Social Issues

Why must man consume with careful consideration? It destroys your inner world. Inwardly it pushes you deeper into the belief that by means of more and more, increased and increased consumption, you will be able to get rid of your inner disquiet.

So, it is not good for you inwardly,…

The temperature of this city is already higher than what it should be. It won’t be higher in the next twenty years; it is already higher today. Read how many people are dying and by how many years has the average life expectancy already reduced—already reduced.

What do you mean…

A fellow reproducing blindly is a threat to the entire humanity. How is his family his personal matter? Somebody sets a bomb inside his home, and the bomb is powerful enough to bring down the entire building, not merely his apartment. Will you say, “It is his private matter. How…

You must be wondering why I am speaking about this thing regarding procreation, regarding having kids. It is because this is the single most important issue facing you and me and the planet and the millions of species today. This is the one thing that man immediately, today, this moment,…

It is final that meat eating is stupid for all kinds of reasons, and they will not that final conclusion arrive soon. It will arrive, just as it arrived in the case of cigarette smoking, just as it finally had to be accepted by the tobacco industry that cigarette smoking…

Teach the kids that this planet cannot tolerate even one more human being now. We are already eight billion. At the current rate, we are projected to be eleven billion by 2050. We cannot even tolerate eight point one billion.

You do not merely want to have kids; you also…

The teacher’s role is to show that a teacher is not needed. That is the rightful role of the teacher. I repeat, the teacher’s role is to show that you are unnecessarily coming to the teacher. You are self-sufficient.

Look at the way the world is—violent, chaotic, anarchic. Every thought…

It is very well known that one tree over the course of forty years would absorb just one ton of carbon dioxide, and that is if that tree lives to get forty years old. How effective is that? Please. One tree over forty years absorbs one ton of carbon dioxide.…

If there is one thing that we must not talk of as something very beautiful, it is the coming of the next generation. It is not beautiful. It is not auspicious. It is not something to be talked of with a smile. It is something to be talked off with…

“I love my Xbox”—and it’s not illegal. But it is performing much the same function as banned narcotics. If we were a conscious society, then we would see that.

All kinds of substance abuse, psychedelics—that’s a temporary relief that returns with vengeance. It hits you, bites you, and makes you…

It is extremely important to see and realize that we are living in an extremely sick world. What you read in the newspapers is sick. What you see around yourself is sick. The markets are sick. The shopping malls are sick. The streets are bustling with sickness. Educational institutions, political…

Do you have kids? I don’t know whether you have. Do you know how they are being abused in their schools? And that does not mean that somebody is fondling them in the genitals. Have you looked at their teachers? Have you studied their curricula? Have you seen what is…

Disabling drugs need not be a chemical or weed; it could be something ostensibly as harmless as entertainment. “I love my Xbox”—and it is not illegal. But it is performing much the same function as banned narcotics. If we were a conscious society, we would see that.

Much of the…

You might be an MBBS, or an MD, or a DM, but you could still be quite illiterate; you might still not have the basic knowledge regarding the nutritional value of various food products. You could have a quack graduating even from the best medical college. So many doctors just…

Law just says that there is a legal age—eighteen, twenty-one and such things. First of all, giving birth requires that there has to be mental maturity.

Unfortunately, 99% of the world’s population is not at all mentally mature enough to be parents. The funny thing is that the 1% who…

I have often said that animals are in many ways better than human beings. Man had the potential to either rise above the animal or fall way below it. Man has continuously been making the wrong choice.

If you cannot build your cities and your social systems on spiritual foundations,…

Young people like to have some mass on their body, or they might just want to keep basic fitness. The moment they show up at a gym, and if they go to a trainer and seek advice, first thing the trainer would ask is, “What is it that you eat?…

Every bit of that which you call as the ‘good life’ is carbon emitting. A fellow comes from a small town to live in Bangalore. His carbon footprint probably increases five times, but you call it progress, you call it urbanization. A fellow gets a higher paying job and gets…

Did you invent the mobile phone? Look at your brain and your intellect. Do you even deserve to hold the mobile phone in your palm? Look at how the common man lives: he is making use of cutting-edge technology, sometimes bleeding-edge technology, without knowing half a thing about technology.

We…

Questioner (Q): As a researcher in public policy, I spend a lot of my time trying to understand the marginalized sections of the society. By marginalized, I mean slum dwellers, tribal populations, and the rural sectors in India. They are marginalized in many ways, because although our government’s policies have

Questioner (Q): My question is about parenting. What can we do as parents to raise a child in a way that the child has an understanding of the illusory nature of the world, and at the same time nurture her urge to know the Truth? My four-year-old daughter asks me,

Questioner: I would like to join the army, but my family and friends are not very supportive. They say that when I could easily get a good job in Delhi or Bangalore, what is the point in risking my life as a soldier? What should I reply to them?

Acharya…

Questioner: In our times, the matter of sexual orientation has been subject to a lot of debate and controversies. Recently, I saw a YouTube video in which the host is asking children in the age group of fifteen to seventeen years about their sexuality, and they are saying that they…

Questioner (Q): I have a dilemma related to material progress. When I have debates with my friends and relatives who are good with academics and meditate sometimes, they are of the view that any kind of development, such as mobile phones, internet, etc., is a positive progress for us. I…

Questioner (Q): My question is regarding abortion. Broadly, there are two schools of thought regarding abortion. The first one is, because it is the woman’s body, she is the one who gets to decide whether to abort or deliver the child. The second school of thought says that the woman…

Questioner: Sir, in our age, we see that children and parents have differing thoughts, and these contrary thoughts often lead to unwanted debates and chaos in the family. So, how can both the parents and the children come to peace, agree with each other, and minimize the hurt?

