Hope

Worrying is the other name of hope. When you think negatively about the future, you call it worry. When you think positively about the future, you call it hope. So, worrying is just as equally bad as hoping.

Conserve your energy. Train your thoughts. Discipline your little self. Time is…

Hope is a very dangerous animal. It can make you do the most stupid things. It can make you fall in the same trap one million times.

There was the Cricket World Cup in 2003, and the finals were played between India and Australia. I know of a man who…

“I am pious and I have holy intentions”—this was the first piece of fake news invented by man. All attempts, all intentions, all likes and dislikes, all decisions ultimately boil down to just the prakritik narrative—food, comfort and sex. That’s what we live for, that’s what we act for, and…

You have all the right to make a choice. But if you make a choice and don’t do justice to it, then that is very bad. In fact, correction of choices happens only when you have first of all fully tried out what you are doing. Unless you dedicate yourself…

जहाँ तुमको कामवासना के पूरे होने की उम्मीद हो और वहाँ वह पूरी ना हो रही हो तो फिर जो फ्रस्ट्रेशन (खींझ) और हताशा उठती है, वो बहुत-बहुत तीव्र होती है। वह इतनी तीव्र होती है कि उसकी लहर में लोग हत्या तक कर जाते हैं। जिसको एक बार यह…

अभी मर जाओ तो तुम्हारी देह को लोग कहेंगे, “वह मिट्टी रखी है, मिट्टी।“ यह हैसियत है हमारी गंभीरता की। यह भी नहीं कहेंगे कि, “वह नवीन रखा है”, क्या कहेंगे? “मिट्टी रखी है; वह मिट्टी।“ और जब तक साँस चल रही है तब तक बड़े गंभीर हो, “अरे! दर्द-ए-दिल,…

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…

Let’s assume for a while that your worries about the future are founded in facts. Let’s say some grand evil army is invading your little fortress and you can see them all coming with your binoculars, and you are estimating that they will reach you in another four hours. They…

When you say that you go to your workplace for a purpose, is the purpose ever the work? The purpose is the salary cheque. In fact, if work could be bypassed and you could straightaway reach the salary cheque, then who would want to work? Is work the purpose really?…

There was a kids camp, I have freshly returned from there. I bought three or four masks, really scary masks as per my standards, and I wore those masks. I also bought a couple of rubber snakes, and I took those rubber snakes, and when the kids were sleeping, I…

You want the other person to be nice. We are such idiots. We want the other person to be nice. And if the other person is not nice, we feel there is no love. We do not understand anything. We are prepared to give up our life probably when somebody…

Wherever there is an objective, there would be fear associated with it. You hope to get something and you fear that you may not get it. So, if the boss wants to get work done, he threatens the employee. No other engine is possible; only when he is afraid will…

Do not wait for the great institutions to act. Do not wait for the right day to arrive. Do not wait for your capacities to build up. In your little capacity, in your little way, do whatever little you can.

How was the world spoiled in the first place? People…

A relationship of dependence cannot be a healthy relationship. A relationship in which the other becomes central towards your well-being is not a welcome situation.

In fact, the other that has become central to your well-being, is he even worthy of offering you that wellness? Chances are he might himself…

Relationships normally proceed because people need each other. “I need you and you need me. I will fulfill your desire, you will fulfill my desire. Let’s connect.” And the day someone becomes needless, useless for you, it becomes difficult and unnecessary to carry on with him or her.

Relationships are…

When somebody comes to you and says that he is bothered about what happened yesterday or last month or ten years back—and that somebody could be yourself—when you feel that you are bothered with what happened yesterday or ten months back or ten years back, then you should immediately know…

These are two words that you must be very careful about, ‘want’ and ‘must’, ‘I want to do this thing’ versus ‘I must do this thing’—these are dimensionally different statements. All ‘want’ is conditioned. ‘Must-ness’ is an entirely different thing.

“This must be done. And in front of this it…

Questioner 1 (Q1): Dropping the knowledge, is it dropping the method, or is it completely dropping the knowledge?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Dropping the feeling that I already know what is best for me. Would you call knowledge as knowledge, if you are not sure of it? Would you call yourself…

Especially in the modern world, unfortunately, a degree of constant anxiety has become an almost normalized state for us. A large portion of our mental health problems as a collective is very much about anxiety and fear. Burn-outs, career pressures, problems with self-esteem, fear of…

Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, I have fear of my future, I don’t have a lot of money, not much material security. How to overcome this fear?

