Acharya Prashant’s Landmark Session At IIT Kharagpur Inspires IITians To Go For Enquiry Beyond Fear
On November 1, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur witnessed a sight rarely seen in its storied history. By 5:30 PM, half an hour before the scheduled start of philosopher and national bestselling author Acharya Prashant’s session, the 900-seater Netaji Auditorium was overflowing with students, researchers, and faculty members eager to hear and interact with him.
The event, part of Acharya Prashant’s Kolkata Book Awareness Tour, opened with a welcome address by Professor Uday Shankar, Associate Dean, followed by a felicitation by Dean Professor Arun Chakraborty and Associate Dean of Students Well-being Prof. Amita Mahanta. Introducing him as “an accomplished personality, an illustrious figure who has been inspiring generations,” they set the tone for what would become an evening of extraordinary reflection and inquiry.
Once the discussion began, the hall turned electric.
Speaking on how fear dominates even the most promising young minds, Acharya Prashant said: “When it comes to our major life decisions, it is not love that guides us. Be it JEE counselling, marriage decisions, or choosing a career: we do not go for something because we love it. Where there is no love, there would only be desire and greed and a lot of fear. When one is afraid, love is one of the first casualties. A fearful and insecure mind just cannot love.”
He explained how this fear is perpetuated by the very systems people trust for safety: “The sources that terrify us also tell us what it means to be safe. So we absorb an image of safety from the same sources that frighten us. For many of us, safety means a green card or US citizenship. That idea came when we were still in school: ‘I’ll be respected, I’ll be secure.’ And then we reverse-engineer our lives around that image.”
Talking about bringing about meaningful change, Acharya Prashant emphasised: “Culture is a social thing. When a lot of people are doing something, we start calling that as culture. So culture, too, has to begin at the individual level itself.”
The audience, a mix of professors, scholars, and young engineers, listened with rapt attention, often breaking into applause. When asked about the role of knowledge and understanding, Acharya Prashant said: “Understanding cannot be inherited. Material wealth, you can inherit. But understanding is deeply personal. Everyone has to stand up and see for themselves. One cannot always stand on the shoulders of previous generations.”
When the formal session concluded, what followed was unlike anything IIT Kharagpur had seen before. Hundreds of students surrounded Acharya Prashant as he stepped out of the auditorium, sparking an impromptu “Walk and Talk” and book signing session across the campus lawns. Under the night sky, the circle kept expanding: a spontaneous dialogue on love, clarity, and freedom that continued well past midnight. After a four-hour-long formal session, the walk-and-talk and informal session went on for another three hours, making it a record seven hours in total.
The following afternoon, the Student Council invited him again for an informal closing interaction: a rare gesture reflecting the profound connection his words had created among students.
The IIT Kharagpur event is now being hailed by many as one of the most memorable and unprecedented campus sessions in recent years: one that redefined what meaningful engagement between intellect and wisdom can look like at India’s premier institutes. As a special gesture, PrashantAdvait Foundation announced the gifting of free access to their flagship Live Gita sessions to all those present during the interaction.
Acharya Prashant’s Book Awareness Tour continues across campuses, carrying the message of Truth Without Apology- that lasting transformation begins not with policy or technology, but with the awakening of understanding within the individual.
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