A B.Tech student, currently in his third year, expresses his confusion. He feels that his decision to pursue engineering was not his own but a result of external pressures, and now he is facing a similar pattern with upcoming job placements and further studies like an MBA or M.Tech. He asks Acharya Prashant if the hope he holds for a better future is merely a continuation of this same pattern. Acharya Prashant responds by advising that one must first understand what can be known. While the future is not entirely predictable, one should not ignore the foreseeable consequences of their choices. He uses an analogy: if you board a bus going to Mumbai, you cannot hope to reach Delhi. The future will be a repetition of the past if the decision-maker does not change. To expect different results from the same actions is futile. He distinguishes between two kinds of hope. One is constructive hope, which stems from right living and leads to self-improvement. The other is a destructive, blind hope that expects new results without any change in oneself. This blind hope is a form of self-deception, like believing you will read two chapters tomorrow when you cannot even read one today. The person who made the decision to do B.Tech is the same person who will now decide on an MBA or M.Sc. If the person remains the same, the quality of the decision and its outcome will also be the same. Acharya Prashant emphasizes that the future will only be different from the past if the individual himself changes. He challenges the idea that a revolutionary decision can come from an unreformed person. The issue is not the choice itself—be it B.Tech or an MBA—but the chooser. He uses the analogy of a mirror, explaining that a truth-teller reflects one's reality. If one is not ready to face their own flaws, they will blame the mirror. Quoting Rumi, he says, "How will you ever be polished if you are offended by every rub?" To change, one must be willing to face uncomfortable truths. He concludes by stating that the problem is not the specific educational path but the person making the decision. To break the cycle of making flawed choices, one must change oneself. If you are no longer the person who was deceived at the time of choosing B.Tech, you will not be deceived again when choosing your next step. The focus must be on changing the decision-maker, and then all decisions will naturally become right.
