In old times, when fabric or cloth was very rare and had good monetary value, a scholar was busy in washing his hands and face beside a river. He was wearing a big turban of white fabric that was very rare in those days, as many of the people could not afford to buy one like this. During the continuation of this washing, he took off his turban and put it on a side. A thief, who was hiding behind a stone and watching all these stealthily, quickly came out, took the turban and ran as fast as he could. The scholar shouted after him, "My son, don't take it away.
It will not be according to your expectations and you will be disappointed of it". Anyhow, the thief took it away and when reached to a safe place, he looked at the shining white turban and smiled. He was happy of his work and expecting good money in return of his effort.
But when he opened it, he found out that there was only one external layer of shining fabric while from inside it was composed of rags that were beautifully concealed under the first layer of fine fabric. The smile piece of expensive fabric and remaining rags were of no use to him. He got angry and threw away the turban.
On the other hand, the scholar was laughing in the circle of his friends and saying, "I shouted after him not to take my turban as it was not going to turn according to his expectations but he did not listen. Anyhow, dear friends, this world is also like my turban.
From outside, it is beautiful, attractive and shining but in fact, it is not nothing but many layers of useless rags and the end result is the disappointment. We are attracted by its external beauty and we run after it and when we achieve it, it does not come up to our expectations and we are greatly disappointed."
A person always dreamed of having a house of his own as the life in rented houses had left agonizing signs on his mind. Many years passed and he kept saving money for his dream house. Then he bought a plot for his proposed house and then waited for many more years to save some money for its construction.
Then he started construction and when he was able to move to his house, he discovered to his great dismay that he had got old. One day when he was sitting in his own house with some friends, he was found to be saying that, "Ah! This world is disloyal to all. Now when I have made my own house, I have got old and I don't know if I will be there to enjoy living in it or not?"
This is one of the oldest and most-repeated subjects that world is nothing but a mirage that aims to deceive everyone and it was never and will never be loyal to anyone.
World is like a river of water that is shown to a person who is very thirsty. This beautiful river attracts and captures his mind. He forgets each and everything and starts running towards it. On the way, he gets tired and becomes thirstier but he never leaves his race. When he reaches to the river, he finds out that it was nothing but an illusion of water and there was nothing except the thirst-provoking heat and sand. Now he does not have time to do anything. He repents and cries on whatever he did and dies of the thirst, cursing the world and its deceiving beauty.
In this regard, biggest mistake or misconception is taking the world and its materials as something associated with happiness. Whatever a man does in the world is aimed for his happiness, both physical and emotional. For his physical contentment, he eats delicious and varying foods, wears luxury clothes, lives in grand houses and rides expensive vehicles. For the satisfaction of soul and to make himself emotionally contented, he reaches to high posts, tries to be socially prominent, earns fame and popularity and many more.
As we can see, both the factors of happiness are bound to the abundance of money. If you want to live in a grand house or wear fine clothes or have expensive cars, you need to have plenty supply of money. Similarly, your social status is defined by the money you earn or hold, otherwise, a beggar has no social status or respect.
However, this is the perception we have in the world but if we observe and evaluate the ground realities with unbiased observation, we find out that true happiness is not related to anyone of the above factors. A poor farmer sleeping contented in his hut is far happy from a rich trader who is attending 5 telephone calls all the time and getting news about his business transactions or logistic movements. All of you would agree with me that people who are happy from soul and heart are almost equal among the poor and the rich.
It should not be forgotten that happiness is not related to physical comfort and external appearance. However comfortable your body may be, it has nothing to do with the happiness that is the treasure of one's heart and soul.
The quest for money and what we call "Materialistic World" is not a new phenomenon. Right from the beginning of human race, man has loved and tried his best to acquire more and more of it and in most of the cases, he has even forgotten the means of its acquisition if right or wrong or if legal or ethical or not.
Very unfortunate is that in order to acquire it and thus own joys and happiness, they have forgotten the sense of happiness and in the end, they were successful in accumulating a bulk of it, but lost all their valuable things like happiness, true soul and others that give us true happiness.
Another attribute of world is the dissatisfaction from it and thus people enter an unending race in which end result is again disappointment and sadness. One having a bicycle wishes for a motorcycle and when gets it, doesn't feel satisfied with it and looks for a car and when he acquires this as well, the horse of wishes continue its journey rising to private plane and many more.
Most unfortunate is that, when one gets each and everything, he becomes very disappointed when he discovers that materialistic things have not given him the happiness he was expecting. The suicide of affluent and prosperous Hollywood actors is an example of it.
It doesn't mean that poverty is something good or having a wealth is an evil. It needs to be understood that wealth should be acquired but not on price of our health, ethics, peace of mind and other valuable assets. Moreover, it should be something to give us happiness but not deprive of it.