Acharya Prashant responds to a question on public policy by first challenging the premise that human beings are unique. He states that any perceived uniqueness is mostly superficial. When one digs a little deeper, one finds very common and unpretty commonalities. What guides human life is the fundamental will to eat, live, sleep, and procreate, which he calls the mother instinct. He refers to Vedanta and the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, which identify the six enemies that rule us: anger, fear, greed, lust, envy, and ignorance. He argues that if we are all ruled by these same things, our uniqueness is superficial. The differences are akin to one drunk person stumbling to the left and another to the right; both are fundamentally drunk. This, he says, is the condition of mankind: living under a veil of ignorance. Given this shared condition, the primary role of public policy must be to facilitate awakening. This awakening is not about moral science or human values courses, but a profound realization that much of what we consider our 'self' and 'our desires' are not our own at all. Without this realization, there is no hope, as humanity is extremely close to total annihilation, about to be bulldozed by the inevitable roll of time and the principle of the results of action (Karmaphal). Therefore, the most important thing for both the individual and the planet is this awakening. He uses the analogy of having a great car but not knowing where to go, emphasizing the need to first understand our current state before setting a direction. In response to a follow-up question about using 'nudge theory' as a policy tool to direct people inwards, Acharya Prashant asserts that we are too thick-skinned to be moved by mere nudges. Life itself provides constant, powerful indicators, yet we remain unaffected. He cites the example of Shakyamuni Buddha, who was awakened by the ordinary sights of a sick man, an old man, and a dead man. We witness such things and worse daily, but our unfortunate capacity for adaptation leads us to normalize them. The psyche, with the ego at its center, adapts to any condition, internal or external, and calls it normal. We consider the constant tension within and the atrocities outside as normal, but none of it is. He concludes that gentle nudges and subtle hints are ineffective because our fundamental instincts are still very animalistic, as if we are just emerging from the jungle. The reality of our disastrous situation is loudly screaming at us, yet we behave as if everything is fine. Therefore, public policy must be based on core spirituality, which has been wrongly discarded along with organized religion. The vision for public policy must be set by a sage, a knower, who understands the true human condition and the ultimate goal. The purpose of public policy should be to check, regulate, and tax all cultural and social elements that reinforce our deluded identities and push us deeper into a stupor.