Roots of Tradition can get us to Fruits of Technology | Braj Mohan Das | TEDxVIT
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEqdp71wqVQ Video ID: jEqdp71wqVQ ============================================================ [Applause] and I'm going to sleep on something unique about tradition you may see my whole Italian is very traditional in my childhood there used to be a very favorite fare of that happened in the sheriff that's the burning of Romana and it was a very interesting sight it said that once Ravana was very angry that why is everybody burning me and he asked the crowds why are you burning me I didn't kidnap your wife and the angry crowd said that's exactly the reason why we are burning apart from Juma most of the traditions that we follow in India seem to be just a recollection or a representation of the past do they have any connection to the present day challenges and the light we live in a convocation in 2003 I got to invite saying that please come in traditional dress and the traditional dress they meant was a kurta and pyjama but by then I was already connected to some kind of spirituality so I thought let me go in duty kuta and i went like this and all my friends were aghast da caparica item and when I went to the stage the photo is still there the Infosys CEO Narayan Murthy and Maya chori both mouths are wide open seeing me in distress imagine if today if any one of you come to the class or the college apart from the traditional day in a time like this everybody will think you causes a - I'll get the tea and it won't be considered something modern or something accepted but there is a reason why in traditional times people used to wear dhoti the way I am very first of all India is tropical climate it went in its you're all in Ursus in below system nothing sweats and whether you are double size or half size it's the same goatee you wear so you don't have to worry about dieting and so that was a purpose behind that and there was a very interesting episode I recently saw about Tom and Jerry everyone loves Tom and Jerry shows and in that the mammy the house maid she was highly upset with Tom's inefficiency Tom was just lazing around drinking a lot of milk every day but not catching Jerry and then she read in the newspapers about an ad about a robotic cat anybody into robotics here so this Meccano this robotic cat was highly efficient you don't have to feed it you don't have to the cat doesn't fuss around or there is no further falls apart and the cat was highly efficient within a day the Jerry was caught and was thrown outside and Jerry was highly upset and it was trying to come in but no avail and then Jerry thought he went to the mall and he bought robotic rats ten of them and it left everywhere in the house and this Meccano although it was very efficient it lacked discrimination and in an attempt to try to kill all the robotic rats it started created and havoc in the whole house the whole house was destroyed by this mechanic often technology is like this mechanic we want to create some goodwill something good for the society but then later it turns out to me that that was a cause for all the the pollution that is happening now or recently introduced where the baby talcum powder that we all apply on our kids he is a cause one of the causes for cancer and all the way it looks to be efficient technology without a connection to the tradition technology can become very dangerous and tradition has always been a flat way by which done box was understood the box of head the box whoa relationships the box of society and when we don't understand that it is a pattern is science behind it and we just discussed all the traditions that we have in India therefore this is a very important debate that happens all over the world can technology replace tradition because technology is coming up so fast can teachers we replace by technology you don't need any mentor can technology replace the food yes yes of course the GMO and the bee food research is happening sometimes it happens to be that the Apple is very plum but although Apple is plum it is filled with so many pesticides that actually harm you so can technology replace friends if you have a struggle going on no matter how many Facebook friends you have having somebody next to you doesn't that help can texting replace talking we have so many times in into the Mobile's that we lose contact with the human being that we are can walking be replaced by Temple Run no not at all and when we start to think that because technology is coming up we can neglect the tradition the way human beings have lived for centuries especially the human interaction therefore I like this quote by answering very much I feel the day that technology will surpass our human interaction the world will have a generation of idiots there is an interesting term that has come up now Condon's vd8 and mediate means somebody who is addicted to watching videos is called an idiot and we are now so much into technology that the human relationships in a family or among or the way we deal with the environment is many times destructive and destructive and in this I would like to present a solution to you we don't have to reinvent the wheel there are wheel if the wheel is already been given the set of traditions that are very useful let us use those traditions let us use that wheel to build a cart don't break the wheel to build a cart don't break the traditions that your family is generations have been giving the many of them are scientific of course they can be blind traditions that don't have any basis one thing that I heard that in a marriage the one of the requirements was that there has to be a cat under the basket so though the tradition I was coming in a family and everybody inquired why is why there has to be a cat under the basket and then the grandmother said in my marriage there was a cat that was moving all around and the punditji he just took a basket and kept the cat under the basket and I thought that part of the game and it's following so in India there is so many blind traditions that we follow and I'm not talking about them but just discarding technology blindly or discarding tradition blindly will actually not cause the human growth and the indigenous the uniqueness that India has will also be lost in this I would give this example of a kite now oh I got a kite for you and someone hold the kite so that we can fly the kite here how many of you fly kites so let me try to fly the kite so the kite is only flying because the thread is connected but the moment I leave the thread what happens the kite doesn't fly the kite actually falls down so the traditions may seem to be binding us but it is those conditions of family relationships those traditions of respecting nature respecting the life that is all around us actually helps