Questioner: Namaskar Acharya ji. Acharya ji, I have been listening to you for quite some time now, and one thing that I have noticed is that whenever you speak on any topic, you always speak in the light of Advait Vedant. One thing also on which you have spoken a lot is the Saints of Bharat and their teachings. Sant Vani. One of the most prominent teachings of these Saints is devotion, Bhakti. So, I wanted to ask you about Bhakti or Devotion. What is Devotion? Because in the youth there is a more tendency towards devotion rather than knowledge, these days. People usually prefer to go to the temples instead of reading the scriptures and other things. So, I wanted to ask you what is the meaning of Devotion in the light of Vedant.
Acharya Prashant: Vedant does not talk too much about devotion because Vedant is entirely based on devotion. What is Very foundational does not show up too much in words, and where there are a lot of words, it points towards a certain superficiality. It was Lao Tzu who said that when people are talking too much of love. It simply means there is no love.
So, what is devotion? The answer must begin from the one who is at the beginning. Who will be the devoted one? Who is the one who will practice devotion? The mind, right? It is the mind that gets devoted. You say that fellow has a very devoted mind. So, it is the mid that gets devoted. Now, what is this mind, and what is its fundamental problem?
Questioner: It is unfulfilled.
Acharya Prashant: This mind is unfulfilled. This mind is unfulfilled. It wants something, but it does not know what it wants. We are talking about facts, right? That’s the condition of every single person on Earth, right? You want, and you want endlessly, but you do not know what you want. Therefore, you want endlessly. You roam door to door, knocking at each door because you do not know which particular one is the suitable door.
