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00:00How do you see Gen Z?
00:02Gen Z belongs to today. It's very modern. It belongs to the present.
00:07It is the most present of all generations.
00:10And then there is something timeless about the human being.
00:13That doesn't change with time.
00:14But we stereotype Gen Z's a lot.
00:17We are not the same generation as they are.
00:20Maybe the form has changed.
00:22The degree of expression has changed.
00:23But the highest that has been said to address the very root of suffering
00:28will hold relevance till eternity.
00:32And that's the reason Gen Z will need to go to it.
00:36How to get them towards Vedant or Gita?
00:39They might not be interested.
00:42Can it become somewhat cool?
00:44Why should Vedant modify itself to look cool?
00:48So yes, eternal understanding probably needs to be brought to this generation
00:54in its own preferred form and lingo.
00:57Gen Z person is watching this interview.
01:00What do you have to say about this thing?
01:09In today's world of social media, constant stimulation, information overload, doom scrolling.
01:17Why should Gen Z even care about Vedant and Gita, the ancient wisdom?
01:24Hi, I'm Divyanshi Sumrav.
01:26And welcome to NDTV's special program, where we are going to discuss this important issue,
01:32the hot issue with Acharya Prashant and IITIM alumnus.
01:37Welcome to the show Acharya Prashant.
01:40And you have decoded the timeless wisdom and imparted it to the most restless minds.
01:49It may have cured their anxiety.
01:52It might have showed them the right path through your teachings.
01:56I would like to talk about Gen Z.
01:59We talk about them in so many different ways.
02:04How do you see Gen Z?
02:12You see, you used two words in the way you introduced.
02:20You said ancient wisdom and you said timeless.
02:26So, these are the two ways of looking at anybody.
02:34There is something about us which is dependent on time.
02:38That you can call as ancient or modern.
02:41So, in that sense, Gen Z belongs to today.
02:46It's very modern.
02:49It belongs to the present.
02:51It is the most present of all generations.
02:55And then, there is something timeless about the human being.
02:59That doesn't change with time.
03:00And that remains the same.
03:03And that too is at two levels.
03:05That which doesn't change.
03:07One, our primitive restlessness.
03:11And second, our potential, our eternal potential to gain freedom from that restlessness.
03:21You understand?
03:23There is something about us, the very outer sheath that depends on time, place, situations,
03:32gender, this, that, culture, habits, everything.
03:36That keeps changing.
03:38Unfortunately, most of us don't penetrate beneath that level.
03:43So, we take that level as the truth of the individual.
03:46But the fact is, there is so much more present beneath that.
03:51Beneath that, what do you firstly find?
03:53You find a mass of fears, insecurities, restiveness, desires, hopes, hurts.
04:05That's there.
04:06And then, right at the center is the ultimate truth.
04:10The truth beyond all layers and sheets.
04:14That's timeless.
04:16Absolutely timeless.
04:18So, that's the same for the person that existed 50,000 years ago, 5,000 years ago.
04:24That's also the same for Gen Z.
04:26That would also be the same for Gen whatever that comes next.
04:29Gen Alpha and so on.
04:30But we stereotype Gen Z's a lot.
04:34That they live in a distracted world.
04:39Their minds are maybe more restless as compared to the previous generations.
04:44And we both belong to different generations if we talk about Gen Z.
04:49We don't live, we are not the same generation as they are.
04:53And the thing you just said, the restlessness is primitive.
04:59It's the same.
05:00Maybe the form has changed.
05:02Form has changed.
05:03Maybe the environment has changed.
05:05And the degree of expression has changed.
05:08Yeah.
05:08Maybe Gen Z, then yours that came before it.
05:14And then mine that came before the…
05:18Maybe we had an equal measure of restlessness.
05:23But we were culturally trained to not to be expressive about it.
05:28Yeah.
05:29To deal with it in a different way.
05:31To suppress it very simply.
05:34Yeah.
05:34Maybe that was the case.
05:35Because that restlessness is nothing new.
05:39That's not something of the 21st century that exists in the species itself.
05:47That's the way we are physically designed.
05:50We are restless by design and birth.
05:54The mass that emerges from the womb is restless since its first moment, its first cry.
06:02We are restless.
06:04We are restless.
06:06We are restless.
06:06And that brings us to the eternal relevance of good philosophy.
06:13It addresses that restlessness.
06:16That's the entire purpose of philosophy.
06:20That's the beginning point, the very source of all good philosophy.
06:25That restlessness.
06:26Yep.
06:27I am not alright with myself.
06:29What's wrong with me?
06:30Hmm.
06:32That's true about all Indic philosophy.
06:35And that's also true about good Western philosophy.
