Acharya Prashant addresses the question, "Why do innocent people suffer?" by first deconstructing the question's underlying assumption: that innocent people exist. He posits that being a person inherently means one is not innocent. True innocence, he explains, is a state of perfection, free from all blemishes and bondages, which is extremely rare. Since we are not innocent, we all have to suffer and will continue to suffer. The common use of the word "innocence" is loose and casual, making us believe it is a widespread state, whereas it is something very rare and expensive that must be earned. He elaborates that even a newborn child or a fetus in the womb is not innocent. Referencing both the Testament and Indic scriptures, he states that to be born itself is the first sin, a result of unfulfilled desires and unsettled tendencies. If one were truly innocent, one would not have been born. Most people are born guilty and die with even more guilt, which is the story of the common life. He defines this inherent lack of innocence as being "dirty" or conditioned. Only one in a million people, through a great and extraordinary life, manages to earn innocence. Acharya Prashant connects this to the theological "problem of suffering," which questions why a benevolent God would allow good people to suffer. He argues this problem is also based on the flawed premise that truly innocent people exist. He clarifies that enlightened beings who attained true innocence did not experience inner suffering, even if their bodies endured great pain. Suffering belongs to the guilty ego, which he metaphorically calls "the man within the house" (the body-mind complex). When this ego vanishes, there is no one left inside to suffer, even if the body is harmed. Ultimately, he reframes the question from "Why do I suffer?" to the more useful and relevant question, "Now that I do suffer, what am I to do with my suffering?" He presents a conscious choice: one can either let suffering be a stumbling block, complain, and run from it, which is the common path. Alternatively, one can choose the path of courage, which is to face, embrace, and use suffering as fuel to energize the journey towards liberation. This path involves allowing suffering to purge the impurities within and ultimately transcend it.
