Acharya Prashant explains that human existence is defined by two conflicting desires: the desire to dissolve or merge into the ultimate truth, and the desire to preserve one's own identity and physical form. He describes the first as true love or 'Ishq' and the second as selfishness or body-consciousness. Most people live in a state of compromise, seeking a cheap substitute for the divine within the material world because they are unwilling to let go of their physical identity. He notes that our senses are naturally oriented outward, waiting for something beyond themselves, yet we try to find peace in objects and people that belong to the same material dimension as our bodies.
