Truth

श्रद्धावान् लभते ज्ञानं तत्पर: संयतेन्द्रिय: | ज्ञानं लब्ध्वा परां शान्तिमचिरेणाधिगच्छति || ४, ३९ || जितेन्द्रिय, साधनापरायण और श्रद्धावान मनुष्य ज्ञान को प्राप्त होता है तथा ज्ञान को प्राप्त होकर वह बिना विलम्ब के तत्काल ही भगवत्प्राप्तिरूप शान्ति को प्राप्त हो जाता है। —श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, अध्याय ४, श्लोक ३९प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी,…

Let nobody say that he or she is making the right choices in life because she does not know. We all know. We prefer to suppress the inner knowledge. It’s an inner conspiracy against ourselves, just because we want to continue enjoying certain privileges in life—certain physical privileges, material privileges,…

Emotions, they can do whatever they want to do. It doesn’t matter how I am feeling. What matters is what I must do.

Ask yourself: Had you not been feeling this way or that way, what would have you done? And you will get a very good answer.

“Why do you want to follow their science? We will follow our science!” This kind of thing too you are hearing these days, no? This science and that science, as if there are multiple sciences all opposed to each other. Spiritual sciences! What kind of foolishness is this? Pandit-ji is

हिंदुस्तान में अभी भी दो जगह हैं जहाँ पर लडकियाँ बहुत कम पायी जाती हैं – लड़कियाँ, स्त्रियाँ सब – एक, श्मशान घाट, दूसरा, सत्संग। दोनों ही जगहों पर सच दिख जाता है न, और दोनों ही जगहों पर देह की नश्वरता दिख जाती है न। समाज नहीं चाहता है…

किसी ने आपसे पूछा, “अरे! तुमने मुझे पाँच दिन से फ़ोन नहीं किया, तुम्हें मेरी याद नहीं आयी?” आप कहते हैं, “अगर मैं इसको सच बता दूँ तो इस बेचारे के दिल को चोट लगेगी, ये दुख जाएगा।“ तो आप कहते हैं, “नहीं याद तो बहुत आयी, वो नेटवर्क नहीं…

जब शरीर का कोई हिस्सा बड़ी माँग करने लगे किसी भी तरीके से, पेट माँग करता है कि, ‘मुझे भोजन दो’, कहीं दर्द हो गया तो वो जगह माँग करती है कि, ‘मुझे आराम दो, दवा दो।‘

कामोत्तेजना चढ़ने लगी तो जननांग माँग करते हैं कि, ‘हमपर ध्यान दो’, तो…

Love firstly means total dedication towards the Beloved, and secondly, total identification with the world. First of all, you need total disidentification with the world, because unless you are totally disidentified with the world, how will you identify with Him? And that is why saints have so much compassion for…

दुनिया अगर ताक़त की भाषा समझती है तो ताक़त अर्जित करो। दुनिया अगर पैसे की बात सुनती है तो पैसा होना चाहिए तुम्हारे पास। हाँ, शर्त बस एक है कि तुम्हारी बात सदा सच्ची रहे। यह ना हो कि पैसा आ गया तो बात में झूठ आ गया।

जितना तुम्हारी…

मैं जितने भी कपटी लोगों से मिलता हूँ, उनकी धूर्तता की कोई सीमा नहीं। उनका दिमाग चल रहा है। वो महत्वकांक्षी हैं। वो कुछ भी कर दिखाने को तैयार हैं। उनमें ऊर्जा पूरी है, वो दुनिया पर छा जाने के लिए हौसला रख रहे हैं। उनका आत्मविश्वास देखो!

और मैं…

जो लोग दस दरवाज़ों पर खटखटा रहे होते हैं न उन बेचारों की त्रासदी यही होती है, वह ऐसे होते हैं जैसे कि कोई दस जगह गड्ढा खोदे।

यह ग्रंथों का अपमान है कि उनको एक बार पढ़ कर के किनारे रख दो। “मैंने गीता पढ़ ली!” कि, “मैंने बाइबल…

There is no search as ignorant, as useless, and as tragic as the search for happiness. And unfortunately, happiness or sukha is something that all your well-wishers want for you, that all the markets and systems in the world promise you, and all that your mind is mad for.

It…

You’re asking me, “Is it possible to act rightly with trembling hands?” I am saying, you can act rightly only with trembling hands.

One unmistakable quality of right action would be that it would require all your guts. It is only false action that you can comfortably undertake. Falseness is…

If you want Truth in your life, create a situation in which you have to face the false. Face the false and reject it—that is when you’ll be forced to call the Truth.

Now, what is it that I mean by the false? That which does not satisfy you is…

The ego does not live for the Truth; it lives for its own survival. And to live for one’s survival makes any sense only in the presence of challenges to survival. If there are no challenges to survival, whose survival are you protecting and living for?

