Acharya Prashant explains that the core self is the entity that possesses the capacity for understanding yet currently exists in a state of ignorance. He describes the ego as being potentially divine but practically living in confusion and conflict. The core self is the very one that seeks to understand itself better. To strengthen this core self, one must tilt the ego's inclinations toward the truth rather than toward its own security, as the ego's security only serves to continue its ignorance. He advises that one does not need to force the ego to choose the truth; rather, one must provide the right opportunities for it to do so. Since an ignorant ego cannot intentionally find the right opportunity, one must remain available, experimental, and open without acting in a firm or conclusive way. This process involves constant exploration and knocking on doors until the right influence strikes. He compares the seeker to a mousetrap that remains patiently open but closes immediately and firmly once the right thing enters, ensuring that the truth is not lost. Acharya Prashant emphasizes that the arrival of the truth is its own proof and requires no external judgment. He warns that a seeker must go through a due process of trials and tribulations to develop the necessary desperation and longing. Without this process, one might receive the truth too easily and fail to value it, allowing it to slip away just as silently as it arrived. Therefore, the struggle and the search are essential to ensure that once the truth is found, the seeker clings to it and does not let it go.
