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What is religion? || Acharya Prashant (2016)
Bharat
128 views
2 years ago
Incompleteness
Religiosity
Spirituality
Silence
Language
Conditioning
Contentment
Upanishads
Description

Acharya Prashant explains that human civilization and its various religions, including modern ideologies like Marxism, are products of the human mind's inherent sense of incompleteness. He describes the human condition as a cycle where two incomplete individuals seek completion through each other, only to produce another incomplete being, thereby proliferating misery rather than achieving the peace they truly desire. While organized religions offer external promises and commandments, they ultimately fail because they seek contentment in material or external forms rather than addressing the internal void. True religiosity or spirituality, according to him, is an individual's internal rebellion against social conditioning and the ego, requiring one to go beyond organized structures to find a point of stillness within. The discussion further explores the role of language and silence in human life. Acharya Prashant asserts that language is an inescapable part of human design and cannot be wished away; therefore, true silence is not the absence of words but the ability to remain still and peaceful in the midst of them. He contrasts the healing, simple language of ancient scriptures with the 'noise' generated by modern literature and professional writers, which he claims often stems from agitated minds and only serves to spread further disturbance and toxicity. He concludes that language is frequently used as a tool for deception and obfuscation to hide one's true state, whereas genuine communication should aim to bring the mind back to its center of essential peace.