Acharya Prashant (AP): If you have none of these, then you do not have a future, what are you worried about? If you have…

Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, if one is attached to the Teacher, then he blocks the bridge for others.

Acharya Prashant (AP):

Yes, of course.

The Teacher is the bridge – a bridge between dimensions.

One end of the bridge is this world – space and time, thoughts, emotions, appearances. The…

Questioner: An episode in my life haunts me. It’s me who keeps on revising that ugly memory when there is a similar situation? How do I prevent myself from such an emotional self harm?

Acharya Prashant: The mind is such a bottomless abyss. An abyss tired of its own bareness,…

प्रश्न: अपने अतीत से कैसे बचें? कुछ बातें कभी कभी आ जाती हैं जिनसे हम काफ़ी परेशान हो जाते हैं ।

~ शशांक

आचार्य प्रशांत: वो बातें तो आती ही रहेंगी अगर खाली जगह देखेंगी । मन ऐसा ही है जैसे ट्रेन का जनरल डिब्बा । सीट अगर…

कबिरा आप ठगाइये, और न ठगिए कोय|

आप ठगे सुख होत है, और ठगे दुःख होय||

~संत कबीर

वक्ता: इसको समझने के लिए एक दोहा और लिखिए इसके साथ:

माया तो ठगनी भयी, ठगत फिरत सब देश|

जा ठग ने ठगनी ठगी, ता ठग को आदेश||

मुक्ति सर्व आयामी और…

अभ्यंतर में जिसकी समस्त आशाएं मलिन हो गयी हैं और जो निश्चय पूर्वक जानता है कि कुछ भी नहीं है,

ऐसा ममता रहित, अहंकार शून्य पुरुष कर्म करता हुआ भी उसमें लिप्त नहीं होता।

– अष्टावक्र गीता, अध्याय १७, श्लोक १९

वक्ता: तीन बातें हैं जिन पर अष्टावक्र का जोर…

कुत्रापि खेदः कायस्य जिह्वा कुत्रापि खेद्यते।

मनः कुत्रापि तत्त्यक्त्वा पुरुषार्थे स्थितः सुखम्।।

~ अष्टावक्र गीता (अध्याय १३ श्लोक २)

वक्ता: (श्लोक का अर्थ समझाते हुए) कभी शरीर से दुःख है, कभी वाणी से दुःख है, कभी मन से दुःख है। इन सब का त्याग कर के मैं पुरुषार्थ में स्थित…

Speaker: What is ‘hope’?

First of all, it is an obvious matter to see, that hope is always located in the future. And hope is always related to the expectation of – getting something, or not losing something.

So something good will happen in the future – this is what…

Question: Hope promises change, but is actually an agent of continuity. There is a lot of ‘hope’ in my life. Why?

Speaker: Keep hoping. The other day somebody was quoting the Quran to me. There was a beautiful verse there. It said, “Go out. Look at the entire world, and…

आगि जो लागि समुद्र में, धुआँ न परगट होय ।

की जाने जो जरि मुआ, जाकी लाई होय ।।

~कबीर

वक्ता: बड़े-बड़े समुद्र हैं, जो हमसे बाहर लहराते हैं। और एक समुद्र हमारे भीतर भी लहराता है – मन का समुद्र। बाहर के समुद्रों में आग लगती हुई आपने शायद…

Question: What is hope? Is hope good or bad? Why is the mind always full of hope?

Speaker: Hope is a movement away from what you think the present condition is. This is simple. You hope to be different. Whenever there is a hope, there is an expectation attached to…

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

ye bhajanti tu māṁ bhaktyā mayi te teṣhu chāpyaham

The same am I to all beings: to Me, There is none hateful or dear. But…

A guide to handling difficult periods, adapting to unexpected changes, learning from experiences, seeking support, and continuing forward with confidence and patience.

