Religion

Questioner (Q): Sir, as a woman, how should I perceive religion? Religion and culture are supposed to help, but I have practically seen that religion is associated with patriarchy and misogyny. Please tell me, as women how should I look at religion? Acharya Prashant (AP): See, the relationship…

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

Man was never so powerful with respect to his environment as he is today. No virus can harm you; no bacteria can harm you; there are no plagues, no black deaths. You can produce as many objects as you want, you can order them at the click of a button;…

Once I said, your face is smeared with mud, and religion is like pure water meant to be thrown on your face so that you get cleaned up. But when that water hits your face, the water too gets muddy.

Falling on your face, the water has cleared away some…

The fellow’s name was Marthand. ‘Marthand’ means the son. Marthand Kumar became Martin Hawk. We think of this as some kind of a passing fad. No, it is not a passing fad; it points towards something deeper. The fellow is ashamed of his identity. He wants to wear a totally…

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.…

Questioner (Q): As our views change with time, shouldn’t the holy texts be open to revision instead of just a new interpretation?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Wonderful. And I’m glad when a young person with all his enthusiastic irreverence, comes up with this kind of a question. The young friend has…

Questioner (Q): In the previous question, you said that religion is essentially needed in spirituality, but in the name of religion Hindus fight with Muslims, Muslims fight with Hindus. So, why is religion needed?

Acharya Prashant (AP): The recorder you are speaking into will get saturated with your voice soon,…

Question (Q): Acharya Ji, what is spirituality? What is the difference between religion and spirituality?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Fundamentally there is no difference, no difference at all, but at a practical level a difference seems to arise and the difference is, that religion assumes an organized shape. Even spirituality can…

यस्मान्नोद्विजते लोको लोकान्नोद्विजते च यः।

हर्षामर्षभयोद्वेगैर्मुक्तो यः स च मे प्रियः।। 12.15 ।।

yasmān nodvijate loko lokān nodvijate cha yaḥ

Question: Acharya Ji, what is the significance of spiritual images?

Acharya Prashant Ji: Indira, do you see where this question is coming from? It is coming from the popular notion of Spirituality which has turned Spirituality into a body of exotic, unquestionable, esoteric knowledge, not as something that is raw,…

Question: Acharya Ji, you often discuss that just as species are getting extinct at a very fast rate in the 21st century, and certain qualities of the being of the mind are also getting extinct – qualities like patience, care for others, compassion. Probably these are the manifestations of de-religionisation…

Questioner: Pranaam Acharya Ji. Nitnem continuously says that the way to reach God is to continuously recite his name. But, as God is nameless and formless, is not Silence, what we need to practice? Please shed some light on name of the Lord.

Can physical recitation of mantras like ‘Ek…

I said to the wanting creature inside me, “What is this river you want to cross? There are no travelers on the river road, and no road.Do you see anyone moving about on that bank, or nesting?There is no river at all. And no boat and no boatman.…

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.”

~ John 13:16

Questioner (Q): My sister believes in Christianity and she has also changed her religion. Now, she says that I am on the wrong path. What is the right path and how religion and spirituality are connected?

Acharya Prashant (AP): When the subtle becomes gross, rather the subtle is turned into…

Question: Can I change ‘my’ religion for the sake of someone I Love?

Acharya Prashant: What do you mean by religion?

If religion just means following a particular code of conduct, if it means that I am loyal to a particular book, if it means that such and such will

Questioner (Q): May I ask a question here? Once you feel that you are determined for this journey, is it necessary to go to the scriptures?

Acharya Prashant (AP): It is not necessary but it’s wise. It is advisable.

Q: When I started the journey, the toughest task that called

Acharya Prashant: (to the listeners) So, what does Rishikesh mean to you?

L: I wanted to come here since I was 15. I came here few years ago, I just feel at home here, it’s a place somehow very conducive for what we are discussing here. I just enjoy being…

Questioner (Q): Do you believe in [Censored]?

Acharya Prashant (AP): What is [Censored] I have not read any such thing. Do not quote this and that author here. We are talking real stuff, not entertainment. If you know, this particular author that you are talking of, for sure you will…

Listener: (Reading a quote of Acharya Prashant from a quote-calendar)

Listener 1: Traditionally this idea of ‘hankering around and everything that goes on in the mind is nonsensical’ has led to escapism. People have started saying that the pains that I experienced, the pleasures I experienced, the responsibilities, the duties that I have, are all nonsensical; neither would I go…

Om! Puurnnam-Adah ||

That is that, full, complete, ultimate.

Puurnnam-Idam ||

Questioner (Q): ‘*Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu Guru Devo Maheshwara.*’ Can you explain this?

Acharya Prashant (AP): ‘Guru’ stands for that which calls, the force that which pulls you inwards from darkness into light. Now you worship ‘Brahama’, ‘Vishnu’, and ‘Mahesh’ and the various deities; this verse says that the Guru…

Questioner: Sir, if I try to ensure to be aware of what is going on right now, it just takes me away from listening to you. Is there a fundamental mistake that I am making in understanding it?

