We are very conscious and careful before making an important investment. We conduct a thorough research and get a list of best options available. We evaluate each option one by one, take expert advice and make the best pick. After investing, we keep tracking the progress of our investment carefully and try to ensure that despite all obstacles, we get the expected returns. A typical teenager along with parents invest a lot of time, effort and money to choose the best college for graduation and get admission in it. The same story continues till placement. As adults when they earn a lot, they want to invest their savings in stock. They spend a great deal of time evaluating each stock, investing and tracking their investment — getting excited when the stocks rise and feeling depressed when they fall, analysing the causes and hoping that stocks will recover.
Both at an individual and collective level as a country, we are becoming richer, our infrastructure is getting better and our lives are becoming comfortable externally. This progress reflects our success in rightly investing our time, energy and wealth. What about our life? Where are we investing it? Are we giving the right purpose to our life? Is our desired life’s purpose being fulfilled? Are we making progress in this vital aspect? We need to take a few moments to reflect on this vital and often neglected aspect of life. Anything done today will not go in vain, including these few moments of ours.
We want to be happy in our life. We are trying for it with all our might. The statistics show that we are missing it quite a bit now. The devtas, demigods, or the universal administrators possess riches and opulence far beyond our estimation. They have access to amrit – the most coveted elixir of immortality that grants a prolonged lifespan and vitality of senses. Despite all this, they get victimised by lust, pride and envy. They are not satisfied. Where are we going wrong? We are trying to find happiness in a world of finiteness, duality and impermanence, says the Bhagwad Gita, verse 5:22. Therefore, we are left with distress, discontent and depression. We need a source of happiness that is eternal, pure and unlimited.
Radhanath Swami
