Acharya Prashant explains the nature of human identity and conditioning using the analogy of a snowball. He describes how a small particle of snow, as it rolls down a slope, gathers more snow and eventually becomes a large snowball. This snowball is not the original particle grown big, but an accumulation of all the snow on the slope it has traveled over. Similarly, a human being is a representation of the entire journey of mankind, the whole of evolution. A person is an accumulation of influences and is only that which they have picked up along their journey. The speaker then elaborates on the difference between man and animal. While all beings are born as animals, driven by primal conditioning like lust, fear, and insecurity, man possesses consciousness, which allows for thought and analysis. This consciousness presents a unique opportunity for liberation from animal nature. However, it can also become a second layer of conditioning through societal influences, ideas, and knowledge, making man doubly conditionedāfirst by animal nature and then by social nature. This often makes man's situation worse than an animal's, as an animal is only conditioned by its nature. Man is born as a dog but progressively becomes worse than a dog, doubly conditioned both physically and socially. Despite this, the human birth is a precious and slim opportunity because it offers the potential for liberation from both types of conditioning. This liberation is possible through two paths. The first, which is the usual path, is to depend on thought and civilization to overcome animal instincts, but this only adds another layer of bondage. The second, and true path to liberation, is to surrender to something beyond thought, to the Truth. When thought is surrendered to the Truth, it can liberate a person from both thought and instinct. The speaker advises that if one must choose between the social and the animal, it is better to choose the animal, as that bondage is weaker and easier to break. However, the ultimate goal is to meet the world not as a social or animal being, but as the Self (Atma).
