Acharya Prashant explains that the intention to help others is a direct reflection of one's inner conviction that sorrow is transient and must be overcome. He suggests that when one encounters sorrow in others and feels affected by it, it is not an external infection but rather a manifestation of one's own latent sorrow and ancient habits of the mind. Helping others is, in reality, a process of helping oneself, as the doctor is often the most difficult patient and must treat himself through his patients. Every trait or disease one identifies in another, such as anger or jealousy, is proof that the same trait exists within oneself; otherwise, it would not cause perturbation. True freedom or the highest state of sainthood is reached when one loses the capacity to even detect disease or negativity. A person who is totally free does not resist thoughts or emotions like anger but has become fundamentally innocent of them and incapable of experiencing them. Such an individual is so established in goodness that even an intentional act of harm would result in healing. Acharya Prashant concludes that if external negativity still affects a person, it is a sign that the same negativity remains present within them, and they should continue their work of helping others as a means of their own purification.
