Does mankind deserve religion?

Religion, in its truest essence, began as a stirring within, a call to look deeper than what appears on the surface.

- ACHARYA PRASHANT

It was never meant to be about commandments or ceremonies, belonging to a group, or defending a tradition. It pointed toward something more essential: a different way of seeing, a different way of living.

Yet, as that sacred impulse entered the world of systems and structures, something began to shift. Not out of malice, perhaps, but out of habit. We started clinging to the shell and gradually lost touch with the core. What came as pure compassion and unwavering clarity was often met with fear, greed, and confusion. It came to uplift, to guide, to liberate; not to divide or dominate.

But like anything deeply precious, when it passes through our conditioned hands, it risks being shaped by our compulsions. Without inner vigilance, even the sacred can be misunderstood.

THE ORIGINS OF RELIGION: A RESPONSE TO INNER RESTLESSNESS

Human life is marked by a deep and continuous unease, a restlessness that doesn't go away even when all external needs are met. We try to drown it out with work, relationships, travel, and entertainment. But after the noise settles, the restlessness returns. This inner disturbance is not a fault; it is a pointer. Religion begins from here.

True religion does not start with belief. It starts with a question: Why am I not at peace? It begins when a person, tired of running, pauses and looks within. That's how religion came into being, not as a tradition or community, but as an honest response to the suffering within.

We aren't born peaceful. We arrive carrying fear, desire, confusion—as if a machine is already running inside us. Unless something intervenes, we live our entire life thinking this is normal. Religion, rightly understood, is not a system; it is a cry for liberation. It is the light by which a person learns to live in the world without being trapped by it.