We have so many movies and books written about happiness, including how to be happy and the pursuit of happiness. I often wonder as to why happiness is so overpriced. Is it because of the internal hollowness that makes us search for something or somebody who can make us happy? Somebody who does not have water and feels thirsty will definitely look for water desperately. But in that case, his thirst will be quenched after having water. Why does our thirst for happiness never get quenched and the more we get it the more we want to get it?
What was Rama seeking in his life that he was so contented? What was Krishna seeking in his life that he was so contented? If we look at history or mythology, only those people who pursued truth could remain happy. When we talk of pursuit of happiness, our minds consider something as desirable and make efforts to get that. Object of desire may vary quite widely. A beggar may become happy if he gets 100 rupees from anybody, a student if he gets good marks in an examination, an employee about increment or promotion, an entrepreneur on a new project or expansion, a politician on victory in elections, and so on. We also become happy when we get social validation because we deeply love our self-image. When our views are accepted in a meeting when appreciated by society, when we get awards, or a good position as a recognition of the work we do.
Aren't we all beggars while pursuing happiness in any form. Any and every desire makes us a beggar and we keep begging for different things from God at different religious places, solutions to our problems from babas, promotions and increments from the heads of organizations, support from relatives, conformation from friends, and validation of being good from the society. But why are we so hollow? Why are even the biggest of the businessmen, politicians, and bureaucrats so hollow and keep seeking one or the other thing? Why can't we realize that if getting into civil services has not given somebody perpetual happiness, even being a secretary will not give the same? Probably the fundamental problem lies somewhere else. Probably we need a good diet and exercise to make us fit rather than taking antibiotics and painkillers.
We will continue to behave like beggars until we realize what we are. The entire universe has taken birth from the consciousness. The latest research in the field of quantum physics also accepts that all the fundamental particles of matter and energy take birth from the Higgs field. Particles emerge from the same and merge back into the same millions of times in a second. The science of the day has not yet understood the nature of consciousness properly. The average human beings are so caught in their social conditioning that they can't see anything beyond what society has taught us. Money, power, and social validation have become the life goals of almost all of us. People like Buddha, Mahavira, and Sri Aurobindo had everything in life that most people aim at, and yet they left all those things in pursuit of truth.
Truth alone can be our savior. Falsity, however attractive, can never make us contended. Only those human beings who have chosen truth over falsity have been contended and at peace. History and Mythology a witnesses to the fact that the life of none of these people has been easy. Be it Christ, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, or Sri Aurobindo, they have all been tested by society again and again and had to go through myriad problems. Even after winning the battle of Lanka without any help from Ayodhya, Rama had to send Sita to the forest, and Sri Aurobindo had to stay in prison for quite a long time, society crucified Christ and forced Socrates to drink poison. Despite all these things, these people were at peace and contended. It is because they understood that the true joy is within. A player does not get joy from winning a match or getting an award, rather he gets joy from playing to the best of his capacity, and the greater the challenge and more he gets joy. Krishna took up a challenge upon himself to change the fate of the battle of Kurukshetra without using any weapon. I feel that the moment we connect to consciousness, it opens infinite windows of opportunities for us to explore this world and till we remain confined to our thoughts, we remain limited and remain busy in the pursuit of happiness the whole of our life to die with a bucketful of regrets in life.
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