Liberation

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…

यदा नाहं तदा मोक्षो

यदाहं बन्धनं तदा।

मत्वेति हेलया किंचिन्-

मा गृहाण विमुंच मा॥८- ४॥

अनुवाद: जब तक 'मैं' या 'मेरा' का भाव है तब तक बंधन है, जब 'मैं' या 'मेरा' का भाव नहीं है तब मुक्ति है। यह जानकर न कुछ त्याग करो और न कुछ ग्रहण ही…

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…

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,…

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,…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

When you break up in the material way, you leave the house.

When you break up in the spiritual way, you leave who you are. That’s a great break up.

And in this break up the other person will not even know that you have broken up, because externally you…

Pain is a great method of Prakriti (physical nature). It helps you know that you need to go to the doctor. But too much pain can just bring your system down; it can cause an internal collapse.

Pain is a great messenger, but pain by itself is not the remedy.…

When his mother asked him, “Why don’t you get married?” Bhagat Singh replied, “I am already married, and her name is Freedom.”

Now, it behooves a Bhagat Singh to not get married to a woman because he has committed himself to freedom, but to every Tom, Dick and Harry it…

Attachment would forever remain a problem with someone if he sees himself as the body. Now, you want freedom from attachment, but you don’t want freedom from body-centricity. That cannot happen.

For example, you are highly lustful, or gluttonous, or physically lazy, whatever; or let’s say you are very particular…

If the fact of your enslavement curdles your blood, it means there is free spirit in you. But that free spirit gets invoked only when presented with the fact of slavery. If you do not know that you are enslaved, your free spirit remains dormant. Or, if you keep presenting…

The car manufacturer wants me to be a buyer, so I look at his car and turn into a prospective buyer.

The woman wants me to be an attending man, and I turn into an attending man as per her dictate.

I become what the other wants me to become.…

The more you expand your material universe, the more you invest in twenty thousand things around you, the more difficult will it be to walk free.

You go to a normal middle-class, upper middle-class household, and you see all those things, and each of those things needs to be taken…

With every passing breath, with every passing day, with every passing year, you should be getting actually better and better. And by betterment I do not mean accumulation of wealth or knowledge or stuff; you should really be getting better as you advance in years. You should be getting better,…

Questioner (Q): You said that when there are options, choices, there can be no freedom. Earlier I used to think that I am free if I have choices, but Vedanta says that freedom can be only in choicelessness.

Acharya Prashant (AP): And isn’t there great joy in being choiceless? You…

Questioner (Q): In the spiritual journey, it is very, very difficult to find companionship, community, or like-minded people—people you can talk to about your experiences on this journey. So, it becomes a very lonely conquest. It is obviously a very lonely conquest because eventually it is a conquest of the…

Questioner (Q): I have heard you say that no two human beings are equal. But if that is the case, then how can the possibility of liberation exist on a larger scale? We have adapted and evolved in various fields throughout history, but can the same happen when it comes…

Questioner: How can we help each other towards liberation?

Acharya Prashant: This question arises first of all because one perceives a difference, a separation, a dividing line between oneself and the other.

So, you are asking, “How can we help each other towards liberation?”

Liberation is liberation from this dividing…

Questioner (Q): What is liberation?

Acharya Prashant (AP): What is bondage? There is nothing called liberation, nothing at all. It’s just that because there is bondage, hence there is liberation. In the absence of bondage, you are liberated from liberation as well.

Q: Is meditation the only way to attain…

Questioner (Q): What is consciousness?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Consciousness is your universe around the center that you are, the little ‘I’. Consciousness is the entire universe around that, and therefore ordinary consciousness always hinges on ‘I’, ordinary thought is always anchored to the self. You will find it very difficult…

Questioner: What is the difference between death and liberation? How can we be liberated while alive?

Acharya Prashant: These are two very different things in the sense that they happen to different entities.

