Hello,
If you know me, you probably know my partner Divyank, too.
He’s sent out a couple of Hastākshar issues to you when I was in the hospital.
Over lunch one day, the subject moved to eating habits at his wife Yashika’s house.
They come from a Marwadi heritage.
“It is very common practice at their house to have only pulses, and not green vegetables.
On a regular day, you and I may eat bhindi, but they would have prepared gatthe ki sabzi.
No specific reason, but aisa hota hai.”
Now you may wonder:
What does she have to do with anything?
For Yashika, eating chana or rajma for lunch may be a common practice. Her upbringing has influenced what she consider’s ‘normal.’
But I need some green vegetable everyday.
Not seeing it in my plate feels weird.
The point is: we are conditioned to expect some things.
When we don’t get them, we look out for them.
Spirituality is a part of this, too.
We are taught to try be ‘happy.’
And if we can’t find happiness, we must search for it.
In material pleasures, in people, in spirituality.
But why should I search for happiness?
Some people say it is because of the pleasure principle. We seek to run away from unhappiness and towards happiness.
But why?
Why do we even desire to be happy?
Forget the answers, even such questions elude us.
I didn’t have any such questions myself.
But I was grateful when I stumbled upon the answers nonetheless in a chance conversation.
“Deep, you seek to be happy because your true nature is happiness.
Irrespective of what you’re stuck in at the moment, you are inclined to go back to your true nature.”
Wow. It makes sense now.
Yashika desires gatte ki sabzi because that’s a part of her identity.
We desire happiness because we are happiness. That is our identity.
