Marriage

You already have enough troubles, right? We don’t want to invite another trouble into your house, into your bedroom, do you? But yes, if someone can bring joy and Truth to you, invite them right into your heart, and then marriage is inconsequential. With the right person, you marry—wonderful! You… read_more

When a great scientist, or a devoted politician, or a committed author decides to remain unmarried, it is wonderful. But only then. First of all, figure out something great to be immersed and absorbed in. If you can figure that out, then you get the licence to remain unmarried. Only… read_more

In our country, most people marry because that is sometimes the only way of getting some good sex—good and assured sex. Otherwise, the fellow would either have to spend a lot of money or a lot of time, or both, and then still return empty-handed. Isn’t that so?

Now, if… read_more

I have nothing against marriage. I have a lot to do with the mind of man. The mind that rushes towards security, the mind that wants to possess and hold captive another living being, I want to talk of that mind.

Marriage will decide the kind of work that you… read_more

“Why am I with someone?” That question has to be asked. If that question has been honestly asked and reasonably answered, then you cannot go wrong, whether you marry or not, whether you remain with someone or not.

And mind you, these are not really permanent decisions to be made.… read_more

A woman is not allowed to work after marriage—nobody cares. It doesn’t make headlines at all.

A woman has unsafe work environment—doesn’t matter. It doesn’t make headlines.

A woman dies during childbirth—who bothers?

Public spaces are not women-friendly—who bothers?

Women themselves are getting conditioned to look at themselves as mere… read_more

Companionship is wonderful. Be with one person, ten persons, anybody who helps your mind be centered. Being with such a person or a group of persons is wonderful.

If marriage is another name for beautiful companionship, marriage is wonderful. But what matters is not the social institution of marriage but… read_more

Even if you get married, what do you do? You bring a man or a woman to your house, or you move to his house, sharing a common bed and gaining the authority to slip your hand inside somebody’s pants. Even the courts of law call that as consummation of… read_more

The best way to save a marriage is to forget that you are married. Till the time you remain married, the marriage is doomed to fail.

If you want to redeem your wife, drop the wife and you will get a lover.

If you want to save your husband, drop… read_more

If the two persons who are in this social arrangement of marriage are also spiritual friends, then they rise above the social arrangement. The social arrangement by itself is a recipe for disaster. But when the social arrangement is purified, consecrated by the spiritual touch, then the poison in it… read_more

Drop the idea that the marriage is the problem, and then you will be able to look at her as an individual. Drop the image that she must be a wife, and then you will be able to look at her more sympathetically, more intimately.

Look at your husband like… read_more

If you are just looking for decent looks and somebody to accompany you to the movies, then anybody would do. But if you are looking really to not make a waste of your life, and if you are looking for someone who just refreshes you, gives you freedom from all… read_more

Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, recently I had a small argument with my parents regarding marriage. They have been pushing me for the last seven years, trying to somehow convince me to get married. I’ve got kind of really sick of it. I’m trying to push it, saying that I don't… read_more

Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, I am a Hindu and I want to marry a Muslim girl. I love her, but my family is not supporting. Nobody agrees with me. What should I do?

Acharya Prashant (AP): I think even you don’t agree with marrying her.

Q: I do, Sir.

AP: … read_more

Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, should one not leave money for his children? Is that not my responsibility towards my family?

Acharya Prashant (AP): By giving them X or Y tangible things, would you really be able to do them some good? You have a son, and that son becomes an… read_more

The man who married a harlot, on living dangerously.

The prince of Tirmidh said one night to his court-jester Dalqak, 'You have taken to wife a harlot in your haste. You should have mentioned the matter to me, then we might have married you to a respectable woman'.

Said the … read_more

Question (Q): There is a growing trend of having live-in relationships as opposing the marriage. We are finding more people falling into a live-in relationship. Is that a movement forward? Would that be considered something that would take us to freedom?

Acharya Prashant (AP): We are very good at playing… read_more

Question: Sir, I was reading a study in the 'Times of India'. It said that women are happier being single. Now, when I read this as an Indian woman, brought up in the Indian culture, this is very conflicting because women in India are looked down upon if they are… read_more

Question: Why do I need to get married? Why do I need to take a certificate from somebody regarding my love, regarding my decision to live with someone? Why does it need to be certified by someone?”

Acharya Prashant (AP): Pulkit (questioner), it’s a very good question that you are… read_more

Questioner: Acharya Ji, a lot of changes have happened in my lifestyle and in my relationship with my wife after I have started watching your videos and reading your books. We spend a lot of time alone now. We don’t get into escapes easily, don’t get into such entertainment activities… read_more

Question: Acharya Ji, before marriage, every relationship that I had has been very natural. I never did anything to be good with them. But once I got married, it is not coming that natural.

Please guide.

Acharya Prashant(AP):

Where there is desire, there is conflict.

Even the relationship with the… read_more

Acharya Prashant : Companionship is wonderful. Be with one person, ten persons, anybody who helps your mind be centred. Being with such a person or a group of persons is wonderful. If marriage is another name for beautiful companionship, marriage is wonderful.

But, what matters is not the social institution… read_more

Question: If there is a fight going on with my wife, and she gets angry, and I too get angry. Won’t that create more friction?

Acharya Prashant: You know what, you don’t get angry when fighting with your spouse, because you assume that she is not as strong as you.… read_more

Questioner (Q): Is it possible to live alone?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Why does this question arise?

