On Mundaka Upanishad: The name of the unending love affair

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

सत्येन लभ्यस्तपसा ह्येष आत्मा सम्यग्ज्ञानेन ब्रह्मचर्येण नित्यम् ।
अन्तःशरीरे ज्योतिर्मयो हि शुभ्रो यं पश्यन्ति यतयः क्षीणदोषाः ॥

satyena labhyastapasā hyeṣa ātmā samyagjñānena brahmacaryeṇa nityam
antaḥśarīre jyotirmayo hi śubhro yaṃ paśyanti yatayaḥ kṣīṇadoṣāḥ

The Self can always be won by truth, by self-discipline, by integral knowledge, by a life of purity; this Self that is in the inner body, radiant, made all of light, whom by the perishing of their blemishes the doers of askesis behold.

~ Verse 3.1.5, Mundaka Upanishad

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Acharya Prashant (AP): Verse five.

“The Self can always be won by truth, by self-discipline, by integral knowledge, by a life of purity; this Self that is in the inner body, radiant, made all of light, whom by the perishing of their blemishes the doers of askesis behold.”

The Self, the Truth, Ātman, is to be attained by devotion to the Truth; by self-discipline, ātmā sayam; by integral knowledge, by total knowledge, saṃpūrṇa jñāna; by a life of purity, brahmacharya.

“This Self that is in the inner body” — this Self that is at the heart of existence — “radiant, made all of light, whom by the perishing of their blemishes, the doers of askesis behold.”

This Self is winnable, attainable by devotion to the Truth. If you are devoted to the Truth… We have to come back to love again and again. If you love the Self, you get the Self. The Self is for those who love it; there is no other way to reach it. Love is the way. Unless love pulsates in your being, no chance.

The Self is not for those who want knowledge of the Self. The Self is for those who want nothing but the Self. Do you get the difference? It has to be a fierce…