Acharya Prashant explains that one must first reclaim oneself from the "gutter knowledge" that enslaves. This type of knowledge consists of conditioned ideas about what one should do, what constitutes a good life, the meaning of society and religion, and moral judgments of good and bad. This, he states, is the lowest level of knowledge. To rise above this "gutter knowledge," one must use 'Avidya' (worldly and spiritual knowledge). The speaker emphasizes that the Upanishads speak very highly of Avidya, stating that without it, a person will fall into a dark hole, left only with "gutter knowledge." Since man is born into a "gutter," meaning society and its conditioning, it is inevitable that this base knowledge will find its way into him. He notes that even a five-year-old already possesses tons of this "gutter knowledge." Acharya Prashant clarifies that Avidya has two aspects: worldly knowledge, which can be broadly called science (including material and social sciences), and spirituality. Both of these are typically missing from the minds of common people because they are filled with "gutter knowledge." The hallmark of a "gutter person" is that their convictions and values correspond to neither science nor spirituality. Their beliefs come from an entirely different place, the gutter. This "gutter person" will speak in ways that are both unscientific and unspiritual. They will hate real science, dismissing it as materialistic, and real spirituality, calling it impractical or extreme. Instead, they prefer vague, nebulous beliefs handed down through generations of foolishness. The speaker asserts that science and spirituality are not in conflict; they are two aspects of Avidya that go hand-in-hand, and their common enemy is "gutter knowledge." He concludes by stating that Avidya must be actively learned, as "gutter knowledge" is the default that comes on its own.