Q: Because I don’t want to get married.

AP: Why don’t you want to get married?

Q: Because I want to go on the path of spirituality. And dependency should not be there. I… read_more

A strange situation is that a beautiful woman’s life is perhaps more complex than an average-looking woman’s life, because a beautiful looking woman has a lot of men eyeing upon her, and she can get whatever she wants. And what you will get for your beauty, that is the real… read_more

Overview

Fighting Duryodhana is Dharma . Fight Duryodhana in the way you can, that is swadharma . Dharma is the same for everybody, but swadharma varies according to your physical, social, temporal conditions. But remember that swadharma can never be in contradiction of Dharma ; swadharma will always be something… read_more

I had to unlearn a lot of things, and I am grateful to all the sources—the books, the people and the experiences that helped me unlearn. And I am grateful to that within me that had the courage to unlearn.

A lot of unlearning is needed. I often say you… read_more

I had to unlearn a lot of things, and I am grateful to all the sources—the books, the people and the experiences that helped me unlearn. And I am grateful to that within me that had the courage to unlearn.

A lot of unlearning is needed. I often say you… read_more

सङ्करो नरकायैव कुलघ्नानां कुलस्य च ।। पतन्ति पितरो ह्येषां लुप्तपिण्डोदकक्रिया: ।।1.42।।

saṅkaro narakāyaiva kula-ghnānāṁ kulasya cha patanti pitaro hy eṣhāṁ lupta-piṇḍodaka-kriyāḥ

When the castes mix, that spells hell for the family. It destroys the family, in the way that the ancestors all fall because they are deprived of the Pindokdakriya.… read_more

Overview

We want to reach the end of wanting. We want completion, fulfillment in such a final way that we are left with nothing to want anymore. That’s the destination. Born a human being, you will have to act. Act rightly. Act for the right purpose. Live for the right… read_more

“I will beat him!”

“I will destroy her!”

“Did you just insult me? Did you?”

Four hours forty-eight minutes of deep intellectual perspiration!

“Did she? Did she not?”

Have some mercy upon yourself. Learn to ignore, please. Bypass the small issues. Learn to ignore the small for the big, would… read_more

Hurt is not automatic. Somewhere there is an admission from you that you are hurt, and that you would be hurt, and that you would call yourself as hurt. Don’t call yourself as hurt, and see what happens.

Hurt is not an obligation. Hurt is a choice. Insecurity, fear, temptations—none… read_more

Most people never evolve beyond their psychological age of three, four, ten, or twelve years. So they have to be consoled like kids.

If a two-year-old is crying, you cannot talk reason to him, can you? What does a two-year-old need? You pick him up, caress him a little, kiss… read_more

What does it mean to have an inauthentic relationship?

To be authentic is to be complete and secure in yourself. Anything authentic is not in need of further improvement or refinement; it is already authentic. That is the way the authentic mind functions: it does not relate with the other… read_more

There might be people around you who make it compulsory for you to smoke, not because they urge you to smoke, but because they put you in so much of tension that you will need to smoke. But you are deriving some benefits from those people, so you will never… read_more

One can become an entrepreneur, for example, in the field of killing animals, cutting animal flesh, and supplying freshly cut flesh to people at their doorsteps. And this might be a successful business model.

This kind of an entrepreneurship is idiocy, perversion, profanity. The evil was present right in the… read_more

She won’t directly say, “Get me a sari .” Often when they need a sari , they do not say they need a sari ; they say, “Janu (beloved), you do not love me!” And janu understands: she needs a sari .

Similarly, janu does not need to say… read_more

When you meet a person, meet in friendliness, meet in love, meet to share, meet to play, meet to rejoice. That’s right relationship. Don’t meet to sit at that person’s feet. That’s vulgar. You don’t need to sit at anybody’s feet. This head can bow down only in front of… read_more

Just as the ego loves to take credit, it also loves to play the victim.

If something good has happened, “I did it!”

If something bad happened, “It happened to me.”

“Good things I do, bad things happen to me”—this is astounding.

Playing the victim is a favorite pastime of… read_more

You were once a girl; you would have read mathematics, history, science, geography, languages. Didn’t you find inspiring figures there? Didn’t those books arouse fantastic ideas in you?

I am sure that when you were younger, you thought of excellence, didn’t you? You would have had dreams. In your dreams,… read_more

Swami Vivekananda has said, “First of all, our young men must be strong; religion will come afterwards. Be strong, my young friends; that is my advice to you. You will be nearer to heaven through football than through the study of the Gita.”

Swami Vivekananda was no soccer evangelist. His… read_more

You are what you want. If you want to change who you are, then you will have to want something radically different. Your destination, your desire decides your constitution. You become what you intend to achieve and be.

If you love the mud, you will become an earthworm. If you… read_more

There was this king of the demons; his name was Hiranyakashyupa. The king worked really hard. He kept austerities, he forced even God to come down and bless him. So, it would have required a very special effort. But then, what did he want from God? Nothing but the extension… read_more

A fellow who irritates you and keeps your mind agitated, why is he present in your life as a friend? How exactly is he taking care of you if his presence leads to an unsettled mind? What are these tags?

The only definition of a friend is someone who brings… read_more

Love is when you start seeing the deep desire beneath all your superficial desires. Love is when you start seeing what you are really really thirsty for. Superficially, the desires of different people are different. Deeply, we all share one desire.

So, what is it that happens in love? In… read_more