In the Bhagavad Gita, Chap 1, verses 32-36
Arjuna laments about the predicament that he faces and says:
“What is kingdom to us, O Govinda, what enjoyment, what even life? Those for whose sake we desire kingdom, enjoyments and pleasures, they stand here in battle, abandoning life and riches – teachers, fathers, sons, as well as grandsires, mother’s brothers, fathers-in-law, grandsons, brothers-in-law, and other kith and kin; these I would not consent to slay, though myself slain, O Madhusudana, even for the kingdom of the three worlds; how then for earth? What pleasures can be ours after killing the sons of Dhritarashtra. O Janardana?”
A man who deceives himself, is a man who says that he will want to acquire land, kingdom and achieve happiness for sake of others, his family, friends, his own kind. By saying this, Arjuna is not telling the truth, the way it is. In actual fact, he wants everything for himself but uses others as the reason to acquire this to ward off any attention on him, any reference to him that he is greedy. Have you noticed, greedy ones, always uses others as the reason to accumulate things they really want.
Obviously, happiness, will not be fragrant, bland without the presence of your own people. You will only get maximum satisfaction when it is showed off to others what you have accumulated. But you relish much more by displaying to others what you have successfully achieved. This makes someone really happy. People are very constrained in their way of thinking. If you see a very rich woman with diamonds all around her, beyond your reach, you will not feel jealous nor the rich woman will feel jealous. But if your neighbour or close friend adorns herself with the same, because the close friend within the boundaries, you suddenly feel jealous.
So, a person’s jealousy, always revolves around closed boundaries and close knit people. When you become somebody, you will hardly feel proud about your status symbol amongst the company of strangers. The raw deal comes when you are surrounded by your own kind.
As Arjuna, we keep blabbering the same lies without being aware of it, because lies have become an entrenched part of our lives that we fail to recognise and acknowledge them. Lies that we see and recognise are very shallow, but lies that we unable to recognise become so deep and part of our lives.
The wife tells the husband, i am doing everything for you while the husband laments that i am doing all for you. Both are lying. Nobody does anything for anybody as the Ego becomes the nucleus of our lives.
Arjuna is not aware of what he is saying. When we become aware of what we are saying, by and by, we become happy. Happiness starts with awareness of the lies that we are living. As the ocean of lies reduce to a trickle, we will become totally happy, joyous.
by Paalu Ramasamy
