Video Information: 25.03.23, Vedant Mahotsav, Rishikesh
📋 Video Chapters:
0:00 Introduction: Krishna's Struggles in Gita
3:34 Setting High Standards for Girls
6:42 Guiding Daughters with Enriching Materials
9:36 The Danger of Superficial Role Models
10:32 Recommendations for Female Role Models in Literature and History
Description:
Acharya Ji emphasized the importance of setting high standards for young girls by introducing them to meaningful role models, such as accomplished women from history, literature, and sports. He highlighted that when young girls are exposed to exemplary figures, they develop disdain for superficial societal pressures, like seeking validation through relationships or appearances. He warned against the influence of mediocre but dominant peers who can mislead teenagers into wrong life decisions.
Acharya Ji advised parents to actively guide their daughters toward enriching books, documentaries, and stories of inspiring women to help them focus on their passions and achieve their potential.
🎧 Listen to Acharya Prashant on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/2QmVEAAnsNE7Xs0MW0Li8Y?si=09fbcbc7c99c469b
📋 Video Chapters:
0:00 Introduction: Krishna's Struggles in Gita
3:34 Setting High Standards for Girls
6:42 Guiding Daughters with Enriching Materials
9:36 The Danger of Superficial Role Models
10:32 Recommendations for Female Role Models in Literature and History
Description:
Acharya Ji emphasized the importance of setting high standards for young girls by introducing them to meaningful role models, such as accomplished women from history, literature, and sports. He highlighted that when young girls are exposed to exemplary figures, they develop disdain for superficial societal pressures, like seeking validation through relationships or appearances. He warned against the influence of mediocre but dominant peers who can mislead teenagers into wrong life decisions.
Acharya Ji advised parents to actively guide their daughters toward enriching books, documentaries, and stories of inspiring women to help them focus on their passions and achieve their potential.
🎧 Listen to Acharya Prashant on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/2QmVEAAnsNE7Xs0MW0Li8Y?si=09fbcbc7c99c469b
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Pranam Acharyaji. I am the father of a high school daughter. The pressure that she feels
00:07is that some of the other girls are more better in, I am unable to come up with the word Adai.
00:17If I do not know what kind of highness is possible, then any kind of lowness will become
00:23the gold standard for me. The danger is very real. Some Pari will become her idol. I want
00:31to be like Pari. And then she will drop her dancing, her sports, her recitation, her poems,
00:37her elocution, her passion, everything she will drop and she will just start chasing
00:41boyfriends so that she can stand up to somebody like Pari. I call these nodes of evil. They
00:47are not too many, but they are highly influential. Pranam Acharyaji. I am the father of a high
00:58school daughter and I have just one daughter. And probably I have tried to raise her exactly
01:06on the lines that you have always told me. She is very good at studies. She is a fantastic
01:14dancer. She completed her Arrangetram and graduated in Bharatanatyam already. She is
01:22in her high school basketball team. She knows how to play musical instruments. She wins
01:31poem competitions every year in her school and amongst all the regional school districts.
01:39She was recently selected into one of the top high schools by clearing an entrance exam.
01:48And you won't believe the pressure she has because in the school that she was selected,
01:54there are more girls than boys actually. So the ratio is a little squid. And the pressure
02:02that she feels is that some of the other girls are more better in, I am unable to come up with
02:11the word Adai, that the other girls have boyfriends in there, but she is more focused in all of that
02:20thing. And how do I convince my daughter, I would say, how do I raise my daughter so that she
02:26doesn't feel that pressure even though she is doing better in all the life. And second thing
02:32is just related exactly to that is how women are unable to do is, think about it, at the same time
02:41when the soccer World Cup was happening last year, everybody was glued only to the men's Argentina
02:48in cricket team and how Messi was playing, which is great. I am not against Messi here. But at the
02:54same time, the Indian women's cricket team was also doing really well. And nobody was discussing
03:01that at all. And I feel sometimes it is not, I feel that women themselves do not watch whether
03:09it is women's cricket or women's basketball or any of the women's sports. The day when women will
03:15start watching women's sports and support women's sports activities, they themselves will do well.
03:22So, there are two questions, one at the generic level and one at a personal example level,
03:29that's what my question was. You see, the standards have to be set very high.
03:37It's like when you exercise with 15 kg weights, after that the 5 kg ones, just stop mattering.
03:58The standards have been raised. Similarly, she has to be introduced to women who really are
04:10worthy of being remembered. And then her internal standards will rise to a point where she'll stop
04:19caring for the stylos and the hipsters. Otherwise, if she feels that these are the only ones available
04:32in her world to compare herself against, obviously she'll feel left behind or disadvantaged.
04:43So, standards have to be very very high. And why must you allow your environment to dictate your standards?
04:51Let those standards come from books and documentaries and videos and other places. Books primarily.
04:59If she, for example, spends an entire week reading the life story of Marie Curie, how after that will
05:11she afford to give respect to a certain, let's say, Pari. Pari in her class, who is a dimwit from here,
05:26but is fantastically regarded because of her body and her style and her dressing and her boyfriends.
05:36After you have been with Curie, how will you respect Pari?
05:44That's the thing. That's why education is the real thing. Give her real solid role models
05:53and then she will become not just disregardful, but disdainful of all these typical teenagers.
06:12That's what. If I do not know what kind of highness is possible, then any kind of lowness will become the gold standard for me.
06:24That's why reading is so important. Otherwise, anybody in your environment will come and influence you and boss you from within.
06:35And it happens a lot in school and in college. Some local kind of stud just becomes the dominant hero.
06:50And who is he? Worthless chap. But he can take away a very large chunk of your mind and life.
06:59We all know of these people from our college days, don't we? Some random worthless fellow.
07:05But he dominates the scene in the school, in the college, in the university and he dominates it so much
07:12that he can influence a lot of his batch mates to take wrong kinds of decisions.
07:24Inductive effect, no? One wrong role model, one very mediocre but powerful,
07:32mediocre but powerful and attractive and glitzy.
07:37And this fellow becomes the impression creator, the goal setter and he induces a lot of batch mates
07:50into the wrong kind of attitudes, lifestyle and ultimately wrong life decisions.
07:56And that can be taken care of very easily. Just give your daughter the right role models.
08:04Give her great books. See what her preferred mode of assimilation is.
08:11If it's visual, take her to the right documentaries, the right movies.
08:16See how she likes to absorb information and give that to her.
08:20Give that to her. And there are just so many names.
08:25We have talked of them frequently even on AP Circle.
08:31Women worth respecting, women worth even worshipping.
08:37And they exist, they have existed in history.
08:40Why must we not take note of them? Why must we not introduce those glorious women to our daughters?
08:47But that's not being done. Mainstream education is not doing that.
08:51Alright, let fathers and mothers do that.
08:56Otherwise the danger is very real.
09:00Some Pari will become her idol.
09:04I want to be like Pari. And then she will drop her dancing, her sports, her recitation, her poems, her elocution,
09:11her passion, everything she will drop and she will just start chasing boyfriends.
09:15So that she can stand up to somebody like Pari.
09:23I call these nodes of evil.
09:27They are not too many but they are highly influential.
09:33They set the bar.
09:38They have to be fought against.
09:40And they can be very young.
09:43Typically we don't want to associate the word evil with a teenager.
09:49But the reality is, yes, even teenagers can be evil.
09:53A 15 year old can be evil.
09:57That does not mean that the 15 year old has to be killed.
10:00That means that he has to be corrected.
10:02Maybe as parents, you and her mother, you need to sit together and first of all figure out
10:13who are the names you must introduce your daughter to.
10:21Is she reading something from Sarojini Naidu?
10:24If she is interested in Hindi,
10:28has she been brought to Mahashweta Devi or Mahadevi Verma?
10:35The names are comparatively fewer when it comes to women.
10:40Fewer but they still exist, don't they?
10:45For 10 male poets, you will have 4 female poets as well and 4 is sufficient.
10:51You introduce her to these 4.
10:54You have freedom fighters, you have scientists, you have politicians, you have sports persons.
11:00In all walks of human activity, you do have women role models.
11:06And young girls must be introduced to them.
11:09Otherwise they will simply chase boyfriends just as boys chase girlfriends.
11:15And they will dress up and try to act adult and get into all kinds of nonsense.
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