Acharya Prashant responds to a question about the word "marriage" arising after a sexual encounter. He begins by stating that the questioner was using his degree, pomp, and money to almost buy sex that night, using a woman's body to satiate his lust, and is now using the speaker to reverse the previous choice. He explains that life is a series of choices, and each successive choice must be made to correct the follies of the previous one. Since no choice is perfect and we rarely choose the highest option, choices often have to be an act of negation. One must choose to negate what has already been chosen because it is rarely good enough and almost never the highest. Acharya Prashant elaborates on the concept of commitment in the context of marriage. He questions what exactly one has seen in the other person that is worth committing to for the long term. He suggests that often, people enter into long-term commitments like marriage without their eyes being open. These choices are often just following a fad because everyone else does it. To avoid being ashamed of what we have done, we then say things like "marriages are made in heaven." He points out that it's interesting how a part of us, instead of correcting ourselves, wants to continue the flawed and fallen self. We need to be extremely cautious because we are born with an inbuilt enemy, and almost everything we do is just to feed our own enemy. Most of what we call growth in life is nothing but the growth of the disease within us. He further explains that true love is the aspiration to rise, which is serious hard work, not fun. Betterment sounds like work, while love sounds like fun. However, to be honest, love is serious hard work. In love, you start loving the hard work and the hardship that comes your way. The benefit of this hard work is that you are not left as what you are. To see the life and importance in the sentence "to not be left as one is," one first has to see how upset and miserable one is internally, and concurrently, how beautiful one's potential is. To see what you have made of yourself, you need to be in touch with the facts of your life very honestly, requiring mirrors around you. To see what you can potentially be requires seriously good company, like books or wise people. If one has understanding and love, then one could possibly be beautifully married. But the occurrence of understanding and love in an individual is so rare, and therefore, good marriages are equally rare.
