सही काम आनंद पाने के लिए नहीं, बल्कि इसलिए किया जाता है क्योंकि वही सही है। सही काम करते समय सुख मिले या बोरियत, दोनों को समान रूप से स्वीकार करना ही आनंद है। पढ़ाई, विशेषकर गणित, केवल परीक्षा का विषय नहीं बल्कि प्रकृति और जीवन की भाषा है, जो दुनिया को समझने की क्षमता देती है. गलतियाँ स्वाभाविक हैं और उनसे सीखना चाहिए, लेकिन बेईमानी कभी स्वीकार्य नहीं हो सकती। सच्ची सफलता पूर्णता में नहीं, बल्कि ईमानदारी में है।
जो व्यक्ति अपनी पशुता को नहीं पहचानता और अपने भीतर के जानवर को मर्यादित करने के लिए कोई मेहनत नहीं करता। फिर उसकी सज़ा ये है कि वो जानवर की तरह जीता है और जानवर की तरह ही मरता है। अफ़सोस की बात ये है कि सज़ा सिर्फ़ उसको नहीं मिलती। उसके साथ-साथ पूरी दुनिया को मिलती है, वो फिर पूरी दुनिया को तबाह करता है।
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
Acharya Prashant: The constitution of the body is such that it is pleasure-seeking. That’s the guiding principle behind bodily actions. Bodily actions include the impulses of the brain. So, that which you call as natural, in loose language, is nothing but pleasure-seeking behavior. When you say something is natural, effectively
Spirituality is about having great pleasures; the kind of pleasure that normal people cannot even think of. Do not think that the spiritual person leads a boring or dull or dead life. No. The really spiritual person is drunk on pleasure. You cannot imagine his state of inner euphoria. He is ecstatic about something that is totally unavailable to the common. Read more....
Acharya Prashant: Happiness comes to you so that you become interested, you become inquisitive, your longing gains depth and you ask for permanent happiness. You say, “Oh this that was given to me was so ephemeral! Thirty seconds, that’s all? No no no! It was good. But I want the…
Speaker: Pulkit is asking, ‘Is there a pre-determined aim of life or does it evolve with the circumstances?’ Pulkit, neither of these. For us anything belongs to either of these two categories. Right? It is either something pre-meditated or it is something spontaneous and random, that we have not thought
In vikarma (sinful action) you say, “I am already liberated and I don’t need any liberation.” In vikarma, the one who is in bondages is so deeply dishonest that he starts proclaiming his liberation and says, “I am already liberated. Who needs liberation? I am happy and I will
“You give me pleasure, I give you pleasure. And to ensure an uninterrupted and secured supply of physical pleasure, you remain physically committed to me, and I remain physically committed to you. What do I want from you? Pleasure, physical pleasure. And we are committed to each other. What does
If someone’s presence has a becalming effect on your mind, soothing effect on your mind, illuminating effect on your mind, liberating effect on your mind, go ahead, be with that person, or persons, as much as you want to. But be with them only as long as you do not
Even if you want a deeper pleasure, you will have to go deeper into the mind, and going deeper into the mind is what the spiritual process is all about.
We are brilliant artists—makeup artists. We are adept in calling false happiness as happiness. We pretend to be happy when we are not even happy, and all of us know fully well what I am talking of. Go to your social media pages and you will see what we are…
How much to spend on oneself? As much as is needed to extract the maximum work and value from oneself. There might be times when you need to spend on servicing the car. Fine, that much expense is needed. Otherwise, the car will not be helpful anymore. I need to…
Look at a river, or look at a tree; both have life cycles. Once the tree was tender and young, there was a particular way it responded to the wind. And now the tree is getting old, now there is another way it responds to the wind. Both are beautiful.
Question: At every point in our life, we want to get rid of the burden, and become happy. But that point doesn’t ever come. How to achieve true happiness in our life?
Some drugs, some excitement, some women, some booze—that’s what your pleasure is, right? High speed driving, somehow managing a room in a posh hotel, walking into it with a girl—that’s what your pleasure is. How does the bedsheet look after the night? How is the morning after the rampage? How
If you choose a goal that is not worthy enough, you will try a lot to concentrate on your goal but you will find that invariably you get distracted after a while. That is not because the distractions are powerful; that is because your goal is powerless.
