Once some  disciples, standing near a riverbank, were in deep sorrow mourning the loss of one of their classmates, afraid that he had drowned.

A sage came along that way and asked them as to why they were so sad. They told him, "Ten of us came to the river to take bath. Now, we find that one of us is missing-he must have drowned." The sage counted them and told, "There are all ten of you here. Why are you crying?"

One of the disciples said, "Oh, no! Only nine of us are here. See, let me count in front of you..." and made others stand in a row and counted. The disciple started counting one, two… nine. The Sage observed with a smile.
The disciple who counted asked, "Oh! Sage! Where is the tenth person?"The sage pointed to him and said, "Tatvam Asi!" - thou art that. "You are the tenth man!" He, being the tenth man, had not counted himself. In the seeker, the sought was hidden.

We spend our entire life pursuing these desires, day in and day out. Unfortunately, we seek them in cigarettes, liquor and other pleasures. We go about searching, till our last breath, for happiness, pleasure.

The manager of a company recruited a pretty young girl as his personal secretary. The manager assumed that she liked him. One day, she invited him home for dinner, citing an occasion. With the firm belief that she was in love with him, he went to her house for dinner. When he went to her house, he found no one except the girl. They both sat down. The manager was excited that she was going to offer herself to him that night.

Now it was almost midnight. The young girl beckoned him to the next room which was in total darkness. He thought, "Let me be ready before she switches on the lights..." and hurriedly removed all his clothes. Just then the clock struck twelve...the room was suddenly flooded with lights! It was filled with the office staff, who began to sing loudly, "Happy Birthday to you...!"

The Manager stood before them in his full birthday suit, the personification of utter foolishness! The Manager, running behind his secretary, had totally forgotten his own birthday! Similarly, many of us chase  pleasures externally. We are victim of our own assumptions. Like the disciple who was unaware that he himself was the tenth person, we too live in ignorance.

One of the sayings of Bhagavad Gita is: "The happiness you seek is within you."
The sought is hidden in the seeker.