Acharya Prashant: Man bows down to only two things, you know—either to fear or to beauty. Today the world has neither of these. There is very little to be afraid of, you know. If the Earth is being destroyed, you can colonize another planet. “So, don’t worry, we will fly away”—at least the rich ones would. And man also kneels down in front of beauty, and there is very little beauty to be seen.
So, man is not kneeling down, man is not at all bowing down today. There is neither fear nor beauty. Man is de facto God in his own eyes. Man is determining when man would be born; man is determining how man would look like; man is determining the color of his eyes; man is determining his gender; man is also just about to determine his death. Very soon, man would come to a point when natural—which is *prakṛtik*—death would become impossible. So, why should there be any space for God left?
All the historical, all the usual reasons for the existence of God are no more applicable, null and void. There were things unexplained in the physical material world, so man attributed those things to God. Now almost everything stands reasoned out, logically, scientifically explained, so God is discounted. Saints talk so much about death in order to remind people of God. Now death is no more a big scare, so God is out.
So, all the historical reasons that pushed man to God are no more valid. Though there is still a very, very strong fundamental reason that is valid, but that is a different reason; that is the only genuine reason, and that is an inner reason. Unfortunately, the history of religion has been such that most people have not gone towards God because of inner reasons, but they have gone to God because of outer reasons. Loss of a loved one, poverty, unexplained phenomena, physical phenomena—these have been things that have pushed people towards spirituality or religion or God. Now those things in the external world are no more happening, so external reasons to go towards God are no more there; only the internal reason is there.