Questioner (Q): Sir, yesterday was my first Satsang that I attended. I came to know about it through your poster. It is indeed very enlightening to be here, to hear you in person for the first time.
What do you call as a positive thought? A thought that makes you happy. A thought about your well-being. A thought that you would be alright or better off. A thought of hope.
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Modern culture often celebrates rebellion, travel, and endless experiences as symbols of freedom and happiness, but they can become just another form of conformity. Genuine personal development begins with mindfulness and creating the right mind space to understand oneself. Without inner clarity, changing places, trends, or identities only repeats old patterns. True freedom comes from self-understanding, not from chasing new experiences or fashionable rebellion.
Joy is not something that you can think of as something wonderful. You cannot go somewhere and say that, looking at a mountain, I experienced joy. Joy is something which is always there, obfuscated; hence, it is the absence of obfuscation. A complete absence of all rubbish is joy, and that rubbish includes both pleasure and pain.
All happiness that your mind feels is directly proportional to how unhappy you are. So, if you want to be really happy, become totally unhappy. This is called the law of duality. The deeper your pain, the more relieved you will be. That is the nature of the mind. When you are moving towards happiness, actually the journey towards unhappiness has begun.
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It is not really happiness that is to be found through self-knowledge. In fact, self-knowledge often is a danger to happiness. Self-knowledge dissolves both happiness and sadness, and you are left with nothing but a naked and silent joy. If you can see yourself clearly, without motivation, then the seeing itself is great fun.
Excerpts from Articles
Climate Change: The Solution Is a Choice
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?
एक पुजारी जो रोज़ भूत-प्रेत, तंत्र-मंत्र और वशीकरण के नाम पर आए लोगों से मिलता है, आचार्य प्रशांत से पूछता है: जब वो ख़ुद जानता है कि कुछ भूत-चुड़ैल नहीं होता, तो लोग बार-बार इसी झूठ की शरण में क्यों जाते हैं? जवाब अंधविश्वास से कहीं गहरा निकलता है — यह हमारे भीतर के उस झूठ की कहानी है, जिसे हम हर कीमत पर बचाना चाहते हैं।
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.
फ़ालतू खर्च छोड़िए, अपनी ज़िंदगी पर खर्च करना सीखिए
आचार्य प्रशांत बताते हैं कि क्यों हम सही खान-पान, स्वास्थ्य और अपने ऊपर ज़रूरी खर्च से बचते हैं, लेकिन दिखावे और फ़ालतू सामाजिक परंपराओं पर पैसा बहा देते हैं। अधिकांश लोगों के लिए समस्या सिर्फ़ पैसों की कमी नहीं, बल्कि विवेक और सही प्राथमिकताओं की कमी भी 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.
रक्षाबंधन केवल भाई-बहन के रिश्ते और सुरक्षा की रस्म तक सीमित नहीं होना चाहिए। आज असली रक्षा उन चीज़ों की ज़रूरत है जो कमज़ोर और संकट में हैं—गौरैया, नदियाँ, पहाड़, पेड़, महासागर और पृथ्वी। साथ ही ईमानदारी, आत्मज्ञान और मानवीय मूल्यों की भी रक्षा जरूरी है। धर्म कर्मकांड नहीं, अपनी शक्ति और उससे जुड़ी व्यापक ज़िम्मेदारी को समझना है।
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।
आकाश के अणु-अणु में ये बात बसी हुई है कि 'All is already and always perfect', सब कुछ सदा और सर्वथा पूर्ण है। हमें ये विचार है कि कुछ कमी है, और इस कमी को पूरा करने के लिए हम सुख की तरफ़ जाते हैं। ये मानना कि कुछ कमी है — यही कमी है। जहाँ देखा कि मान रहे हो कि कुछ कमी है, वहीं समझ लो — माया है। माया क्या है? कमी का आभास। प्रतीत होती है कि कुछ कम है, कुछ कम है। जबकि हवा में और रोशनी में, हर जगह लिखा हुआ है कि सब परफेक्ट है, पूरा है।
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जिस चीज़ को मज़ा बोलते हो और जिस चीज़ को बेमज़ा बोलते हो, जिसको सुख बोलते हो, जिसको दुख बोलते हो दोनों को समझो कि ये मामला चल क्या रहा है, और इस समझने में जो मौज है, वो आनंद है। तो दुख भी चल रहा है तो उसको समझो — दुख में भी आनंदित रहोगे, और सुख चल रहा है तब तो समझो ही समझो। कुछ भी चल रहा है, जो भी चल रहा है उसको समझो — वो आनंद है।
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Happiness that is neither temporal nor chemical has been classically called as joy. And it is not something to be obtained. It is not something to be obtained. It is nature. It is who you are. Provided you refuse to abide by what you are not. Happiness is not something you have to hunt for. Otherwise, happiness remains eternally elusive.