us to grow in a holistic way else it there is growth in one direction but there is harm in the long run therefore there is this Court today's discipline is tomorrow success any artist any successful person the poor thing about him is the discipline to the basics erm one can play amazing music but he has learned the basics well and when you learn the basics well the Saregama then you can it will appear as if this person is just playing without any adherence to the music but now because he has become an expert a cricket player on a typist or anyone in any field he may appear to be not following and breaking the rules many times but it is because he has gone beyond the tradition because we understood the box and how to improve the box or how to make the box more and more beautiful apart from many practices that are there in tradition in tradition all traditions especially those that are genuine are based on four pillars and not come here to ask all of you to come in this attire a wooden slippers and shame in hand and this kind of attack but the principles if you follow the principles of any tradition that are there in India or across any any religion they are rooted on in these four pillars and when we harm any of these four pillars because of the technology that we are trying to come up that causes destruction so the first pillar of any tradition is sensitivity sensitivity to life sensitivity to others emotions recently I had to introduce one of my friends who is a fellow monk and he is a cook in our temple he cooks for all of us so if the words came out in my mouths how to introduce him I was about to introduce him as he's our cook but then I thought that's not the right way because he is also a doctor by profession so then I said to my to the one whom I introducing he is the one who feeds us so you can say he is either cook or you can say he is or he feeds us it's the same thing but the way the sensitivity of interaction that is very important and when you break that relationship say in the name of Technology if you don't respect your parents that may not be so technologically aware and you disrespect them then that is not being sensitive so anyway when tech technology harm sensitivity then there is destruction in the environment that is destruction in adverse same as sensitivity to animals the very reason why there is vegetarianism in India so much the second principle of tradition is honesty be what you are first of all understand what you are and do what you can because excellence or satisfaction comes in doing what you like and liking what you do and then that is what is honesty is and when you follow the principle of honesty then that honesty breeds trust and once you are trustworthy in any field then growth happens because people want to invest in the third principle of honesty of tradition is independence the font there is the issue so independence we get dependent we get toxicated by so many things so try to come out of those toxics of course more than other toxics the biggest toxins that all of us are influenced by is now is not chemical dependency but it is mobile dependency and this mobile dependency has become so much that just like it is alcoholic anonymous nowadays it is alcoholic anonymous person becomes addicted to the cell phone and he just can't come do you see the outside world properly I'm sure many of you men are might not have seen the Sun rising for a long time I mean how many of you thank your parents or congratulate them or appreciate them regularly just so busy in our technical things in our life that we lose and then we don't have the support system that comes and so this mobile dependency is one thing it starts with magic then it becomes a manic and then it becomes a toxic the stories where kids have sold their kidneys just to get a gadget because the dependence has become so much the fourth principle of dependency of tradition is purity loyalty and when loyalty is lacking then that relationship doesn't last for long purity of words purity of thoughts once in a mall a guy a man came to a beautiful lady and he asked her can you talk to me and she said why should I talk to you she said I lost my wife in this mall somewhere and my observation is whenever I talk to a beautiful lady she appears so I thought this is the best way for me to find my wife and the eyebrows are all the time raised when the loyalty is broken and therefore it is said after marriage wine is the bindi on the forehead that means the recording is on be careful of course that's not the very reason why it is there so these are the four pillars of tradition and we can't just let go of the technology not the tradition if technology becomes blind and black discrimination and cop falls into the hands of terrorists a creative destruction so therefore this example of the blind man in the layman is there when they cooperate with each other then there is growth technology should not inhibit tradition nor do tradition should enable technology and if technology is with you then what gives beauty to that Vidya is tradition and that I named the year and a Lanka with Dia a Lanka therefore technology and condition should not replace each other but should enhance either let's understand the tradition the sciences behind it and try to come to visit the very region this circle is there is not to limit but this is the best way I can reach out the recording happens properly if I walk around and this is this this may be seen as the zone which is restricting me this is not the zone that is restricting me this is the zone by which I can give my best effort therefore they say get out of your comfort zone I say don't get out of your comfort zone just get out of your lazy zone because if you are lazy then nothing will happen but even you work from the place of strength then you can do lot of wonders you know in 2011 I had I was severely debilitated by it autoimmune disease and I was on bed for two years with steroids but then when I understood that once you accept your limits you start to go beyond them I started to work within my limits and then I was able to help so many individuals so in summary once you understand the box in which you are living the box that has been given to you not discard the box then you can actually put lot of things in their box book box and that is enough for our life so to some to summarize tradition is practices but more than practices the principles that are there tradition is to enable freedom the kites that I gave you example the kite is the technology the thread is the tradition the family culture that is existing the four principles of tradition which are on my ship sensitivity honesty independence and purity all the traditions will boil down to these four principles and technology and tradition should enhance not replace each other thank you [Applause]