Acharya Prashant responds to a question about finding the real purpose of life by first asking the questioner to identify what problem he is facing. He clarifies that spirituality is not meant to fulfill desires but to address a specific pain point. He notes that the questioner is already living with daily purposes, such as being a student, and is not living purposelessly. When the questioner dismisses his current goals as small, Acharya Prashant challenges this perception, asking how he knows they are small and suggesting this feeling might stem from emulating great figures like Swami Vivekananda. He questions why one would seek an alternative if one is already okay with their current life, stating that if there is no problem, then one is already fine. Acharya Prashant emphasizes that a solution only arises after a clear problem is identified. He explains that the ego often refuses to acknowledge the real problem because if the problem disappears, the self also disappears. He characterizes the common pursuit of spirituality as mere entertainment or "window shopping" for those who are bored, rather than a genuine quest for change. He points out the questioner's own contradiction: claiming nothing is wrong while also describing himself as a wanderer who constantly changes pathsâfrom engineering to teaching to civil services to lawâand seeks rest. This instability, he asserts, is the terrible problem. For genuine change to occur, Acharya Prashant states that one must be deeply troubled by the status quo and acknowledge a state of profound suffering or internal separation. One must see oneself as being in a "very bad shape" to find the courage to embrace an alternative. He says that spirituality is not for the well-adjusted but for those who find themselves "naked and shivering in the cold" and then beg for clothes. For a fundamental change to happen, one must gain insight into the fundamentals of life, where things that appear normal start to seem weird, and what is acceptable becomes distasteful.