You are driving your car, and there is a point that you must reach. But you are,…

Questioner (Q): I am studying philosophy at Hansraj College, and I have read that Hegel’s philosophy was that mankind has been increasing its power by increasing its knowledge about itself and its surroundings. This kind of a philosophy might suggest that our projected purpose is to become the most powerful…

Questioner: What is the difference between death and liberation? How can we be liberated while alive?

Acharya Prashant: These are two very different things in the sense that they happen to different entities.

You are driving your car and there is a point that you must reach. But you are,…

Questioner (Q): I have heard you say that no two human beings are equal. But if that is the case, then how can the possibility of liberation exist on a larger scale? We have adapted and evolved in various fields throughout history, but can the same happen when it comes…

Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, I have lived with people who have had an enlightenment experience, and instead of becoming less grasping, selfish, and egotistical, they have become more so, how is this possible?

Acharya Prashant (AP): This will always happen till the time you will consider enlightenment as an experience.…

प्रश्नकर्ता: मुक्ति क्या है? एक तो ये नज़रिया हो सकता है मुक्ति का कि जैसे हम लोग कैम्प में आए हैं, तो यहाँ पर एक पैटर्न है, एक रूटीन है। तो वो रूटीन एक बंधन की तरह लगता है। उससे निकल कर कहीं और कुछ और हम लोगों को कुछ…

प्रश्नकर्ता: सर, हम पी.एच.डी. कर रहे हैं और जब से अध्यात्म की ओर आए हैं तब से लगता है कि मेरा जो पढ़ाई का विषय है - मैं गणित में पी.एच.डी. कर रही हूँ - इन सबका कोई भी ज्ञान है, भौतिकी, रसायन शास्त्र, जीवविज्ञान इत्यादि का, उसमें मुझे रुचि…

प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी, आपने पिछले कुछ सत्रों में कहा कि प्रकृति मुक्ति चाहती है और उसके लिए वो इंसान के शरीर का इस्तेमाल करती है। ये प्रकृति कुछ भी चाह कैसे सकती है?

आचार्य प्रशांत: प्रकृति का काम है चाहना। अभी तुम यहाँ खड़े हो, तुम्हें कहीं भी कुछ भी…

प्रश्नकर्ता: मेरा सवाल ये था कि अभी थोड़ी देर पहले जैसा आपने कहा कि मरकर भी तुम्हें इन देहभाव से, जो यह देह का जो बंधन है उससे मुक्ति नहीं मिलेगी, और यही सबसे बड़ा बंधन है और यही पहला बंधन है, और यही सबसे ज़्यादा दुखदाई है, और इससे…

Questioner: Does serving the Guru with compassion and devotion lead to liberation?

Acharya Prashant:

Liberation is not about serving the Guru. Liberation is about not serving what you serve so much.

You don’t have to be liberated with respect to the Guru. Liberation means getting rid of something, right? You…

प्रश्नकर्ता: एक सामान्य व्यक्ति की इच्छा होती है कि जीवन में शांति मिले और जीवन-मरण के चक्र से मुक्ति मिल जाए। जो मान्यता हम मुक्ति की समझते हैं वो ये है कि जीवन-मरण से मुक्ति मिल जाए।

प्रश्न मेरा ये है कि द्वैतवाद और अद्वैतवाद में कौनसा मार्ग ऐसा है…

Questioner: How to keep our priorities right in every situation? I am frequently confused in a situation where I have to prioritize one thing over the other. For example, work vs family, work vs rest, saving money vs spending money, etc. There never seems to be a clear answer in…

प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी, अभी आपने बोला कि मैन इज़ नॉट इन द नेचर, ओनली मैन इज़ डिजाइन्ड फॉर लिबरेशन (मनुष्य प्रकृति में नहीं है, केवल मनुष्य को मुक्ति के लिए बनाया गया है) लेकिन मैन (मनुष्य) का जो शरीर है पूरा वो आया तो प्रकृति से ही है। तो प्रकृति…

