



यस्मिन्सर्वाणि भूतान्यात्मैवाभूद्विजानतः। तत्र को मोहः कः शोक एकत्वमनुपश्यतः ॥ ७ ॥
yasminsarvāṇi bhūtānyātmaivābhūdvijānataḥ | tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka ekatvamanupaśyataḥ || 7 ||
When to the man of realization all beings become the very Self, then what delusion and what sorrow can there be for that seer of oneness? (Or--

Different indeed, they say, is the result of vidya and different indeed, they say, is the result of avidya. Thus have we heard from the wise who had explained it to us. He who knows both vidya and avidya together, transcends mortality through avidya and reaches immortality through vidya.

Unmoving, the One, than the mind is swifter.
The senses fell back as ahead It speeded.
Though standing, It passes all others running.

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…

How did the Buddha look then? Who is the Buddha? Let’s try to understand with the story of Gautama Buddha, The ‘Shakya Muni Buddha’ as we call him. So, who was he? Let’s look at his central characteristics. One, someone who is well versed in the knowledge of his time. Buddha had deep scriptural knowledge. He was born in a Hindu Kshatriya family, he was a prince and ever since his childhood he was quite talented. So, one thing about him is that he was quite well-read. Second thing is, he was deeply interested in knowing the depths of life. He did not want to remain merely at the superficial levels, so he would observe a lot, he would think a lot. https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articles/todays-buddha-1_4d1b6bf



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

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…

We all need space. Man’s inner nature is freedom. When I say man, I mean both man and woman, mankind. Just as you need free mental space, you also need free physical space.
In fact, I find the idea of a shared bed quite vulgar. The double bed is an
Questioner: Greetings, Acharya Ji. My question is that wherever I look on social media platforms, whether it is YouTube, Instagram, or Twitter, when I read the comment sections under the content posted there, I repeatedly see an allegation being made against the Foundation and against you, that you too are…
It moves and yet It does not move. It is far and also near.
It is found within all…
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…
Something is very wrong somewhere. The first thing in liberation is: do not be dependent on somebody, at least for your bread, for your basic sustenance. What kind of empowerment is this that happily accepts dependence on somebody else’s money on a date, and also for an entire lifetime? It…
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.…

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…

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…

What is it that Shri Rama stands for? He stands for detachment. He stands for fearlessness. He stands for compassion. He stands for Dharma.
Is there Dharma really in your life? And by Dharma I do not mean a creed or a cult, or observation of certain rituals, or the…

The approach of self-help is: “I am sad because my desires have not met fulfillment. So, the way to help myself is: fulfill desires.” It’s a dimensional difference. Therefore, self-help pleases but helps not. It is not then ‘self-help’; the genre should be more correctly called ‘self-gratification’.
And if you…

If Facebook is satisfying you, it is not called as time wasted. Full stop. If the purpose of time is your satisfaction, and if doing all kinds of nonsense on Facebook satisfies you, then you cannot call it as wasted of time.
The only thing that determines whether time or…

Know your duty and give yourself totally to it. Will there be pleasure? No sir, not at all. There would be some higher than pleasure, more fulfilling, more satisfying than pleasure. Pleasure is a turncoat: today one thing, tomorrow another thing.
The one who lives by his duty, his dharma…

You are a bird; your nature is to fly. You don’t need to be taught your nature; you need to be freed from the cage.
But we are pretty special characters. Instead of opening the door of the cage, we try to teach the bird to fly within the cage,…

What is the nature of a gymnasium? The gymnasium only gives you obstacles. Have you ever noticed? You want to raise something—what is the gymnasium giving you? Weights, and weights are obstacles against the rise. The gymnasium really does not support you, it actually obstructs you.
The world is anyway…

Channelize your desire. You must know what you are really hungry for. Your central and primary desire is not sex. Sex may appear overpowering, tempting, but that is really not what you ultimately want. Figure out what you really must have, and then sex will be assigned automatically, inwardly, its…

We deeply disagree with freedom. We may keep saying we want it, but we agree only with the cage. Why do we agree to the cage? Because the cage gives us fruits and vegetables. Freedom means, no more fruits and vegetables. Freedom means, now you are on your own. Go,…

