Man Bows Only to Fear, or to Beauty || AP Neem Candies
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.
But the internal reason has never been powerful enough in the entire history of man. Even a thousand years back, if a thousand people were religious, nine hundred and ninety-nine of them were religious because of external reasons; only one person was ever religious because of a purely internal reason. And that internal reason was as applicable then as it is now. Today if you will turn spiritual, it will be purely because of the internal reason. In fact, the internal reason is more pronounced today than it was ever in the history of mankind.
So, the situation is peculiar two-fold. The external reasons are not at all strong today, but the internal reason is doubly strong today. However, traditional religion is still trying to attract people on the basis of external factors, and therefore traditional religion is failing. Today’s religion, today’s teacher has to talk purely of the inner reason, and that inner reason will remain always, always valid. That inner reason is consciousness itself.
Consciousness itself is a great desperation. Consciousness itself is a crying need. Consciousness itself is a longing, a desperation, a squirming wail. So, the only reason today to go towards Truth or God or peace is the agitation of the mind.
Full article link: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articles/man-is-the-new-god-and-hes-loving-it-1_04f4d5b