Therefore, if you are…

Your action has to be one with the Truth. Let wisdom guide your action. That’s Yoga of Wisdom. What is the other kind of action? Prescribed action.

Each of us, in each moment, has to make this choice. Where is your action going to come from? Is it going to…

Do two things: One, start talking real stuff; secondly, start blocking the nonsense. And then you will see who stays with you and who does not. Do both of these two things, concurrently. Start talking the real things with all those you consider close to yourself, and start blocking all…

The woman is the more oppressed of the two. Once the revolution begins, obviously man too will be liberated. But just as woman gives birth to the man, woman will also need to give birth to the freedom of man. Man will not be able to give birth to his…

Loneliness does not decrease when you connect to a thousand other people using technology. Loneliness is a thing within. Irrespective of how many people you are connected to in a party or via Zoom, loneliness is not going to decrease. It’s just that when you are in a party, loneliness…

This is the way most parent-child relationships are, this is the way most families are constructed—not on the foundation of love and Truth, but merely as institutions that exist for society’s sake.

How often do a man and a woman come together for the sake of Truth? How many people…

Even when you want to worship Shiva, you only worship him with his eyes half-closed, deeply absorbed in meditation. You do not want to look at the tāṇḍava mudra (dance of destruction form) of Shiva. Yes, there are a few temples, there are some infrequent references, but largely you do…

If you are someone who is a serial relator—one relationship after the other, or several relationships at a time, whatever, 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 method of…

Intention, goal, purpose, desire, clinging, attachment, attraction—none of these are bad, provided they are towards the right object, right end. Please be attached, please be greatly attached, please be desirous, please feel the attraction, the pull towards liberation, towards Truth.

It is not for nothing that your mind is vested…

It is not at all sufficient to talk of the Truth. One has to live the Truth. The Truth must not sit merely on your tongue but in all parts of your body. Your hands must express it; your legs, your eyes, your ears must express it; not merely your…

“How do I and others move towards true love?”

You will have to very dispassionately look at the choices you are living right now, and you will have to negate those choices by making better choices. You cannot have any betterment without very honest, very sharp, very penetrative self-consciousness. You…

One’s loyalties must be reserved for the highest one can come across, right? Or is one’s loyalty a cheap thing, an article on sale that you can offer to just about any random, average, mean person?

Those who have known life have taught as fundamental wisdom that only Truth is…

Any and every verse of the Bhagavad Gita is a mantra. Any and every verse of the Upanishads is a mantra. Any śloka or sākhi by the saint poets, when in the language of the masses, is a mantra. Nanak Sahib, Kabir Sahib say something—all of that is a mantra.…

The old would either turn into the new or will have to go away. And if it is not turning into the new, then it will keep you too old. If you are moving towards the new, now there can be no carrying of the old. Either the old will…

The truth is exposing itself in every single sexual encounter of yours, and yet we close our eyes to it. In fact, if you really look into it, repeated sexual activity is probably needed because you know that you didn’t get much from it the last time. That tells so…

Do you see what is violence? To forget God, to forget the Truth. What is non-violence? To fight that which makes you forget the Truth.

So, non-violence actually means you have to fight. If you are not a fighter you cannot be non-violent. The false is to be fought, and…

He remained occupied in graveyards, while you waited for him with moon and dew. Smile, for such foolishness and disloyalty, is the preserve of a lucky few. Smile, for if the One cannot abandon even a corpse, will He ever abandon you?

~ Acharya Prashant

Questioner: You have said that the future is not controlled by God; in reality, various forces are acting simultaneously creating unpredictable future events. When I read Yoga Vasistha, I have found that there are chapters where Guru Vasistha talks about the conversation between Krishna and Arjuna to Rama. How…

Questioner: What is Shiva? What is Shakti?

Acharya Prashant: These are symbols. Shakti represents everything in motion, everything that can be experienced, everything that you can think of; Shakti represents the totality of that. If Shakti represents everything in motion, one feels like asking, “Why is everything in the motion…

प्रश्नकर्ता: इगो (अहंकार) में और सत्य में क्या अंतर है?

आचार्य प्रशांत: जितने अंतर हैं वह सब इगो में ही हैं। अंतर कुछ कर लो, समानताएँ और अंतर यह सब मानसिक परिकल्पनाएँ हैं। आत्मा में ना कोई भेद होता है, ना अभेद होता है। तुम अगर पूछोगे कि, "अहंकार और…

Questioner: Acharya Ji Namaskar! Is there anything more futile than words? At times I feel beautiful and cry out of joy. Or feel like bursting into tears but words fail me. Other times, I do not feel much but can perfectly articulate it into words. For instance, I write poems,…

प्रश्नकर्ता: शिवमय होना क्या है?

