The approach of self-help is: “I am sad because my desires have not met fulfillment. So, the way to help myself is: fulfill desires.” It’s a dimensional difference. Therefore, self-help pleases but helps not. It is not then ‘self-help’; the genre should be more correctly called ‘self-gratification’.
And if you want self-gratification, as we all do, then there are so many means and ways available. People entertain themselves, people drink, people move to narcotics, people go high on money, on power; people look for carnal pleasures. These are all ways in which we try to help the self by fulfilling its desires.
Unfortunately, these ways don’t work. Self-help is attractive but not beneficial.
This article has been created by volunteers of the PrashantAdvait Foundation from transcriptions of sessions by Acharya Prashant
