The first tenet of Vedic philosophy is that truth and bliss are synonymous. The root ‘Sat’ is used to denote truth as in “Satya” and also happiness as in “Sadgati”. This forms the fundamental basis of the entire Vedic framework. In fact, this search for happiness through the discovery of truth defines the most essential feature of human life. All the progress of science and the attempts made by human beings to know the world better are driven by this urge to achieve happiness through the truth. This defines our humanity. In Sanskrit, humans are called Manushya, which literally means ‘one who can analyze or evaluate the truth’.

Now we often see that illusions and ignorance also bring bliss. The entire entertainment industry and even most cults thrive by providing bliss to the masses through illusion and ignorance. This seems to contradict the principle that ‘truth’ and ‘bliss’ are synonymous. In fact, this has led many philosophers to believe that bliss is merely a matter of perception and one cannot evaluate it on the parameter of true or false; right or wrong. And from a restricted point of view, they are also right. Later, we will be able to address this apparent paradox as we learn about some of the more fundamental tenets of Vedic philosophy.

But to provide some clues, consider the fact that truth and bliss do not represent absolute points. They represent a journey… a path of progress… a process. So technically knowledge is another term to define the process that leads us to the truth. For simplicity, we can treat them equally.

We enjoy apparent illusions because while we enjoy them, we take them for truth, based on our limited understanding and capabilities. To the extent that an illusion appears to be true, or ignorance appears to be knowledge, we tend to enjoy them. But as our knowledge and understanding increase, we are no longer able to enjoy what was said yesterday. We no longer like to stick our fingers in the switchboards that we used to make as children, simply because new knowledge has occurred to us. Even the food we used to enjoy as children is not the same as what we enjoy as adults. Our food preferences change, our reading habits change, our hobbies change, our aspirations change, all because we now have more knowledge. And therefore only those things that bring us bliss adequate to our enhanced levels of awareness are the ones that bring us bliss.

Now also consider the fact that the same level of bliss provided over and over again bores us. Thus, the same tasty gulabjamun eaten over and over again seems to degrade the level of happiness that we can derive from its taste. Now we need a change. We want to grow now. The little baby had had enough of chattering lying on the sofa. Now he wants to stand up and try to walk. He wants to explore more. And she will do it regardless of the number of times she falls or hurts herself. He just won’t give up until he is able to stand up, walk, run and jump. The basic nature of the soul is in full swing in a child, in its urge to grow and progress. He will continue…