Shri Krishna

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…

हमारा मिजाज हमेशा दूसरों और परिस्थितियों पर निर्भर करता है। नतीजे आपकी उम्मीदों के मुताबिक नहीं रहे। इसलिए अब आपको मनोबल बढ़ाने वाले किसी प्रेरक वक्ता की ज़रूरत है। जैसे ही वह व्यक्ति चला जाता है, आपकी ऊर्जा भी थम जाती है। लेकिन जीने का एक और तरीका भी है। अपने भीतर गहराई में, मुझे एक ऐसा बिंदु मिलता है जिसे कोई बाहरी परिस्थिति छू नहीं सकती। जो कुछ भी होता है, वह सतह पर ही घटित होता है। वह स्थिर, उदासीन और तटस्थ बना रहता है। तब आप सचमुच स्वतंत्र होते हैं।

Overview

Fighting Duryodhana is Dharma. Fight Duryodhana in the way you can, that is swadharma. Dharma is the same for everybody, but swadharma varies according to your physical, social, temporal conditions. But remember that swadharma can never be in contradiction of Dharma; swadharma will always be something…

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.…

Overview

We want to reach the end of wanting. We want completion, fulfillment in such a final way that we are left with nothing to want anymore. That’s the destination. Born a human being, you will have to act. Act rightly. Act for the right purpose. Live for the right…

The world’s oldest calendar comes from India. They never recorded when Krishna was born, never, and they never recorded when the character called Krishna died. This was out of a simple understanding and respect that He is not a character at all. Characters come and go, so dates can be…

अर्जुन उवाच।

नष्टो मोह: स्मृतिर्लब्धा त्वत्प्रसादान्मयाच्युत।

स्थितोऽस्मि गतसन्देह: करिष्ये वचनं तव।।

arjuna uvācha

naṣhṭo mohaḥ smṛitir labdhā tvat-prasādān mayāchyuta

sthito ‘smi gata-sandehaḥ kariṣhye vachanaṁ tava

Arjuna said: O infallible one, by your grace my illusion has been dispelled, and I am situated in knowledge. I am now free from doubts,…

यज्ञदानतप:कर्म न त्याज्यं कार्यमेव तत्।

यज्ञो दानं तपश्चैव पावनानि मनीषिणाम्।।5।।

yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-karma na tyājyaṁ kāryam eva tat

yajño dānaṁ tapaśh chaiva pāvanāni manīṣhiṇām

The work of Yagna, gift, and austerity should not be relinquished, but it should indeed be performed; (for) Yagna, gift, and austerity are purifying to the wise.

~…

Acharya Prashant (AP): In chapter 16 of Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, Shri Krishna has done something quite special—special even by his own exalted standards. He has made it amply clear what the difference between the Asurī man, the man with demonic tendencies, and the divine man is. Even among these two,…

मय्यावेश्य मनो ये मां नित्ययुक्ता उपासते ।

श्रद्धया परयोपेतास्ते मे युक्ततमा मता: ।। 12.2 ।।

mayy āveśhya mano ye māṁ nitya-yuktā upāsate

śhraddhayā parayopetās te me yuktatamā matāḥ

The Blessed Lord said: Those who, fixing their mind on Me, worship Me, ever-steadfast, and endowed with supreme Sraddha, they, in My…

तत्र सत्त्वं निर्मलत्वात्प्रकाशकमनामयम् ।

सुखसङ्गेन बध्नाति ज्ञानसङ्गेन चानघ ॥ १४.६॥

tatra sattvaṁ nirmalatvāt prakāśhakam anāmayam

sukha-saṅgena badhnāti jñāna-saṅgena chānagha

Of these Sattva, because of its stainlessness, luminous and free from evil, binds, O sinless one, by attachment to happiness, and by attachment to knowledge.

~ Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 14,…

राजविद्या राजगुह्यं पवित्रमिदमुत्तमम्।

प्रत्यक्षावगमं धर्म्यं सुसुखं कर्तुमव्ययम्।।2।।

rāja-vidyā rāja-guhyaṁ pavitram idam uttamam

pratyakṣhāvagamaṁ dharmyaṁ su-sukhaṁ kartum avyayam

Of sciences, the highest; of profundities, the deepest; of purifiers, the supreme, is this; realisable by direct perception, endowed with (immense) merit, very easy to perform, and of an imperishable nature.

~ Chapter…

अनन्याश्चिन्तयन्तो मां ये जना: पर्युपासते।

तेषां नित्याभियुक्तानां योगक्षेमं वहाम्यहम्।।22।।

ananyāśh chintayanto māṁ ye janāḥ paryupāsate

teṣhāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ yoga-kṣhemaṁ vahāmyaham

Persons who, meditating on Me as non-separate, worship Me in all beings, to them thus ever zealously really engaged, I carry what they lack and preserve what they already have.

~…

दंष्ट्राकरालानि च ते मुखानि दृष्ट्वैव कालानलसन्निभानि ।

दिशो न जाने न लभे च शर्म प्रसीद देवेश जगन्निवास ।। 11.25 ।।

danṣhṭrā-karālāni cha te mukhāni dṛiṣhṭvaiva kālānala-sannibhāni

diśho na jāne na labhe cha śharma prasīda deveśha jagan-nivāsa

Having seen the mouths, fearful with tusks, blazing like Pralaya-fires, I know not the…

अक्षरं ब्रह्म परमं स्वभावोऽध्यात्ममुच्यते।

भूतभावोद्भवकरो विसर्ग: कर्मसञ्ज्ञित:।।8.3।।

akṣharaṁ brahma paramaṁ svabhāvo ’dhyātmam uchyate

bhūta-bhāvodbhava-karo visargaḥ karma-sanjñitaḥ. (8.3)

The Blessed Lord said The immutable is the Supreme Brahman; self hood is said to the entity present in the individual plane. By action is meant the offerings which bring about the origin…

इहैकस्थं जगत्कृत्स्नं पश्याद्य सचराचरम् ।

मम देहे गुडाकेश यच्चान्यद्द्रष्टुमिच्छसि ।। 7 ।।

ihaika-sthaṁ jagat kṛitsnaṁ paśhyādya sa-charācharam

mama dehe guḍākeśha yach chānyad draṣhṭum ichchhasi

See now, O Gudakesha, in this body of mine, the whole universe centered in one including the moving and the unmoving and all else that thou…

अमानित्वमदम्भित्वमहिंसा क्षान्तिरार्जवम् ।

आचार्योपासनं शौचं स्थैर्यमात्मविनिग्रह: ।। 13.8 ।।

इन्द्रियार्थेषु वैराग्यमनहङ्कार एव च ।

जन्ममृत्युजराव्याधिदु:खदोषानुदर्शनम् ।। 13.9 ।।

असक्तिरनभिष्वङ्ग: पुत्रदारगृहादिषु ।

नित्यं च समचित्तत्वमिष्टानिष्टोपपत्तिषु ।। 13.10 ।।

मयि चानन्ययोगेन भक्तिरव्यभिचारिणी ।

विविक्तदेशसेवित्वमरतिर्जनसंसदि ।। 13.11 ।।

अध्यात्मज्ञाननित्यत्वं तत्वज्ञानार्थदर्शनम् ।

एतज्ज्ञानमिति प्रोक्तमज्ञानं यदतोऽन्यथा ।। 13.12 ।।

amānitvam adambhitvam ahinsā kṣhāntir ārjavam

āchāryopāsanaṁ…

अन्तकाले च मामेव स्मरन्मुक्त्वा कलेवरम् |

य: प्रयाति स मद्भावं याति नास्त्यत्र संशय: || 5||

anta-kāle cha mām eva smaran muktvā kalevaram

yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaṁ yāti nāstyatra sanśhayaḥ

At the time of death, anyone who departs by giving up the body while thinking of Me alone, he attains My…

भूमिरापोऽनलो वायु: खं मनो बुद्धिरेव च |

अहङ्कार इतीयं मे भिन्ना प्रकृतिरष्टधा || 4||

bhūmir-āpo ’nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva cha

ahankāra itīyaṁ me bhinnā prakṛitir aṣhṭadhā

This prakriti of mine is divided eightfold thus; earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, intellect, and also egoism.

