We often call something “help” or “love” while secretly expecting something in return. When that return does not come, we feel hurt, revealing that the relationship was a trade, not genuine help. The ego, being unfulfilled, cannot truly love or share. Likewise, desperation to be loved makes us controllable. Real love emerges when we stop seeking validation, work on ourselves, and become so inwardly fulfilled that we no longer need to be loved.
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Questioner: You talked about intent. The intent of the doer matters more than the action. So let's assume somebody does something good but has a malicious intent behind it, or let's say a politician builds a road with the hope of getting votes, but he does not have any good desire for the people. So is that act also not good? Like, is intent really that important?
Acharya Prashant: If the politician declares that I'm doing this to get votes, that's fine. That's fine, then that's a matter of quid pro quo. It's a matter of barter. That's fine. That's practical exchange of goods and services, and there's a certain honesty to it. It's fine. I pay you 100 rupees, you deliver me 100 rupees' worth of goods. No love involved. At the same time, nobody's claiming that love is involved. So, it's fine.
The problem is when you do it for the sake of a return but present it as something done out of love, then there is a problem. If you have expectations, disclose, disclose up front. Are you getting it?
