Population

A fellow reproducing blindly is a threat to the entire humanity. How is his family his personal matter? Somebody sets a bomb inside his home, and the bomb is powerful enough to bring down the entire building, not merely his apartment. Will you say, “It is his private matter. How… read_more

The Earth doesn’t have resources to support eight billion or eleven billion vegans. Veganism doesn’t help the cause of climate change beyond a point. We need two things: less people and less consumption, and both of them together.

You need a situation where there are not more than two or… read_more

You must be wondering why I am speaking about this thing regarding procreation, regarding having kids. It is because this is the single most important issue facing you and me and the planet and the millions of species today. This is the one thing that man immediately, today, this moment,… read_more

We don’t need to do anything fancy to check climate change. Limit the number of human beings, and the Earth’s health will be restored very quickly. Nothing else is needed.

The biggest contributor to climate change, rather the only contributor to climate change is human beings and their consumption, quantity… read_more

Teach the kids that this planet cannot tolerate even one more human being now. We are already eight billion. At the current rate, we are projected to be eleven billion by 2050. We cannot even tolerate eight point one billion.

You do not merely want to have kids; you also… read_more

आज से १ लाख वर्ष पीछे जाओ तो अरबों-खरबों जानवर थे, हज़ारों-लाखों प्रजातियों के; और मनुष्य थे कुछ लाख, अधिक-से-अधिक। अब आदमी हो गए हैं ८ अरब और जानवर बचे हैं (हाथों से कम मात्रा दर्शाते हुए) इतने से!

साहब!

जानवर भी कौन से बचे हैं बताइए? जो मनुष्य के… read_more

जहाँ माँस खाना शुरू किया, तहाँ समझ लो कि आप कार्बन डाइऑक्साइड बढ़ाने वालों की कतार में शामिल हो गए। उपभोग के माध्यमों में जो चीज़ ग्लोबल वार्मिंग (वैश्विक उष्मीकरण) के लिए सबसे ज़्यादा घातक है वो है माँस का सेवन। माँस का सेवन समझ रहे हैं सबसे ज़्यादा घातक… read_more

If there is one thing that we must not talk of as something very beautiful, it is the coming of the next generation. It is not beautiful. It is not auspicious. It is not something to be talked of with a smile. It is something to be talked off with… read_more

पृथ्वी पर नहीं है इतने संसाधन कि तुम बच्चे पैदा करे ही जा रहे हो, करे ही जा रहे हो। और मैं जो बोलूँगा वो बात बहुत चुभेगी, बता देता हूँ!

इस समय पृथ्वी पर बच्चा पैदा होने से ज़्यादा अशुभ काम दूसरा नहीं है। मातम का काम है अगर… read_more

This entire planet is suffering because of man’s obsession with kids. You produce kids as if the kid would forever remain a kid. You totally forget that the kid would soon, very, very soon be a fully grownup individual.

But for three years of kuchikoo, you burdened the planet with… read_more

We need two things: less people and less consumption, and both of them together. Even if one of them is missing, you are gone.

The US has not too many people, just 32 crores are there, and yet they are the biggest carbon emitters in the world because they consume.… read_more

Bringing one child into the world is the equivalent of cutting down a lakh trees, maybe more. Just do the maths.

You show so much of sentiment when a tree is hacked down, but you show no sentiment when you see family after family procreating. You, in fact, send them… read_more

If the hero in the popular consciousness himself is a debauched criminal, what do you expect the general populace to be? If your role-model is a lout and a scoundrel, what do you expect is going to happen to the population?

The final consumer of all kinds of nonsense is… read_more

Australia is one of the last continents that man colonized. Of all the animals that weighed more than 50 kg, and were therefore very useful in terms of meat, 90% are extinct. How many? 90%! Such is the devastating and deadly touch of this new god. Those animal species were… read_more

Every bit of that which you call as the ‘good life’ is carbon emitting. A fellow comes from a small town to live in Bangalore. His carbon footprint probably increases five times, but you call it progress, you call it urbanization. A fellow gets a higher paying job and gets… read_more

Questioner (Q): How can we encourage factories and companies in poor areas to prioritize the health of the local environment over having the greatest profit margins and the lowest costs? How can we motivate them for this kind of a change, when the natural tendency of human nature is to… read_more

