"What kind of things?"

God has given us five senses and we want the objects of these senses.

"All right, so why do you want these five kinds of things?"

The series of questions: "What do you want? Why do you want it?" - ended in happiness. Ask anyone the same series of questions in any country of the world practicing any profession, and each time the end result will be happiness. In other words, the united common desire of all of us is happiness.

It's a different matter that we are searching for happiness in different things. Somebody's intellect has decided,  "If I can have the Cadillac car, I will be happy." Somebody's intellect has decided, "If I can get the bungalow by the beach, I will be happy." Somebody's intellect says, "If I can travel around the world, I will be happy."

The intellect of everyone is different but the goal is one. Now, one last and simple question, "Why do we want happiness?"

"Swamiji, I've never thought of that. I know I want happiness but why, I don't know."

Is there anyone who wants misery, in opposition to happiness? There is nobody like that! Otherwise we are all different - we all have different facial appearances, we have different fingerprints, that's the reason behind biometrics nowadays - electronic fingerprints. That's the extent of variety the Creator has filled into this world.

We have got different voices; everybody's bodily smell or aroma is different. You may not realize it but the dog does. The dog has been given a very powerful nose; it recognizes people more by smell than by sight. That is why when you go to your friend's house who has a pet dog and the dog sees you and barks. However, when you go close, he smells you and realizes, "Oh! This smell is in my memory file; he is an acquaintance of mine."

So we are different in every way. Why then are we all the same in this question of desire for happiness? Has it been programmed within us? After all, we were not taught to seek happiness in childhood. As children, we were taught: "Always speak the truth, never speak lies, never steal other's property," etc. Did we also receive this teaching? - "Look son, you must only seek happiness. It should not come about that you make misery the goal of your life." This instruction was never given to us. In other words, without being taught by anyone, this desire for happiness, awoke within us. And it was the first slogan we raised upon birth. When we were born, the first thing we did was to raise the slogan, "Give me happiness! Give me happiness!"

What did we do when we were born? We cried. All of us cried. We've forgotten now but we did. And why did we cry? Because in the process of birth we experienced pain and by crying we gave vent to our emotions. "I have not come in this world for pain, I have come for happiness. Give me happiness!" And from there till today-twenty years, thirty years, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy years-all we have been seeking is happiness. And the variety of things we do is for the same purpose. Apparently, we do different contradictory things-sometimes we sit, sometimes we stand. Suppose, right now we are sitting. But after some time we get bored of sitting and then we stand. Getting up gives us happiness.

When the performance of an activity resulted in boredom and lack of happiness, now the person wishes to do the reverse but the goal still remains happiness. So sometimes we sit because it makes us happy. Sometimes we stand because it makes us happy. Sometimes even though it gives us unhappiness to sit, we continue to sit because in future it will make us happy.

But that goal remains forever with us. So the Vedas tell us that in order to control the mind, we must first understand the answer to this question, "Why do you seek happiness?" They inform us that we are a tiny fraction of the ocean of happiness. Why? Our source, the eternal father, is an ocean of infinite happiness, infinite bliss.