Acharya Prashant responds to a question about the real meaning of character. He recounts a time when he was asked the same question via SMS and replied with a single word, "Ghanta" (a colloquial term implying worthlessness or nonsense). He explains that if a straightforward answer is desired, then character means nothing. The speaker elaborates that the concept of character implies that we are so blind that we can only see a person's conduct (aacharan) and nothing beyond it. We are unable to perceive anything other than their behavior, such as how they walk or what they say. Our perception is limited to the material, the physical body, and its actions. We judge a person's worth based on these external actions and label this judgment as 'character'. We do not know what the mind is, or what understanding is; we can only see the body and its conduct. The root of the word 'charitra' (character) is 'char', which means to move or act. Therefore, character is about how one is living or acting. The focus should not be on the conduct itself, but on its source. A machine can determine if you are going left or right, but it cannot understand the meaning behind that movement. Similarly, those who focus on conduct have preconceived notions, like 'if she is a good girl, she must go left.' They are blind to the mind and have decided that performing certain actions makes one a good person, while not performing them makes one bad. This focus on external action, or what one is 'doing', is superficial. The real importance lies not in the action itself, but in where the action originates—who is behind the action. Those who are 'character-minded' or 'conduct-oriented' do not grasp this; for them, life is an algorithm. For instance, they might judge a person's character as good or bad based on a simple action, without knowing the 'why' behind it. The world is full of such people because it is easy to prove one has 'character' by simply acting in a certain way. They only see our conduct, so we maintain a 'correct' conduct, regardless of what is happening in our minds. This leads to hypocrisy, like the saying, "Ram on the lips, a knife under the arm." Keep the conduct good, and what lies behind it remains invisible to the blind. This is not real life. Real life is found when one looks into the inner self (antas), not just the conduct. If one truly wants life and love, one must have the vision to see beyond the body and its actions, to see the understanding behind the karma. Our eyes are not like that; we only see the karma. Our complaints are also about actions: "Why did you do this?" We rarely ask, "Why don't you understand?" Our entire game is about doing or not doing, not about understanding or not understanding. To live a real life, one must look at the inner self, not just the conduct. Otherwise, one lives like a corpse, even if one earns a lot of money or respect. Life is something else entirely.