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…

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.…

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.

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?”

Questioner (Q): What is liberation?

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.…

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.

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…

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.…

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…

Questioner (Q): My question is about renunciation. I find within me the response about what I have to do, like renunciation and poverty. I see in myself inside but somehow I am fighting very strongly with the opposite in the opposite direction. And I never find the bravado to really…

शून्या दृष्टिर्वृथा चेष्टा विकलानीन्द्रियाणि च ।

न स्पृहा न विरक्तिर्वा क्षीणसंसारसागरे ॥ 17.९ ॥

śūnyā dṛṣṭirvṛthā ceṣṭā vikalānīndriyāṇi ca

निर्वासनं हरिं दृष्ट्वा तूष्णीं विषयदन्तिनः ।

पलायन्ते न शक्तास्ते सेवन्ते कृतचाटवः ॥ 18.४६ ॥

nirvāsanaṃ hariṃ dṛṣṭvā tūṣṇīṃ viṣayadantinaḥ

ध्यानेनात्मनि पश्यन्ति केचिदात्मानमात्मना ।

अन्ये साङ् ख्येन योगेन कर्मयोगेन चापरे ।। 13.25 ।।

dhyānenātmani paśhyanti kechid ātmānam ātmanā

श्रीभगवानुवाच

ऊर्ध्वमूलमध:शाखमश्वत्थं प्राहुरव्ययम् ।

छन्दांसि यस्य पर्णानि यस्तं वेद स वेदवित् ।। 15.1 ।।

असंशयं महाबाहो मनो दुर्निग्रहं चलम् ।

अभ्यासेन तु कौन्तेय वैराग्येण च गृह्यते ।। 6.35 ।।

asanśhayaṁ mahā-bāho mano durnigrahaṁ chalam

विद्याविनयसम्पन्ने ब्राह्मणे गवि हस्तिनि ।

शुनि चैव श्वपाके च पण्डिता: समदर्शिन: ।।

vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini

यस्त्वात्मरतिरेव स्यादात्मतृप्तश्च मानवः।

आत्मन्येव च सन्तुष्टस्तस्य कार्यं न विद्यते।। 3.17 ।।

yas tvātma-ratir eva syād ātma-tṛiptaśh cha mānavaḥ

सुखदु:खे समे कृत्वा लाभालाभौ जयाजयौ ।

ततो युद्धाय युज्यस्व नैवं पापमवाप्स्यसि । ।

sukha-duḥkhe same kṛitvā lābhālābhau jayājayau

Question (Q): What is physical cheating and what is mentally cheating in a relationship? So if two persons are in a relationship and one is cheating on the other physically, and still wants to be with that one; this is one kind of cheating. And the second one is, when…

Questioner: Dear Acharya Ji, Pranaam! So far I have asked so many questions, and patiently you have answered all. I have made sincere efforts to walk in the direction shown by you as much as possible. Now no question bugs me, except the same, old one – what do I…

Question: Acharya Ji, what is consciousness? Is it possible to purify consciousness? How to bring about a change in consciousness? Is consciousness an object?

Acharya Prashant(AP): Show me consciousness devoid of content. Thought is consciousness. Show me thought devoid of content. Tell me that you are thinking about nothing. When…

Questioner (Q): What is re-birth? What is the transmigration of soul? What travels after death? What carries forward?

Acharya Prashant (AP): A few things must be clearly understood. ‘You’ do not carry anything.

You as a ‘person’, are not a very important carrier. That which carries is the total stream

Question: Acharya Ji, which are the industries I should invest my money in?

Acharya Prashant Ji: There are two industries that are not going to fail. First, that thrives on kids. Second, that thrives on sickness. And the two are one.