Questioner: While COVID-19 has severely affected many world economies, many things have come into the limelight in the wake of the pandemic. People have realized that life is precious and that nature has limited resources.. How do you see the future of the economy? Will we move towards a resource-based… read_more

Questioner (Q): What kind of change our education system needs to have so that our coming generations live together in peace and fulfilment?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Why? Why must you think about the coming generations? Is this not the language of the old matriarch, who first of all ensures that… read_more

प्रश्नकर्ता: पशुओं का परिवार नियोजन कैसे करें, और क्या नियोजन करना सही है?

आचार्य प्रशांत: प्रकृति इस बात से बिलकुल सरोकार नहीं रखती कि तुम्हारे जीवन की गुणवत्ता क्या है। उसको सरोकार बस इस बात से होता है कि जीव कितने हैं। जीवन की गुणवत्ता क्या है, इससे प्रकृति को… read_more

प्रश्न: आचार्य जी, वर्तमान जीवन के व्यवहारिक कष्टों पर प्रकाश डालने की अनुकम्पा करें।

आचार्य प्रशांत: दो-तीन बातें हैं, और बड़ी सीधी-सीधी हैं।

पहली बात तो ये कि - बच्चे मत पैदा करो। अगर ये उम्मीद कर रहे हो कि दुनिया में आठ-सौ करोड़ लोग हैं आज - जो कि… read_more

Question: Acharya Ji, what will happen to us in old age? Will we be able to manage ourselves then? My mother fell sick a few days back. Had we not been with her, she wouldn’t have been able to manage herself. Will the same happen to us in old age?… read_more

हम कहते हैं कि अब कुछ नया करते हैं, फ़ूड योगा , मूड योगा * । कोई ऐसा शब्द नहीं है जो अब * योगा के साथ नहीं जोड़ दिया गया है। नई-नई क्रियाएँ निकल रही हैं, नई-नई प्रक्रियाएँ निकल रही हैं। ये मुद्रा, ये आसान, ये करते हैं, वो… read_more

प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी, हम लोग कुछ भी करने बैठें, जैसे पढ़ने बैठें, योग करें, मैडिटेशन करें, यहाँ तक कि जब मैं आपसे ये सवाल भी पूछ रहा हूँ तो ये सवाल पूछते हुए भी मेरे दिमाग में कुछ और चल रहा है। तो प्रश्न ये है कि मन को नियन्त्रित… read_more

प्रश्नकर्ता: नमस्ते, आचार्य जी। मैं ईशावास्य उपनिषद् पढ़ रहा था जिसमें नौवाँ, दसवाँ, ग्यारहवाँ श्लोक था विद्या और अविद्या पर। तो उसमें यह लिखा था कि अविद्या इज़ ऑब्जेक्टिव नॉलेज एंड विद्या इज़ अविद्या विद सेल्फ नॉलेज (अविद्या भौतिक ज्ञान है और विद्या भौतिक ज्ञान के साथ-साथ आत्म-ज्ञान है)।

तो… read_more

The world is your playground. So don’t be so particular about moving only within your pre-existing circle. If your cause is worth it, show some courage and move out.

If you have a tender and precious sapling in your palm, would you plant it in a desert? No. You will… read_more

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… read_more

The temperature of this city is already higher than what it should be. It won’t be higher in the next twenty years; it is already higher today. Read how many people are dying and by how many years has the average life expectancy already reduced—already reduced.

What do you mean… read_more

The shopkeeper’s business is to sell his goods, and that’s what most gurus of today are: they have to sell their goods. When that is what you want to do, how can you afford to antagonize a big chunk of the population? And you would never, never do that if… read_more

Man’s hunger is not so much in the stomach; it resides in his mind. And no fruit is enough when it comes to the mind.

So, man has been destroying everything he can touch, and climate change is the most recent, the most devastating, and probably the most final symptom… read_more

मुक्तिका उपनिषद् है, उसमें राम ही कह रहे हैं, ‘एक उपनिषद् को कोई पढ़ ले वो तर जाएगा।‘ अच्छा एक में काम नहीं होता तो चलो जो १० या ११ प्रमुख उपनिषद् हैं उनको पढ़ लो! अच्छा उनसे भी काम नहीं होता तो लो मैं सूची दिए देता हूँ १०८… read_more

This is the age of mass production. The fellow who is owning and running the machine, the corporation, the empire, out of his greed wants you to consume.

