Acharya Prashant tells a story to illustrate the nature of knowledge and innocence. A king once asked his royal painter to paint the face of the most beautiful and innocent individual in the kingdom. The painter found a little girl of four or six years old, whose face had the innocence of a fresh flower, and painted her portrait. The king was very pleased, having never seen a more blemishless and innocent face. About twenty years later, the king had another thought and called the same painter, now older, to find and paint the most vile, cruel, conditioned, and evil face in the kingdom. The painter found a woman whose face was so terrible and terrifying that it would give jitters to even the most saintly or courageous person. He had to both threaten and lure her to be painted. While painting her, he noticed a tear in her eye and asked what was the matter. The woman replied, "Around twenty years back, you had made another painting, right? I was that girl." The speaker explains that this story shows how our cleanliness and innocence can be very quickly corrupted with time. This is why our innocence needs protection, like needing fresh clothes to keep oneself clean. He states that knowledge can be both a stain on the body and an armor that prevents it from getting stained. For a person who is not blessed by the scriptures or teachers, knowledge is merely a burden and a blemish that stains. This includes being addicted to nonsensical news, gossip, and consumer information, which corrupts the consciousness and makes one a "money machine" for others by inducing desires. This is a subtle manipulation where one is made a fool and a slave without realizing it, as the coercion is not explicit. Conversely, for someone who has been cleaned by the blessings and contact of scriptures and teachers, knowledge can act as an armor or clothing that prevents the body from getting dirty. The speaker explains that saints are those who know the ways of Maya (the world's conditioning) and can therefore defend themselves against it, just as knowing how a virus operates helps in protecting oneself. The Guru advises in two ways: first, to drop all nonsensical knowledge because the relationship with it is one of bondage and addiction. Second, to use the right knowledge from saints and scriptures as protection. Our innocence is like that of the little kid in the story; it is there but can be quickly lost if the situations change and protection is not available. Therefore, our innocence requires the protection of the right knowledge. The speaker questions the value of accumulating irrelevant information, such as political trivia or product launch dates, which only serves to induce cravings and make one a consumer. He points out that media channels use news as a vehicle for advertisements, subtly manipulating people. The knowledge that truly helps is not found in newspapers or on television but comes from the saints and the Upanishads.
