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अपनी ज़िंदगी तो देख लो, दूसरों पर तांकझांक करने से पहले || आचार्य प्रशांत (2024)
217.3K views
1 year ago
Vlogging
Self-knowledge
Privacy
Social Media
Youth
Misinformation
Self-respect
Kabir Saheb
Description

Acharya Prashant responds to a question about the addiction to watching vlogs, particularly among young people. He begins by defining vlogging as showing one's own life and questions why anyone would be interested in watching someone else's life when their own is just as, if not more, eventful. He suggests that if a person's true life were to be vlogged, it would be a superhit, but people tend to hide their lives even from themselves. He criticizes the content of many vlogs, such as showing off new cars, which he sees as an attempt to establish superiority and make others feel inferior. He questions the need to bow down to someone just because they are a 'big man'. The speaker delves into the concept of privacy, stating that vlogging culture implies that nothing is private anymore. He describes how vloggers intrude into people's lives, take their pictures, and then display them to make money. This act of making everything public is a sign of a lack of a true, private self, or Atma. He argues that a person with self-respect and dignity would not tolerate the public display of someone else's private life, nor would they engage in such voyeurism. He connects the desire to watch others' lives to a lack of self-knowledge (Atma-gyan). Instead of watching others, one should watch their own life, which is the path to self-awareness. Addressing the influence on children, Acharya Prashant gives an example of a child being influenced by a vegan vlogger to the point of memorizing slogans like 'Cow milk is for cow baby' and believing that coconut and almond milk are for humans. He criticizes teachers who might promote such content, questioning their credibility. He asserts that the biggest danger for the youth today is the spread of misinformation and disinformation through digital media. The solution, he proposes, lies in an education system that teaches self-knowledge and the critical skill of identifying false information. He concludes by stating that a person is truly alive not just because they have life force (prana), but when they possess consciousness and privacy (nijta), which are aspects of the Self (Atma).