Acharya Prashant begins by stating that spirituality is not about committing suicide. If it were, he says, we would not need spiritual gatherings (Satsang) but rather "mass suicide halls." He points out that there have been cults, for instance in Japan, where incidents of mass suicide were reported because the followers believed it to be liberation. This, he clarifies, is not spirituality. He explains that just as it is stupid to deprive the body of food, it is equally stupid to deprive the mind of thoughts and feelings. Thoughts and feelings are not the enemy or the culprit. The real issue, he asserts, is one's "misplaced presence" or the "needless presence of 'I' in the thoughts." The problem is not thought itself, but the 'I' that attaches to it for the purpose of self-preservation. Spirituality, according to the speaker, is not about banishing certain things from your life. Instead, it is about seeing that life is beautiful and does not get any better with the intervention of the "little self," the "I." He advises to be fully secure about the 'I', and then one can think and feel as much as they want. Experiences like laughing, singing, crying, hating, or falling in love are all acceptable and part of the "rainbow" of life. He distinguishes between two types of thought. One is the functional thought required to solve a practical problem, like a mathematical equation. The other is the thought that "feeds on fear." This second type of thought is the problem. Your insecurities about yourself and your utter loneliness are the problem. This is an assumed, imagined problem that does not exist but is taken to be real. He questions the intelligence of fretting over an imagined problem.
