A questioner expresses that despite having enough understanding, she feels unsettled and that her heart is blocked. She feels she is searching for love for herself but is not satisfied with what she has. Acharya Prashant responds by explaining that if one is not satisfied with the love they have for themselves, it is not the love that is lacking, but the willingness to pay for that love. He describes love as a costly affair that requires a payment, which in a classical sense is called sacrifice. If there is a readiness to pay, the delivery is immediate. The moment you pay up, you get what you have paid for, and there can be no dissatisfaction. The very feeling of dissatisfaction indicates that the readiness to pay needs to be greater. The only possible blockage to love is the unwillingness to pay. This payment is also referred to as sacrifice, surrender, letting go, renunciation, or detachment. If the intention to pay is real, it translates into immediate payment; the act of sacrifice is not postponed to the future. If what you seek is not coming to you, it is due to hesitation or uncertainty in opening up to pay. One wants to keep the 'stuff' that is required to be dropped or given away as the payment. A choice must be made between the betterment one seeks and that which one is holding onto. Love is not amenable to compromise or social adjustments; it is an absolutist tyranny that demands, 'either this or nothing.' Acharya Prashant states that most people remain loveless because they want both love and their other 'stuff.' Nothing blocks love except the unwillingness of the lover herself. He clarifies that what needs to be dropped can be intangible things like ideas and notions, or tangible things like money or a house. The only act of love is to strive for a higher state, a betterment, an elevation, or a sublimation. If you love yourself, you want to be better. If you love another, you want the other's welfare. It depends on whether you value that welfare more than what you are holding on to.
