Every soul in his pure state has three natural characteristics: eternity, knowledge, and bliss. These are three things we always hanker for when we are in this material world, but unfortunately, here they are in short supply. We want to be eternal, but we live for just a few years at a time. We want knowledge, but more often than not we become frustrated in our efforts. Similarly, everyone is looking for happiness, but it is constantly eluding us.

We look for happiness in different places, the desire is always there. Even self-destructive habits such as addiction come from a desire to find some kind of satisfaction, it’s just that a person looks for it in the wrong place.

People find small things that give them a little bit of happiness or at least some respite from the struggle of modern life. For some, it can be certain foods, for others certain experiences, such as traveling or meeting with friends. Others may find some satisfaction in alcohol or other things, while others may find pleasure in buying things. We have the idea that we do all these things for “ourselves”, but we may fail to consider who “ourselves” are.

We understand that we are not the body. We are also not the senses or even the mind. The body is essentially a separate entity from myself (the soul), however, under the influence of the false ego I identify with the body and accept the pains and pleasures of the body as my own. We can observe this process of identification in other situations. A mother with a small child identifies very strongly with the pains and pleasures of the baby. When the baby is happy she feels happy and when he is in pain she feels even more pain than the baby himself. Of course, this identification with the child has an important purpose, but the identification with the body does not do us any good. On the contrary, it prevents us from experiencing real happiness.

We feel pleasure when we touch soft, tender things. However, if we use tick rubber gloves we will not feel practically anything. If we use a thin latex glove we will feel more, but we have a complete sense of touch only when we directly use our hand. Similarly, the material body is like a covering for the soul, that prevents the soul from finding real pleasure. On different planets, souls have different standards of bodies, some subtler than others. Here on Earth, we have very dense bodies and therefore our senses are very dull. On the higher planets, people have bodies that are more subtle, and therefore they can enjoy much better. However, only in the spiritual world people have full spiritual bodies and can fully enjoy using their spiritual senses.

Real happiness is called rasa, and it is spiritual in nature. Rasa can be experienced only when one is capable of using his spiritual body instead of the dull material body. Krsna explains in the Bhagavad-Gita that happiness in the mode of goodness is like poison in the beginning and like nectar in the end. It is so because it demands that we break with this identification with the body and start enjoying on the spiritual platform, as souls. It involves giving up something to get something better like someone giving up a piece of dry bread to grab a rasagula.

That’s one of the reasons Krsna so emphatically demands that we should surrender unto Him. Krsna knows how to enjoy, we do not. If we ask random people in the street what is enjoyment for them, we will get all kinds of answers, going from traveling over the world to just sleeping or drinking a lot. However, is this real happiness? Krsna comes to advertise what is real happiness by showing His personal pastimes. He shows to us: That’s how you do it! Krsna will not join us in our drinking, it’s we who should join Him in His Lila. If we want to experience real happiness we need to trust and allow Krsna to guide us. If we are not ready for it, no problem, Krsna is very patient, He is ready to wait, but do we really want to continue trying to enjoy using the rubber gloves?