Happiness

Are All the Interesting People Found in Hell?
Are All the Interesting People Found in Hell?
7 min
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.
Is Self-Love About Being Happy?
Is Self-Love About Being Happy?
8 min
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.
Is Sadness the Door to Happiness?
Is Sadness the Door to Happiness?
12 min
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!
Happiness Is a False Medicine
Happiness Is a False Medicine
3 min
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.
कौनसी खुशी शुभ है?
कौनसी खुशी शुभ है?
38 min
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।
How to Make Your Parents Happy?
How to Make Your Parents Happy?
9 min
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.
दो दिन की ज़िंदगी - खाओ पियो ऐश करो
दो दिन की ज़िंदगी - खाओ पियो ऐश करो
9 min
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।
हम सिर्फ छुट्टियों के दिन ही क्यों जीते हैं?
हम सिर्फ छुट्टियों के दिन ही क्यों जीते हैं?
47 min

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

Parents Insist on Horoscope and Find the Guy is 'Manglik'
Parents Insist on Horoscope and Find the Guy is 'Manglik'
15 min

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

The Universe Is Infinite Because Our Desires Are || AP Neem Candies
The Universe Is Infinite Because Our Desires Are || AP Neem Candies
4 min

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

For Those Who Seek Pleasure || AP Neem Candies
For Those Who Seek Pleasure || AP Neem Candies
2 min

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

अय्याशी पूरी है, फिर भी 'बेचैनी’ क्यों है?
अय्याशी पूरी है, फिर भी 'बेचैनी’ क्यों है?
7 min
अय्याशी समाधान नहीं है। अय्याशी समाधान होती तो अमेरिका में सब एकदम प्रसन्न ही नहीं, आनन्दित होते। लेकिन मानसिक बीमारी जितनी भारत में है उससे ज़्यादा अमेरिका में पायी जाती है। सारी समस्या बस यही है कि आँखें बाहर देख पाती हैं, भीतर नहीं देख पाती | आदमी अय्याशी इसलिए नहीं करता कि उसे अय्याशी से प्यार है, आदमी अय्याशी इसलिए करता है क्योंकि वो भीतर से बहुत दुखी है। समस्या ये है कि अय्याशी कर-करके भी, कर-करके भी किसी का दुख दूर नहीं होता।अय्याशी तो पूरी कर रहे हो लेकिन उससे पा क्या रहे हो? अपनी ही ज़िन्दगी ख़राब कर रहे हो, अपना पूरा ग्रह तबाह कर रहे हो।
Don't Miss Out on This Pleasure
Don't Miss Out on This Pleasure
8 min
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....
Want to Be Happy? Become Sad!
Want to Be Happy? Become Sad!
4 min

Questioner: Are satisfaction and happiness same or different?

Acharya Prashant: They are the same as far as our life is concerned. Go into this. Both are related to achievement, both are related to the state of non-fulfillment because we are restless right now. ‘Why I am restless?’

Appreciate this. ‘What

Ananda: The Journey Beyond Superficial Happiness
Ananda: The Journey Beyond Superficial Happiness
3 min

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

Joy of the uncaused and the unpredictable || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
Joy of the uncaused and the unpredictable || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
6 min

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

Joy - absolute happiness- is possible || Acharya Prashant (2014)
Joy - absolute happiness- is possible || Acharya Prashant (2014)
30 min

Question: Sir, what is happiness? And what is the relation between happiness and Joy?

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

How to keep others happy? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
How to keep others happy? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
21 min

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?

Time pass or crime? || Neem Candies
Time pass or crime? || Neem Candies
1 min

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

Do not make chains your ornaments || Neem Candies
Do not make chains your ornaments || Neem Candies
1 min

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

Committed? To what? || Neem Candies
Committed? To what? || Neem Candies
1 min

“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

How do human beings differ and why do all want happiness? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
How do human beings differ and why do all want happiness? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
6 min

Question: 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

Story behind the happy face || Neem Candies
Story behind the happy face || Neem Candies
1 min
Be with such a person || Neem Candies
Be with such a person || Neem Candies
1 min

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

Looking for happiness without peace? || Acharya Prashant, on Bhagvad Gita (2020)
Looking for happiness without peace? || Acharya Prashant, on Bhagvad Gita (2020)
10 min

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

In deep troubles lie deep joys || Neem Candies
In deep troubles lie deep joys || Neem Candies
1 min

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.

If the fellow is a lover of the good things of life, let’s say a complete hedonist, then encourage him

You are such a good actor! || Neem Candies
You are such a good actor! || Neem Candies
1 min

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

At IIT, and still not happy? || Acharya Prashant, at IIT-Bombay (2022)
At IIT, and still not happy? || Acharya Prashant, at IIT-Bombay (2022)
11 min

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

How much to spend on the self || Neem Candies
How much to spend on the self || Neem Candies
1 min

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

For happiness: don’t resist, embrace || Neem Candies
For happiness: don’t resist, embrace || Neem Candies
1 min

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.

