Acharya Prashant questions why one would raise their cost of living to a point where they must be worried about earning. He advocates for a Spartan lifestyle, reminding the listener that in this world, there are no free lunches. Free lunches exist only in the world of Truth. To get money in this world, one must trade a part of themselves—their body, time, and effort. It is a pure barter system. The more money you take from someone, the more of yourself you have to exchange. If someone pays you a large sum, they will want to control you, make you act in certain ways, and fulfill their expectations and desires. They are not paying you to enjoy liberty and freedom, but so that you may fulfill their mission. The feeling of earning is an illusion; one is just trading. In this trade, one can end up trading away their peace of mind, composure, and freedom, which is not a profitable deal. The solution is to keep one's costs to a minimum, as then nobody can enslave you. The speaker states that others enslave you using your own greed. Nobody can own, possess, or dominate you if you are not greedy and not prepared to sell away your freedom. One should be prepared to survive on the minimum, even a tenth of what they currently make, by having a small cost structure. However, people tend to unnecessarily and artificially raise their cost structure as soon as their income increases. What starts as a one-time expenditure or celebration becomes a habit tied to self-worth and prestige. Consequently, when the income level drops, it hurts because one has to downgrade, which feels like a humiliation. The real issue is that one needlessly upgraded in the first place. One should not be attached to material goods and should feel equally comfortable in a luxury hotel and at a cheap roadside eatery. None of these things should determine one's self-worth. When money sticks to the mind and one becomes money-minded, then it is a problem.