u/Dramatic-Memory8002

Vande Mataram!

In a recent session with Acharya Ji, he asked us to observe the definition of independence.

Is political independence sufficient, or does independence have a deeper meaning?

India is a land of timeless philosophies such as Vedanta, the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita that have shown the path of freedom to the entire world.

The wisdom literature has always motivated us to ask questions about who am I. Unless the human being remains in bondage and ignorance, real freedom is not possible.

Today, Acharya Prashant is teaching all of us the real meaning of independence and freedom through wisdom literature.

Any outer thing which Is given , can be taken from us , People will blackmail, bend you for the things they have given , so Acknowledge what is Really Yours that will help us to live fearlessly and Free.

Source - Living Gita Through Quotes by Acharya Prashant Ji

Many skywatchers and amateur astronomers are eagerly waiting the total solar eclipse of August 12, 2026. It is a once-in-a-blue-moon phenomenon, where the moon blocks the sun as it passes between Earth and the Sun.

While the total solar eclipse can be seen in northern Iceland, Greenland, northern Russia, Spain, a small part of Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean, the partial eclipse will be visible in mostly in Northern Hemisphere including northern United States, most of Canada, much of Europe, and northwestern Africa.

The solar eclipse is such an amazing phenomenon that it has kept humanity in awe ever since it was first observed. Why does a solar eclipse happen? The answer was reportedly provided around 450 BCE by Anaxagoras, a Greek philosopher who proposed that eclipses happen because the Moon physically blocks the sun’s light from reaching the Earth. This idea was perceived as dangerous, especially when the celestial bodies were considered divine.

Today, science has come far ahead, the Newtonian mechanics enabled us to predict the exact time, duration, and geographic path of an eclipse years and centuries in advance. In fact, Eclipses have now become a tool for discovery - e.g., Einstein’s general theory of relativity was confirmed by the Eddington’s eclipse expedition in 1919.

Despite that, the experts from NASA and Europe have had to come forward and debunk the myths persistent in different culture and traditions around the solar eclipse. In parts of India and Mexico, the pregnant women are asked to stay indoors, as it is believed the eclipse could negatively affect their unborn children. Another shared myth is to avoid eating during a solar eclipse, as the cooked food is believed to become spoiled and unsafe.

Science has provided answers to “what” and “why” of the solar eclipse. However, there is something that was never questioned - the “manufacturer” of the superstition.

Acharya Prashant’s philosophical teachings invite us to explore this further, Why were the stories made in the first place? Why would the sky going dark for a few seconds or a minute be perceived as a threat?

Perhaps the real eclipse is not celestial but internal: the “self” that has built its stability on predictability and experience the unknown phenomenon (in this case darkness), which is out of its control, as a threat.

PC: The picture is Proba-3’s artificial solar eclipse, ESA [https://www.esa.int/Enabling\_Support/Space\_Engineering\_Technology/How\_ESA\_mimics\_and\_models\_the\_2026\_total\_solar\_eclipse ]

References

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2026/08/05/the-7-biggest-myths-about-total-solar-eclipses--debunked/

https://www.npr.org/sections/solar-eclipse/2024/04/08/1243367631/solar-eclipse-myth-radiation

While the blazes of fires in Canada were not fully snuffed out, the month of July hit another series of wildfires in France and Spain.

According to the Canadian Wildland and Fire Information system[ https://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/en/#agencyList ] the wildfires have burnt more than 3.7 million hectares across the country. In July 2026 the highest emissions were in Canada with around ~878 of intense fire spots.

In Spain, around 140,000 ha were burnt between 13 July - 28 July, which has led to more than 80,000 people being evacuated. Similarly, in France a total of 115,000 ha of land has burnt till 26th July destroying 240 homes and leading to evacuation of 222,000 residents and tourists.

These wildfires have resulted in a very large amount of carbon emissions and air pollution which can be clearly seen in the recent video published by NASA and data provided by CAMS/ECMWF.

As the climate change continues and the weather patterns around the world are changing, climate scientists and researchers seem to be in a haste to launch new monitoring devices, with Reuters Climate Monitor and Fire emission watch a few of them that were launched in the month of July.

While science and technology can make us aware about the outer havoc, the policies and global agreements can fix some thresholds but are we actually reaching anywhere closer to the solution of Climate Crisis? Is this awareness through a series of climate data sufficient?

Unless we understand the root cause of the problem, the solution provided at the technological and policy levels does not suffice. Acharya Prashant, an Indian philosopher and Author who has been working for over two decades rightly points to a deeper problem: the Ego.

The industries do not run themselves, the fossil fuels do not burn themselves, the temperature is not rising itself, it is the “user” of the resources who has this endless drive to consume to fulfill its inner restlessness.

References:

https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/climate-change-increases-likelihood-of-compounding-drivers-of-severe-wildfire-conditions-in-france-and-spain/

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/europe-north-africa-canada-wildfires-2026-07-28/

These 2 lines are a simple reading, but the depth is crucial to notice. I see the analogy to studying General Relativity. The context, the concepts, and the details are vast, but the final Einstein equations that arise are written down in a simple line.

