This may be termed a sequel to an earlier post I made about what I learnt from my daughter. However, now I want to talk about an aspect in which we are like children, and watching them makes it easier for us to understand our own behavior more clearly, in a more objective manner. It’s like a behavioral trait that you have always had, but never noticed till you saw an artist imitate your idiosyncrasy – of course, with a pinch of exaggeration.

Children, if we follow carefully, can be seen to be always going after something that they believe will entertain them. If they see a new toy, they try to get it with whatever means are open to them (which is mostly limited to crying till they get what they want or they forget what it is that they wanted!). Once they get that toy, they play with it for some time, and then it loses its charm. They want something else, and put all their effort into their new pursuit. No matter how expensive a toy, or how beautiful a doll, there is a limit to how long it can engage a kid. The more difficult it is for them to lay their hands on something, the more zealously they seek it. Even a child who has all the playthings in the world cannot be happy and satisfied by having it all, because she’ll just be going from one thing to another, very much in “pursuit of happiness”.

Isn’t this almost exactly what “wise” and “free” men do? They seek happiness in all things external – money, career, fame, possessions, power, and what not! Happiness will be safely out of our reach as long as we search for it outside. The right to pursuit of happiness is indeed a very fundamental human right, but unfortunately many people confuse it with the pursuit of pleasures. The more pleasures we have, the more we need to find any satisfaction in it. The senses are verily unsatiable. Real and lasting happiness would be ours only when we fully realize it as a part of ourself, and not as something that we need to acquire.