Category: Happiness
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Love – The Topmost Goal
In the first 60 anucchedas of Prīti Sandarbha, Ṣrī Jīva Gosvāmī establishes that pure love for Bhagavān brings the highest happiness without any taint of suffering. Thus it is the highest goal of human pursuits. He concludes this by the following statement. I cite it here and include my commentary summarizing the essential points of the first 60 anucchedas.…
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Self-Realization Is Not the Ultimate Purushartha
It is common to read or hear that we should love ourselves. Self-love is sometimes propagated as the means to happiness. Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, however, says that even realization of our inner self will not give complete fulfillment. I produce the relevant part from the first anuccheda of Prīti Sandarbha along with my commentary. 1.3 Knowledge of…
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Happiness Can Come Only from Its Source
Just as gold can be attained only from a gold mine, similarly, happiness can come only from its source, i.e., Bhagavān. Whatever happiness one experiences in this material world is ultimately rooted in Bhagavān. Therefore, knowingly or unknowingly, everyone is looking for Bhagavān. But He cannot be attained by looking for Him unknowingly. Thus, Sri…
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Happiness Is the Common Ground
Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī begins his Prīti Sandarbha by explaining that although there are four human pursuits called puruṣārtha, the true desire of every human being is to be happy without any suffering. This, according to him, is possible only if one attains love for Bhagavān, prīti. For this reason, he begins writing Pṛīti Sandarbha. Below…