All we do in life is trying to serve with the purpose of satisfying ourselves. We work, construct big cities, study at universities, earn money, set up families, do charity and even help others just to find complete satisfaction. The question we should ask ourselves though, is that if the aim of life is to find satisfaction for myself, how can I satisfy myself if the “I” am “myself”? If “I” and “myself” are one and the same person, how can the satisfier be the satisfied at the same time? If I’m satisfying myself, who is it that is satisfying myself? “I” or “myself”? The Srimad-Bhagavatam gives a more practical suggestion:
yatha hi skandha-sakhanam taror mulavasecanam evam aradhanam visnoh sarvesam atmanas ca hi
“When one pours water on the root of a tree, the trunk and branches of the tree are automatically pleased. Similarly, when one becomes a devotee of Lord Visnu, everyone is served, for the Lord is the Supersoul of everyone.”
(SB 8.5.49)
By watering the root of a tree, the whole tree is nourished without separate endeavour. Similarly, by serving Krsna, everyone is satisfied, including myself, who is His part and parcel. But if one pours water on the branches and leaves directly, the water stays on the outside and does not actually nourish the leaves. Similarly, our endeavour to satisfy ourselves by ourselves does not give satisfaction to our self nor others, but instead ends up wasted on the outside to produce an illusory pleasure of the material body. We can never satisfy ourselves, because we ARE ourselves, so trying for satisfaction of the self by my self is just like one hand trying to clap itself–complete absurdity. For satisfaction we need help from another conscious being and if we satisfy the supreme being, Krsna, we will attain complete satisfaction. This is our eternal sanatana-dharma.
(excerpt from a recently published e-book "History of Atheism" get it on www.expandthebliss.com/about)