Questioner: Namaste Acharya Ji. My name is Akshat and my question is about influencers and activists, I generally find on social media. So generally they are quite narcissistic and it's not about the cause. It's about making them appear like good and better than others. So my question is can someone like this still do something good for the world? And I also find myself….
Acharya Prashant: Please clarify. What is it about influencers that intrigues you?
Questioner: I mean they are narcissists in a way. It's not about the cause.
Acharya Prashant: Yes, they are narcissists and….
Questioner: And so it's not about the cause but they act like it's about the cause. So my question is, still they're doing something like the action is happening; so can someone like this still do any good for the world?
Acharya Prashant: I don't know how you would want to define it and name it. Somebody is delivering you medicine diluted to the extent of 90%. Because his objective does not lie in delivering you the medicine. His objective lies in having the maximum possible for himself. I do not know whether you would call it service or exploitation. Not that he is not delivering you anything. Well, he's delivering you something. But delivering this something is a compulsion so that he can appropriate almost everything.
If he does not leave even 10% for you, it will become impossible for him to gobble the 90%. Depends on how you want to name it. Service, appropriation, exploitation, fraud, Nishkam Karma’, depends on you. See, how can somebody exploit you without offering you something at least? Even a fish has to be offered some bait, before it is killed. So let's call that social service.
Bait too costs money. The fellow is spending money for the sake of the fish. As a rule, somebody who is still insecure about his own life can hardly be of any good to others. Somebody who still is afraid about his own security has no capacity to love. If you're insecure about yourself, how are you going to love others? You can only exploit others. Your primary concern will be your own welfare because your own internal affairs are not yet settled.
So you look at others with an eye to using them. It's an interesting word. Influencer.
You become an influencer. And then you become a carrier of deodorant ads and stretchable shirts. That's what you use your influence for.
Why does one want to become a celebrity? So that he can be used to sell things to people. What else is your celebrity ship for? Tell me please. You aspire to be an Instagram sensation. You become one. What do you do then? What do you do? You start selling deodorants.
Your foundation happens to have a large number of followers on all social media. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and the like. So not a day is there when we do not receive five emails requesting some slot on any of our social media. And the fellows are such idiots. They overestimate your foundation so much.
One of them was prepared, would you believe it, to pay $80,000, US dollars for a single post on our social media. I'm damn sure, he would have received very feeble returns on his investment. But somehow people are foolish enough to think that your foundation is influential and that the foundation will use its influence to make its followers buy deodorants. And not all of that has to be out in the open. You can sell in a very subtle way.
You know, Acharya Ji can come here, and there can be some particular brand displayed here (pointing to a glass). Often I have to wear horrible outfits, particularly shirts just because the one that I like has the name or the logo of the manufacturer prominently displayed here on the chest. Now, even if the shirt fits well and is very comfortable, I cannot wear it because I'm not supposed to bring ads to you. But that would be so easy. You all won't even realize it that you have been unconsciously being indoctrinated into buying a particular brand.
One particular logo here (pointing to his chest), that's very common. You won't even blame me. You'll say, 'He is wearing a shirt. Can't even wear shirts?' Now that's what you become an influencer for. And these are small things. Selling merchandise.
And at least two major political parties in India; 2024—they are behind your foundation. Behind your foundation—not in the sense of backing your foundation, in the sense of chasing your foundation. Please, please somehow endorse us. Suddenly some top leaders have become admirers of the Gita. Acharya Ji, we want to learn Gita from you.
So I said, you come over and learn Gita from me. He said, "No, but the camera will be there, right?" I said, "What will you do with the camera? You want to learn the Gita? Come and learn the Gita. I'm all yours." Said, "No, let there be a camera." I said, "Fine, there will be a camera."
Maybe he wants to record it for future revision. I said yes, there will be a camera. So he said, right now, you will upload that. I will ask you questions, you reply to me and then you please upload it. I said why do you want it to be uploaded? You want to learn the Gita? Why do you demonstrate it to the public? That's what you become an influencer for.
Your foundation can easily get a lot of political backing. People are meant to be sold. Followers are meant to be traded like sheep. I have 50 million followers. What do I do with them? I trade them. Just that when I meet them, I say, "Oh, muaah, I love you all." And then what do I do? I go and sell them behind their back.
Narcissism is not something to be surprised by. Man's default state is narcissism. Sir, what else can the ego possibly be? Who is a narcissist who just keeps thinking of himself? And if you are afraid, what else will you do? You'll keep thinking of your own security.
The ego by definition is a narcissist. Rare is the one who is not a narcissist. Just that some are openly narcissistic. The others pretend to be social creatures, social servants. amiable, altruistic. The ego cannot be altruistic. Impossible.
If a fellow looks very generous without being self-aware, then that generosity is a façade behind which there would be loot and plunder.
It's a good way to enter somebody's home before ransacking it—pretend that you are generous and are coming to give. He will open the doors.
To me, it is a surprise that people are surprised when they see evil. I want you to be surprised so frequently that you cease being surprised. Because you don't know that you are evil, so you don't know that others are evil. Three quarters of all animals, you wiped out from the face of this planet in just the last five decades, and you still think humanity has even a shred of goodness about it?
Come on. Now, what I'm saying is unpalatable because it will make you question your idols, your role models, the deities you worship. If you cannot put your idols and your deities in the dock, you'll never be liberated.
Questioner: Thank you sir.