Acharya Prashant addresses the concern of feeling dependent on a teacher or a foundation, explaining that human beings are born in a state of dependency, attachment, and fear. He clarifies that the role of the teacher is to initially bring the seeker close to himself to act as a substitute for worldly obsessions. While the world solidifies a person's dependency to keep them enslaved, the teacher works to liberate the seeker from all dependencies, including the teacher himself. He emphasizes that closeness to a teacher is qualitatively different from closeness to the world, as the former leads to the regaining of one's self and ultimate freedom. He warns against the cunning arguments of the mind and worldly influences that equate attachment to a teacher with attachment to worldly distractions like cinema. Such arguments falsely suggest that all forms of engagement are equal, ignoring the difference between consuming poison and consuming fruits. Acharya Prashant asserts that the path of truth requires the courage to take a stand and call the false as false. He notes that those who claim they want to 'walk alone' by leaving the teacher are often actually being influenced by a crowd of worldly voices in their mind or environment. True spirituality is not for the feeble-minded; it is a decisive movement toward freedom where the teacher eventually pushes the student away once they are ready.