Sunday Guardian ColumnSunday Guardian ColumnSunday Guardian ColumnSunday Guardian ColumnSunday Guardian Column

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अध्यात्म की रोशनी जीवन के हर क्षेत्र पर पड़ती है, तो राजनीति पर भी पड़ेगी ही पड़ेगी। ऐसा कुछ नहीं है कि आध्यात्मिक आदमी राजनीति के प्रति अंधा हो जाता है। बल्कि हक़ीक़त तो यह है कि राजनीति को आध्यात्मिक लोगों की बहुत सख़्त ज़रूरत है, क्योंकि राजनेता ताक़त की ऐसी गद्दियों पर बैठते हैं, जहाँ से वो आपके जीवन को बहुत तरीके से प्रभावित करते हैं। राजनेता अगर आध्यात्मिक नहीं है, तो देश रसातल में जाएगा। राजनीति त्यागनी नहीं है, सही राजनीति करनी है।https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articles/raajneeti-mein-adhyatm-kyon-zaroori-1_795988a15

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

This article is related to restlessness.

Questioner: A lot of students that I talk to — it’s the fear of the society, it’s the fear of the unknown, it’s fear of the expectations that they are carrying, that pushes them to become an engineer and then they figure out that probably this is not something that they wanted to be. And that is the reality of a lot of individuals and not just engineers. Probably, here is something that is stopping me from taking a plunge of starting something of myself, right? Fear is something that is stopping somebody who is in a relationship for ten years to take that step to get married. Where does this fear come from? Acharya Prashant: Lack of love, which comes from lack of self-knowledge. You see, when I tie my sense of existence, my very identity, to something that is unreliable, I will have to be afraid. It’s like putting my heart on this table. Now, how can I live in security? The heart is out there on the table, anybody can take it away, anything can happen to it. Or the heart might grow legs and walk away on its own. My very existence has been subjected to something that is not in my control. Something that is definitely going to deceive me at some point, that is fear. My sense of self-worth comes from my monies, my bank account, I will be afraid. That bank account can be closed anytime, anything can happen. My sense of self-worth comes from my physical appearance. I very well know, time will take it away, I will be afraid. Right? Who am I? I am the one who is praised or worshipped by the society. Oh! I will be so afraid, so afraid! You talked of people working for their images, they would be living a cursed life. Because, their heart is out there in the hands of strangers. Their entire identity is tied to their image and the image is in the eyes of other people. So, the image can be distorted or can disappear any moment. Just imagine, how afraid they would be all the time. That’s with the ego. Because, the ego, as I said, is a fundamental sense of incompleteness. Therefore, to complete itself, it just associates itself to anything possible. And the things that you are associating yourself with, they are not reliable. They belong to the world and the world can take them away. They belong to time. They came with time and with time all those things will disappear. And you have tied your identity to those things. Now how can you rest in peace? That’s fear. If you do not have self-knowledge, you will always be afraid. My identity is linked to my husband’s identity. Now the husband has two legs. And the husband has a brain, a mind of his own. If your identity comes from your husband’s name, as happens in India at least, you would always be afraid as a wife. The husband can change his mind any day. You would always be, you know, having one eye on his secretary, and the other eye in his email and mobile phone. What’s he getting into? Who’s texting him? Why is he on the phone so late in the night? Because you are afraid if husband goes away, what happens to you? Your very existence depends on the husband. That’s fear. When you operate from the ego centre and make something very, very important for yourself and that something belongs to the world, it can go away anytime, and you are afraid. And in that fear, there can never be love, never be love. If you are afraid of losing something, you will be very violent towards it. Nobody lets his money go and have a walk down the road. What do you do? You lock up your money. That’s violence. When something starts becoming very meaningful to you, you lock it up. You don’t want it to have freedom. And that’s violence. So, love and fear just cannot go together. If you are dependent on something or somebody, you will be afraid. And that dependence cannot be called love. And that is a confusion, we often get into it. Just because you depend on somebody and somebody depends on you, you start feeling as if it is love, it is not. Questioner: Just like the way political parties think that people love them but it actually is fear. Acharya Prashant: Exactly! Love is a rare quality and rarer in politics. Questioner: So, if I am interested in a particular profession, do I not pursue it wholeheartedly? Do I pursue it wholeheartedly knowing very well that the results can either be zero or one? Acharya Prashant: One has to go into the very nature of interest. Aren’t we interested in cricket? Aren’t we interested in seeing songs in movies? Practically, everybody in India is interested in cricket, nobody in Brazil is. And nobody in India is interested in ice hockey. So, that’s how flimsy the whole thing about interest is. In India, if you don’t get a movie with songs, you say, “I am disinterested.” The movie would bomb. In Hollywood, if you have a movie with songs, that would raise eyebrows, what’s going on? Occasionally, you have an OD song but typically there is no song. So, that is the nature of interest. It is never something of the heart. Love and interest are not the same thing. Interest is something that is given to you by your body, by your environment, by random chance, your circumstances and all these. So that’s how your interests come to you. So, if you are interested in a vocation, first of all, you have to ask yourself, “Just two years back, I was interested in something else and two years before I was interested in that and when I was four years old, I was interested in becoming a fighter pilot. What happened to all those interests?” Today, I smile at those things and just shrug them off, “I don’t want to be a fighter pilot.” What you want to be today? Oh! I want to be an investment banker. What happened to the fighter pilot? You were so interested in that. And how do you know, tomorrow you will not be looking at this I-banker, just the way today you are looking at the fighter pilot. The self of a five-year old appears so naïve and immature when you are twenty-five. How do you know that at thirty-five, you will not look back at this twenty-five year old self and say, “What the hell! How was I taking this fellow so seriously?” So, interest is something that you must look at with healthy contempt. Interest, mind you, can even be induced in you. Interest can be aroused in you. That’s what the entire advertising industry is about. They can make you feel Interested in things that is intrinsically worthless to you. So, of what value is this thing called interest? But, then in today’s world, we place so much premium on this word 'interest.' Do what interests you, this, that. Whereas, it is wisdom to realize that interest is the last thing that you should ever go after. Then people come up and say, “No, should we do things that we are not interested in? No.