Acharya Prashant:…

Questioner: Sir, youngsters often rebel against rules and regulations in the name of freedom of choice, or freedom of expression. The list of complaints is long, and all have one bottomline: ‘My life, my rules’. What do ancient wisdom and Vedanta say on this issue?

Acharya Prashant: You see, when…

Questioner: Sir, I have been reading Krishnamurti and Vivekananda for the past three years and having learned from them, I genuinely feel that the teachings of such great teachers should be at the core of our education system. I personally feel that my decisions regarding my career and life would…

Questioner: The pandemic situation has been very hard for us physically, mentally, and emotionally too. Many of us have lost our near and dear ones. This situation has changed our perspective on life and death, and made us see that many of the things we consider important are actually meaningless.…

Questioner: Ever since I started listening to you, things started revealing themselves to me. Mind’s race of getting somewhere, achieving something has settled now. My mind is not curious about spiritual concepts anymore. But what I observe now is a new pattern. My mind is not interested in doing anything.…

Questioner (Q): Companionship in this journey, Satsang or a community, is difficult to find. When you seek out on this journey, it’s very very difficult to find people with whom you can talk about your experiences.

Acharya Prashant(AP): Yes, yes, yes.

Acharya Prashant (AP): The Ego wants to hedge its bets. Because it is born in insecurity and gains its sustenance from insecurity, therefore insecurity is its very life-stuff. Now look what happens, if insecurity is the life-stuff of the Ego then what kind of security will it seek? It…

Questioner (Q): When we see terrible crimes like rapes, mass murders, lynchings, etc. happening so openly, we wonder where that benevolent God is? He could have easily prevented all of it. He is supposed to be omnipotent, yet he does nothing. My question is not whether there is God or…

Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, because we are standing here and our sense organs are allowing us to see only this side of the hill, we cannot see the other side. Similarly, perhaps there are many objects, many life forces that we are not available to, because of our limited perspective…

Question: Acharya Ji, pranaam. We have seen movements led by great teachers like Kabir Sahib against numerous social issues like untouchability, caste system etc. Also, there have been many, like Guru Gobind Ji who fought battle against invaders in the epics. We have Pandavas against Kauravas in Mahabharat, Lord Krishna…

बुद्धेर्भेदं धृतेश्चैव गुणतस्त्रिविधं शृणु ।

प्रोच्यमानमशेषेण पृथक्त्वेन धनञ्जय ।। 18.29 ।।

buddher bhedaṁ dhṛiteśh chaiva guṇatas tri-vidhaṁ śhṛiṇu

Questioner (Q): Sir, first of all, thank you for taking out your time for this discussion. A few days back, the nation somehow woke from its sleep, when a case happened in Hyderabad—a woman was brutally raped and murdered. People started asking for justice in their own ways; somebody for…

Question: The Sikh Gurus gave swords to the Khalsa to protect their religion. Gandhiji used non-violence to get freedom. Jainism too gives a lot of emphasis to non-violence. I don’t understand the concept of non-violence when freedom is at stake. Kindly give me clarity.

Acharya Prashant: Parmeshwari (the questioner),…

Question: Acharya Ji, my mother doesn’t allow me to enter the puja room (room for worship), or touch the deity during my menstrual days. This has been a practice ever since I was a kid.

Why is menstrual cycle considered impure? Why does the stigma continue to exist even today?…

Question: Dear Master, if everything is consciousness, why does prakriti (nature) exist? Why for the survival of one specie one must take another life? Why this effort must be done to sustain the body, when we are not the body?

Acharya Prashant Ji: Shirin when you are not the body,…

Questioner: Acharya Ji, the mind gets influenced by the social media very easily. How can we protect ourselves from its bad influences?

Acharya Prashant: Mind is nothing but an aggregation of influences upon you. Who are you? We have defined that at the beginning of the Satsang.

Question: Acharya Ji, Pranaam! A child’s fate is majorly decided in the family one is born. Things like money and knowledge can be achieved by hard work, but there are a lot of physical ailments or disabilities that one is born with, or certain tragedies like losing someone in war…

Questioner (Q): The very first thing that we learn in studying economics is that more is better, and we build the entire economic theory around it. More is better, so you should get more and more contentment as you get more and more in the material dimension. What would Vedanta…

I said to the wanting creature inside me, “What is this river you want to cross? There are no travelers on the river road, and no road.Do you see anyone moving about on that bank, or nesting?There is no river at all. And no boat and no boatman.…

Question: Acharya Ji, Namaskaar.

My question is not related to Spirituality.

I am sixteen years old, and many of my friends who are of my age, are stuck to social media. They are lost in the visual world, and it is affecting their personal lives. How can they get rid

Acharya Prashant: The first question that a teacher must ask himself is, “What does he mean by change? Is he going to teach the habitual subjects, the habitual ways? Is he going to prepare the student to become another social machine? Right?

It seems that the end result of all…

(Following is an excerpt from an interview conducted by a Brazilian Journalist just before the last round of voting of Brazil’s Presidential Elections, from here onwards the interviewer is being addressed as Marcos, his first name)

Marcos: So, Brazil will be voting for who will be the President, on…

THE HUMAN CONDITION

Man is born in pain and to live through pain. Man is born with the tendency to experience pain, resist pain, and create more pain. Pain is inherent in life. And man is designed to resist pain. This is the basic conflict in life, as also the…

Questioner (Q): Do you believe in [Censored]?

Acharya Prashant (AP): What is [Censored] I have not read any such thing. Do not quote this and that author here. We are talking real stuff, not entertainment. If you know, this particular author that you are talking of, for sure you will…

There is nothing called woman’s liberation in isolation.

Woman is oppressed and the man too is oppressed, albeit in a different way.

Woman’s liberation is man’s liberation.