Acharya Prashant responds to the argument that he preaches renunciation only after having enjoyed life's pleasures himself. He refutes this by stating that the opposite is true and questions what he has truly enjoyed. He explains that even people who are 15-20 batches junior to him earn and consume more than he does. Today, his own salary is not even as much as the average CTC of a fresher from IIM Ahmedabad. He clarifies that he does not take a single penny from the foundation for his salary; it came from his old company, Advait Life Education, and that source has now depleted, leaving him to figure out his own expenses for the month. He dismisses the idea of having lived a life of luxury, recounting how he spent ten years in an industrial area in Noida, breathing in smoke, sleeping on a desk or in a small 6x8 enclosure where cement chunks would fall from the ceiling. He did not pay attention to his health, which has resulted in several physical problems. He also mentions that he would wear long kurtas for sessions, and when they wore out, he would have them cut short for daily use. He challenges the notion that one needs luxuries to pursue truth by questioning why people who cite examples of Ram and Krishna never talk about saints like Kabir Saheb, Raidas Saheb, or Nanak Dev, who came from ordinary backgrounds and had no luxuries. Acharya Prashant then redefines the concept of luxury. He asserts that the greatest luxury, far beyond any material possession, is to live a right and truthful life. He asks if those who live the most luxurious lives, full of opulence and grandeur, have the luxury of a right and true life. The greatest luxury is not having a private jet or a private island, but to stand tall before life, knowing you have lived correctly and truthfully, without bowing down, accepting bondage, or being sold out. This freedom is the real luxury, one that even presidents and prime ministers may not have, as they too are accountable to others. He contrasts this with the life of a person who gets depressed over the number of likes on a Facebook selfie, questioning the value of a luxurious phone if it leads to such misery. He concludes by stating that the real luxury is freedom from the world's judgment, whether it be praise or insult. It is the freedom to live without being a slave to life, to be accountable only to the one Truth, which can be called Atma or Paramatma. This is the highest luxury one should aspire to. To achieve this, one must gather the necessary resources to do the right work in life, but not for personal indulgence. He encourages the pursuit of the highest luxury, which is the freedom to live an unbound life.
