Cockroach Janta Party: Is Gen Z Really Rebellious? || Acharya Prashant, with NDTV

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:01][laughter] >> When it comes to Gen Z, they challenge the authority.

[00:00:13]Real rebellion is not possible without They are following the code of their community.

[00:00:22]They are following the norm of their times.

[00:00:25]They think it's cool to be rebellious.

[00:00:27]I'm a big rebel.

[00:00:32]When it comes to Gen Z, what I have observed, they are more expressive.

[00:00:38]They talk about it. They They challenge the authority. For example, uh um Gen Z the generation is called employer's nightmare because they won't ask for a holiday if if that's there in their in in the structure, they would simply email their employer and say, "Oh, we we are not coming tomorrow." And simply So, it's very difficult for the millennial employers and the Gen Z employees to go hand in hand or to have a perfect harmony. But, that's not the case with our generation.

[00:01:15]What I have observed, this is my opinion.

[00:01:18]Uh That's why when they pose a challenge, maybe a threat, become a rebel, it starts uh birthing different problems which might not be, you know, good for the culture we have been living in. So, what do you have to say about it?

[00:01:39]They are not really rebellious.

[00:01:42]They too are uh following the norms of their times and their community.

[00:01:51]Hm?

[00:01:53]It is the norm in their community to act as if you do not accept authority.

[00:02:02]You see, real rebellion is not possible without self-knowledge.

[00:02:08]You cannot be a real challenger if you are not wise.

[00:02:14]We were conditioned to treat authority in one particular way, and we did that. Maybe that appeared like submission.

[00:02:27]And this generation is conditioned to respond to authority in another way, and it does that.

[00:02:35]And that is not freedom.

[00:02:37]Because if we were being submissive because of conditioning, these people appear rebellious. Mind you, they appear rebellious. They are not rebellious.

[00:02:48]They appear rebellious because of their particular conditioning.

[00:02:53]And rebellion that is a result of conditioning is not freedom at all, is it?

[00:02:58]It is not. So, they are following the code of their community.

[00:03:03]They are following the norm of their times.

[00:03:06]It's not that they are particularly rebellious, and I can say that because uh millennials, Z, alpha, new ones.

[00:03:19]>> [laughter] >> I deal with everybody. They all They all are present, and I look at them. You see, we all are born in a condition of inner slavery.

[00:03:35]Right?

[00:03:37]Unless that is challenged with realization and wisdom, the maximum that you can get is a decorated kind of slavery.

[00:03:47]The maximum that you can get is an expressive kind of slavery.

[00:03:50]>> A golden cage. A golden cage. Or a particular a fence within which you are free to do your own thing.

[00:04:03]Do your own thing, but these are the limits.

[00:04:05]Or say that you are free even as you are a blind servant to your bodily impulses.

[00:04:15]Proclaim that you are free and you love freedom.

[00:04:19]Mhm?

[00:04:20]Even as you do not even know that you are just succumbing to peer pressure and following the the prevalent trends.

[00:04:30]And that is not freedom at all.

[00:04:33]So, there is no fundamental difference between the conditions of the different generations.

[00:04:40]The commonality is all are internally unfree.

[00:04:46]Externally, there are different various expressions of the lack of freedom.

[00:04:54]Some expressions of lack of freedom appear like freedom.

[00:05:00]But just because lack of freedom can deceptively take the form of freedom that doesn't make it free.

[00:05:09]I hope I'm not No, no, it's twisting it so much that one gets lost in words.

[00:05:16]Uh You think it's cool to be rebellious.

[00:05:19]Not that Not that I know what I must rebel against.

[00:05:23]>> But what previous generations must have also done this. But that it was not cool to be rebellious then, no?

[00:05:29]You would not get social sanction if you defy authority.

[00:05:33]In your generation or the generations preceding yours, you would not get social sanction. You would not be rewarded Mhm. if you defy authority.

[00:05:41]Today, if you defy authority then you can proclaim that uh then you can wear that as a bumper sticker. You can put that on your cap or on your t-shirt.

[00:05:53]I'm a big rebel.

[00:05:55]Hm?

[00:05:56]These are not the things that were happening sexy and fashionable and acceptable 20 or 40 years back.

[00:06:03]It was not happening. But if you look at other places, exactly when you say we had submissive generations, you had the hippies at some other place.

[00:06:15]The '60s and the '70s Hm. were the periods of the most outrageous kind of rebelliousness in the world.

[00:06:23]Gen Z is not a patch on them.

[00:06:28]What the hippies were doing 60, 70 years back, Gen Z cannot even think of matching that when it comes to being rebellious. being rebellious. Huh?

[00:06:38]So, but but then were the hippies really rebellious? No.

[00:06:42]All that just tapered down. I would I would really like to know your opinion on that. Why did you just say that?

[00:06:51]>> [laughter] [gasps] >> See, there was the hippie trail.

[00:06:57]Uh there was the blatant materialism of the post-World War years. Hm.

[00:07:03]There was a sudden rush of prosperity.

[00:07:09]There were technological innovations.

[00:07:11]Uh the world was doing great when it came to technology and economy.

[00:07:17]But and and all that made it even more obvious that there was something missing in life.

[00:07:24]Huh?

[00:07:25]So, there were these youngsters who said, "No, uh we don't want to live the life that our parents have been living.

[00:07:34]And uh we have enough money because the generations were getting richer.

[00:07:40]So, we'll we'll go to Asia.

[00:07:43]We'll go to some parts of even Africa.

[00:07:46]Mhm?

[00:07:46]We'll smoke.

[00:07:48]We'll live in defiance of cultural, social, religious norms.

[00:07:55]And all that became a fashion. And all that died down within two decades.

[00:08:01]Does that remain anymore?

[00:08:04]But they also talked about something like the discourse was like that.

[00:08:09]Through whatever means they were moving toward toward that religi- rebellious realm.

[00:08:16]Uh They're entering into a state of consciousness and and a lot of spiritual talks were also prevalent at that time.

[00:08:24]Uh How do you see that?

[00:08:27]A fashion, contemporary fashion. A fad.

[00:08:33]Like like fashion emanates from Paris, spiritual fashion was emanating from some points in India.

[00:08:39]Mhm. Uh not much more than that.

[00:08:42]A lot of came to India as well. A lot of places.

[00:08:46]Just download the Acharya Prashant app [music] and there you go to the community section.

[00:08:50]And you have live testimonials streaming in at the rate of one every five minutes. I'm seeing lives change in thousands, if not millions, every day in front of my own eyes. We are doing it. We have actually done it.

[00:09:06]Join the community of more than two lakh [music] participants on the Acharya Prashant app. Your first month is completely free. You'll get full access to Gita mission. On the app you will get regular live sessions, daily exclusive conversations with Acharya Prashant, access to the vibrant Gita community, wisdom exams, curated news, audio books, quotes, and much more. Search Acharya Prashant on Google Play Store or Apple App Store and download now.

[00:09:46]>> [music]