Acharya Prashant critiques the conventional social structures of marriage and the concept of 'in-laws', expressing his inability to accept the idea of calling a stranger 'mother' or 'father' based on a legal contract. He argues that the term 'in-law' is inherently absurd because no law has the authority to create a spiritual or biological relationship like that of a parent or sibling. He emphasizes that true relationships and love are matters of the soul and should not require public display, social validation, or legal stamps. He questions why two people who wish to live together must involve a crowd or seek permission from authorities, asserting that while society can govern physical boundaries like property, it has no right to dictate the inner life of an individual. He further explains that beyond one's biological father, the only significant father figure can be a Guru. He dismisses the complexities of domestic relationships, such as those between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law, as being outside his domain of spiritual inquiry. Referring to the teachings of saints, he notes that a person's first family is the earth they are born upon, and their second family is the divine realm above. He criticizes the practice of women leaving one house to join another, viewing it as an unnecessary attachment to physical structures of brick and stone, which he equates to the body. He concludes that by multiplying these worldly attachments and 'homes', individuals, particularly women, find it harder to progress on the spiritual path toward liberation.
