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Living Without God: Principles for a Purposeful Life || Acharya Prashant, IIT-Hyderabad (2024)
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1 year ago
Belief
God
Truth
Ego
Inquiry
Spirituality
Bhagavad Gita
Shri Krishna
Description

Acharya Prashant begins by stating that one must live life without any belief, not just the belief in God. He argues that all beliefs emanate from the same center, and if a person holds any belief, they will inevitably be forced to believe in God. He posits that the belief in God is a logical extension of all other beliefs and of the blind believer themself. To illustrate his point, Acharya Prashant uses the analogy of seeing a vague shape in the fog. The senses provide incomplete and corrupted knowledge, but the 'I' or the self, with its inherent self-belief, confidently concludes what the shape is, be it a ghost or a road roller. This, he explains, is not a belief in the object itself but a fundamental belief in one's own perception and judgment. The core belief is, "If I experience it, it must be true because I am real." This chain of logic extends from self-belief to the belief in God. The ego's primary conviction is "I am, and I am the truth." This leads to the assumption that the world one perceives is also real. If the self is real, then the chair it sits on, the Earth, and by induction, the entire universe must be real. Following the perceived law that everything real must have a maker, the existence of a real universe necessitates a creator, which is then labeled as God. Therefore, any belief in anything is ultimately a belief in God. Acharya Prashant concludes by distinguishing between belief and Truth. He asserts that any belief is foolish because it stems from a lack of investigation, which is rooted in fear and insecurity. While great mystics may have used "God" as another name for Truth, for the masses, "God" is merely a name for their belief system, a concept that should be discarded. He advises living a life of inquiry and knowing, rather than believing. True religiosity, he states, is deep curiosity from which Truth emerges. Belief is another name for the ego, whereas Truth is freedom from the ego.