Acharya Prashant addresses the struggle of being pulled back by worldly attachments after choosing the path of liberation. He explains that no one can catch or distract a person unless that person has provided the means and permission to be caught. He uses the analogy of someone trying to escape while keeping their mobile phone and live location active, or running with hooks on their back. If one truly desires to move forward, they must first remove the attachments and self-interests that others use to pull them back. He emphasizes that if a person is caught by their past, it is because they have intentionally left a way for the past to reach them. He cites the examples of Buddha and Mahavira, who left their old lives in total silence and darkness to ensure they were not followed. Mahavira even discarded his clothing to ensure no remnants of his past life could reclaim him. Acharya Prashant characterizes the questioner's attempts as superficial escapes, similar to a weekend trip where one inevitably returns to the same routine. He emphasizes that true liberation requires a complete severance from the past rather than maintaining connections to old desires. He argues that keeping the 'old' on oneself will inevitably lead to being caught by the 'old' again. Finally, he challenges the notion that letting go is difficult. He describes the statement "it is not easy for me" as a fundamental and false assumption about oneself. He asserts that weakness is a belief rather than a reality. According to Vedanta, if an individual has made the path difficult through their own assumptions, they also possess the power to make it easy by changing those beliefs. The difficulty lies not in the task itself, but in the person's insistence on identifying as someone who is weak. He concludes that the difference between a fact and a belief must be understood to move forward.
