Writings

Jesus stands for the Truth and Truth is omnipresent.

He is present here, and right now, in the hearts of those who love him.

Jesus is not a mere mortal. Jesus is the source of light; the root of all flowers and beauty. In one form, he disappears. In another,…

Prarabdha refers to the sum total of (apparent)movements in time and space that have resulted in the (apparent) formation of the jiva – the human being, or any other being.Everything that the being appears to be is prarabdha. And prarabdha is all past.

So,– having 5 fingers is prarabdha…

People often wonder about the effect of spirituality upon married life. Often it happens that one partner in a marriage starts moving deeper into spirituality, and this causes anxiety in the other partner. So how far do a normal marriage and Spirituality go together?

Spirituality is a movement into the…

जनमानस में तो शिव और शंकर एक ही हैं, जिनके सहस्रों नाम हैं। सब नाम सुंदर हैं। पर अध्यात्म की सूक्ष्मताओं में जाकर अगर हम इन नामों का अभिप्राय समझें तो उनका सौंदर्य और बढ़ जाएगा। ‘शिव’ अर्थात आत्मा, सत्य मात्र। आप कहते हैं ‘शिवोहम्’, ठीक जैसे उपनिषद कहते हैं,…

In the public mind, Shiv and Shankar are one and the same: Shiv-Shankar, Bholenath, Kailashpati: hundreds of names. All names are beautiful. But if we understand the meaning of these names by going into the depths of Spirituality, their beauty increases further.

Shiv means the soul, the pure Truth. You…

“Lord, if you are sandalwood, I am water;with the fragrance in all parts of my body.

Lord, if you are a cloud, I am a peacock;looking for you like the Chakor bird for the moon.

Lord, if you are a lamp, I am the wick;with the light…

बसंत पंचमी, विद्या की देवी, सरस्वती को समर्पित है। प्राचीन ज्ञान के अनुसार जीवन शिक्षा दो प्रकार की होती है – विद्या और अविद्या। आइए दोनों का अन्वेषण करें:

विद्या और अविद्या

अन्यदेवाहुर्विद्यया अन्यदाहुरविद्यया ।इति शुश्रुम धीराणां येनस्तद्विचचक्षिरे ॥

विद्या का फल अन्य है तथा अविद्या का फल अन्य…

Basant Panchami is dedicated to Devi Saraswati, the Goddess of Vidya. Learning, according to ancient wisdom, is of two types – Vidya and Avidya.

Let’s explore these two.

Vidya and Avidya

अन्यदेवाहुर्विद्यया अन्यदाहुरविद्यया ।इति शुश्रुम धीराणां येनस्तद्विचचक्षिरे ॥

anyadevāhurvidyayā anyadāhuravidyayā |iti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṃ yenastadvicacakṣire ||

One result…

In this huge and complex world, especially living in the era of transition where everyone is an actor in the contemporary stage of globalisation, it is very difficult to spare time for oneself. And the biggest challenge comes where you are unaware of your situation.

The lifestyle today is so…

Since childhood we have been told about effort as a duty, hard work as an obligation, and a result oriented investment. We are told, “Work hard so that you can have dividends later on.”

Happiness is the key to success, correct. But does happiness exclude hard work?

If happiness excludes…

Questioner: Why did Acharya Prashant Ji leave his Corporate and Bureaucratic career?

Acharya Prashant: We are a flux. We are changing constantly and that is life. Heraclitus, the great Greek philosopher said, “You don’t step into the same river twice.”

Man is like a river – flowing constantly, changing constantly;…

Question: Acharya Ji, why do we procrastinate?

Acharya Prashant Ji: When we love what we do, procrastination is out of the question.

Procrastination is a challenge we have all faced at some point in time. If you find yourself procrastinating a lot, if you find that you have fixed a…

Question: What is the legend behind the festival of Kumbh?

Acharya Prashant Ji:

The legend of Kumbh revolves around the perennial struggle between the Devas and Danavas, the resident gods of heaven, and the lords of hell, respectively.

The two keep jostling for superiority, and the demons are…

Question: Given that all our relationships seem to be arising purely out of a sense of imagined need, is it possible to have any other kind of relationship?

