Acharya Prashant explains that the distinction between merit and demerit is entirely absent in Brahman, which is pure, unmanifested, and devoid of passion. He suggests that it is more accurate to refer to Brahman as 'Tat' (That) to avoid creating mental images or concepts. All dualities, such as good and bad, peace and unrest, or bondage and liberation, exist solely within the mind. Brahman is neither the opposite of the mind nor a state of vacuum; it is beyond all conceptualizations, including the ideas of being full or empty. The speaker emphasizes that the Avadhuta Gita acts as a sharp tool to cut through superficial understandings, moving beyond even the definitions provided in the Kena Upanishad. The discourse further explores the futility of worship, asserting that any object of worship is inevitably a mental construct and therefore false. Worship requires a center, which is always a product of the mind. Acharya Prashant argues that since the ultimate reality is all-pervading and non-dual, there is no 'other' to be worshipped. He points out that even the act of saluting the Self is problematic because it creates a mental image of the Self. True aloneness is the realization that nothing is actually happening in the unchanging reality, regardless of external actions like keeping or discarding symbols. Finally, the speaker defines the world as a collection of people who worship illusions. He explains that worshiping a specific image or observing a specific day for prayer reinforces duality by distinguishing between the sacred and the profane. This distinction is the hallmark of ignorance. He concludes that there are only two kinds of people: those who realize there is nothing to worship and those who worship illusions. The latter constitutes the world, which is governed by morality, merit, and demerit, all of which are absent in the non-dual truth.
