Acharya Prashant addresses the question of why people choose wrong actions even though right action is its own reward and wrong action is its own punishment. He begins by clarifying that the rewards or punishments of actions are experienced by the individual. He defines right action as that which brings peace, relaxation, and a reasonless contentment, leading to a decrease in inner uncertainty and anxiety. Conversely, wrong action produces the opposite effects. The core of the issue, he explains, is that people do not operate from a clean slate or a zero base. When someone has lived a lifetime based on wrong decisions and actions, they become conditioned and acclimatized to what is wrong, to the point where it starts to appear right. They have invested heavily in the wrong, and their entire life structure is built upon a sequence of wrong actions. This personal history becomes the person themselves; they are no longer a free being but someone determined by their past. Consequently, when such a conditioned person makes a truly right decision, the reward of peace and clarity is incompatible with their pre-existing life structure. This right action comes as a jolt that shakes their very foundations, causing them to suffer. This suffering explains why people avoid right action; it is incompatible with the entire edifice of their life. He illustrates this with an analogy of a child who is comfortable playing in the mud. The right action is to give the child a bath, and the reward is cleanliness. However, the process of being scrubbed is uncomfortable for the child, who experiences the right action as suffering. In conclusion, the reward for right action does arrive, but the conditioned person dislikes it because it feels uncomfortable and disruptive. They have grown accustomed to the familiarity of their wrong ways, even liking the punishment that comes with them. People are often metaphorically lazy and dirty, and the temptation to continue with the familiar wrong action is very high. Most people succumb to this temptation, choosing the familiar discomfort of wrong action over the perceived jolt of the right action's reward.