Full Video: Do Indians respect excellence? An inside story || Acharya Prashant, with IIT-Ropar (2023)
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y3f77y07qQ&t=0s
Video Information: 25.01.2023, IIT-Ropar, Greater Noida
Context:
~ Why don't Indians go after excellence?
~ Why are Indians so eager to settle?
~ Is ambition childish?
~ How important is philosophy or thought?
~ Why are Indians so emotional?
~ What happens when a commoner emulates a sage?
Music Credits: Milind Date
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y3f77y07qQ&t=0s
Video Information: 25.01.2023, IIT-Ropar, Greater Noida
Context:
~ Why don't Indians go after excellence?
~ Why are Indians so eager to settle?
~ Is ambition childish?
~ How important is philosophy or thought?
~ Why are Indians so emotional?
~ What happens when a commoner emulates a sage?
Music Credits: Milind Date
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00 India just stopped thinking. India stopped being original.
00:06 We bypassed the mind. The thing is, please appreciate the cardinal mistake.
00:16 Even to go beyond the mind, you have to first of all use the mind to the fullest.
00:22 There is no other way. You cannot just arbitrarily drop the mind.
00:28 To go beyond life, first of all you have to go fully through life.
00:36 As they say, the way through is the way out.
00:46 We don't think. We believe. We are one of the most superstitious people.
00:52 Look at the number of gurus and babas proliferating and prospering.
01:02 Think of India's share in intellectual property generation.
01:09 How much original work is happening here? But we love to copy.
01:14 When it comes to plagiarism, we are second to none.
01:24 Think of your car models. Visit Europe or US and you will be surprised.
01:31 This one looks so much like the one I see on Indian roads.
01:36 But the logo is different. How did that happen?
01:43 Even think of the weapons that Indian army is using.
01:49 How many of them are there? Even to manufacture weapons, you require thought.
01:57 Where is thought? Where is logic? Where is rationality? Where is reason?
02:01 Where is critical thinking?
02:06 Think of how we worship our political leaders.
02:12 If you want to critically analyze a particular leader,
02:15 especially if he happens to be a darling of the masses,
02:18 they won't listen because they don't want to think. They just believe.
02:38 Our education must prepare the kid to question everything,
02:44 to dare to inquire into everything. There should be no holy cows.
02:50 There should be nothing so sacred that it cannot be questioned.
03:03 People who hide their ignorance behind shallow questions irritate me.
03:12 But there is another category of people who irritate me even more.
03:16 Those who ask no questions at all.
03:27 Those who just take life as it is hot, it is cold.
03:37 Who are you? Do you exist? Are you alive? Are you an alien? A zombie?
03:43 Who are you? There is no individuality. You don't have a mind.
03:49 You can't think. You can't question. You can't analyze.
03:55 You can't reason. You can't compare.
04:02 No, no, no. Dead.
04:11 So two bits of literature from the Hindi world are occurring to me at this moment.
04:22 One is Chaubey ji went to become Chhabbey and was left as Dubey.
04:30 So the fellow wanted to be bigger. You see this is a progression.
04:35 We talked of three levels, two, four and six. Two is Dubey, four is Chaubey and six is Chhabbey.
04:44 So we were at the middle level, the level of the simpleton, the level of the commoner.
04:50 We wanted to be the sage Chhabbey ji and what did we instead become? The savage Dubey ji.
04:57 Now I'm not offending all the Dubeys. Apologies in advance. It's just a metaphor.
05:08 And the other one is a popular song from one of the movies.
05:20 Bhaadi can never be far behind you.
05:24 Zindagi ki talaash mein hum maut ke kitne paas aagaye.
05:32 India's greatest fortune became its misfortune.
05:39 Our philosophers, our sages, our gems and jewels, we turned them into our misfortune.
05:57 That's what ails India.
06:02 [MUSIC PLAYING]