Do you want to be the happiest person in the world?

There is an episode in the Mahabharata in which the five Pandavas once lost their way in a forest. As they wandered they grew thirsty, and, worn out, they all sat down in one place. Yudhishthira sent first Nakula, then Sahadeva, then Arjuna and finally Bhima to look for water. When a long time had passed and none had returned, Yudhishthira grew anxious and set out himself in search of water and his brothers. A little way off he saw a lake, and right beside it his brothers lying dead. Seeing all four brothers in this state he was astonished and wondered: there is not even a mark of a wound, so how can my mighty, valiant brothers be dead?

He did not lose his composure. Tormented by thirst, he went to drink from the nearby lake. The moment he cupped the clear water in his hands, a voice rang out: "You cannot drink this water like that. Before you drink, you must answer my questions, or you will meet the same fate as your brothers."

Yudhishthira looked up and saw that a crane was speaking about the questions. He said, "I cannot believe that a crane could kill my brothers. Who are you? Appear in your true form."

The crane then took the form of a Yaksha and asked him many questions, all of them very important. One of them was: who is the happiest person in the world?

Yudhishthira answered that the happiest person in the world is the one who is free of debt, that is, the one who owes nothing. Here Yudhishthira was not speaking only of money; he meant debts of every kind.

In today's world, borrowing money has become commonplace. Someone takes a home loan, someone a business loan, someone a personal loan and someone a loan for their studies. Now even everyday goods are available on credit.

If we pay a little attention, we notice that when the burden of paying off a monthly instalment arrives at the start of the month, a kind of worry takes hold of us. In our own country, not long ago, farmers even took their own lives under the pressure of such debts. And so far we worry only about debts of money; we pay no attention at all to the other debts.

The five debts

Our scriptures tell us that every human being carries five kinds of debt: the debt to the sages (rishi rin), the debt to the gods (dev rin), the debt to our parents, the debt to other living beings, and the debt to the king. The sages gave us knowledge; the gods give us rain, sunshine, grain and so on; our parents teach us everything from childhood onwards; thanks to other beings we get cotton, grain, ready-built houses, motor cars, ships and more. The king looks after his subjects like his own children and gives them protection. We are therefore indebted to all of them.

If you fail to pay your bank instalments for a few months, the bank not only stops lending to you but also takes the thing away from you. Think what would become of us if even one of these five lenders stopped giving. We could get by without loans of money, but we could not live at all without grain, air and water.

Just think how much we owe to all of them. Nobody in the world wants to be called ungrateful. Without repaying these five debts we cannot be happy. We repay the king's debt by paying taxes and so on, but the others we never repay. And the curious thing is that nobody wants sorrow; everyone wants only happiness. So if no one can be happy without repaying these debts, there must be some way out?

The way to be free of debt

Our scriptures show the way: taking refuge in God. When we take refuge in God, He frees us from every kind of debt. God is at the root of all creation. When you water the root of a plant, its leaves, twigs and every part of it receive water; watering only the leaves or twigs does not nourish the whole tree. In the same way, repaying the debts one by one can never settle them all. It is better that we take refuge in the one who stands at the root of all those we owe, the source of them all, Shri Krishna. Only by taking refuge in Lord Shri Krishna can we be truly happy.