[Music] thank you thank you for inviting me here how you see the world is often defined by where you come from now I'm a Hindu Hinduism is most probably among the most ancient living religions on Earth and Hinduism is a part of the dharmic group of religions which also includes Buddhism jism and Sikhism in many ways Our World Views fun ly different from the abrahamic group of religions the abrahamic group as you all know is Judaism Christianity and Islam and could be argued that Western atheism which emerged as a reaction to the abrahamic religions also has many of the features of abrahamic religions so how is our world view the dharmic worldview different one of the key things is we don't see the world in binaries you know good evil black white we don't see the world that way we see it in Shades of Gray so from this perspective how do we answer this question that God is a delusion the question itself is incomplete for two reasons the first is that according to Hindu philosophy anything that has a beginning and an end is temporary and hence an illusion the Sanskrit word for it is is Maya so therefore everything including the universe because it does have an end date is an illusion which makes this entire debate itself infructuous but there's a second concept on reality of Hinduism that I'm more interested in it says that anything that has a purpose and function is real even if it's intangible now let me explain the second concept a bit more we've all heard of K obviously Carl Sean had said that all our bodies are made up of water calcium and organic molecules this is a scientific fact now if you pick an amount of water calcium and organic molecules of the right proportion and throw it under a bus nothing will change nothing will happen to the bus all those elements but I'm not about to jump under a bus very obviously right even though my body is made up of that exact proportion of the list of elements that Carl Sean had listed why because I'm not exactly just the elements that make up my body there's something extra within me and that something extra gives purpose to the elements that make up my body therefore I have a purpose for now therefore I'm not an illusion for now that's the way it is with me that's the way it is with all all of us and that is the way it is with God if God has a purpose then God is real so is the real question perhaps not whether God has a purpose is a real question that why has the West why does the West not feel a need for the purpose of God anymore or to calibrate a bit why do most westerners not feel the need for God anymore I think maybe the answer for that is in the tortured relationship that abrahamic religions have with science or more broadly knowledge any scientific truth that is in conflict with abrahamic faith can be called as blasphemy and that sets up that magnificent duel right abrahamic and God on the one side and science on the other and you have to pick one side you can't have both how does Hinduism see this debate well first of all Hinduism does not have a doctrinal concept of blasphemy so there is no scientific truth that I have to deny to prove that I a good Hindu it simply the concept of blasphemy doesn't exist but even more Hinduism has a different relationship with knowledge let me explain that through you know taking you to the Book of Genesis and all of you are aware of the Garden of Eden right uh broadly what the story was God punished Adam and Eve because they ate from the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil correct everyone knows that and most abrahamic religious Scholars say that good and evil was a metaphor for everything so therefore essentially Adam and Eve were punished because they ate an apple from the Tree of the knowledge of everything now I'm not deriding this uh this philosophy knowledge if you're not prepared for it is often a path to unhappiness and destruction it can be argued that you see a lot of evidence of that in the modern West uh today so if your purpose is primarily to just simply be happy then maybe it's a good idea to avoid knowledge innocence is bliss right it's it's a fair call right just remain innocent remain happy how does Hinduism see the relationship ship with knowledge Hindu philosophy does acknowledge the risk of knowledge but still tells us to go for it to put it in terms that you may understand Hindus wouldn't be told don't eat that apple in fact we would be told go for the entire freaking tree but what would what we would also be told that before you go for that tree prepare yourself so that you can handle that knowledge this is essentially the concept of Karma and Dharma learn evolve so that you can handle that knowledge and then learn some more and keep learning till you learn everything that there is to learn till you have consumed that entire tree then you become God you attain Nirvana I'm sure that's a term that most of you would have heard of right Nirvana this is what the concept of Nirvana is you keep growing keep learning keep evolving till you learn everything that there is to know and then you become Divine because you attain Nirvana now from this philosophical construct what is the purpose of God God is not supposed to be a strict father who keeps you in line for your own happiness no in the dharmic way in the Hindu way God is supposed to be like a witness or a guide who guides you on how to acquire knowledge without messing up your own life which is why you'll find that it's very very common in India to be religious and scientific at the same time how many of you read about the uh Indian space scientist who sent a probe to the Moon everyone's aware of that yeah we sent