Acharya Prashant explains that while it is physically easier to move toward truth in childhood, the spiritual meaning of childhood is not related to physical age. He defines a child as one who remains close to their source or the truth that existed before their individual identity. As a person grows into adulthood, they become deeply established in their personal identity, names, and social roles, which creates a distance from their origin. To be a child spiritually means to not be lost in one's personal identity and to maintain a connection with the state that existed before physical birth. He cites figures like Shri Ramakrishna, Lao Tzu, and Jesus as examples of those who remained children at heart despite their physical age. He further elaborates that the goal of life is to decrease one's spiritual age as the physical body grows older. While the world sees a newborn as zero years old, spiritually, a child is born carrying thousands of years of conditioning and experiences. True childhood or 'shashav' must be achieved through spiritual practice. A successful life is one where a person becomes like a child in the womb—completely dependent on and surrendered to the Divine—long before physical death. He describes realization as the ultimate state where one feels that everything within and without is the Mother or the Divine. Acharya Prashant also challenges the notion that children are born pure or like a blank slate. He asserts that humans are born as a bundle of deep-seated tendencies and selfishness, which are not taught by society but carried from the start. He emphasizes that spiritual liberation involves breaking free from the cycle of birth and death. He explains that true celibacy (Brahmacharya) is a state of being established in the Divine, and a natural consequence of this state is the lack of desire to bring more beings into the suffering of the world. He concludes by stating that realization acts as a deterrent to further worldly entanglements, as a wise person does not wish to increase the population of a world that is often experienced as a place of suffering.
