Acharya Prashant addresses the question of why it is difficult to leave people who cause us harm, whether they are relatives, lovers, or even gurus. He explains that the inability to leave stems from a lack of understanding of who the 'leaver' truly is. We do not pay attention to our inner construction and mistakenly identify our conditioned, influenced self as our real, original self. The fundamental problem in both life and spirituality is this misidentification of the conditioned 'I' with the fundamental 'I'. To illustrate this, he uses the analogy of a piece of iron and a magnet. By its innate nature, iron is attracted to a magnet. Furthermore, if this iron is kept near a magnet for a long time, it itself acquires magnetism. This piece of iron is now doubly bound: first by its innate tendency to be attracted to the magnet, and second, by its acquired magnetic nature which makes it a magnet itself. Similarly, we are bound by our innate tendencies and the deep-seated influences of others. These external influences are no longer just external; they have entered and become a part of our inner self. The external person has encroached upon our inner being, and because they are now inside, we cannot leave the one who is outside. We mistakenly label these internalized influences as 'I' and 'mine'—our thoughts, our feelings, our desires. The real battle is not against the external person but against this internal encroachment. The process of liberation involves breaking the final seal of identification, which is the notion that 'these conditionings are me.' This is achieved through the method of self-inquiry, asking, "Who am I? What is mine?" (Koham). The speaker clarifies that the external person has long since entered within us, and that is why we cannot leave them. Regarding the pain involved in this process, Acharya Prashant states that any state of mind short of absolute joy is, in fact, a state of pain. We often fail to recognize our suffering because we compare our happiness and sorrow with others, rather than with the absolute standard of joy. True spiritual progress requires enduring the pain of inner transformation. This becomes easier when we realize that it is the false, conditioned self that is in pain, not our true nature. The pain is experienced by the ego, which is constructed from these very influences.