Is Acharya Prashant Building a Cult Around Himself?

Questioner: Greetings, Acharya Ji. My question is that wherever I look on social media platforms, whether it is YouTube, Instagram, or Twitter, when I read the comment sections under the content posted there, I repeatedly see an allegation being made against the Foundation and against you, that you too are building a kind of "cult".

And the logic they give is this, for example, recently at the Pune Literature Festival, there were queues stretching for kilometers. You were giving autographs. People were standing in line just to shake hands with you. They present such things as proof that this itself is a kind of "cult".

Acharya Prashant: The things needed to run a "cult", I simply do not have them. In the field of religion, a cult is built through miracles, through siddhis, through the fulfillment of wishes. In politics it is built through power. In business it is built through money.

I have neither enlightenment, nor siddhi, nor miracles, nor are your wishes being fulfilled here. So where will a "cult" come from? There isn’t so much money here that your eyes would be dazzled or that you would gain any real benefit. So where will a "cult" come from?

This is not called a "cult". This is called gratitude. What is it called? Gratitude. This is simply the natural condition of being a human child.

If you have received something, you will express gratitude, won’t you? A kilometer-long queue in Pune was not there because I was distributing money. It was not there because I am a film star, that I look very good, have a tremendous body, and perform action that causes a dopamine spike and gives pleasure.

That queue was there because they have actually benefited in life. They were standing there to say "thank you" for that.

Now why don’t you talk about those who either did not benefit at all, or even if they did, the words "thank you" never come out of their mouths? You come to me carrying someone else’s allegation. But why don’t you examine the one making the allegation?

What I am saying is not reserved. It is available to everyone. The session was for you too. Why did you not listen to it? Why did you not benefit? And because you are jealous, feeling envy toward those who have benefited, you say that all these people have come for celebrity worship and are standing in "cult"-like lines.

Say it directly, the rain was falling for everyone, but you were standing with an umbrella and wearing a raincoat, so you received nothing. The sun rose for everyone, but you had drawn the curtains, pulled a blanket over your face, and were sleeping, so you received nothing.

You have a problem with those who received something. And even worse are those who received something, yet the words "thank you" still do not come out of their mouths. Even those who are benefiting take what they want and refuse to be grateful. Instead, they turn to those who express gratitude and dismiss them, saying, "Oh look, they’re just hero-worshipping."

Shouldn’t questions be asked of them? Are you even human or not? Even a small child is taught that if someone gives you even a glass of water, you say "thank you".

I am still standing alive in front of you. For the past ten years, a large portrait of Kabir Saheb has been placed above the spot where I sleep. He is not even alive. I received only his words, his teaching. And even then, however much gratitude I express, it is still insufficient.

Don’t ask me the question, ask them instead. First, those who received nothing. And second, those who received something but are still ungrateful, thankless. It has gone so far that even showing basic human decency, simply going and saying "thank you", is questioned. People say, "Look at this, what’s going on? He’s becoming a blind devotee."

If you give someone ten rupees, what have you really given them? Even if you give someone a million, what have you truly given? But if you free someone from their own slavery, you have given them everything.

You are troubled because someone comes and wants to say "thank you". And when he says "thank you", that "thank you" is not useful to me, it is useful to him, not to me.

How is it useful to him? He is affirming to himself that yes, I have received something valuable. And when something valuable is received, it is protected. He is reminding himself that this freedom, this liberation he has received, is something precious. It is worth saying "thank you" for. And when you remind yourself of this, you protect what you have received.

And what is there to say to those who have received nothing at all? They will only keep pointing fingers at others, keep taunting, "Oh, what are you doing, going and becoming blind devotees?"

What does "blind devotion" mean? Bowing the head without knowledge. Bowing the head in fear, belief, superstition. That is "blind devotion". Do heads bow in our Gita community without understanding? Or is the entire work here based solely on understanding?

I have nothing to say to the social media crowd you are referring to, those who go around claiming that a "cult" is being run here or that "blind devotion" is at play. But if someone within the community says such a thing, then remove them from the community immediately. Ask them how unfortunate they must be, that they have been around for so long and received nothing, and how they now feel jealous of those who have received something.

Because here no one bows their head just like that. We have no glamour before which someone would bow. Here a person bows only when they have received real, genuine, concrete benefit.

I am an ordinary man. Why would someone come and say "thank you" to me? Why would they? What do I have? Someone can say "thank you" to me only if they have truly benefited in life. Now those who have not benefited are jealous of those who have, and they keep envying them.

