Acharya Prashant, founder of PrashantAdvait Foundation and former civil service officer, interacted with IIT students on mental health. More than 1000 people from across the country participated in the session held at IIT Delhi on Apr 16. He said that there is a deep connection between the mind and spirituality. The mind can be controlled through spirituality, which strengthens inner peace and provides a feeling of connection with a power greater than oneself.
Acharya Prashant said that in the race to get ahead and in a hectic life, man has become lonely. We don’t know what we are, why we are living, what our purpose is. Due to these reasons, mental depression is occurring in the youth. He said that first of all, we have to know ourselves. Only spirituality can help us with that. Spirituality can remove the stress from our daily lives. He said that research has proven that spirituality can benefit both the mind and the body.
Spiritual practices help reduce negative emotions, find meaning, and deepen relationships with others. Spirituality helps overcome issues such as self-esteem, low self-confidence, lack of self-control, and fear of daily tasks and challenges. It can also directly strengthen mental health. He said that even those who do not follow any religion can benefit from spirituality, as it is a prevalent concept among secular communities that spirituality is only for some people who are associated with a particular religion, but it is not so. Spirituality is necessary for every human being.
He said that people have never learned to use spiritual resources, whereas they can do so very easily. Acharya Prashant said that the youth need the right guidance, but they do not get it. We also do not know how to live the right life. Any work cannot be chosen to make a career; the right work has to be chosen, and the right work is chosen with self-knowledge.
He said that the Earth’s temperature is increasing, which is a matter of concern. But we are so engrossed in pleasures that we are not able to understand that we do not have much time left. Only two years are left. If we still do not wake up, then it will be too late, and then great destruction is certain. But we do not worry about ourselves. Do you know what belief is embedded in that? ‘We are right, we do not need to worry about ourselves!’ If we have to worry about ourselves, then for that, first of all, we will have to accept that there is a danger to us, and we need to get right because we are wrong? So we do not want to worry about ourselves.
He said that the way humanity is going and the structure of living that we have created now, completely based on ego, will either kill us from outside. And if it does not kill us from outside by chance, then our destruction is certain from inside. He said that the ratio of mentally ill people in this world today has never been so high. The average stress levels today were not as high even during the Second World War, nor were they found in soldiers as they are in common people today. Look at the research paper.
When were there as many cases of depression and mental disorders as there are today? We are rapidly moving towards a world in which every person will be mad; healthy from outside but psycho (mad) from within. What will you do then? Self-knowledge is the only solution.
After the session, Acharya Prashant gifted a Holistic Individual Development Program (HIDP) created by him to the students of IIT Delhi so that they can develop themselves in a spiritual way.
