Norway plans temporary ban on smart glasses in some public places as reflected on by Pandit Rajesh Sharma
Our temple complex in the Silicon Hills often sees engineers and young families. They adjust wearable devices. Technology is truly woven into our parish’s fabric. However, when devotees step through the temple threshold, we ask them to remove shoes, wash hands, and put away gadgets. We do not oppose modern engineering. Rather, we recognize that sacred space requires undisturbed presence. Norway’s proposal to temporarily ban smart glasses ban in parks, schools, and civic areas strikes a similar, deeply necessary chord for civil society at large.
The Vedic tradition calls senses indriyas. These are outward-facing instruments. The mind engages with the world through them. Sight is perhaps the most immediate and potent sense. When we gaze upon another person, we engage in an unspoken exchange of trust. In Sanskrit, darshan refers to holy vision. It means seeing the divine and being seen in return. True seeing involves reciprocal vulnerability. When visual interaction becomes mechanized, recorded covertly through an artificial lens, that mutual recognition dissolves. Surveillance and extraction replace the sacred bond between observer and observed.
Ethical Technology and the Smart Glasses Ban
Many in our congregation build computer vision systems and AI tools. During our evening satsangs, we often discuss dharma. Dharma encompasses right conduct, balance, and cosmic order. An essential principle of dharma is lokasangraha. This means our actions must uphold the collective’s welfare. When a new technology enters the commons, we therefore have an ethical obligation. We must ask whether it enhances human trust or erodes it. Parents in a park or children in a classroom may feel they might be filmed without consent. Consequently, fear quietly supplants spontaneity. A society governed by latent suspicion cannot foster spiritual or social peace. This is why a smart glasses ban holds such significance.
Vedanta teaches that the true Self, the Atman, is the silent, impartial witness. It observes all conscious experience. Our modern culture, however, has inverted the witness’s role. We increasingly obsess with external recording, cataloging, and broadcasting. We capture every fleeting moment. We have confused capturing an image with truly living the experience. The camera lens creates artificial distance. It separates our awareness from reality. It feeds the restless ego. This ego seeks validation through digital archives, not contentment in the present moment.
Cultivating Discernment in Public Spaces
Public spaces are the secular equivalent of the village square. Think of beaches, parks, and libraries. In our ancestral towns along the Ganges, public life unfolded in open air. Neighbors met face-to-face. They were unburdened by hidden instruments of observation. In such places, human beings ought to rest, play, grieve, or reflect. They should not fear their moments are harvested for corporate datasets or facial recognition models. Civic life demands sanctuary spaces. Citizens can simply exist together there. They should not be converted into passive content.
Norway’s willingness to pause and institute boundaries around these devices represents a prudent step. It shows collective self-discipline. Our scriptures call this dama, or restraint of the external senses. Restraint is not backwardness. It is a deliberate choice. We protect what is vulnerable and precious. Innovation that accelerates without ethical boundaries creates disharmony in the human spirit. True progress requires wisdom. It means we must say some boundaries must remain firm. This preserves our shared humanity.
We navigate a rapid era of digital acceleration. Therefore, we must remember that sight is a sacred responsibility. May we cultivate the discernment to put aside our artificial lenses. We should do this when we encounter our neighbors in the open commons. Only when we look upon one another with an unguarded heart and unmediated eyes can we recognize the light of consciousness. It dwells equally within us all.
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