Acharya Prashant responds to a question about how to control the mind. He begins by questioning the premise itself, asking, "Under whose control?" and "Who is this champion who wants to control the mind?" He explains that the one who wants to control the mind is the 'I' or the self, and the mind is merely its shadow or reflection. Just as one cannot control a shadow without changing the object casting it, or change a reflection without changing the face in the mirror, one cannot control the mind without changing the self. The speaker elaborates that the mind is the "weather of the 'I'"—it is the activity that surrounds the self. The state of the mind is determined by what you have understood yourself to be, what you have made yourself, and what you have attached yourself to. If you consider yourself wrong or flawed, the mind cannot be right. He uses an analogy: if you are standing in mud, you cannot expect the atmosphere around you to be fragrant. The solution is not to try and control the bad smell while remaining in the mud, but to change your position. Similarly, the turmoil of the mind is the inevitable result of a flawed self-identity. To change the mind, you must change yourself. Acharya Prashant defines the mind as the collection of consciousness, feelings, thoughts, and reactions, all of which arise for the 'I' at the center. If one's identity is based on weakness and insecurity, the mind will naturally be filled with fear. The attempt to control fear without addressing the underlying identity of weakness is futile. He explains that the incomplete self is the ego ('aham'), while the complete self is the Self ('Atma'). The path of spirituality is to either complete the self or dissolve it, which leads to freedom from false identities and their resulting disturbances. The ultimate advice is to live with the understanding of one's inner completeness. When you know you are complete within, external events and surface-level mental fluctuations do not disturb your core, much like dust on a fruit's peel does not spoil the juice inside. Living in this state of completeness removes the very need to control the mind.