a probe to the moon the cost of that project was cheaper than a Hollywood movie on that project right but the scientists and many don't know this that the scientists who prepared that probe and that rocket before launch they took the components of that rocket to a temple to pray to it they saw no contradiction in it unlike Western atheists who very often feel the Deep need to insult religion to prove their scientific temper uh in the Hindu way the Divine can be male female or transgender and Allah allows even expects human beings to question him or her as Lord Krishna did in the bhagad Gita I'm primarily an author in the books that I write I openly criticize and question the cast system I write of powerful women I have uh uh gay and transgender characters uh in my books my books by God's grace actually sell in reasonable High reasonably High numbers you won't find any controversy around me because in the the Hindu way there is an openness to multiple truths there's an openness to multiple paths to the Divine in if I may complete please in some ways then this debate is similar to the debate that's taking place over artificial intelligence uh from what I have read not that I know Alon mus personally but from what I have read apparently Elon Musk is concerned about the risk of AI and is therefore hesitating whereas Sam mman is you know going all all guns blazing wants to forge ahead right in the Hindu way the opportunity of AI would be seen But the risk of it would also be acknowledged right so perhaps you know it cannot be denied that AI almost has the power of God do we have the ability to wield that power do our societies have the ability to handle the consequences of something like this everyone knows what this gesture is yeah it's Namaste most westerners erroneously translate namaste to mean Hello that's not the actual meaning in Sanskrit Namaste means I bow to the divine within you now this is a statement of humility I'm bowing but it's also a challenge to you discover the divine within you that is the challenge that Hinduism puts up uh if I may just complete I'm almost almost at the end right if you find purpose you will discover that God exists within you and your task over this life and multiple lives is to grow evolve learn some more and become God God is not a delusion because you are God you are a potential God you are all potential Gods you just don't know it yet what you have to do is find your purpose and you will discover that you and God are in fact very real and that's it if there's a namaste once again is there time I'll answer that point of who had that yes sir where are you sorry yeah hi AG that the universe is an illusion that Weist and that we not fundamentally made up of thees that us that West has an Avion to religion and that God has a meaning and that are the only people and exclusive phos that believe in oh no dhic don't believe in exclusivism at all but carry on to your question how still reasona conclude that God is not a delusion or on a digression that God exists good question look it's like this one of the things that that in fact this debate happened in one of our open ISS one of the things that we can be sure of is that we'll only know the truth when we die right so essentially we have theories which explain facts as we see it today right that's actually what theoretical physics is also at many large levels I'm sure you've heard of dark energy dark matter no one really knows what it truly is but just it's a theoretical placeholder to explain facts as we see it today right what is the theory that might create a better society today and might explain facts as we see it today right that's what essentially this is uh can we claim that that this is the absolute truth no Hindu ever claims that there is no concept of absolute truth uh in the dharmic way right all of us have an ability and a freedom and a right to find our own path many of the schools of philosophy in the Hindu way I'm sure you aware are actually atheist schools they still Hindu right or bu Buddhist or J can be atheist and Buddhist Jan at the same time you don't faith is not Central right accepting the principles of the argument of cause and effect that is Central to the to the dharmic religion so is this the theory that explains facts as we see it most well I would argue it is but does that mean it's the absolute truth no we'll only know when we attain Nirvana or when we die so how do we not know well we are still here so we don't know right have you you read the nasad himm in the Riga okay anyone who hasn't there's a nasad himm in the Riga if I have time if I can just explain that it's a creation hymn okay and you want to understand a really deep creation hymn read nasad because it doesn't make any truth claims it says maybe this is how creation happened or maybe this is how creation happened or maybe this is how creation happened the most magical are the last four lines of the nasad him that who can know for show how creation happened even the gods wouldn't know because even the gods were created after creation happened and then the hymn goes on to say maybe the only one who knows is the one most high or maybe even he doesn't know and in Sanskrit they don't use the term he because the Brahman is actually Beyond gender so you can use it she he whatever right maybe he's the only one who knows or maybe even he doesn't know that's a skepticism at the heart of the Reda which is the oldest dharmic religion because no one can know for sure you have to have Supreme arrogance to say I know what the truth is no one can know for sure right okay if there's no other point of order I guess I'm done thank you