Acharya Prashant addresses the question of why people drink alcohol or get intoxicated. He explains that people seek intoxication because they dislike the world as it is. The way the world is, the way we experience it, and our relationship with it, is not something anyone would like. This world, as we experience it, and our relationship with it, is unpleasant. Therefore, a person gets intoxicated to change this experience, even if for a little while. He clarifies that intoxication is not limited to substances like alcohol or drugs. It is anything that alters one's experience of the world. Almost every human is compelled to be intoxicated. When you say a person is intoxicated, you usually mean a specific kind of intoxication like alcohol, cannabis, or other drugs. But intoxication is not just that. The meaning of intoxication is anything that changes your experience of the world, even for a short time. The way the world usually appears, and the usual thoughts and feelings about the world, can be changed. This is called intoxication. The fundamental reason for this is that the world is not right, we are not right, and our relationship with the world is not right. The most fundamental of these is that we are not right. Because we are not right, our world is not right, and our relationship with the world is not right. This thing that is not right has to be seen, heard, and felt day and night. One has to endure it every moment. He gives an analogy of being in a hall with ugly walls, foul-smelling mud, and annoying people, asking how one would feel. You would get intoxicated. Every human is intoxicated. The speaker presents two alternatives: intoxication or self-knowledge. One who does not choose self-knowledge has surely chosen some form of intoxication. It is impossible to have neither self-knowledge nor intoxication. The cure for suffering is either to go to its root and cut it, which is self-knowledge, or to forget the suffering for a while through intoxication. It is always easier to fall than to rise. So, most people, to escape the painful normal state of consciousness, choose to fall further down by erasing what little consciousness they have. Some say that if the pain is because consciousness is not complete, then let's raise consciousness to its peak, which is self-knowledge. He concludes by advising those who don't drink alcohol not to be happy that they are not intoxicated. Their intoxication is just hidden and respectable, one that society doesn't catch. Everyone is an addict. The intoxication of consciousness is the greatest intoxication. In deep consciousness, there is such profound joy that you will not need any other intoxication.
