Acharya Prashant explains that the human condition is peculiar. One has to live in the body and with the world. If one lives solely as the body, the fear of death arises. If one only finds the world around them, they become restless. This creates a paradox where one can neither leave the body and the world nor find peace within them. This is the fundamental problem that the Upanishads address. They answer the core questions of life: What should be our fundamental understanding? What is our relationship with ourselves and the world? How should we live? The Upanishads state that there is something within us that is not like our bodily self, yet it is not alien; it is within us. The body gets sick and old, but at the core of the embodied being (Jiva), there is something that is untouched by sickness or age. It is crucial to acknowledge this inner reality. Otherwise, one is left with two choices: either live in self-deception by forgetting the body's inevitable fate of death, which leads to a false happiness, or live in constant sorrow by remembering it. The Rishis found both these paths unacceptable. The Rishis discovered a third way. They taught that within the body resides something that is free from all the body's ailments, limitations, and attributes. This understanding is the ultimate weapon (Brahmastra), and Brahman itself is that weapon. There is something within you that is not like you at all; it is your very truth. This is the essence of the Upanishads. The Rishis were not interested in small, incremental improvements. They sought the ultimate. They said that as long as you remain the limited 'you', you can only achieve minor betterments, which are insignificant. They point towards that which is infinitely better than you and is not distant but resides within your own heart. Acharya Prashant further elaborates that the ego and the world are one, just as the Self (Atman) and the Absolute (Brahman) are one. When one operates from the ego, they see a world of small, trivial things. But for one who is established in the Self, the world appears as the complete and total Brahman. The Upanishads solve this fundamental, existential problem of human life by revealing this truth.