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;…

“Shiva is not giving me peace. Maybe gold, riches, pleasure, entertainment can give me peace?” This is a foolish approach. The master and the servant are one. The servant will not give you what the master is not giving you. Shakti and Shiva are one; the creator and his creation…

People talk of personal time as opposed to professional time, right? They forget that the profession that they have chosen has also been chosen by the person. So, even that which they are mistakenly calling as professional time is only personal time.
Our lives have only personal time. To be…

The mind is not evil; it is just stupid. You cannot put somebody to the sword just for stupidity. And how will you kill the mind? Does the mind stand independent of you? Does it?
The mind is your shadow. If you change, the mind will change. And that is…

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…

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…


Desire begins when you perceive a world out there, and the world makes a promise. What does the world say? ”Here you will get what you want.”
You cannot desire in absence of a promise. This is the fundamental duality of mind. You desire only because you are hopeful that…

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…

You want some money? It is a little desire, and it is a harmless desire. The problem starts when you start wanting peace through money. Money is harmless. But when money becomes a proxy for peace, then money is very harmful.
People do not chase money; they chase peace through…

Insecurity is there only when there is desire in the relationship. And desire, as you know, is self-centered. Are you relating with the other for your own personal pleasure or gain or happiness? Then does the relationship have much substance at all? And if it doesn’t have much substance, what…

The sexual activity is just like any other activity of man: he is searching for God. He searches for God in ambition. He looks for God in money. He looks for God in fame. He also looks for God in a woman’s body.
But because he is not in touch…

Desire is the great evil that defeats all the petty evils. For the sake of desire, you can shake hands with your worst enemy. Everything has been consumed by desire. Everything.
A point comes, you know, when it doesn’t hurt to pay any price to fulfill your desire. It just…

When you live from a point of simple, basic fulfillment—which is fortunately your established nature—then victory and defeat, neither of them can mean too much. People have called that equanimity. You can use any other name.
Equanimity is not about being indifferent to this and that. That indifference is not…

If you are someone who is a serial relater—one relationship after the other or several relationships at a time, whatever, it is one and the same thing really—you must tell yourself that you really have not a physical but a spiritual urge. And therefore, you should stop your mad, nonsensical…

What is it that we are usually engaged in? Feeding our stomachs, and feeding the stomachs of those who are related by blood to us. That’s what our life really is: fulfill your desires and fulfill the desires of those who are related to you by blood and semen. That’s…

A certain word falls upon your ears and there is an instant reaction, is there not? Your entire body can get heated up. One word falling on your ears can raise your temperature by two degrees within two minutes. Is it not a chemical reaction?
This body is a bunch…

You have one life. Never settle down. Keep aiming for the higher than the highest you have known. And irrespective of how high you have come, something higher still remains and beckons. Respond to its call.
Probably you have no exposure to what all is possible in life. Therefore, of…

If you see an animal being slaughtered for somebody’s diet and something within you cries out, then the animal has been saved; maybe not that particular animal but several other animals. Why was the animal killed in the first place? Because somebody wanted it killed. So, the want led to…

When you are not alright with yourself, then your attitude towards others, the way your energy flows towards others, is called as envy or desire.
If you are envious that somebody has something, then rest assured, you too desire that something. Envy and desire go together. Unless the other has…

In order to get satisfaction, man has burnt down the entire world and is still not satisfied, and will never be satisfied, even if the entire universe is burnt down to ashes. Man will still not gain contentment because man is choosing a false route. You can never get contentment…

Do you know why pizzas are so overpriced? If a pizza is selling for 400 bucks, 100 is the cost of the pizza and 300 is the cost of the peace. That is why you pay so much for the pizza.
When you go to a luxury hotel and pay…

Human beings are not born human beings; they have to be educated to become human beings.
A human baby needs to take two births before it can be rightfully called as a human being. There is ignorance, there is greed, there is envy, there is lust, there is fear, there…

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…

Is poverty something that existence gave you, or is poverty something that the society has given you? If existence were to be blamed, then ask yourself, why is nothing else poor?
The rose is shining so majestically without earning anything. The animals are leaping and playing so beautifully without going…

For an animal, sex is just sex—a physical thing. It is not a route to something else. Man is the only one who does not know how much sex he wants. For an animal, sex is the thing and the end of the thing. For man, sex is not merely…

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…