“You have taken your role as a male or a female too seriously. You have taken your role as a wife or a husband too seriously. You have taken your role as an employee or an employer too seriously. In other words you believe in your self, with a small s, and this is what keeps you bound. You want to change all this.

I know you want total freedom, total joy, total bliss, total happiness, without any fluctuations. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could be totally happy all the time, not just when you’re getting something good in your life. Not only when you get what you want. Everybody can be happy then, that’s nothing.

If you won $50,000,000 you’re going to be happy, right? If you buy a new car, you’ll be happy. If you buy a new house you’ll be happy. If you find the man of your dreams or the girl of your dreams, you’ll be happy. That’s what you think. How long does it last? Mind you, there’s nothing wrong with these things if you see them in the right light.”

~ Robert Adams (20th century American Advaita mystic)