We are not what we think we are!

PARAMAHAMSA SRI NITHYANANDA

WE ARE not labels. We are all beings living inside the labels. We are not doctor, husband, friend, or anything. We are more than that. We are a total of all that. We are so deeply attached to the labels. We wear labels very proudly. When people don’t notice and appreciate our labels we feel slighted, neglected, and annoyed. Our labels say things such as ‘I am a manager’ or that ‘I am a big businessman’ or that ‘I own many cars.’ When we associate ourselves with these well-known labels, it makes us feel part of the world. It makes us feel successful. We are no longer alone. We feel pride in the fact that we are somebody well known. We are continuously partying, shopping or watching TV. We are constantly busy. Why? We are afraid to face ourselves. Our chief entertainment is running away from ourselves. We believe that all this activity is the path to joy. We have always believed that we will be joyful at some point or other. We think it is only a matter of time. By the time we are about forty we may get everything we have always wanted. What we don’t understand is why we wanted all this. This question haunts us because we continue to be deeply unhappy. This is the ‘depression of success.’ This is a peculiar disease of the rich and successful. The more affluent we are, greater are the chances of being afflicted with this kind of depression. The depression of success is the greatest illness in developed western countries. Material success fails to make people happy. We are restless. We need to keep experimenting in search of happiness. So, we tend to change or acquire new possessions. We change cars every year, we change houses every second year, and we change wives every third year. Still, we stay deeply unhappy. At some point in the journey we have forgotten that we are not the labels. If we are a parcel travelling from the US to India, various stamps and identification marks will be placed on it to route and speed it on its way. The parcel may think that these external stamps are its true identity. The parcel is wrong. It is not what is outside, but the stuff inside that makes the parcel what it is. Dive within. Let go of the labels and seek the inner being. This is the way to bliss.