Acharya Prashant discusses the significance of Valentine's Day by recounting the historical and symbolic story of Saint Valentine. He explains that Saint Valentine lived during the third century, a time when the king banned marriages to keep soldiers focused on war and imperial expansion. Saint Valentine secretly performed marriages, prioritizing love over the king's greed for power and violence. Eventually, he was imprisoned for his defiance. While in prison, he encountered the blind daughter of his jailer and, through his association, restored her sight. Acharya Prashant interprets this miracle symbolically, stating that giving sight represents providing a spiritual perspective and a deeper understanding of the world. Before his execution, the Saint wrote a letter to the girl signed "Your Valentine," which established the modern tradition. Acharya Prashant emphasizes that the true meaning of love is to open the eyes of the beloved and guide them toward spirituality and self-knowledge, even if it requires the sacrifice of one's own life or ego. He contrasts this spiritual definition of love with modern romance and consumerism. He defines romance as the pursuit of sensual pleasure and the belief that the highest truth is found through experience. He argues that such pleasure-seeking is often a form of consumption that leads to a sense of incompleteness and negative social consequences. He suggests that a relationship should be a choice of the highest beauty, acting as a ladder to greater truth rather than a prison of mutual exploitation. He urges the youth to be honest about their intentions and to strive for relationships characterized by purity, wisdom, and the spiritual upliftment of their partners.