"Cult" means personality worship. Where the entire teaching is that personality is false and the Self is truth, where will personality worship come from? And there is nothing in my personality worthy of personality worship.

If one wants to worship, there are many standing in line whose entire job is to polish their personality. I myself do not want people to come and bow. If someone tries to touch my feet, I stop them as much as I can.

But there is a relationship between you and me, a relationship of one human being with another. In that relationship, if someone is receiving something, if affection is being expressed, why can’t you go and hug them? How did this become a "cult"? How did this become "blind devotion"?

I keep the image of someone who does not even have a body in this world anymore (Kabir Saheb) with me. When someone is alive and standing right in front of you, won’t you go and shake hands with him? Why not? Even if you do not want to shake hands, you are just standing there looking at him. Why should that be a problem for anyone? The problem lies with the one who is disturbed by it. Go and ask them.

But you read such things and get scared. Oh, is the Foundation a "cult"? And you won’t even go and look up what "cult" actually means in a dictionary. Ask Google. Ask Gemini. What does "cult" mean? Ask a dictionary.

And you sit there as fans where actual cults are being run. No one raises a voice there. In recent times, cults have been thriving openly, and there you do not have the courage to speak up.

It’s not that your arguments are weak. It’s that you lack the strength. Where cults actually operate, they wield such power that you truly cannot raise your voice there.

But here, one man is doing simple, honest work, helping people clear their minds and break free from their delusions, and this becomes a "cult".

I am drawing an imaginary personality sketch. Suppose someone is in senior management in an IT firm in Bengaluru. He has a good job. And look at what he is doing. He has set aside all his dignity and is sitting on the stairs because all the chairs are full (referring to the people seated on the stairs inside the auditorium). This is a "cult", then? Is this a "cult"?

Ask him why he is sitting there. Is he sitting because, from where he sits, my feet are at the level of his eyes, so that some special stream of blessings will flow from these feet? Is that why he sat down?

But they make allegations. You listen to them, and then you bring them to me. Anyway, you have brought it, good. My job is to sweep. I wake up in the morning prepared, thinking that today someone will come and dump garbage on my head.

Tell me one thing. What I am telling you, how is it different from a university lecture? How is this different from a course at any top-notch university? So if this is a "cult", then why are Harvard and Wharton not "cults"? Explain.

If a new program is launched in a university, comprising Vedanta, classical philosophy, medieval devotionalism, existentialism, and core non-duality, and that program has regular lectures, assignments, and exams, will that be a "cult"? How is what we are doing different? Is this not exactly the same work?

Tell me, is an academic session of a top university running right now or not? Then how did this become a "cult"? In fact, we probably show more rigor than a university. No university conducts fifteen to seventeen exams a month. We do. In any course, there usually are not as many lectures as there are here, and certainly not of this length. A lecture in most universities is fifty to sixty minutes. What happens here is not just a lecture. It becomes a full workshop

And in no university do you get admission for fifty or five hundred rupees a month. If that happens anywhere, tell me. You are familiar with the fee structures of universities in our own country. Tell me, how are we a "cult"?

Instead of acknowledging that what top universities should have been doing is being done by one man, one Foundation, you come carrying allegations that a "cult" is running here.

You never went and said "thank you" to your school teachers? Why wasn’t that "blind devotion"? How many of you have liked at least one teacher in your life? Raise your hand.

(Audience raises their hands.)

Then that was "blind devotion" too, wasn’t it? How many of you have ever given a gift or a present to your teachers?

(Audience raises their hands.)

Oh, running a "cult." Am I tempting you with the afterlife? Am I handing out tickets to heaven? Am I removing ghosts and spirits from you? Am I taking you straight to God?

Then how is this "blind devotion"? Tell me.

And the people in the past who worked for the country’s freedom, when you go there and bow your head, or celebrate their birth and death anniversaries, why is that not called "blind devotion"? Tell me. I am asking you.

And freedom is freedom, whether it is the country’s or one’s own. Then those who gave you external freedom, those who contributed to the country’s freedom struggle, if you bow to them in respect, what does that become? Does that also turn into a "cult"?

Here, all that happened in Pune was that there was a kilometer-long queue. People have long said, "Every year, fairs will be held at the sites of martyrs’ pyres." There they speak of full-fledged fairs. Then call that a "cult" as well.

The entire fight is between gratitude and ingratitude. And as the work progresses, it is becoming clear that ingratitude is a great adharma. It grows to such an extent that it shuts off all further possibilities. If someone does not acknowledge what they have received, existence says, if you do not value what you got, why should you receive more?

