Where then does happiness lie?
Where then does happiness lie?
The great German philosoher, Arthur Schopenhauer said, “It is difficult to find happiness within but it is impossible to find it anywhere else”. Our lives are a startling testament of this insightful statement. We may have experienced fleeting pleasures through sense contact and acquisition of objects. But the moments that have given us lasting happiness are times when we have ventured deep within our personality. Looking for happiness in the world is like trying to catch your own shadow – the closer you move towards it, the further it recedes. All one has to do is hold one’s own self and the shadow will be caught.
This simple guide to happiness was emphasised by all spiritual masters. Christ said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is within”. Sri Krsna in the Bhagavad Gita has said, “One who pursues objects of the world and develops attachment to them is caught up in delusion. It is the one who turns within who attains true peace and happiness”. Yet in our vain attempts to fill the gnawing void within we spend most of our lives chasing the objects of the world. And we lose touch with our inner being. There must be a paradigm shift from looking outside to opening the inward eye. Only then can there be some hope of finding permanent happiness.
