A great teacher, Brazilian—who trained in India, dedicated her life to teaching this tradition, and who has followers throughout the country—gathered more than a hundred people to hear her teachings and those of three other teachers. They were days of reflection, of illumination of the paths that can be followed.

This year, the main lesson that was sought to be deepened in Vedanta starts from a simple question, one that is difficult to answer: What makes sense to me? How can I find myself?

It starts with a very visible observation. The world we live in is absorbing, unimaginably troubled, and denies spaces for self-knowledge. It is necessary to create these spaces.

Meditation can be understood as a moment of being with oneself. Even if just for a few minutes. It is the basis of this much-desired encounter with our own Being. It is not the encounter itself, but it facilitates this process. A practice that should be daily.

The search for happiness lies on paths that must be followed. In life, human beings should seek four essential things.

Security, a life without turmoil, allows one to walk one's path with confidence, to be able to lay the foundation for one's pursuits.

Pleasure gives meaning to existence. It gives us paths in which we have joy and reason to continue our journey.

Without forgetting that we have a Mission to fulfill, to do what is right and must be done, with respect for universal values and the ethics that guide civilization and nature.

These three aspects can lead us to Liberation from suffering and encounter with our true self, which can only be achieved through knowledge, through deepening studies and understanding of the scriptures and guidance coming from tradition and transmitted by the Masters.

With this, one seeks Self-knowledge and Happiness.

It is an illusion to believe that what makes us happy are objects, possessions—which are always temporary, fleeting. Although moments of happiness, they fade away, disappear.

In this search, a fundamental moment is that of Meditation. Looking at myself, understanding myself can bring peace. Peace that allows us to understand our universal values and the relationship with the world we live in and with the human beings around us. A moment when we can seek respect for ourselves and for others.

In this process we seek maturity. While not ignoring what has occurred and what we cannot change, we leave it aside in order to be more complete in what we can interfere with and help build or modify. Self-knowledge becomes a priority.

In this process, we see that Action is fundamental in the search for security and pleasure, but is only complete with Knowledge, in understanding what our Mission is, what values should guide us, what direction to take to achieve the freedom we desire. A path that can lead us to Liberation from suffering.

Happiness, being content with oneself, then goes through objective and subjective pursuits, through concrete action in the world, through the relative understanding of values.

In this world, living well is knowing how to let go, understanding that there is a greater order: we can decide what to do, but the result is not ours to choose.

What we cannot modify is a given; of course it is recognized, but it cannot be the constant target of our concerns. We need to be coherent, respecting our values. Living well involves understanding that what is immutable, by definition, cannot be changed; therefore, it must be accepted, even as a lesson, but we need not dwell on it.

In this context, if the search for Liberation is the goal, it becomes clear that it is not by denying problems—whether from nature, around me, or within me—that they cease to exist; they cannot be ignored.

Liberation is not freeing oneself from things, facts, and objects, but rather the desire to better know the essence of the Universal Order, how to integrate to be able to seek a fuller life. Ignorance does not allow us to know who I am and how, with ethical values, I should behave going forward. It necessarily involves the search for Self-knowledge.

Seeking to know who I am, to be able to live more fully. Self-knowledge allows us to understand ourselves better and choose paths coherent with our Mission in life.

The realities—whether the absolute one of the natural Order of the Universe, the relative one of the world we already know, or the subjective one we idealize—must reveal themselves so that we have a refuge where we encounter our universal values. The cosmic Order connects everything; we are part of Nature.

If we understand this, we can seek happiness with an absence of compulsive desire, with detachment. The Vedas call this vairagya. This is the path: action without blinding desire and action with dispassion, guided by the universal values of ethics and by the Mission that has been given to us.