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हम छोटे-मोटे उत्सव करके सोचते हैं कि हमे खुशी मिल गई; काश कि मिली होती। ये बड्डे-गड्डे में ताली बजाने से खुशी नहीं मिलती, एक समस्या ज़रूर खड़ी हो जाती है — आप अपने आप को जता लेते हो कि आपको खुशी मिल गई। इंसान को वरदान ये मिला है कि उसे खुशी मिलेगी तो ऊँची मिलेगी। और अभिशाप ये मिला है कि उस ऊँची खुशी के लिए उसे दाम भी ऊँचा चुकाना पड़ेगा। दाम ये है कि अपनी कमज़ोरियों से जूझ जाओ, उनके विरुद्ध संघर्ष करो।
For you to make your parents happy, the first requirement is that you must be happy. If you are not happy, how can you give happiness to your parents? There is a basic law of existence: you can only give what you have. How can you suffer and still make others happy? Please, get rid of the notion that you can compromise your life to make others happy.
हमारी ज़िन्दगियाँ absurdity का ही एक endless narrative है। यह absurdity दिखाओ, लोग खूब हसेंगे। Comedy, entertainment ये सब बहुत अच्छी चीज़ें हैं यदि ये लोगों को अपनी मूर्खताओं पर, अपने prejudices पर हँसा दे। हमें ऐसी कॉमेडी की बहुत सख्त ज़रूरत है जो clarity देती हो। ऐसी कॉमेडी जहाँ उसको सुनकर सिर्फ़ आप हँसे नहीं हो, आप हल्के हो गए हो। यही तो होता है- ‘Cutting Your Own Inner Clutter.’
समाज ने हमें सिखाया है कि खुश रहना चाहिए। इस सीख को हमने इतना सोख लिया है कि यह बात बिल्कुल अंदर तक पैठ गई है। और जो जितना प्रकट करे कि वह प्रसन्न है, उसके बारे में जान लीजिएगा कि वह आनंदित तो नहीं ही है, वह वास्तव में भीतर से दुखी है। प्रकृति में सुख का अर्थ होता है 'भोग'। तो जो आपको सिखा रहे हैं कि हमेशा हैप्पी नज़र आओ, वे वही लोग हैं जो आपको भोग की तरफ़ प्रेरित कर रहे हैं।
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No! They are not interesting people; they are sick people. It’s just that the very definition of the word 'interesting' has become distorted to their advantage. People in hell are as interesting as a stinking pile of trash is.
Making yourself happy isn't self-love. Self-love is gifting yourself the highest possible. If you do not know what to give yourself, at least abstain from giving yourself toxic and harmful things. Real love is always tough. Self-love is an exercise in reduction, not accumulation. When you work to make your life beautiful, you are truly loving yourself.
If you want to be happy, you should be sad. How many of you want deep happiness? You must go and must become deeply sad. This kind of happiness is of no use, it is coming from others, it is situation-dependent, there is no intelligence in it. There is another happiness that is called as ‘joy’. Find that happiness which nobody has given you and nobody can take away, which is your own nature. Lightness, simple pure lightness!
The bulk of the human population is always, by default, in the state of boredom, frustration, irritation and anxiety— which are all nothing but sadness. The brain can never know the real happiness, i.e., 'Joy'. So, it is looking for some kind of a cheap substitute, which it finds in various objects: position, power, performance, money, appreciation, prestige, reputation— all these things. Happiness is a false medicine. A substitute. A cheap, unworthy substitute for joy.
