Acharya Prashant addresses the question of whether one needs to be associated with a religion or faith to attain spirituality. He explains that theoretically and academically, it is not necessary. However, he points out that the books of spirituality, such as the Upanishads, originate from religious traditions like the Sanatan stream. Therefore, a practical approach is to take what is useful from the entire tradition of religion for the present time and discard the rest. He clarifies that spirituality has no existence without religion; it is at the center of religion. When the non-essential and useless things are cleaned out from religion, what remains is spirituality. Thus, spirituality without religion is a mismatch. He further distinguishes between being religious and being spiritual, stating that they are not the same. He gives an example that out of a thousand religious people, 999 may not be spiritual because, for them, religion is merely about following beliefs and old stories without question. On the other hand, it is also very difficult to attain spirituality by completely rejecting religion, as one might discard valuable scriptures like the Upanishads along with the dogma. The path of spirituality, he suggests, is to continuously reject the garbage within religion while accepting the timeless truths, which he likens to diamonds and pearls. When asked about the nature of prayer, Acharya Prashant explains that prayer is not about asking a higher power for something in return. True prayer is defined as doing the maximum one can in the right direction. It is not a specific action performed at a particular time or place; rather, one's entire life can be a prayer. He illustrates this by describing his act of speaking to the audience as a form of prayerтАФhe is making his utmost effort to explain, but the outcome is not in his hands. This complete dedication to a righteous action, without attachment to the result, is what constitutes prayer. Finally, addressing the accessibility of the Vedas, which are in Sanskrit, he states that the work must proceed through translations, as it is impractical for everyone to learn Sanskrit. He advises against the belief that the Vedas contain modern science or economics, explaining that the Vedas are like encyclopedias of their time, containing all available knowledge, some of which was only temporally relevant. The timeless and eternally important part of the Vedas is Vedanta (the Upanishads). He concludes that the Vedas are most useful today in the form of Vedanta, and by studying and living its teachings, one's life can become powerful and new.
