Is That Middleman Needed? || AP Neem Candies
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.
In fact, that’s the central problem. We always bring in the world as the mediator; we always want some middleman in between. “I will get the Truth through this. Through the world, I will get the Truth.” Now, the Truth actually becomes unimportant. The world becomes very-very important. The Truth is de facto forgotten. The real thing goes for a toss, and the worthless mediator gains all the importance.
See whether it is necessary to be Joyful through something. Even before that, see whether the medium that you are using is of any avail. Once you see that all these media that you have used have actually been useless, then you say, “What is the point in using an intermediary? Let me try something a little more directly.” And the moment you say that “I do not need a mediator, I will try out on my own,” you discover that the Truth really didn’t need to be achieved. It didn’t need to be achieved through a mediator. It does not even need to be achieved without a mediator.
It’s just that when there is a mediator, then the fact that the Truth does not need to be achieved at all remains hidden; remains hidden in the shadow of the mediator. Remove the mediator, and then there is no need to achieve the Truth. The very need to achieve the Truth through the mediator is created by the mediator itself. The mediator says, “Use me! Pay me! Bribe me! Worship me! I will deliver the Truth to you!”
The fact is otherwise: the Truth is already there. The mediator exists to hide it from you.
The mediator will not give you Happiness.
The mediator is blocking your real Happiness.
Read full article here: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articles/looking-for-happiness-without-peace-on-bhagvad-gita-1_36af14b