आचार्य प्रशांत: बहुत मुस्कुरा रहे हो बेटा! यही होता है शिवमय होना। पूछ रहे हैं कि “शिवमय होना क्या होता है?” यही है, सोमस्त हो जाओ। सोम जानते हो न क्या होता है, क्या होता है? ख़ुमार; सोमस्त हो जाओ, यही होता है शिवमय होना।…

प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी, आपको सुनने से पहले मैं एक भजन सुनता था उसमें बोलते थे कि "सिर से तेरी बहती गंगा, काम मेरा हो जाता चंगा, नाम तेरा जब लेता।" तो भजन सुनते-सुनते मुझे लगता था कि मैं महादेव के कुछ नज़दीक हो गया हूँ और अब मेरा काम चंगा…

प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी प्रणाम, हमारा मन शरीर से ज़्यादा बलशाली है। और आत्मा के विषय में गुरुजनों से सुना है कि मन से भी ज़्यादा बलशाली है। ऐसा क्यों होता है कि हम भूल-चूक करते हैं और क्या इसका मतलब यह हुआ कि भूलना जो कि मन के तल पर…

प्रश्नकर्ता: प्रणाम आचार्य जी। मैं यूट्यूब के माध्यम से जुड़ा हूँ आपसे करीब दो साल से। उसके बाद आध्यात्मिकता में थोड़ी रुचि बढ़ी। इन दो सालों में मेरे कुछ नज़दीकी मित्र थे जिनकी मृत्यु हो गई। उसके बाद मुझे ऐसा लग रहा है कि मैं मर रहा हूँ। तो ये…

यत: सर्वाणि भूतानि प्रतिभान्ति स्थितानि च| यत्रैवोपशमं यान्ति तस्मै सत्यात्मने नम:|| ~ योगवाशिष्ठ: (वैराग्यप्रकरण श्लोक 1)

Translation: Salutations to that calm effulgence which is endless and unlimited by space, time, etc., the pure consciousness which can be known by experience only. ~ Yogvashishtha Vairagya Prakaran Verse 1

Questioner: In Katha Upanishad, young boy Nachiketa attained the highest wisdom and immortality by the virtue of dispassion and the firm resolve to know the Truth. Unless I resolve to know the Self, there is no other way it seems. Acharya Ji, kindly speak on the virtues of determination and…

Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, you said, facts are the great enablers to reach the Truth. Is not Truth in itself a fact?

Acharya Prashant (AP): (Shakes his head in denial)

Q: Cannot we see Truth as a fact?

Questioner: Acharya Ji, regarding being absent; as you were speaking, I can only imagine it as not being there in thoughts.

Acharya Prashant: What does it mean to be absent to objective company? It means to be related to objects not via the thread of desire or fear. I said,…

Questioner (Q): Sir, my assumption about the Nirvikalpa Samādhi and Jāgrat Suṣupti that you talked of is that in that state, one enters into the ‘new’ each moment as one doesn't allow the ego to make its grip on to anything. Is the fate or state of the one in…

Questioner: If positive and negative, good and bad, beauty and ugliness are all a matter of personal perspective, then can universal positivity, universal goodness, or universal beauty exist? If it’s the majority that decides, then is the majority the judge of the deeds to be done by one, in a…

प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी, जब सत्य/चेतना चुनाव करते हैं तो विवेक क्या है? चेतना और सत्य क्या भिन्न हैं? जब हम अध्यात्म की पहली सीढ़ी चढ़ते हैं, तो क्या विवेक ही नहीं है जो बढ़ता है? कृपया समझाएं?

आचार्य प्रशांत: हमारी चेतना, अशुद्ध चेतना होती है। उसका लक्ष्य होता है- सत्य।…

प्रश्नकर्ता: क्या खोज रहे हैं हम?

आचार्य प्रशांत: यह जितना कुछ हम देखते हैं, यह जो कुछ भी हम अनुभव करते हैं, सुनते हैं, इसका अनुभव हमें यूँ ही नहीं हो रहा। थोड़ा गौर करेंगें तो आपको भी दिखेगा। कुछ भी आपको व्यर्थ ही नहीं दिख रहा, अकारण ही नहीं…

Questioner: Acharya Ji, what is the purpose of life?

Acharya Prashant: The purpose of something, is the end of that thing. And life, as we know it, anyway has a predefined end; predefined end is physical death. It's well known, it's an obvious thing, no? But, we still ask this…

आचार्य प्रशांत: यदि प्राणी हृदय से संचालित है तो वो वास्तव में परम स्रोत से ही संचालित है; पर ये शर्त बड़ी है कि उसे हृदय से संचालित होना चाहिए। जब वह हृदय से संचालित होता है तो इन्द्रियाँ वैसी हो जाती हैं जैसी श्रीकृष्ण भगवद्गीता में कहते हैं, कि,…