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If Vivekanand comes alive today, this is what he faces || Acharya Prashant, at BITS Goa (2023)
Bharat
525 views
2 years ago
Conditioning
Superstition
Self-inquiry
Vedanta
Youth
Biological maturity
Subjective beliefs
Consumption
Description

Acharya Prashant discusses the unique state of youth, noting that biological maturity occurs rapidly, granting energy and responsibility before one has gathered sufficient life experience. He argues that because formal education fails to address inner development, the energy of the youth is often misdirected by social, cultural, and biological conditioning. This vulnerability was present during Swami Vivekananda's time and remains a constant human condition because biology shapes the youth in the same way across generations. He explains that Swami Vivekananda’s primary mission was to challenge the conditioning of his era, which then manifested as physical weakness, illiteracy, and a sense of defeat. While Swami Vivekananda advocated for physical strength, his deeper goal was to dismantle the belief systems that made people feel inferior or helpless. Today, while the youth may be physically stronger and more literate, they remain deeply conditioned by different forces. The speaker emphasizes that the work of a spiritual revolutionary is to bring the truth by helping individuals get rid of their inner patterns and false beliefs. Acharya Prashant identifies modern superstitions as being subjective rather than objective. While science has debunked external myths, it cannot easily address internal beliefs such as the pursuit of happiness through consumption or the reliance on technology for redemption. He points out that the youth today are often head-strong and overly confident in their conditioning, which prevents them from engaging in sincere self-inquiry. This confidence in ignorance is what makes the challenges of the current age even more difficult to tackle than those of the past. The speaker challenges the audience to question what they consider obvious or commonsensical, such as standard career paths or the desire for fame. He asserts that true truth lies in dropping false patterns and beliefs acquired by chance or ignorance. He concludes that the first step toward genuine maturity is acknowledging that one's beliefs are likely false and potentially dangerous to one's life. By recognizing the biological tendency of the brain to cling to cheap beliefs, one can begin the process of genuine inquiry.