Acharya Prashant, in response to a question about prostitution, explains that when the goal of life is material pleasure, anything that provides it will be obtained, and a material price will be paid for a material good. He states that if you look at a human being as a mere body, because you look at yourself as a mere body and do not give enough respect to your own consciousness, then you would not hesitate to purchase that body. He asserts that prostitution is a direct result of a lack of spirituality. The more materialistic a person is, the greater the tendency to buy a body. In some countries, this is legal because the body is seen as just another good to be bought and sold. From a materialistic viewpoint where consciousness is not acknowledged and humans are seen as just animals, this is logical. If a man and woman are just their bodies, composed of elements like carbon and nitrogen that can be bought in the market, then why can't a body be purchased? The speaker clarifies that the body is conscious; it is the seat of consciousness, which is the only thing worth respecting. The body becomes sacred only when consciousness is respected. Otherwise, it is just like any other material object, such as shoes, clothes, or scrap metal, available to be bought and sold. It is consciousness that is special about the body, and one will treat the body with respect only when one respects consciousness. Acharya Prashant defines prostitution as looking at a living being as merely a body. He extends this definition to other situations, such as a husband and wife viewing each other as mere bodies, a boy measuring a girl's body for marriage, or a woman assessing a man's body or bank balance. He also includes a mother concerned only with her baby's physical well-being and not its consciousness, or a person spending hours on makeup, treating themselves as just a body. The moment a human being is reduced to their physical existence, it is prostitution, regardless of the respectable name it is given. He concludes that Vedanta is needed to repeatedly teach that the body is a fact but not the ultimate truth, and that one's truth lies beyond the body. Without this understanding, all that remains is prostitution in its myriad forms, even if only one form is officially labeled as such.