06:39It looks at oneself.
06:41It emanates from there.
06:42And philosophy that doesn't look at itself is second rate.
06:46So, for example, Vedanta would say, the human being suffers from three kinds of ailments, inner stirrings, restlessness, disquite.
07:06And they are named.
07:08They say, Adhidaivik, Adhibhautik, Adhyatmik.
07:11There are three kinds of inner turbulences.
07:14And so you would have heard the Shanti part that precedes the texts of all Upanishads.
07:21And at its end, it says, Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti.
07:25So the three Shanti correspond to the three kinds of restlessness that ail each one of us.
07:32Similarly, when you look at the Buddha, his first noble truth is Dukh.
07:38Dukh.
07:39So the entire philosophy begins with that acknowledgement.
07:42It is because we human beings are in a state of misery and suffering that I, Gautam Buddha, would now
07:50proceed to say something.
07:52Otherwise, one is not obsessed with speaking or writing or lecturing or gaining a crowd or followership.
08:01No one wants that.
08:03That's the thing about having the philosopher as the sage or the saint.
08:09He explores the truth with the objective of ridding humankind from suffering.
08:17That's it.
08:18Now that suffering is primitive.
08:21It keeps taking just different contemporary forms.
08:27Beneath all the forms, the germ is primitive.
08:33The seed, the source is eternal.
08:36And therefore, whatever has been said, not whatever really, but the highest that has been said to address the very
08:47root of suffering will hold relevance till eternity.
08:51And that's the reason Gen Z will need to go to it.
08:56However, each age has its own idiosyncrasies, its own fantasies and whims.
09:05So, yes, the eternal understanding probably needs to be brought to this generation in its own preferred form and lingo,
09:17in its own preferred vocabulary.
09:22That is what needs to be done.
09:25So, you need to contemporise and contextualise the eternal understanding and bring it to this generation and the next generation
09:35and the next generation provided there are many generations still left given the spectre of climate change.
09:41We will talk about it.
09:44But as you said, it's the primitive seed and it's there.
09:49But when someone is on the lookout, someone is seeking an answer, I really can't speak for Gen Z because
09:58I'm not a Gen Z.
10:00I do not belong to that generation, but I can talk about millennials.
10:07And you use this particular term expression.
10:10We have suppressed ourselves, suppressed ourselves so much that we did not see it as a problem.
10:18It's okay.
10:19We are doing it.
10:20Maybe this is how it ought to be done.
10:24But when it comes to Gen Z, what I have observed, they are more expressive.
10:29They talk about it.
10:31They challenge the authority.
10:34For example, Gen Z, the generation is called employer's nightmare because they won't ask for a holiday.
10:45If that's there in the structure, they would simply email their employer and say, oh, we are not coming tomorrow.
10:55And so it's very difficult for the millennial employers and the Gen Z employees to go hand in hand or
11:01to have a perfect harmony.
11:03But that's not the case with our generation.
11:07What I have observed, this is my opinion.
11:11That's why when they pose a challenge, maybe a threat, become a rebel, it starts birthing different problems which might
11:23not be good for the culture we have been living in.
11:28So what do you have to say about it?
11:30They are not really rebellious.
11:34They too are following the norms of their times and their community.
11:45It is the norm in their community to act as if you do not accept authority.
11:52You see, real rebellion is not possible without self-knowledge.
12:00You cannot be a real challenger if you are not wise.
12:06We were conditioned to treat authority in one particular way and we did that.
12:14Maybe that appeared like submission.
12:18And this generation is conditioned to respond to authority in another way and it does that.
12:26And that is not freedom.
12:29Because if we were being submissive because of conditioning, these people appear rebellious.
12:37Mind you, they appear rebellious. They are not rebellious.
12:39They appear rebellious because of their particular conditioning.
12:44And rebellion, that is a result of conditioning, is not freedom at all.
12:49Or is it?
12:50It is not.
12:51So, they are following the code of their community.
12:54They are following the norm of their times.
12:58It is not that they are particularly rebellious.
13:00And I can say that because millennials, Z, Alpha, Newborns, I deal with everybody.
13:13They all are present and I look at them.
13:17You see, we all are born in a condition of inner slavery.
13:29Unless that is challenged with realization and wisdom, the maximum that you can get is a decorated kind of slavery.
13:39The maximum that you can get is an expressive kind of slavery.
13:42A golden cage.
13:44A golden cage or a particular fence within which you are free to do your own thing.
13:54Do your own thing.
13:55But these are the limits.
13:56Sense, or say that you are free.
14:00Even as you are a blind servant to your bodily impulses.
14:07Proclaim that you are free and you love freedom.
