Acharya Prashant defines spirituality as the process of attaining freedom from the useless, the non-existent, the unnecessary, and the foolish. He explains that a worldly person often functions like a merchant who only values things that can be measured in numbers. Such a mind seeks to move from a small limited state to a larger limited state but never towards the infinite. Because the merchant-mind cannot quantify peace, love, or silence, it fails to value them, leading to a life of spiritual loss despite material gains. He emphasizes that even though a person might live a life of bondage, their deepest inner desire is always for liberation and truth. Therefore, self-knowledge is not about knowing a metaphysical soul but about understanding the deep-seated desires of the mind and recognizing that superficial cravings for material objects are insignificant compared to the soul's true longing.
