and that objective is not the attainment of God. … read_more
Listener: Should one be diplomatic or straightforward?
Speaker: Can I answer, if this is a diplomatic question?
(Addressing the listener) Utkarsh, even to answer this question, I must be sure that this is a straightforward question. If it is not a straightforward question, then how can a reply come, and… read_more
Questioner: Is the goal to eliminate fear completely, or to be not affected by fear as one witnesses it within? I ask because as long as one has expectations from others, one needs to fulfill their desires, which can inhibit freedom and create fear.
Acharya Prashant: Fear is not an … read_more
Your fear is not that something bad will happen; you are afraid of the impact it will have upon you.
Is it the world that terrifies you, or is it your own vulnerability? If you know very well that, “Come what may! Let the world collapse, it will have no… read_more
Fear is never reasonless, purposeless, or messageless. It tells you of your insecurities. It tells you of your vulnerabilities. It tells you where you are not real.
If you do not listen to fear, you will keep assuming that you are all solid and strong. It is only fear that… read_more
Question: How can we overcome our fears?
Speaker: For quite a while I have been inviting questions. Did you think just now of asking this question, or was this question written on your page since the beginning?
Listener 1: Since the beginning.
Speaker: Since the beginning. You did not raise… read_more
Acharya Prashant (AP): We have a fear of darkness. Being the physically evolved creatures that we are, darkness has always been a threat to us in the course of evolution. A part of our primordial psyche continues to remain afraid of darkness even to this date irrespective of our technological… read_more
Were you born thinking of a job? Was that the first thing you said to the nurse? “How and where can I get a job, please?”
Nobody is ever born with fear. Fear has been given to us. Who implanted this fear in your mind? Society, and these movies, and… read_more
Listener: Why are we always scared? In a class if I’m sitting and I’ve to ask question to our teacher, then why do we always think that what people will think of us if I ask this question?
Acharya Prashant: What’s your name?
L: I’m Kiran.
AP: Kiran. Sit… read_more
एक छात्र : इगो(Ego) क्या है?
वक्ता: हम अपने आप को जो भी समझते हैं, गौर से देखें कि उसमें से कितना है, जो बाहर से आया है। जो कुछ भी बाहर से आया है, उसका नाम है Ego. मैं अपने आप को जो भी समझता हूँ, मैंने अपने मन… read_more
Questioner (Q): Whenever I want to do something new, I am always afraid that I might fail. So, I keep a backup plan for myself, that in case I fail, I will do this another thing. And I don’t know if this is the right way of thinking or approaching… read_more