~ Chapter 7, Verse…

बुद्धिर्ज्ञानमसम्मोह: क्षमा सत्यं दम: शम: ।

सुखं दु:खं भवोऽभावो भयं चाभयमेव च ।। 10.4 ।।

अहिंसा समता तुष्टिस्तपो दानं यशोऽयश: ।

भवन्ति भावा भूतानां मत्त एव पृथग्विधा: ।। 10.5 ।।

buddhir jñānam asammohaḥ kṣhamā satyaṁ damaḥ śhamaḥ

sukhaṁ duḥkhaṁ bhavo ’bhāvo bhayaṁ chābhayameva cha

ahinsā samatā tuṣhṭis tapo dānaṁ yaśho…

उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत्।

आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुरात्मैव रिपुरात्मन:।।5।।

uddhared ātmanātmānaṁ nātmānam avasādayet

ātmaiva hyātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ

One should save oneself by oneself. One should not lower oneself. For oneself is truly one’s own friend. Oneself is truly one’s own enemy.

~ Chapter 6, Verse 5

✥ ✥ ✥

बन्धुरात्मात्मनस्तस्य येनात्मैवात्मना…

Questioner: I’m reading the Bhagavad Gita for the first time. I know people who have read the Bhagavad Gita multiple times, yet they continue being the same. And if one goes to them, they have their own interpretations of the Gita. They tell me that the five Pandavas stand for…

Questioner (Q): While reading Ramana Maharshi, I have observed that out of all the scriptures Ramana Maharshi has quoted Krishna and Bhagavad Gita the most number of times. I have also seen this with other masters as well, that Bhagavad Gita holds a very special place in spirituality. Why is…

यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भव- ति भारत ।

अभ्युत्थान- मधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम्- ॥४-७॥

Yada yada hi dharmasya glanirbhavati bharata

abhyuttanam adharmasya tadaatmanaam srujamyaham

परित्राणाय- साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम्- ।

धर्मसंस्था- पनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे ॥४-८॥

Paritranaya sadhoonaam vinashayacha dushkritaam

dharma samsthapanarthaya sambhavaami yuge yuge

Whenever, O descendant of Bharata, there…

Acharya Prashant (AP): You will see that I'm repeatedly stressing on Krishna as the demolisher, on Krishna as someone who not only does not accept our prevalent definitions of right-wrong, true and false, humility, authority, right action, non-violence but, in fact, unabashedly and actively demolishes them. It is one thing…

मय्येव मन आधत्स्व मयि बुद्धिं निवेशय ।

निवसिष्यसि मय्येव अत ऊर्ध्वं न संशय: ।। 12.8 ।।

mayy eva mana ādhatsva mayi buddhiṁ niveśhaya

nivasiṣhyasi mayy eva ata ūrdhvaṁ na sanśhayaḥ

Fix thy mind on Me only, place intellect in Me, (then) thou shalt no doubt live in Me hereafter.

~…

Questioner (Q): Arjuna trembles when he looks at his kin in the battlefield and thinks of the consequences the war will have on everyone he is related to. While I can relate to him conceptually, one rarely has a situation of this scale in front of him in one’s day-to-day…

योगथः कु कमाण सगं यवा धनजं य।

सयसयोः समो भूवा समवंयोग उयते।।

yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi saṅgaṁ tyaktvā dhanañjaya

siddhy-asiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā samatvaṁ yoga uchyate

Perform your actions, O Dhananjaya (Arjuna), Being established in or integrated with Yoga,

Abandoning attachment and Remaining even-minded both in success and failure. This evenness of…

न हि ज्ञानेन सदृशं पवित्रमिह विद्यते।

तत्स्वयं योगसंसिद्ध: कालेनात्मनि विन्दति।।

श्रीमद भगवद गीता

na hi jñānena sadṛiśhaṁ pavitramiha vidyate

tatsvayaṁ yogasansiddhaḥ kālenātmani vindati

Certainly, there is no purifier in this world like Knowledge. A man who has become perfect in yoga, finds it within himself in course of time.

