.... and the Pursuit of Happiness

[gHari]

<b>The Parable of the Deer and the Well</b>

 

The pursuit of happiness is described in this metaphor about the deer and the well in the Srimad-Bhagavatam verse 7.13.29:

<center>jalaM tad-udbhavaiz channaM

hitvAjJo jala-kAmyayA

mRgatRSNAm upAdhAvet

tathAnyatrArtha-dRk svataH

</center>

jalam--water; tat-udbhavaiH--by grass grown from that water; channam--covered; hitvA--giving up; ajJaH--a foolish animal; jala-kAmyayA--desiring to drink water; mRgatRSNAm--a mirage; upAdhAvet--runs after; tathA--similarly; anyatra--somewhere else; artha-dRk--self-interested; svataH--in himself.

Just as a deer, because of ignorance, cannot see the water within a well covered by grass, but runs after water elsewhere, the living entity covered by the material body does not see the happiness within himself, but runs after happiness in the material world.

 

PURPORT

This is an accurate example depicting how the living entity, because of lack of knowledge, runs after happiness outside his own self. When one understands his real identity as a spiritual being, he can understand the supreme spiritual being, KRSNa, and the real happiness exchanged between KRSNa and one's self. It is very interesting to note how this verse points to the body's growth from the spirit soul. The modern materialistic scientist thinks that life grows from matter, but actually the fact is that matter grows from life. The life, or the spiritual soul, is compared herein to water, from which clumps of matter grow in the form of grass.

 

One who is ignorant of scientific knowledge of the spirit soul does not look inside the body to find happiness in the soul; instead, he goes outside to search for happiness, just as a deer without knowledge of the water beneath the grass goes out to the desert to find water. The KRSNa consciousness movement is trying to remove the ignorance of misled human beings who are trying to find water outside the jurisdiction of life. Raso vai saH. Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya. The taste of water is KRSNa. To quench one's thirst, one must taste water by association with KRSNa. This is the Vedic injunction.

 

[gHari]

That is why Srila Prabhupada says that the animal seeks water in the desert.

 

So the conditioned soul seeks fortune from everywhere but where it actually is, chasing after the mirage of matter.

[krsna]

matter is real?

[theist]

I had never noticed that verse before. Nice example.

 

Yes matter looks real and so does a mirage.

 

A dream is real. A real dream.

[gHari]

Matter is real, but the fortune to be found in matter is not. There we find only varying degrees of misery; sometimes less misery gives the illusion of happiness just as a hand in cold water, accustomed to cold water will then perceive warm water as hot. We make ourselves thirsty, then become happy by drinking. Getting rid of a misery is hardly happiness. It's just less miserable.

 

One taste of the pudding and then only in forgetfulness can we eat dirt again. Remember: be here now. The princes' amnesia has ended; it is time to enjoy our Father's kingdom. That is our birthright. Shake off the dust and put on a noble dress befitting our station. Leave the tattered world behind.

[krsna]

 

The Parable of the Deer and the Well

 

 

The pursuit of happiness is described in this metaphor about the deer and the well in the Srimad-Bhagavatam verse 7.13.29:

 

<CENTER>

</CENTER>

 

Just as a deer, because of ignorance, cannot see the water within a well covered by grass, but runs after water elsewhere,

 

the living entity covered by the material body does not see the happiness within himself,

 

but runs after happiness in the material world.

 

 

PURPORT

 

This is an accurate example depicting how the living entity, because of lack of knowledge, runs after happiness outside his own self. When one understands his real identity as a spiritual being, he can understand the supreme spiritual being, KRSNa, and the real happiness exchanged between KRSNa and one's self. It is very interesting to note how this verse points to the body's growth from the spirit soul. The modern materialistic scientist thinks that life grows from matter, but actually the fact is that matter grows from life. The life, or the spiritual soul, is compared herein to water, from which clumps of matter grow in the form of grass.

 

 

One who is ignorant of scientific knowledge of the spirit soul does not look inside the body to find happiness in the soul; instead, he goes outside to search for happiness, just as a deer without knowledge of the water beneath the grass goes out to the desert to find water. The KRSNa consciousness movement is trying to remove the ignorance of misled human beings who are trying to find water outside the jurisdiction of life. Raso vai saH. Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya. The taste of water is KRSNa. To quench one's thirst,

one must taste water by association with KRSNa.

This is the Vedic injunction.