Acharya Prashant Ji:

Those who are free of the world, are free to relate with the world in a healthy way. And…

Acharya Prashant Ji: So, the demigods and the demons, vigorous and adventerous as they were, thought of adding to their bounties. And got together, uncharacteristically, for a joint exploration mission. Together they churned the great sea using the great mountain as the churner and the great python as the rope.…

And man have such great systems of morality and yet man is a ‘Mass-murderer.’ Man has caused thousands of species to get extinct and they will never come back. Is that not surprising? Except the child of man, nothing is told right and wrong and yet it is the man…

THE HUMAN CONDITION

Man is born in pain and to live through pain. Man is born with the tendency to experience pain, resist pain, and create more pain. Pain is inherent in life. And man is designed to resist pain. This is the basic conflict in life, as also the…

Question: What do I do to cross the river? To me, it is such a challenge.Acharya Prashant: Crossing the river is easy. Just hold the hand of someone who knows the other side, and cross.You have already crossed the river a thousand times with me.Your failure is elsewhere: You…

First Question: In the age of artificial intelligence, where does man stand in front of machines?Second question: What kind of personality development does man need?Acharya Prashant: Computation and information technology has been, and is, evolving rapidly. Machines bring with them the benefits of efficiency, scalability and predictability. Everything…

Student: Sir, what is an Ideal?

Acharya Prashant: You tell me. What is Idealism?

S: It is a prescription by the society in regard to how we should be.

AP: For an idealism to exist there must be an ideal and for an ideal, there should be an idea. Let’s…

Question: Sir, can the situation change? Suppose a person realizes that the whole problem is because faith is missing! Can it be regained? Can a person who does have faith, get it? How can one develop that faith within oneself?

Acharya Prashant: Adita,

You have asked:“Suppose a person realizes…

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…

Audience: Well, sir, you have been talking about radical change for the last 50 years, and obviously there is not any radical change in the world. My question to you, then, is why do you talk?

Krishnamurti: The gentleman asks, you have talked about fundamental change of human consciousness and…

Question: Sir, we copy others because we do not have anything of our own. But, is it wrong to copy the good qualities of others?

Acharya Prashant: Bhaskar,

When a person ‘X’ decides to copy someone’s good qualities, two questions arise:1. Who is deciding to copy?2. Who is deciding which…

Question: Sir, from the article “Why am I always thinking of the society?” there is this extract:

“Now, because of years of colonisation, in fact, decades of colonisation, you have a great emphasis on fair skin in India. There are all these companies that are selling fairness products in India…

Question:

Dear Sir,

Since we talked the last time, I have been pondering on one question: why are you the way you are and why am I the way I am or Jiddu the way he is or Osho?

I mean, we briefly talked about this a few months ago.…

Questioner: Dear Sir,

You once told me that teaching was the ability to see shit. I dare say it is more. It is not just the ability to see shit but to swim in it and come out clean on the other side and taking a few people out along…

सूरा सो पहिचानिये, जू लरै दीन के हेत।पुरजा पुरजा कटि मरै, कबहु न छाडै खेत।।

कबीर

soora so pahichaniye, ju larae deen ke het

purja purja kati marae, kabhu na chadae khet

Kabir

(The real warrior fights for the sake of deen – religiousness.Even if he is destroyed to…

The Teacher offers unsolicited support when you do not feel any need for that support. Then you get used to that support.

Then the Teacher takes it away. You are in tears and you declare him insensitive and undependable.”How dare he break the pot he himself so lovingly made?”, you…

अंगना तो परबत भयो, देहरी भई विदेस।जा बाबुल घर आपने, मैं चली पिया के देस।।

अमीर खुसरो

(Translation)

Angana to parbat bhayo, dehri bhai vides

Jaa babul ghar aapne, main chali piya ke des

Amir Khusro

When one sees the Real, the Truth, then the attachment to one’s conditioned…

(Jan 28, 2013) Acharya Prashant: Time and Space are nothing but the mind. They do not have an existence independent of your mind.

So, whenever a question arises concerning something which is reducible to time and space, then just know that it is nothing but a process of the mind.…

Black cannot see black.A pot cannot see a pot.The eye cannot see the eye.You must be different from a taste to taste it.Hence all that you can see, touch, hear, or think of, you can be not.The presence of anything is a sure proof that you cannot be that thing.A…

Questioner:Dear Sir,I have been following Nisargadatta Maharaj. I have read all his dialogues, books, and watched most of his videos. But I feel I have been just sticking his words as knowledge in my mind. What you bring to me is something alive, I ‘see’ and I ‘feel’ whatever…

Are you suffering, are you burning? Is there something that is eating you out?

