Acharya Prashant addresses the notion of chasing happiness. He clarifies that one should not stop chasing happiness, but rather chase great, true, high, and lasting happinessâone that is free of sadness and fear. He explains that the happiness people usually chase is not high or lasting, and it comes with fear and sadness. The speaker refers to the knowers and sages as "super-hedonists" who did not aim for ordinary happiness but for absolute happiness, a happiness without end, which they considered the purpose of life. They dismissed usual happiness as nonsense because it is conditional, a shadow of sadness, and leaves one with longing and shallowness. The speaker introduces the concept of 'Sat-Chit-Anand' (Truth-Consciousness-Joy), explaining that joy is the proof of living in truth and consciousness. Therefore, wisdom cannot be against happiness; it is for total happiness. He describes the sages as very joyful people who were so ambitious that they wanted total happiness, which is why they retreated to the jungles, as our cities and villages are joyless. He distinguishes joy from happiness, stating that joy is not a linear extension of happiness but exists in a different dimension. If happiness is on the x-axis, joy is on the y-axis. Regarding the motivation for work, Acharya Prashant states that one would work *because* one is happy, not to become happy. He acknowledges that this is hard to conceive because people are used to working from a feeling of incompletion to attain something they lack. However, when one works from a state of satisfaction, a superior quality of work emerges. This is what is known as 'Nishkam Karma' (selfless action)âworking not to attain something, but because one already has something. This, he says, is the only thing worth doing. He encourages the practice of doing things from which one gets nothing, or even loses something. While this may seem bitter at first, it leads to a strange pleasure and a taste for selfless action.
