Acharya Prashant explains that when a person is not guided from within, they are controlled by society. When the inner master is absent, the external world becomes the master. This material world controls people through material means, primarily fear and greed. The act of holding one's ears to apologize is a symbol of this external control, reminiscent of how parents might pull a child's ear. It's an acknowledgment to an external authority, a promise to obey its commands out of fear of punishment to the physical body. True religion, he states, is a rebellion against all external masters. Its meaning is to have only one master: the truth that resides within. A religious person does not bow before anything in the world, be it good or bad, holy or sinful, because the world is merely a projection of one's own senses, ego, and delusion. Bowing to the world is bowing to one's own fears and desires. In contrast, fake religion is atheism because it directs you outward, suggesting the ultimate is located somewhere external. It serves as a convenient tool for the ego, allowing dishonesty to persist through rituals like making donations to atone for sins. The only true apology or atonement is the annihilation of the self that commits errors. One should not say sorry for the mistake but for one's very existence that is prone to error. He emphasizes that one should not say, "I made a mistake," but rather, "I *am* the mistake." Feeling regret is not enough if the person who makes mistakes continues to exist, as they will inevitably repeat them. He quotes Kabir Saheb, "Why die the world's death, a hundred times a day?" to illustrate the futility of a life of repeated errors and suffering. To avoid bowing to the world, one must annihilate the inner tendency to bow. This annihilation is true religiosity. When the self is annihilated, the inner light, which can be called the true father or master, manifests. The journey of apology is only the beginning; the real path is one of self-dissolution. If one truly feels remorse, the responsibility is to change oneself completely so that the mistake cannot be repeated. The meaning of an apology is the promise that it won't happen again because the one who committed the act is no more. This is the path of Vedanta, the real religion, which involves taking the ego to the Self through self-observation, resulting in self-dissolution.