Srimad Bhagavad Purana Teachings

Happiness is the essential nature of the soul. It is manifested after withdrawal and cessation of all activities. Having perceived that enjoyment and experience are fanciful creations of the mind, I lie down (enjoying whatever comes my way ordained by the Divine).

Having forgotten that this blissful nature is inherent in one’s self, a man is verily enmeshed into samsara which is terrible (owing to birth, death and other miseries) and yet strange (as it consists of birth in celestial, subhuman, human and other-species).

He, who (being ignorant of his innate blissful state) thinks of finding his object (happiness) elsewhere (outside his self), is like an ignorant person who, with a desire to get water (to quench his thirst), leaves water (near him, but) runs after the mirage.

Srimad Bhagavad Purana