“I am producing so much, but people are not buying it. Why? Because they do not need it. So, what do I… read_more

It is very well known that one tree over the course of forty years would absorb just one ton of carbon dioxide, and that is if that tree lives to get forty years old. How effective is that? Please. One tree over forty years absorbs one ton of carbon dioxide.… read_more

When you eat meat, when you eat chicken, you are actually not paying for the environmental damage that your plate of meat has cost. You are not paying for the climate change. You are not paying for the biodiversity depletion. You are not paying for the loss of tropical jungles,… read_more

कोई तुम्हें तुम्हारी ग़लती दिखाए और बुरा अगर तुम्हें लगता है, तो तुम जवान कभी-भी होने से रहे। जिसे जवान होना होता है वो अपनी ग़लतियों का सामना करता है। बहुत होते हैं मोटी खाल के बेशर्म टट्टू, उन्हें कोई फ़र्क ही नहीं पड़ता। उन्हें दिख रहा होगा कि ज़िंदगी… read_more

अकेले रह जाना कहीं अच्छा है साँप-बिच्छुओं के साथ रह जाने से, है न? भूखे रह जाना कहीं अच्छा है ज़हर पी जाने से। प्रतीक्षा कर लो, इंतज़ार कर लो, प्रतीक्षा में भी परमात्मा होता है। जब तुम कहते हो, ‘कोई मिला नहीं ऐसा जो तेरी तरफ़ ला सके इसलिए… read_more

Teach the girls that their body is not an instrument to bear kids. Teach them that their self-worth is not at all linked to their motherhood. Teach them where the real fulfillment of life lies, and teach them that it is not in birthing or breastfeeding.

Teach them creativity, teach… read_more

Very, very vulgar demonstration of consumption of thousands of litres of milk… So, they will take the milk and put it in a pond and say, “This pond is all full of milk!” or they will even encourage their followers to bring lakhs of litres of milk on some holy… read_more

If God has given you anything, it is just the freedom, the power, and the responsibility to create yourself. You are your own father. God is just the background. God is just the canvas on which you paint yourself. God is the brush, God is the color, God is the… read_more

Relationships are great when they help elevate your consciousness, and that’s the only purpose of relationships in life. If relationships are not fulfilling that purpose, then relationships are just a big waste, a great drag.

There is no better way, more effective way to waste life than to make a… read_more

You got into the traps of wrong kinds of work because you were tempted by results. “Let me take up this work. On the 30th day of the month the result will be good. What will be the result? A nice paycheck.”

Now ask yourself, what if it is certain… read_more

It is not so much about courage; it is about clarity. There are mental conditions in which one seems to become very fearless. Nothing great about those conditions. Some drugs, some weed, a bit of alcohol, and there are so many people who lose all fear. Tremendously intrepid they become.… read_more

At some point the chick has to discover that the shell of the egg is just too small to spend a life in. How do you think the shell cracks? The baby grows big enough to crack the shell. It’s just that the chick has just one shell to break.… read_more

Self-improvement cannot happen along with self-deception. If you don’t even admit to yourself that you are in the dumps, how would any improvement happen? You don’t really need to announce it to the world. To yourself, you must know where you really stand. And that silent realization, I assure you,… read_more

“To do as I want to do”—is that not what freedom means to us? The ones who have better sense, they say this is nothing but the freedom to remain a slave. “So, I will be a slave of my choice.” Everybody is free. In the country of slaves, everybody… read_more

Passion is as much an external thing as, let’s say, peer pressure. Somebody chooses his work or occupation going by market forces or peer pressure or family pressure, and then there is someone who says, “I am choosing my passion for my livelihood”; these two are hardly different. Even if… read_more

The mind must be the seat of the Absolute. You must belong to the real One. And then you may be with five persons, ten persons, or no person at all.

The problem is not that the person hurts you, or dominates you, or creates problems for you. The flaw… read_more