TRUE Happiness: The Himalayan Musk Deer Story.

Rishi Dave
4 min readJul 10, 2020

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I’m going to tell you the story, of the Himalayan Musk deer. It’s a very famous story, from the Upanishads — and it gives us the secret to human happiness in one of the most profound ways!!

Before we start, I want to give you something. For those of you interested in learning meditation, in its authentic form — I’ve created a free course called How to meditate like the ancient Yogis, and it covers the essence of what you need to know to get started. Head over to www.meditatewithrishi.com, it’s the first thing you’ll see. And sign up.

Ok, let’s get to it. The story of the Himalayan Musk Deer.

There’s a type of deer that lives high in the Himalayas, called the Himalayan Musk Deer. It’s called a musk deer because when it reaches a certain age, it begins to emit a fragrance from a pouch near its navel.

The fragrance is so heavenly, you’ve probably heard of the word musk, used in colognes and perfumes, that’s where it comes from. Natural musk is one of the most expensive fragrances in the world.

So what happens is that when the deer begins to smell this fragrance, it doesn’t know where it’s coming from. It becomes one of the main goals for the deer, to find the source of this fragrance.

It searches the bushes, the trees, the caves, it goes from hill to hill looking for the source — which is nowhere to be found.

It gets so frustrated that eventually, it will jump down a cliff, into the valley… thinking that the source of the fragrance must be there!

It either dies, or hunters get hold of it and steal the pouch.

That’s it. The story ends there for the deer. It never really figures out the source!

That’s a sad story right?

But that story is a perfect metaphor, for how we as humans live our lives.

Our search for happiness is always external, we look for happiness in new things, clothes, houses, cars, new jobs, tv shows, junk food, alcohol drugs cigarettes, human love.

But the truth is that, none of those things can provide lasting happiness, only temporary pleasure. Even when we have them, we are scared of losing them.

Lasting contentment, is said to come from within.

So what does this mean? Our true nature, the nature of our inner self, according to the science of Yoga — is love.

Sat Chit Ananda — The truth is that we are pure consciousness, and the nature of it is bliss, and love.

The PROBLEM, is that there is too much CLUTTER and dirt, blocking us from seeing or realising this true nature. This clutter is our thoughts, worries, fears, anxieties, dreams.

We need to still the mind.

That is where meditation comes in.

And that’s why — we need to meditate. Meditation, is simply the process of clearing out all that mental clutter, so we can see what lies within.

Now I’m not telling you this story sitting on a high horse. I was the worst example of what I’m talking about. For over 5 years I abused alcohol, drugs — chased money, always looking for the thrill, but it came to a point where deep down I hated myself. There were times when I would cry, after waking up and realising what I’d done the night before.

Meditation has been my saving grace… and I’m very fortunate. I’m blessed. The Universe kept sending me the right teachers, along the way, at the right time.

And I can tell you this, meditation is the one practice, that can not only give you this real knowledge — that lasting happiness cannot be found externally, but it will also flood you with faith and courage — to create the life you want.

All of us, I repeat, all of us, deep down have a vision of what we want our life to be like, something we want to do. But, a lot of times that vision can seem very far off, the journey there is too long, and we put it off. But that is the formula for unhappiness and regret.

In my humble experience, i can tell you that meditation will give you the clarity, and the courage to create the life you want.

To live as your most authentic self.

The way the universe intended.

Peace & Love

Rishi

FOR more content like this — you can sign up for free at www.meditatewithrishi.com

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