Acharya Prashant explains that the life of Shri Rama was defined by profound renunciation and the prioritization of duty over physical comforts. He highlights how Shri Rama abandoned his kingdom at his father's word and later separated from his wife, Sita, for the sake of his subjects' sentiments, despite both situations involving the sacrifice of personal and bodily pleasures. The speaker argues that Diwali, which celebrates Shri Rama's return, should ideally be a festival of austerity and penance rather than one of indulgence in sweets and shopping. He criticizes the modern celebration of festivals, noting that people focus entirely on bodily pleasures while ignoring the spiritual essence and the 'Ananda' or bliss of the mind that these great figures represented.