Search for happiness

SB 7.13.29

jalam tad-udbhavais channam
hitvajno jala-kamyaya
mrgatrsnam upadhavet
tathanyatrartha-drk svatah

Just as a deer, because of ignorance, cannot
see the water within a well covered by grass,
but runs after water elsewhere, the living
entity covered by the material body does not
see the happiness within himself, but runs after
happiness in the material world.

Purport:
This is an accurate example depicting how the
living entity, because of lack of knowledge,
runs after happiness outside his own self. When
one understands his real identity as a spiritual
being, he can understand the supreme spiritual
being, Krsna, and the real happiness exchanged
between Krsna and one's self. It is very
interesting to note how this verse points to
the body's growth from the spirit soul. The
modern materialistic scientist thinks that life
grows from matter, but actually the fact is
that matter grows from life. The life, or the
spiritual soul, is compared herein to water,
from which clumps of matter grow in the form
of grass. One who is ignorant of scientific
knowledge of the spirit soul does not look inside
the body to find happiness in the soul; instead,
he goes outside to search for happiness, just as
a deer without knowledge of the water beneath the
grass goes out to the desert to find water. The
Krsna consciousness movement is trying to remove
the ignorance of misled human beings who are
trying to find water outside the jurisdiction of
life. Raso vai sah. Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya. The
taste of water is Krsna. To quench one's thirst,
one must taste water by association with
Krsna. This is the Vedic injunction.