Are you making this basic mistake?

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Acharya Prashant (AP): What is ‘Dukh’(sorrow)? The thought, the desire of all that which is fleeting, ephemeral is Dukh.

Why is it Dukh? To whom is it Dukh? Few things have to be understood. Everything likes to be in its most stress-free state. That’s what even material wants, to be in the most relaxed state possible. Given the suitable condition, everything in the universe wants to move towards its most relaxed, lowest agitation, lowest energy state. And that is what is called its natural state.

Something that is not in its natural state, will be unstable. Being unstable, it will want to do things that can relieve it of its energy or will want to use the environment around itself to be relieved of its excess energy which in itself is stressful.

So, a system or an object which is possessed of excessive energy or tension tends to react with the environment. It wants to react to the environment precisely with the intention to give up the stress that it has and settle down into a stable state. That’s what consciousness also does. Its most stable state is energy-less and inert. Totally non-reactive. Totally at rest and peace. But somehow if it is not in its peaceful and restful state then it will look around to react with…