Unhappy & Misery :

We are unhappy for one reason or the other. Though the cause of the unhappiness may vary from one person to another, the consequence is the same. People may die for various reasons, but the result is that all die. The consequence is uniform: no one is happy, whatever be the cause behind it and whatever be the ultimate reference we make as to the originating factor of it. We cannot be slavish in our conduct of life and at the same time expect to be happy. A slave cannot be happy because slavery is selling oneself out to something other than what one is. We have sold ourselves, as it were, entirely into the hands of factors which we regard as more real than what we are endowed with in our own selves. This is a life of dependence, not a life of independence.


Sarvam paravasam dukham: Whatever is dependent is a source of misery. Whatever be the extent of understanding of this situation of ours, it is not enough to solve the problem in which we have been involved. Our dependence is manifold. So complicated is this dependence that we have not found any time to bestow a thought upon it. People who have been born as slaves regard that slavish life itself as a kind of freedom. They have never enjoyed freedom in their life, never had good health, never heard a good word from people. That has become a normalcy for their life.


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