14:11Even as you do not know that you are just succumbing to peer pressure and following the prevalent trends.
14:22and there is not freedom at all. So, there is no fundamental difference between the conditions
14:28of the different generations. The commonality is all are internally unfree. Externally there
14:39are different various expressions of the lack of freedom. Some expressions of lack of freedom
14:49appear like freedom. But just because lack of freedom can deceptively take the form of freedom,
14:58that doesn't make it free. I hope I am not twisting it so much that one gets lost in words.
15:08You see, it's cool to be rebellious. Not that I know what I must rebel against.
15:15But previous generations must have also done this. It was not cool to be rebellious then.
15:21You would not get social sanction if you defy authority. In your generation or the generations
15:27preceding yours, you would not get social sanction. You would not be rewarded if you defy authority.
15:33Today, if you defy authority, then you can proclaim that. Then you can wear that as a bumper sticker.
15:41You can put that on your cap or on your t-shirt. I am a big rebel.
15:47These are not the things that were happy and sexy and fashionable and acceptable 20 or 40 years back.
15:55It was not happening. But if you look at other places, exactly when you say we had submissive generations,
16:03you had the hippies at some other place. The 60s and the 70s were the periods of the most outrageous
16:12kind of rebelliousness in the world.
16:14Gen Z is not a patch on them. What the hippies were doing 60-70 years back, Gen Z cannot
16:25even think of matching that when it comes to being rebellious.
16:30But then were the hippies really rebellious? No. All that just tapered down.
16:37I would really like to know your opinion on that. Why did you just say that?
16:45There was the hippie trail. There was the blatant materialism of the post-World War years.
16:55There was a sudden rush of prosperity. There were technological innovations. The world was doing great when it came to
17:07technology and economy.
17:09And all that made it even more obvious that there was something missing in life.
17:18So, there were these youngsters who said, no, we don't want to live the life that our parents have been
17:25living.
17:25And we have enough money because the generations are getting richer.
17:31So, we will go to Asia, we will go to some parts of Africa, we will smoke, we will live
17:42in defiance of cultural, social, religious norms.
17:46And all that became a fashion. And all that died down within two decades. Does that remain anymore?
17:55But they also talked about something like the discourse was like that. Through whatever means they were moving toward that
18:05rebellious realm.
18:09They are entering into a state of consciousness and a lot of spiritual talks were also prevalent at that time.
18:17How do you see that?
18:19Fashion, contemporary fashion. A fad. Like fashion emanates from Paris. Spiritual fashion was emanating from some points in India. Not
18:32much more than that.
18:33A lot of people came to India as well. A lot of places. Now in today's generation, we see a
18:43lot of studies being done and we talk about loneliness epidemic.
18:47And people from this generation, they might be suffering from it. And the whole hyper-individuality trend that is going
19:00on, there is solitude and then there is this hyper-individuality that is happening around.
19:08How do you differentiate between these two? And if a Gen Z person is watching this interview, what do you
19:16have to say about this thing?
19:19A real individuality will never leave you feeling lonely. Loneliness is a state arising out of craving for social company
19:34or social validation.
19:35Right? Here I am, full of desires. I want this. I want that. I want him. I want her. And
19:45when I do not get all that, then I am lonely.
19:49So loneliness is when you are not comfortable with your aloneness. Right? So, individuality is a beautiful word.
20:01The corresponding expression is atma in Vedanta. That which is indivisible, akhand, atut, avibhaj, anavayav, that which cannot be broken,
20:19indivisible.
20:21From there comes individuality. Individuality is a beautiful thing. But it cannot be so easily available that you are talking
20:31of hyper-individuality.
20:35They are using these terms in blatant ignorance. They do not know what they are saying. They are not individuals.
20:43It takes a lot to be an individual.
20:46They are not individuals. An individual is someone who is not broken from inside. Do you understand? Indivisible.
20:52Not composed of fragments. Not put together. Not stitched together. That's an individual.
20:58But do we have these absolute individuals? At least there is the possibility. At least we can be honest enough
21:05to not call ourselves an individual if all we are is a mess of foreign influences, social impacts.
21:13That's who we are. That's who we are. Right? And then we dare call ourselves individuals. That's not fair.
21:19So, there is no point of hyper-individuality at all. Even individuality does not exist. Even individuality does not exist.
21:25See, please understand. Her mother cannot bear, forget a bikini, even a skirt. Right? Her mother cannot bear wearing a
21:40skirt.
21:43She cannot bear wearing a saree. Where is freedom? Where is freedom? Mother says,
21:54Look at this crazy shit. And she says much the same thing. She mirrors the mother. She looks at the
22:03saree and says,
22:04This is slimy, elongated piece of clothing. Where is freedom? The mother is a product of her times, her tradition,
22:17her tradition, influences that operated upon her.
