In response to a question about why people, especially the poor, have many children despite knowing life is full of suffering, Acharya Prashant explains that the root cause is a lack of self-love. He states that a person who experiences love first loves themselves, and only then can they love others. Someone who cannot love themselves cannot love others. A person with a mind that loves itself will not allow their own condition to remain poor and miserable for long. While he sympathizes with those who are poor due to exploitation, he asserts that in today's world, if someone remains at the lowest economic rung, it is also due to something within them that prevents improvement—an absence of self-love. The speaker argues that a person who does not want their own well-being cannot want it for their children either. A person who is cruel to themselves will inevitably be cruel to their children. He describes the act of having children without the means to raise them properly as a form of cruelty, suggesting that giving birth can be a greater crime than taking a life. This act is often performed without thought, like an animalistic or chemical reaction, rather than a conscious, responsible decision. He points out that humans, unlike animals, should be guided by consciousness. Acharya Prashant highlights that procreation is not merely a personal matter but a significant social issue because it involves a third person—the child—whose rights are at stake. He calls the child a conscious being, not a toy for entertainment. He posits that in an awakened society, individuals would need a 'license' to become parents, demonstrating their physical, economic, mental, and spiritual fitness. This would be to protect the rights of the child, who is helpless and can be exploited for decades by unfit parents. He concludes by observing that the highest birth rates are found in societies with high illiteracy and poverty, a cycle perpetuated by this lack of consciousness.