Music of the Spheres: Gamaka Commentaries, Gayan

There is nothing else in life which pleases me more than pleasing others, but it is difficult to please everybody.

There are three reasons a person may have for trying to please another. The first is strategic: one wishes to win, or keep, a friend, and avoid making an enemy. Keeping the people around one happy, as far possible, generally has the effect of smoothing one’s life path.

The second reason a person may have for to trying please another is to be thought well of. Very often, one’s self-image is bound up in other people’s opinions. One thrives on positive attention and withers under censorious glances.

The third reason is honest altruism. This motivation transcends the dark insecurities that overshadow the mind. One wishes to please others because one realizes, deep down in one’s heart, that every other is another oneself.

But even if one’s motivation is the purest, pleasing others is not always easy. As Hafiz says, “Love seemed at first an easy thing—but ah! the hard awakening.”

Sometimes by pleasing one person one displeases another; there are cases when one cannot please both at once. The attempt to please everyone is a noble one, but in the end one must follow one’s conscience and do as one believes best.