Why are we not able to achieve complete peace?
Total peace.
Childhood is full of fears and anxieties.
Elders keep pushing you around.
Do this, don't do this.
Youth is all about ambitions, desires.
Entertaining the body.
Entertaining the mind.
When that doesn't happen, frustration.
Old age is all about worries, pain, and incapability.
When will you find peace?
Lord Rama is asking in the 27th sarga of the Vairagya prakarana of Yoga Vasishta.
Can permanent peace be obtained by doing something, through action, through karma?
Not necessarily.
Two countries that are on war with each other
Then the rulers sit together and make some agreement.
Ceasefire.
But then, for how long will it work?
If you see history, this doesn't stop.
If there is unrest between two countries it keeps on erupting every now and then.
Every few years it erupts again.
Even Veda says-
तद्यथेह कर्मजितो लोकः क्षीयत एवमेवामुत्र पुण्यजितो लोकः
Worlds such as Swarga achieved through Karma, they go away after some time.
Your life is reset to the cycle of births and deaths even if you have achieved Swarga
So action, karma is not the path if you want to achieve permanent peace.
And also there is no guarantee that action will get you the desired result.
You have to be lucky.
Then only you will get results.
There is no guarantee that action or hard work will get you the desired result.
This is visible, right?
Someone works hard, he doesn't get anything.
Someone is lazy, he gets everything on a platter.
What is it?
Luck.
Scriptures say both are there.
Certain things you get by hard work.
Certain things you get by luck.
But one thing is certain, if you are not lucky, even hard work will not yield results.
This is about all worldly achievements.
The old man on his deathbed would think:
Did I do anything to achieve peace?
Even when you do something there is no guarantee about the result.
I didn't even try.
All that I did throughout my life was eat-drink-sleep.
What did I do throughout my life?
Earned, ate, fed, built a house, bought a car.
What about peace?
Did I do anything to achieve peace?
I didn't even try.
How can I complain now?
You are given something then it is taken back after some time.
Then that doesn't belong to you.
You have taken a comfortable room in a hotel for a day.
But the next day you have to check out.
Because that doesn't belong to you.
Even enjoying in Swarga is like this.
It is not permanent.
Most of these enjoyments are like the bait around the hook.
The fish goes for it, relishes it for a moment, but then the hook hidden inside pierces.
Someone enjoys smoking, but then what is the result?
Cancer.
Someone enjoys drinking, but then what is the result?
The liver is gone.
Every kind of enjoyment has a hook hidden inside.
At least the frustration when that pleasure is no longer available.
Says Lord Rama.