13. We Are Not What We Think We Are!

We are not labels: doctor, husband, friend, son, etc. We are living beings inside the labels.

We are deeply attached to these labels. We proudly wear them. When people do not notice or appreciate our labels we feel slighted, neglected, and annoyed. Our labels such as 'I am a manager' or 'I am an important businessman' or 'I own many cars' or 'I have 5 children' are endless.

When we associate ourselves with these well used labels, it makes us feel like we are a part of the world. It makes us feel successful. We feel pride in the fact that we are somebody in the eyes of the world. The truth is otherwise. We are hiding under these labels, that's all.

We are continuously partying, shopping, or watching television. We read and re-read the same newspaper. 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 and we think it is only a matter of time.

By the time we are about forty we may have acquired all the material comforts we have ever wanted. But when we achieve everything, we start wondering, why we wanted all this! This question haunts us because we continue to be deeply unhappy even after achieving everything.

This is the 'depression of success:' - a peculiar disease of the rich and successful in developed Western countries. The more affluent we are, the greater the chance is of being afflicted with this kind of depression. Of course, if material wealth comes with the complete awareness of our true state, then it becomes an enjoyable thing.

But without the being level happiness, material success alone fails to make us happy, so we continue to be restless and keep experimenting and searching. Because we keep searching in the wrong direction, we tend regularly 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 remain deeply unhappy.

At some point in the journey, we have forgotten that we are not the labels. If a parcel is traveling from USA to Bharat, various stamps and identification marks will be placed on it in order 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. It is 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, eternal bliss, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM!