The Hypocrisy of Liquor Companies: Social Responsibility or Marketing Ploy? || Acharya Prashant (2024)
Video Information: 28.09.2024, Gita Samagam English, Greater Noida
📋 Video Chapters
Description:
An IIT student expresses frustration with the corporate recruitment process, critiquing the hypocrisy of claims like promoting conviviality, economic development, and responsible drinking. They note the absence of critical questioning among peers who are focused solely on material gains like placements and opportunities.
Acharya Ji explains these claims as incomplete truths, comparing them to justifications for war that emphasize benefits while ignoring harms. He highlights the societal costs of alcohol, such as crimes and accidents, which are often overlooked. He attributes students' reluctance to question these narratives to societal conditioning that values material success and external validation over self-awareness and critical inquiry—a mindset that transcends education or status.
Acharya Ji also critiques the conformity of students, stating that the system prioritizes creating placement-ready individuals over fostering innovation and originality. He links this to a fear-driven culture in India that discourages questioning and creativity.
Encouraging a questioning attitude, Acharya Ji advocates rejecting societal dogmas, promoting authenticity, and valuing deeper understanding over superficial achievements.
🎧 Listen to Acharya Prashant on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/2QmVEAAnsNE7Xs0MW0Li8Y?si=09fbcbc7c99c469b
Video Information: 28.09.2024, Gita Samagam English, Greater Noida
📋 Video Chapters
Description:
An IIT student expresses frustration with the corporate recruitment process, critiquing the hypocrisy of claims like promoting conviviality, economic development, and responsible drinking. They note the absence of critical questioning among peers who are focused solely on material gains like placements and opportunities.
Acharya Ji explains these claims as incomplete truths, comparing them to justifications for war that emphasize benefits while ignoring harms. He highlights the societal costs of alcohol, such as crimes and accidents, which are often overlooked. He attributes students' reluctance to question these narratives to societal conditioning that values material success and external validation over self-awareness and critical inquiry—a mindset that transcends education or status.
Acharya Ji also critiques the conformity of students, stating that the system prioritizes creating placement-ready individuals over fostering innovation and originality. He links this to a fear-driven culture in India that discourages questioning and creativity.
Encouraging a questioning attitude, Acharya Ji advocates rejecting societal dogmas, promoting authenticity, and valuing deeper understanding over superficial achievements.
🎧 Listen to Acharya Prashant on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/2QmVEAAnsNE7Xs0MW0Li8Y?si=09fbcbc7c99c469b
Category
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LearningTranscript
00:00Namaste Acharyaji. Acharyaji, I am Nityansh. I am a final year student at IIT-BHU and currently
00:11my placement season is going on. Few days back, a very large liquor company came to
00:18our campus to recruit the graduating students. The way they represented themselves seems
00:25very hypocritical to me. Some of the arguments that they put were that their product is something
00:35that promotes conviviality, that promotes the joy of social gathering and friendliness
00:43and the other is that their product is contributing in the economic development of the country.
00:49They are helping the farmers to grow and the other points they were telling that they are
00:56spreading social responsible drinking in the country and but some of the advertisements
01:04of their brands doesn't seem very responsible like make it large or man will be man and
01:11all these things and very horrific is that their goal for next decade is that they want
01:19to triple the production and currently they are the second largest producer in the world.
01:26But the point I am concerned about is that I am very surprised, I was very surprised
01:33that nobody of my peer questioned about their false claims and hypocrisy of them. Instead
01:41they asked about abroad opportunities they will get, technologies they are using, what
01:50is the product segment they are having, are you inculcating industry 4.0 in it or not,
01:57all these kind of questions. Nobody asked about CTC? No, actually they just show later.
02:10That's the only and the first question to be asked and after that no questions remain.
02:17If the package is fat enough, no more questions. But it would be, it was a very large company.
02:28But I am very certain that nobody asked about their false claims and the claim of response.
02:34Claims are not false, they are just incomplete.
02:39Anything can be shown to have some so-called positive effects, anything, just about anything.
02:48War has so many positive effects for example.
02:53So many of the technologies that you have today, they were either seeded
03:04or developed during the Second World War.
03:10And you could say when there is a war, then that leads to a great development of technology.