The core of veganism rests on the understanding that I, i.e. the self, and the other are not different in essence. There exist differences at the level of the bodily composition, different intellect, different sense perception, and so on… Countless differences.

But then we find the essential nature of sentience. Bentham said “can they suffer?”

The point lies in the oneness, not in the differences. To see the worthlessness of the differences is what gives rise to the philosophy of veganism. This is what I understand from Acharya Prashant when he talks about the core of veganism.

And once the ‘why’ is clear, the ‘how’ to live based on this understanding follows from it. If the why isn’t clear, and the how is being discussed in elaborate detail, then the discussion has begun from a false point in the first place.

The Earth unevenly receives the solar heat, with equators receiving more heat than the polar regions. Another important factor is incoming solar heat radiates back to space; otherwise, the Earth’s temperature would keep on increasing, making the planet uninhabitable like our neighboring planet, Venus.

The atmosphere and oceans work continually to even out the temperature on Earth through evaporation of surface water, rainfall, winds, and ocean circulation.

The Earth's atmosphere is an amazing blanket consisting of a number of gases. However, some of these gases, including carbon dioxide, methane and water vapor, trap the heat radiated back by the Earth’s surface and release that heat again back towards the Earth.

The ability of some gas molecules to absorb infrared radiation (heat) emitted by the Earth’s surface and re-emit it in all drections, sending some of it back down, is called "green house effect". This keeps Earth's average temperature at ~15°C, making it green and habitable. The gases causing this effect are called greenhouse gases.

Unfortunately, in the last 150 years, human interference such as pollution, deforestation, unregulated burning of fossil fuels etc. has disturbed the balance of Earth’s temperature.

For example, the level of carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases, has been at 280 parts per million (ppm) for millennia which has now spiked to 420+ ppm.

The natural global average temperature has been ~15°C, but it has warmed up by about ~1.2°C.

Additionally, the man-made influences are regularly causing compounding heating effects that give rise to disruptions in Earth’s health, namely, Arctic melting, sea level rise, ecological or wildlife diversity loss, food web collapse, etc.

Are you aware of such climatic and ecological consequences? please write them down in the comments.

References:

https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/climate-and-earths-energy-budget/

https://climate.esa.int/en/projects/

Love is one of the most used words, yet one of the most misunderstood.

Love is not butterflies in the stomach, constant texting, possessiveness, romantic gestures, or even "I need you." It isn't attachment or compromise.

Love is what frees you from yourself.

To discover what love truly is, explore these three timeless books:

📖 The Secret of Joyful Relationships

📖 The Lover You Have Been Missing

📖 Love and Loneliness

What does love mean to you?

Why do people want to live in the now?
Because the past haunts.
And if the past haunts, surely there are bills to be settled.
That’s why it haunts. The only honest way is – settle the bills or die.
Because if you are dead, then nobody would come to you with the bills.
But neither do you want an honest settlement of the bills nor are you prepared for a spiritual-psychological death.

Read the full aticle here:https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articles/beware-the-cult-of-the-present-moment-and-mindfulness-1\_19e1c7e

Simple and protein rich breakfast, for this you need tofu, onion, tomato, Indian curry leaves 🍃 😋 Stirr fry for two minutes and top it up with avacado.

After the weekend with the Master, today the four of us, Gita fellows and Climate Within members from North Germany, set up a bookstall at a food festival in Hamburg. It was a rainy and windy day, and not many people showed up for the event. We also had two activities, the Climate Workshop and the Emotional Wheel, and one bhajan singing performance on stage.

We have done the climate activity many times and interacted with people about the climate crisis, but this time we met three people who said they didn't see climate change as a real problem. Upon interacting with them, they said it was a conspiracy and that the weather had always been like this. Summers used to always be hot in Europe, and people were just spreading fake news. When asked about the data provided by researchers on climate change, one of them said, "I don't believe in data; I believe in my own experience." It was apparent through this conversation that the ego operates within all of us and how self-referential it is. One of the participants in the workshop suggested that going to Mars was the only solution. We kind of laughed internally and felt saddened by it at the same time, and did not argue with them after that point. However, they took books by Acharya Ji.

Overall, despite the challenge of the low footfall, we had some nice conversations with people about climate change and human ignorance, and how the two are interconnected. We also directed them to Acharya Ji's books for solutions to all the global crises and emphasised why self-knowledge is central to solving all problems.

Earlier today, I was thinking, "How will we set up the stall in such weather?" But surprisingly, after the stall, I am satisfied that around 18 books were taken by people. In fact, after multiple conversations with people, I can see very clearly, day by day, how important it is for us not to miss a single opportunity to spread Acharya Ji's teachings to every part of the world.

It's really hard to believe why people don't try such a simple and delicious plant-based cake receipe

1.5 cup - all purpose flour

1 cup - Raw Sugar

0.5 cup - grounded flaxseed and chia seeds

1 teaspoon- baking powder

1 teaspoon - baking soda

1 teaspoon - vanilla extract

1 tablespoon- vinegar

1/4 cup - olive oil

1 cup - Oat milk

Some nuts

High protein Lentil Salad for warm summer

The ingredients are: Chickpeas, onions, cucumber, Rose tomtoes, Spinach. It's easy, delicious and nourishing ;)