We all want to be happy. However, where we seek that happiness determines whether we will become happy or not.

Quite often we look for happiness through possessions. We want to get more and more things, and the more things we accumulate we think we will be happy. This tendency that possession will increase, and that accumulation of the possession will lead to satisfaction; this is typical of the mode of passion.

The Bhagavad-gita (16.15) outlines the demonic delusion wherein nothing is enough. And with this mentality suppose we have one smart phone and then another smart phone comes in the market which looks better, and we get that, and then another comes up, and then another one comes up. We have one TV, two TV’s, we have three TV’s. We may get more and more things, better and better things. The more we accumulate, happiness always seems to be out there in the next thing that we don’t have.

But no matter how many things we get, happiness stays out of reach. Why? Because in the mode of passion, our consciousness is by default directed towards the things that we don’t have, and this misdirection of our consciousness increases more and more as we give in to the illusion that what is out there will bring happiness in here.

If we are to break free from this illusion, if we are to rise towards a higher understanding of life, if we are to rise towards satisfaction, then we have to recognize that satisfaction will come not through accumulation, but through realization, through redirection of our consciousness towards the spiritual level, towards realizing our own spirituality that we are souls who are by nature sat-cid-ananda.

Joyfulness is innate to our very spiritual constitution, and we are parts of Krishna who is all attractive, and connection with him is the easiest way to realizing our spiritual essence, and to relishing the unlimited connection that comes by connecting with him.

Rather than seeking accumulation – we may succeed in that if we seek it, but even if we succeed, all that we will end up with is a huge pile of toys outside, and a huge pile of trouble inside, because everything that we accumulate we have to protect it, we have to maintain it, we have to parade it to others and that’s when we get pleasure.

Rather than getting a pile of toys outside and a pile of trouble inside, we can instead purify ourselves, and thereby redirecting our consciousness towards Krishna, we can through that spiritual realization, and devotional redirection gain enduring and lasting satisfaction.

To know more about this verse, please click on the image