03:18Initially for military use and then it gets to a more general use.
03:25For example, the technology that goes into missiles,
03:30later on contributes to the space programs of the nations.
03:36And obviously it can also lead to an increase in GDP.
03:44And in many other ways you can list the so-called positive effects of war.
03:52It arouses a nation. Very poetically you can say that the valiant spirit of a nation remains latent and asleep.
04:07It is only the war call that awakens it.
04:12So there have to be periodic wars. Every 20 years there must be a major war
04:16so that the spirit of the nation gets awakened.
04:20All kinds of things you can enlist. The thing is the list is not complete.
04:30Similarly, alcohol can be stated to have these so-called positive things.
04:38Friends get together and if there is alcohol then it brings about a certain felicity in the conversation.
04:45People open up and there might be a grain of truth to the whole thing.
04:50But are you stating the full story?
04:57Are you telling the whole thing?
05:04There was a school of thought that said that limited consumption of alcohol helps.
05:09It is the body in terms of health. Yes. So that used to be the general wisdom
05:17and also something that medical science kept on broadly accepting for many decades.
05:26In fact, we had cases where people who
05:30crossed the age of 100, the centenarians, when they were asked, how did you live so long?
05:44They would say, one small peg every evening that has contributed to my very long life.
05:50All that imagery was there. But over the last 10-20 years, more and more
05:56research is proving that alcohol has no positive health effects.
06:05In fact, even a little alcohol is actually detrimental to health. Even that is gone now.
06:15When you look at the number of crimes that are committed under influence,
06:24under influence of alcohol, was that mentioned in their presentation?
06:31No, definitely not. The crimes and all, nothing is there.
06:36When you count the number of road accidents that happen under influence,
06:41when you count the... So, complete story is different, right?
06:59Sir, I want to ask why are the students at such an institution, a very important institution,
07:07are not questioning, questioning the work they are choosing?
07:12You question only when you need an answer. No answer is needed. You already have all the answers.
07:18The answer is that I need to have a fat pay package, a sexy girl, two cute kids.
07:27Firstly, some house in India and if possible, settle abroad.
07:34The answers have been supplied to you long back. You don't need any answers and therefore, you don't have any questions.
07:50Everybody has well settled answers.
07:56Show me a question that is still alive. There is no question. The answers are all there.
08:04Frozen, sealed, packed, done and dusted, permanently settled.
08:22It is a very strange thing but it does not matter whether you come from an IIT or
08:29an ITI or some other place. It doesn't matter.
08:34When it comes to inner life, we are all equally uneducated.
08:42There is great equality.
08:47We are all brothers and sisters because we are all equally ignorant. Ignorance
08:54is our father and our mother.
09:01No questions inside. Outer life might be different. Somebody is rich, somebody is poor. Their outer
09:08lives will be very different. Hindu-Muslim outer life will be different. Indian-American outer life
09:15will be different. PhD and illiterate, the outer life will be different.
09:27Man and woman, the outer life will be different. Inner life, exactly the same.
09:33What is inside? Nothing. Just a massive darkness.
09:46A lifeless vastness. Unending. Nothing inside. It doesn't matter who you are. The richest person, the poorest person,
09:57the biggest scholar or totally illiterate. Inside you is a total absence of self-knowledge.
10:06Nobody has any questions. The rich one wants to marry, the poor one wants to marry. Do they not?
10:11The rich one is rich because he wants money. The poor is poor so he wants money.
10:21Where is the difference? Show me. We all have very definite, ready-made answers.
10:30Nobody will ask an answer and in fact if somebody asks a question, that is probably to impress
10:38the interviewers. It is a very typical thing. You know, you ask a smart question
10:47to the panel making the presentation
10:52or the interview panel. Wow! Smart chap. He asks great questions.
11:01But you will never ask a question that offends.
11:03Your questions will be like foot massage, not bullets.
11:13Asking you a question, what do you do? You bend and you start offering pedicure services.
11:19This is my question. What is the question? How does it feel, sir? This is the question.
11:27This is the question.
11:31This is never the question.
11:35How does it feel, sir? I have been feeling it since 21 years
11:43because I have questions. Now I am shooting the same question at you. How does it feel, sir?
11:51Nobody will have that.
