Acharya Prashant responds to a question about whether one must renounce worldly pleasures for spiritual experience. He begins by questioning the very existence of these so-called pleasures, stating, "Where are the pleasures? I do not see any pleasures. I do not see anybody being pleased." He challenges the premise that people are genuinely happy, suggesting that the idea of renouncing pleasures is based on a false assumption. He uses the example of a weekend party, where people drink not because they are happy, but to forget their miserable state. He asserts that people flatter themselves by claiming to live a life of pleasure that spirituality might snatch away, calling this notion a "bluster." The speaker argues that nobody is truly happy, and one only needs to scratch the surface to find this truth. He points to the forced smiles on social media as evidence of this facade, questioning why people feel the need to display their teeth so much if they are genuinely happy. True happiness, he explains, is an internal confirmation that does not require external validation or public display. He encourages dropping the illusion that people are indeed happy and introduces the concept of "joy" (Ananda) as something different from flimsy, fleeting pleasures. We run after these flimsy pleasures precisely because we lack true joy. Spirituality, Acharya Prashant clarifies, is not about dropping real things but about dropping false pleasures, which are synonymous with suffering, in order to attain real joy. The various activities people engage in to feel pleased are merely a confirmation of their internal state of sorrow. He contrasts worldly pleasure with the joy that spirituality offers. This joy is unconditional, continuous, and uncaused. It is not dependent on intoxicants, sales, the misfortune of others, or fleeting relationships. Vedanta, he says, encourages one to not settle for anything less than this joy, which is our birthright. To be spiritual is to hunt wildly for this real pleasure and to differentiate it from the fake. Real success in life is the attainment of this joy, an internal state that remains jovial even in the midst of the greatest external miseries.