22:20And the daughter is a product of her times, her traditions, her influences. Where is freedom?
22:26And when there is no freedom, then you are just a collection of all that has put an imprint upon
22:35you.
22:37This condition came and stamped itself on you. That person came. That book came. That movie came.
22:44The school, the media, the peer pressure, then religion, society, culture. All those are imprinting themselves on your consciousness.
22:55And the resultant is being called as the self. Is this individuality? Is this individuality?
23:03Individuality did not exist then. It does not exist now. And that's why Vedanta and Gita are needed.
23:09They reveal your hidden individuality. Otherwise, very mistakenly, you keep on calling everything alien as self.
23:21That which you call as I. I. When you say individual, that individual says I.
23:26You know, I like this. I don't like this. I do this. I don't know. I, I, I, I.
23:30That which you call as I. There is no I-ness in it.
23:35You love cricket. Because everybody around you is playing cricket.
23:41Do you, do you love ice hockey? You don't. Because, do you love rugby? You don't.
23:48But then you say, I love cricket. No, there is no individuality in it.
23:52I love tandoori roti. I love dosa. Hmm?
23:57I love some, something else. Some staple food in Gujarat, Rajasthan, North East somewhere.
24:03Why? What, what, what individuality is there in it?
24:05I think the purpose of life is to do this, do this, get married, be your kids.
24:10Or to participate in your father's business. Or be a good housewife.
24:14Where is individuality in this?
24:17Or I saw a movie in which the protagonist was roaming around the world, hitchhiking, backpacking, all those things.
24:24I think that's the purpose of life. Where is the individuality in this?
24:27Your mother thought being a good housewife and raising kids is the purpose of life.
24:31She didn't think this. She was made to think this. It was implanted in her mind.
24:36There was no individuality. And now you think that backpacking and crisscrossing the world, that's the purpose of life.
24:42Are you an individual? This idea too has been implanted in your mind. There is no individuality.
24:47And that's the reason we need Vedant. The method there is of negation.
24:52You come to see what is not yours. These ideas, these thoughts, this personality is not me.
24:57This accent is not me. These tastes, these distastes, these are not me. These opinions are not mine at all.
25:05Even my emotions, my feelings are not mine at all. Every bit of me is conditioned.
25:09And when I see that, then for the first time there is the potential for some individuality.
25:15So, there are lots and lots of existential questions. Again, like in every generation.
25:21We are human beings. Primitive restlessness is there, just like you said.
25:24And there are existential questions. Who am I? Which the answers, an individual, I might say in that sense, in
25:35the sense of language, he or she might be seeking the answers too.
25:39How can Vedant and Gita prove to be useful? And how can they get access to it?
25:51No, they don't answer these questions. They just tell you that these questions are important.
25:58Please tell me. You look at ten people from the Gen Z sample. How many of them are actually interested
26:11in asking who am I?
26:12How many of them are actually experiencing existential angst?
26:17Maybe not in the clear form, not with clarity, but maybe these questions are…
26:22No, you ask them, fine. You ask them. Give me top ten questions that affect you or are important to
26:28you.
26:28It's unlikely that you will get deep questions like who am I, questions of identity anywhere in the list.
26:39Vedant, first of all, asks you to reconsider your questions. It does not give you answers. It asks you, are
26:47your questions important enough?
26:50Forget the answers. Are you asking even the right questions? Or is this a bogus query?
26:58You are asking something that even if answered, will not take you anywhere.
27:04It's like I have this that we are calling as primitive restlessness. And I'm asking, right, right, right.
27:10So, what's the score in the IPL match?
27:14Hello, sir. There is something else that ails you very deeply.
27:21And look at the direction of your inquiry. You're asking about where the stock market is or where the cricket
27:28match is or what a particular politician is doing.
27:30Should you even be interested in these questions? That's what Vedanta asks you. Is this the right question?
27:36You ask something and the sage will say, is this important enough to be asked?
27:42Or is there something else that's at the core of your existence and hence your suffering?
27:47That's what Vedanta does. And when you are brought to the right question, that's the ending of the one who
27:57thrived on all the nonsense and the distractions and all the false questions.
28:03See, every question is a statement of intent and importance. When I say I want to know this, I'm according
28:10importance to this.
28:13I want to know what's the price of this. In the middle of this conversation, if I say I want
28:18to know the price, then I'm saying that the price of this is more important than this conversation.
28:23So, a question is a statement of importance. Vedanta asks you, is your question important at all? Or is the
28:31thing of real importance being obfuscated behind false questions?
