All that the mind knows is love

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Question: Acharya Ji, How to understand the different states of mind?

What we are, is the mind always dwelling in fear and desire. Mind is always afraid of its death, as a deal for love to flower. But at the same time mind’s ultimate desire is — Love.

Kindly elaborate.

Acharya Prashant: That is the human condition.

You have to see that all mental states are — one.

It doesn’t matter what the mind wants, it doesn’t matter which direction it chooses to go. It doesn’t matter whether it is burning in jealousy, or burning in affection. It doesn’t matter whether you call the mental state as ‘positive’, or ‘negative’.

All mental states can be called by just one name — ‘Love’.

Greed is love, fear is love, jealousy is love, disgust is love, violence is love, separation is love.

All mental states are nothing but different ways of describing your separation from the Source, from the Lord, from the Center, from the God, from the Truth.

It doesn’t matter what name you assign to That.

So these mental states that you have written, or quoted, are all pointing in the same direction. Let not vocabulary confuse you.

The difference in different mental states is just, at the level of description. Words are causing you to think that sometimes you are afraid, and sometimes you are not. When you are afraid, it is because you think that you will not be able to meet Him. When you are not afraid, then it is because you think that not being afraid will take you to Him. In either of the situations, your target, your desire, is just for Him.

Then you should ask: “If all goodness, and all badness is just the same, and differs only in name, the difference is only at the level of words, then why should one be good at all? Then you should all tell that why should one follow spirituality, why should one not remain just worldly.”

You should ask, “Acharya Ji, if all desires are desires of Him, then why should I not pursue my carnal desires? Why should I not pursue money, and prestige, and…