How to develop longing for the Truth?

Acharya Prashant
5 min readNov 15, 2020

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

Question: In order to realize the Truth, we say that we have to develop the longing for Truth. But this longing is coming from the same mind which is also desiring the material things. How to develop this longing?

Acharya Prashant (AP): You don’t have to develop a longing.

Longing comes from seeing that all that you have so far done to fulfill the longing, has gone waste.

You don’t have to develop or cultivate a longing.

Do you develop hunger? Hunger exists. At most, you can be more sensitive towards your hunger.

To be human is to be longing. We are a lump of longing. What else are you? You are longing, in person. You are longing, personified.

Now how would you develop longing? Everything about you, every bit about you, longs, and longs both actively and passively.

Why do you think you are alive? Why do you think you wake up every successive day? When the morning arrives, why don’t you just keep sleeping? Why do you wake up? Why do you leave the bed? Because you hope to meet ‘That’, every new day.

Yesterday you tried and were unsuccessful, but probably you learned. Yesterday’s failure was…

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