Text or Call? || Acharya Prashant (2023)

Acharya Prashant

Full Video: Cellphone addiction and loss of self-esteem || Acharya Prashant, at Cummins College, Nagpur (2022) Link:    • Cellphone addiction and loss of self-...    ➖➖➖➖➖➖  ‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...   Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...   Read 3 handpicked wisdom articles, just for you: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articl...  ➖➖➖➖➖➖  Video Information: 11.11.22, Cummins College, Nagpur  Context: ~ Does cell-phone addiction lead to self-esteem? ~ How to deal with cell-phone addiction? ~ Are the current generation heavily dependent on cell-phones? ~ How to build real and long-lasting relationship with people? ~ Is face-to-face conversation better than texting? ~ Can technology replace humans?  Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~

Transcript

00:00Internet or Google come as a handy support, a backup. If you do not know what

00:12to do or how to respond, you can rely on them. But in real life, real-time

00:18situations, that doesn't happen. You cannot depend on Google to respond to

00:24someone who is standing right in front of you, right? So this is something

00:30you must be cautious of. It's a phenomena widely experienced. Technology cannot be

00:44a substitute for real-life interaction and planned statements or responses can

00:57never carry the authenticity of something that is spontaneous.

01:03Communication through text appears safer but is also duller. It does not carry the

01:20warmth and liveliness of a face-to-face thing and it can become a habit to hide

01:30behind text, right? Do not let that become a habit. That habit simply means fear. Do

01:43not protect fear. If there is something that cannot be said face-to-face, ask

01:52yourself, does it deserve to be said in writing? The same phone that you use to

02:04text people can also be used to talk and it's not as if texting necessarily saves

02:14time. You can get into an endless exchange of text messages and that can

02:21go on for two hours. Does that not happen? Text, text, text, text, text, text. And when

02:29you are not texting, you are waiting for the other's text and WhatsApp is showing

02:39Rajiv is typing and you are waiting, what is he typing, what is he typing, what is

02:47he typing? Even before he has pressed the send button, you are already shadow boxing.

02:57You have already come up with five possible options. This is what he might be writing

03:05and if he writes this, I'll reply this way. How is that saving time? Please tell me. There can

03:14be instances when text can save time. Yes, obviously. So, you don't want to go through

03:20the entire process of ringing someone up and it's not worth it. So, you simply write two

03:25words and get done with it. So, that is all okay. But if a matter can be finished off

03:35in two minutes, five minutes, directly by conversing with that person, either face-to-face

03:42or on call. What is the need to hide behind text? Similarly, what is the need to hide

03:52behind knowledge? External knowledge, I mean, Google knowledge. Those who have known have

04:02said that you know only when you live. Your knowledge is your knowledge only if you are

04:13living that knowledge. If knowing does not become being, then there is no knowing. Knowing

04:27must turn into being. Can Google knowledge turn into your being? You can quickly Google

04:37something and spit out the fact or the information and be done with it. It will not become your life.

04:46It will not get into the depth of your mind. Won't help much. Use technology to your advantage.

04:57Do not use it to handicap yourself. Technology must be used to do what you cannot do. Technology

05:13must not become a substitute for what you already can healthily do. If I have the benefit of

05:27technology, what should I develop for myself? A car or a crutch? Crutch, you understand? What is

05:43a crutch? The things that you use to assist yourself in walking, baisakhi. Now, you have

05:53these two feet already, but they cannot take you at 60 kmph. So, let technology give you a car.

06:03The car is furthering your power now. It is furthering your ability. These two legs cannot

06:13take you beyond the speed. Instead, if you use technology to develop very advanced crutches

06:23with AI and feel proud of it, what have you done to yourself? Instead of augmenting the

06:33capacity of the legs, you have debilitated the legs. Maybe with your legs you were able to go

06:42at least at 10 kmph. Now, with the assistance of technology, you are going at 2 kmph. Now,

06:52that brings us back to the fundamental question of who is the user of technology and that is

06:58where internal liberation lies. No technology will be of use if you are internally not free,

07:08not luminous. Whatsoever is given to you, you will use it to your own disadvantage. You have

07:17heard the old story of the monkey with the sword. Right? Those were bygone times. So,

07:30all that the monkey could have was a sword. But these are times of advanced technology.

07:36The monkey can have an ICBM tipped with a nuclear weapon. What will the monkey do? The

07:51monkey has been given great technology. What will the monkey use it for? The same thing that his

08:02ancestral monkey used it for. What was the sword used for? The monkey was given the sword. Actually,

08:12he picked it up. Did he use it for any creative purpose? If we remain monkeys within,

08:26whatsoever comes to us, powers, rights, knowledge, technology, we will use it to

08:35our own detriment, our own destruction. But we don't understand this. We think just because

08:42we have something, it is for the better. No, not necessarily. It all depends on who you are and

08:53that's the central Vedantic question. Who are you? If you are not right, whatsoever you have,

09:00will be just wrong for you. First of all, you have to be right within and then whatever you

09:10have can be used rightly. You go back to the epics. You think of all the classical villains,

09:25Ravan, Kans, Duryodhan, Hiranyakashyap. They had a lot. Ravan was the superpower of his times.

09:39Lanka of gold, so much weaponry as well and he had a lot of knowledge too. Hiranyakashyap too

09:53had a lot. He had been gifted with blessings. Duryodhan was so powerful. The question is,

10:11what were these people using their power and knowledge and money for? Were they villains

10:20because they didn't have anything? Why are they still remembered as the topmost baddies? Why?

10:31Because they didn't have much? No, they had a lot but were operating whatever they had from a bad

10:43center. So, it's the center within that means everything. If the center is false,

10:52then all technological progress will simply mean climate change, extinction of species,

11:01actually the sixth mass extinction phase in which we have already entered. Now,

11:09this kind of mass extinction could not have happened to the caveman, to the ancient man.

11:17Why? Because he didn't have technology. Internally we have remained that same old caveman but

11:26additionally today that caveman has a lot of technology and power. So, he has used that

11:35technology, that power just to finish himself off.

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