खुशियाँ बहुत स्तरों की होती हैं। खुशी पाने के लिए तुम्हें यह जानना चाहिए कि मुझे किस स्तर की खुशी चाहिए। आम आदमी की खुशी वह होती है जो अपने पीछे ग़म और उदासी लेकर आती है, जबकि बुद्ध की खुशी उच्चतर स्तर की और असली होती है। जो भी अपने सामर्थ्य से बढ़कर कुछ ऊँचा करता है, उसे ऊँची खुशी मिलती है। जितने ऊँचे स्तर की तुम खुशी चाहोगे, उतने ही ऊँचे स्तर का तुम्हारा जीवन होगा।
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श्रोता १: वास्तविक में कुछ नया नहीं है। लेकिन हम उसे नया बनाना चाह रहें हैं। जैसे कि मैं आज आया हूँ यहाँ पर, वैसे काफ़ी समय बाद आया हूँ। और कहीं-न-कहीं मैं ये चाह रहा था कि आज मैं जाऊँ। क्योंकि आज न्यू ईयर वाला है दिन और मैं…
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Acharya Prashant: You live for the sake of contentment. You are desperately looking around for contentment. You don't get it here, so you move to the next place. You don't get it there you move to the next place; you move to the next place; you move to the next…
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Speaker:
Whatever pleases the mind, whatever the mind likes, is called happiness for the mind. Simple, whatever pleases the mind is happiness. Whatever means whatever, could be anything. There are no complexities in this. Whatever the
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Speaker: HIDP is telling us that our first and primary responsibility is towards ourselves. Then what about parents, friends and the society?
Listener: Not the society.
Speaker: Just the parents.
Listener: Parents and our teachers.
Speaker: All of that is society. Even parents are society. Anybody apart from you is?…
If you have seriously something worthwhile to do in life, then time is a friend. But if you are just loafing around and you fully well know that you are just killing time, then obviously time is an enemy. Every passing moment reminds you that you are committing a crime…
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Question is in two parts:
One: What is the difference, the essential difference between any two human beings?
Two: Why does everyone want happiness?
Acharya Prashant: The difference between any two human beings can be taken in two ways. One way the world looks at it. One way is…
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नास्ति बुद्धिरयुक्तस्य न चायुक्तस्य भावना ।
न चाभावयत: शान्तिरशान्तस्य कुत: सुखम् ।। 66 ।।
nāsti buddhir-ayuktasya na chāyuktasya bhāvanā
na chābhāvayataḥ śhāntir aśhāntasya kutaḥ Sukham
For the unsteady, there is no intellect (buddhi), and there is no contemplation (bhāvanā) for the unsteady man. And for an unmeditative man, there is…
If the fellow is a lover of the good things of life, let’s say a complete hedonist, then encourage him…
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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…
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Speaker: Now that you have realized that happiness hardly ever comes by wanting to be happy, the obvious…
Happiness is to carry the obligation to be happy. Joy is when you are no more obligated to be happy.
If these basics are…
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Speaker: The question is, ‘does conditioning bring peace of mind?’ Different types of people go to temple, or worship at home. They seem to be peaceful, but after a few minutes, they are back to the chaos of their nature. So, where is peace of mind?
See, thought of pleasure…
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If you will go and figure out the fact of loneliness, it is the woman who is more susceptible to loneliness. Man makes merry even in the company of man. You would find a boys’ gang going all over, all around, a group of six boys having fun; but rarely…
andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti ye'vidyāmupāsate
tato bhūya iva te tamo ya u vidyāyāṁ ratāḥ
Those who worship avidyā enter blind darkness. Those who delight in vidyā enter darkness as it were, yet deeper.
~ Ishavasya Upanishad,…
As a spiritual aspirant, one tries to keep the mind under control and…
These aren’t things that first come to the exterior and can later be extended to the
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The Upanishads were not composed to give you the normal kind of comfort and happiness. The Upanishads are there to give you an exalted happiness, a transcendental happiness, an eternal happiness. A happiness so rare and exquisite that it is not called as harṣa or moda or prasannatā; a…
But hope is not ever certain. Hope is always accompanied by fear. You hope that you might…
