People Who Live by Suffering

If you pay attention, you'll notice that truly, no one is satisfied with their own situation.

The man who works from morning till night lies in bed each dawn, bleary-eyed as he struggles to leave its warmth, thinking: If only I could quit this job, find a little respite just to live! Some bookish soul perhaps thinks: Ah, if only I had a small life dedicated to reading Rabindranath!

The man without a job lies idle on his bed all day, bored and irritated, thinking: If only I could get work, time would pass wonderfully in all that busyness. Some bookish soul perhaps thinks: Ah, if only I had even a small job so I could read Rabindranath!

The man living with family, caught in domestic turmoil, gasps daily with the urge to flee somewhere far from it all.

The man who left his family to live elsewhere yearns every day to run back to his loved ones.

The man who simply cannot break free from relationship bonds sees someone single and sighs wistfully, thinking: Single life is the best!

The man who has never managed to get into any relationship sees the engaged fellow and thinks with deep sighs: Oh, what a beautiful life they have!

No one is truly at peace with their own place. Whatever anyone has received, whatever is theirs—everyone is thoroughly unhappy and dissatisfied with it all.

To echo the great Ayub Bachchu... truly, no one is happy.
Perhaps there's no greater truth in this world than this!

We are all trapped in our separate circles. No one is pleased with their own circle. Everyone gazes at others' circles and sighs.

Only the wild madman on the street lives in complete happiness. He has no fear of loss, no affliction of gain, no one to torment him.

He laughs in sorrow, laughs in joy. His entire being is scattered with handfuls of happiness. The fewer one's thoughts, the greater one's joy.

And us? We find no happiness in peace, no peace in happiness. At day's end, we have but one identity: we are all people who live in suffering.