Acharya Prashant begins by stating that prostitution is not limited to what is seen in brothels, nor is it something found only in women. He explains that one reason men have historically visited brothels is that the woman at home was turned into a completely dull entity, like a lump of dough or a boiled potato. She was often uneducated and did not know how to converse properly. In contrast, prostitutes were often far more clever, skilled, proficient, and accomplished in the arts. In response to a question about legalizing prostitution, the speaker reframes the issue, suggesting that before asking whether it should be legal, one must ask why it exists in the first place. He says the question should be whether it is right for prostitution to exist at all. The argument for legalization is that since it cannot be stopped, bringing it within the ambit of the law provides legal rights and protection to those in the profession, who would otherwise be harassed. It would become a formal profession. The speaker asserts that the fundamental reason for prostitution's existence is that we are animals who have the pretense of being moral. We want to present ourselves as moral, respectable householders with wives, but these are the same people who, to fulfill their lust, enter dark alleys after dusk. This is because what one pretends to be is not what one is. One pretends to be a good man, but one is not. A good man is one who has known himself, who understands where all his desires, cravings, and lusts come from. You are not a good man; you are just a cultured man. By being cultured, you may appear good on the surface, but inside, the animal keeps showing its teeth. Brothels become the centers for that animal to erupt. The speaker concludes that the only cure for prostitution is spirituality. Prostitution is not just what is seen in brothels. If selling the body for money is prostitution, then most of what happens in our offices is also prostitution. Selling the intellect, which is a part of the body, for money is also prostitution. In principle, how is selling the brain different from prostitution? Where there is no love, every relationship is a form of prostitution. The end of prostitution can only happen through love, and love is a matter of spirituality. Until you are spiritual, prostitution will continue. The more you make the relationship between men and women uneasy, the more diseases like prostitution will increase. Give them the right education, the education of the Self, and their relationships will become natural. Without life education, a boy will see a girl only as a girl, with gender identity filling his eyes, and vice versa. Then their relationship can never be natural.
