Istopadesa The Golden Discourse

Author(s): Vijay K Jain
Publisher: Vikalp

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Iṣṭopadeśa - The Golden Discourse
money can buy happiness know neither the true nature of happiness nor the true value of money.
Not knowing the true nature of happiness, we wrongly assume that wealth can be a source of happiness. We need to correct this by first knowing the truth and then making efforts to provide our souls with a breath of fresh air. We have to think beyond the superficial challenge of competitiveness, as the yardstick for measuring happiness is not the performance and achievement of others but our own inherent potential in this majestic challenge of life. It is any day better to be happy inside and a pauper outside, than to be a wreck inside and a potentate outside.
Our career-oriented education system and societal norms lead us to believe that the amount of wealth a person owns is the safest, most trustworthy parameter to assess his level of success and, therefore, happiness. Driven by this delusion, we start exerting ourselves in the pursuit of wealth at an early age. Our lust keeps on increasing and we do not mind using any means, fair and foul, to get more. As we make more money, our expectations and desires rise in tandem. Not knowing where to stop in our mission to make more money, we work even harder, not to be daunted by the insane working hours or the symptoms of ailments making inroads in our bodies. We are so enamoured by our notion of success that we fail to realize that a terrible compromise with happiness is surreptitiously being worked out within us. Trying to be happier, we keep on doing those very things which go against the idea of realizing our soul's natural perfection and joy. We are, at best, on a hedonic treadmill – we have to keep on working just to stay in the same place.
We may feel 'great' counting the money that we have amassed, notwithstanding the harm that we may have caused to our soul and body. Safe-keeping of the assets acquired must now attract our attention. We rack our brains devising means to not only protect
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