28:37And when you start seeing that your questions? And when you start seeing that your questions are false, then along
28:42with the false question, the false self gets exposed.
28:45Something new then reveals itself and that we can call as individuality.
28:52It's very important that first of all, this kind of badge of honour that we very unwittingly and unquestioningly award
29:10to Gen Z be withdrawn.
29:12We say, oh, they are rebels. No, they are not. We say they are individualistic. No, they are not. We
29:18say they defy authority. No, they don't.
29:20They don't. They are just following their type. They are typical. Otherwise, how would you say Gen Z? Gen Z
29:29is in itself an indication of a type. No?
29:32But the society might have given this term. I understand. You might say they are different from millennials.
29:40But among themselves, are they different from each other? No. They have only as much variance as the members of
29:47the millennial club would vary from each other. Right?
29:50So, which means they are a type. And if a people can be typified, are they individuals at all?
29:58I belong to Gen Z, so I am behaving like Gen Z. Now, where is individuality?
30:08I am behaving as per my type, as per my cultural norms, as per my times, as per my peers,
30:21as per my age. Not as per who I am. You see this.
30:27How can this be done? How can we reach this?
30:30By seeing that what you are taking as yourself is not you at all. The choice of your clothes is
30:37not yours at all. The movies that you like are not liked by you at all.
30:43The way you choose your friend or boyfriend or girlfriend, that too is a product of your situations. There is
30:50no authenticity in that.
30:53And how scary is that? Please see.
30:55But we talk a lot about authenticity. We talk about it, yes. And then you find something very shallow masquerading
31:02as authenticity.
31:04Just because I can behave in a particular way, I usurp the right to call myself authentic. This is very
31:12bogus.
31:14What is authentically authentic? By seeing what you are calling as authentic in the first place is not authentic.
31:23I love the latest flavour of pizza in town, which incidentally was recommended to me by my best friend.
31:34I love the way that particular lady in that flick was wearing those earrings or something. And now I have
31:43them upon me.
31:45Would you have them upon you? Had you not seen those things in the latest western?
31:52And then you call yourself an individual. Are you an individual in the first place?
31:57How to get them toward, if you are saying this and we are talking about being free and that we
32:06are not being free even we appear to be in so many sense.
32:12How to get them towards Vedanta or Gita? They might not be interested. Maybe they consider it something ancient as
32:22I must have previously mentioned.
32:24And something may be boring. I am not saying it in any otherwise sense.
32:30Can it become somewhat cool? Can the language be like that? Can there be something?
32:37Their definition of coolness is coming from a very uncool place.
32:41Why should Vedanta modify itself to look cool?
32:44You are uncool. First of all, you question your own sense of coolness.
32:50You are so uncool and yet you want to forcefully, deliberately, undeservedly carry that tag.
33:00I am cool, Vedanta is uncool. How the hell are you cool? I don't think you are cool.
33:05A small thing happens and you just blow up. Are you cool?
33:15A little emotional upheaval and you get into an emotional frenzy?
33:24And that might not be the case with just this generation.
33:28Every generation. Every generation. But not all generations were so intent on labeling themselves cool.
33:35This one wants to call itself cool. And I want to deny that. You are not cool.
33:43Mental problems. You have the maximum. How are you cool?
33:48A little deviation from what you think to be right or acceptable. And you cannot bear that. How are you
33:58cool?
34:01Emotionally brittle, fragile. How are you cool?
34:07One random breakup starts playing on your mind and you question life itself. How are you cool?
34:16A lot of shairi has been written.
34:18Very low class shairi. You see, there can be exalted shairi as well. But your shairi too is very uncool.
34:26And then you want to call the Gita as uncool. First of all, you question your coolness. You are not
34:31cool, sir.
34:32You are not cool. You are just following your own type, your times. And you better see that.
34:38Because if you don't, then you will be the recipient of all the nonsense of the previous generations.
34:47It's a thing of great injustice. I understand that. But you will be bearing the brunt of it.
34:53From climate change to all kinds of cultural nonsense and wars and all the nuclear accumulations, you will be inheriting
35:05it.
35:06So, the unus is on you to watch yourself and make sense of your life. Otherwise, there will be great
35:15problems.
35:17But if someone really wants to understand themselves better, self-inquiry, and they want to get…
35:25How? That's the question. How? The honest answer is, suffering itself is the method. You see, if I am not
35:34honestly admitting that I am not alright within, there can be no redemption.
35:40So, the most honest, straightforward, direct, effective answer is, no method is needed. If I am suffering, then suffering itself
35:52is the method to gain freedom from suffering.
35:55Because our inner nature is not to suffer. And when you suffer, then there must be a resistance resulting in
36:05due deliberation, realization and right action, which will relieve you of suffering.