Acharya Prashant (AP): There is a person who is dreaming about betterment and sitting at her place, she is visualizing how things would be after betterment. And she says that the visualization energizes her, and fantasizing about the endpoint makes her happy. This is the situation. Let’s go into it.…

प्रश्नकर्ता: गुरुदेव, मैं पूछना चाहता हूँ कि कुछ महापुरुष ध्यान साधना करके मुक्ति पाना चाहते हैं, और कुछ आत्मज्ञान होने के बाद भी बार-बार धरती पर आना चाहते हैं दुनिया के सुधार के लिए, ताकि दुनिया उनका अनुसरण कर सके और सुधार हो सके। तो, दोनों में से कौन-सा ठीक…

प्रश्नकर्ता: संसार में फैलने की उक्तियाँ और विधियाँ तो हमें पता पड़ जाती हैं पर ऊपर उठने की कौन सी विधियाँ हैं? वो कौन से प्रैक्टिसेस हैं जिनसे हम अपने को ऊँचा उठा सकें ?

आचार्य प्रशांत: नहीं, प्रैक्टिसेस कोई नहीं है। अपने दर्द का पता होना चाहिए। जब आप…

प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी, भविष्य में कभी बीमार हुए तो उसके लिए अभी से ही पैसों की व्यवस्था करके रखना होगी न?

आचार्य प्रशांत: बीमारी जब आएगी उसके लिए तुम अभी से बीमारी का जीवन जीना चाहते हो? तुम्हें इतनी घनी और इतनी बड़ी बीमारी आ गयी कि नहीं जी सकते…

आचार्य प्रशांत (आचार्य): ग्रंथों का श्लोक हो, गुरुओं का आप्त वाक्य हो, किसी ज्ञानी का आर्ष वचन हो, कभी भूलना नहीं है कि उसमें कुछ भी आपके ज्ञान की बढ़ोत्तरी के लिए नहीं कह दिया जाता; उसमें कुछ भी इसलिए नहीं कह दिया जाता कि आपको संसार के बारे में…

Questioner: Acharya Ji, I have come to understand that reality of for us is entirely dependent on the sensory apparatus that we use. Also you have taught in the ‘Karma Yoga’ session that ‘Aham’ will always demand something and we should give Aham such a big thing that it dissolves…

विलसन्ति महाभोगैर्विशन्ति गिरिगह्वरान्।

निरस्तकल्पना धीरा अबद्धा मुक्तबुद्धयः॥५३ ||

~ अष्टावक्र गीता

अनुवाद: स्थितप्रज्ञ पुरुष महान भोगों में विलास करते हैं, और पर्वतों की गहन गुफाओं में भी प्रवेश करते हैं, किन्तु वे कल्पना बंधन एवं बुद्धि वृत्तियों से मुक्त होते हैं।

आचार्य प्रशांत: हमारे भोग भी छोटे होते हैं। और…

प्रश्नकर्ता: आचार्य जी, विद्या और अविद्या क्या हैं?

आचार्य प्रशांत: जो जन्म ले वो है अविद्या और जिससे अहम भाव समाप्त हो जाए वो है विद्या। ध्यान से समझेंगे।

देखिए इस पर बड़ा संशय रहा है और बड़े तरीकों से विद्या और अविद्या की परिभाषा करने की कोशिश की गई…

निर्वासनो निरालंब: स्वच्छन्दो मुक्तबन्धनः । क्षिप्त: संस्कारवातेन चेष्टते शुष्कपर्णवत् ।।

~ अष्टावक्र गीता, अध्याय १८, श्लोक २१

अनुवाद: वह वासना, आलंबन, परतंत्रता आदि के बंधनों से स्वच्छंद होता है। प्रारब्ध रूपी वायु के वेग से उसका शरीर उसी प्रकार गतिशील रहता है, जैसे वायु वेग से सूखा पत्ता।

आचार्य प्रशांत:…