Acharya Prashant explains the hypocrisy often seen when men decide to get married. He describes a boy who may have been ill-mannered and disrespectful to his parents his entire life, even abusing his mother and hitting his father. However, when the time for marriage arrives, this same boy suddenly claims he cannot break his mother's heart and that her command is paramount. The speaker questions this selective obedience, asking when else in his life he ever listened to his mother. The real reason, he suggests, is that the mother is looking for a daughter-in-law. The speaker continues by highlighting another common excuse: the grandmother's wish. The boy might claim his grandmother is on her deathbed and her last wish is to see her grandson's child. He presents himself as a great devotee of his grandmother. Acharya Prashant exposes this hypocrisy by reminding that this same boy would ignore his grandmother's pleas for medicine when she was sick, preferring to go play cricket. He didn't care for her then, but now uses her as a pretext for marriage, even claiming he was born to be a celibate and is only marrying for her sake. Acharya Prashant points out that marriage is often a means to fulfill fantasies and gain social status. He mentions pre-wedding photoshoots where couples act like movie stars, fulfilling their desire to be a hero and heroine for a day. He states that the more inferiority complex a person has, the more they crave to be a king or queen, even if just for one day. On the wedding day, every man, regardless of his worth, gets to ride a horse, and every woman becomes a princess for a night. This provides a sense of honor, with people offering gifts and attention. He also sarcastically mentions the pride taken in parading the new wife on a scooter received as dowry. The speaker lists other superficial benefits of marriage, such as getting good breakfast and a packed tiffin box, which often comes as part of the dowry. He contrasts this with the bachelor's life of eating cheap street food. He humorously notes that marriage leads to a paunch and the need for new, shiny pants. Furthermore, even an ordinary woman gains respectability upon becoming a mother. While all these social and material gains might be achieved through marriage, he concludes that it will not cure one's inner loneliness. That loneliness will persist and consume a person from within. The fire of spiritual practice is not so cheap that it can be satisfied by merely taking wedding rounds; it requires one to offer oneself as a sacrifice.