Acharya Prashant: Not really a great mistake but still unless one reaches…

Question: What are the divine energy connections between man and woman?

Acharya Prashant: All energy is the mind.

There is no other energy. Is there energy without matter? Is there energy without the world? When you have a lot of things to think of, then you only get muddling

Acharya Prashant (AP): Progress—that’s the religion of today. Everyone wants a good life; everyone wants comfort and everything. In fact, all the old religions have been defeated. Christianity has been defeated, Hinduism has been defeated, and they all have been defeated. This one religion has defeated everything.

Greed is today’s…

Listener 1: I come from a very orthodox Muslim family. I have read a bit of Quran and it makes a lot of sense when it comes to particular stuff but at the same time, one of its perspective gives a feeling of narrow-mindedness. Right now, I am in a…

Questioner: Can I say that intelligence is greater than knowledge, or vice-versa?

Acharya Prashant: They are incomparable.

To say one is greater than the other, you have to bring them to the same plane, have the same unit, the same benchmarks, and the same scale to compare them. They are

Questioner: There are several commentaries and interpretations of scriptures (tikas) from several people and each of them had their own perspective like what Jai Dayal Goenka Ji said was different from what Osho said. So, actually, the question is how do we know what actually was said?

Acharya…

Questioner (Q): Why do you talk to people like this?

Acharya Prashant (AP): There is this tree out there and it has a few leaves and when the wind blows the leaves also blow. Let’s together go and ask the leaves why do they blow like this?

Acharya Prashant (AP): What do we talk about?

Questioner (Q): Silence.

AP: We can talk a lot in Silence. Talking about Silence will always be a little round-about; beating around the bush. But in Silence, which is our nature, we can talk a lot.

Acharya Prashant: *Authority is definitely dangerous when the person becomes the authority.*

Authority is not only dangerous, it is blasphemous because first of all, you are trying to do something that you are not entitled to do. You are trying to act God.

Acharya Prashant: When you have no question to ask, sometimes it’s better to just sing a song.

Listener 1: What is your feeling about singing bhajans?

AP: Singing bhajans. Oh, Wonderful! When you have nothing else to say it is then that bhajan arise.

Question: Is there value in practicing Yoga, and meditation?

Acharya Prashant: No.

There is some physical value involved, and that is an important value. But unfortunately, the value that we are looking for is a Spiritual value. In that dimension, there is no value. It is very good if we

Question: I just want to say that many times in a day we all think the same thing that we all want to become free. I mean free from all relations, am I right? My question is, we all think that we should have the understanding of individuality, freedom of…

Questioner (Q): There is a nice story on a Master, who said that everything has some value, is good for something. Then someone asked him, “What is the good in atheism?” He said, “Everyone must be atheists. If you are in deep prayer and somebody comes to you for help,…

Question: Sir, I want to know what is religion – an ideology, a community or something else?

Shri Prashant: There are a few things that are very simple. But a lot many complications, noise has been introduced around it, thus making it very much polluted. As for example, Love. It…

Shri Prashant: (Continuing conversation with one of the listeners) In fact, just a few days back I was saying to somebody, that the first leg of the battle I have been fighting has been with the commoners.

I have talked so much about the society, I have talked about what…

Question: What is religion? Why do we pray?

Speaker: The mind is off-center. It remains distracted, a little away from its core. That is the reason it feels restive, uneasy. That is why there is always an urge to achieve, to reach somewhere, to feel fulfilled. All of that is…

Questioner (Q): Sir, could the people of India be enslaved for long because they were spiritual people?

Acharya Prashant (AP): If India was enslaved for so long, if the people here could be conquered and banished, and be made to live against their will, it was not because they were…

Question: Is Hinduism a religion that allows and accepts non-believers too?

Answer: If you are accepting non-believers, then you also have to accept that Muslims and Christians are also Hindus. So, this is obviously a non-question. If you are saying that Hinduism accepts both believers and non-believers, then believers and…

Question: What is the significance of the word ‘Om’?

Speaker: No significance at all. Zero! ‘Om’ or any other word does not matter because every word is merely a sound, a product of the human mind. What do you do? You take a sound and you attach a certain meaning…

Listener 1: What do we understand by ‘Neti-Neti’?

Speaker: ‘Neti’ is a Sanskrit word. It is a very simple word. All it means is ‘Not this’. ‘Neti’ means I will not take something to be what it is not. ‘Neti’ means I will not assume something to be what it…

Question: Sir, going by your theory of, ‘search first, believe second’, I don’t think there is any religion left in the society. Do you think this phenomenon is an obstacle in the mental development in the society?

Speaker: I do not think that young people like you are very interested…

समोऽहं सर्वभूतेषु न मे द्वेष्योऽस्ति न प्रिय:।

ये भजन्ति तु मां भक्त्या मयि ते तेषु चाप्यहम्।।29।।

samo ’haṁ sarva-bhūteṣhu na me dveṣhyo ’sti na priyaḥ

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