Acharya Prashant distinguishes between two fundamental types of human activity: labor and work. He explains that there is a kind of work one needs to do to run the body, which he terms the "labor of living." This includes activities like feeding oneself, which even animals must do. This, he clarifies, should not be called work. Most people, he states, do not know any work; they only know labor, as they work solely for the sake of the body and its physical tendencies, such as consumption. True work, in contrast, is defined as that which one does to satisfy the "gaping consciousness" or the "thirsty soul." It is the activity that offers contentment and must be placed at a much higher level than the labor of living. If a person's life is consumed by the labor of living, they will have no time left for real work. The purpose of all human and technological progress, he argues, is to provide more free time and resources to engage in this real work. Labor is for satisfying the body, while work is for satisfying consciousness. The speaker warns against misusing technology to simply increase physical demands and appetites, which he calls a great ruin. The trick is to satisfy the physical needs with the least amount of labor possible. Labor is described as a nuisance, a tax one must pay for living, whereas work is the delight of life. He points out that people who work for their ambitions often do so to consume more, which is still a form of labor. Such individuals are laboring harder than animals and are absent from real work, just as animals are. Ultimately, one must ask whether their hard work is real work or just labor. If it belongs to the dimension of labor, it deserves no respect. The speaker concludes that with the right intention, one can convert labor into work. However, if the intention is misplaced, even a great opportunity for work can be degraded into mere labor. Therefore, it is crucial to question how much of one's effort is labor and how much is work.