What does it mean to be Nirishwarabadi?

• Nirishvaravadi is a Sanskrit term that translates to "statement of no Lord" or "doctrine of godlessness". It refers to a viewpoint that has been propounded in many of the prominent streams of Indian philosophy. A nirishvaravadi is someone who advocates the doctrine of atheism, or denies that God or gods exist.

I like to think of myself as Nirishvaravadi.

Not an atheist, but a non-theist.

Which means, in my case, I think of the Gods as real people. And I understand their myths and stories that way. Rather than look for the hand of God, I like to look for how these things could actually happen in a real world obeying the laws of science, and interpret the events that way. If new evidence turns up to prove me wrong, I have no hesitation to alter my beliefs accordingly. For me, just because someone wrote something thousands of years ago, does not necessarily mean it must be true even today, unless I or anyone else can rationally explain the physics behind it. Don’t need proof. Just evidence.

For example, most Hindus believe Asuras and Devas were mythical celestial beings and interpret the Puranas that way. I might think of them as warring ancient tribes who disputed distribution of Amrit. So, I might look for evidence and link the Asuras to the Ahuras (based on Sindhu=Hindu), then look for what Zoroastrians myths say, and determine if they originally were the same people (scripture confirms they were both born of Kashyap through his wives Diti and Aditi). I would then treat the story as an origin story where the gods and demons were real people with human strengths and weaknesses. Just an example of how I would deal with the notion of a God.

Samudra Manthan to me might thus be like USA/USSR Cold War and their race for space. Both are good in their country. Both are villains in the others. And from that race emerged technologies that everyone can use and benefit from today. The more we refine these gifts from the Cold War, the better better they get. What started out as a tool of destruction (halahala) is refined to prolong life and benefit humanity (nuclear power, PET Scan, etc).

But because I do not believe in one particular God or many Gods does not mean I do not have faith.

I believe that God is in each one of us. Which is why to me “Namaste” means the God in me that bows in respect to the God in you.

So, when someone said we have 33 crore Gods, I would think he was counting the population of the land. Someone else will interpret the word “koti” as types and come to the table with a list of 33 deities. Nirishwarabad in my sense of the word is faith in myself. The truth is what I can justify to myself.

I believe in the Itihasa status of Valmiki’s Ramayana because I have tried poking holes in the epic, but only came up with reasonable and verifiable explanations without resorting to the hand of God at every drop of hat. I believe in Rama as the Ideal Man rather than the Ideal God. So I will interpret the Ramayana accordingly and interpret the episodes as real history. If I cannot understand something, it does not mean a God must have intervened. It just means I have failed to comprehend the meaning. Further meditation is needed to arrive at the truth.

For someone brought up to believe in a supernatural Supreme, or omnipresent and potent God, this will sound like sacrilege and heresy, and is bound to be difficult to understand. But I assure you, Nirishwarabadi is a religion inasmuch religion is defined as a way of life, rather than devotion to a deity.

What is important to the Niriswarabadi is Faith. God, not so much.

In math, the most magical invention was the concept of 0. I guess you could think of Nirishwaravad in the same way. It can change the meaning and value of anything based on where you put it.

Of course, others will have their own beliefs. And I respect the same. I am not challenging anyone’s faith and I’m absolutely comfortable with them irrespective of whichever God they wish to choose.

You can find more about this philosophy here: