Mr. Ashish Arora, perhaps you recognize him by the name of “Shree Maan Amogh Lila Prabhu,” Vice President of Dwarka ISKON temple, spiritual sophist, guest faculty at IIM-A, an accomplished software engineer turned monk, one of the few gurus who seem to be naturally resonating with the youth, graced Vertos, and entire Lovely Professional University creed with his wise words on 5th of February, 2022 live at Lovely Professional University’s official Instagram handle through a practical spirituality masterclass organized by the student organization Ethic Craft Club, under the aegis of the Division of Student Welfare.
The masterclass revolved around the theme “From Vedas to Metaverse,” it started off with him celestially explaining what spirituality means, the science of soul in connection to love for God. He went on to elucidate that we’ve reached Mars, uncovering the mysteries behind the wonders of Earth, and by advancing towards the Metaverse, gradually we’re losing our spirituality; concluding “Technology is a good servant, but an evil master.” Due to technology, our health has been deteriorating, astronomical unemployment rates, people are growing colder every day, in some way technology has made us less social, there’re no more kids playing in the parks. He stated we’re already in the illusion of our phones, and Metaverse is the height of it, limiting us from our beautiful world and restricting us to mere VR headsets. There’s no law in Metaverse and getting addicted to it would mean leaving our lives in some tech company’s goodwill.
It’s ingrained in human nature we want to try out everything, and if it feels good, we end up getting addicted to it, just like our smartphones. He firmly believes there has to be a regulation on smartphones, to be more precise, the Internet, and he implements a system similar to parental control at the ISKON Ashram.
He shared how he decided on becoming a monk; during his early days, his prime goal was to become rich and help the needy, but in the process, he concluded that people are less happier with their souls than their bodies. There’s a reason we never say, “body your own business,” but preferably “mind your own business,” which’s why he choose to become a monk. He started researching and then read the Bhagwat Gita, which actually feeds the mind.
In a pragmatic world, where depression is the biggest killer, spiritual happiness is the only way out! With regards to life, for growth, we should always be satisfied three things; food, earnings, family, and we should never be tired of charity, service to God, and gaining knowledge. Spirituality is like GPS for life; we need a spiritual teacher to guide us. According to him, the hit-and-try method is the worst way of learning things. Why reinvent the same wheel again and again when we can learn from elders’ experiences.
His message to all the viewers, at times, you might feel like bursting out; at that moment, you must pause and think, is the aftermath really worth shredding? Our mind wants to rest! Following this, the masterclass came to an end, with him thanking the student organization Ethic Craft Club for spreading the message of spirituality among youngsters and serving humankind!