36:11Suffering should ideally activate a cycle that ends in the obliteration of suffering. Ideally, that should happen.
36:19But if that does not happen, then what's the method we come to? Then the method is two-fold.
36:27One, read those who want to take you to that one singularly important question. What's your truth?
36:39Two, observe your own life in the light of what those books or people are telling you.
36:48But this self-enquiry also, can it be dull and maybe passive? Because when we talk about ambitions, when we
36:58talk about everything that is happening in the world, the fast pace, the hustle culture, and there are dreams and
37:05aspirations of people, and not even, not just for Gen Z, this is a reality, this is for our previous
37:12generations also.
37:13I really want to understand, can ambition in today's time and spirituality, as you teach it, as Gita says, as
37:25Vedans says, can they coexist?
37:28Your ambition is not yours. We have been taught to be ambitious about certain things. Ambition is nothing but desire
37:40inflated into a big balloon, right? Normal desire. Most of us have common desires. Then there are those whose desires
37:50know no limits. We call them ambitious.
37:54The problem is, just as those desires are not yours, but they have been implanted in you or induced in
38:00you. Similarly, your ambitions are not yours.
38:04A fellow born in a business family wants to become a business baron. A fellow born in a doctor's place
38:12wants to become a good doctor. A fellow born in a 4G family says, I'll join the army.
38:19A fellow, a fellow born in a family of actors says, oh, my future is already decided and set, I'll
38:28join the industry, film industry. Where is I-ness in ambition?
38:36There is no I-ness really. Our likes, dislikes, our love. Everything is so false, so induced, so borrowed. It's
38:49not ours. And when you see that, you realise what really needs to be done.
38:55And that's the birth of a totally different kind of energy and movement. If you want to call that as
39:02real ambition, you may. But what we normally see and call as ambition is something very false.
39:10A fellow is running after something. How has that target come to his mind in the first place? These days,
39:20the UPSC market is quite hot and also the IITJ results have been declared. We are in the month of
39:25May and June.
39:26So, you look at the advertisements of all these coaching institutes. Aren't they implanting ambition in one's mind? And then
39:37the kid or the aspirant becomes ambitious and says, my ambition. Is that your ambition? Or has that been sneaked
39:45in?
39:45Very surreptitiously, smuggled into your mind by some person who does not know any better than trying to fulfil his
39:57own false desires by implanting false desires in somebody else's mind?
40:06You look at the life of the common individual. I mean, common, you, me, everybody. How did you know something
40:14is worth wanting?
40:17It's there a way.
40:21You look at people's emotions, their expressions. You look at their hairstyle and you say, this thing is coming from
40:28that particular movie.
40:31You look at the way they wipe their tears and you are reminded of that particular scene there.
40:37You look at the way she walks. You look at the way he gives her the rose.
40:41And you know exactly where that is coming from.
40:44How is our love ours at all?
40:52Our parents, they were saying, we need to have six kids.
40:55Now you say, you know, two kids.
40:58Is that your decision really?
41:00First of all, you want to say, when you were five years old, you didn't say you want to have
41:03kids.
41:05Then your body decided it for you.
41:07You come to a particular age, you say, I want sex.
41:10Do you want sex or is it your body or your hormones?
41:13You say, I am getting angry.
41:15One shot of tranquilizer and the anger is gone.
41:18Was it your anger at all or was it a very chemical thing?
41:21What is yours in the first place?
41:23That begs the question, who am I?
41:26But we don't want to confront it.
41:27And all coolness is about confronting that question.
41:31That's the coolness I want to bring Gen Z to and all Gens.
41:38And this thing, you have just talked about the influence.
41:44Your hair, it's not yours.
41:46The style you are, even the style you are wiping your tears off.
41:50And it comes, the whole influencer culture is making headlines all the time.
41:59People are constantly talking about it.
42:03Influencers are the new celebrities and a lot of Gen Z, they are involved in this.
42:12Now, if we divide, see real ambition, like the ultimate cooler being, maybe someone who is confronting the questions that
42:22we just discussed.
42:23Can there be levels?
42:27That's it.
42:29We are not talking of an absolute jump from the earth to the sky.
42:33Obviously, there are levels.
42:35There is a progression.
42:37So, how do you see that? Can you define it a bit?
42:40Depends on the intensity of your courage.
42:45You see, on one side there is the love for truth and freedom resides in each one of us.
42:53On the other side there is the attachment and habituation to comfort and security.
43:01These two sides are there and in the middle of these two, you sit.
43:06And you have to decide which of these two is more important.
43:11The decision is all yours.
43:13And the progression depends on the progress of your decision.
43:18You can decide, I want comfort, I want security, of which you obviously get none.
