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Category:Attaining Happiness

Theme Analysis

The search for pleasure is the basic driving force of every living entity because the spirit soul is by nature full of bliss ānandamayo bhyasāt. However, in the conditioned state of life, foolish people mistakenly try to satisfy this inner craving by arranging material plans, accumulating wealth, or indulging the senses. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that these material activities can never diminish our distress or bring genuine satisfaction; instead, they lock the soul into a hard struggle for existence against repeated birth and death. Real, unlimited happiness can only be attained when a person purifies his mind and senses by surrendering to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. By executing devotional service under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master, the living entity is freed from the three kinds of material miseries and awakens to his eternal, joyful nature.

  • The Illusion of Material Planning: Men and women work jointly to create material arrangements for pleasure and to reduce their suffering. Because these activities are based entirely on selfish desires and ignore the laws of God, they fail to decrease misery and never become a source of true peace.
  • The Essential Necessity of Purification: The happiness of the material world is always limited, temporary, and baffling because it is connected to a diseased conditioning. To experience the unlimited bliss of the spirit, one must purify his existence by undertaking spiritual penances and austerities.
  • The Protection of Scriptural Injunctions: One who lives according to his own whimsical ideas and ignores the directions of the śāstras can never achieve success or happiness. True happiness, both in this life and the next, belongs only to those who align their governance and daily actions with the codes of religion.
  • The Ultimate Success of Devotional Surrender: After many failures in the material world, the intelligent person fully surrenders his possessions and life to the Lord. This pure devotional service completely washes away material attachment and replaces it with perpetual happiness and love of God.

Pages in category "Attaining Happiness"

The following 20 pages are in this category, out of 20 total.