Acharya Prashant: We never wish to achieve happiness directly. We always want mediated happiness. Don’t you say, “I will get happiness by doing this; I will get happiness through him or her; I will get happiness when I achieve that; I will allow myself to be happy when I reach there”?
So, our happiness is not meditated. It is mediated. You understand ‘mediated’? Between us and Happiness—and I’m talking of true Happiness, the higher Happiness; Joy, Bliss, Ānanda—between us and the true Happiness always stands something; a condition, a mediator.
“How will I achieve happiness? Through my wife!”
So who is mediating? The wife.
“How will I achieve happiness? Through that new car!”
Who is mediating? The car is mediating.
So, you are obviously not very attentive or conscious when you’re writing this question, when you say, “In our daily activities, we wish to achieve happiness directly.” No. You don’t even try that.
