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Have the guts to question everything || Acharya Prashant, at Mithibai College, Mumbai (2022)
12.6K views
2 years ago
Work-Life Integration
Student Life
Purposeful Living
Self-Inquiry
Love
Confidence
Legacy
Balance
Description

Acharya Prashant addresses a student's question about balancing social and academic life by advising to unify them instead. He points out that people often have separate groups of friends for studying and for enjoyment, a separation he deems not great. He suggests having people in one's social life who do not detract from academic pursuits. The ideal is a unification where one's social life becomes a shadow of their academic life, or vice versa. The academic environment, with its classes and labs, is already interactive and should itself become one's social environment. This principle of unification is extended to professional and personal life. Acharya Prashant explains the difference between balancing and unifying. Balancing implies two opposing things, where neither can achieve completion, resulting in a 50-50 compromise and incompletion on both sides. This leads to a life where one endures a torturous job for a salary and then seeks a "stress-buster" on weekends. Life, he states, is meant for having 100% of what matters, not a 50% compromise. The goal is to integrate life to the point where "every day is a Sunday, and every Sunday is a working day," meaning one enjoys their work so much it feels like a holiday. In response to another question, he emphasizes that progress cannot happen without self-doubt and self-inquiry. He advises youngsters to be skeptical, especially of themselves, as this fosters humility and introspection. The result of such inquiry will be auspicious, which is higher than merely desirable. When asked about his legacy, Acharya Prashant says he wants his words and himself to disappear. He explains that if he has succeeded, his teachings will no longer be needed, just as a cured patient no longer needs medicine. The disappearance of the medicine is proof of its success.