43:23But it seems like something attainable by following a hackneyed route.
43:31That there will be no progression, I want comfort.
43:34If you want comfort, then you stay in your old position that you are habituated to.
43:38Or you could say, I love freedom, I love truth, I love authenticity.
43:43And then you progress.
43:45As you progress, there is greater potential but also greater challenge.
43:49How far you go is totally a decision you make.
43:57We also talk about meeting people where they are.
44:03And we feel the lack of empathy, maybe love.
44:10And then there are so many conflicts, maybe the conflicts that are not even necessary.
44:20How should one deal with that?
44:24When someone is being, for example, in the previous times, if someone is leaving for the jungle and the society
44:32might label them as black sheep or something of the family in those terms, if you talk about it.
44:39Now, real rebellion, how would it look like for the current generation and maybe for our generation, maybe for the
44:47previous generation?
44:48How can they break those ties?
44:52If I say it would look like this, I am giving you a blueprint or a road map.
44:58And anybody who follows a blueprint or a map is not rebellious at all.
45:06Which means we can never know in advance what real rebellion looks like.
45:12When you say I want to be like that, then you have already surrendered your rebellion.
45:19Have you not?
45:21So it doesn't look like any particular thing.
45:25It is a fresh thing in itself.
45:29And we need not concern ourselves too much with what it would result in.
45:36What the baby would look like five years down the line.
45:41No.
45:43We have to concern ourselves with what exists today.
45:48And what exists today is no good.
45:52The proof is that I am internally unhealthy.
45:56I am afraid.
45:58Fear is such a great indicator.
46:01I am possessive.
46:04I am jealous.
46:07I am partisan.
46:09And there are so many things I can mention to decorate myself with.
46:15No.
46:16I am all of these.
46:19And that's not good.
46:21I honestly say I do not want to remain in this place.
46:25That's where one starts from.
46:27One does not ask, what's the place I would come to?
46:30One says, what certain is, I am not born to remain here.
46:38Let the journey start.
46:41What this journey would make of me?
46:45Where it would make me reach?
46:49All that is not too big a concern.
46:51We will see.
46:53We will see.
46:54We are not bothered about the result.
46:56What certain is, what exists today, within me, without me, is just not acceptable.
47:06That's rebellion.
47:07And not acceptable, not because of my prejudices.
47:11Not because of my likes and dislikes.
47:14But because of the falseness it has.
47:18Its inability to stand to my questions.
47:22Something exists.
47:23I do not want to blindly, summarily, just reject it.
47:28I ask a decent, innocent question.
47:30And instead of a process of inquiry, what I get is resistance.
47:42What I get is angry stares.
47:45Or what I get is fear from the other side.
47:48Then I know there is something fishy.
47:52If my inner situation or if those around me cannot stand well-intentioned questions,
48:01then there is a problem.
48:03Definitely there is a problem.
48:04And that should encourage me to ask deeper questions.
48:09That's how real rebellion starts.
48:13Real rebellion starts with inquiry.
48:16I want to know.
48:17I am a human being.
48:18I am not an animal.
48:19Animals do not ask questions.
48:21At least not too many of them.
48:23But to be human is to be inquisitive.
48:26To be human is to have a hunger to know.
48:31I want to know why you want me to behave in such way.
48:36No, no, no, no.
48:37I am not confronting you.
48:38I am not disrespecting you.
48:39I want to know.
48:40Please tell me.
48:41Let's initiate a discussion.
48:43And if there can be no discussion,
48:45that's further proof there is a problem.
48:50That's how the process starts.
48:52You cannot have a roadmap.
48:54You cannot have a vision for the future.
48:57You cannot say, I want to reach that particular place.
49:01Instead, you have to come back to yourself and ask, this is the way I am living.
49:06This is how I get up.
49:07This is the place I go to.
49:08This is how I earn my livelihood.
49:10This is the person I relate to.
49:12This is the person I have married.
49:14This is the person I intend to marry.
49:16These are the kids I begot.
49:18What exactly is going on?
49:22And I am already, what, 15, 25, 45, whatever.
49:26You are Gen Z, so maybe you are.
49:28Gen Z is what, 15, 20, 22, whatever, 25.
49:33Irrespective of how old I am or how young I am,
49:36I have, let's say, a maximum a few more decades to live.
49:39What am I to make of them if I do not know what is time?
49:45And time is slipping away.
49:47These are the questions that should concern a sane human being.
49:53A sane human being.
49:54This is the basic requirement.
49:57Otherwise, you are not even a human being.
49:59Otherwise, you are some kind of automaton.
50:02A machine or an animal.
50:05Just viling away time.
50:06And one day you will drop dead.
