It is funny
how touch screens have made us lose touch with those who actually care about
us. The ‘number of followers’ people have on Social Media are unlike the few
people who would truly support one in real life. As we try to get closer to
those we connect to online, we grow distant from loved ones sitting right in
front of us. Are likes and followers a social benchmark we set to judge people
by? Is love merely based on numbers and emoticons that appear on our screens?
While connecting to a high-speed Internet connection, our connections with
other people’s hearts are growing weak. A man who spent most of his time on
social media found, only his family standing outside the I.C.U. in his time of
need; they were the ones he didn’t even have social-time for. Is this the new
meaning of socializing? Liking, sharing, subscribing and following? This
digital insanity has changed our perception of humanity. While many say social
media offers freedom, the privilege comes at a price. Why is one supposed to
wait till Thursday to share an old memory, why do people take photographs of
their food before eating it, and why is it important to broadcast personal
moments of life? The aimless documentation of one’s life is all the current
generation is obsessed with. When we come across people in trouble, the first
thing a civilian often does is, tries to capture the moment on camera, instead
of helping the person in need.
We have
started to measure our self worth in terms of numbers, which randomly appear on
our phones and devices. We have forgotten the true meaning of celebration,
instead of celebrating Mother’s day with our own mother’s, we put up a social
post about it instead, add a pseudo quote about how much she means to you and
then spend the day doing whatever we want to, while monitoring the post and
replying to all the comments we receive. In the attempt to come closer to
everyone we want to socialize with, we have turned anti-social. Constantly
spending our days in fear of being socially embarrassed, we rarely say “Good
Day” or “Hello” to a stranger whom we would meet in public but we don’t
hesitate to share our daily routine with thousands of online friends every
single day. While many of us have a long friend list there are people who have
only a few friends or are in fact friendless. Is this really how one imagined
society to connect? We even dragged God into this, and started praying through
mobiles and forwarded messages; we started sharing God’s images and texts, completely
forgetting that The Almighty is too powerful to fit into our screens. In this
fiasco of apps, connections and signals we forgot that we are all one, born of
the same soil, sent to Earth for one purpose – serving humanity. We have
completely forgotten the fact that our journeys are all different but connected
somehow and we are all going to end up permanently offline at some point in
time.
When we greet one another positively
with “Hari Om”, we create energy within us and that energy then reflects outside
to others as well. With our openness, with that open energy, we all become one.
We belong to the family of God, we are not different, and we are all one. We
have come to this Earth with one purpose. With this thought in mind, we should
submit ourselves at the feet of a Guru, in the name of God. The path of
meditation is a peaceful and loving path; we accept every soul and being but
should not hate or despise any being as we look for love within ourselves. Upon
entering this world, we smiled for no reason, loved all the beings around us;
we marveled looking at one another for we seemed so different and surprising.
Why ruin a
precious moment by capturing it in our cell phones when we can actually just
look at it and allow every cell in our body to be lost in it? Spirituality and
meditation help one realize what can be done to overcome this fear of
socializing. Meditation brings us all to one level, a level where we are
neither above nor below another human being, we are just who we are.
“Sangachhadhwam!” is a Sanskrit word that means, “Lets move together”; doesn’t
it sound beautiful? A wise man once said, to travel fast, go alone; to reach
far, travel together. We must look beyond the physical presence, and into soul
and love people for their kindness instead of judging them for what they lack.
In this self-obsessed race for followers, we forget, the only one you need to
follow is a Guru, who will lead you towards the path towards God.
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