This futile search for happiness || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2014)
This futile search for happiness || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2014)
6 min

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?

Speaker: Now that you have realized that happiness hardly ever comes by wanting to be happy, the obvious

Happiness versus Joy || Neem Candies
Happiness versus Joy || Neem Candies
1 min

Happiness is when you have something with you that makes you feel happy. Joy is when you do not need anything in particular to feel happy.

Happiness is to carry the obligation to be happy. Joy is when you are no more obligated to be happy.

If these basics are

Peace is not happiness; it is freedom from both happiness and sadness || Acharya Prashant (2013)
Peace is not happiness; it is freedom from both happiness and sadness || Acharya Prashant (2013)
4 min

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

Who are you? || Neem Candies
Who are you? || Neem Candies
1 min

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

Loneliness and girls || Neem Candies
Loneliness and girls || Neem Candies
1 min

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

How to stay focused on your goal? || Neem Candies
How to stay focused on your goal? || Neem Candies
1 min

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.

The goal itself

Pleasure, happiness, and freedom from misery || Acharya Prashant, on Vedanta (2020)
Pleasure, happiness, and freedom from misery || Acharya Prashant, on Vedanta (2020)
12 min

अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति येऽविद्यामुपासते । ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ विद्यायां रताः ॥

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,

Pretending to be happy? || (2020)
Pretending to be happy? || (2020)
18 min

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.

As a spiritual aspirant, one tries to keep the mind under control and

Something keeps simmering within || Neem Candies
Something keeps simmering within || Neem Candies
1 min

The mind is a simmering cauldron, always burning. Now, tell me what coolness is.

The mind is a madman rushing about, stumbling, falling, getting up randomly, darting, hurtling. Now, tell me what calmness is.

These aren’t things that first come to the exterior and can later be extended to the

A very special happiness  || Neem Candies
A very special happiness || Neem Candies
1 min

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

Why your positive thinking isn’t working || Neem Candies
Why your positive thinking isn’t working || Neem Candies
1 min

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.

But hope is not ever certain. Hope is always accompanied by fear. You hope that you might

Try buying this || Neem Candies
Try buying this || Neem Candies
1 min

When I look at people who are in the race for money, the first question I ask them is: Tell me, really, what are you compensating for? What hole are you trying to fill? There is surely some bottomless pit and endless well that you are trying to fill.

You

The key to constant Joy || Neem Candies
The key to constant Joy || Neem Candies
1 min

You must love joy so much that even a slight departure towards stress or tension should activate an inner alarm. All these imaginations that take you away from your natural joy, the moment they arise you must start feeling restless; you must start feeling as if distanced from your own

The pleasure of spitting at a clean place  || Neem Candies
The pleasure of spitting at a clean place || Neem Candies
1 min

Have you ever wondered what kind of perverse pleasure people find in denigrating Gods? The pleasure is, “If I am not high, why should I allow you to remain high? You must be pulled down because, as far as I am concerned, I refuse to rise up. I refuse to

Running after sexual pleasure?  || Neem Candies
Running after sexual pleasure? || Neem Candies
1 min

Sex is nothing but a killer of your precious time. You think it is a means of pleasure; it is rather a killer of your precious time.

If you could honestly calculate how much of your life has gone towards sex and sex-related activities, you would be horrified; you would

When the virus attacks you || Neem Candies
When the virus attacks you || Neem Candies
1 min

You cannot wish for health only in the moments when the virus attacks you. When pain hits you, then you cry out, “Awareness, awareness!” but in your moments of pleasure you forget all about it.

Health will not suddenly come to you. But if you have been healthy, then health

The secret of unending happiness
The secret of unending happiness
11 min

Questioner : What is happiness?

Acharya Prashant : The questioner, it’s important to be reminded, is the ego-self. And the ego-self lives in its own little dualistic world. In its own world, it experiences Sukhā and Duḥkha , happiness and sorrow, pleasure and pain. It knows nothing beyond happiness and

For those who want happiness || Acharya Prashant, at DTU (2023)
For those who want happiness || Acharya Prashant, at DTU (2023)
7 min

Questioner (Q): Thank you for coming here and enlightening us with all your knowledge. I have two small questions. I have written this so that I can deliver clearly. I have heard from multiple sources that we should not chase our happiness because happiness is already within us. So, is

Pleasure and pain, happiness and sadness || (2018)
Pleasure and pain, happiness and sadness || (2018)
9 min

All those things that you associate with pleasure, pain, hurt are all concepts that we have been indoctrinated into. Remove those concepts and then show me where is pleasure? And where is pain? Then there is just Life. Simple, total and Joyful. ~Acharya Prashant

Acharya Prashant: Pleasure and pain here

Excitement is a programmed pattern || (2018)
Excitement is a programmed pattern || (2018)
10 min

Acharya Prashant (AP): We do not just get excited about anything. We get excited only about that which we have taught ourselves to get excited about. So excitement is always furtherance of the existing patterns. The body is, for example, born sexual. The body is born with the programming that