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To me, this is akin to saying that one should not abandon one's responsibilities and run away to the Himalayas (read "a remote place") to meditate and go deeper within oneself. One has to learn to achieve that inner stillness and centering that one does through meditation, even while plunging oneself into the peaks and troughs of a tumultuous  life. This journey through the inner and outer may be cyclical for some time (which could be many lifetimes!), and we would probably have achieved a balance between the two, when we are able to keep our inner serenity while being full participants in the happenings of the external world. When I am not in harmony with my surroundings, my circumstances, it indicates to me that I have a lot of work to do on myself before I can get to that state of inner stillness.

 There's no doubt in mind that giving brings happiness, more often more than when we receive. However, when I delve deeper into why this should bring me happiness, I realise that it is ego-gratification. True and lasting happiness comes from discovering my inner self through meditation. The glow and the joy of such contact with my inner self carries me in total contentment through long lengths of time. I think that looking for happiness in any other place or way is misleading.