Acharya Prashant explains that mental illness is the default state of human existence, beginning at birth with a fundamental lack of self-knowledge. A human being is born with inherent defects and ignorance, and because one cannot exist without an identity, one begins to absorb labels and traits from the world through the senses. This process of absorbing worldly influences only worsens the initial state of ignorance. Since the mind is constantly in association with the world, it builds its entire structure upon these flawed associations, creating a cycle where existing defects determine what the mind will accept in the future. Consequently, every person is a potential mental patient, though only those whose symptoms match clinical descriptions are officially labeled as such by society. Satsang is described as a unique and unexpected association that acts as an antidote to this chronic mental condition. It is an accidental event from the perspective of the ego, as it introduces a dimension that the mind's habitual patterns would normally reject. While the senses are designed to let in worldly distractions and delusions, Satsang allows something beyond the mundane to enter through those same channels. It is the hearing of silence by ears accustomed to noise and the finding of peace by a mind used to fear. Acharya Prashant emphasizes that while we are born into mental illness, Satsang provides the only way to transform the very senses that brought in poison into conduits for truth and liberation.