11:57Sir, before joining the IIT, I was very joyful. I thought that I will meet people
12:06who are very brave and will follow their path of passion and their interest. But here I am seeing
12:15that 99% of people are just chasing the highway of success. Nobody is going towards a negative
12:23sky of freedom. So, I am very shattered. My hopes were very shattered.
12:32You are not joyful, you are fanciful.
12:41I don't know how somebody can enter an IIT and think that he will meet bold and
12:47courageous people there aiming for the naked sky of freedom. What kind of
12:56witless daydreaming is this? Yeah, it was.
13:02People spend 2 years, 4 years in places like Kota to demonstrate their boldness
13:11and several lakh rupees to get into an IIT.
13:18It is because they want to pursue a path of courage.
13:23Isn't the preparatory phase itself a very clear augury?
13:31How can you be so deluded? You enter there through the admissions process
13:40so that you can exit through the placement process. Simple. There are only two things
13:48relevant at least in an Indian college campus. The admissions office and then the placements office.
13:56Everything in between is just time pass. Everything in between matters only to the
14:04extent it helps in your placement.
14:10You have the CGPA system there as well, right? Yes, yes.
14:13So, you have audit courses, right? Yes.
14:16Who wants to excel in an audit course? Tell me.
14:21Even if you want good grades, even if you study hard in a particular course,
14:28it is to secure good grades and good grades would decorate your CV.
14:35You will then serve it to the buyer and demand a higher wage for yourself. That's all.
14:55And that's not something that happens in an IIT. That is something that happens even before the IIT.
15:04That is something that is embedded in the preparation process itself.
15:10And why is it there in the preparation process? Because it is there in the family.
15:16And why is it there in the family? Because it is there in the culture and in the air.
15:21Who values knowledge? We value money. You don't go to an IIT for knowledge. Nobody does.
15:26You go there for name, fame, green card, money, bride. These are the things.
15:48You can sell footwear. You can sell... Imagine, a computer science graduate.
15:57What is he doing? Selling shoes. Selling this coke, that Fanta, that liquor
16:11and being paid through his nose. So much.
16:17Sir, I had an image before that IITs are institutions where innovation is promoted.
16:33But I didn't find anything here. It is also an image that is in the society.
16:40That also inspires people like me who didn't come here for placements and all.
16:46IITs are not dropping from the heavens. They are springing from the soil.
16:54Does the soil care for innovations? India is one of the least creative countries in the world.
17:03It broke my heart that day. I have been a Sholay fan.
17:06And I have been watching videos that tear Sholay apart scene by scene, frame by frame
17:18and tell us which scene, which frame is copied from which western movie.
17:23Exactly. In some of the most famous scenes of Sholay, they are true copies of westerns.
17:44That is not an original.
17:49Nothing is an original.
17:53Not Thakur, not Jai, not Veeru, not Basanti, not Gabbar, not even Sambha.
18:08Do we care for innovations?
18:16We don't even copy well.
18:20So nobody bothered to even serve a copyright notice.
18:24It's such a poor copy. Why bother?
18:32Creativity does not come with fear.
18:38We are very afraid people.
18:42You know what we are afraid of? The unseen, the unknowable.
18:47Nobody lives here in the reality of the fact.
18:53We live in constant desire and constant fear of something unknown.
19:05The future, the afterlife, the heaven, the hell, the ghost, the God.
19:17Fluff is what our life is all about.
19:21And then we say we are emotional people. We live in dreams.
19:28We are not materialistic. We live in intangibles. Intangibles like ghosts.
19:35So to innovate, first of all, you have to give respect to this world, right?
19:40This world. We have been taught that this world means nothing.
19:47Jagat Mithya.
19:51And we have been taught that this world is nothing.
19:55We have been taught that this world means nothing.
19:59Jagat Mithya.
20:04And that does not mean that we have actually grown in detachment from this world.
20:12That simply means that we have become hypocrites, pakhandis.
20:17We drool after this world but pretend as if we have nothing to do with the world.
20:35You innovate when you want to improve something here, right now.
20:40Why will you innovate if your real abode is somewhere else?
20:47Do you innovate in a hotel? No. Because you are soon to check out.
20:53You have been told that life on this planet is like checking in and checking out of a hotel.
