Acharya Prashant states that companionship is wonderful, and one should be with any person or group of people who helps their mind become centered. If marriage is another name for beautiful companionship, then it is wonderful. However, what truly matters is not the social institution of marriage, but the fact of being with someone. The presence of another person will necessarily have an effect on you, and vice-versa. Therefore, you must know the effect that the other's presence has upon you. If someone's presence has a becalming, soothing, illuminating, or liberating effect on your mind, you should boldly be with them as much as you want. This companionship should be maintained only as long as its effect is liberating and does not lead to mutual dependency. It must be a mutually healthy relationship, not one entered into because of sexuality, loneliness, or social pressure. One already has enough troubles and should not invite more. However, if someone can bring joy and truth into your life, you should invite them into your heart, and then the question of marriage becomes inconsequential. With the right person, it is wonderful whether you marry or not; with the wrong person, it is bad luck either way. Being single does not guarantee freedom from troubles, as one can still have very bad company and be equally troubled. The issue is not the institution of marriage, but the reason one enters it. Acharya Prashant questions the common reasons for marriage, asking if people marry as an affirmation of divine love. He points out that in many places, people marry because it is the only way to get assured sex without spending a lot of money or time. He lists other prevalent, but flawed, reasons for marriage: needing someone for old age, help with chores, pressure to have children, loneliness after friends marry, and social exclusion from places like nightclubs. If these are one's reasons, one must first look at their own mind. With a sorted mind, whatever you do will be right. He concludes by emphasizing that what matters is liberation. There have been liberated people who were married and those who were not. If you are sorted and liberated, you can do whatever you want. If you are not, whatever you do will be wrong, as actions arising from fear, conformity, and deprivation cannot lead to freedom.