Want to know the reason?

You have an ideal. You have a set idea of how things should be. You want existence to conform to your idea of things. You are so arrogant that you will…

The Questioner is denoted by Q and the Speaker by S.

Q: Hello, Sir. Many things about you are changing.

S: Yes, and a lot is not changing. Try seeing what does not change. Go to the Real thing.

Q: Well, you were always visionary, so only…

Question: I have been reading Osho’s book ‘Vigyan Bhairav’ and in this book Lord Shiva explained 112 meditation techniques to keep the mind in present. However, Osho has also said that, “meditation is a quality of being that you bring to the act”.

I am confused as Osho has…

Question: I have been reading Buddha and Kabir for long, and both are my favorite. While reading them I realized that both had different methods to get enlightenment.

Buddha said, “Renounce the world and be a monk.”

While Kabir said, “Don’t renounce the world, be in this world, face…

Questioner: Dear Sir, I am writing this mail with a very heavy heart. It is on account of my affection for my father, that I had to get into the filth of society and family. But now that I am into it, I find myself unable to be a part…

Question: How does one deal with orthodoxy, stupidity and foolishness? How does one deal with orthodox parents and spouses?

The foolish will always hunt the wise. If the wise recede to the forest, the foolish will condemn them for that. If the wise stay and fight, they shall be condemned…

Question: Acharya Ji, what do you think of Osho?

Acharya Prashant: In the spiritual dimension, the last century was exceptionally rich with the presence of some towering beings. As the womb of religion, it was natural that most of them emanated from the East: Raman Maharishi, J.Krishnamurti, Osho, Nisargadatta, and…

Dear Sir,Its all still there: the anger, the hatred, the jealousy, the envy, the pettiness and the comparing- all the works of the ego. Not only are they alive, they are kicking. Today morning I sensed them while talking to someone. Now it has left a cloud of severe depression…

Question: I read somewhere that when a person dies, the stream, of which it was a manifestation, still goes on. What is the process of this stream and how does it manifest itself?

Sir, is there life after death? What sort of knowledge passes on at the time of enlightenment?…

Question: I have been reading about the brain and I realized that we are trapped by this wonderful organ, as much as we are liberated by it. The mind is a part of this ‘gross body’. Perhaps this billions of years of old dust(read body and brain) has finally arrived…

Question: Dear Sir, there is one question that keeps puzzling me.

Consciousness is the ground of being. Everything is in consciousness. Consciousness sees the whole body, and the world, and creates it thus. Then who is deluded? Is consciousness itself confused? Where does the avidya or ignorance come from?

Answer:…

Question: Dear Sir, I need your guidance in understanding this. Kindly help me.

The last week, I was extremely happy about my mental constitution. My mind was silent, there was no constant flow of needless thoughts, and I was engaged in what I was doing: playing music, reading, working, running…

Q: Dear Sir, I have a question.

Why do you want people to be self-aware when it is meant for an individual who is intrinsically interested in this pursuit? This particular path/pursuit/learning is purely personal. Does it require an organisation to be set up for its recognition?

A: What is…

Question: Dear Sir, a few questions:

Why am I so attracted to the personality and mannerisms of all my teachers, often curious about their lives than the truth of their teachings? When I read Jiddu Krishnamurti(JK), am I conditioned by him? Is JK’s method really ‘via negativa’ all the time?…

Question: Sir, many a times it happens that we ask a question to ourselves and then we are also able to answer it on our own. Moreover, this is what forms the basis of so many assumptions that we take. Is this an appropriate method or should verification also be…

Question: Dear Sir, I have read many theories on mind given by many philosophers. I have observed that these theories complicate the mind rather than simplify? What is the need of such elaborate theories based on thoughts and ideas?

Answer: If the mind is not active, even the desire to…

Question: Sir, daily life puts forth so many insane demands and expectations that it becomes difficult to understand what to follow and what not to follow.

Answer: We all have felt that occasional boredom while reading our texts. We all have often felt that inertia to stay back at home…