In response to a question about who should decide what women wear, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in Iran, Acharya Prashant explains that this decision must belong to the individual. He broadens the question to include men, stating that no one has the right to interfere in what another person wears, where they go, or how they live. If one is a true well-wisher, their role is limited to helping awaken the other's consciousness, enabling them to think and see clearly for themselves. He asserts that the innate nature of every human being is freedom, and the mind cannot tolerate externally imposed rules. The historical acceptance of such rules by women is a sign of mental slavery, not a matter of pride. Acharya Prashant argues that if society genuinely cared for women, it would provide them with proper worldly and spiritual education. This education would empower them to make their own life decisions. Imposing orders on how to walk, whom to marry, or what constitutes modesty is an infringement on their freedom. He contends that the obsession with what others wear is a sign of a spiritually bankrupt society. When there is no higher purpose in life, all energy gets channeled into body-consciousness and lust. He points out that a patriarchal society is deeply concerned with women's bodies and, by extension, their clothes because men, being disconnected from their own inner world, view women merely as bodies. He concludes that in an awakened society, issues like clothing would become secondary and irrelevant. The focus would be on higher matters, not on someone's attire. The body is a temporary instrument given to consciousness to reach its ultimate goal of liberation. Its purpose is not to be decorated or indulged, but to be used correctly on the path to freedom. The constant concern over clothing, whether one's own or others', is a sign of a deeply unconscious and disturbed mind. A truly awakened person, he says, would not be preoccupied with such trivial matters.
