Vedānta teaches us that the fundamental human problem is the lack of self-knowledge and the resultant extrovertedness of our search for happiness and the mistaken way we relate to the world. In all our quests, we approach people, objects, and situations through the prism of our likes and dislikes (rāga-dvēsa), which leads to attachment or aversion. Attachment leads to sorrow and sorrow leads to delusion, which in turn compounds our misery. When self-knowledge (ātam-jñāna) dawns, we realize that whatever we have been seeking is already within us. It is in fact our own very nature or self.

Vedānta recognizes a state of constant desiring and wanting as life’s fundamental problem. This feeling of lack springs from a mistaken sense of inadequacy about oneself, and leads to a constant aspiring toward the objects of desire in an attempt to fill the void. The feeling of fascination for an object (viśaya) in the mistaken belief that it can give one security and happiness is called śobhanādhyāsa in Vedānta. The proper resolution of this problem is to be found in understanding oneself, through self-inquiry and contemplation, to become the full and complete self (ātman). Such knowledge enables one to act in the world with a deep sense of peace and inner fulfillment.

No action is genuine unless it is performed in the full wakefulness of self-knowledge. Self-knowledge transforms our motivation and liberates us from the narrow confines of self-centered action to the freedom of serving others. Through this rediscovery of our intrinsic freedom, we are also able to experience the calm bliss of the fullness of our real self and intuit the harmonious oneness of all existence. When the false divisions and distinctions based on our narrow personal likes and dislikes disappear, we are able to extend our benevolence without preference or prejudice in all directions, and our existence benefits the whole universe.

Our very existence then becomes an offering to the Supreme, a celebration of the Whole. And our feet get firmly planted on the path that leads to peace, happiness, and liberation. True happiness is that which puts an end to our existential sorrow, grief, and fears. It brings peace and bliss in our mind. Any pleasurable pursuit may give us momentary gratification; we experience once again the sense of lack, or dissatisfaction, later on. Happiness is that which ends all sorrow, and removes all grief (duhkhasaṃyogaviyogam: 6.23). As long as it is dependent on something, it cannot be true happiness. The Gītā tells us that without self-knowledge, no matter how much we have in terms of external possessions, self-fulfillment will always elude us.