Acharya Prashant addresses the romantic dream of becoming a renunciate. He describes the fantasy of becoming like Buddha's disciples, saying 'give me alms' and imagining a beautiful woman appearing with a bowl of lentils and rice. In this dream, the renunciate stands like a liberated person with eyes lowered. However, he quickly shatters this illusion by pointing to modern realities. He states that such houses no longer exist; instead, there are gated societies with guards. If one were to beg for alms there, they would be beaten up badly. Therefore, he advises, one must learn to earn. The speaker clarifies that times have changed. In the past, there were fields, groves, and gardens where one could survive on fruits and flowers if alms were not received. He rhetorically asks where one can find trees laden with mangoes and litchis today, so that if one doesn't get alms, they can just eat a mango. A good mango is now expensive and sold in the market. Gardens are guarded by dogs, and farmers use chemicals and even tie up valuable fruits to protect them from birds and animals. The old days of being a renunciate by the banks of the Ganges with fruit-bearing trees are gone; he notes that today, a policeman would hit anyone trying to lie there with a stick. Acharya Prashant concludes that for a spiritual seeker, financial self-reliance is paramount, and there should be no misconception about this. A person who is dependent on others even for their daily bread cannot be spiritually independent. This does not mean one must earn millions, but one must earn enough so that no one can create an obstacle in their spiritual practice. No worldly power should be able to dictate their life by saying, 'You eat our food, so you must live by our rules.'
