
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…




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



सङ्करो नरकायैव कुलघ्नानां कुलस्य च ।। पतन्ति पितरो ह्येषां लुप्तपिण्डोदकक्रिया: ।।1.42।।

A woman is murdered—even that is just a two-inch thing in some newspaper. But if it is a sensational rape case, then the entire country joins in.

There was this king of the demons; his name was Hiranyakashyupa. The king worked really hard. He kept austerities, he forced even God to come down and bless him. So, it would have required a very special effort. But then, what did he want from God? Nothing but the extension…

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…

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,…



The problem is, the usual feminism always proceeds keeping the man at the center. The woman is saying, “The man is alright, and I want to be like the man.” This is such a low standard to set. Whereas, true feminism would proceed keeping the person that the female is,…

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.

Teach the girls that their body is not an instrument to bear kids. Teach them that their self-worth is not at all linked to their motherhood. Teach them where the real fulfilment of life lies, and teach them that it is not in birthing or breastfeeding.
Teach them creativity. Teach…

Just watched this movie, Chichore. It is based on IIT Bombay. In the campus, there is one girl in a batch of forty boys. But the girl’s only contribution in the whole story is that she is extremely beautiful, and all the guys are after her. So, in the…
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…
Anybody who believes in astrology cannot be rational. All you have is a set of beliefs—the belief that this thing will happen. There is no logic in it, only fear and insecurity. Science is based on verifiable and falsifiable experiments, whereas astrology is not subject to verification; hence, it is just a story. It's a story that is making big money for a lot of storytellers.
The woman is simpler, more innocent. I would dare to say the woman is simple and innocent just as animals are, because woman, just like animals, is biology-driven. She is emotional, and her emotions do not really arise from understanding, not even from intellect. Her emotions arise from her body, from her biological conditioning, from her hormones.
Also, in Christianity it is believed that Jesus will come again on the judgement day. Please help me…
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.…
What is it that Shri Rama stands for? He stands for detachment. He stands for fearlessness. He stands for compassion. He stands for Dharma.
Is there Dharma really in your life? And by Dharma I do not mean a creed or a cult, or observation of certain rituals, or the…

‘Save the girl child’ campaigns, many of these campaigns say, “If today you kill the girl child, how will you find a bride for your son tomorrow?” So, the girl has no independent worth of her own, right?
If we go by the government propaganda, even if she is to…

As a young woman, you must be open to going out, experiencing, seeing what the world is all about. Won’t you want to explore it—the rivers, the mountains, the people? Yes, you needed somebody’s hand to walk, but it doesn’t quite look nice now. Test your legs. And how will…

Be the user of the car, not the doll in the car. Learn to be on the driver’s seat, not on the rear seat, or the seat next to the driver. Learn to hold the steering. Get out of your nest, and don’t be some damn particular about your sexuality…

Cooking, cooking, cooking, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, washing, washing, washing—is this what you are born for? Three kids are there, somebody needs footwear, somebody needs underwear—that is all there is to your life? Footwear for the younger one, underwear for the elder one, thermal wear for the husband—is this what you…

“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…

One feels like worshiping the woman for enduring so much. One feels like worshiping the woman for being so willingly exploited. And one feels like slapping her hard in the face for being so stupid. Her own worst enemy she is.
Talk emotions to her, and she will be pleased.…

You may celebrate Diwali, or you may celebrate Christmas—the weather would remain what it has to. Or is the weather exceptionally fine because today is Diwali? If it has to rain, it will rain. Life has nothing to do with your festivals or your sufferings.
Every instance of freedom from…

Man was never so powerful with respect to his environment as he is today. No virus can harm you; no bacteria can harm you; there are no plagues, no black deaths. You can produce as many objects as you want, you can order them at the click of a button;…

You never take out a candlelight vigil on India Gate when a little girl is being badly conditioned by media, by society, by the school, by all the websites, by all the influences upon her. Have you ever seen a candlelight vigil against all the corrupting forces on the little…

“Shiva is not giving me peace. Maybe gold, riches, pleasure, entertainment can give me peace?” This is a foolish approach. The master and the servant are one. The servant will not give you what the master is not giving you. Shakti and Shiva are one; the creator and his creation…

Distinctions are a burden on the mind. If A is different from B, then one has to remember both A and B.
It is wonderful when A to Z are all one; then you can just remember A and forget everything else.
And if A to Z all are nothing,…

A woman is not allowed to work after marriage—nobody cares. It doesn’t make headlines at all.
A woman has unsafe work environment—doesn’t matter. It doesn’t make headlines.
A woman dies during childbirth—who bothers?
Public spaces are not women-friendly—who bothers?
Women themselves are getting conditioned to look at themselves as mere…

I say, if you have lived up to Rama for 364 days, only then must you celebrate the festival of Rama-ness. How is it that for 364 days your life had nothing to do with Shri Rama, and on the 365th day you jump up and join the bandwagon, the…

Don’t give in to emotional traps. The man says, “Darling why do you have to work? You stay at home; I will work. You take care of the bed and the eggs and the babies and your mother-in-law; I will bring in the booty.”
As long as the woman keeps…

Rama’s festival has become the festival of shopping, shoppers and shopkeepers—Rama, who never had anything to do with shops; Rama, who was never a buyer or a seller or a consumer; Shri Rama, who stands for that which can neither be bought nor be sold. This festival has turned into…

Once I said, your face is smeared with mud, and religion is like pure water meant to be thrown on your face so that you get cleaned up. But when that water hits your face, the water too gets muddy.
Falling on your face, the water has cleared away some…

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…

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…

Ignorance starts from the body itself.Even in a well-educated and spiritually liberated woman, the desire for a kid would probably be relatively larger compared to that in a man.What we want to talk of is whether the compulsive desire to keep the kid and the family at the center of…

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…

Just think if Rama was there in his bodily shape, in his mortal life, and were to see you celebrating his festival. What would he say? He would call you, “Hey you! Yes, you! Come here. You just did something taking my name? All this tamasha (commotion) is in my…

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…

Teach the girls that their body is not an instrument to bear kids. Teach them that their self-worth is not at all linked to their motherhood. Teach them where the real fulfillment of life lies, and teach them that it is not in birthing or breastfeeding.
Teach them creativity, teach…

The sexual activity is just like any other activity of man: he is searching for God. He searches for God in ambition. He looks for God in money. He looks for God in fame. He also looks for God in a woman’s body.
But because he is not in touch…

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…

The woman is such a perpetual mother. She is a mother even to the husband! She begins as a girlfriend and ends as the mother. Six months she remains a girlfriend, one year she remains a wife, rest of the life she is a mother to everybody. And she finds…

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…