Blind devotion is indeed happening. It is happening all over the world, and it is happening in India as well. But where it is actually happening, they do not have the courage to speak up. And where simple, straightforward work of knowledge is being done, with no belief, no faith, no doctrine, no ideology, what do people call it? "Blind devotion."

And our poor people are like frightened rabbits. They get scared the moment someone says "cult." Learn to be grateful. That is a sign of being human.

I once said, maybe to some college boy, that if at your age I had found someone like me, I would have given my life for him.

About ten or twelve years ago, I came across a book called Stripping the Gurus. It exposed, largely through facts and not imagination, many so-called respected gurus in India. And I am not even talking about Osho or Krishnamurti here. It went as far as Ramakrishna Paramahansa, claiming, "Look, this is what was actually going on in his life."

I was once teaching the parables of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa at a camp, and someone mentioned that book. I had a soft copy, so I sent it to all the participants. They were shocked. They said this should have been hidden. Why are you bringing this out? People’s faith will be destroyed. Their truth will stand naked.

I said, "I read this book long ago. I know. And I also know that most of what is written is factual."

They got confused. They said, "If it is factual, then why respect them?"

Because I received something from them. If you know ten of their flaws, I know a hundred. And yet I also know that I gained something from them. This has always been my stance, and perhaps that is why I kept receiving more and more.

As for the random godmen roaming around, fine, I openly expose them before you. But even those whom I do not expose, their personal lives were far from perfect. I never talk about that. Why should I? There is no need. What matters to me is that I studied them, learned from them, understood something through them. That is what being human is about.

If I wanted to be ungrateful, I could say, "Look at Krishnamurti. Look at Osho. What scandals happened in their lives." Why say this? Then whom will I bring before you? H. G. Wells? Listen, Little Man? Read about its author. We talked of existentialism. Sartre? Read about his life. What was going on in it? Whom will I bring? I am not concerned with that. Because I am human. If I have received, I will acknowledge.

And all this talk of hero worship bores me. I am not great. I am just a little playful. I am not qualified to run a "cult". If you come and say, "Acharya Ji, you are great, this and that", I will listen for a few minutes. Then I will say, "Do you have a racket? Let’s play something, do something mischievous, go for a walk."

What is this, sitting here while you keep saying "great, great"? Enough, it’s done. Tell me if there is something to eat or drink. Sitting there while everyone keeps folding hands and saying "namaste, blessings, blessings" is boring. And if this performance has to go on for a few minutes, fine. After that, it becomes unbearable.

I do not know how these godmen sit cross-legged for hours. Someone should go behind them and tickle them. They must be exhausted sitting in one pose for so long. Something exciting should happen. What is all this? "You are great, I am great."

I talk about freedom the way a child talks about playing. A child wants to play with his friend. But that friend has been locked inside the house by his family. Are you understanding who I am? Are you understanding who you are? I want to play. I do not want my feet to be worshipped.

A child, whom does he play with? With the neighbor’s child. What has been done to him? He has been locked inside the house. So the child peeps from here, from there, into the neighbor’s window, thinking, what trick should I use? How do I bring him out? He does not want to call him out so that the friend will stand there and say, "May you live long." He will say, "Now that you are out, let’s run, let’s play."

I do not want to make you devotees. I want to make you players, because I like to play. Become players so that we can play together, not as guru and disciple, but as friends.

This is why I keep saying that we must break the bars and melt the bondages, so that you can come out. Look, the weather is wonderful out here. Let’s play! Will you perform aarti of me after coming out? If you close your eyes and start doing aarti, then when you open them, I will be gone. Not because I am great, but because all this bores me.

Questioner: But Acharya Ji, when such allegations are made by people within the community itself...

Acharya Prashant: They are in the community, but they have not learned anything themselves. They have not received anything, and because of their own actions, they are returning empty-handed. Their own bag is empty. They remain dry and untouched. And those who are receiving something are labeled as "blind devotees".

Do you know what this is (referring to the glass in his hand)? It's a protein shake.

I came here and met my batchmate. Once or twice we met casually, maybe at a café or somewhere. But do you know where we met most often? Tell me, where? On the squash court. Those whom I am meeting after twenty-five years, I am seeing their faces directly on the court.

And what kind of friendship is that? Friendship is not about sitting together and sharing complaints, saying things like, "Brother, how much trouble your wife gives you." There is nothing to talk about. Let the racket and the ball do the talking. We will not hug, we will compete. And that is where friendship deepens. We will not count joys and sorrows, we will count the score. That is far more fun.

Are you getting what I am saying?

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