“Imma Be a Guru … on Social Media though!”— Counter on Advertisement Culture.

Prelude

“Ga Ga Ga.. I’m a self proclaimed something… Ra Ra Ra.. I’m a social media guru, an influencer… say what? 😂”

With the rising adoption of social media platforms, particularly in the professional space, the mediums which were supposedly there to network, share valuable information with others are seeing a trend of so called “Content Creators|| Influencers || Thought Leaders ” , most of whom, IMO are just advertising anything and everything they know of, without having any real depth in the topic; which is both good and bad — more for someone who’s just starting out.

Photo by Timothy Paule II from Pexels

Context

Recently I received a WhatsApp message (shared below) about the great works of ancient India scholars and researchers, how a lot of what we know and can experience in life is due to their lifes work, but most seems to be forgotten or often not credited enough (thanks to the western narrative against Vedic Civilization and Ancient Indian Culture 😊)…

…and it led me to think how in the modern world, with even the very modest of achievements or with the teensiest bit of knowledge on something, you could be a self -proclaimed “Guru” and what’s better — the audience loves it, everyone wants it — FOMO.

Ancient India Researchers and their Inventions —

1. Father of Astronomy: Aryabhatta ; work — Aryabhattiyam.

2. Father of Astrology: Varahamihira , works; Panchasiddhantika, Bruhat Hora Shastra.

3. Fathers of Surgery : Charaka and Sushruta , works : Samhitas.

4. Father of Anatomy: Patanjali , work: Yogasutra.

5. Father of Yoga : Patanjali , work : Yogasutra.

6. Father of Economics : Chanakya , work: Arthashshtra.

7. Father of Atomic theory : Rishi Kanada , Work : Kanada sutras.

8. Father of Architecture : Vishwakarma.

9. Father of Aero Dynamics: Mayasura , work : Vastu Darpana.

10. Father of Medicine: Dhanvanthri , first propounded Ayurveda.

11. Father of Grammar: Panini , work: Vyakarana Deepika.

12. Father of Natyashastra : Bharatamuni , work : Natyashastra.

13. Father of Kavya (literature) : Krishna Dwaipayana (VedaVyasa) works ; Mahabharata , Ashtaadasha Puranas.

14. Father of Playwriting : Kalidasa , works : Meghadhootam , Raghuvamsham , Kumara Sambhava etc etc.

15. Father of Ganita: Bhaskara II , works : Lilavati.

16. Father of Warfare and Weaponry: Rishi Parashurama, works: Kalaripayatu, Sulba Sutras.

17. Father of story writing: Vishnu Sharma, works: Panchatantra.

18. Father of Politics: Chanakya, works: Arthashashtra, Nitishashtra.

19. Father of Sexual Anatomy: Vatsyana, work: Kamasutra.

20. Father of Philosophy: Sri Krishna, work: Sribhagavadgeeta.

21. Father of Advaitha: Shankara, works: commentaries (Bhashyas), Panchadasi, Vivekachudamani.

22. Father of Alchemy: Nagarjuna, work: Pragnaparamita Sutras .

23. Father of Electricity — Rishi Agastya — Electro Voltic Cell

24. Father of Aviation Science — Rishi Bharadwaj — Vimana Sastra

25. Father of Gravity — Brahma Gupta II — Gravity.

26. Father of Pi value — Rishi Baudhyana — Baudhyana Sutra — value of Pi (Pythagoras theory)

The above list is just the tip of an iceberg. Let us take pride in sharing and educating the world what our ancestors did. Yet our ancestors bowed down to the world with their Humble “Namaste” 🙏

Argument

The questions I would humbly urge all who are publishing content to ask themselves —

1. How deep is your “Gyan” ? — Scraping just the surface, having breadth would only get you so far and with everyone nowadays following the — “fake it till you make it/ became it” mantra, this seems inevitable. (PS: I suffer from imposter syndrome 😜)
2. Is it just FOMO ? — students these days are caught in the bubble of content creation because that’s what they see being promoted/ celebrated all the time.
3. Are your skills battle tested? — talking just about tech folks, people claiming to be masters at this and that, have fancy LinkedIn titles, how well do you understand the core concepts? What projects you’ve done that’ve actually solved a real world problem?

Seeing this in every field infuriates me that how lightly the younger generation is taking this social media game, and reality is far from it and it’s all getting a bit toxic — save yourself, save everyone! 🙏

Closing

As my beloved teacher always says —

“ Keep learning, keep practicing, keep doing what you do, you don’t always have to advertise.”

That’s true for all walks of life, so much more today with the FOMO of content creation, being popular and what not of advertisement engulfing our society.

I know I’m ranting, but been having these thoughts for a while now, felt just to bring to light how it’s not all about advertising by giving example of what my culture has taught me — being humble.

Disclaimer — This might seem like a counter to a recent post — share your art but the message here is not “don’t share”, rather — don’t let that get to you in a way that you feel that’s it, I know it all. Stop, process, understand the depth of things, don’t do it just for the sake of it.

Keep learning, Namaste!🙏