Acharya Prashant explains that if you look at the life of a common person, it appears they are engaged in various activities like studying, getting married, doing business, building a house, or raising children. However, underneath all these superficial activities, there is only one continuous effort: trying to get rid of suffering in some way. This effort to escape suffering is likened to a dog trying to lick its own tail. The dog spins in circles but can never reach its tail because its mouth and tail are not separate entities; they are connected parts of the same body. The mouth is an extension of the tail, and the tail is an extension of the mouth. This is the nature of duality (dvait), where two things appear to be separate and distant but are, in fact, one. This analogy is extended to the human condition where suffering is the itch on the tail, and the happiness (sukh) sought to relieve it is the tongue. One cannot eliminate suffering with happiness because they are two ends of the same phenomenon. The life of a common person is like this dog, spinning like a top, endlessly chasing a false liberation from suffering. This is the duality where two things, which are actually one, appear as two separate things far apart. One thing tries to destroy the other, but it's an impossible task as they are intrinsically linked. The life of a common person is a constant, day-and-night effort for this false liberation from suffering. If the attempt to eliminate suffering had failed completely, one would have attained liberation from suffering because one would have been liberated from the effort itself. You would have realized that this effort is utterly futile. However, the effort does not fail completely, and this is the work of Maya (illusion). Maya does not let you fail completely; it gives you intermittent success. It doesn't let its prisoners die; it keeps them alive but in chains, like a slave who is given just enough to survive and continue working. When you are about to become completely disheartened, Maya serves you a little bit of happiness, which re-energizes you to continue the chase. You forget all the kicks you received and, after getting a little happiness, you stand up, dust yourself off, and ask, 'What's next?' This is the life of a common person. Spirituality, in contrast, is the realization of this entire game. It is the understanding that this is the system at play. One might be fooled once or twice, but spirituality is the understanding that one will not be fooled for a lifetime. Worldliness is getting kicked repeatedly but still being filled with enthusiasm. Spirituality is understanding the whole game. Once you are cheated, twice you are cheated, but you won't be cheated for a lifetimeтАФthis is spirituality.