पृथ्वी को बचाने के लिए यूनाइटेड नेशंस की सीओपी ने यह शर्त रखी थी कि 2030 तक वैश्विक तापमान 1.5 डिग्री से अधिक नहीं बढ़ना चाहिए। हमने वह सीमा 2025 में ही लांघ दी है। यह आने वाले बहुत-बहुत बड़े विनाश का संकेत है। आदमी के इतिहास में इससे ख़तरनाक पल कभी नहीं आया। उस ख़तरे को चुनौती देने के लिए ही यह "ऑपरेशन 2030" है, जिसका उद्देश्य है कि आम आदमी में चेतना जगाई जाए — “देखो, तुम्हारा ग्रह विनाश की ओर कितनी तेज़ी से बढ़ रहा है। तुम अपने बच्चों के लिए एक ऐसा ग्रह छोड़कर जा रहे हो, जहाँ आफ़तें ही आफ़तें होंगी।”

test doc type

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…

If you do not like the result that comes from the right action, then your like is not right. The result is still right. Challenge your likes and dislikes, not the rightness of the result.

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…

प्रश्नकर्ता: कृष्ण अध्याय नौ में बताते हैं कि वे सब भूतों में समभाव से व्यक्त हैं, वहीं अध्याय दस में बताते हैं कि जो कुछ भी विभूतियुक्त, कांतियुक्त और शक्ति युक्त है, वो कृष्ण की अभिव्यक्ति है। अध्याय नौ में कृष्ण कहते हैं कि ऋग्वेद, सामवेद, अथर्ववेद मैं ही हूँ…

या निशा सर्वभूतानां तस्यां जागर्ति संयमी। यस्यां जाग्रति भूतानि सा निशा पश्यतो मुने:।।

जो सब जीवों के लिए रात्रि है, वह आत्मसंयमी के जागने का समय है और जो समस्त जीवों के जागने का समय है, वह आत्मनिरीक्षक मुनि के लिए रात्रि है।

—श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, अध्याय २, श्लोक ६९

प्रश्नकर्ता: जब…

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\n\n29 अप्रैल से 1 मई, 2022 तक आयोजित हुए वेदांत महोत्सव के एक प्रतिभागी की प्रेरणास्पद कहानी\n\nमेरा नाम राकेश कुमार है। मैं कानपुर नगर से हूँ। पिछले चार माह से मैं हर…

प्रश्नकर्ता: नमस्कार, सर। आज का सबसे पहला प्रश्न जो है वह सनातन के ऊपर है कि सनातन माने क्या? और ऐसा क्या है जिसको वास्तविक रूप में सनातन कहा जा सकता है?

आचार्य प्रशांत: देखिए, सनातन का अर्थ होता है वो जो काल की सीमाओं से के बाहर का हो।…

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.…