50:11You get this.
50:13We just get up.
50:14Then we proceed to the washroom.
50:16We brush our teeth.
50:17Then the usual chores.
50:19And now we are all decked up.
50:21And then we pull out the car.
50:22And we drive away to the office.
50:24And then there are the usual responsibilities.
50:27And we somehow fulfill them.
50:30Some of that is relegated to somebody else.
50:34Office gossip.
50:36There is bitching.
50:37Political maneuvers.
50:38Some amount of solid work as well.
50:41And then you look at this and say the time to go back.
50:45And then you return.
50:46And then you buy something.
50:49Or you watch TV.
50:50Or you say I have a late night show.
50:52And you proceed to the shopping mall.
50:56Where is any bit of inquiry in this?
50:59Where is thought?
51:00What are you doing?
51:02What were you doing five years back?
51:04How did you come to this point?
51:06Had you been asked?
51:08Let me put it this way.
51:10Ten years back, had you been asked?
51:13Is this the life that you want to lead?
51:15Ten years back were you shown a snapshot of how you are living it today.
51:20Would you agree to it?
51:22Probably not.
51:23How did you come to it then?
51:25You didn't decide.
51:26If you didn't decide, who decided for you?
51:29Whose commands are we obeying?
51:31Asking this question is rebellion.
51:33The beginning of it.
51:39But the depth you are talking about, the deeper questions that we need to ask.
51:44And the culture we are in currently.
51:48The distracted reality, the stimulated reality.
51:52The 15 second depth is there.
51:56But those 15 seconds can be an Acharya Prasanth real?
52:03A little bit of vanity is always pleasurable.
52:08It's not about 15 seconds.
52:10All that Siddharth, Siddharth Gautam, all that he got, was what you would call today, is a screenshot.
52:27Not in 15 seconds.
52:30One second.
52:32A screen grab.
52:36A moment.
52:38Because he was just passing by.
52:42There is a dead man, there is an ailing man, there is an old man.
52:45And that sufficed.
52:47It's not about the length of time.
52:49It's about the depth of your honesty.
52:52And he was going somewhere to have good fun and pleasure, celebrate.
52:56There was some youth festival.
52:58So goes the story.
52:59And he was a young man, he was 28.
53:01He was off to celebrate.
53:06So here you are.
53:07Let's say with a bunch of friends or your girlfriend, somebody.
53:11When you are driving away to watch a hot movie.
53:18Full of excitement, stimulation, just as you said.
53:22Don't you see how the roads are?
53:29Don't you see what's happening to the dogs and the cows?
53:34Don't you look at the beggar?
53:35And just as you are about to experience mercy,
53:40you see cunningness in the eyes of the beggar.
53:45My question is don't you see?
53:47It's there.
53:47How can you not see?
53:54It's there.
53:55It's not about the length of time.
53:57You are passing by.
53:59These are all images coming to you and disappearing,
54:07dissolving, one after the other,
54:09apparently unlinked and yet having a common source.
54:15A sequence of mirages.
54:17It is all there.
54:20How can one not see?
54:24You look at the screen.
54:26Don't you see how the script writer and the director and the actors have tried to fool you?
54:31Don't you see how the whole thing is constructed to exploit you?
54:37I mean, there you can't even say I was looking the other way.
54:41You are looking at the screen, right?
54:43You are looking at the screen.
54:44That's the way you are sitting.
54:45There is a screen there.
54:48And it's obvious that the whole thing has been fabricated to make a fool of you.
54:52Don't you see?
54:54And instead of seeing you say, I allowed that to influence me.
54:59How is it possible?
55:01It's a decision.
55:04It's not a random happening.
55:07It's a choice.
55:09And if you are choosing this to happen,
55:12then nobody can interfere.
55:15It has to start with you.
55:17It has to start with your own clenched fist.
55:22I will not let life slip away like this.
55:29On this note, what would you like to say to our Gen Z audience who might be watching this?
55:35And yeah, how can they start making this clenched fist right now?
55:41You are not Gen Z or any fancy thing.
55:44You are human beings with that primitive restlessness.
55:48So drop this fancy tag.
55:50Gen Z and all.
55:52Behave like normal human beings.
55:56You are nobody special.
55:58Nobody is any special.
56:02Let's get down to work.
56:04You have just repeated my mother's words.
56:06You are not special.
56:08Behave like one.
56:10Thank you so much Acharya Prashant for shedding light on these topics.
56:14A lot of things we have discussed and I think we have got a new definition of what's school.
56:22Thank you so much.
56:23And thank you to our audience.
56:25We'll meet next time in the next episode.
56:29Till then, keep watching.
56:31Keep getting enlightened.
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