~…

*Questioner: Dear Acharya Ji,*

As you always mentioned, one must perform his actions, while remaining established in Ram, who is the essence of all actions. Your teachings have given me clarity that selfish motives behind my actions strengthen the ego. Knowing this, I practice paying little attention to…

Questioner: Does Spirituality ask us to be non-violent? And Spirituality also asks us to fulfill our duties. So, in today’s world when we are subjected to any kind of violence, it may be physical, emotional, and mental; how best can we fulfill our duties along with non-violence?

Acharya Prashant: A…

Acharya Prashant: Krishna is that in Arjun that already knows. In a physical setting, Krishna appears like a man outside of Arjun. Actually speaking, Krishna and Arjun are not separate. Krishna is the one that Arjun goes to when he wants to validate all that which he already knows. Krishna…

Listener 1: Sir how can words have such a cleansing effect, don’t you think Silence speaks louder?

AP: Is there a contradiction between silence and words? Is there really? We have been silent since the last one hour. It’s such an eloquent Silence.

Listener 1: It’s still secondary.

AP: No,…

Listener: Sir, you said Krishna got the right to poke his nose(…) But when we study the text, we find that Krishna also poked the nose only when the other person sought his advice, moreover surrendered to him. So, till that time he was tolerant. I am just stretching the…

Questioner (Q): What is the difference between Shiva and Krishna? What is the symbolic difference?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Shiva is more fundamental than Krishna.

Krishna contains a lot of both Shiva and Shakti. So unless you are watchful, you will get confused. Shiva is simple and pure. Shiva has the…

Interviewer (A senior journalist from the Tribune, interviewing Shri Prashant on his Myth Demolition Tour, Dharamshala): I was just going through your book and read about your IIT-IIM – Civil Services background, so why did you leave that and move to Spirituality?

Shri Prashant: I found this far more…

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…

Love is not a mental or physical need. Love is not for the faint-hearted. Love is not for those who fear the loss of relationships, reputation, possessions or life. Love is not for those who are afraid of family, society, or uncertainty. Love is not for those who seek sanction from tradition or culture.

Sunday Guardian ColumnSunday Guardian ColumnSunday Guardian ColumnSunday Guardian ColumnSunday Guardian Column

Love would have helped you fly. And now you have captivated love within four walls. As wise men and women, if you are married, wonderful. As wise men and women, if you are not married, wonderful. The point is not really marriage. The point is wisdom. https://dev-main8.vedant.life/en/articles/marriage-and-love-1_0ff5cad

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

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.

How do you, asks the chief of police, patrol a city, where the butcher shops are guarded by vultures, where bulls get pregnant, cows are barren, and calves give milk three times a day, where mice are the boatmen, and tomcats row the boats, where frogs keep snakes as watchdogs,…

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…

Now, mind is movement, right? Why does the mind move at all? The mind wants to reach somewhere. Where does the mind want to reach? Is that place within the mind? The mind wants to reach somewhere. Every thought, every action, every motivation, every emotion rides on a desire, is…

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.

I had to unlearn a lot of things, and I am grateful to all the sources—the books, the people and the experiences that helped me unlearn. And I am grateful to that within me that had the courage to unlearn.

A lot of unlearning is needed. I often say you…

I had to unlearn a lot of things, and I am grateful to all the sources—the books, the people and the experiences that helped me unlearn. And I am grateful to that within me that had the courage to unlearn.

A lot of unlearning is needed. I often say you…

“I will beat him!”

“I will destroy her!”

“Did you just insult me? Did you?”

Four hours forty-eight minutes of deep intellectual perspiration!

“Did she? Did she not?”

Have some mercy upon yourself. Learn to ignore, please. Bypass the small issues. Learn to ignore the small for the big, would…