Acharya Prashant addresses the question of why we need happiness by first asking why we need an answer. He explains that an answer is sought for a question, and a solution for a problem. Therefore, the need for happiness (sukh) arises because there is sorrow (dukh). We are born with sorrow, and from the very first moment, we start seeking happiness. He elaborates that another name for sorrow is delusion (bhram), which misleads us into believing that sorrow can be eliminated by its opposite, happiness. In reality, what we truly desire is not happiness but freedom from sorrow (mukti from dukh). Acharya Prashant clarifies that no one truly wants happiness; what everyone wants is freedom from sorrow because we are all inherently sorrowful. We mistakenly chase happiness as the only known method to escape sorrow. However, he asserts that bringing happiness does not remove sorrow; it merely covers it temporarily, only for it to reappear. He posits that happiness is not the cure for sorrow but rather a means to sustain it. The fundamental issue is not the absence of happiness but the persistence of sorrow. To resolve this, one must investigate the nature of the sorrowful self. He suggests that the very existence of this self might be the sorrow, that the sick person is the sickness itself. As long as we remain as we are, sorrow will persist, and we will continue to devise new ways to find happiness. The true solution, he states, is not in happiness but in liberation (mukti), which leads to a state of joy or bliss (anand), a state far beyond mere happiness. Happiness is described as a small, fearful thing, the temporary fulfillment of desires, like having an itch scratched. Joy, on the other hand, is when the mind attains something so vast that desires lose their significance. Whether desires are fulfilled or not becomes inconsequential in the state of joy. Quoting the Upanishads, "Ya vai bhuma tat sukham" (That which is vast is bliss) and "Na alpe sukham asti" (There is no happiness in the small), he encourages seeking the infinite and not giving importance to limited things. He advises the audience to use their intellect and all resources for the purpose of freedom, not just for mundane pursuits like jobs and salaries. Using one's intellect to get into more bondage is a misuse of a precious faculty. The path to liberation, as shown in the Upanishads, is through constant questioning, starting with oneself.