21:00Who innovates in a hotel?
21:05Who wants to improve life in a guest house?
21:08You have been told that your real life and your real home is elsewhere.
21:15That's why instead of being creative, we have become jugadu.
21:20In a hotel, the maximum you do is jugad, right?
21:26The fan is not working. What do you do?
21:29Somehow you just try to make it work.
21:33That's jugad. You don't want to come to a lasting solution.
21:39You don't want to go to the roots of the problem because you are to check out tomorrow.
21:45And then you will reach your real home. Where is your real home?
21:49Your real home is somewhere else.
21:52You don't want to go to the roots of the problem because you are to check out tomorrow.
21:57You don't want to go to the roots of the problem because you are to check out tomorrow.
21:59And then you will reach your real home. Where is your real home?
22:03Some other uni.
22:09You very well know. You have been convinced by some priest
22:15that you will become a dog in your next birth.
22:23So, starting from this one, you have started befriending dogs
22:32so that when you arrive in their middle, they don't bully you.
22:53Don't take care of what matters. Take care of all intangibles and abruse things.
23:04That's what matters.
23:08At the same time, keep celebrating after unearned goodies.
23:14Not that all this has led to any kind of sublimation of desire.
23:22The desire holds. The desire stands.
23:28As aggressive as it is, as naked as it is,
23:33just that you don't even want to work for fulfilling the desire.
23:38You want to then fulfill the desire using all kinds of nefarious means.
23:43Why create? Just jugad.
23:51Why earn? Just steal.
23:55You come from an institute of technology.
23:59India, it is being said, has already lost the AI game.
24:06Forget the US, we are behind even China by six years.
24:21In terms of technology, what do we have? App. That's technology.
24:27For us, this is technology.
24:33You want matar paneer at 2 am? Technology comes to your rescue. That's our technology.
24:41And then we say, you see, unicorn,
24:46look at the tremendous valuation.
25:16Cute apps, you know. That's what Indian technology is about. This is technology.
25:36Fear. Lot of fear.
25:46Somebody is watching. Somebody is above me. Let me remain subjugated and afraid.
25:53Let me do small things.
25:57Can I make a teeny-weeny app for you?
26:00This will bring you fresh milk every morning.
26:05Boot polish app.
26:10Meditation app. You choose an option and it will give you some music.
26:16Second option, some babaji starts speaking.
26:20Third option, the sound of a waterfall.
26:23Fourth option, the sound of birds chirping.
26:26This is technology.
26:31Do you think you will match the world in AI?
26:44Not that we are genetically inferior or something. Not at all.
26:50The same Indians, when they venture out and get a conducive environment,
26:56they do not just as well as but actually better than people of other nationalities.
27:04It's just that the environment here, the very culture is suffocating.
27:10You are made to feel small and little.
27:17How dare you venture out? How dare you think big?
27:24Just bow your head down. Just keep surrendering.
27:32Your task is to be devoted.
27:37Devoted to whom? Whosoever is in power.
27:40Just be devoted. Keep lying low.
27:50That's not how greatness comes.
27:57You cannot have greatness in an environment where you can't ask questions,
28:03where you are stuffed with beliefs ever since you attained two years of age.
28:19I suppose even in IITs, they are trying to teach Indian belief system now.
28:26Sir, in this semester, I have a course of Niti Shastra in which they teach all the Nitis,
28:34Chanakya Niti and Sukra Niti and all kind of stuff and all these propagandic things.
28:41And one of the thing is that the teacher said that the rebirth is true.
28:47There are evidences of rebirth. I question them.
28:54If you are being exposed to Artha Shastra from Kautilya, that is one thing, fine.
29:01That is one thing. But in the same vein, if you are being fed with concepts of rebirth and all these things,
29:08then that's a totally different thing.
29:12That is something that will enfeeble you.
29:29Greatness does not ride on beliefs.
29:32Greatness comes by dismissing beliefs.
29:38And if you can't outrightly dismiss them, at least question them.
29:46Thank you Acharya ji. You have been a guiding light to me since three years.
29:51I am very grateful to you. You are my hero and I am just following you.
29:57I am learning from you. Thank you sir. Thank you so much.
30:00You win my life. Thank you.
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