Acharya Prashant explains that illusion is essentially belief, where something unreal is taken to be real. He argues that when a society glorifies belief systems, it loses its taste for facts and truth. This reliance on belief leads to a population that is skilled at self-deception and cheating others, as people choose the comfort of belief over the effort and pain required for inquiry and discovery. He notes that in India, sentiments and emotions are often prioritized over hard facts, even within the legal and constitutional framework, which can lead to the suppression of truth to avoid offending public morality. The speaker highlights that emotions are often used as a tool to serve material purposes and to bypass rational debate. He warns that when emotions rule, truth becomes the first casualty, and unethical actions are frequently sanctioned in the name of feeling or sentiment. He asserts that resorting to belief rather than knowledge is a sign of intellectual laziness, as knowing requires honesty and effort. Using the example of the heliocentric model, he illustrates how scientific facts often contradict intuitive beliefs, and that being a 'knower' is a uniquely human capability that protects one from being manipulated. Acharya Prashant further clarifies that true religion should be an inquiry into the self and the ego, rather than a set of rules about worldly matters like diet, clothing, or marriage. He emphasizes that the mandate of religion is to provide freedom from belief and to promote inquiry, rather than to reinforce existing dogmas. He concludes that if someone is hurt when their beliefs are challenged by facts, it is their own fault for relying on something so fragile. He calls for a shift toward respecting inquiry and hard facts while disregarding sentiment when it stands in the way of truth.